.1 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Hamilton, Joseph Turner, William Logan, Richard Peters, Benjamin Chew,
Thomas Cadwalader, James Tilgman, Andrew Allen, Edward Shippen, Jr.,
William Crawford, Arthur St. Clair, Thomas Gist, Alexander McKee, Robert
Hanna, William Lochry, George Wilson, William Thomas, Aeneas MacKay,
Joseph Speer, Alexander McLean, James Cavett, -William Bracken, James
Pollock, Samuel Sloan and Michael Rugh.
A few words of explanation concerning the duties and powers of these
justices may not be out of place here. Any three of them had power to hold
the ordinary common pleas and quarter sessions courts. The Act of September 9, 1759, provided that "persons of the best discretion, capacity, judgment
and integrity" should be commissioned for the common pleas and orphans'
court, and that any three of them should be empowered to act. All were appointed for life or good behavior. By the constitution of I776 this term was
limited to seven years, but the constitution of I790 restored the former tenure.
The Act of 1722 provided for the appointment of a supreme court of three
judges, afterward increased to four, before whom proceedings of the county
could be reviewed. The members of this supreme court were necessarily
learned in the law, and they had further jurisdiction over the capital cases, and
for this purpose one of them was compelled to sit in each county twice a year.
Treason, murder, manslaughter, robbery, horse-stealing, arson, burglary and
witchcraft, etc., were all punishable by death. Any three of the above justices
therefore could hold our ordinary courts but they could not try a case the punishment of which was death. They were also justices of the peace and could
separately hear cases as aldermen do now. Some of the above named justices
were really great men and are spoken of elsewhere in this work. They were
not learned in the law but were men of high standing in the community, and
almost every one of them had a trace of the manners of the Old World about
them.
The first court was held at flannastown on April 6, I773. The minutes recite "that it was held in the thirteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign
Lord George III, by the Grace of God, Great Britain, France and Ireland,
King and Defender of the Faith, etc., and in the year of our Lord one thousand
seven hundred and seventy-three." William Crawford and two of the Associates whose names were not given in the minutes, sat on the bench and organized a court of the quarter sessions of the peace, William Crawford presiding. There, in a low two-storied log house, overshadowed by the trees of the
forest, were the great principles of English jurisprudence publicly meted out to
the pioneer inhabitants, and this was the first place west of the Allegheny
mountains where courts were held and justice was administered by judicial
authority. The court house was on the Forbes road, about three and one-half
miles northeast of the present town of Greensburg. The first business of the
court was to divide the county into eleven townships and to name the townships.
Some of the names had already been given to localities in this section as townships of Bedford county. These eleven townships covered all the territory of
Westmoreland countv between Kittanning and the Youghiogheny river and beS8.PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
89
tween Laurel Hill and the Ohio, as is evidenced by their boundaries given in the
minutes. The townships were named Fairfield, Donegal, Huntingdon, Mt.
Pleasant, Hempfield, Pitt, Tyrone, Spring Hill,- Manillin, Rostraver and Armstrong. Pitt township included all of the present county of Allegheny east of
the Allegheny and south of the Ohio rivers and much that is now in Westmoreland, Fayette and Washington counties. In the court minutes its boundary is noted as beginning at the mouth of the Kiskiminetas and running down
the Allegheny river to its junction with the Monongahela; thence down the
Ohio to the western limits of the province; thence down the western boundary
to the line of Spring Hill township; thence with that line to the mouth of Red
Stone Creek; thence down the Monongahela to the mouth of the Youghiogheny
river: thence with the line of Hempfield township to the mouth of Brush Run;
thence with the line of said township to the beginning.
After the division of the county into townships the minutes show that a
grand jury was called and John Carnahan was made foreman. A number of
constables were appointed and they were put to work at once, for several jurymen who were summoned had failed to attend. These were brought in by the
constable and fined. A number of persons were also authorized to sell liquor;
their names being Erasmus Bockavus, John Barr, William Elliot, George
Kelly, and Joseph Erwin. The latter kept an inn  at Hannastown in a log
house which was owned by Robert Hanna, who was probably on the bench
when the license was granted and is supposed to have taken care of his tenant.
There is, however, no evidence that any who applied for license were refused.
The courts also fixed the rates to be charged by the tavern keepers who were
licensed, and directed that the clerk of courts should make out a copy of these
rates for each landlord who should pay the clerk Is. 6d. for doing so. A copy
of these rates was to be suspended in a prominent place in their hotel. The
rates fixed by the judges were spread on the minutes and were as follows:
Whiskey per gill, 4 pence; West India Rum per gill, 6 pence; Continent per
gill, 4 pence; Toddy per gill, I shilling; I bowl of West India Rum Toddy in
which there shall be one-half pint of loaf sugar, I shilling, 6 pence; a bowl of
Continent, I shilling, Madeira Wine per bottle, 7 shillings 6 pence; Lisbon.
Wine, 6 pence; Western Toland Wines, 5 shillings; Grain per quart, 2 I-2
pence; Hay and Stabling per night, I shilling; Pasturage per night or 24
hours, 6 pence; Cider per quart, I shilling; Strong Beer per quart, 8 pence.
The incompatibility of office to which we are accustomed now was apparently not thought of then as is evidenced by the minutes of these early courts. One
man could hold as many offices as he could secure. Arthur St. Clair was' the
first prothonotary and clerk of courts, which offices he had also held in Bedford
before. He recorded deeds and performed all the business of the courts for a
time. He was also justice of the peace and heard cases before him at his home
in Ligonier, and sometimes sat on the common pleas bench at Hannastown.
Occasionally too, he conducted a case, perhaps in the absence of a regular attorney. He kept the court records and during the time of the Indian incurA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
sions and during Dunmore's War, took the records to his house at Fort Ligonier for safe keeping. John Proctor was appointed sheriff, a position which he
held in Bedford county, although he lived west of Laurel Hill in what is now
Unity township, near St. Vincent's monastery. His sureties were William
Loughry and Robert Hanna, and they were approved in the presence of Michael Huffnagle by Arthur St. Clair, all of whom were justices of the same court.
James Bryson was employed by Arthur St. Clair as his office clerk and remained in office some years after St. Clair resigned to enter the revolution.
Those who will take time to examine the first court records as kept by Bryson
will feel amply repaid and will be delighted with their legibility and artistic
beauty. After 135 years they are almost as bright and legible as though they
were written but yesterday, while many writings written'almost a century afterward are rapidly becoming illegible. James Bryson afterwards became a
prominent citizen of Pittsburg. John Proctor, the first sheriff, was a man of
sterling qualities and though appointed by the Penns, took sides against them
when their Tory principles brought them into conflict with the people. He was
a colonel in the militia in his day and of a regiment of associaters brought into
being by the gathering war clouds. During the Revolution he held many offices
of trust and with Thomas Galbraith, was appointed to seize the property of
Tories of Westmoreland, mnost of whom were in and about Pittsburg. Later
he was a member of the assembly. His last days were somewhat clouded for
his property was sold by the sheriff in I79I and his family was very poor. He
was a Presbyterian and his house was used as a preaching place before a church
had been erected. He is buried in Unity cemetery near Latrobe in an unmarked and unknown grave.
The election which was provided for in the Erecting Act was held in
Hanna's house on October I, I773. Proctor was elected sheriff and was commissioned on October I8th. Joseph Beeler, James Srhith and James Cavett
were elected county commissioners. James Kinkaid and William Wilson were
chosen coroners. Benjamin Davis, Charles Hitchman, Christopher Hayes,
Phillip Rodgers, James McLain and Alexander Barr were elected assessors
for the various parts of the county. William Thompson was elected first assemblyman from Westmoreland. All were swvorn into office by St. Clair. The
commissioners proceeded at once after their election to adjust debts and to levy
a county tax. For eight years the entire county voted at Hannastown. In
I783 two other districts were provided, but with the erection of Fayette county
one of them, the Redstone district, fell almost entirely within the new county.
The legislature therefore changed the district so that those electors who still remained in Westmoreland should vote at William Moore's house in Rostraver
township. The act of September I3, I785, redivided the county into five
districts. All lying north of the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas were to vote at
Daniel Johnson's house; all in Ligonier township between Fayette county and
the Conemaugh river were to vote at Samuel Jamison's house; all in Huntingdon and Rostraver townships were to vote at William Moore's house in the
90PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
latter township; those in the Fort Pitt district, now Allegheny county, were to
vote at Devereux Smith's house, and all who, were not included in these four
district were to vote at Hannastown.
It was scarcely supposed when the county was formed that the county seat
would or could be located elsewhere than at Pittsburg. It was the only town in
the county and though at its western border so far as the real jurisdiction of the
courts extended, it was the metropolis of all of southwestern Pennsylvania.
The trustees appointed by the Supreme Executive Council were: Robert Hanna,
Joseph Erwin, John Cavett, George Wilson and Samuel Sloan. Hanna had
come from the north of Ireland and had taken up lands on the Forbes road,
about thirty-four miles from Pittsburg. There was even then considerable
travel over the road and a demand for a stopping place between Pittsburg and
Fort Ligonier. To cater to this demand he had converted his log house into
a tavern, but the law forbade the granting of a license to one who, by virtue of
his office could sit on the bench, and Hanna had accordingly rented his tavern
to Joseph Erwin. Hanna must have been a leader of men and more than
average shrewdness. He rapidly induced other immigrants to settle around
him, so that the place was, even as early as I773, known as Hannastown.
Erwin, being Hanna's tenant, readily sided with Hanna, and in some way they
induced Samuel Sloan, who lived nearby, to vote with them in the selection of
a temporary county seat.  Thus there were three out of five trustees who
voted for Hannastown. The place had many disadvantages and only one advantage over Pittsburg, that is, it was more centrally located between Laurel
Hill and the Ohio. It was selected with great opposition particularly from
Pittsburg and other settlements west of Hannastown. Aeneas MacKay, a
merchant of Pittsburg, on March I3, I773, wrote a letter to Arthur St. Clair in
which he greatly deprecated the selection of Hannastown. In the letter he says:
"Everybody up this way are well satisfied there is a County this side of the Hills,
although I find everybody else as well as myself observes with infinite concern
that the point in question is not attended with so favorable circumstances as.we
at this place had reason to expect from the very nature of things. I cannot
express my surprise at the point determined in favor of the courts of law as
sitting at Hanna's Town. Pray may I ask the question where is the convenience for transacting business on these occasions, as there are neither houses,
tables nor chairs. Certainly people must sit at the roots of trees and stumps
and in case of rain the lawyer's books and papers must be exposed to the
weather. Yet to no purpose as they cannot presume to write, consequently
nothing can be done but that of receiving fees by which means everybody, the
lawyers only excepted, going to or attending court, must be sufferers.  No
doubt Mr. Erwin ahd a few more of his party may find they are interested in
this glaring stretch of partiality; yet we, at this place in particular, are too
much interested to overlook such proceedings in silence. The whole inhabitants exclaim against the step already taken to the injury of the county yet in
its infancy, and that, too, before it got its eyes or tongue to speak for itself.
MIy dear friend, if I had as much to say among the great as you, I would declare it as my opinion that it would be absolutely necessary that the trustees
91A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
should be nominated in Philadelphia, by which means I think we could not fail
to have the point in question carried in our favor; whereas, should they be appointed by this way it is ten to one Joe Erwin, the tavern keeper, and his associates will prevail."
St. Clair was thoroughly a public spirited man and though he owned thousands of acres of land east of Hannastown and none at that time at Pittsburg,
he easily forgot his own interests as he did in all public matters and steadily
favored Pittsburg as a county seat. On January I5, I774, he wrote a letter
to Joseph Shippen, president of the council, which throws considerable light on
the matter. The letter was written at Ligonier and is published in the Pennsylvania archives, Volume 4, page 47I, and is as follows:
"Sir:-rThis letter will be delivered to you by Mr. Hanna, one of the trustees of Westmoreland county and to some maneuver of his I believe the opposition to fixing the county town at Pittsburg is chiefly owing, as it is to his interest
that it should continue where the law has fixed the courts protempore; he lives
there, used to keep a public house there and has now on that respect rented his
house at an extravagant price. Erwin, another trustee, adjoins and is also a
public house keeper. A third trustee, Sloan, lives in the neighborhood which
always makes a majority for continuing the courts at the present place. A passage in the law for erecting a county is that the courts shall be held at Hanna's
house till a court house and a jail are built. This puts it in their power to continue them as long as they please for a little management might prevent the
court house from being built these twenty years. Then you will excuse inaccuracies as I write in greatest hurry, iMr. Hanna holding the horse while I
write. I will see you early in the spring."
Sending letters by men who chanced to be going east was common in those
days for there was no mail service. Much of western Pennsylvania's early history depends on material sent east in this way. It was not usual, however, that
they were carried by men whose actions they criticised as severely as this one
does those of its bearer. The matter of a more permanent selection was delayed, just as St. Clair feared it would be, on October 3, I774, when four of
the trustees made the following report: "We being appointed Trustees for
the County of Westmoreland to make a report for a proper place, having accurately examined and considered the same, do report that'tis our opinion
that Hannastown seems to be the most centrical and fit to answer the purpose
intended. We are further of the opinion that should your Honor and the
Honorable Council think the Brush Creek Manor a more proper place, it cannot be of much disadvantage to the County. We pray your Honor sentiments
on this head which will be most fully acknowledged by us. (Signed) Robert
Hanna, Joseph Erwin, Samuel Sloan, John Cavett."
It will be seen that in addition to Hanna and the trustees whomn he controlled
they had induced John Cavatt to sign the report with them in favor of Hannastown. George Wilson did not sign it; both he and Cavett were united with St.
Clair in opposition to its location at Hannastown. They had steadily favored
and voted for Pittsburg. St. Clair in speaking in favor of Pittsburg even then
foretold something of the great future the place had in store. He probably
92,PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                               93
foresaw the importance of its location on three navigable rivers. Many of the
far-seeing citizens favored Pittsburg for the reason that though it was in our
territory, Virginia was claiming it and they wanted to more boldly assert their
rights to it by founding a county town with all its attending civil powers in the
heart of the disputed territory. St. Clair also stated in a letter to Governor
Richard Penn that Hanna and Erwin had voted for Hannastown through selfish motives. Aside from Virginia's claim which would undoubtedly have been
weakened by the selection of Pittsburg, Hannastown was not a bad selection,
particularly in view of the counties that were a few years afterward formed all
around it.
The report and action of the trustees was never endorsed entirely by the
proprietary governor and,it is doubtful if Hannastown would have become the
permanent county seat even though it had not met with disaster. The trustees
adopted the very plan that St. Clair feared in his letter above quoted. They
never built a court house there but court was held at Hanna's house which, of
course, was also his dwelling house. Hannastown was then a collection of from
twelve to fifteen houses built of hewed logs and roofed with split shingles or
clap-boards. Most of these houses had but one story and a loft, the latter often
only accessible by a ladder or even by pins driven into the logs. The well-to-do
people of the place, for wealth has only a relative value, had two story houses
with two rooms and a large chimney and fire-place below. There was a stockade erected at Hannastown in I774 under the direction and by the advice of St.
Clair. This undoubtedly helped the town and settlement a great deal, for the
pioneers felt more secure if located near a fort or a stockade. The town had
increased to twenty or twenty-five log houses when the Revolution came in
1775, but it never grew much after that, for the reason that during the war
most of the citizens of this western community were bearing arms in defense
of the colonies and home improvements were sadly neglected. The best days
of Hannastown were from  r773 to I776. MIoving westward from the old
counties was then at its height and this was the popu'ar and only highway'through Pennsylvania. Then, when the war clouds began to gather, militia
musters came into vogue and these for all Westmoreland county were held at
Hannastown.
Militia Parade Day was a great event among our fore-fathers and remained for more than fifty years without a rival as a means of assembling the
honest yeomanry of our western section. Nearly all of our population then
was in the country. There were but few towns and but small need of them.
The people raised all they ate, and with spinning-wheels and looms manufactured nearly everything they wore from wool and flax both home products.
There were no stores, in a modern sense, in Hannastown. There was scarcely
anything to buy and almost no money to buy it with. Hence the absence of
stores. Whiskey, rum, etc., were sold under a license, and there was also a demand for flints, powder, lead and a few other articles, but there was no occasion for even a small country store.CHAPTER VI.
Dunmore's War-Disputed Boundary Between Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Reference has been made many times to the claims of Virginia to certain
parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania. All these disputes culminated in almost
an open war in the early months of I774. Virginia, it will be remembered,
claimed the fork of the Ohio and all lands west and many of her high authorities
claimed that all lands in the Province of Pennsylvania west of the Laurel Hill
lay within her domain. But the Penns had actual possession of the disputed
territory, and Virginia was compelled on the organization of Westmoreland
county, to take the aggressive, to assert her claims or retire forever from the
field. No one doubts now but that Virginia had many reasons for urging her
claims. Spottswood in I716 had come west and laid claim to the Mississippi
Valley. Gov. Dinwiddie had sent Washington to look after this section; indeed
by asserting the claims of Virginia to it the French and Indian War was begun
and as a result the Canadas and all the west were ceded to England. To! possess
this section, or to banish the French from it, Virginia had battled long' and earnestly, had given many lives and much property. She had moreover maintained
actual possession of the region south of the Ohio and it was largely populated by
her westward bound citizens. The claim of Pennsylvania lay mainly in her
original charter and in the Stanwix purchase of I768. No one disputed the
validity of Penn's charter nor that his representatives were entitled to the land
five degrees west of the Delaware. The great dispute was as to how far west the
actual bounds extended. The boundary of Westmoreland county, the last
and most westerly county formed, did not at that time in reality extend farther
southwest than the most westerly branch of the Youghiogheny river, nor farther
west than the Ohio at Fort Pitt. As early as I752 Thomas Penn, then governor
had instructed his deputies to assist the governor of Virginia in erecting a fort
at the junction of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers, but he cautioned them
to take special pains that nothing be done to injure his claims to that section.
Christopher Gist made the first survey of this region. His survey, the first settlements on the tributaries of the Ohio, and the attempts to erect a fort by the
Ohio Company, were all made under the'direct assumption that this point was
within the boundary of Virginia. Accordingly on February I9, I754, GovernorPITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
95
Dinwiddie, to encourage soldiers and settlers, began granting large tracts
of land about the headwaters of the Ohio. In November, I775, Governor
Hamilton wrote Governor Dinwiddie on the part of the Proprietaries that,
having given the matter some attention he was clearly of the opinion that
the fort was within the limits of Pennsylvania. In a friendly letter Dinwiddie replied that he was equally confident that it was within the'limits of
Virginia, and referred to the survey to prove it. When the French and
Indian war came, all united in opposing the enemy regardless of who might
eventually prove to be the real owner. There was not much controversy
on the question of ownership of the territory from the close of the Bouquet
campaign against the Indians in Ohio in I764 until after the Stanwix purchase in I768. In the meantime the southwestern part of Pennsylvania had
been settled largely under the laws of Virginia and mostly by people from
Virginia and Maryland. The erection of Westmoreland county in I773 led
Virginia to again assert her claims to the land on the northeTn bank cf
the Monongahela, and accordingly to occupy Fort Pitt. The settlers, it will be
remembered, were largely Scotch-Irish, and with all the aggressive spirit of their
race, were ready to fly to arms to sustain their title to their lands and to defend
their firesides. The agents whom Virginia sent here, therefore, to defend her
claims found the people very willing to assist them. The high-minded, patriotic
men of Virginia took no part in the ignoble controversv which we are about to
consider, and they have long since repudiated the shameful and infamous acts of
Governor Dunmore in asserting his claims. Had the contestants submitted
their disputes to men like Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry, it could have been
settled by a survey in a single season.
Bancroft says: "No royal governor showed more rapacity in the use of
official power that Lord Dunmore. He reluctantly left New York, where during
his short career, he acquired fifty thousand acres. *  * * Upon entering
upon the government of Virginia, his passion for land and fees outweighing the
proclamation of the king and the reiterated and'most positive instructions from
the Secretary of State, he advocated the claims of the colony in the West and
was himself a partner in the immense purchases of land from the Indians in
Southern Illinois. The area of the ancient dominion expanded with his cupidity." Washington, always moderate in his language, said of Dunmore:
"Nothing less than depriving him of life or liberty will secure peace to Virginia."
To understand Dunmore and his actions it is necessary to go back a few
years. No country in Europe had been so successful in founding and fostering
colonies as England, and no country had so thoroughly and constantly protected
these as she. To do this; to place them under the protecting care of the common
law was but protecting herself. For several generations the policy of England
toward her colonies in America was one of eminent justice. She regarded them
as her offspring and they were extremely loyal to her. But in I765 the policy of
England had changed and she began to treat her colonies as though they wereA4 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
conquered provinces. England had long been engaged in a series of wars and
her ministry to meet this expense, sought to increase the revenue of the crown.
It was true that vast sums had been spent in protecting the American colonies
and the authorities doubtless thought that they should bear their share of the
burden. Accordingly a tax was exacted from the colonies in the shape of a
stamp duty on papers, writings, etc. This act is known as the "Stamp Act."
The general discontent in America was most strongly manifested in nMassachusetts and in Virginia. Before this Virginia tvas considered the most loyal of
the colonies. Lord Botetourt was governor of Virginia from  I768 to I77I.
He and his predecessors were strong men and did much to allay the bitter feelings of the colonists, but Botetourt died in I77I and his successor was John
Murray, who had been governor of New York and who is known in history as
the Earl of Dunmore. He was a bitter Tory and cared nothing for the interests of the people, attempting to rule them only in the interests of his king.
The best that can be said of him is that he was thoroughly heartless. lViost
writers think that he was appointed to the governorship of Virginia for the sole
purpose of ruling them with extreme severity and thus make them feel their dependence on the English crown, and by that means, quiet the growing dissension among them. His severe ruling, on the contrary, may have sprung entirely from his cruel disposition and not from a fixed policy. There is no
doubt, however, that through his agents he instigated the Indians in their relentless warfare against the settlers. Nor were the latter prepared for such
treatments, for at best they were battling with fanmine and with long, severe
winters. It is believed that Dunmore supplied the Indians with firearms and
furnished money to pay for the scalps of women and children. By this inhumane warfare he sought to force the colonists to abandon the pursuit of civil
liberty and devote their time to the protection of their homes and lives. The
Virginians who hold these views regarded the battle of Point Pleasant, the
greatest battle in Dunnmore'S  War, as the beginning of the Revolution. There
is no doubt but that he used the authority with which he was clothed to his own
interests. He was a supercilious, would-be aristocrat, without any of the redeeming traits of those of real patrician birth. In all that he did he was
tyrannical and was quite unfit to govern Virginia at this time. So far as Dunmore's War concerns us it mostly centers around his early efforts to hold Fort
Pitt and the surrounding country for Virginia. To this end, late in I773 he
sent an agent here known in Pittsburg as Dr. John Connolly, whom he appointed "captain commandant of Pittsburgh and its dependencies." Though a
Pennsylvanian by birth he was a relative of Dunmore's and was at all times a
willing tool and a bold servitor of his unholy cause. He has been called by
some the Benedict Arnold of Pennsylvania, but this is scarcely fair, for he
never betrayed the people or the cause he represented. He was well connected,
being a half brother of General James Ewing, of Lancaster county, a distinguished officer in the Revolution. He was also a nephew of the noted Indian
diplomat, Col. George Croghan, and was a son-in-law of Samuel Semple, who
96PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
97
entertained Washington when in Pittsburg in I770. He had associated with
Washington and had enjoyed his utmost confidence, pleasing him greatly, when
in Pittsburg, by stories of the extensive western travels. By these associations
he secured the.secrets of General Gage, Sir William Johnson, Sir Guy Carleton
and others. It was moreover undoubtedly he who led McKee, Elliott and Girty
from their moorings in respectable society into the Tory party and thence to the
cruel lives for which alone they are remembered. In I774 he boldly took
possession of Fort Pitt by an armed force of militia which he had raised among
the Virginia settlers south of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. The
Indians were then unusually troublesome, and in raising his militia he pretended that they were to invade their territory. He was supplied with abundatlt
proofs that he was the accredited agent of the governor and that his general
mission was to overthrow the authority of the Proprietaries in Pennsylvania.
To induce the Indians to join him he pretended that he was soon to banish the
Penns from that region, which was always a laudible project to their minds.
Fort Pitt was taken in January, I774, without resistance, and his first act was to
change the name from Fort Pitt to Fort Dunmore. He was a natural leader
and had the faculty in a high degree of spreading false and unreasonable
statements concerning the legitimacy of the Penns' claim to southwestern
Pennsylvania, and concerning their intentions, if their claims were allowed to
go unchallenged, to declare void all Virginia titles in this section. Those who
held lands here by the authority of titles granted by Virginia were not slow to
take up arms against the Penns when Connolly made them believe that the
Penns meant to set their titles aside. His militia was not composed of the
higher elements among the settlers, indeed it was the very reverse, for most of
them were but little better than outlaws. They stole horses for their own use,
shot cattle and hogs of peaceable citizens; indeed their love of this life of outlawry, seemed to be one of the strongest bonds which held them together. The
province of Pennsylvania did not at that time have a general militia law and
was almost powerless to resist these forces.
For issuing the proclamation calling out the militia and seizing Fort Pitt,
Arthur St. Clair had Connolly arrested. He was brought before St. Clair at
Ligonier and promptly committed to jail at Hannastown, but later was admitted
to bail for his appearance at court. He next went to Augusta county, Virginia, the county seat of which was Staunton, where he was appointed a justice
of the peace. It was claimed by the Virginia authorities that Fort Pitt was in
that county in the part called the West Augusta District. By this appointment
he meant to give a show of legality to his high-handed proceedings by covering
them with the official sanction of the governor of Virginia. When he returned
in March, I774, he was in a way armed with both civil and military authority
and his tyranny seemed to increase correspondingly. In April the regular
courts of the new county of Westmoreland had assembled, at Hannastown,
when Connolly appeared with one hundred and fifty armed men. He placed a
guard before the door of the court house and refused admittance to the
7CHAPTER I.
The Braddock Campaign.
There were two causes, differing widely from each other, which led to the
first settlement of the region now embraced within the limits of Pittsburg. The
one was the settlement of the French on the St. Lawrence river in the early
years of the seventeenth century; the other was the formation of the Ohio Company by Virginia capitalists. The French in coming to America mainly entered
the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sailed up the river, and in the seventeenth century
had effected a colony which grew rapidly, and was afterwards called New
France. They were tenacious of their rights, prompt in asserting themselves,
and zealous in the exploration of the new country. In I669 and I670 Robert
Chevalier de la Salle, one of the most noted explorers in American history, had
penetrated the wilderness between the St. Lawrence and Allegheny rivers and
sailing down the latter river and down the Ohio had discovered the falls where
the city of Louisville, Kentucky, now stands. Later he explored the Mississippi river and claimed for France all the region drained by these rivers and
their tributaries. In this extravagant claim he was sustained, in a measure by
the international law of his day, and the claim was no more preposterous than
that of England which claimed the entire continent "from sea to sea," because
forsooth John Cabot had sailed up and down the Atlantic without perhaps even
touching or penetrating the shore. This claim was strengthened from year to
year by increased settlements and by new explorations on the part of the people of New France; it was furthermore practically uncontested by any one until
about the middle of the eighteenth century. By this time the French-Canadian
settlements had greatly increased in numbers and in wealth. They had built
cities and fortresses, and had sent explorers and missionaries to found settleinents on almost every navigable stream and lake in the Northwest. They were
also strongly entrenched for that time in Louisiana, for it must be remembered
that many French vessels bearing emigrants for America and knowing that the,middle Atlantic coast was being settled largely by the Britons, the emigrants
had entered the Gulf of Mexico and founded the Louisiana settlements. Their
object was to occupy and hold this vast region of territory for the French govA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
provincial magistrates. To assist him he had a sheriff appointed by Dunmore,
whose jurisdiction extended over the district claimed by Virginia. In a meeting between himself and the justices of the new county he said that he was but
*acting under the instructions of the sheriff, and he not only denied the authority
of the court but denied that the magistrates ever had any authority to act. Perhaps being fearful of the power of the province he finally agreed to allow the
justices to act in civil matters until he should receive contrary instructions from
Virginia. The magistrates were men of high standing and of sturdy qualities.'They told him that they rested their authority to act on the legislative authority
~of Pennsylvania and that they must act on the authority granted from that
source or not act at all. They assured him that the Proprietaries would endeavor to have the boundary line adjusted as soon as possible and that in the
neantime, they would preserve the public tranquility. Among the more prominent friends of the Penns in and about Fort Pitt were Devereux Smith, Andrew McFarland, Alexander and Aeneas Mackay. All were early settlers at
Pittsburg, and Aeneas Mackay had been named as county justice from the
Pittsburg section of Westmoreland when the county was formed. These four
men had been leaders in proceedings to resist the outrages of Connolly. They,'with Arthur St. Clair, stood up manfully for the claims of the legislative government. They kept up a regular correspondence with the governor. St.
Clair's communications, published in the archives of the state, are now the
chief source of information on this question, though the letters of the others are
all of great importance. The people endured with more patience than one would
expect, the outrages heaped upon them by' Connolly, but steadily opposed him,
but in a peaceable manner. They claimed that his was the work of a usurper
to enforce the authority of Virginia over the territory which they held by grant,of the Penns, and which they had taken under the impression that it was within
their jurisdiction. The justices attended court at Hannastown in April, I774.
When they returned to Pittsburg, Alexander MIcFarland, Devereux Smith and
Aeneas Mackay were arrested by Connolly. Knowing that they had done no
wrong, they refused to give bail and were sent under guard and part of the
way in irons, to Staunton, Virginia. Mackay got permission to go to Williamsburg, the capitol, and to lay the matter before Dunmore. It is not known what
arguments he produced, but the result was that he returned with a letter from
Dunmore instructing the authorities to allow the justices to return to their
homes. They reached Pittsburg on May 5th, and were doubtless somewhat
emboldened by being released from the Staunton prison, for they at once began
to hold court in defiance of Connolly. But such was the character of the sturdy
men of that age.
After Mackay's arrest at Pittsburg he sent a letter to Governor Penn, in
which he says: "I am taken at a great inconvenience as my business is suffering
much on account of my absence, but I am willing to suffer a great deal more
rather than bring disgrace upon the commission which I bear under Your
Honor."  In one way at least his business did not suffer by his arrest, for
198PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                               99
while there he became acquainted with Margaret Lynn Lewis, a daughter of
William Lewis, one of the brothers so noted in the military annals of the Old
Dominion. A few months later they were married and she came with him to
his log house in Pittsburg.
Dunmore was very angry at the Penns for sustaining St. Clair in arresting
Connolly. He demanded that St. Clair should be dismissed from office unless
the latter could prevail on Connolly to ask for his, St. Clair's, pardon from
Dunmore. The Penns did not dismiss St. Clair, and as the brave old general
never bent his knee to a. Tory, it is likely, says a writer of a later day, that St.
Clair died at last without having received his lordship's pardon. When the
news of their arrest reached the council they determined to send commissioners
to go before the House of Burgesses of Virginia and lay the situation before
them. These commissioners were Andrew Allen and James Tilghman. Their
purpose was to have both Pennsylvania and Virginia petition the king of England to have the boundary line settled definitely and in the meantime to have a
temporary line drawn. They presented their cause to Dunmore, and, after a
rather impatient hearing the hot-headed governor dismissed them, and their
mission amounted to nothing. When this was known it in a manner, was an
endorsement of Connolly's actions, and his insolence and oppression were correspondingly increased. These occurrences were in the early spring and summer of I774, when there were grave fears of an Indian uprising. The result
was that the inhabitants found themselves between two fires. If they remained
in their homes they might suffer death or captivity from the Indians, who might
swoop down upon them at any moment, and on the other hand, the whole country was being overrun by the lawless militia of Connolly. This was not all. The
show of authority on the part of Virginia brought up the question of titles to
their estates, for it must be remembered that many who had settled here had
purchased their lands from Dunmore, and were not only loyal to Virginia but
had a natural hatred for Pennsylvania. Because of these apprehended dangers
the crops for the year were in many places unsown, and many that were sown
were never harvested. It will be understood that almost the entire people in
this locality were engaged as farmers. For many miles from Pittsburg east,
fences had been destroyed and domestic animals were shot down by Connolly's
outlaws, while others running at large could not be reclaimed by their owners.
Hundreds of families who could do so left for their homes in the East, some to
wait for better times and others never to return. The public officers of the
community and those most deeply interested in its welfare, used every means
to induce them to remain here, but the panic was constantly increasing. In
May and June public meetings were held at various places. They adopted
resolutions setting forth the distressed condition of the people and sent these
resolutions in the shape of well signed petitions to the governor of the province
of Pennsylvania. The public meeting of Pittsburg was held on June I4, I774,
The petition is very like others from the western section, but is in better form.
It sets forth plainly and forcibly the indignities which they have suffered andA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the provocations they were under from  Connolly's shameful proceedings.
Pittsburg and vicinity had suffered, it is true, more than the remote sections
farther east. All united in saying that the situation was alarming; that they
were deserted by far greater numbers of their neighbors than were represented
by the petition; that they had no place of strength to resort to should a war
come; that labor was at a stand and that their growing crops were being destroyed; that herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were dispersed, that the further
fear of the barbarous savages had greatly disturbed the minds of all the citizens,
and that in this distress, next to the Almighty, they looked to His Honor for
relief.
The magistrates still continued to exercise their authority and Connolly
proceeded to extremes unknown before. By his lawless militia he broke open
houses as though the whole community was under his military rulle. Many hiesidents of Pittsburg contemplated a scheme of abandoning the place and forming
a new colony, located elsewhere. One idea was to locate at Turtlecreek,
where they meant to build a stockade for their protection. Another was to
build a town and stockade at Kittanning. Indeed, many of the citizens, notably
the Mackays, who were traders at Pittsburg, did at this time remove their store
to Kittanning. In many instances the inhabitants fought manfully for their
rights, and in some cases showed a bravery and strength which the drunken
militia did not dare'to encounter. In Pittsburg an association of the most active and influential inhabitants was formed for the protection of the people.
They proposed to stand together to resist Connolly, and armed themselves for
their mutual safety. They called on all able-bodied citizens and posted small
forces, though the largest they could muster, at different points. Devereux
Smith wrote a letter in June, I774, to William Smith, in which he set forth in a
masterly manner many of the outrages above mentioned and others which may
interest the reader. He lays the great distress of the community at Connolly's
door. He says, that his drunken militia fired on and roused an encampment of
friendly Indians at Saw Mill Run, on the Ohio river below Pittsburg; that
Cressap was instigated by Connolly to fire on friendly Indians, and that Connolly broke down the doors of the houses and abused the persons of Mackay,
Smith and Spear, and that he tried to plunder his own (Devereux Smith's)
house, but was prevented from doing so by Mr. Butler at the risk of his life.
That when a man died in the fort his body was robbed by Connolly's own men
and that he sent an armed force into Pittsburg with a general search-warrant
to search every house, and that private property was broken open and the citizens insulted. He says further that they waylaid a horse laden with gunpowder
sent by William Smith for the use of the inhabitants of the county. After reciting many other outrages he says, that these are a few of the distresses under
which the people have labored and that without speedy protection and redress
they could not long support themselves under such tyranny. There is much
other testimony along the same line, and, taking it altogether, it does not seem
that the above is overdrawn in the least. Connolly was himself a drunken,
iooPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
blasphemous man who worked for hire, and the men under him were only too
apt to imitate his examples of outlawry. He supplied his men with all the
whiskey they could drink, and the only work they needed to do was to forage
through the town of Pittsburg and the country surrounding it, for provisions
and for horse feed. These they did not scruple to take by force. Dunmlore
now opened several offices for the sale of lands that are now in Fayette, Washington, Greene and Allegheny counties. A warrant was granted for any number of acres on the payment of two shillings and six pence (at its highest value
less than sixty cents), and in addition to this the purchaser was to pay ten
shillings per hundred acres, while the Proprietaries were selling lands here at
five pounds per hundred acres. This was a great inducement for settlers to
purchase from Virginia rather than to go to the Proprietaries' office, and the
reader must remember that the Dunmore sales were sanctioned by the laws of
Virginia and that these purchases were made from the governor. He also estalilished three courts in the region he claimed. Two were south of the Monongahela and one north at Redstone Fort, the name of which he changed to Fort
Burd. Courts for the county of West Augusta were also established at Pittsburg, perhaps to more thoroughly strengthen his pretended rights to this section.  The first session of Virginia court was held at Pittsburg, February
2I, 1775, and lasted four days, and then adjourned to Staunton, Virginia.
Other sessions were held in May and September of that year. These courts, by
the way, were held regularly for West Augusta county, Virginia, in Pittsburg,
until November 30, I776, at which time the Virginia territory was divided into
three counties, namely: Ohio, Yohogania and Monongalia county. Pittsburg
was in Yohogania county and it included most of the present counties of Allegheny and Washington. The courts of Yohogania county were held regularly
until August 28, 1780, but they were not always held at Pittsburg. A log court
house and jail had been built on the farm of Andrew Heath, on the Monongahela river, near the present Washington county line, and there many sessions
were held.
The agents of the Penns, their magistrates and the higher class of men
were tireless in their efforts to induce the inhabitants to remain at their homes,
which they were rapidly clearing in the wilderness. The association tried to
strengthen public confidence and advised and aided the rural citizens to have
their firearms ready and at the first call of danger to fly to each others' assistance. Arthur St. Clair was regarded as the leader in all military operations.
The governor, having great confidence in his judgment, left the direction of
both military and civil affairs in a great measure to him, and he gave the matter
his personal supervision. Stockades and block houses were erected at many
points where there were a sufficient number of people to warrant them. The
stockade at Ligonier was repaired and one which had been begun at Hannastown was rapidly pushed towards completion under his general supervision. A
fort was built at Kittanning; Fort Shippen, Fort Allen and Fort Palmer were
also built, for it must be remembered that troubles were not by any means conI01:A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fined to the region of Pittsburg. St. Clair busied himself in opening up roads so
that the association for defences could more rapidly move from one stockade to
another. Under him a ranging party of sixty young men had been organized, at Ligonier for defense against the Indians, and these were now increased to one hundred and ten. He called them together and after drilling
them placed them so as to be of the most service. Twenty were thus posted at
Turtle Creek, twenty at Bullock's Pens, seven miles east of Pittsburg; thirty at
Hannastown; twenty at Proctors, which was near the St. Vincent's Monastery,
and twenty at Ligonier. On every idle report the people sought the shelter of
the forts and block houses, and these rangers were posted so as to, strengthen
public confidence. So many families had already deserted their homes that
whole communities were abandoned. St. Clair himself says that it was surprising and shameful that so great a body of people should be driven from their
possessions without even the appearance of an Indian, for no incursions by the
red men had been made in the territory then supposed to belong to Pennsylvania. On June II, I774, a report was put in circulation that a party of Indians had been seen near Hannastown, and another on the Braddock road some
miles south. The report aroused the whole community. St. Clair mounted a
swift horse and rode over the country to ascertain the facts.  He found no
proof whatever and decided that the report was, at all events, highly improbable, but he could not pursuade the people of this. He stated in his letterthat he was certain that he met no fewer than two hundred families and two
thousand cattle in twenty miles' riding. The people of Ligonier Valley before
this had made a stand, but on that day almost the entire population moved into
the stockade. They were determined on leaving the country at once, and so
strong was this desire that St. Clair says that had they left they would have
forced him to go with them. He says further that their harvests were then
uncut and had they gone many of them must have perished with starvation.
This excitement was general and arose mainly from the fear of a union of Connolly's army and the Indians. They could withstand one but not both. There
was abundant evidence of an Indian invasion, but it was aimed against Virginia
and not against Pennsylvania. This, however, showed those in authority that
the only hope of general peace was a determination of the disputed boundary
and a settlement of the jurisdiction of the rival courts and civil powers, for it
was plain from this that the Indians were in some degree respecting the terms of
the Stanwix Treaty, which provided that they should not molest Pennsylvania.
It is not our intention to take the reader through Dunmore's War. The part
of it which we have narrated is the part which most directly concerns Pittsburg.
The real war was largely brought about by Dunmore and Connolly. Their
high-handed rule in Pennsylvania so exasperated the Indians that the western
part of the province escaped an Indian raid only through the skill and diplomacy
of the Penns, St. Clair and other prominent citizens here. There is little doubt
but for the regard which the Indians had for their'treaty at Fort Stanwix, all
our country would have been at the mercy of the enemy. The Indians did at
I02PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I03
length raise the tomahawk against Virginia, and this contest is known to us as
Dunmore's War.
In September, I774, Dunmore, at the head of his army, came to Pittsburg
and at once issued a proclamation in which he demanded the immediate submission of all citizens west of Laurel Hill, to his county government. The
army, reaching here on September ISt, had been organized by the government
of Virginia--and after remaining in Pittsburg for nearly a month they went
down the Ohio in keel boats, flat boats and barges. He and his followers had
repeatedly fired on friendly Indians on the Ohio, notably at Captina Creek, sixteen miles below Wheeling, and at Yellow Creek, midway between Pittsburg
and Wheeling. A large party of friendly Indians had collected in an encampment at Yellow Creek. The surrounding inhabitants prepared to flee and met
at the house of Joshua Baker. From there they fired on the Indians and killed
among others, a brother and a daughter of Logan. He was one of the great
Indian warriors of his day and this induced him to take up the matter himself.
The settlers fled at once and filled all the block-houses between Fort Pitt and
Laurel Hill. Logan, himself, at the head of eight sturdy Cayuga warriors,
overran the county and showed no mercy to the defenceless inhabitants, and his
actions were imitated by many other Indians. The real suffering of the Virginia frontier will never be known, for many lonely families were entirely exterminated. Colonel Lewis, a brave officer of Virginia, had assembled an army
of about I,IOO, organized by the government of Virginia, on the Little Kanawha.
From there they marched to the mouth of the Big Kanawha, camping at a
place called Point Pleasant. Dunmore's army was to meet him there, but he
failed to do so, for reasons which he never gave. Lewis and his force arrived
there on October I, I774, and learned on October gth that instead of marching to meet him Dunmore had remained at Fort Pitt, where he was in consultation with Connolly, Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and others who afterwards
became notorious Tories and traitors. When here he apparently wanted to
look after the civil affairs of Pittsburg. In the meantime the Indians down the
Ohio had collected the ablest warriors of the Ohio river tribes, composed of the
Shawnees, Mingoes, Delawares, Wyandottes and Cayugas, and had a force fully
as large as the Virginia army under Lewis. This force of Indians was commanded by Cornstalk, chief of the Shawnees and king of the Northern Confederacy of Indians. Cornstalk was one of the ablest leaders of his race, surpassing Logan and Guyasuta and comparing well even with Pontiac. He
hesitated long before he went into the war against Virginia, but when he did so
he attacked the army by a plan which would have done the highest credit to any
general even though he had made the science of war a lifelong study. His
movements were made with a vigilance and bravery which has seldom been
equaled in our military history. The Virginians were encamped in a triangle
formed by the union of the Big Kanawha and the Ohio rivers, with high precipitous banks on two sides. With great secrecy and dispatch Cornstalk brought
his warriors forward until they formed a half circle, reaching almost from tlieA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Ohio to the Kanawha rivers. Under the cover of darkness he moved his army
forward until he formed the base line of the triangle on which the Virginians
were encamped, and all this was done without discovery on the part of Lewis
or his men. It was his intention to drive the Virginia army into the point and
cut them to pieces before they could escape over the high banks and across the
river. He accordingly meant to make his line so strong that they could not
break through. His orders were to kill any of his men who should attempt to
run back. The Indian chief knew that reinforcements were coming to Lewis's
army and he meant to bring on this battle on the Ioth of October, by which
time he also meant to have his base line entirely completed. Had the chief had
but one more day the Virginians would probably not have escaped, but before
his line was completed Lewis, on October gth, learned that Dunmore was not
coming to support him but was moving on the Ohio Indians directly. Lewis,
therefore, hastened to break up his camp and march to meet Dunmore over in
Ohio. By scouts sent out along the rivers he discovered the presence of the
Indian line complete almost from river to river, the small gap being on the
Kanawha side. Lewis ordered out his army, but they were met bravely by the
Indians under Cornstalk and at once driven back to their camp with heavy
losses, particularly among the leading officers. The Indians fought desperately
all day and advanced their ground by means of logs and brush, which they rolled
and pushed before them, from behind which they, in comparative safety, poured
a deadly fire into the Virginians. It then appeared that, notwithstanding the
fact that the battle had come a day soonqer than they expected it, they were in a
fair way to come off victorious. But Lewis executed a bold movement which
at once changed the fortunes of the day. Late in the afternoon he sent three
companies up the banks of the Kanawha. They passed through the gap which
the chief had not time to close up, and succeeded in gaining the rear of the
enemy. The Indians were so intent on the front that when the three companies,
according to Lewis's orders, opened a tremendous fire on their rear they thought
the reinforcements, which they knew were on their way, had actually arrived,
and under this misapprehension the line gave way. As the sun went down in
the evening the Indians retreated across the Ohio to their homes, and Lewis
was undoubtedly glad to let them go. The Virginians lost about one-fifth of
their number, and while the Indian loss was less, they still suffered greatly.
This battle was the chief one and the turning point of Dunmore's War. Later
Dunmore treated with the Indians' chiefs, and it was at this memorable council
that Logan spoke the eloquent speech in defence of his race which has remained the school boy's delight for more than a century. Because of Lewis's
victory the Indians in the Scioto valley were compelled to accept Dunmore's
terms of peace, but the latter took all the credit to himself and gave Lewis
none of the glory of his treaty.
After his treaty with the Indians in Ohio, Duninore did not return to
Pittsburg, but Connolly came here almost immediately and began proceedings
very much like those he had carried on before the war. In November a number
r 04PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
of armed men under his direction seized an agent of the Penns named Scott and
carried him to Brownsville, where he was required to give bail for his appearance at the next court to be held in Pittsburg for Augusta county. In the same
month another armed mob went to Hannastown, broke open the jail and released two prisoners who were their friends. In February a company, though
not under Connolly's immediate command, broke open the same jail and released three prisoners. This last party was commanded by William Harrison,
a son-in-law of Justice Crawford. Justices Hanna and the sheriff, who were
awakened from their slumbers by the noise, remonstrated with them for this
lawless act, and a short time later, February 25th, Hanna and Justice Cavett
were taken by the mob and confined in the guard room at Fort Pitt for three
months.
The Continental Congress finally in a measure took up the matter of the
dispute between the colony and the province. The statesmen of that day regarded these proceedings as iunworthy of men of real dignity. On July 25,
I775, the delegates, among whom were Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and
Benjamin Franklin, issued a circular urging the people of this region of both
sides to a mutual forebearance. They recommended that all armed men kept
by either party should be dismissed, although the Virginia forces were the only
force ever kept here except the few citizens who were necessarily armed to, in
self defence, resist Connolly's outrages. On August 7th, the Convention of
Virginia directed Captain John Neville to take possession of Fort Pitt. His
army, consisting of about one hundred men, was under the pay of the colony.
It may have been that the Convention which thus ordered him did not know of
the resolution of July 25th. Accordingly in August, I775, Captain Neville
started to Pittsburg from Winchester, his army being raised in the Shenendoah
Valley. They arrived here on September I Ith, and immediately took charge of
Fort Pitt. The Penns endured even this without murmur. Neville, by the
way, remained in the fort until I777, at first as a Virginia officer, but later his
force became a loyal adjunct of the American army. After the Revolution he
settled in Pittsburg and became identified with the interests of the city. We
shall meet him again in the account of the Whiskey Insurrection and elsewhere
in these chapters. At this timne, with the fortress in their hands and many of
Connolly's men still in the field, and with the courts of Yohogania county being
regularly held here, and all functions of the government under the control of
Virginia, those who were strict adherents of the Penns and believed themselves
under their authority, had indeed great cause to be disheartened. We may further add that senators and delegates to the Virginia legislature were regularly
chosen in Pittsburg and in this section to serve in the Virginia State Capitol.
Virginia indeed seemed to have complete dominion.
The conduct of Connolly at Pittsburg finally became so outrageous that almost the entire town took up arms against him. On June 7, I775, St. Clair took
twenty men from his company of rangers and.again arrested him and took him
to Ligonier. It was his intention to deliver him up to the military authorities
Io05A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
at Philadelplhia. But bad as he was he had friends among the Virginia settlers
at Pittsburg. These feared that his arrest was the beginning of proceedings
against their Virginia titles and they were ever vigilant of their rights in that
(lirection. Lest his imprisonment in the east might, therefore, further alienate
these people, when St. Clair learned of their violent demonstrations, he let him
go, but both his and Dunmore's reign in Western Pennsylvania was rapidly
drawing to a close. Leaving Pennsylvania by night Connolly journeyed to
Portsmouth, Virginia, where he met Dunmore, who had sought safety on the
British man-of-war, "Fowney."  Dunmore never returned, but Connolly continued by correspondence to foment trouble in Western Pennsylvania, and was
finally arrested at Fredericksburg. Dunmore escaped punishment by entering
the English service in the Revolutionary War.  When Connolly was arrested the last time he was with two accomplices and had papers concealed sufficient to condemn him. An examination of these papers showed that he was in
conspiracy with General Gage, and of course with Dunmore, the plan being that
Connolly was to be made colonel of a regiment which they hoped to enlist in
Western Pennsylvania and Virginia for the service of the'king. This regiment
was to proceed to Detroit, then held as a British military post. There they
were to be supplied and equipped, with the addition of such Indian allies as
Connolly could induce to join him. They were then to proceed to Fort Pitt
and thence form a junction with a similar force with Dunmore in April, I776.
This scheme was frustrated by Connolly's arrest. He was imprisoned in Philadelphia and in I777 General Ewing became his bondsman for good behavior and
took him to his farm to regain his health, but he soon betrayed the general's confidence and was returned to prison. He was finally released from prison in
1780, and at once-began to plot an attack on Pittsburg, which he was to approach from Canada. This scheme failing, he renewed it in I782 and actually
collected forces for that purpose on Lake Champlain. By the aid of a spy sent
out, General Irvine discovered the plot and took such meas,ures as were necessary to end it.. Still later, in I788, he appeared in Kentucky, where he tried to
induce a following to join Lord Dorchester, who was then governor of Canada,
in the seizure of New Orleans and in the opening of the Mississippi river to
western commerce, but this scheme failed ignominiously. After that he was deserted by friends and'relatives and, it is said, died in poverty, made still more
miserable by intemperance. Many think that to him and Dunmore the people
of Pittsburg and of Western Pennsylvania generally, owe in a great measure
their political independence. They, and particularly Connolly, were to the people of this section, and especially to the Pittsburg people, what General Gage
was to the people of Boston at the beginning of the Revolution. By ruling
them with an iron hand Gage made them more than ever hostile to the King
whom he represented. So it was with Dunmore and Connolly. For years their
names were detested by all law abiding citizens but no one ever regarded them
as anything else than representatives of King George III. Perhaps had it not
io6PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I07
been for them and their many outrages the West would not have acquitted itself
so splendidly in the Revolution which soon followed.
The province endeavored to hold the territory mainly through the civil
organization of Westmoreland county, which, as we have seen, embraced not
only the territory of Allegheny county but of Southwestern Pennsylvania,
though possessiofi of the out lying districts in the extreme southwest was even
then doubted by the Proprietaries themselves. In the meantime the Penns were
trying to have the boundary line adjusted. It is probable that but for the Indians who were common enemy of the citizens of both colony and province, this
could not have been accomplished. Neither side would relinquish any material
points, though several attempts, each of which promised to be successful, were
from time to time made.
Governor Penn wrote a letter to Governor Dunmore in which he scarcely
claimed as much territory in this section as was really belonging to the province.
He says: "The western extent of the province of Pennsylvania by the royal
grant is five degrees of longitude from the Delaware which is the eastern boundary." Taking into consideration Mason and Dixon's line of I763-I767 he says,
he had calculations made by several competent mathematicians and all agreed
that Pittsburg "is nearly six miles east of the western extent of the province."
Dunmore's reply of March 3, I774, disputed the line as laid down by Penn.
Dunmore claimed that the five degree line should be measured on the northern
boundary of Pennsylvania and that the southern boundary should begin not at
the Delaware river but at the circle twelve miles distant from New Castle and
run west to a meridian which should pass through the western extremity of the
northern boundary as he had outlined it. Surveyors have long since demonstrated that Penn's proposition gave Virginia more than she claimed and less
than was really belonging to them, for Pittsburg is about thirty miles east of the
western boundary. Dunmore's proposition in reality gave to Pennsylvania
about what was due the province, that is about what afterwards came to her,
and it was, therefore, more than the Penns demanded. All this tends to show
how little was known of our territory by those who were handling the matter
and were at sword's point over it.
For years, as the reader has seen, the governors of Pennsylvania in every
way sought to adjust this boundary line, yet all their efforts failed. The question passed out of tl-e public mind during the Revolutionary War, for then both
Pennsylvania and Virginia were united in a common cause. A more successful movement was made in I779. Five men, three from Pennsylvania, named
George Bryan, John Ewing and David Rittenhouse and two from Virginia,
named James Madison and Robert Andrews, were selected to determine the
point, the agreement entered into by them being signed August 3I, I779. It
provided that they, on behalf of their respective states, should ratify and confirm an agreement to extend Mason and Dixon's line due west five degrees of
longitude from the Delaware and that this should be the southern boundary of
Pennsylvania, and that the meridian line drawn from the western terminus ofA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ernment, and to procure furs and skins which abounded in the new country,
and which were purchased largely from the Indians.
The London Company was. chartered by the English government in I607
and in I609. To it was granted all the land lying between a point two hundred
miles south and a point two hundred miles north of Point Comfort, and this
grant extended "into the land throughout from sea to sea." This vast domain,
fronting four hundred miles on the Atlantic ocean, was called Virginia in honor
of the Maiden Queen so noted in English history. By the middle of the seventeenth century, Virginia had likewise become strong, and while the boundary
line between Pennsylvania and Virginia had not been definitely determined, the
Virginians laid a general claim to the region surrounding the head waters of
the Ohio river, but did little else to sustain the claim than to gradually extend
their settlements westward. Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, had in I716
organized an expedition, the object of which was to march westward and lay
claim to it. They came as far west as the Shenandoah, where with due ceremony the Governor assumed possession of all this fair country in the name of
King George I.
In I748 the Ohio Company was organized under a royal charter. Its
chief officers were Robert Dinwiddie, the Governor, Lawrence and Augustine
Washington, and John Hanbury, a London merchant. This Company was
granted 500,000 acres of land west of the Allegheny mountains, to be located
chiefly south of the Ohio river and between the Monongahela and Kanawha
rivers. They had the privilege, however, of surveying a portion of these lands
north of the Ohio river. Two hundred thousand acres were to be selected at
once. By the terms of their charter the land was to be free from tax for ten
years, but in return they were to settle one hundred families on it within seven
years, and to build and maintain a fort for the protection of the settlers. The
chief object of the Company was to (livert the fur trade with the Indians from
the French in the north and from Pennsylvania. This trade the Company
thought they could carry on with great advantage over the northern traders by
the waters of the Potomac, whose head waters were near those of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. A further object was to assert their right to
this section and thus hold it for Virginia, for their claim had been heretofore
merely a constructive one. If the reader will remember that this entire section
was covered by a dense forest, inhabited only by Indians and wild animals, he
will better understand the struggle between the French and the English for this
prolific field, inviting alike to the dealer in furs and skins, and to the pioneer
who sought to conquer the unbroken wilderness and carve for himself a home
anmong its hills.
Great Britain and France had been at war. Though the treaty of Aix!a
Chapelle, signed October I, 1748, closed the war, it failed to establish the
boundaries between the colonies of these two countries in America. The claim
of neither of these two contesting colonies to the land around the head waters
of the Ohio was perfect but each had a show of title which, by even a nomi2A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
this Mason and Dixon line to the northern limit of Pennsylvania should be the
western boundary of our state. This agreement was confirmed and ratified by
the legislature of Virginia on June 23, I780 but they added certain conditions,
and it was ratified by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania on September 23,
I780. The conditions which Virginia added to the agreement were that private
property and the rights of all persons acquired under, founded on or recognized
by the laws of either county previous to that date should be saved and confirmed by them, although they should be found to fall within the limits of the
other; and that in the decision of disputes thereon, preference should be given to
the older or prior right, regardless of which state the right was granted under.
These conditions were recognized and the agreement finally ratified by Act of
April I, I784. During the year of 1784 the boundaries were run and marked
by stones set in the ground. This celebrated line is the parallel of latitude 39
degrees, 43 minutes and 26 seconds.
It was not an easy task to make this survey and determine this western
point from which the northern meridian should be drawn. Mason and Dixon
had come from England and had worked two years at their line. In establishing it they had assumed that a degree of longitude on that parallel was 53 miles
and I67.I perches. If that was correct it only needed to be extended 23 miles
to complete the five degrees west from the Delaware. Doubters appeared on
both sides and it was therefore agreed that this point should be established by
astronomical observations. This required time and preparation, so in the meantime a temporary line was run. Alexander McLean, a Pennsylvania surveyor,
was appointed to draw this line in conjunction with Dr. James Madison, who had
been appointed by Virginia. After much delay June I, I782, was selected as
the day to begin to survey the temporary line. McLean appeared, but. the Virginia appointee and his surveyor, Joseph Neville, did not. An armed body of
Virginians were on the ground and prevented McLean from proceeding with
his work. Finally McLean and Neville ran the line in the fall of I782. The
permanent line and the point was determined by astronomers and surveyors appointed by the two states for that purpose in I784. The commission was divided into two parties. One party went to the point on the Delaware where
Mason and Dixon began, and the other went to the point at the western
terminus of the temporary line, supposed to be the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. At each of these places an observatory was erected.  After several
weeks of astronomical observations, each party thought they had adjusted their
chronometers to the true time. On September 20 the party from the point oi
the Delaware set out to meet those at the western point and to compare their
observations. This comparison showed a difference of one and one-eighth seconds. They adjusted this and the permanent corner of the state was definitely
established. The joint report of the commissioners is dated November I8,
I784. Because of the inclement weather the report says they delayed running
the western boundary till the following year. In M\ay, I785, they met as they
losPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
had agreed and established for all time, the western boundary of the state.
Their report is dated on the 23rd of August, I785.
On the north side of the mile stones mentioned was carved the arms of the
Penn family, and on the south side the arms of Lord Baltimore, as far west as
the Maryland line. West of this the stones had the letter "P" engraved on the
north side and the letter "V" on the south side, for they were set up after the divesting act was passed and after Pennsylvania and Virginia had both become
states. These stones were carved in England and brought to America, and
must have been hauled hundreds of miles on wagons.
But even after this dispute was far on the way to be definitely and irrevocably settled, there was great trouble around Pittsburg. The Virginians
were a people of great pride in the Old Dominion and looked down upon the
Quakers of Pennsylvania and on the German settlers, commonly called "Pennsylvania Dutch."  They had come here with no intention of leaving their beloved Virginia, but with the assurance that they were settling within her
boundaries. Accordingly, when they found themselves about to actually become citizens of- Pennsylvania, their wrath knew no bounds. They- applied to
the Continental Congress for some measure of relief, but the latter had
sufficient trouble on its hands and, so far as we can learn, paid no attention
whatever to their petition. Their next move was to advocate the formation of
a new state, for states were now in vogue, to be composed of parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, with Pittsburg as its capital. This would unite
many Virginians in one state and relieve them from the opprobrium of being
in the same state with the Pennsylvania Germans and the Quakers in the East,
all of whom they despied. This movement grew very rapidly and was not by
any means an unpopular one in Pittsburg. All the powers of the state were
called into requisition to defeat it, and as a last resort, an act was passed in
December, I782, declaring all such measures to be treason.
iogCHAPTER \II.
Early Courts of the County-Severe Sentences-Species of Slavery.
Shortly after the courts of the new county were opened at Hannastown, the
trustees began the erection of a jail. It was made of logs, using only the largest
trees: It was a square building of one story and one room. It was strong
enough to hold the average prisoner, and those who were considered dangerous
or likely to break jail were chained to the logs. Even in comparison to the number incarcerated, jail breaking was not so common then as now. Nearby the
jail was the whipping post and the pillory, for it must be remembered that our
laws then required these instruments of punishment and they were used in
Hannastown, as will be seen further on. The whipping post was a section of a
small tree, perhaps a foot in diameter, hewn flat on one side and firmly inlplanted in the ground. About six feet from the ground was a cross-piece five
or six feet long, thoroughly fastened to it. The whippings were always public
performances. When the wrongdoer was about to be thus punished his wrists
were tied together and his hands were drawn up and tied to the end of this
cross piece. The culprit was then ready to expiate his crimes and afford a
public illustration of the vaunted majesty of the English law, which Blackstone
calls, "the accummulated wisdom of all ages."  The sheriff or his deputy did
the whipping. The pillory was made like large folding doors and fastened between two upright posts. In this door were three holes and through these
holes the head and arms of the prisoner were passed and his arms tied together.
In this position he was forced to stand for such a period as his sentence directed. By the English law, which was then in force in Hannastown, any person passing a prisoner in the pillory had a right to throw one stone at him.
The pillory was erected in the open, where a passer-by could exercise his timehonored common law right of stone-casting. The court records show that this
method of punishment was not by any means uncommon in Hannastown.
It is impossible from the records to determine from what section of Westmoreland county the defendants hailed, but the following sentences of the
courts are taken from the records as kept in Hannastown, and are now in
Greensburg. All of Pittsburg's cases were tried there, and since it was the
largest and only important t6own in the county, it is quite safe to presume thatPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
III
many of them originated in Pittsburg. At all events they are fairly representative of the early work of our courts. The first man to be whipped was James
Brigland, who, in October, I773, plead guilty to a felony and was sentenced
by Judge William Crawford to receive ten lashes on his bare back, well laid on,
the next morning, between the hours of eight and ten o'clock. But Brigland
had been convicted of another crime and the sentence in the second case was
that on the morning following his first whipping, he was to receive twenty additional lashes. Luke Picket was found guilty of stealing and was sentenced
to receive twenty-one lashes on his bare back, well laid on, the following morning between the hours of eight and ten o'clock. So, with Huens West, who
was also convicted of stealing, though his sentence called for but fifteen
lashes. John Smith was charged with stealing and pleaded guilty. His sentence reflects but little credit on our early courts, or rather on the law then in
force which authorized it. We doubt whether the court records of. Western
Pennsylvania can produce its equal in severity for the offense for which he was
sentenced. He was to receive thirty-nine lashes on the bare back well;aid on,
after which his ears were to be cut off and nailed to the pillory, and his sentence reads that he should then stand one hour in the pillory. Fortunately our
court history is not often disgraced with sentences so inhuman as this.
William Howard suffered one hour in the pillory in 1774 after having
received thirty lashes on the bare back well laid on. This sentence was carried
out in the month of January when the temperature is not supposed to have been
very mild. In October, 1775, Elizabeth Smith was ordered to receive fifteen
lashes on the bare back well laid on. She had been an indentured servant of
James Kinkaid who had therefore at that time a right to her uninterrupted
services. Four days after she was whipped, Kinkaid presented a petition to
our courts setting forth that he had been unjustly deprived of her services
While she was in prison and while she was recovering from the effects of the
sentence. He asked the court therefore to redress him for this loss. Judges
Lochry, Sloan and Cavett were on the bench and they deliberately considered
his request and decreed that she, the said Elizabeth Smith, should serve Kinkaid for a period of two years after the expiration of her indenture James McGill was found guilty of a felony in I782 and was sentenced to a public whipping, then to the pillory, after which his one ear was to be cut off and he was
to be branded in the forehead with a red-hot iron.
It is not pleasant to contemplate these atrocious sentences but thev are
matters of our court history and all of them were tried before the Westmoreland courts while Pittsburg was a part of that county. They are introduced
here to preserve them and to give the reader a true picture of the age with
which we are dealing that he may know how our courts have improved and
advanced in their administration of justice in the past century. All of the court
business of this character was conducted in the name of the King of England,
George III. Instead of being headed "Commonwealth vs. John Smith" as is
the custom now the caption was "The King vs. John Smith," etc. But'imme2A CENTURY AND A HALF OF.
diately after July 4, I776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed
the King was dropped from the record and "Republica" or "Respublica" was
substituted and later the change was to the Commonwealth, the caption now
used.
Perhaps the servitude of Elizabeth Smith as referred to above needs some
explanation. We had at this time in Pennsylvania three species of servitude
or slavery that were all found in this community and, moreover, were most
common in the region of Pittsburg. First: there were indentured servants who
were bound either for life or for a term of years, generally for the latter. It
may have been a very harmless indenture but was of very common occurrence.
A minor could thus be indentured by his parents or when twenty-one years
old could indenture himself. Sometimes it was very simple, that is, when a
father indentured his son to pay him a debt or to pay his debt to another perhaps
for the conveyance of a piece of land; it was in any case recognized by the law.
The second class were foreigners who were poor in Europe and by indenture
for a term of years, secured some one to pay their passage money to America.
These indentures were largely in the hands of speculators. The person giving
them was called a "redemptioner" and an indenture was transferable, so that
a speculator could gather up any number of people in Europe, indenture them
for his own service, bring them to America and when here sell their services to
the highest bidder or at private sale. Thus the speculator could realize a large
profit on the amount invested for passage money. This species of servitude
is illustrated in a number of more recent American novels and became somewhat noted more than a century ago in the case of James Annesly who was a
true heir to the estates of Lord Altham in Ireland. When a lad he was stolen
from his parents by his uncle who brought him to Philadelphia and sold him
as a redemptioner or slave. Two of his countrymen who chanced to be in
Lancaster county recognized him and took him back to Ireland where legal
proceedings were instituted which result'ed in his reinstatement as the rightful
heir to his paternal estates. This remarkable trial is reported in English law
books and is the ground work of Charles Reade's novel, "The Wandering
Heir."  The romance of his career also furnished the plot for "Guy Mannering," "Roderick Random" and. "Florence Macarthy."
Our forefathers sanctioned all this by their laws, court decisions and
actions.  Many inferior people were brought to America atld some of very
good blood too. Redemptioners were very common in Westmoreland, particularly in the river districts. Many of our farmers and well-to-do people purchased their servants. Sometimes the position of a redemptioner was but little
better than that of a negro slave in the South but it is a deplorable fact that the
more we look into the matter the less we vene'rate many of our pioneer ancestors
who made high pretensions. We should not judge them too harshly, however,
but on the contrary we must take into consideration the condition of the country,
its laws and the age in which they lived. The people could not be expected to
be better than the laws which governed them and in that day a man was allowed
I12PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I 13
to beat his wife if the stick he used was not thicker than the judge's thumb.
Many who came from England and Ireland and settled near Pittsburg purchased large tracts of land and at once regarded themselves as nabobs, owners of large landed estates like the landlords of England. They tried to emulate and imitate the weaker rather than the stronger characteristics of the
landed gentry of Great Britain. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, afterward justice
of the supreme court and one of the brightest men of his day in Pittsburg, in
a work entitled "Modern Chivalry" says that they had men in Pittsburg, who
held and abused slaves and redemptioners who would not for a "fine cow have
shaved their beards on Sunday."  Our courts frequently in other cases than
Kinkaid vs. Smith as noted above, were called on and did extend time of servitude of redemptioners because of loss of time and various other reasons mentioned in the petitions of their masters. This can be seen in the case of
George Paul vs. Margaret Butler of July Sessions I773, and in the case of
Semple vs. Jane Adams, July Sessions I778, and in many intervening cases.
In July Sessions I773 John Campbell stated by petition that his servant Michael
Henry had been sent to, jail and that the petitioner therefore sustained a loss
of 2 pounds and 17 shillings together with much time and annoyance. He
therefore asked the court for such redress as it saw fit to grant him. The
court decreed that Michael Henry should serve him 4 I-2 months after the expiration of his indenture. So in the case of Gutchell vs. Quilkin at the same
term of court wherein Andrew Gutchell sets forth that his servant Joseph Quilkin will not do fiis duty but on the contrary is negligent and idle and prays for
relief against those from whom he purchased Quilkin. The court took Quilkin
into its custody and issued a summons against Robert Meek, Alexander Bowling and William Bashers to appear at the next session and give sufficient reasons for selling Quilkin as a servant. Again, on motion of Mr. Wilson in behalf of George Paul, setting forth that Margaret Butler, his servant girl, had
by reason of sickness and disobedience, deprived him of much time and forced
him to incur expenses for her, the court adjudged that the said Margaret Butler should serve the said master, George Paul, one year and six months from
the time mentioned in her indenture. In April sessions of I779 one Godfrey sets forth by petition that he had been bought as a servant by Edward
Lindsey and by Lindsey sold to Edwin Price and by Price sold to William
Newell and that the term of his servitude had expired. The court heard the
testimony, and whereas, William Newell, the last purchaser, was not in court
to defend his claim to a longer service, Godfrey was discharged from further
bondage.
The following bill of sale from Valentine Crawford to John Mintor, a
copy of which is in the court files in Greensburg, will illustrate lhow these people
were indentured: "Know all men by these presents that I, Valentine Crawford
of the County of West Augusta, for and in consideration of the sum of Fifty
Pounds lawful money to him in hand paid by John Mintor, the receipt whereof
I do hereby acknowledge, have bargained and sold unto the said John Mintor a
8A CENTURY AND 4 HALF OF
certain negro woman named Sail, which said negro I, the said Valentine Crawford, will forever warrant and defend to the said John Mintor, his heirs and
assigns. In witness I have hereunto set my hand and seal this I2th day of
April, I776." The reader will remember that Pittsburg, according to the
claims of Virginia, was in West Augusta county at that time.
The third species of servitude to which we have referred was African
Slavery. There were many slaves held in and around Pittsburg for the original
settlers were largely from Virginia, but the institution was nor confined to the
river district. George Washington then owned property in Westmoreland
county, and his agent, Valentine Crawford, whose bill of sale we have quoted,
worked Washington's property, in part at least, with slaves. In a letter to
Washington dated July 27, I774, he says: "Dear Colonel: On Sunday evening or Monday one of the most orderly men I thought I had run away and has
taken a horse and other things. I have sent you an advertisement of him.
* * * I have sold all the men but two and I believe I should have sold them
but the man who has run away had a very sore foot which was cut with an axe
and John Smith was not well of the old disorder he had when he left your house.
I sold Peter Miller and John Wood to Edward Cook for forty-five pounds, the
money to be applied to building your mill. I sold Thomas McPherson and his
wife, and James Howe to Major James McCullough and Jonas Ennis for sixtyfive pounds payable in six months from date. To my brother I sold William Luke,
Thomas White and the boy, John Knight. He is to pay you for them, or if you
open up your plantation down the Ohio he is to return them to you. * * *
I should have sold all of the servants agreeable to your letter if I could have got
cash or good pay for them but the confusion of the times put it out of my power.
I went down to Fort Pitt a day or two and two of my own servants ran away.
I followed them and caught them at Bedford and brought them back. While I
was gone two or your servants stole a quantity of bacon and so I sold them at
once." The following is a copy of the advertisement referred to in the above letter from Crawford to Washington:
FIVE POUNDS REWARD.
Ran away from the subscriber, living on Jacob's Creek, near Stewart's
Crossing in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on Sunday night the 24th instant, a convict servant man named William Orr, the property of Colonel
George Washington. He is a well-made man about 5 ft. Io in. high and about
24 years of age. He was born in Scotland and speaks that dialect pretty much.
He is of a red complexion and very full faced with short sandy colored hair and
very remarkable thumbs, they both being crooked. He had on and took with
him an old felt hat bound with black binding, one near cotton coat and a jacket
with horn buttons one old brown jacket, a pair of snuff colored breeches, one pair
of trousers made in sailor fashion and they are made of sail duck, and have not
been washed, a pair of red leggins and shoes tied with strings, two Osnabury
shirts and one Highland shirt marked "V. C.," which he stole, and a blanket.
He stole likewise a black horse about fourteen hands high branded on the
near shoulder "R. W." and shod before. He had neither bridle nor saddle that
we know of. I expect he will make some seaport town as he has been much
II4PITTSBURG, AND. HER PEOPLE'15
used to the seas. Whoever takes up the said servant and secures him so that
he and horse may be had again shall receive the above reward, or three pounds
for the man alone and reasonable charges if brought home paid by me.
All masters of vessels are forbidden taking him out of the country on their
peril.                                             VAL CRAWFORD,
July 25th, I774.                           For Col. George Washington.
By Act of MIarch I, I780, African slavery was abolished in Pennsylvania.
It provided that every one who held negroes or mulattoes as slaves was obliged
to file with the clerk of the court of quarter sessions of the county in which he
resided, his or her name and the names, number, sex and age of all slaves held
by him. The conflicting boundary claims of Virginia and Pennsylvania had
not yet been definitely settled and many around Pittsburg who held slaves
claimed that they were not amenable to the Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature of March Ist, but held that they should be governed by the Virginia Acts.
This,resulted in a special act in Pennsylvania dated April I3, 1782, by which the
time of making,the registry of slaves in Westmoreland was extended. The list
of slaves made by their masters in pursuance of these acts is yet in the office of
the clerk of courts in Greensburg. It contains the names of 342 male slaves
and 349 females and 4 whose sex is not given. Eleven are called mulattoes.
The names of the slave owners are of those who were most prominent in social
life and, of course, of the more wealthy people of the county of that day.
Among them are the names of'two clergymen, while at least six of the early
ministers in and around Pittsburg and nearly all of the leading elders and officers of the various churches were slave holders. They were generally members
of the Scotch Presbyterian Church and this species of slavery was largely confined to the southern part of the county along the rivers and to the locality in
and about Pittsburg. After the passage of the above Acts of Assembly many
slave holders removed from here to Maryland and Virginia and carried their
slaves with them. They did this rather than manumit them according to the
~mandates of the new acts. Both the acts above referred to, in phraseology and
sentiments of benevolence and civil liberty, no less than in their remedial benefits, stand out prominently and are not surpassed by any of our legislative
enactments.
The cases in which the sentences are given were all tried in the Westmoreland courts before Allegheny county was taken from its territory. There
were also two murder cases tried at Hannastown, one of which is fraught with
great interest. It was the case of an Indian named Mamachtaga, who was
defended in court by Hugh Henry Brackenridge, then a resident of Pittsburg.
He has left a complete account of the trial. The Indian was a Delaware and
though his tribe had generally been friendly to the white settlers, he was always hostile. There was a camp of Delawares on Kilbuck Island, near Pitts-burg. Mamachtaga was among them and was badly intoxicated. A man
named John Smith visited the tribe, whereupon the drunken Indian fell on him
with a knife and killed him. Another man named Evans was also killed before4A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the infuriated Indian could be overpowered. The murderer was confined in
the guard-house, the lock-up of Pittsburg being insecure, and it was considered
unsafe at that time to transport him to the county seat, Hannastown. Our
ordinary judges competent to try other cases had, as the reader will remember,
no jurisdiction in capital cases, and there was considerable delay in sending a
supreme court judge to Hannastown to try the case. There were, several attempts in the meantime, on the part of the citizens, to secure the Indian murderer
and shoot him. The people in and around Pittsburg scarcely thought that an
Indian had any rights before the law. Failing to secure the Indian they tried to
force Brackenridge to take an oath not to defend him. The people were also
afraid that the Delaware Indians would release him by force or that he would
break jail. So Robert Galbraith, a loyal citizen, wrote to President Dickinson,
of the supreme executive council, urging him to send the properly qualified
judges at once so that the Indian might have a speedy trial. He also asked the
president in this letter to send the death warrant along with them, to save time,
as he said, for there was no doubt whatever about his conviction.
The Indian gave his attorney an order on another Indian for a beaver skin
as a fee,, and signed the order by his mark, which Brackenridge says was the
shape of a turkey foot. The attorney exchanged the beaver skin for a blanket
and some food, which he gave to the client, for in his confinement he was very
uncomfortable. But the Indian now thought that the beaver skin satisfied the
law for his crime of killing; a good beaver skin was a high price to pay for killing a white man. Judg'e McKean came to Hannastown to try him, and they
had great difficulty to get the Indian to plead "not guilty"; to deny the killing
was foreign to his ideas of the real dignity of an Indian warrior, and, moreover, he had paid for the dead man with a good beaver skin, and how could he
deny the killing. According to his belief, the killing of a white man was a
badge of honor that a warrior should boast of rather than deny. The court,
however, entered his plea of "not guilty," and the case went on. The Indian
challenged the jurors, rejecting the cross, sour looking ones and accepting
cheerful, pleasant faced men to try his case. Brackenridge defended him on
the plea of drunkenness and that he did not know what he was doing when he
did the killing. This was overruled by the court, but when the savage was told
through his interpreter that the judge would not excuse him on that account, he
said he hoped the Great Spirit above would do so. The jury convicted him'at
once, as was predicted in the letter written by Galbraith. When the interpreter
told him that he must die, he asked that Sheriff Orr should shoot him instead
of tomahawking him. When about to be sentenced he asked that the court
would allow him to hunt and trap and said he would give the proceeds of his
work to the family of the man he had killed. At the same time a man named
Brady was sentenced to be branded on the hand with a red-hot iron. To do
this it was necessary to tie the hand and arm with rope so that a good, clear
letter could be made. The sheriff accordingly went out of the court room and
brought in a rope, the branding tools, etc. The Indian, not having this part of
ii6PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
the proceeding interpreted to him, thought he was to suffer immediately, and
made a great ado about it, but when he saw Brady being tied and branded he
calmed down and seemed to be very much amused by the proceedings. The
judges, as was then the custom in capital cases, wore scarlet robes, and the
Indian said that he thought they were in some way closely connected with the
Great Spirit. While in jail awaiting sentence the jailer's child was taken sick.
The Indian said he could dig roots in the woods to cure it and upon promising
not to try to escape he was taken to the woods where he procured the desired
herbs and from them brewed a medicine which was given to the child. The Indian did not try to escape. When the day of execution arrived he wanted to die
like a warrior and at his request was again taken to the woods where he procured herbs and with the juice of them painted his face red. A simple-minded
white man was to be hanged on the same day though not for murder. The gallows was erected on the hill west of Hannastown, known to this day as Gallows
Hill. It was made of two posts planted in the ground and a third at the top for
a cross-piece. A rope hung from the centre of the cross-piece and a ladder
leaned up against it. The prisoner to be hanged was taken up the ladder, the
rope was adjusted around his neck and then the ladder was removed. The
hands of the prisoner were tied so that he could not grasp the ladder. The
white man was hanged first and the execution passed off all right, but the Indian, being a large, heavy man, broke the rope and fell to the ground. As
soon as he recovered he rose to his feet with a smile on his face, and another
rope was procured. Both ropes being used, he was hanged again and was
strangled to death. With his last words he asked that his tribe should not go
to war to avenge his death. The white man hanged should have been sent to an
insane asylum, but there were none such then to send him to.
As long as St. Clair remained prothonotary" of the courts in Westmoreland with James Bryson as his office deputy, the records were exceedingly well
kept. Had they continued it would not have been well for the early history of
the country, but St. Clair resigned the office and entered the Revolution in I775,
and after him came Michael Huffnagle. During his incumbency the records
were not well kept, and many of them are lost. This may have been in part due
to the exigencies of the times, for they were often secreted from marauding
armies or bands of Indians. They were also repeatedly taken'to other sections
during these strenuous times. For the entire period of the Revolution the
records are most meagre. After some two years of service as prothonotary,
Huffnagle went to war also as captain in the Eighth Regiment and, strange to
say, took the records with him, for he regarded them as private property. It is
probable that he based his claim on the theory that with his own and not with
the public money these journals, dockets, etc., had been purchased. Many demands were made of him for them, but he refused to deliver them up. Finally
the matter was carried to Thomas Wharton, then president of the council, for
the urgent needs of the Westmoreland people demanded their immediate restitution. President Wharton was compelled to lay the matter before General
II7PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
3
nal possession in the absence of opposition from the rightful claimant, might
have ripened into a perfect title. The attempts of each colony for four or five
years after the formation of the Ohio Company to substantiate its claims to this
territory, though small in themselx es, had a great bearing on the country in the
end, and must not be passed over slightingly by the careful student of Pittsburg
history.
The explorer sent out by the French Canadians whose travels are most
deeply fraught with interest to the student of Pittsburg history, was M. Celoron.
In I749 he was sent south to assert the claims of New France to the entire Ohio
Valley. He came down the Allegheny river, which was then called the Upper
Ohio, though sometimes it wras called La Belle Riviere, or Beautiful River. He
was a captain of the troops of New France, and was a Chevalier of St. Louis.
The second in his command was a Captain M. de Contrecoeur. There were
also with him Father Bonnecamp, a Jesuit priest, eight subaltern officers, six
cadets, twenty French soldiers, one hundred and eighty Canadians and thirty
Indians. They started from La Chine near Montreal, on June I5th, and were
borne on their journey by twenty-three canoes. They came up the water of the
St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario, and reached Niagara on July 6th. From
there they journeyed by land, carrying their canoes, baggage and supplies
through the forests to Lake Erie. They had an easy passage on Lake Erie to a
point opposite Lake Chautauqua, where they again carried their outfit over the
land some eight miles to the northern shores of the since famous lake. Thence
by Conewango creek, they finally reached the Allegheny river on July 29th. On
a tree standing on its banks Celoron nailed  a plate bearing the arms of the
King of France, and buried in the ground at the foot of a tree a leaden plate the
inscription of which set forth that he had on the part of the King of France
taken possession of the Ohio river, "and all of those which flow into it, and all of
the tributaries on both sides as far as the source of said rivers as the preceding
Kings of France have possessed or should possess them."  On August 3rd, at
a point eight miles below the mouth of French Creek they "passed a naked
mountain, and near an immense stone upon which certain figures are rudely
carved" he nailed another plate to a tree and buried a leaden plate similar to the
first one. The immense stone now called the "Indian God," is yet lying on the
left bank of the Allegheny river. So far as his journal indicates, these were the
only plates used in the valley, and neither of them have ever been found.
CelorQn at all times tried in every way to make friends with the Indians,
and to enlist them in the cause of the French as against the English. He came
upon several parties of Indian traders, one in particular consisting of six men
and fifty horses carrying one hundred and fifty packages of furs. These he met
at Chartiers Town, built by the Shawanese Indians, and near where the town
of Tarentum now stands. By these traders he sent a letter to the governor of
Pennsylvania which is still on file among the archives of the state. He also
ordered the men to withdraw at once from the territory of the French King.
In the letter he manifested his surprise to find English merchants in the terriii8
A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Washington in a letter.urging its necessity and asking that he order Huffnagle
to appear before the council and give a reason for their detention. Huffnagle
then, to save his own good name with the general, delivered them to the proper
authorities. The idea of an officer of a county retaining his records was not
entirely uncommon in that age. The abuse grew'and grew until I804, when
a law was passed making it obligatory under a heavy penalty for disobedience,
for the outgoing officer to deliver all records to his successor.CHAPTER VIII.
The Indians of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Long before the advent of the white man in'Wrestern Pennsylvania, the
Fork of the Ohio had been a favorite meeting place of the Indian race. They
came here from the north by canoes on the Allegheny river; the tribes of'the
West came up the Ohio, and from the South they cama by the Monongahela.
Indian paths or trails, moreover, from all these sections brought them either
directly to the Fork or to the waters of these rivers, by means of which their
journey was more easily completed. They met here to hold councils of war and
of peace; they met to form treaties between various tribes or to unite in great
hunting and fishing' expeditions. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that
they put forth their best efforts to retain this section, and after it was in part
taken from them, to drive away or exterminate the encroaching white race.
The early annals of Pittsburg are so replete with references to the Indian
that it becomes us now to look into their tribal history, to learn something of
their leading characteristics, and their modes of life. All over western Pennsylvania have been found relics in abundance which prove.beyond doubt thatthey once roamed over these hills in great numbers. But even without these,
the beautiful nomenclature of our rivers, mountains, valleys, counties and
towns' prove their former presence in this community.   Particularly is this.
noticeable in and around Pittsburg.
Archaeologists and philologists have alike for a century speculatdd in vain
as to the origin of this strange and pathetic people. It is idle to pretend that we
know more of their early history and origin than that they were here when
Columbus came to America, and that their name was given them by him because
of his well-known error in geography. Prior to I750, Western Pennsylvania
was practically inhabited by the'Indian race alone. It was never densely popu--
lated by them as we understand density now, for with their mode of life no section was capable of sustaining more than an extremely limited number of
inhabitants. As a race they lived very largely by hunting and fishing. Their
women, it is true, cultivated small patches of corn, a cereal which has since
borne their name, and many of them raised a few vegetables, and larger quantities of tobacco. To do this they cleared small tracts of land here and there,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
generally on the alluvial bottoms of large streams, many of'which are yet
pointed out as old Indian fields. They, however, knew nothing of fertilizing
land, and when the soil was exhausted they abandoned their fields and removed to new sections. They knew something of the medicinal qualities of
roots, herbs and flowers, which grew in the wildwood, and these they gathered
and used in times of external injury, with a'considerable degree of success. In
place of vegetables and cereals, they subsisted largely on the meat of wild game
and for this reason it required thousands of acres to support even a small tribe.
The land was necessarily public land so far as the Indians were concerned. A
tribe, it is true exercised a temporary ownership over a certain section, but
this they readily abandoned if a locality more promising for the pursuit of wild
game presented itself, or when firewood was well nigh exhausted. All Indians
were prompt to help each other in distress. Some families were poor and improvident, while others were prosperous. Yet, while any member of the tribe
had food, the indigent and shiftless did not suffer, and the results of a successful
hunting expedition were shared with their less fortunate friends, if they stood
in need of them.
Originally they made all their own implements of warfare and of the chase.
Their bows and arrows were mnade of wood. The former were stiffened with
the dried tendons of the deer or buffalo, and the latter were tipped at the points
with flinty stones, known in modern times as arrow-heads. Their bowstrings
were of rawhide, made from the skins of animals. They also made rude axes
from stone, and with these and by the aid of fire, they were able to fell trees and
to hollow out their huge trunks, thus converting them into canoes. However,
when first known to the Pittsburg pioneers, they were provided with iron and
steel implements, and, in part at least, with firearms. Some of these they had
captured or stolen from the whites, others were furnished them by thoughtless
and unprincipled traders in return for skins and furs. But the alliance formed
between the French and Indians, and still later between the English and the
Indians, had aided them still more, in the acquisition of scalping knives, tomahawks and guns, and also in teaching them how to use these weapons to the
best a(lvantage.
It must not be supposed, however, that the introduction of firearms among
the Indians induced them to abandon the bow and arrow. The best firearm
known or used then was a flintlock, which was discharged by a spark made by
a flint in the hammer striking a projection on the gun barrel. This spark fell
into the "pan," w'here a small amount of powder called "priming" was placed
after the gun was loaded. When this was ignited by the spark it communicated
its flame to the powder in the gun and the latter was instantly discharged. As
may be readily imagined, the least rain or dampness would render the flint-lock
useless, but not so with the bow and arrow. This the Indian always kept with
him, and so skillful was he in its use that he rarely ever missed his mark when
at short range. In the hands of an expert Indian it was more to be feared
than a firearm, for the wound was more painful and the arrow was directed
1 20PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
with scarcely less unerring certainty. Not infrequently has it been found that
an arrow from the bow of a strong armed savage had penetrated and passed
entirely through a large steer or buffalo. Furthermore, its discharge made no
repcrt, and the unwary pioneer or the herd of deer had little or no knowledge
of the whereabouts of their hidden enemy. It was a weapon, indeed, peculiarly
suited to an enemy whose strength lay largely in the stealthy manner in which
he approached his foe. It was used by the Indians in all of our earlier wars
with them. In General Arthur St. Clair's battle on the Wabash in I79I, it is
on record that the arrow wounds were more galling and more feared by the
American troops than the wounds from gunshots.
The Indians inhabiting the eastern part of the United States with whom
the early settlers of Pittsburg and vicinity came most in contact, are usually
designated as the Six Nations, viz.: The Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras. Each of these nations had a rude form of government, and their unwritten laws were well understood by the Indians and
were binding even.on the humblest members of the race. Francis Parkman says
that they lived together by thousands with a harmony which civilized nations
might envy. Each of these six nations was composed of smaller tribes of from
two to five hundred members. These tribes were separated widely from each
other, so that they could have unbounded miles of hunting territory. Each tribe
had its chief, who exercised great power over all his subjects. On the death of the
chief the office did not generally descend to his son but to his sister's son, or to
the dead chief's brother. But if the rightful heir was a weakling or a coward,
or was otherwise incapacitated for leadership, the tribe did not hesitate to discard him and select another. The son of a chief, while he could not inherit the
position from his father, could earn it by deeds of courage. Captain John
Smith discovered and made a note of these customs even in his day among the
early tribes of Virginia.
The average Indian was tall and straiglht, with rough features, high cheek
bones, Roman or aquiline nose, coarse, straight black hair, dark, penetrating
eyes and beardless face. He had a swarthy complexion, much darker than the
darkest of our race, and it had a tinge of brown or red in it which gave him the
well-known name of red skin, though this was at best something of a misnomer. The Indian had more endurance and could run faster and jump farther
than the average white man, for his entire life's training tended to fortify him in
these feats of strength; while on the other nand, the heavy labor incident to
pioneer life destroyed the white man's fleetness of foot, and rendered him less
agile and less able to cope with his Indian enemy in such contests. In war,when equally opposed, the Indian was almost invincible. He never, of his
own volition, fought in the open,. but took advantage of every possible ambuscade. Familiar with all phases of forest life, he sought to match the superior
numbers or strength of his enemy by a thorough concealment of his own
whereabouts in battle. The military training of the English and American
soldiers stood for but little when confronted by a foe who could fire and almost
I2IA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
instantly disappear from view. Indeed, the serried columns of the drillmaster
rather assisted the Indian in ambush, and only when his methods of warfare
were learned and somewhat adopted, was the American soldier even comparatively successful in his contests with him. The Indian did not adopt this
method through fear or cowardice, for when forced to fight at bay he proved
himself not lacking in bravery by fighting with a desperation found only in infuriated wild beasts. His leading principle in warfare was self-preservation.
He thought it foolhardy to unnecessarily expose himself in battle, as foolhardy as though the contest was between himself and a ferocious animal.
His war parties only received the' highest meed of praise when they returned
not only with an abundance of scalps but without the loss of a single warrior.
He employed every subterfuge and stratagem possible with him to entice the
pioneer into range of his arrow. His people for centuries had hunted wild animals by stealth, and he adopted the same methods in ridding himself of the new
and more dangerous enemy which, in countless numbers, came upoin him from
the East.
When first known to the white man they were not necessarily a savage
race. They went to war among themselves, but were not particularly hostile'
to our people until they began to displace them and to interfere, as they thought.
with their vested rights in the natural products of the wilderness.   They
thought it their duty to exterminate the white man, and the latter at length,
thought it no greater crime to kill an Indian than a rattlesnake. If the Indian
seldom spared the life of a wounded or conquered adversary, he on the other
hand, asked no quarter when he himself was taken captive. It is quite probable that for obvious reasons, the early settler, in his combats with the Indians,
met oftenest the. larger and stronger specimens of the tribe. This led to the
impression that they were as a race, much superior to our own. This is entirely
erroneous. Our men compared well with them in size and strength, and, considering all' circumstances, there was perhaps but little advantage on either side.
Our women were, all things considered, equal to theirs in strength and greatly'
superior to them in form and physical beauty. The attractive Indian maiden
of modern fictiori is a'poetical creation rather than one found in real life. The
Indian woman was homely, and one of average comeliness was an exception,
and this quality the race has preserved even to this day.  But the Indian
standards of aesthetics differed from ours, and to his eye, the maiden of his'
race, may have been richly dowered with personal loveliness and beauty.
Of the smaller tribes, the ones most'commonly. known to the early pion-'
eers of Western Pennsylv'ania where the Delawares, Cornplanters, Munsies,
Shawanees, Mingoes, Cherokees, Hurons, Miamis, Oj ibwas, Pottowatamies,
etc., and some of these' are yet represented in the remnant tribes of the West.
The raids made on Pittsburg and nearby' communities, invariably originated
with one or more of the tribes above mentioned. They were then scattered over'
the country west of the Susquehanna'and north of the Ohio rivers, with a few'
stragglers farther south and east.  The Cornplanters,' Shawanees, Miamis,
I22PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE2
Munsies and Delawares were the ones which terrorized the early Pittsburgers
most.
The Indians built towhs, but not as places of permanent abode, for the
reason, as we have intimated, that they were often compelled to wander from'
one locality to another in order to subsist at all. Their houses were called wigwams. The most temporary habitation which they constructed was circular
in shape at the ground, and the skeletons of them were made of poles which
standing on their ends, were made to converge until they were nearly together
at the top, thus presenting a conical form, with a small opening at the apex
for the emission of smoke. These converging poles were thoroughly covered
with the skins of animals or with the bark of trees to protect the inmates from
the cold and rain. The wigwam, being pointed at the top, made it much less
liable to be overturned by a storm. It was usual in this section, for each family to have a separate wigwam, though sometimes several families lived in the
same habitation. Many of their houses were built of poles not unlike the early
log houses of the white man. Not infrequently they were long and narrow,
even as long as a hundred feet or more, and each one served for many families. There were always openings at the top for the escape of smoke and they
were invariably filled with soot. Living almost constantly in smoke, many of the
Indians had inflamed eyes in winter time, and a resultant blindness in old age
wvas not infrequent. Around the collection'of wigwams or huts, they often constructed rude fortifications, made by digging trenches and surmounting the
ground thrown from them with logs, stones, bark, etc. In these crude habitations they cooked, ate and slept in'winter time. Their beds were composed of
twigs and leaves of trees, covered with the skins'of animals. Their best constructed wigwams or huts were so flimsy that they decayed and were gone a
few years- after they were abandoned.
The Indian has been widely represented as of a'silent and morose disposition, and this, says Washington Irving, is in some degree; erroneous. When
alone in helpless captivity among the whites, whose language he did not understand and whose motives he distrusted; he was invariably taciturn, but certainly not more so than the white man would have been under like circumstances.
Parkman describes them as continuously visiting, chatting, joking and bantering
each other with short witticism.' When among themselves in their smoky wigwams or around their blazing campfires, they' were exceedingly loquacious and
mirthful. Deeds of valor, feats of strength and agility, narrow escapes from
captivity and death when on the wa'r path, the successes or failures of the last
hunting expedition and amusing' incidents at the expense of the white man constituted very largely the younger Indians' conversation, while the older members of the race regaled the youthful warriors with the oft-repeated heroic,
tales of incidents long gonie'by.
They had a marriage ceremony which was generally celebrated with songs'
Lnd dances, and their marital relations were comparatively'well kept, though a
divorce was obtainable'on the arbitrary caprice of either party.' The relationI23A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ship of father, grandfather, cousin, nephew, etc., was clearly defined among
them, and no Indian youth was allowed to marry a squaw of his own immediate
tribe, because of the possible relationship which might exist between them.
They had also a crude form of religion. They believed in Manitou, a great
spirit which ruled the heavens and earth, and with whom both good and bad
Indians should live and hunt after death. They believed, however, in distinction between the final home of a good, brave warrior on the one hand and
that of the cowardly, lazy Indian on the other. In keeping with this belief, they
thought that animals would'in the next world be admitted on equal terms with
Indians. They believed that the Great Spirit sometimes endowed minor spirits
with special powers. This belief saved many a white man's life. If they once
concluded that the prisoner had some special connection with the Great Spirit,
his life was safe. Their system of worship was with song and dance, and
every great undertaking, such as going on an extended hunt or on the war
path, was begun with some ceremony of this kind. A similar ceremony ended
the expedition, the first to please the Great Spirit, to induce him to favor their
cause, and the second to in a measure express their gratitude for favors granted.
But those who have investigated the subject of religion among the primitive Indians believe that they had no conception of a Supreme Being until they came in
contact with civilized white men. The first missionaries among them were
Jesuit priests, who' found no word in their language to express our idea of a
Supreme Being, and the prevailing belief among those who have investigated it
is that the idea of the primitive red man worshipping a Great Spirit, before he
was taught to do so by the advent of Christianity from Europe, originated and
had existence only in the brain of sentimental writers and in the idle dreams of
poets. Morally they did not compare with our race by any means, and should
not be expected to do so, for we have had the advantage of centuries of civilization and education.'.But if we compare them with our own race, when, as a
race we had reached the stage in which we found the Indian, the only fair comparison, they undoubtedly equal us. If the reader of these pages is astonished
at this statement, on recalling the cruel manner in which the Indian dealt with
his supposed white enemy when in helpless captivity, let him remember that it
is but a few generations since the ablest and best of the English speaking
people were tortured on the rack, confined in dungeons, mutilated, and burned
at the stake by the decree of the highest tribunal in English civilization, and
that, even. in Massachusetts innocent men and women were burned for witchcraft. And those barbarities were committed, not by unlettered savages, living in
wigwams, but by a people who were making' history, writing poetry and building cities and palaces which stand to this day and command the admiration
of the world.
A leading characteristic of the Indian was his inability to forgive or forget an injury done him by the white race, yet, on the other hand, he has been
credited -with being equally mindful of favors shown him. With his understanding of the early settlers' encroachment upon his territory, he was as
124PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Ishmael, who thought that every man's hand was against him. The pioneer
was slowly but surely working his exclusion, and his vindictive wrath was
indiscriminately meted out against all pale faces. Too often it fell with great
severity on the innocent and unoffending and on the guilty alike. While he
had also may other bad traits, those who labored long among them as missionaries, or who were long held captive by them, generally saw much good in
them and became greatly attached to them. They were not all originally the
treacherous race they have lately been reputed to be. Few men of our later
history have folught the Indians more valiantly or more successfully than General
William Henry Harrison, yet he, in after years, bore this testimony concerning
them: "A long and intimate knowledge of the Delaware tribe, in peace and in
war, as enemies and as friends, has left upon my mind the most favorable impressions of their character for bravery, generosity and fidelity to their engagements." It is fair in this connection to add,, however, that the Delawares were
more nearly a friendly tribe than any other.
It was undoubtedly the white race who taught them or induced them to
adopt some of their worst habits. When first known to our race they knew
nothing of intoxicants, not even of the simplest form of fermentation or distillation. They smoked tobacco and taught the habit to, Sir Walter Raleigh,
who perhaps introduced it in England, but this was their nearest approach to a
stimulant or a narcotic. Our people soon taught them the use of liquor, and
most bitterly did both races suffer from it. They were apt students, taking to
rum apparently almost intuitively, and it seemed to arouse only the baser principles of their nature. They would part with their finest furs to secure a taste
of rum, and this exhorbitant appetite in the end perhaps did more than anything
else to rob them of their vigor and reason, and finally of all the lands they
possessed.
The white race in Western Pennsylvania practically came first in contact
with the Indians in purchasing furs and skins from them. They were naturally
children of the wilderness, and excelled in hunting wild animals. As a result
the Indian towns abounded with the skins of the buffalo, bear, deer, wolf,
beaver, otter, mink, fox, raccoon; etc. They shot these animals with bows
and arrows or with firearms. They speared fish, or caught them with rude
hooks made of bone, or drove them into ponds screened with small rods. They
also fished with rude nets, made from the twisted fiber of wild hemp. Animals
and fish and all game birds were then extremely plentiful. The life the Indian
led had developed his senses of sight, hearing and smell to a degree which
amazed even the shrewdest woodsmen among the early settlers. He knew the
habits of all wild animals, and could detect their slightest movements in the
forests, movements invisible to the eye of one unaccustomed'to the woods.
With these qualities he easily surpassed the average white man in procuring
skins and furs and wild game. He was by nature suited to this style of life.
It was not by any means, a life of ease or comfort, but was mostly attended
with great hardships and privations. Only when the weather was pleasant and
I252A CENTURY AND A HALF OF'when wild berries, fruits and nuts were plentiful and when the forest abounded
with game, was his life one of even comparative ease. They were often forced
to live on the roots, buds and bark of trees, and at such times cannibalism was
not unknown among them.
The Indian did not recognize any special difference between an animal
and a human being, be he red or white. When killing an animal he frequently
performed incantations over its body to appease its spirit so, that it or the spirit'of surviving animals would not become hostile to him or his people. He killed
animals only for their skins or flesh, or in self-defense in ridding himself of dangerous beasts. The wanton destruction of wild animals, so common'with the
white race a few years ago, was unknown to him. The average Indian killed a
-white man as readily as an animal, for the former he regarded as his mortal
enemy. Except in battle, he very rarely killed an Indian. Murder among Indians was so rare that the race had scarcely a well defined public punishment
for it. The murderer and his friends were forced to, give presents, sometimes
of considerable value, to the representatives of the Indian who had been killed.
Where presents were refused by the dead man's family, the murderer was
-given over to them as a slave, and he was made to hunt and fish for them and to
assist in their support. The presents consisted of corn, skins, guns, objects of
adornment, etc. The'murder of a woman because of her helplessness, demanded more presents from the murderer than that of a man. Her life was,
moreover, more necessary, for the increase of the Indian race than that of a
-man, hence a greater number of presents was required in atonement. Stealing,was much more common among them and was punished by allowing the injured
-party not only to retake the goods stolen, but to take from the thief all the
goods he possessed. For treason or betraying his tribe in any way, the offender was put to death, the chief of the tribe usually appointing an Indian to
stealthily shoot him.
They had dogs in this section but no other domestic animals. They did
not have horses until they secured them from the pioneers, and very few were
used here. This was probably because they were inhabiting a mountainous
wilderness unsuited originally for horseback riding. The much vaunted Indian
feats of horsemanship were confined almost entirely to the boundless prairies of
-the West. Their long journeys were performed on foot or in canoes. They
had trails or paths through the'dense forests -and over mountain chains on
which they journeyed, conforming in many instances to our modern highways.
They traveled a great deal by water. Though they made canoes by hollowing
out logs, they were cumbersome at best, and a canoe made of birch bark was
-perhaps the favorite one in, Indian navigation. They had learned to calk the
cracks or joints with the exudations of the pine tree'and make them entirely
-water-proof. They also made canoes from the skins of animals, and as late as'
I832, Irving refers in his "Tour of the Prairies," to crossing swollen streams
in buffalo-skin canoes. In these frail barks they floated up and down on the
limpid waters of these three rivers, dreaming not that better methods of navigai26PITTSB URG AND HER PEOPLE                              I27
tion near at hand, would soon appear to force them from their hunting grounds,
and, in the end, practically work the extermination of the whole Indian race.
Though the Indians were naturally a strong, athletic people, capable of
great endurance and inured to all manner of hardships, they did not increase
rapidly in numbers. Their poorly constructed habitations, the necessary unsanitary condition of such huts, and their nomadic habits, superinduced a great
mortality among their children and, perhaps only the stronger ones survived.
This, with their habitual outdoor life, accounted in a great measure, for the unusual strength and vitality of the Indian warrior. Living as they have been
described, they were almost necessarily filthy in their habits, and as a result,
were greatly subjected to infectious diseases, such as fever and smallpox.
When these diseases broke out, they were extremely destructive to the race, for
they had but little knowledge of how to treat them successfully. They believed that all sickness was the result of an evil spirit which pervaded the sick
man, anid the Indian doctors sought by signs, magic and hideous noises to! drive
the demon from his patient. The result of such treatment on the longevity of
the Indian race may be readily imagined.
We have referred to the Indian women who cultivated small fields of corn
and vegetables. Upon them devolved all the hard labor performed by the tribe.
This included also the skinning of wild animals and carrying heavy burdens of
skins, dried meat, etc., when they were making long journeys. Their squaws.were at best, little better- than beasts of burden. Their hard lives shriveled them
and made them appear older than their years. They were hideous, neglected
and despised in their latter years, and as a result, became more fierce, cruel and
vindictive than were the men of their tribe. In explanation of the custom of
compelling them to perform hard labor, it may be said that such duties were invariably performed by women in all nations of the world when in that stage of
civilization. Their Indian household duties, as may be readily imagined from
the style of their wigwams, were necessarily very few. The warrior, whether
hunting wild animals or on the war path, needed agility, a steady nerve, and
great strength above all things else, and these would all have been impaired by
hard labor or by carrying heavy burdens. The Indian boy was taught from
childhood to run, jump, swim, fish, shoot and fight, but not to work. He was
taught to go hungry, and to endure all manner of hardships and pain without
complaint, preparing him in that way, for what he might expect in after life.
With such training it is not to be.wondered at that he scorned and laughed at
the wails of agony of his victim who'felt the flames creeping around his quivering flesh, while he himself endured such pain in silence and with a fortitude
worthy at least of the proverbial stoicism of the Grecian philosopher. Leading
a lonely life in the forest, the Indian became a close observer of the phenomenon
of nature. He had studied the heavens for signs of'rain and clear weather, and
so mastered them that his forecasting was almost unerring. Long before he
knew the white man, he had discovered that there were four seasons which
regularly followed each other each year, and he had discovered further that. CENTURY AND A HALF OF
tory to which England had never even a pretended title. He says he treated
them mildly, though he had a right to regard them as "intruders and mere
vagrants." He found another party of six traders at an Indian town ruled by
an old Iroquois woman who "looks upon herself as Queen." This is undoubtedly the first definite reference to the site now covered by Pittsburg. The Indian village was called Shannopinstown, and was on the bank of the Allegheny
river, now in the Twelfth ward of Pittsburg, and near the foot of Thirty-seconld
street. The old woman and pretended Queen was a widow when Celoron found
her here, and was the famous Queen Aliquippa. Celoron refers to a "written
rock." This he found some miles below the Indian village, and was named by
him because of certain writings on the face of the rock by the side of the river.
This is what is now known as McKee's Rocks. The writings, upon examination, were found to be "nothing more than some English names written with
charcoal." He journeyed farther to Logstown, another Indian town on the
Ohio, built where Sewickley now stands. A year before this Conrad Weiser, an
Indian agent, of great tact and shrewdness, from eastern Pennsylvania, had
visited this section and had distributed many presents among the Indians; so
Celoron found the Indians at Logstown hostile to him and the French, but very
friendly to the English, doubtless as a result of Weiser's visit. But Celoron's
fleet was too formidable for them to oppose, and they made a show of friendship by hoisting three French flags and one English flag; they also fired a
salute when his fleet approached. His journal says he had "no confidence in
their good intentions," and ordered them to take down the English flag and stop
all display, which was immediately done. On August I2th Celoron journeyed
on down the Ohio, passing from the region in which we are particularly interested. He kept a careful journal of his expedition from which we have quoted
the above. We are indebted to Rev. Father A. A. Lambing, LL.D., for his
translation of the journal.
The next explorer in whom the student of early Pittsburg history is interested was the renowned Christopher Gist, who was the first English speaking
explorer to traverse this section. He was sent to explore and report on this
region by the Ohio Company. He was instructed to equip himself and to
take as many men as were necessary "to search out and discover the lands upon
the River Ohio, and other adjoining branches of the Mississippi, down as low
as the great falls thereof." He was a surveyor, and was instructed to learn
and report the passes through the mountains, to observe the nature of the soil,
its character and possible products, the rivers and the Indian tribes which inhabited the region over which he traveled. This in order "that the Company
may the better judge where it will be most convenient for them to take their
land," for it will be remembered in this connection that part of their land was
to be located north of the Ohio. Christopher Gist was an Englishman by birth,
and was living on the banks of the Yadkin, in North Carolina. He set out on
this expedition on October 3I, I750, and on November I4th reached Loyalhanna, which in his journal he styles "an old Indian town on a creek of the
4pA CENTURY AND A4 HALF OF
these four periods were measured by thirteen moons. By moons he accurately.
counted his own age and the ages of his children, and kept account of the noted
events in his monotonous life. All this was kept in his mind purely, for the
race had no method of writing or of physically preserving a record of events.
Resultant upon this, we have no account or history of the Indians as kept by
themselves. We can form a fair estimate of the Indian character only by remembering that the heart-rending tales of his inhumanities have been written
almost solely by his enemies. His lips were sealed as to'his side of the difficulties, for he could neither speak nor write his defense in a language which we
could understand. Their traditions, customs and laws were preserved in
memory and transmitted orally, and they consequently perished almost entirely
with the ill-fated race. Stone implements, battle axes, tomahawks, pipes, arrow
and spearheads have survived the ravages of time, and are almost the only tangible evidences left by the Indian of his long dominion in Pennsylvania. Few
nations of'modern times would be willing tol be judged by a history of them
written entirely by their enemies.
A strong trait in the Indian character was his love of bright colors and
ornamentation. He painted his face and body, wore ornaments in his ears and
nose, and dressed his hair with bright feathers and his rlude, deer hide garments
with fringe. It has been supposed that this originated with him as a means of
protection, for, when in a dense wilderness, clothed only by the skins of animals, without some bright colors or ornamentation, he might easily have been
the victim of an arrow intended for a supposed wild animal. But so long did
they thus array themselves that it became a passion with them, from which they
have never been able to divest themselves. A youth of the present day Indian
race may be educated away from his people, yet upon his first opportunity he
will most likely again resume the garb of his tribe, and is generally discontented
with any other than the Indian life. The secretary of the interior some years
ago, through the Indian agency, sent dark clothes to, a western tribe, which after
the fashion of that day, were lined with red and white barred material. Visiting them shortly afterward he noticed that they had uniformly turned their garments wrong side out, so that they might display the bright colored linings.
Less than any other members of the human family, do they seem able to discard
their hereditary customs. As a result, it has been found almost impossible to
civilize them or to induce them to engage in the habits and callings of our enlightened age.
The early settlers in America found the Indian in undisputed possession of
a land of singular beauty and of great fertility and natural wealth. To dispossess him of his hunting grounds, was to incur his undying hatred and
wrath. To suffer him to remain, precluded the possibility of our present civilization, for the interests of the two races were directly opposite to each other.
The' Indian could subsist only in an unbounded wilderness; the white man's sole
ambition was to conquer the forest, to tame and improve the wild lands, and
make them contribute to his welfare. It was the Indian's misfortune that he
128PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I29
was contented to lead only a nomadic and uncivilized life; that he, in his make-up
was entirely void of ambition, progress and industry, and that he could not or
would not improve the country which he inhabited. The white man, on the
other hand, was contented only with improvement, and was most happy when
living on the products of his own labor. The same peculiarly unfortunate situation confronted the early settler around Pittsburg as well as elsewhere. Had
the Indian not been dispossessed, the Ohio Valley would to this day have been
covered with its primeval forest and inhabited mainly by Indians and wild animals. It was inevitable, therefore, that for our present civilization, the Indian
should be gradually driven back. Before the aggressive white man, filled with
industry and ambition, the indolent Indian slowly followed the setting sun, until
his course has'been almost a direct retreat from the Atlantic ocean to the Rocky
mountains. And with this westward march he was gradually blighted until his
once powerful race has now almost perished from the earth.
The most humane methods in dealing with the Indians in dispossessing
them of their lands may not always, indeed may not generally, have been
adopted by. the first settlers. General Jeffrey Am'herst suggested to ColoneL
Henry Bouquet to try to inoculate the Indians around Fort Pitt with smallpox
by means of blankets, as the brave Captain Ecuyer had tried to do before. Bouquet, whom -every one reveres, replied that he would do so, and that he regretted only that he could not adopt the Spanish method of hunting them with
English dogs. In this connection, before censuring them, it should be remembered that they were a sturdy, industrious people, not lacking in intellect nor in
the cardinal virtues of charity, affection and honor, and that they were surrounded by obstacles which cannot be appreciated by our present -generation.
They doubtless dealt with the Indians as they thought the exigencies of the
time demanded. On the question as to whose dominion, that of the Indian orthe white man in the western hemisphere, was fraught with the greatest benefit
to the human family, there can certaiully be no two opinions.
9CHAPTER IX.
The Beginning of the Revolution-The Hannastown Resolutions-The New Constitution.
Pittsburg has a most remarkable and most interesting history in the
Revolution. The town was in reality but a small collection.o1 log houses with
no municipal existence save as a part of Pitt township. It had a growing desire among its citizens to become the county seat of Westmoreland county, for it
was the metropolis of western Pennsylvania. Because of its location and because of Fort Pitt, which was governed by the government during the war, it
became the Revolutionary storm-center of the West, and as such will be considered in these pages. Even if we desired to do so, we could not separate its
Revolutionary history from that of the surrounding country, for they are so interlinked and interdependent on each other, that the story, to be made intelligent
to the reader, must to a great extent include the history of both.
The people of southwestern Pennsylvania may well feel proud of their
record in the Revolution. Though Westmoreland county had been opened for
settlement but six years, and had been erected less than three years before the
war began; though they were almost entirely a community of farmers and struggling pioneers with but two small towns, neither of which had a population of
300, yet the county of Westmoreland has the proud distinction, as the records
show, of having furnished more men for various branches of tlhe Revolutionarv
army than the city of Philadelphia. True, they were not all under the direct
command of Washington, but they were an integral part of the forces which, in
the end, brought about the glorious victory at Yorktown. That Philadelphia
had many Quakers who would not fight, and many Tories who were against us,
must not lessen the glory which attaches to the Revolutionary history of Pittsburg and its associated communities.
The people of the western section of Pennsylvania did not enter the
Revolution with the idea of obtaining their freedom, nor had they given the
question of civil liberty or the oppression of the British Parliament much attention. They were well employed in clearing away the original forests, in defending themselves against Connolly and his militia and in the longer continued contest with the. Indians. A few of the leading men were in constant
correspondence with the Philadelphia patriots, and these became leaders of thePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                               13I
entire population. The Boston Port Bill had been passed, to go into effect on
June I, I774. Its effect was, in brief, to close the port of Boston to all commerce; it forbade town meetings except at the pleasure of the governor; placed
the appointment of the governor, the council, and of sheriffs in the Crown, and
gave the appointed sheriffs the power of electing juries.
On May I3th the town of Boston resolved, "That if the other colonies
would unite with them to stop all importations with Great Britain and the West
Indies until the Act should be repealed it would prove the salvation of the
colonies." The day that the act went into effect, June I, I774, was observed
throughout the colonies as a fast day. In the meantime a committee of correspondence for the city of Philadelphia had been formed and now sent out a circular to the prominent representatives of the different counties which, among
other things, set forth as follows: "The governor declining to call a meeting of
the Assembly, renders it necessary to take the sentiments of the inhabitants; and
for that purpose it is agreed to call a meeting of the inhabitants of the city and
the counties at the State House on the I5th instant, Wednesday, July, I774."
The circular was sent by Charles Thompson, clerk of the first Continental Congress. On this suggestion meetings were held in most of the counties and were
particularly well attended where the Scotch-Irish predominated among the pioneers, as they did at Pittsburg and in this vicinity. Deputies to attend this meeting
in Philadelphia were chosen from every district in the province. On July IIth a
"very respectable body of people" met at the old log court house in Hannastown
and elected Robert Hanna and James Cavett as delegates to represent West
moreland county in the convention at Philadelphia. The committee met as was
arranged on the I5th and the representatives from Westmoreland county could
not reach there in time for its opening session. However, their minutes show
that they were present and they probably did participate in its later meetings, for
it remained in session until July 2Ist. Cavett was a frontiersman who had also
been a justice and a county commissioner, while Hanna was a shrewd Irishman,
a justice and a hotel keeper, yet they were associated in the convention with
Joseph Reed and Thomas Mifflin and joined in the instructions to the Assembly
and in the general resolutions. They also signed their names to the scholarly
paper which  came  from  the  able  pen  of John  Dickinson, a  philosophical composition on the abstract nature of liberty and privileges, and on
the king's prerogatives, which is enlightened with the learning of Burlamaqui
and Montesquieu and Blackstone. If they were incompetent to pass on the
learned opinion of Queen Elizabeth's chief justice, they were, at all events, men
of good sense, loyalty and judgment, and such men were demanded above all
others by those times. Our representatives were of course men without culture
and perhaps the more learned would have handled these questions with better
grace. It was not particularly a revolutionary convention, for it declared allegiance to King George, though it denounced the arbitrary acts of the British
parliament and in severe terms inveighed against the Boston Port Bill and the
annulment of the Massachusetts charter. It also suggested a colonial congress,A CENTURY AND A HA4LF OF
and pledged the State of Pennsylvania to at once stop all communication with
Great Britain, for such a proceeding was thought necessary to force the parliament to repeal these obnoxious measures. About this time, I774, a committee
of correspondence was organized in Westmoreland county which continued to
exert considerable influence until it was succeeded by the revolutionary association when the war properly began. The records of the committee of correspondence in Westmoreland county are not to be found, but they undoubtedly did
render considerable service.
The reader has seen that the Virginians and the adherents of the Penns
around Pittsburg were almost in arms against each other, but when the war
clouds of the Revolution came they united at once and there were few who were
not loyal to the American cause. Even the most pronounced of the Virginians,
those who were soldiers in Dunmore's army, enlisted in the cause. In I774
Valentine Crawford, a brother of Judge Crawford, while a member of Dunmore's army, wrote a letter to Washington from Wheeling, saying the frontiersmen all hoped for an early peace with the Indians; "in order that we may be able
to assist you in relieving the poor distressed Bostonians. If the report here is
true that General Gage has bombarded the City of Boston this is a most alarming circumstance and calls on every friend of the liberty of his country to exert
himself at this time in its cause."  While Dunmore's soldiers were marching
homeward on November 5th they held a meeting and passed a resolution binding themselves to put forth "every power within us for the defense of American
liberty and for the support of our just rights and privileges." In I775 it became clear, to the leaders of the county at least, that a war between the colonies
and England would be inevitable, and Connolly undertook to organize the leading men of his command in Pittsburg and vicinity into a company to sustain
the cause of the king as against the colonists. These were men of English blood
and were devoted followers of Connolly in his unlawful proceedings, yet he met
with no success whatever in forming this organization. They were favorable to
Virginia and oppesed to the Penns, but they were equally hostile to the oppressive measures of the British parliament and the Crown. The news of the
battle of Lexington travelled west slowly and reached Pittsburg early in May.
The hardy Scotch and the Irish on the rude frontier laid aside their legal quarrels and united at once in defense of their rights as American citizens as against
England. There were then two committees of correspondence, one in Westmoreland county proper and one in West Augusta county, the significance of
which has been explained in a previous chapter. These committees called
meetings of the early settlers at once and expressed their minds as to the new
turn in public affairs. These meetings were called at Pittsburg and at Han--
nastown and were held on May I6-I7, I775. The same day the Virginia court
opened in Pittsburg, and the attendance was therefore unusually large in this
place. They appointed a committee of twenty-eight men representing various
sections of Westmoreland and the Virginia district, and many of these men were
then, or later became, well known in the pioneer history of this section. Among
132PITTSBURG  AND HER PEOPLE                             I33
these were George Croghan, who was an uncle of Connolly and had rendered
such eminent service in the Indian troubles; Edward Ward, who had been censured somewhat for surrendering the fort he was building at the Fork in I754;
John Cannon, who afterward became an army officer and founded Cannonsburg; John Gibson, who interpreted Logan's defense of his race in Ohio: Edward Cook, who sat on the bench and filled many important positions in our history; John McCullough, a fearless pioneer, William Crawford, before that a
justice of the county, and a loyal soldier, and Samuel Semple, the father-in-law
of Connolly, and one of the leading men of his day. This committee met and
drafted stirring resolutions approving the acts of the Bostonians in opposing
"the invaders of American rights and privileges to the utmost extreme." They
also arranged for the organization of committees to be ready to oppose English
oppression at the first call from the Colonies. On the next day, the other committee held "a general meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland county" in
the temporary log court house at Hannastown and adopted resolutions which
made the committee famous for all time and was in many respects one of the
most glorious meetings ever held in western Pennsylvania, even up to our present day of great events. True they met in a log cabin-met as pioneers, and
many of them were doubtless clothed in homespun garments or hunting suits of
buckskin; met in the shade of the "forest primeval," on the western border of
civilization. But nevertheless, let the reader suggest a meeting in modern
times and compare its proceedings with those of the Hannastown meeting and
its patriotic resolutions, and it will fade into utter insignificance. There is but
one document in American letters which can be compared with the Hannastown
resolutions and that is the Declaration of Independence'itself which was not
then in existence except in the mind of Thomas Jefferson. It must always be
remembered that the Hannastown convention made and adopted its resolutions
more than a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The
Hannastown resolutions embrace the substance of the Magna Charta as wrested
from King John at Runnymede in I215, and nearly every principle enunciated
in them was afterward repeated in the great Declaration of July 4, I776. Take
the two documents together and we find.sentences in either which may be substituted in the other and read without detection except upon the closest scrutiny.
Nay more. Had the principle clauses of the Hannastown resolutions been
adopted in Philadelphia as part of the Declaration of July 4, 1776, the statesmen
of the day could scarcely have noticed the substitution. It is as positive as any
state paper we have in the English language not excepting the best writings of
Alexander Hamilton. It defines as clearly the causes of complaint and points
out the remedy for our evils with a precision as unerring as any paper ever
printed either in Europe or America. The resolutions were as follows:
Resolved, unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several
late acts, have declared the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion; and the ministry, by endeavoring to enforce these acts, have endeavored
to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever beA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fore existed in any state or country. Not content with violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity,
exposing their lives to the wanton and unpunishable sport of a licentious
soldiery, and depriving them of the means of subsistence.
Resolved, unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt but the same system of tyranny and oppression will, should it meet with success in the Massachusetts Bay, be extended to other parts of America; it is, therefore, become the
indispensable duty of every American, of very man who has any public virtue
or love of his country, or any bowels for posterity, by every means which God
has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execution of it; that for us, we
will be ready to oppose it with out lives, and our fortunes, and the better to
enable us to accomplish it, we will immediately form ourselves into a military
body, to consist of companies to be made up out of the several townships under
the following association, which is declared to be the Association of Westmoreland county.
Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty, King
George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful king,
and who we wish may long be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the while British Empire; we declare to the world that we do
not mean by this Association to deviate from loyalty which we hold it to be our
bounden duty to observe; but, animlated with the love of liberty, it is no less our
duty to maintain and defend our just rights (which with sorrow, we have seen
of late wantonly violated in many instances by a wicked ministry and a corrupted Parliament) and transmit them entire to our posterity, for which purpose we do agree and associate together.
Ist. To arm and form ourselves into a regiment or regiments, and choose
officers to command us in such proportion as shall be thought necessary.
2nd. VVe will with alacrity, endeavor to make ourselves masters of the
manual exercises and such evolutions as may be necessary to enable us to act in
a body with concert; and to that end we will meet at such times and places as
shall be appointed, either for the companies or the regiment, by the officers commanding each when chosen.
3rd. That should our country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should
troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the late arbitrary acts of its Parliament, we will cheerfully submit to military discipline, and to, the utmost of our
power, resist and oppose them, or either of them, and will coincide with any
plan that many be formed for the defense of America in general, or Pennsylvania in particular.
4th. That we do not wish or desire any innovation, but only that things
may be restored to, and go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp
Act, when Boston grew great and America was happy. As a proof of this
disposition, we will quietly submit to the laws by which we have been accustomed to be governed before that period, and will, in our several or associate
capacities, be ready when called on to assist the civil magisLrates in carrying
the same in execution.
5th. That when the British Parliament shall have repealed their late
obnoxious statutes, and shall recede from their claim to tax us, and make laws
for us in every instance, or when some general plan of union or reconciliation
has been formed and accepted by America, this, our association, shall be dissolved; but till then it shall remain in full force; and to the observation of it we
I34PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
bind ourselves by everything dear and sacred amongst men. No licensed murder; no famine introduced by law.
Resolved, That on Wednesday, the 24th instant, the township meet to accede to the said association and choose their officers.
These resolutions, with the proceedings, are found in the American
Archives, Fourth Series, Volume 2, page 6I5. The reader cannot but ask who
wrote them. Some eastern writers have claimed that they were not written
and adopted a year before the Declaration of Independence, but were probably
gotten up many years afterwards. It was difficult for them to think that here
in the western wilderness were men who were intellectually equal to the task of
preparing them thus early, in the great struggle against England. The genuineness of their date is not difficult to demonstrate. Arthur St. Clair, in a
letter to Governor Penn, writing of the meeting, the resolutions, etc., said: "I
got a clause added to it by which they bind themselves to assist the civil magistrates in the execution of the laws they have been accustomed to be governed
by."  This undoubtedly refers to the latter part of the fourth clause of the resolution. Further, in a letter to Joseph Shippen, Jr., written from Ligonier the
day after the meeting, in referring to the arming of the citizens of the county,
St. Clair wrote: "Yesterday we had a county meeting and have come to resolutions to arm and discipline and have formed associations which I suppose you
will soon see in the papers. God grant an end may be speedily put to any necessity of such proceedings. I doubt their utility and am almost as much afraid of
success in this contest as of being vanquished."  Both of these,letters agree
exactly with the text of the resolutions and we take it therefore that those who
doubted their genuineness were not aware of the existence of St. Clair's correspondence. On the other hand it has been claimed that St. Clair was the sole
author of the resolutions. This claim is not borne out, indeed it is almost disproved, by his letters above quoted. Had he been their sole author he would
scarcely have written "I got a clause added," etc., and in the second letter if he
"doubted their utility," etc., he would not have written those parts. But from
their general style, from the strong English, interspersed with English law
terms, it has long been known that they were prepared by a thoroughly educated
man and one of high literary attainments, and likely by some one who had been
educated in Great Britain. Such a man, in every particular, was Arthur St.
Clair, and he was present in the convention also, as is indicated by his letters.
He is generally regarded as a soldier purely, but was in reality one of the best
educated men in the Revolution. No one can read his writings without admitting that he was a master of English letters. He had had the benefit of a
college education, was descended from a long line of ancestors, illustrious alike
for deeds of noble daring and for their intellectual and social standing. In
America he had associated with our most polished people. To those who will
look into his modest life, the fact that he never claimed their authorship will be'no evidence that he was not their autnor. It is generally believed that he was,
in the main, their author and it is known that he was one of the leading spirits
I35in the convention. Yet there was one clause in them which he did not introduce
and one which could not have been in the original draft.
Carrying out the suggestions of these resolutions, meetings were held all
over the county on May 24, and the military companies were formed as suggested in thenm. On..May 25 St. Clair wrote to Governor Penn as follows:
"'We have nothing but musters and committees all over the County and everytihing seems to be running into the wildest confusion. If some conciliating
plan is not adopted by the Congress America has seen her golden days; they
may retntrn, but will be preceded by scenes of horror."  How accurately the
acute minded young Scotchman forecasted the future; bound to England by ties
of kindred and imbued wTith the idea of the Britons that the English armies were
invincible in war, he hesitated to begin the battle, but when he learned that a
contest could not be avoided, he willingly gave the best years of his life and his
fortune to the cause of the colonies.
The regiment, the necessity of which was stggested by the resolttions,
was almost at once organized at Hannastown, and was the first in the county
at the breaking out of the Revolttion. It was commanded by John Proctor, of whom we have already written. The regiment adopted a flag for its
own use before the colonies had conceived the idea of a general flag for all
of the American troops. This flag has been preserved and is one of the most
noted and highly valued mementoes of the past. It is made of crimson silk,
and has, in its upper left hand corner, the coat-of-arms of Great Britain, for
THE RATTLESNAKE FLAG.PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE3
it will be remembered that we were yet professedly loyal subjects of His
Majesty, George the Third. On its folds is a rattlesnake with thirteen rattles,
indicative of the number of colonies united in the contest. Underneath the
snake are the words "Don't tread on me." In the half circle are the letters
J. P. I. B. W. C. P., which are the initials of the words "John Proctor's Firsf
Battalion, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania." The flag is in possession
of Elizabeth Craig of New Alexandria, to whom it came by descent from her
ancestor, John Proctor. It is properly one of the most valuable heritages
of the past and should be preserved in a fire-proof museum, so that it might
inspire patriotism in generations yet unborn.
The Continental Congress in May, I775, resolved to raise an army and appointed Washington to command the forces of the colonies. The number to be
enlisted from Pennsylvania was forty-three'hundred. The assembly recommended the commissioners of the various counties to provide arms and accoutrements, each county for its own soldiers. They also directed the officers
of the military associations to select minute men, each county as many as they
had arms for, to be ready to march on the short notice their name indicated.
A committee of safety was appointed whose duty it was to assist in carrying
these measures into effect. William Thompson, who had been' elected the
first assemblyman from Westmoreland county on its formation, was a member
of this committee from the county. The committee of safety proposed and
prepared articles for the government of the associators, which, prior to this,
had been a voluntary body. But a resolution of the assembly required all ablebodied men to belong to the military organization and thus it came about that
the associators became the militia at the opening of the Revolution. One of
the duties of the assessors of the townships was to furnish the names of all men
in their district of a military age who were capable of bearing arms. The
commissioners also levied a tax of two and one-half pounds on all who had not
joined the associators; this tax was in addition to the regular tax. The assembly passed articles for the government of the military body and provided,
among other things, that if an associator called into service should leave a
family not able to maintain themselves, the justices of the peace with the overseers of the poor should look after their maintenance. Toward the close of the
year further demands were made on the state for four battalions, one of which
was placed under command of Colonel Arthur St. Clair.
The Continental Congress in May, 1776, awoke to the fact that so far all
public officers had taken the usual oath to support the government under the
Crown of Great Britain, though they were really fighting and preparing to fight
against the authority of the Crown. This question between the proprietary interest, which was represented principally by the members of the assembly who
were loyal to the Crown, and the dpponents, who were then called Whigs, was a
very bitter one. The latter finally called a convention which was composed -of
committeemen from each county, who met in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia
I37PITTSB URG AND HER PEOPLE                               5
Ohio called Kiscominetas." This town was built where Ligonier now stands,
and the location is yet one of the miost historic spots in Western Pennsylvania.
The chief of the Indians at Loyalhanna could speak English, and directed Gist
to Shannopinstown. This town he reached on November Igth, and remained
there until November 23rd. His journal says there were about twenty families
at Shannopinstown. He says nothing about the place near the junction of the
rivers in his journal. From Shannopinstown he crossed the river, and then
went down to Logstown, going by an Indian path which was afterwards followed closely by East and West Ohio streets to Beaver avenue, in Allegheny,
and thence down along the river bank. In his journal he notes that at Logstown he "found scarcely anybody but a parcel of Reprobate Indian traders."
The Indians were perhaps then out on their regular fall hunting expedition. HIe
remained over Sunday in Logstown, and then resumed his journey Monday
morning, noting in his journal that "he preferred the woods to such company."
The governorship of Canada for some years had been in weak hands, but in
March, I752, Marquis Duquesne was appointed to that position and he at once
began a most vigorous administration. His first act seemed to be to make the
French Canadian ownership of the Ohio valley something more than a constructive ownership. He therefore attempted to perfect a line of military posts
from the French strongholds on the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi river. In furtherance of this scheme they had erected Presq' Isle, on
Lake Erie, near the present site of Erie; Fort Le Boeuf, now Waterford, in
Crawford county; they had projected Fort Venango where Franklin is built,
and another on French creek, in Venango county. Had the English suffered
them to execute these plans, French domination in the Ohio Valley would have
been indeed a reality, and the English would have been hemmed in between the
Ohio river and the Atlantic ocean. To complete the construction of this line
of forts, Admiral Duquesne early in I753, sent out a force of about a thousand
men under the command of M. Marin. They came by a less difficult route than
that which had been taken by Celoron. They landed in the bay at Erie-Presq'
Isle, they named it because of the long encircling arm of land which extends out into the lake and gathers in the waters of the harbor. From the
fortress at Presq' Isle, which they completed, they opened a road south fifteen
miles to a tributary of French creek, where the town of Waterford now stands.
There they built a large fort called Fort Le Boeuf. They were interrupted in
the erection of a fort at Venango, at the mouth of French creek, by the Indians,
and it was not finished until later. Joncaire, a French soldier of great courage,
was permitted by the Indians to remain at Venango with a small company of
soldiers. In October the French army, after leaving a small force at each of
the forts they had established, being well worn with the arduous duties of the
summer campaign, returned to Montreal.
The reader cannot but have noticed that the entire territory around the
head waters of the Ohio was overrun with fur traders. They were usually unscrupulous men, with but little more character tlhan thle average Indian. ManyA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
on June I8, I776. This convention resolved that the time had arrived to call a
provincial convention, the object of which was to form a new government in the
interest of the people only. The delegates from Westmoreland county to the
provincial convention were Edward Cook and James Perry. They resolved
that a convention of the province should be called for the purpose of forming a
new state government, etc. A committee was appointed to determine the number of members of the convention. On this committee each county had two
members except Westmoreland, which had but one, and Edward Cook was the
one appointed. This committee then adopted rules regulating the qualifications
of voters who should elect the members of the convention and indicated that a
voter must have been assessed and paid tax for three years in order to vote for
these delegates, whereupon it was discovered that this would disfranchise
Westmoreland county, for they were not required to pay provincial tax for
three years after the formation of the county. A resolution was therefore offered by which this disqualification was removed. For the purposes of this special
election the county was divided into two districts. All those south of the
Youghiogheny were to vote at Spark's r ort, on the river; and all others were to
vote at Hannastown. In this convention Westmoreland was entitled to eight
delegates, and those selected were: James Barr, Edward Cook, James Smith,
John Moore, James Perry, John Carmichael, John McClelland and Christopher
Lobingier. Before the convention met on July I5, congress had passed the
Declaration of Independence and had declared the colonies free and independent
states. The members of the convention took the oath and began at once to devise measures for the adoption of a constitution, assuming the supreme power
of the state. These delegates, it will be remembered, were scarcely elected for
that puipose, and they perhaps went beyond the scope of their authority. But
the people ratified what they did and when it was called in question, principally
by the old assembly which mostly represented the proprietaries, they were soon
silenced by a popular clamor, for now the bells were ringing, and the old had
given place to the new. The convention appointed a committee of safety for
the new government, approved the Declaration of Independence and appointed
new justices who, before beginning their new duties, were to take the oath renouncing the king's authority and pledge allegiance to the state. They also
declared Pennsylvania a free and independent state, put forth a bill of rights,
formed a constitution and provided a plan of government for the commonwealth. The constitution was adopted September 28, I776, and went into
effect at once. The legislature had in June made provision for the enrollment
for all persons fit for military duty. The test oath was a severe one and was
supposed to be necessary to restrain the tories, by which name those loyal to the
Proprietaries or the Crown of England were now designated. It was provided
that all white male inhabitants of the state above the age of eighteen, except in
the counties of Bedford and Westmoreland, should before the first day of
July, I777, and in the excepted counties before the first day of August, take the
oath and subscribe to it before a justice of the peace, and severe penalties were
138PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
imposed on those who neglected or refused to take it. The test oath was as
follows: "I do swear (or affirm) that I renounce and refuse all allegiance to
George III, King of Great Britain, his heirs and subscribers, and that I will
faithfully bear true allegiance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a free
and independent state, and that I will not at any time do or cause to be done any
matter or thing that will be injurious to the freedom and independence thereof
as declared by congress; and also that I will discover and make known to some
one Justice of the Peace of said state, all treason or treacherous conspiracies
which I now know or hereafter shall know to be found against this or any of the
United States of America."
The eight men who represented Westmoreland in the constitutional convention were the leading men of western Pennsylvania and united with those
from other sections gave us a new state government. Some reference to their
lives and characters may be in keeping with these narratives. Thomas Barr
was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1749, and settled in Derry
township of Westmoreland county, in I770. He very early became a leader in
the organization of companies to defend the border settlements against the Indians and performed many such services in the Revolution. After serving as a
member of the convention of July I5, I776, he was appointed a justice of the
peace, serving until 1787, when he became a member of the general assembly
and remained in office until I789. He opposed in every way the calling of a
state convention, the object of which was to change the organic law of the state
in I789. Nevertheless the convention was called and a new constitution known
as the constitution of I790 was adopted. Under this constit,ution'he was associate judge of Westmoreland county. When Armstrong county was organized
in I8oo he fell within the limits of the new county. He died May II, I824.
Edward Cook was born in I738 of English parents who settled in the
Cumberland Valley. In I772 he came to Westmoreland and took up lands on
the Youghiogheny and Monongahela rivers. In I776 he built a stone house on
his land which is still standing and in good preservation. He was. a storekeeper, farmer and distiller and owned slaves which came under the gradual
abolition law of 1782. He was a member of the committee of conference which
met in Carpenter's Hall, June I8, I776, and of the convention of July I5. In
I777 he was appointed by the council of Pennsylvania to meet similarly appointed delegates from other states, in New Haven, Connecticut, to try to regnlate the prices of all commodities produced in new states. They met November 22, I777. In I78I he commanded a battalion for frontier defense and was
county lieutenant from I782 to 1783. Later he was a justice in both Westmoreland and Washington counties and under the new constitution was associate judge in Fayette county. He was largely instrumental in ending the
Whiskey Insurrection in I794. He died in I8o08 and- his wife died in 1837, aged
ninety-four. Both died in the stone house which they had built in I776.
-  James Perry lived at the mouth of Turtle creek, close to the cabin built by
the trader and Indian fighter, John Frazer. He was a member of the provinI39A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
cial convention which met in Carpenter's Hall on June 28, I776, and of the convention of July 15, I776. Shortly after this he removed to Kentucky and all
trace of him was lost.
John McClelland was born in Lancaster county in I734 and after coming
to Westmoreland county lived in that part of it which fell within Fayette county
on its organization in I783. He represented Westmoreland county in the convention of July 15, 1776, and also represented it in the General Assembly in
1778. He was a captain of the First Battalion of the Westmoreland militia
at the beginning of the Revolution and was also prominent in the Whiskey
Insurrection.
Christopher Lobingier was a son of Christopher Lobingier, of Wittenberg, Germany, and was born in Lancaster, now Dauphin county, in I740,
shortly after his parents came to America. In I772 he removed to Mount
Pleasant township, Westmoreland county, living near the present village of
Laurelville. He served on the Revolutionary Committee of Correspondence
and was a member of the convention of July I5, 1776, and was also a member
of the General Assembly under the constitution of 1790, being in the lower
house from I79I to I793. He died on July 4, I798.
John Carmichael was a native of Cumberland county and was born about
I757. Shortly before the Revolution he settled in Westmoreland county in the
part which afterward fell into Fayette county, living near Red Stone creek.
He was the owner of a mill and distillery and in addition to being a member of
the convention of July I5, 1776, he was a member of the Assembly in I777. He
died in I796.
John Moore was a son of William Moore and was born in Lancaster
county in I738. His father died when he was a child and his mother in company with her brothers, removed to Penln,sylvania in I757. He was engaged in
agriculture and house building until the beginning of the Revolution. He was
a member of the convention of July I5, I776, and was appointed a justice of the
peace for Westmoreland county in I777, serving until I785, when he was made
president judge of the courts, but the constitution of 1790 provided that the
judges should be men learned in the law, and though Moore was a man of fine
ability and indeed of high literary attainments, he was not a lawyer and consequently was retired from the bench. In 1792 he was elected to the state senate
representing the counties of Allegheny and Westmoreland. He died in I812
and is buried at Congruity, eight miles north of Greensburg.
Colonel James Smith has often been referred to in this work and was a
very important man in our early history. He was born in Cumberland county
perhaps in that part that is now Bedford county, in I737. In.I755, as has been
said, he was making roads near Bedford and was captured by the Indians and
taken a prisoner to Fort Duquesne. He escaped from the Indians in I760 and
went to Franklin county. His natural ability and his knowledge of the Indians,
gained while a captive, made him valuable to Bouquet in his Ohio expedition in
I764, wherein he served as an ensign. Later he was lieutenant of the militia in
I40PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Western Pennsylvania. In 1769 he purchased lands along Jacob's creek and on
the Youghiogheny river. In I774 he assisted St. Clair in organizing the
rangers to protect the frontier from Dunmore's invasions and from the Indians.
He was a member of the Hannastown convention of May I7, I775, which
adopted the justly celebrated resolutions.  He was also an associator in the
early militia and was a member of the convention of July 15, I776. Still later
he was a member of the Assembly in I776-77. There he was known as an
authority on all Indian affairs and his knowledge of border warfare was of
great value. While the Assembly was in session in I775 he was granted a leave
of absence to conduct a scouting party through New Jersey. He remained
with Washington's division of the army and in I778 was made a colonel and
was sent to Western Pennsylvania, where he performed valuable services in the
almost continuous warfare against the Indians. In I788 he removed to Kentucky where he was also a member of the state legislature. About 1812 he
wrote his truly renowned "Treatise on the Mode and Manner of Indian Warfare," from which we have frequently quoted in this narrative. He died in
Washington county, Kentucky, in I812.
By the new form of government the executive power of the state was
vested in a president and council called the Supreme Executive Council. This
council consisted of twelve men who were elected by the people, and Westmoreland county was allowed one member. John Proctor, to whom we have
referred, was the. first Westmoreland councilor and retained the office from
March Io, I778, to November I8 of the same year, when he was succeeded by
Thomas Scott, who lived in Washington county, and who was afterwards the
first member of congress from that cotlnty under the federal constitution.
Scott was councilor until November 13, 1780, three years, which was as long as
the law allowed him to remain continuously.
The military laws were made more efficient than before. An officer
called the County Lieutenant, was created who was chief military officer of the
county and had many powers both civil and military. He distributed the
arms and clothing to the associators and paid to the council the amount due as
assessments for the army. He could call out the militia and order it to any
point in times of danger and could hold courts martial and his authority was
limited only by the council itself, but it was in abeyance while a regular army
officer of the state or nation was in command over his district. Archibald.
Lochry, who lived near St. Vincent's Monastery, was the first county lieutenant
of Westmoreland county, and began his duties on March I2, I777. They were
very arduous for aside from having no precedents to guide him, he served at a
most critical time. He displayed great energy and won the highest respect of
both the army and the people. He directed many small expeditions against the
Indians and headed several large ones himself, and at all times guarded the
cabins of the settlers to the fullest extent of his limited forces. He remained in
office until his death and was succeeded by Edward Cook, who took the office
January 5, I782. Cook did not remain in office very long, for when Fayette
I4tA CENTURY AND A HA4LF OF
county was formed his residence fell within its territory. His successor was
Charles Campbell, who lived in Indiana county when it was Armstrong township in Westmoreland county. Judging from his correspondence'he had but
little education but he stood guard over the frontier, even if he could not spell,
write or compose well.
Pennsylvania was thoroughly committed to the cause of the colonies and
no coun,ty bore herself with better grace nor with more pronounced sentiments
in the beginning when advanced ground was necessary, than Westmoreland.
Its local history, so far as the Revolution is concerned, is so closely blended
with the general history of the war that it will be impossible to specialize. The
seat of war was in the East and the natural barrier of mountains separated us
from it. Early in the war recruits from the West were sent east to protect the
larger cities from the invading armies of England, but after that the West was
generally supposed to be doing her full duty if she took care of herself. This
was a much more difficult undertaking than the reader may at first imagine.
One of the first movements of the British was to establish a department at Detroit. They still had great power over the Indians, a continuance of the alliance
secured from them largely through Sir William Johnson. Nevertheless the new
state and congress both tried to effect an alliance withl the Indians, for they surmised through Connolly's plots that the British government would take such
advantages if possible.  In I775 congress appointed Benjamin Franklin,
James Wilson and Patrick Henry to hold a conference with the Pennsylvania
Indians at Fort Pitt. This was called for October and was attended by the
Senecas, Delawares, Shawanees, and Wyandots, but the attendance was small.
Guyasuta spoke for the western tribes and White Eyes spoke for the Delaware
tribe, which he declared to be friendly to the Americans and independent of the
English alliance. There was but little harmony in the conference. The Indians were not annoying to the settlers in I775, but the British secured their
assistance by greater presents and by their more promising display of military
forces. In May, 1776, accordingly, in a council at Fort Niagara, the Indians
voted almost unanimously to join hands with the English army. They began
their depredations on the border which kept our western armies busy almost
contin,uously during the Revolution. Even before this the settlers around
Pittsburg noticed that the Indians were daily growing more insolent and mischievous, and in February, I776, the Pittsburg people sent a memorial to congress complaining of the Indian encroachments and depredations. A company
of riflemen was enlisted and placed under Captain Van Swearingen whose duty
it was to guard the Ohio river. In October, John Gibson was selected as Indian
agent at Pittsburg, but was soon succeeded by Richard Butler. In I776 congress took upon itself to deal with the Indians and sent George Morgan to
Pitts'burg as Indian agent. He was a man of high culture and wealth from
Princeton, New Jersey, and through his having been in business in Philadelphia
had had much dealings with the Indians in this section and in the West generally. He came to Pittsburg and immediately sent agents to treat with the
142PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I43
western Indians, sending William Wilson, Peter Long, Simon Girty and Joseph
Nicholson. Girty was then supposed to be loyal to the cause of the colonies.
Wilson's mission was the most important. He and Nicholson tried to effect a
conference with the Indians in Pittsburg for August or September. They rode
on horseback through the Indian country and were kindly received by Cornstalk and other chiefs, but found that the tribes were already preparing for a
council with the British at Detroit, which they said they must attend first.
Among the Mingoes were the most evilly disposed Indians of the west and
while these agents were in their country, a plot was discovered by Cornstalk to
seize and perhaps murder them. Upon Cornstalk's advice they fled by night
and were protected by an old Indian chief or king named Newcomer, who probably saved their lives. Afterward Wilson went to Sanidusky, being escorted by
Kilbuck and two young warriors, and by White Eyes.  Nicholson had in the
meantime returned to Pittsburg. Before reaching Sandusky, Wilson learned
that the chief of the tribes had gone to Detroit and he determined' to venture a
visit to the British post to see him. He found the Wyandots assembled on the
Detroit river and that most of the Indian chiefs received him in a friendly
manner. On September 2nd he addressed them and delivered Morgan's message inviting them to the conference in Pittsburg. But the Wyandots betrayed
Wilson's presence to the British authorities, the commander of which was then
Colonel Henry Hamilton. Wilson went before the commander, but did not
deny his mission to Detroit and the commander, while he treated him coldly,
seemed to respect his character as an ambassador and gave him a pass through
the Indian country to iPttsburg. He returned to Pittsburg greatly discouraged
by the outlook and reported that the Wyandots and many other western tribes
were likely to go on the war path at any time. Hamilton, of course, did all he
could to prevent the Indians from going to Fort Pitt to council with the
"rebels," as he called them. But nevertheless four tribes attended, being represented by their chiefs. They were the Delawares, the Wyandots, the Ottawas
and the Shawanees. They were not, of course, by any means extensively represented and perhaps, except the Delawares, these tribes were mostly with the
English. Costly presents were given them by the commissioners who thought
that by this means they could avert an Indian war. A war was, however, inevitable, though at the close of the Pittsburg treaty, George Morgan wrote to
congress that "the war cloud which threatened to break over this part of the
country appears to be now entirely dissipated," yet even while he was writing,
bands of Indians were committing depredation,s on the Ohio river, and a few
months later all of the tribes represented in this treaty, except the Delawares,
were strongly allied with the English. These overtures with the Indians wil!
satisfy the reader that everything was done in that direction that was possible.
By a lavish distribution of presents, money, whiskey and arms, all of which the
Indians desired greatly, the British retained the alliance almost continuously
throughout the war. It was made more injurious by the standing reward for
scalps which they always paid, and by the further influence of renegade whitesI44                A4 CENTURY  AND  A  HALF OF
who were steadfast in their loyalty to the English and to the Indians if to
nothing else. The colonial armies were poor and could not afford to purchase
an Indian alliance by giving them expensive presents. But even if the continental congress had been able to secure the aid of the savage by a lavish display of wealth, it could not have been made as potent as it was with the English.
The pioneer of America had been brought up from youth to regard the savage
as his greatest foe and such was the hatred of the western people toward the
Indian that no thorough alliance between them and the savages was possible.CHAPTER X.
The Revolution Continued-The Various Regiments, Companies, Etc.-Their Work,
Privations, Etc.
On October I2, I775, the continental congress passed a resolution requesting the council or committee of safety of Pennsylvania to raise a battalion for
the United States services. The captains were recommended by the Assembly
on October 25th and commissioned by congress on the 27th. In the meantime
Captain John Nelson, had enlisted a company of independent riflemen composed
mainly of Westmorelanders and had offered their services to congress. By a
resolution they were received at once. It was composed of one captain, three
lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals and seventy privates. It was ordered
to New York March 13, 1776, and was intended for service in Canada. By
order of General Benedict Arnold it was attached to Colonel DeHais' battalion
then in Canada. When his battalion left Ticonderoga on November 17 it was
attached to the Fourth Battalion under Colonel Anthony Wayne and on the
24th of March it was attached to the Fifth Pennsylvania, then under the command of Colonel Francis Johnston. They served in Canada under St. Clair
and with other Westmorelanders their services will be properly considered later
on. Some of them remained with the Fifth Regiment and fought under the
celebrated Richard Butler, also a Pittsburger, as colonel. They were eventtally in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony Point and
Yorktown.
The Second Pennsylvania Battalion was raised in pursuance of a resolution
of congress dated December 9, I775, calling for four battalions from the colony
of Pennsylvania. The men were enlisted for one year. It was associated with
the Fourth Battalion under Colonel Wayne and with the Sixth under Colonel
William Irvine, and its general history in that part of the service will be considered with others. On the 2nd of January, I776, congress requested the council
of safety to recommend Colonels St. Clair and Wayne as field officers and tlle day
following they-were so commissioned. On January 4th the lieutenant-colonels
and majors were chosen and a resolution was passed which provided that one
company from each battalion be made utl of expert riflemen. St. Clair had en10A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
tered the service some months previous and had been assigned the duty of organizing the raw tro!ops of Pennsylvaniia, being selected for this duty because,of his military training in the French and Indian War. He was now ordered:to take part in the expedition to Canada. He had with him two companies
-from Westmoreland and among them were many of his old neighbors and
friends. One of the companies was commanded by William Butler, who had
been for years assisting in, the general defence against the Indians in and
around Pittsburg. He was a close personal friend of St. Clair's, serving almost side by side with him during the Revolution, and in the end died bravely
while second in command to St. Clair, in the disastrous battle with the western
Indians on November 4, I79I. The other company was under the command
of Stephen Bayard, who afterward became lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth
Pennsylvania Regiment, which we shall see later on was almost distinctively a
Westmoreland regiment. On February I6, I776, the secret committee of congress was ordered to furnish St. Clair's battalion with arms and he was instructed to march his companies to Canada as soon as they could be made ready
for service. On March 13 Lieutenant-Colonel Allen arrived in New York and.a part of the battalion was marked for Albany. There he received orders to.direct the other companies of the battalion to proceed to New York, where
headquarters would be provided for them. On May 6 Colonel Wood passedDeschambault in Canada, and was within three miles of Quebec, when he met,General Thomas with his army returning from Quebec. The expedition in
that part of Canada had excited great expectations on the part of the colonies,
-for they had hoped to add the Canadians to their weak forces. But it was a:sad disappointment, for it resulted in a complete failure. This was not due in.any way to the army but rather to the people of Quebec or of Canada them-:selves. The march the army made was one of the most daring and energetic
-marches ever made through the American' wilderness. They went to the
-heart of the civilized parts of Canada. They captured Quebec but the authorities failed to respond. They expected the people to rise up as the other colonies
had done and assert their independence of the English crown, but instead of
doing this Canadians were not anxious to be "libertated," and instead of turning
on the British troops they allied themselves with them and treated the Colonial
army as invaders. Under such circumstances the patriot army could not hold
what it captured, and they therefore began a retreat toward the Sorel river.
On the death of the brave young Montgomery, who commanded the Canadian
forces, Thomas succeeded him in command of the expedition and reached Trois
Rivers, with about eight hundred men, leaving the post in command of Colonel
Maxwell. He continued on the Sorel, which is the outlet of Lake Champlain
and flows into the St. Lawrence river, and issued orders for Maxwell to;abandon Trois Rivers. This was done and the rear of the army reached the
Sorel on May 24, I776. Adamson and St. Clair went to Montreal and then to
the Sorel on May I6. In the meantime the British pursued them with a much
larger army. On June 2 Adamson sent St. Clair toward the Sorel with about
I46PITTSB-URG AND HER PEOPLE
I47
6oo men to attack the camp of Colonel McLean, who, with about eight hundred
British and Canadians, was encamped at Trois Rivers. General Sullivan
reached the Sorel on June 4, where he learned that Adamson had died, whereupon he assumed command. On June 6, Sullivan ordered Thomas to take Irvine's and Wayne's battalions and also the companies of St. Clair's battalion
-which yet remained at the Sorel, and with these to join St. Clair at Nicolete,
where he was to command the army and unless he found the British much.stronger than he expected, he was to attack them after crossing the river at the
best possible place. He was advised, however, not to make the attack unless he.had every prospect of success, for a defeat at that time would have been ruinous
to the whole army and to the country. The attack was made and was entirely.successful. In this battle St. Clair distinguished himself and the danger, the
toil and the glory of the battle were all shared by the Westmoreland soldiers
who were with him and Butler. The night foray has been regarded and
treated by all who have written of the expedition as its most brilliant episode.
But a larger British force was gradually pressing back the invading army.
Their army was much superior in numbers to the American army and was composed of regulars, Canadians and Indians, all under the command of General
Burgoyne, while our forces were now under Sullivan. No campaign in the
Revolution had in it more personal heroism and glory nor more hardships en-countered and triumphed over, than this one, in which the army, after taking
the capitol of the British provinces, was compelled by superior forces to retreat
with their bayonets towards the enemy, though a dark wilderness covered with
-snow and through the swamps of southern Canada and northern New York.
The rear of the army with its baggage and supplies reached St. Johns on June
I8 and at once embarked and went up the Sorel river. Late in the evening of
the I8th, the head of Burgoyne's column reached St. Johns and General Phillips' forces reached there the following morning. On the same day the commands of De Hass, Wayne, St. Clair and Irvine had orders from Isle Aux Noix
to encamp on the east side of the Island. This place proved to be a very unhealthy encampment for them. Many of the soldiers were taken sick and
died. Women were brought from Ticonderoga, one for each company, to nurse
the sick. On June 27 the entire army took vessels at the Isle La Motte for
Crown Point, which they reached July I, I776. Sullivan was there superseded
in conmmand by General Horatio Gates, and in, a council of war which the new
general held, it was determined to remove the army to Ticonderoga, where
-they arrived on July Io. Gates divided the army into brigades; four Pennsylvania battalions formed the Fourth brigade, of which St. Clair was made com-mander. This brigade numbered four hundred and eighty-five in all, one hun-dred and sixty-five of whom were sick. The season was too far advanced for
the British to make any further progress; and after threatening Ticonderoga
they went into winter quarters. In November, Gates left Wayne in command
-of Ticonderoga and proceeded with the larger part of his army to join Washington in the south. The soldiers of three of the Pennsylvania battalions hadA4 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
of them hailed from Virginia, and they were not slow to carry the news of these
hostile military movements on the part of the French to their people at home.
The somewhat lethargic spirit of the Virginians was at once aroused by these
reports. Governor Dinwiddie was a shrewd Scotchman, well advanced in
years, and had fully his share of the proverbial obstinacy of his race. Himself
a member of the Ohio Company he was unusually watchful of the rights of
those whom he apparently represented. He accordingly prepared a message
to the French commandant, reiterating the rights of the English to this disputed
territory and in genteel but positive terms asked the French to withdraw from
the Ohio Valley. This message he sent by Major George Washington, of the
Virginia militia, who had barely attained his majority. Washington's biographers have given the Governor great credit for the wisdom of this selection,
and have probably magnified the whole affair because of the distinguished services which the messenger afterwards rendered to his country, and to the world.
But for his eminent career in after life we'would probably hear much less ofthis journey which proved to be a very important one. Washington was a
young man of good judgment, great physical strength and endurance, and being
a surveyor' was accustomed to the outdoor life and to finding his way
through the trackless forest.  These qualities fitted him  for the position
to which Dinwiddie appointed him. But, in addition to this, two of his half
brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, were members of the Ohio Company, and it
was doubtless this which in a great degree induced the Governor to select him.
Washington set out at once upon his journey, taking with him Jacob Vanbraam, a French interpreter; John Davison, an Indian interpreter, and four hired
men as servants, named respectively:-Barnaby Currin, John McQuire, Henry
Stewart and William Jenkins. Part of the way he had Indian guides and
one of these is called a hunter who afterwards became known in the Indian warfare as the famous Guyasuta, of whom the reader will hear much more as we
progress. Christopher Gist was then living at Wills creek, now Cumberland,
in the employ of the Ohio Company. In his journal dated Wednesday, November I4, I753, is this entry: "Came this day to my house at Wills Creek,
Major George Washington with a letter from the Virginia Council requesting
me to accompany him to the Commandant of the French Forts on the Ohio."
In I748 and I749 the Ohio Company desired to build a road from Cumberland to the Ohio Valley and selected Colonel Cresap to superintend the building of it. He employed an Indian named Nemacolin, a prominent hunter of the
Delaware tribe, to point out the way. This the Indian did by following a path
which the Indian had used time out of memory in going to and from the head
waters of the Ohio; thereafter it was known as Nemacolin's Path, and it was
by this road or path that Washington journeyed westward.
On November 22nd they reached the house of John Frazer, a gunsmith,
who lived at the mouth of Turtle creek. Frazer received Washington and his
company very kindly, kept them over night, and the next day lent them a canoe
to carry their baggage to the junction of the two rivers. Two of the servants
6A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
enlisted for one year and their term of service would expire on January 5, I776,
but they agreed to remain until they were relieved by other troops. The hard
march of the army had almost exhausted it, as may be seen by a letter from
Wayne to the Committee of Safety written on December 4: ~ "The wretched condition the battalions are now in for want of almost every necessary, except
flour and bad beef, is shocking to humanity, and beggars all description. We
have neither beds or bedding for our sick to lay on or under, other than their
own clothing, no medicine or regimen suitable for them; the dead and dying lying mingled together in our hospital or rather house of carnage, is not an uncommon sight. They are objects truly worthy of your notice."  On January
24, I777, the Second Battalion left Ticonderoga with Wayne for their homes.
Many of the privates of the Second re-enlisted in the Third Pennsylvania
Regiment. While these companies were at Ticonderoga the Declaration of Independence reached them and was read for the first time to, the army as it was
drawn up in line on July 17. It was received and welcomed by their hearty
cheers. Lieutenant-Colonel Allen left the service when he heard of its import
but later, be it said to his credit, he entered the struggle again.
The Third Pennsylvania Regiment was formed on the basis of St. Clair's
Second Battalion and in it there were the two ot iginal companies, namely, those
of Captain Butler and Captain Bayard. It was recruited in December, I776, and
in January and February following, entering the service in March. Little is
known of this regiment except what may be gleaned from a few letters concerning it, for the records of the regiment have in some way been lost. Colonel
Joseph Wood, who commanded it, was wounded in Canada and on this account
resigned.  Captain Butler was made Lieutenant-Colonel of Morgan's Rifle
Regiment and his command fell on Captain James Christie.
Colonel Thomas Craig succeeded in the command of the regiment and filled
the position till January, I783. It was common in the Revolution to transfer
both companies and officers to other organizations because of the demands of
the times. Most of Captain Butler's men re-enlisted under Captain James
Christie in the Third Pennsylvania. A memorial of the Third and Ninth Pennsylvania regiments printed in the Pennsylvania Archives, reports the corps as
barefooted and naked and in want of every convenience, and that their general
condition was miserable beyond expression. Five or six soldiers were frequently
forced to shelter themselves from the inclement weather by a piece of an old
tent and there seemed to be an average of seven men to one blanket. Half of
them, because of these privations, were unfit for duty. They had lost their
blankets in actions they had had with the enemy. In company with the Sixth
and Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiments they were attached to a division made
up mostly of Jersey troops and were commanded by officers who did not belong
to Pennsylvania. Many of the soldiers who enlisted early and who survived the
hards'hips, re-enlisted in the Continental service and served until the close of
the war. Others came home only to enlist again for frontier defense against
the Indians. These were enlisted in the militia for short campaigns in and
I48PITTSBURG  AND HER PEOPLE                            149
around Pittsburg, or served by joining the "Rangers." The Pennsylvania
Rifle Regiment and the Pennsylvania Regiment of Musketry were enlisted by
the Pennsylvania legislature for the sole defense of our own state. On March 4,
1776, a committee was appointed to estimate the expense of supporting I500
men in this capacity for a year. On the report oif the committee they r.esolved
to enlist I500 men and officers to serve from January I, I778, but they reserved
the privilege of discharging them at any time by paying them, one month's pay
in advance of the amount due. It was also determined that Iooo of these should
be riflemen, divided into two battalions of 5oo each, and that the other 500
should be musketmen. Each battalion of riflemen was to have one colonel, one
lieutenant-colonel, one major, six captains and eighteen lieutenants, and to
consist of six companies. The musketmen were to be divided into eight companies. Samuel Miles was'made colonel of the Rifle companies, and Samuel
Atlee was made colonel of the battalion of musketmen. Nearly all of the riflemen were enlisted in about six  weeks and  were sent to Marcus Hook to
strengthen Washington's army which then held New York and Long Island.
To the Rifle Regiment belonged the company of Captain Joseph Erwin, which
had been raised in Westmoreland county, and had done some of the best fighting of any of the young frontiersmen in the army. They enlisted for two years
and joined the regiment at Marcus Hook. Erwin was appointed captain on
March 9, I776. The company served in this regiment till it was transferred
-to the Thirteenth Pennsylvania, from which it was transferred to the Second
Pennsylvania. On July 2, I776, the Rifle Reginment to which they belonged was
ordered up to Philadelphia, and on July 4, one battalion under Broadhead was
sent to Bordentown, New Jersey, and later the whole regiment was marched
-to Trenton, thence to Amboy, where they joined General Mercer's division.
Colonel Atlee's battalion reached Amboy on July 2I, and later both Miles' and
Atlee's forces were moved to New York. There they entered the brigade of
Lord Sterling, and when the British landed on Long Island, which was accompanied with great military display, Miles and his riflemen were ordered to
watch their movements. Located at Flatbush near the Highlands, he watched
them until they were removed and their places filled by Hessians. On August
26, was fought the battle of Long Island which almost exterminated the American army. The Continental army went down before the united armies of
Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis and Von Heisler, then the most thoroughly equipped
army in the world. The English army, with great superiority of numbers,
almost surrounded the ragged, ill fed militia under Washington, Sterling, Putnam and Sullivan, and thought they had won a great victory over these poor,
ill fed, undrilled and ragged American patriots.' During this engagement Colonel Miles' riflemen, including the Westmoreland forces under Erwin, reinforced by Colonel Willis' Connecticut troops and Lutz's battalion of Penn~sylvania Flying Camp were opposed to the whole body of the British army.
It had surro,unded them in a contracting circle, and through it they literally cut
-their way out and, though they added greatly to their glory, their loss wasA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
very heavy. Colonel Miles, in his report of the management, speaks particularly
of the bravery of Brodhead's troops. At one point under a heavy fire they
pushed their way across a mill dam, and though by drowning and by being shot
their loss was very great, those who followed were not prevented from rushingrapidly to the other side, where they drove the Hessians away from the banks
at the point of the bayonet. The battle as fought by the Pennsylvania militia is,
thus described by Colonel Miles: "The main body of the enemy under the immediate command of General Howe, lay about two miles to my left, and Gen--
eral Grant with another body of British troops lay about four miles to my left.
There were several small bodies of Americans dispersed to my right, but not a
man to my left, although the main body of the enemy lay to my left. This was,
the situation on the 26th of August. About one o'clock at night General Grant
on the rear and General Howe on my left began their march and by daylight_
Grant had got within a mile of our intrenchments and General Howe had got
into the Jamaica road about two miles from our lines. *  * *  Finding that
the enemy had possession of the ground between us and our lines, and that it
was impossible to cut our way through as a body, I directed the men to make'
the best of their way as well as they could; some few got in safe, but there
were I59 taken prisoners. I was myself entirely cut off from our lines and_
therefore endeavored to conceal myself with a few men who! would not
leave me. I hoped to remain until night, when I intended to try to get to,
Hell Gate and cross the Sound; bat about three o'clock in the afternoon
was discovered by a party of Hessians and obliged to surrender.  This
ended the career oif the day." In the battle of August 26 the Rifle Regiment and Musketry battalions were so broken up that Washington united
the remnants in one regiment under the command of Colonel Broadhead,.
wliho had been lieutenant-colonel of the Riflemen. On Thursday, September 19, the three battalions were united, and shortly after this many of'
them deserted, taking their arms with them. They had not been paid nor
had they clothes, blankets ior provisions, nor had they any prospect of securing them  for the approaching fall and winter. The serious losses of
their field officers was given as another cause of their desertion. Many of
the deserters afterwards entered the service and did good work, and some
who were marked as deserters were long afterward borne on the pension roll.
By a return of the army made on September 27, I776, the three battalions
were in General Mifflin's brigade and were stationed at Mount Washington. A
new arrangement was made of these battalions in October, bv which two wereto be attached to the Continental Army and serve during the war, while the other
was to be retained in the service of the state until January I, I778, unless sooner
discharged. The last was to consist of I,ooo men who were to be sent home as
soon as the condition of affairs in the East would admit of it, for the p;urpose of'
Pennsylvania was to keep twelve complete battalions in the Continental Army.
The regiment sent home was afterward known as the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot. Captain Erwin's command was united with other companies,
i-oPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
many of whom eventually followed the fortunes of the Continental Army and
served in the campaigns of 1777. The Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot
was therefore founded on the remains of Miles' and Atlee's battalions. Most
of Captain Erwin's company, with Lieutenant James Carnahan promoted to
captain, was connected with this regiment until the campaign of I777 ended
with the disastrous battles of Brandywine and Germantown, after which they
went into the memorable winter quarters of Valley Forge. Erwin, in the
meantime, became a captain in the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment. On May 6,
I777, the Supreme Executive Council sent a memorial to congress which
was therefore on June Io, I777, turned over to the Congressional establishment.
Thus Colonel Bull was promoted and Colonel Walter Stuart succeeded him in
its command and was with it in the battles of Germantown and Brandywine.
In November it was annexed to the Pennsylvania Line and was under Stuart
until January, I778.
The Second Pennsylvania Regiment saw service from October, 1776, to
November, I783. There were many Westmoreland soldiers in this regiment in
the latter part of the war and perhaps none in the first part of it. They were
transferred from other organizations and many of them were killed in the
closing battles of the war. The list is imperfect, but it nevertheless contains
the names of many who passed their last days here and were well known
around Pittsburg two or three generations ago. They were under General
Wayne and General Greene in the South, participating in the engagements of
the Carolinas at Guilford Court House, and finally were at Yorktown. It is unfortunate that there is no list of the regiment, it havinlg been destroyed at the
burning of the National Capitol by the British in 1814.
The Eighth Pennsylvania was by far the most noted of western Pennsylvania regiments in the Revolution.  The reader has seen that the western
border was in constant turmoil occasioned by the Indians who then inhabited
Ohio. Actuated by the British they were continuously invading the territory
as far east as Laurel Hill. In April, 1776, congress appointed Colonel George
Morgan as Indian agent for this territory and he at once established headquarters at Pittsburg. With considerable ability in such matters, he and a committee which was also appointed by congress, concluded'after an investigation,
that a general Indian war with the colonists was inevitable, owing mainly to the
influence of the British under the command of Governor Hamilton, who had
great power over all of the tribes, but particularly over the Shawanees and
Delawares. This committee, in view of the impending war with the natives,
recommended that all the militia that the country could furnish be garrisoned at
Fort Pitt, and that the old line of forts built long before by the French and
afterward held by the English, be at once rebuilt and occupied. The Eighth
Pennsylvania was therefore raised by authority of a resolution of congress
dated July I5, I776. This resolution designated it purely for the defense of
the western border. It consisted of seven} companies from  Westmoreland
county and one from Bedford county; two other companies were afterward
I512A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
added to it. Aeneas Mackay was recommended by the Pennsylvania commission on July 20 as colonel, while George Wilson was made lieutenant-colonel,
and Richard Butler was made major. The committees in the communities
where the companies were raised, were instructed to select the company officers
upon which congress on September I4, commissioned them. Congress also
elected Rev. David McClure as chaplain and Ephraim Douglas as quartermaster. The regiment was promptly mustered at Pittsburg and remained on duty
on the frontier during the summer and fall of I776, but late in the year Washington's army had been greatly diminished by the disastrous campaigns and
by the loss of Fort Washington. The army had also been strengthened by
the arrival of new troops from England. The result was that the general cry
went forward to move all troops that could be spared, to Washington's division at once. Accordingly, on November 23, I776, congress directed the Board.of War to order the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment to march with all possible expedition by the most direct route to Brunswick, New Jersey, and
further to join Washington's army wherever the exigencies of the war might
then have forced him  to go.  Colonel Mackay received these orders at
Kittanning, where a portion of his regiment was at all times stationed. On
December 6, I776, he reported to the president of the Board of War as follows:
Sir: I last night received your order from the Honorable the Board of
War, in consequence of which I have this day issued the necessary orders, and:shall march with all possible dispatch to the place directed.
I have ordered a general rendezvous on the I5th instant, at a proper place,
and from thence shall proceed as ordered. As I would not choose that the
battalion under every disadvantage when at Brunswick, beingc now in need of
everything, I shall be obliged to make Philadelphia my route in order to be
supplied.
The day book of this regiment under date of December 6 has this entry:
"This day received intelligence for the battalion to march to Amboy." George
Wilson, the lieutenant-colonel, was a Scotch-Irishman of strong parts and of
patriotic sentiments though somewhat illiterate, as may be seen from the following letter, which is given verbatim:
Ketanian, Decr. 5th, I776.
IDr. Colonall: Last Evening we Recd Marching orders, Which I must say
is not Disagreeable to me under ye Sircumstances of ye times, for when I
entered into ye Service I Judged that if a necesity appeared to call us Below, it
would be Don, therefore it Dont come on me By Surprise; But as Both ye
officers and men understood they Were Raised for ye Defence of ye Western
frontiers, and their famellys and substance to be left in so Defenceless a situation
in their abstence, Seems to Give Sensable trouble, altho I Hope We Will Get
over it, By leaving sum of ower trifeling Officers Behind who Pirtend to Have
more Witt than seven men that can Render a Reason. We are all ill Provided
for a March at this season, But there is nothing hard under sum Sircumstances.
We Hope Provision Will be made for us Below, Blankets, Campe Kittles, tents
arms, Regementals, etc., that we may not cut a Dispisable figure, But mav be
Enabled to an,swer ye expectation of ower Countre.
I52PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I53
I Have Warmley Recomended to ye officers to lay'aside all Personall
Resentments at this time, for that it Would be construed By ye Worald that
they made use of that Sircumstance to Hide themselves under from ye cause 
ye countrie, and I Hope it Will have a Good Effect at this time.  We have
ishued ye Necesery orders, and appointed ye owt Parties to Randezvous at
Hanows Town, ye I5th in,stant, and to March Emeditly from there., We have.Recommended it to ye Militia to Station One Hundred MIen at this post until
further orders.
I Hope to have ye Plesure of Seeing you Soon, as we mean to take Philadelphia in ower Rout. In ye meal tilne, I am, With Esteem, your Harty Wellwisher and Hble Sert.                                    G. WILSON.
The officers at once made preparations for the long march and the soldiers,
be it said to their credit, went with but little complaint, which, considering the
fact that they were leaving their homes unprotected and going into a service for
which they had not been enlisted, and going without proper clothing, was more
-than should have been expected. On January 6, I777, they began their ever
memorable march over the snow covered mountains of Pennsylvania and across
the Delaware into New Jersey. The march was the most difficult one made by
any Pennsylvania troops during the Revolutionary War and from it they suffered more than they did fromn any contest with the enemy. Some of them died.on the way, and at Trenton their brave Colonel Mackay died, whilst a few days
afterward at Quibbletown, New Jersey, Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson died, each
succumbing to the privations of the severe winter march. Many of the troops
were then afflicted with fever and with a putrid sore throat. In the "Life of'Timothy Pickering" is the following reference to the noble regiment:
March I, I777; Saturday.
Dr. Putnam brought rhe a billet, of which the following is a copy:
"Dear Sir,-Our Battalion is so unfortunate as not to have a Doctor, and,
in my opinion, dying for want of Inedicine. I beg you will come down to-morrow morning and visit the sick of my company, for that favor you shall have
sufficient satisfaction from your humble servant, James Pigott, Capt. of 8 Batt.
of Pa., Quibletown, feb. 28, I777."
I desired the Dr. by all means to, visit them. They were raised about the
Ohio, and had travelled near five hundred miles, as one of the soldiers who came
for the Dr. informed me, for 150 miles over mountains, never entering a house,
but building fires and encamping in the snow. Considerable numbers unused to
such hardships have since died. The Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel among
the dead. The Dr. informed me he found them quartered in cold shattered
houses, etc.
On the death of the colonel and the lieutenant-colonel, Daniel Brodhead
-was made colonel and Richard Butler became lieutenant-colonel, while Stephen
Bayard was made major. On the formation of the American Rifles command,
Butler was made lieutenant-colonel and James Ross, of the First Pennsylvania,
was made lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth in his stead. The companies of the
Eighth were enlisted between the gth of August and the I6th of December, and:at that time numbered 630. Thirty-fo,ur troops were afterward enlisted, makingA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
a total of 684. The strength of the regiment by companies was on June 9,
J777, indicated by the following returns:
Sergts.   Rank and File.
Capt. David Kilgore.....................3              55
Capt. Samuel Miller.....................4             82
Capt. Van Swearingen................... 3              7
Capt. James Pigott.....................4               55
Capt. Wendel Ourry.4                       54
Capt. Andrew  MIann................... 4               58
Capt. James Montgomery................2                57
Capt. Mlichael Huffnagle.................4             70
Capt. Lieut. John Finley...............2..  2        77
Capt. Lieut. Basil Prather...............3            69
33           648
From the original total 36 were deducted as prisoners, I4 missing, 5I dead,
I5 discharged, and I26 deserted. One lieutenant deserted and a second lieutenant
was cashiered, an ensign was dismissed and the quartermaster, Ephraim
Douglas, was taken by the enemy. The reader may be amazed at the large number who deserted. The term "desertion" was not so harsh a one in, the days of
the Revolutionary War as it is with us in our modern armies. As noted on the
old rolls it goes for very little, for many of them returned afterward and rendered good service in the patriotic cause. Many of those who were marked'
"deserters" in the Revolution were afterward carried on the pension list. It was
a common occurrence in the Great War for the half-clad, half-fed and unpaid'
soldiers to take an unceremonious leave, perhaps to go home to plant theirspring crops, and later to return to duty. Washington, with his broadmindedness, readily saw the difference between a genuine deserter and one who wenthome to lend temporary assistance to his needy wife and children. The return.
of the regiment dated November Ist, I777, shows the strength as follows: I
colonel, I major, 2 captains, 6 lieutenants, I adjutant, I paymaster, I surgeon, I
sergeant-major, I quartermaster sergeant, I drum major, 29 sergeants, 9 drums.
and fifes, 112 rank and file fit for duty, 28 sick present, 77 sick absent, I39 on
other commands, total 35I. Prisoners, 59. Captain Van Swearingen, Lieutellant Basil Prather and Lieutenant John Hardin were in command with Colonel'
Morgan. The vacancies at that time were, in the office of lieutenant-colonel,
one, four vacant captaincies, two lieutenancies, eight ensigns, a chaplain, and a
surgeon's mate. Lieutenant-Colonel Ross resigned after the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. The regiment after its long, severe march, suffered'
greatest at Bound Brook, where Major-General Benjamin Lincoln with 500 menwas attacked by Cornwallis. Part of the regiment sustained the noted charge
of the British Grenadiers at Paoli, and they were nearly all in the battles of Ash,
Swamp, Brandywine and Germantown. Like all regiments in the Revolution,
it was many times broken up and separated, its officers and men being transferred to other regiments, as the exigencies of the war demanded. Some thusparticipated with Morgan at Saratoga and many of them were with Wayne at
I54PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
the storming of Stony Point, but they nearly all came together again at Valley
Forge. The suffering of this most noted camp of the Revolutionary Army hasbeen so much written of that we shall not repeat it here.
On March I5, I778, the regiment was ordered to return to Pittsburg, but
many of them had in the meantime, re-enlisted for the term of the war and were
assigned to other commands.
The homeward march of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment from Valley
Forge was but little less difficult than their'march eastward, for it came in the
hot months of July and August land was attended with many other privations.
They left Valley Forge and marched to Lancaster, thence to Carlisle. Before
leaving they were supplied with uniforms, those of the officers being of the
regulation blue, while the troops were attired in huntinlg shirts, broad-brimmed
cocked hats, and leggins. They had taken rifles with them to the East but on
the suggestion of General Wayne were provided with muskets with bayonets.
The sharp-shooters, however, retained their rifles. In the meantime the, Iroquois
Indian,s from the North came down on the west branch of the Susquehanna and
killed and captured about thirty settlers. This caused great suffering and thosewho could, went with their horses and cattle to Carlisle and Lancaster. This
was followed by the Wyoming Massacre, so beautifully commemorated with
considerable p6etic license, in the poem of Thomas Campbell, entitled "Gertrude'
of Wyoming."  About 400 British and Tories and 700 Iroquois Indians from
New York invaded the settlement and in a few days almost exterminated its inhabitants. Brodhead was then at Carlisle with the Eighth Regiment and was
ordered at once to the North to chastise the Indians, drive them from our state'
and encourage the settlers to return to their homes. Part of the regiment had
already advanced westward, their object being to secure food and provisions for
the main army to follow. Brodhead left the heavy baggage at Carlisle and
about 340 of his ablest soldiers hurried north to Sunbury, where in Fort Augusta, one hundred volunteers were awaiting them. But the main body of theBritish and the Indians had gone away and little else was left for Brodhead to
do than clear the country of small bands of savages who yet remained. By
guarding the country by means of detachments, he also en,couraged the settlers.
to return to their farms. The advance of his forces had prevented the Indians
from destroying all of the crops. On July 24 he wrote: "Great numbers of the
inhabitants returned upon my approach and are now collected in large bodies,.
reaping their harvests." The only encounter of his forces was sustained by
Captain Finley's company. They were near the house of Colonel James Porter,.
who had built a stockade about ten miles southeast of the present town of Bellefonte in Centre county. A small body of them were attacked by savages and
driven to the stockade, two of the company being killed. They killed one Indian. The Eighth Pennsylvarnia was finally relieved in July by the Eleventh and
Brodhead reached Carlisle on August 6. Here they rested a week and then
marched westward toward Fort Pitt. Among the soldiers who had preceded
the Eighth westward was Captain Samuel Miller, who lived near Greensburg,
I55[A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
He was in the recruiting service and was also collecting provisions and forage at
Hannastown for the coming regiment. On July 7, I778, while he and nine
soldiers were guarding a load of grains on its way to the Fort they were attacked
by a band of Indians and all save two were killed. The Eighth Regiment was so
far exhausted that they consumed two weeks in marching from Carlisle to Bedford and two weeks more between Bedford and Pittsburg, making only seven or
eight miles per day. They found their homeward march something of an
ovation after passing Bedford. All along the brave and warworn veterans were
welcomed with the best the country could afford. Nearly three hundred of the
fearless young frontiersmen who had so willingly marched East to assist Washington in his dire necessity, had gone there never to return. By the wayside on
the westward march'sat the careworn widow, the orphan and the aged parent,:seek;ing in vain. for those most dear to them.
Colonel Aeneas Mackay came to America in the commissary department of
the Eighteenth Foot, Royal Irish Regiment, and very soon after that located at
Pittsburg. He was appointed a justice of the Westmoreland courts when the,county was formed in I773 and was prominent in resisting the encroachments of
Dunmore's or Connolly's soldiers. The reader will recall the urgent manner
in which he advocated that Pittsburg be made the county seat. Later he was
engaged in border defense and as such was made a colonel of the Eighth
Pennsylvania Regiment. A notice of his death was printed in the Pennsylvania
Evening Post of February I8, I777, which was as follows: "On Saturday last,
died of putrid fever at Trenton, New Jersey, in the fifty-sixth year of his age,
Aeneas Mackay, Esq., colonel of the Eighth Regiment of Pennsylvania Continental Forces, and yesterday his remains were interred with the honors of war
in the First Presbyterian Burying Ground in this city. In him his country has
lost a faithful servant and good officer, his widow an uncommonly tender and
affectionate husband, his children an indulgent father, and the world an hon-,est man."
In I78I when General William Irvine was put in command of Fort Pitt,
he reformed the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment into two companies and designated them as a detachment from the Pennsylvania Lines. They were placed
under the command of Colonel Stephen Bayard. In the meantime the regiment
had been kept up from year to year by recruits enlisted largely in and around
Pittsburg. Both before and after it was reformed the regiment had been constantly engaged in doing frontier duty, and so, continued until the close of the
Revolution.
Some of the punishments inflicted on the soldiers of the Eighth Regiment
and of other regiments which were stationed at Fort Pitt, notably the Ninth and
Thirteenth Virginia regiments, parts of which were here in I779, I780 and I78I,
may interest the modern reader. In each of them were soldiers who would not
conform to the military discipline and court martials were accordingly numerous.
~Of the Eighth Regiment, Isaac Aiken was charged with theft, and being foun(l
guilty, was sentenced to fifty lashes. James Maxwell, who refused to do his
156PITTSBURG AND  HER PEOPLE                             I57
duty, was sentenced to ride astride of a wooden horse for ten minutes, with a
musket tied to each foot. Edward Wilkie, who was found guilty of many
offences, was sentenced to Ioo lashes, and to be drummed out of the regiment
as a common vagabond, with orders not to appear again on plea of instant death.
Thomas Kelley was sentenced to 500 lashes, and, in order to ameliorate his pun--
ishment, or perhaps to insure his surviving it, a surgeon was detailed to attend
the execution of it.
Many depredations were inflicted around Pittsburg in the early years
of the Revolution and indeed, during the entire war, but in I777 they became.
much more numerous. It would be impossible to give these in detail, but any
one foray made by the Indians on the western frontier is more or less representative of all of them. The capture of Andrew McFarland by the Mingoes became one of the most noted episodes of border history. He had come from!
County Tyrone in Ireland and settled in Philadelphia about I764, shortly after
which he came to Pittsburg, where he and his brother were engaged in the fur
trade with the natives. During the contest with Virginia over this territory he
was appointed a justice by Governor Penn and had taken an active part in asserting the right of Pennsylvania to the region around the Fork of the Ohio. It
will be remembered that he was taken to Staunton as a prisoner by Connolly,.
and that to avoid a serious disturbance around Pittsburg he and his brother
moved their store to Kittanning. There were but five or six families there then.
Joseph Speer and the McFarlands soon had a good trade with the Indians from
the upper Allegheny Valley. The Eighth Regiment was enlisted for home defense but when taken East left the Western border unprotected. The dangers
around Kittan,ning multiplied and McFarland wrote for a company to protect
them, but the limited militia force forbade them sending troops there. Most of
the settlers of Kittanning removed to safer places. Colonel Mackay had a post
there and had considerable supplies and military stores, but these were left almost without a guard when the Eighth regiment was called East. Samuel
Moorehead, who lived nearby, formed a small company of rangers for frontier
protection, and McFarland acted as lieutenant. There are many traditions concerning McFarland's capture, but they are unfounded, and, moreover, they conflict with well-known facts and serve only to prove how unreliable that sort
of testimony must always be regarded. Stories handed down by tradition for a
few generations can rarely ever be corroborated by contemporary documents,
though the traditions are often much more romantic and interesting than the real
happenings. From letters written at the time, it is quite certain that the British
in Canada who were preparing to send Indians and soldiers to Western Pennsylvania, were anxious first to know the strength of the armament at Pittsb'urg, and'
accordingly sent out a small squad of spies to learn the situation and report to
them. Four Indians, two Chippewas and two Iroquois, were sent down the
Allegheny from Niagara. Part of the way they were accompanied by two
British soldiers who gave out at Franklin, and there, while resting, awaited the
return of the Indians. On the I4th of February, I777, they appeared on thetook the canoe down the river, while Washington and the rest of his party
pushed forward on their horses. They first rode over to Shannopinstown, and
then down the banks of the Allegheny to the Junction; they reached the place
before the canoe had reached it, and Washington began an examination of the
point and was favorably impressed by it as the proper place for the erection of
the fort, as provided for in the charter of the Company. A former recommendation had been that the intended fort should be built and a town laid out
at M\IcKee's Rocks. Washington, no doubt, considered this and other localities,
for he urged the point at the junction as "less expensive than the other place."
"A fort at the fork," his report reads, "would be equally well situated on the
Ohio, and have the entire command of the Monongahela, which runs by our
settlement, and is extremely well designed for water carriage as it is of a deep,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
~opposite side of the Allegheny from Kittanning and called for assistance in.,rossing the river. McFarland was accustomed to this, for the Indians with
furs for sale, had frequently come to trade at his store in that way. He accord-ingly crossed the river in a canoe. Upon landing he was!at once taken a pris-,oner and hurried off to Niagara. The tradition t'hat his wife, who was a Miss
Lewis from Virginia, to whose somewhat romantic marriage we have referred
in former pages, saw this capture in speechless horror, is doubtless true, for the
capture was made in full view of their log cabin across the river. The long
journey through the deep snow to Niagara was made wit'h great difficulty.
From Niagara he was taken to Quebec, but he refused to give the British the,desired information. James McFarland, his brother, was at that time a captain
in the First Pennsylvania under Washington, anld through'his efforts Andrew
was exchanged in I780, whereupon he at once joined his wife and child in
Staunton, Virginia, and all three of them returned to their old' home at Pittsburg. McFarland's capture, however, did great good in one sense, for at once
the settlers united with the Ranger company for self-defense, and as far as
-possible guarded, the river front.
A more important and, more dangerous episode of the western border of
I777 is known as the Gun Powder Expedition, which was managed by George
Gibson. Nearly all the powder used in the West was made in the East and had
to be carried on pack horses perhaps from Wilmington, Delaware, to Pittsburg,
where it was high in price and was generally paid for by furs and skins. But
the Indian incursions in this region were ruinous to the fur trade, for why:should the Indians trap and hunt when in the employ of the British Army and'bountifully supplied with blankets, firearms, ammunition and whiskey! Powder
was therefore unusually scare in all the western settlements. Moreover the
soldiers in the East were consuming fully the output of the factories, and but
-little could be spared from the army, to supply which seemed to be of greater
importance. Here it was necessary for each settler to keep powder on hand at
all times and when his supply ran down, he invariably resorted to Fort Pitt to'have it replenished. The Ranger method of defense was adopted over the
whole frontier. They went rapidly to the relief of any stricken community and
generally made the Indians glad to seek the cover of the wilderness. But they
were almost powerless without powder. For several weeks in I777 the fort
-itself was almost ineffectual for the want of powder. It was then that Captain
George Gibson, assisted by Lieutenant William Linn, executed a most daring
project which greatly relieved the situation. Gibson had been brought up in
Lancaster and in early manhood had come to Pittsburg to deal in furs. He'had, before going West, been to sea in two or three voyages and had also traveled much among the Indian tribes of the West. He was the father of the most
eminent of Pennsylvania jurists, Chief Justice John Bannister Gibson. Linn
had come from Maryland and had survived the slaughter of Braddock's army
and had also been in Dunmore's War. They had raised a company in and
about Pittsburg and entered the Revolution as a part of the Virginia regiment.
i58PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Each of them therefore had an abundance of zeal for the cause. They were now
sent to the Monongahela Valley for home defense, and were deputized by Virginia to journey to New Orleans for powder. Fifteen hardy young pioneers
accompanied them. They built flat boats at Pittsburg and started down the
Ohio on July I9, 1776, when the news of the Declaration of Independence had
just reached them and had added to the zeal of all western pioneers. The Ohio
was lined with Shawanees, Wabash and Miami Indians, who were then trying
to exterminate the settlements of Kentucky as well as of Ohio. And the western British posts were to be considered also, for should the Detroit forces learn
of the expedition there would be no hope of a successful return. All of the
company under. Gibson and Linn were dressed in the homespun garments of
that day, but as a matter of caution, carried rifles, tomahawks and knives. No
one then in Pittsburg knew of their destination, for the town, as well as all of
the West, was filled with Tories and spies. Strong, active and daring young
men were selected and the story was given out that they were going down the
river as traders. They passed down the Ohio wit'hout event worthy of special
notice. They met parties of settlers going to Fort Pitt to escape from the Indians in Ohio and Kentucky. Many savages were seen, but the apparent trading party was not molested, and by passing the English fort at Natchez in the
-night time, they reached New Orleans in about five weeks. Louisana was then
governed by the Spani-ards.  Gibson had letters of credit to Oliver Pollock,
-formerly of Philadelphia, and to other merchants of New Orleans who were
friendly to us. Through their influence with the Spaniards the powder was
secured. Spain did not like England then, though they were not at war with
each other. The English spies and merchants were in New Orleans and soon
discovered the presence of this party. Complaint was made to the Spanish
officers and Gibson was arrested and put in prison, but it being a Spanish prison
he was very kindly treated. The Spaniards were not slow to help us if in doing
so they could quietly injure their old traditional enemy. Pollock purchased
I2,000 pounds of powder for $I,8oo and secreted it in his store-house. Then
one-fourth of it was put in boxes and marked as various kinds of merchandise
and sent quietly by a sailing vessel by the Gulf of Mexico and the ocean' to
Philadelphia. The Spanish authorities kindly allowed Gibson to escape from
-prison the same night and he came with that shipment of powder to Philadelphia. To have sent it all by sea to Philadelphia would have necessitated the
-transportation of the greater part of it to Western Pennsylvania and Virginia on
pack horses. Nine thousand pounds were turned over to' Lieutenant Linn. It
was placed in casks and smuggled in the night to the barges which were tied up
in a concealed cove above New Orleans. Lieutenant Linn also hired twenty or
more additional boatmen, for the force which brought his empty barges down
could not take the laden ones back, and the object was to return as rapidly as
possible so as to avoid danger. He set out September 22, I776. The best he
could do was to force his barges slowly up the river. At the Falls of the Ohio
at Louisville it was necessary to unload the casks and carry them to the head of
I59A CE.NTURY AND A HALF OF
the Falls, whilst the barges were dragged up with heavy ropes. On their way
the river was frozen up and forced them to await the return of the warm spring
weather. They finally reached Fort Henry, where Wheeling now stands, on
May 2, I777, where their valuable cargo was turned over to David Shepherd,.
county lieutenant of Ohio county, Virginia. In the meantime Gibson had
reached Philadelphia and reported that Linn was returning by the river. Orders were sent at once to Fort Pitt to raise Ioo men to go down the Ohio to
meet thle barges and protect them, for this was considered by far the most dangerous part of the journey. But the Fort Pitt authorities miscalculated the
time that Linn would likely reach t'he Northern Ohio river and they were only
ready to start when word came that he had reached Wheeling. Shepherd, by a
strong guard, conveyed the powder to Pittsburg, where Colonel Crawford
stored it in the powder magazine of old Fort Pitt. All honor was due to Linn
and his brave men. Though Virginia and Pennsylvania had but recently been
at war with each other, Virginia acted nobly in this matter. The powder was
purchased and paid for by Virginia but her representative, Colonel Crawford,
regarded it as "for the use of the Continent."  Parts of it were given to the
Rangers in and around Fort Pitt and to soldiers near Pittsburg who were then
ready to be mustered into the Continental service. The stock lasted until I778
and supplied Colonel George Rogers Clark for his famous expedition to Illinois.
Both Gibson and Linn were promoted and to each of them was granted extra
pay for his services. Linn, after other services in the Revolution, settled near
Louisville, Kentucky, where he was killed by the Indians while going to attend
court on November 5, 178I. He was scalped and his body was found the day
following. Gibson, as lieutenant-colonel, was with St. Clair's army in his campaign a,gainst the Indians and received a wound in the battle on November 4,
I79I, from which'he died a few days after, during the retreat to Cincinnati.
Those who understood well the methods of the British in the Revolution
saw that they were trying to subdue the frontier by urging Indians on to most
brutal outrages. Congress therefore offered to take charge of Fort Pitt and
garrison it at public expense. We have referred to Captain John Neville occupying the fort. He was on June I, I777, relieved by Brigadier General Edward Hand, who, had so deported himself in the Continental army that Waslhington selected him as the most efficient officer to defend the western. border.
Hand learned, like Braddock, that to successfully fight t'he Indians required a
different style of warfare from battling with the trained soldiers of civilized
countries. He was born in Ireland and was an educated physician. He came
to America as assistant surgeon in the Eighteenth Royal Irish Regiment of
Foot when 23 years old, in I767. Stationed for a time at Fort Pitt, he resigned
from the army and practiced medicine at Lancaster. When the news of Lexington and Concord thrilled t'he western people, he assisted in raising troops and
was a lieutenant-colonel in Thompson's battalion of Pennsylvania Riflemen,
afterward the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Line. He was also a colonel and.
(lid good work at Long Island, Trenton and Princeton, and in I777 was made a
I 60PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
brigadier-general. Then he was sent to Pittsburg to defend the western border
and relieved Neville, as we have said. He brought no forces here but took
charge of the two companies of the Thirteenth Virginia which had been raised
in this community. He carried authorities from Washington to call on the
militia for such assistance as he might need in any project in which he engaged.
The chief object of those in command of the American army throughout
the Revolution was to avoid the English and keep from meeting their superior
forces and numbers in open battle. Hand had had experience only in that style
of warfare. Here the Indian could not be seen, yet his arrows and bullets came
from every bush, while he evaded the enemy with a skill scarcely approximated
by the most skillful rangers under WVashington. It was the custom of the
savage to hunt the settler in small bands, often of eight or ten; to go to a peaceable community by night and murder as many citizens as they could, steal what
they needed, burn their property and be gone by morning, either to infest another localities many miles distant or to skulk away to their homes in the trackless
forest. They left no trail save the ruins they wrought, and shrewd indeed was
the white soldier who could trace them to their wigwams. Murders were
numerous around Pittsburg at all times, but they were extremely so in I777,
after Hand arrived. Many parties were sent out by Colonel Hamilton, of Detroit, sending out two or three British with fifteen or twenty Indians in each
party. He reported to Quebec in I777 that he had sent out fifteen parties, consisting of about thirty white men and about 29o Indians, the parties averaging
about 2I men each. They were mostly Wyandottes, Miamis and Shawanees
from Ohio. Pittsburg was also invaded by many parties from the Seneca
tribes in western New York. Hamilton at all times offered protection to the
settlers if they would follow to his post or join the force of the English at any
place. Indeed such proclamations were often found in communities marked by
the desolating hand of the savage. Hand concluded to invade the Indian coun
try with his forces, destroy their towns and provisions and drive them furthel
west. The Ohio tribes were less nomadic than most of the Indians, for they
had towns, huts, cornfields and raised many vegetables, which were stored away
for their winter use. To destroy these compelled them to hunt for a living and
by thus going further west, they had less time to devote to the border settlements. Hand accordingly attempted to collect the militia from Westmoreland
and Bedford coiunties and'from the western part of Virginia, intending to go
down the Ohio to the mouth of the Big Kanawha. In this project he was sustained by the government of both states and by congress. He expected an
army of 2,00o0 nien, but he forgot in his calculations, that every community had
been drained to supply the eastern army and that the few who were left, were
needed badly at home to defend their firesides and those they loved most dearly.
Colonel Archibald Locnrey gathered up about Ioo men, who marched to Fort
Pitt and thence to Wheeling, but finding no army there, they abandoned the expedition after waiting a week, and returned to Fort Pitt. A few small squads
had come in and a larger body of militia had met at Fort Randolph, but after
1164 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
waiting for two or three weeks all returned to their'homes. Raids from the
Indians were of common occurrence all this time in western Pennsylvania and
the communities as far east as Bedford were overrun by them. Eleven men
were killed near Fort Palmer in the Ligonier Valley, and two days later four
children were killed within sight of the fort. Four men were killed and a
womnan captured near Fort Ligonier, while the stockade fort near Blairsville
was attacked. Captain James Smith, the noted Indian fighter and author, in
the meantime organized a party of Rangers that pursued them and killed five of
their number near Kittanning. When the snow fell the Indian raids ceased
for a time, for the wary red man would not venture into a settlement when his
footprints could be easily tracked in the snow.
During the winter Hand learned that the British forces of Detroit had built
a fort on the Cuyahoga, where Cleveland now stands, and had collected there a
large quantity of supplies to be used by the Indians in the following spring.
This he concluded to capture and destroy. He called for mounted men supplied with provisions for a short campaign and offered to, furnish arms and
ammunition for those from Fort Pitt. All goods captured, he said, were to be
sold and the proceeds divided equally among the victors. About February I5,
500 horsemen were at Fort Pitt ready for the march. Colonel Crawford was
in command of the Youghiogheny forces and with this most formidable band,
General Hand expected to accomplish great results. He went down the Ohio
and thence by the Beaver river and the Mahoning river toward Cuyahoga. The
rain melted the snow and travel became very difficult. All streams were swollen
and their passage in many place was impossible. When these multiplied
hindrances had almost forced him to abandon the expedition, he found Indian
tracks on some higher ground. This revived the drooping spirit of his men
and a party followed the tracks and came upon a few huts of the Delawares.
An attack was made but they found only one old man, a few deserted squaws
and some small children; all of these escaped except three. The old man and
one squaw were shot and the other squaw was captured. Word was received
that ten miles further on a squad of Indians could be found, but the strong
forces sent out found only four squaws and a boy, all of whom, save one squaw,
were indiscreetly put to death by the border soldiers. One of his men was
wounded and one drowned. The rains continued and prevented him from
going further west, so he returned with his forces to Fort Pitt and brought with
him the two squaws. No real frontiersman or Indian fighter could otherwise
than deride such an expedition, and it was ever afterward called the "Squaw
Campaign."  As we may imagine, Hand was disgusted with Indian warfare
and left Fort Pitt by resignation. He became adjutant-general of the United
States Army and was more successful in other lines of warfare. He was a
member of congress in I798. Though an efficient officer in the regular service,
he had failed absolutely as an Indian fighter. He died at Lancaster in September, 1802.
i62CHAPTEFR XI.
The Revolution Continued-Morgan's Rifles-Difficulties Around Fort Pitt.
The name of Daniel Morgan will not soon be forgotten by the American
people. As the commander of "Morgan's Rifles," and as the hero of Cowpens his
name will shine with star-brightened splendor as long as the American people
revere true courage and patriotism. Reference has been made to his participation in the Braddock Expedition, but it is not generally known how closely his
name is linked with Pittsburg and with the Eighth Regiment. Virginia long
ago erected a monument to his memory and the service of "Morgan's Rifles" is
almost if not quite as familiar as any story of the Revolutionary annals. The
part which Pennsylvania took in the rifle regiment, and especially the soldiers of
the Eighth Regiment, is often forgotten by us from the fact that Morgan himself
was a Virginian. The glory which the justly renowned Rifles won in the North,
should be almost equally divided between Virginia and Pennsylvania, and not
given entirely to the former state. The regiment was usually designated as
"Morgan's Rifles," or sometimes as "Morgan's Partisan Corps," for this was its
official name. It was a rifle corps organized by General Washington himself, of
which Daniel Morgan, of Virginia, was made colonel; Richard Butler, of Pittsburg, a colonle of the Ninth Pennsylvania, was lieutenant-colonel, and Captain
Joseph Morris, of New Jersey, was major. The officers were all WelI known to
Washington and he evinced his marvellous judgment of men in selecting
them. The entire corps was made up of the ablest sharp-shooters of the Continental Army, having in mind, of course, the physical strength, the soldierly deportment and the necessary agility of the marksmen as well. It was indeed a
great honor among the soldiers of the Revolution to be chosen for this service.
Their duty was to fight somewhat independently, to keep themselves concealed,
to climb trees and in these positions to pick off officers and others at long
range, who were important in the command of the enemy. Their mission was
at all times dangerous. The Fifth company of Morgan's Rifles was commanded
by Capt. Van Swearingen, of the Eighth Pennsylvania. Tihe Third company
was commanded by Capt. James Knox, who won distinction under Wayne in
storming Stony Point. From General James Wilkinson's "Memoirs" we take
the following return of Morgan's Corps: Among the Rifles, according to theA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
"Memoirs," Pennsylvania is credited with furnishing I93; Virginia I63, and
Maryland 65. There were 508 in all and the others were probably selected froim
other states. They have been most highly spoken of by all authorities and must
ever be remembered as among the best soldiers of the Continental Army. Of
their services at Stillwater, which is another name for Saratoga, Bancroft has
written these words:
"In concurrence with the advice of Arnold, Gates ordered out Morgan's
Riflemen and the light infantry. They put a picket to flight at a quarter past
one, but retired before the division of Burgoyne. Leading his force utnmolested through the woods, and securing his right by thickets and ravines,
Morgan next fell unexpectedly upon the left of the British centre division. To
support him, Gates, at two o'clock, sent out three New Hampshire battalions.
of which that of Scammel met the enemy in front, that of Cilley took theim in
flank. In a warm engagement Morgan had his horse shot under him, and with
his riflemen captured a cannon, but could not carry it off."
General Henry Lee, in his "Memoirs of the Revolution in, the Southernl
States," speaks of Colonel Richard Butler as the renowned second and rival of
Morgan in the Saratoga encounter.
First Lieutenant Basil Prather and Second Lieutenant John Hardin, witll
parts of their commands, were also with Morgan and did splendid service in a
series of severe encounters which resulted in the ignominious surrender of EJurgoyne's army. Their commands under Morgan consisted of picket men from
the companies of the Eighth Regiment.
Van Swearingen was undoubtedly the most noted captain of the Eighth
Pennsylvania Regiment. On September 9, I777, he and a company consisting
of one lieutenant and twenty privates, were captured by an unexpected charge
of the enemy which scattered Morgan's soldiers right and left. He was turned
over to the Indians, who were part of the British forces in the campaign, but
was rescued by John Fraser's horsemen, who took him before the general as a
prisoner. Fraser questioned him closely concerning the size and strength of
the Continental Army, but could elicit no information from him save that it
was commanded by General Gates and General Arnold. Fraser then threatened
that he would hang him unless he gave the desired information, but this drew
nothing from Van Swearingen but the calm reply, "You may if you please."
Fraser then rode off a short distance to a part of the field close by which called
for a moment's attention, leaving Van Swearingen in charge of Sergeant Dunbar, who, in company with Lieutenant Auburey, ordered him to be guarded
among the other prisoners, but directed that the guards should not ill treat him.
But almost immediately when General Fraser rode away, he came in full view
of Morgan himself, who directed one of his sharp-shooters, Timothy Murphy, to
take a steady aim at him. The result was that he was shot dead ere yet his
threat to hang Van Swearingen had scarcely died on his lips. This circumstance probably saved Van Swearingen's life. A short time after this, when
Burg'oyne's army had been captured and sent to Virginia, Dunbar and A uburevI64PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
were with them and Van Swearingen made special efforts and succeeded in
having them exchanged because of their kindness to him when he had been a
prisoner. Van Swearingen was of immense build, brave, determined and
patriotic, and like Washington, had the gift of continuance, even though the
cause seemed at times almost hopeless. At Valley Forge he encouraged his disconsolate associates by both money and kind words of cheer. After he returned
from the war he settled in Washington county and became its first sheriff in
I78I. His daughter was married to Captain Samuel Brady, the daring scout,
who was equally noted in Pittsburg's early history.
Lieutenant John Hardin, of the Eighth Pennsylvania and of Morgan's
Rifles, returned to Westmoreland at the close of the war and from Pittsburg reloved to Kentucky, where his name is now revered as General John Hardin.
WVhen he was a lieutenant of the Eighth Regiment he shot an Indian who was
carry'ing letters of importance from the main body of the English army to the
commander of Fort Ticonderoga. He took part in the battles with the Indians
as fought by Harmar and by General St. Clair in I79I.
All through the western border during the Revolution were found adherents to King George, and Pittsburg, being a metropolis, was particularly a
headquarters for them. AMany of them had formerly been in the English service. Some were conscientious members of the Church of England and'had the
Englishman's proverbial reverence for the Sovereign. Others were actuated by
mnercenary motives, for it must always be borne in mind that the wealth was with
the British army and the poverty with the Colonial army. The apparent weakness of our cause as compared with that of the Englishman's acknowledged
strength, discouraged many otherwise honest pioneers to despair of success, and
in addition to this, the gold of the English made the way to the enemy an alluring one. Many in and around Pittsburg were discouraged and disgusted with
General Hand's successive fiascoes in Indian fighting. In the winter of I777
and I778, the English army had possession of Philadelphia; the Continental
Congress had been driven west and finally sat in the little country'hamlet of
York, Pennsylvania, while the meanly clad and half-fed remnant of Washington's army which had survived Brandywine and Germantown, was languishing
at Valley Forge. Hamilton, the bold and daring English governor at Detroit,
had agents continuously circulating throughout the border settlements, offering
tempting awards in gold to those who would join his forces. Most of the Tories
of Pittsburg and vicinity had their secret headquarters at the house of Alexander McKee, which stood on the banks of the Ohio, where the town of McKees Rocks is now built. MVIcKee was the leader of the Indians and Tories
around Pittsburg and exerted a wide influence all over western Pennsylvania.
He had been a justice in Westmoreland county and later an Indian trader. For
many years before the Revolution he had been the agent of the king in the Indian affairs at Pittsburg. This gave him a wide acquaintance among the
tribes and among the Shawanees he had a wife and family of half-breed childre-n. For public services Colonel Bouquet had given him I,400 acres of landA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
at the mouth of Chartiers creek, where he lived much of the time when he was
not in Pittsburg. Early in I776 he was discovered to be in correspondence
with the British and upon his apprehension was put on his parole not to give aid
to the enemy and not to leave Pittsburg without the permission of the Revolutionary Committee. In I778 General Hand suspected him of having renewed
his disloyal correspondence with the English, and accordingly ordered him to
go to York, Pennsylvania, where the Continental Congress was then in session,
and where he would submit himself to their examination or trial. This command was not complied with promptly by him because of his pretended illness,
but as this excuse could not last always, he resolved to go to Detroit and ally
himself with the British Army. Matthew Elliott was a man much younger that
McKee, and who, understanding the Shawanees' language, had been employed
by the Fort Pitt authorities to carry messages of peace to the western Indian
tribes. Being captured at Detroit he was finally released and returned to Pittsburg by way of Quebec,' New York and Philadelphia. All of these places
were then held by the British, and Elliott was greatly impressed with the apparent strength of the English army as compared with the Colonial armies as he
saw them. He was convinced that the Colonies could not succeed, and on his
return associated himself with McKee and other Tories. Through Elliott, perhaps, McKee was made to believe that he would be secretly killed if he ventured to the East as he had been ordered to do, and this in some degree induced
him to join the English army. The Tories who intended to follow his example,
met at McKee's house on March 28, I778. They were Alexander McKee,
Robert Surphlit, his'cousin, Simon Girty, Matthew Elliott, and a man named
Higgins. Girty was born in Pennsylvania and had been captured by the Seneca
Indians when a youth, where he learned their language and thus secured employment at Fort Pitt as an interpreter and messenger. He is supposed to have
been faithful to the cause until but a few days before his flight. He was with
Hand in the Squaw Campaign, and no particular reason can be assigned for
his treachery unless it was a promise of position with the English or perhaps a
direct payment of money. News of their meeting and intended flight reached
General Hand in Pittsburg on Saturday evening. He accordingly ordered a
company of soldiers to go to McKee's house Sunday morning to arrest them,
but his troops reached there too late, as the Tories had left in the night. They
made their way through Ohio and urged the Indians along the way to make
war on the settlers. When Governor Hamilton heard of their flight he sent an
agent, Edward Hazle, to meet and bring them safely through the Indian country to Detroit. They were at once commissioned in the British service. For
almost a score of years Girty, Elliott and McKee were relentless in their warfare on their own race. They left behind them in Pittsburg a number of Tories mostly among the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, part of which was then
guarding at Fort Pitt. They had formed a plot to blow up the fort with powder and they meant to escape down the river in boats. In some way this "Gun
Powder Plot" became known, but barely in time to prevent the explosion. Ser166PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
geant Alexander Ballantine and eighteen or twenty of the conspirators escaped
in a boat belonging to the Fort on April 20. Soldiers were at once sent out in
pursuit of them and it was very nearly an equally matched race between them
down the Ohio river. They were finally overtaken at the mouth of the Muskingum. Eight of them jumped from the boat and were lost in the wilderness.
Others were killed in the conflict while the remainder were brought back to
Pittsburg and tried by a court martial, of which Colonel, formerly Justice,
William Crawford,was president. The testimony taken developed that the
leaders were Ballantine, William Bentley and Elizer Davis. Upon conviction
two of them were shot and one of them was hanged. Two others were sentenced to one hundred lashes on the bare back and the whipping took place on
thep;arade ground in front of the Fort. This trial was perhaps the last official
act of General Hand before he left for the East. It put an end for a time to
all treachery and conspiracy within the Fort.
Powder again became scarce in I778 for the store brought here by Linn
was about exhausted, particularly.after Clark had supplied his army with it.
The Virginia government therefore ordered a second expedition to New Orleans in quest of this most necessary article. The powder this time was purchased by correspondence with Oliver Pollock, and was sent by the Spaniards
to St. Louis, where they had a small outpost even as early as I768. Patrick
Henry, then governor of Virginia, appointed David Rogers of Red Stone, now
Brownsville, a man of high standing, as a frontiersman, to conduct the expedition. He had been a justice in the Virginia courts, was a member of the Revolutionary Committee, and combined with his knowledge of the law a thorough
understanding of the Indian race. He broiught together about forty men for
the work, all being hardy young woodsmen, most of whom had seen military
service. Among them was Basil Brown, a son of Thomas Brown, who founded
Brownsville. They built flat boats at Pittsburg and Fort Pitt in June, I778.
Wit'h them left two other boats carrying settlers to Kentucky. It seemed that
Rogers was not informed of the transportation of the powder from New Orleans to St. Louis, and his company lost much time in going down the Mississippi for it. He went up the Arkansas river a short distance to a Spanish fort
where he learned that the powder had been sent to the fort at St. Louis. From
there six of his command journeyed in a lighter boat to New Orleans where he
procured the proper papers authorizing him to lift the powder. After procuring these they set out for the Arkansas river by an overland route because of
the danger in passing the British fort at Natchez. After many days of travel over
swamps and forests, they reached their boats and set out at once for St. Louis.
At that time it was a small place of less than Iooo people, composed mostly of
the roughest element of the West. The fort was under the command of Don
Francisco de Leyba with one hundred soldiers. The sale and transfer of the
powder had been made clandestinely and with the heavily laden boats the slow
journey up the Ohio river was made in the summer and fall of I779. For hundreds and hundreds of miles both sides of the river were covered with a dense
i,67A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
still nature. Besides, a fort at the fork might be built at much less expense than
at the other place." The Company heeded his advice as to its location. It will
be noticed that Washingon called it "fork," as it is here written. His was the
first use of the term so aptly applied to this section. The word is now almost
invariably used in the plural form. There is but one fork, with two prongs, at
this place; Washington, therefore, used the term correctly when he used the
singular form of the noun.
On the evening of the 23rd his Company crossed the Allegheny river and
encamped for the night near the foot of what is now known as Monument Hill.
On the 24th they went down the river to Logstown. We shall not follow him
through all his delays because of inclement weather, intemperate guides, etc.,
for the instances of his journey have been written of many times, and need not
be repeated here except such as bear directly on Pittsburg. On December 5th
he reached Venango, where he was kindly received but informed that the Commandant St. Pierre, was at Fort Le Boeuf, about forty miles further north.
They left Venango on December 7th, but so bad were the roads that they did not
reach Fort Le Boeuf until December i Ith, when he presented the letter of
Governor Dinwiddie to the Commandant. Francis Parkman, the eminent historian, says that "St. Pierre and the officer next in rank, who knew a little
English, took it to another room to study at their ease; and in it all unconsciously they read a name designed to one day become one of the noblest in the
annals of mankind, for it introduced Major George Washington, Adjutant General of the Virginia Militia." St. Pierre treated the Major with great urbanity,
but delayed his return by various causes until December I4th before he gave him
an answer to Governor Dinwiddie's letter or message. Their horses were then
sent by land while Washington and the remainder of the party left Le Boeuf on
December I6th in canoes, but so difficult was the navigation that they did not
reach Venango until December 22nd. On the way from Venango to the Ohio,
Washington and Gist, on December 26th, entrusted their jaded horses to Vanbraam and started on foot by the shortest route through the woods to Shannopinstown. For this journey they engaged an Indian as guide, but soon had reason to suspect him of treachery. Finally, at the edge of a cleared strip of
ground, the Indian, who was ahead, leveled his gun and fired at them; neither
of them was hit, and they made haste to capture and disarm the Indian. He had
taken refuge behind a large tree and was reloading his gun. Accustomed to
dealing with the Indians by summary methods, Gist wanted to kill the guide at
once, but Washington interposed, and after some delay sent him on his way
home with the impression that they, being, weary, would rest until morning and
then follow his footsteps. As soon as they were sure that the Indian had
actually left the community, they resumed their journey and traveled all night
and the day following until nightfall, when they reached the Allegheny river
opposite Shannopinstown. Unfortunately, though it was bitter cold weather,
the river was only partly frozen over. They encamped on its banks until morning, when they began to construct a raft. To do this they had but one hatchet,
8A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
forest which had scarcely been penetrated except by Indians or wild animals.
In October they approached the locality where Cincinnati now stands, where
they saw a few Indians about a mile distant, who were crossing the river in
canoes. Rogers thought his crafts had not been seen, for the Indians acted
apparently as jthough they were merely following the daily routine of their nomadic lives. Thinking that they were on their way to attack some settlement,
Rogers decided to capture them and destroy their habitation. The boats were
moored in the mouth of the Licking. river and the crews repaired to the ground
where now the town of Newport, Kentucky, stands. Confident of victory, they
probably pus'hed through the wilderness without due caution and were soon
surrounded by Indians, for the few they saw on the river were only scouts who
served as decoys to entrap the company. The savages in the woods were headed by Simon Girty and Matthew Elliott, formerly of Pittsburg, who led a party
of about one'hundred Indians. The Americans, so cleverly entrapped, were
fired on from all sides and many of them fell dead at once. Those who fled
through the woods were mostly run down, killed and scalped. The thick underbrush enabled thirteen of them to get away, though most of them were wounded
and all of them endured all manner of privation before they reached the settlement. Captain Rogers was shot in the abdomen, but aided by John Knotts, was
concealed in a friendly ravine until nightfall. The savages soon made way
with the spoils of their victory and crossed the river to the Ohio side. Knotts
cared for Rogers as best he could until the day following when he was delirious
and near his end, whereupon Knotts, after effectually screening him, made his
way home. Robert Benham, a commissary, was shot through both legs but
concealed himself in the branches of a fallen tree. He had kept his rifle with
him but was afraid to fire lest the report attract the Indians in the neighborhood.
Finally, when pressed by hunger, he shot a raccoon. The report of his gun
attracted Basil Brown who was likewise concealed nearby. Brown had been
wounded in the right arm and in the left shoulder, and was unable to use his
arms but could walk without difficulty. By uniting their forces they had two
good legs and two good arms. Brown moved the raccoon with his feet to Benham, who built a fire and roasted the meat and fed his companion and himself.
Benham put a folded hat between Brown's teeth and by wading into the river
managed to fill it with water and to carry it to his thirsty companion. Brown
chased rabbits, squirrels and wild turkeys within reach of Benham's carefully
aimed rifle. In the meantime Brown spent all his spare time on the river,
anxiously waiting for a boat to pass up or down, and on the Igth day after the
disaster descried a flat boat moving down the river, the crew of which was attracted by his cries and took the wounded prisoners to Louisville. Both recovered and lived for many years. Brown died in Brownsville in I835, aged
75 years, while Benham removed to Kentucky and purchased lands where the
disaster had occurred, thus becoming a pioneer of Newport.
The Delaware Indians were always more friendly to the white race than
an-y other tribe. During the time of the Revolution they lived on the TusI68PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
caroras and Muskingum rivers in Ohio. They bore the same name and were
the same tribe that a century before had inhabited the eastern part of the
state, and had met and treatied with William Penn under the elm trees at Philadelphia. They had been driven west by the encroaching white man. It was
the idea of congress and of General McIntosh that this tribe should be allied
with the American army and that they should then attack and overthrow the
English forces at Detroit which were so annoying to the western Pennsylvania
frontier. The East could not then and has never since appreciated the difficulty
of such a march. It was necessarily through three hundred miles of wilderness
inhabited by savages, nearly all of whom were deadly against the colonists.
The unsettled country could not give the army any support and the entire supplies must therefore be taken from Fort Pitt. General Hand, and many others:
beside McIntosh, had entertained the same project but the difficulties always
proved too great to be overcome. The part of the project which contemplated
the alliance with the Delawares, is an interesting chapter in Pittsburg's history.
White Eyes was chief and sachem of the Delaware tribe. He was a very strong
character and ranks high among the more noted American Indians. It is believed he hoped his tribe would become civilized and for that reason became interested in the su:ccess of the American cause. In June, I778, congress ordered
that a treaty with the Delawares be held at Fort Pitt on July 23. Virginia
named General Andrew Lewis, who had defeated Cornstalk and his troops at
Point Pleasant in Dunmore's War, and his brother Thomas, their commissioners
to attend the treaty. Pennsylvania did not appoint any one in particular, and
the treaty was postponed until September. In the meantime the Delawares,
being friendly, came here to attend the treaty and when Brodhead reached Pittsburg he found many wigwams of chiefs and warriors on the rivers around the
fort. On September 12 the conference began and was held in one of the buildings within the fort. Colonel George Morgan was then Indian agent at Fort
Pitt and a letter book kept by him or his secretary affords a good idea of the
proceedings. The Delaware tribe alone was represented in the treaty; though
invitations to other tribes to unite had been sent to the west, none'of them came.
All other tribes were allied with the English and for many months had coaxed
and threatened the Delaware tribe, endeavoring to induce them to join the
English also. White Eyes realized the danger of thus bringing upon his tribe
the wrath of all the western Indians and of the British post at Detroit as well.
The representatives of the Delawares who acted chiefly in the conference were
White Eyes, Kilbu:ck and Captain Pipe. They appeared with all the paint,
feathers and glitter of their race, and Pipe was particularly celebrated for the
brilliancy of his adornment. They were attended by a band of Indian warriors,
all attired in the brightest colors and in gaudy blankets. General McIntosh,
his colonels and staff officers, not to be entirely outdone in brilliancy, wore their
best and brightest uniforms. Soldiers in hunting shirts and with arms walked
back and forth before the barracks, offsetting in some degree the show of warriors who attended their chiefs. By the terms of the treaty the United States
I09A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
entered into an alliance with the Indians, the treaty including a mutual defense
if necessary, and it also recognized the independence of the Delaware tribe as a
nation and guaranteed their territory to them forever. The treaty furthermore
provided for the admission of the Delaware nation into the American union as
a state, but this last agreement was not to be binding until it was first approved
by congress. Lewis told the Indians of their intention to take Detroit and asked
permission to cross their territory and to receive assistance from them. It will
be remembered that their country included the region west of the Allegheny
river, north of the Ohio river and extending as far west as the Hocking and
Sandu:sky rivers, and must be crossed directly in a campaign against Detroit.
They asked for time to consider this proposition and a few days after, agreed
that this should be put in the treaty, but asked that a place of safety be built for
their families if their warriors joined the expedition of the American army
against Hamilton's forces.  White Eyes spoke most eloquently and with little
of the usually tiresome Indian verbiage, speaking with great force and clearness.
He said, "As many of my warriors as can possibly be spared will join you and
go with you."  He requested that Colonel John Gibson be appointed Indian
agent, and requested further that a schoolmaster to teach their children be sent
to his tribe. The marvelous wisdom displayed on the part of the unlearned
savage was entirely disregarded by congress. The Indians also agreed to sell
corn and meat to the armies on their way to Detroit and furnish Indian guides.
The treaty was signed and the conference ended on September I7, I778. The
treaty bore the signing marks of the Indians and the signatures of the Lewises,
McIntosh, Brodhead, Crawford, John Campbell, John Stephenson, John Gibson, Arthur Graham, Benjamin Miles, Joseph L. and John Finley. Then presents were given to the Indians and with great joy they went to their western
home to prepare for the war against the British at Detroit.
McIntosh prepared at once to march against Detroit by calling out the
militia from the western counties. Westmoreland county failed to respond,
for its people were drained to the last extent already, but the three Virginia
counties in Pennsylvania furnished about 800 men, who met at Pittsburg. The
work of getting provisions for the army was a great undertaking. Added to the
800 troops were 500 from Fort Pitt, mostly from the Eighth Regiment and the
Thirteenth Virginia Regiment, both then at this place. They built a road on the
south bank of the Ohio, river to Beaver river, where they built a fort commanding the Ohio on the west bank of the Beaver. The site is in the present
town'of Beaver above the station of the Cleveland  Pittsburg railroad. It was
named Fort McIntosh and. was built after the style of the forts of that day, of
heavy logs with earth for filling. On it were mounted six-pound cannon.
Stores could be taken that far west on boats, but further on the march to Detroit, all supplies must be taken overland. The Delaware Indians were impatient at the delay of four weeks in building Fort McIntosh, a stronghold
which could be of no use whatever, they thought, in the capture of Detroit.
After much search a drove of lean cattle was procured and on November 3 the
I70PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
17I
army marched westward with their weak stock, weak horses and heavy supplies.
They could only march six or seven miles per day. In Ohio, White Eyes,
whose company of warriors had joined them, was treacherously killed, perhaps
by a Virginia militiaman, but the manner and circumstance surrounding his
assassination has never been fully known or understood. His death dismayed
the Indian followers, as well it might, and most of them left the army for their
homes. Winter was approaching and the general was compelled to think of
abandoning his expedition. He built the fort as had been promised in the
treaty for the protection of the Indians and hoped that from it in the spring he
could the better reach Detroit. It was near the present town of Bolivar, Ohio,
and he named it Fort Laurens after Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, president of the continental congress. He could not get supplies to support his
army in that country. The weather was growing cold and he was compelled to
return to the Ohio with most of his forces, leaving I50 men of the Thirteenth
Virginia under Colonel John Gibson to guard Fort Laurens during the cold,
bleak ensuing winter. Colonel Brodhead with a stronger force, was left at Fort
McIntosh on his return, and the general and his main army came rapidly to
Fort Pitt. The Wyandottes, Miamis and Mingoes were enranged at the
erection of Fort Laurens, almost in the heart of their territory. A band of
Indians prevented them from hunting in the woods surrounding the fort and
they had scarcely provisions enough to last them half of the winter. McIntosh sent Captain John Clark, of the Eighth Pennsylvania, with fifteen men
and a train of pack horses and provisions consisting of flour and meat to relieve them. Clark and his convoy left about January 15 and reached the fort
on January 2I. He set out on his homeward march on January 23 and was attacked by Simon Girty and a band of Mingoes who killed two, wounded four
and captured one of his men. Captain Clark was chased back to, Fort Laurens
but soon resumed his journey and came through to the Ohio without difficulty.
Girty carried his prisoners to Detroit and then returned to Fort Laurens with
a larger force. By February 15 two hundred Miami and Mingoe Indians surrounded the fort. They were headed by Girty and by Captain Henry Bird.
Gibson wrote to McIntosh an account of his surroundings and ended his letter
by saying: "You may depend upon my defending the fort to the last extremity."
The garrison had cut fire wood for winter use and piled it in the forest less than
a mile away from the fort. On February 23 a wagon was sent out with a
guard of eighteen soldiers to haul in a part of it. As they passed a small
mound or hillock, a band of Indians sprang upon them and killed and scalped
all but two, whom they took as prisoners. They then laid siege to the fort.
They camped at night in the dreary woods and in daytime they ventured near
enough to taunt the soldiers by waving the scalps of their slain comrades. The
food of the garrison was cut down to a quarter of a pound of flour and a quarter of a pound of meat per man each day. Gibson sent out a messenger who
eluded the vigilance of the savages and reached Fort McIntosh on March 3.
But it was nearly two weeks before the general could arrange for men to relieveA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the starving garrison, and in the meantime their situation grew desperate. The
Indians increased so that one day they apparently had 850 warriors around the
fort, though, as was afterwards learned, in reality they had only abo!ut two hundred, who were marched around a hill and who showed themselves four or five
times over to those who were counting from the garrison. The Indians
through Captain Bird, then asked the garrison to surrender, thinking that this
show of numbers would induce them to capitulate. They offered a safe passage
home to all the soldiers, but the garrison refused their overtures. Then they
promised to go away if the garrison would give them a barrel of flour and a
barrel of meat. The Indians thought the garrison was almost starving and
cotlld neither hold out much longer nor comply with their demands for the
provisions. Gibson took the correct view of the matter, and although he had
but little left, he willingly sent out the two barrels to give the Indians the impression that he had an abundance of stores and provisions. The snow was
deep all around the fort and the savages were almost without food themselves.
They feasted on the two barrels and the day following left for their homes. On
\/Iarch 23 the garrison was relieved by three hundred regulars and two hundred
militia, escorting a train of pack horses with plenty of provisions, sent by
Colonel Brodhead from Fort McIntosh. The starving soldiers were so overjoyed by the appearance of this relief corps that they fired guns, which frightened the horses into a stampede and much of their provisions and many of the
pack horses were lost. Colonel Gibson and his starving soldiers returned to
Fort Pitt, they being relieved by Major Vernon, of the Eighth Pennsylvania.
Before going to Fort Laurens, McIntosh wrote to Washington, asking to
be recalled from frontier service for he had probably concluded that he was a
failure in Indian warfare. Washington complied with his request and named
Daniel Brodhead of the Eighth Pennsylvania, as'his successor in command of
Fort Pitt. McIntosh went at once to Philadelphia, while Brodhead removed
from Fort McIntosh to Fort Pitt. In writing to McIntosh on February 20,
General Washington said: "I wish matters had been more properly conducted
under the command of General McIntosh. This gentleman was in a manner a
stranger to me, but during the time of his residence in Valley Forge I had
imbibed a good opinion of his good sense, attention to duty and disposition to
correct public abuses, qualifications much to be valued in a separate and distinct command. To these considerations were added (and not the least) his
disinterested concern with respect to the disputes which had divided and distracted the inhabitants of that western world, and which would have rendered
an officer from either Pennsylvania or Virginia improper, while no one could be
spared from another state with so much convenience as McIntosh. He is now
coming away and the section in command, Brodhead (as there will be no military operations of consequence to be conducted) will succeed him. But once
for all it may not be amiss for me to conclude with this observation, that, with
such means as are provided, I must labor."
172PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
I73
Brodhead believed that the building of Fort McIntosh and Fort Laurens
were useless errors. The soldiers in the latter fort suffered for want of food
all spring, and in May Brodhead ordered most of them to return to Fort -McIntosh to escape starvation. Major Vernon remained, however, with twentyfive men until August I. The fort could not be supported properly so far away
from the base of supplies, with their mniserable means of transportation westward. Brodhead soon issued an order dismantling the fort and it rapidly fell
into decay. Even yet its greenwalled embankment may be seen on the west
side of the Tuscaroras river.
Brodhead was a man of much strength, though Washington seemed to regard him as fitted for the Pittsburg post only because there was no special
military operation to be conducted. He proved to, be the most successful commander at Fort Pitt during the Revolution. He had a thorough knowledge of
the surroundings and had distinctive ideas of his own concerning the frontier
defense which he proceeded to execute. McIntosh turned over to him about
720 men when he left Fort Pitt. Most of them were already in the fort, though
some of them were at Fort McIntosh and other western frontier posts.
With the warm weather of spring came also Indians from the upper Allegheny river. There lived the Senecas tnd the Muncys, who came down the
streams in canoes until the settlements were almost in sight, when they hid their
barks in the forests, divided their forces into small bands and proceeded to kill
and scalp settlers, capture their women and children and devastate the country
generally. Almost invariably they were gone in one or two days, passing up
the river before a concerted action could be made by the soldiers or settlers.
No one can understand now the difficulties of guarding against this predatory
Indian warfare. In the spring or early summer of I779 the northern part of
Westmoreland county was almost depopulated. Brodhead organized a number
of bands of scouts who went out from Fort Pitt and made regularly laid out
tours through the forests skirting the western settlements and thus did splendid
work. The three principal bands were led respectively by Captain Van Swearingen and Lieutenants Samuel Brady and John Hardin, all of them  keen
frontiersmen and well schooled by service in the Eighth Regiment and in border
warfare. It was in this work that Brady won his enduring fame as an Indian
fighter. He hated the Indian with a bitterness and malignancy that is rarely
found in the human breast. His brother James had been killed by the Indians
near Williamsport in July, I778, while working in a wheat field. Though shot,
wounded with a spear and scalped, he lived for days in great agony before death
relieved him. In April, I779, his father, Captain John Brady, was shot dead
while conveying supplies on the west branch of the Susquehanna. This was
committed by three Iroquois Indians concealed in a thicket nearby. Brady can
therefore scarcely be blamed for his lifelong hatred of the race. Brodhead
kept scouts out all spring and was preparing for an expedition among the
Senecas. His delay was entirely due to a lack of supplies which were brought
over the mountains from the East. His soldiers in Fort Pitt were without meat,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
were ragged and without shoes. The scouts learned from the Indians to clothe
themselves in deer skins and to make moccasins for their feet. Many of the
scouts wore feathers, painted themselves like the savages did, so that they
might more readily approach the enemy without being detected. They usually
had with them a few friendly Delawares who were of great value because of
their knowledge of the forest.
In the early summer Brodhead learned that a party of Indians from the
Seneca tribe was preparing' to come down the Allegheny. He investigated the
rumor by sending three scouts up as far as Fort Venango, where the town of
Franklin now stands. There the scouts were discovered and chased down the
river by Indians in canoes. The race was a very exciting and a very nearly
evenly matched one, the Indians only abandoning the pursuit when they reached
the dangerous settlement near the mouth of the Kiskiminetas river. But they
did not return to their homes up the Allegheny until they had raided the country
north and east of Fort Pitt and killed a womani and four children on the Big
Sewickley. They took a number of prisoners and stole six horses and many
other articles of value from the settlers. When this reached Fort Pitt two
parties were sent out to intercept them. The authorities in the fort were not
sure that they were the same party who had chased the scouts down the river,
though they suspected it. Brady took twenty men, all painted and dressed like
Indians, and went rapidly up the river, hoping to waylay them on their return to
their homes. Late one evening they found the canoes. of the marauders hidden
at the mouth of a small creek flowing from the East into the Allegheny river.
This was probably Red Bank, fifteen miles above Kittanning. The Indians had
encamped on higher ground near the creek and were preparing supper. Near
the canoes hobbled horses which they had stolen were cropping grass from the-;
creek bottom.::The stream was swollen and the scouts were compelled to go up
two miles before they could cross, after which they came down the north bank
of the creek until they were close to the Indian camp and there concealed themselvres. in the tall grass. Crawling like animals they came almost in touch withl
the Indians, who, with their prisoners, were sleeping around the embers of the
camp fire. Brady and an Indian guide crawled close enough to locate the
position of the captives, for by no chance shot of thrust in the dark must they
be injured.. One warrior was aroused from his slumbers. He arose and
walked around the camp until he was within six feet of Brady, stretched hilnself several times and then resumed his sleeping position. Then the two scouts
crawled back to their friends and prepared to attack them at the earliest dawn of
morning. In doing this a number of scouts crawled to, within a few feet of the
sleeping camp and there lay quietly awaiting the rising sun. When day was
breaking one Indian awoke the rest and all stood around the rekindled fire,
laughing and chatting, when at a preconcerted signal they were fired on by the
scouts from the grass and, bushes nearby. The chief, whom Brodhead wrote to
Washington was a notorious warrior of the Muncy Nation, fell dead. Two
others were badly wounded and died in the forest nearby. Brady and his party
I74PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I75
recovered the captives unharmed, and brought them with the stolen horses,
property and all the arms of the Indians, to Fort Pitt. Most of the Indians who
annoyed the region around Fort Pitt during I778 and I779 came either from
Ohio or from the headwaters of the Allegheny river, for Governor Hamilton,
the troublesome Detroit commander, had been captured by General George
Rogers Clark at Vincennes, Indiana, in February, I779, and that seat of war
was in some degree silenced. Moreover the Shawanees tribe in Ohio had been
badly used up by troops from Kentucky in May, I779. The Senecas on the
Allegheny was the strongest of the Six Nations and its men were sagacious,
courageous and cruel. Their chief leaders at this period were Cornplanter and
Guyasuta. The Seneca wigwams in the Allegheny and Genesee valleys exhibited hundreds of scalps as the trophies of their incursions into western Pennsylvania. Colonel Brodhead, with the consent of Washington, led an army up
the Allegheny in July, intending to intercept a similar army sent by Washington from the East and led by General John Sullivan. In four weeks after getting permission Brodhead was ready to march, though he had been preparing
ever since he took charge of the fort. He, with carpenters sent from Philadelphia, had built sixty boats, some of which were only hollowed out poplar logs,
but most were regular skiffs. A number of cattle and a train of pack horses
was also ready to go. A stockade had been built by Colonel Stephen Bayard at
Kittanning and called Fort Armstrong, after General John Armstrong, who had
so effectually defeated the Indians there in I756. Brodhead left Fort Pitt on
August II, I779, with 605 men, and Fort Armstrong was to serve as sort of an
advance post on the way north. Brodhead had with him some militia and
some Delaware Indians, the latter being used as scouts and were commanded
by Brady and Hardin. The troops marched along the east bank of the Allegheny while the provisions were taken up in boats.  Almost incessant rains
came down and the troops were thus subjected to many hardships. Like most
pioneers they were greatly subjected to rheumatism. At the mou,th of the
MIahoning the supplies were put on horses and all moved slowly up the river.
They followed the Indian trail from the Mahoning, going almost directly north.
The path was narrow and very rough so that great caution was necessary at
every step of their journey. Near the present station of Thompson, when
Hardin was in advance with fifteen white scouts, he sighted seven canoes and
containing about thirty Indians. The party was most likely headed by Guyasuta for Cornplanter was in the Genesee Valley in New York at that time
contesting with Sullivan's army. The thirty Indians were probably on their
way to invade ouir settlements. When they saw the troops they landed and at
once made ready for a fight. To do this they threw aside nearly all of their
clothing for it was their custom when fighting to be encumbered with as little
as possible. Their eagerness to fight was proof that they had not seen the
main army which was some distance in the rear. Both parties hid behind
trees and rocks and the conflict began. But in a few minutes another party
of scouts came up in the rear of the Indians and began firing. Brodhead, hearA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ing the reports of the muskets, first put a guard around his train of supplies and
then pushed on to relieve the advance forces, but reached the scene of action
only in time to see the Indians make a flying retreat. They left without their
canoes, some of them swimming the river to escape. MTost of them disappeared
at once in the underbrush which lined the river bank. Five Indians were lying
dead on the ground and from the bloodmarked paths of retreat several others
must have been fatally wounded. Eight guns, their canoes, nearly all of their
clothes and blankets and extensive provisions were left behind and taken by
Brodhead. But three of Brodhead's men were slightly wounded. From there
the army marched to Conewago, leaving some stores at this place guarded by
forty men, who hurriedly built a rude fortress. But the Indians had deserted
the country and Brodhead's main army inet with no contest. From Conewago
they marched twenty miles, and near the Allegheny they discovered a number
of Indian villages and great fields of corn, peas, squashes, melons, etc., which
the Indians were cultivating. The settlement was about eight miles long,
covering the rich alluvial bottom land on the banks of the river. The soldiers
found all houses deserted but took much property which in their haste to depart
at the approach of the army, the Indians had failed to carry with them. The
Iroquois, long before this and perhaps before the advent of the Englishman in
western Pennsylvania, had learned to build log huts after the style of the settlers. There were about I30 such houses and many of them were large enough
for several families. The troops set to work at once to destroy them and to
destroy also the growing corn, vegetables, etc. Brodhead wrote that 500 acres
of corn, growing splendidly, were destroyed, and that not less than $3,000.00
worth of plunder was taken from the houses before they were burned.  On
their way home they passed French creek and near the mouth of the Conneaut
creek found another deserted Indian town with about 35 large houses and these
were also destroyed. From French creek the army' came to Fort Pitt by the
Venango path, which ran almost north and south through Butler county. They
reached Fort Pitt on September I4, and did not in this campaign lose either
men or horses. Brodhead in his reports foretold that the expedition would be a
great benefit to the frontier of Pennsylvania and expressed his highest opinion
of the conduct of the officers and soldiers on their march. "Their perseverance
and zeal," wrote he, "during the whole campaign (through a country too inaccessible to be described) can scarcely be equalled in history."  Congress
passed a resolution of thanks to Colonel Brodhead, and Washington in his
order of October I8 said: "The undivided perseverance and firmness which
marked the conduct of Colonel Brodhead and that of all the officers and men of
every description in this expedition, do them great honor, and their services entitle them to the thanks and to this testimonial of the general's acknowledgment."  A campaign of this kind into the Indian country was at best very destructive. tb the natives, for they were forced to seek winter quarters further
west and south, and many of them never returned. But the Brodhead campaign was,followed by one of the severest winters in the history of the United
176PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I77
States. It set in late in I779 and lasted until March or April, I780. The
British drove wagons across the harbor between New York and Staten Island
on the ice. Around Pittsburg the winter was equally severe. Snow fell early
and accumulated until it was four feet deep and on the mountains it was much
deeper. All communication With the East was cut off, and Fort Pitt suffered
for every possible convenience. Scouting parties from Fort Pitt were not only
impossible but were unnecessary, for the deep snow prevented the Indians from
committing depredations. Many Delawares came to the fort early in the winter
and were kept there until spring. The deep snow destroyed innumerable deer
and game birds which could not,get to the ground for food. The Indians
suffered correspondingly and those whose crops and houses had been destroyed
by Brodhead's trc,ops suffered much worse than the others. Scores of them
starved to death, which but increased the hatred and malice of the race for
the pioneer settlers and the army. It reduced the Senecas to such an extent
that even when spring came they could scarcely renew their depredations and
the settlers around Fort Pitt for once were allowed to plant their spring crops
in peace, so far as their worst enemies in the North were concerned. The western tribes had plenty of corn and a much less rigorous winter. Supplied with
guns and ammunition by the British, the Wyandottes and Shawanees soon fell
upon our settlements. A maple syrup boiling party in Beaver county was attacked by the Wyandottes, five men were.killed and six children were carried
away as captives on March I2, and still later they captured a boat that was
going down the Ohio and killed three men, and twentty-one women and children
were taken prisoners. Prodhead wrote on April 27 that between forty and
fifty people had been killed or captured in the three Virginia counties at Pittsburg, though no harm has as yet been done north and east of Fort Pitt. He
saw the importance of another expedition but could not get provisions to sustain an army more than a week in advance. The cost of transporting provisions from the East frequently exceeded their value, and pack horse trains were
often robbed, even by the white men. The posts up the river were garrisoned
by militia fronm the surrounding community, but in a very weak manner, for
the settlers were compelled to subscribe money and provisions to sustain them.
These raids had been going on for years with but slight loss of Indian lives.
The eastern authorities did not and could not understand why the comparatively large armies in the West could neither protect the settlements nor slav the
enemy. It took a century to teach the American people that they could not successfully fight the Indians and they. only learned it when the race was well nigh
exterminated. In May a few small bands of Senecas came down the Alleghleny
river and killed five settlers near Ligonier, two on the Braddock road at Turtle
creek and two at Bushy Run, and also set fire to a mill and to other property.
The settlers gathered at Fort Pitt and this reduced the supply of the already
scanty rations. Fortunately it was a very dry summer and the river soon became too low for the-Indians to journey back and forth in their canoes. The
12PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
and though they worked all day, the sun went down before they had it completed. When the raft was finished it was launched, but before it was halfway
over it was jammed by floating cakes of ice, and Washington was thrown into
the stream where the water was at least ten feet deep. He saved himself by
clinging to one of the raft logs, and finally, unable to land on either shore, both
he and Gist drifted to an island, where they passed the night. Gist's hands and
feet were frozen, though nothing is said about how Washington recovered or
survived the bitter cold night in wet clothing.
The next day, by means of the drift ice, which was wedged together and
partly frozen during the night, they succeeded in gaining the eastern shore, and
before night were comfortably lodged in John Frazer's house at the mouth of
Turtle creek. The island upon which Washington and Gist passed the bitter
cold night was afterwards known as Wainwright's Island, and was about three
miles above the Fork and near Herr's Island. It was little more than a sand bar
and has long since been washed away. They were detained at Frazer's three
or four days in endeavoring to procure horses. While there Washington visited
the Indian Queen Aliquippa, as she was called by the English, fo.r he at all times
endeavored to enlist the friendship of the redskins. She lived at the mouth of
the Youghiogheny river, where the city of McKeesport now stands. Leaving
Frazer's on January Ist, he reached home on January I6th, and delivered his
message from the French commandant to Governor Dinwiddie, and furthermore
made a full report of his entire trip. St. Pierre's reply to Dinwiddie's letter or
message was a courteous but extremely punctilious and positive declination to
retire from the Ohio Valley. He said among other things, that it belonged to
the General in Canada, not to him, to demonstrate the French claim on the lands,
and that he was there by the general's orders and must obey by remaining, etc.
Dinwiddie's letter, and the reply and Washington's account of the trip, were
published in a pamphlet and sent broadcast throughout the country. It was also
republished in England and in the London newspapers. It opened the eyes of
the English, both in England and America, to the true situation on the Ohio.
Dinwiddie appealed to the Governors of the American Colonies for aid in expelling the French from the Ohio Valley. Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania laid the matter before the Pennsylvania Assembly in I754 in a very able
paper, asking them to furnish men and supplies to banish the French from their
territory. In the paper he says: "You will undoubtedly agree with me that so
alarming an occasion has not occurred since the settling of the provinces, nor
any one thing happened that so much demands your serious attention." But
the legislature did nothing; indeed, no colony outside of Virginia, save North
Carolina, lent any material aid. They were yet entirely isolated from and independent of each other; too much so indeed to unite their strength in a common
cause. The House of Burgesses in Virginia voted Io,ooo pounds to be expended in the cause. Governor Dinwiddie also called out two hundred militia,
and placed them under the command of Washington and Trent, the latter of
whom, with about forty men, repaired to the Fork of the Ohio in February.
9A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
settlers were therefore practically free from the depredations from that source,
for the remainder of the summer.
Brodhead had learned of an assemblage of Indians and British on the Sandusky river which was preparing to march east and attack Fort Pitt. He sent
Lieutenant Samuel Brady with five white troopers attired and painted like Indians, and two Delawares as guides, on the long and dangerous scouting journey
to ascertain the true circumstances. They travelled through the Wyandotte
country by night and concealed themselves in thickets by day. They found
hundreds of Indians collected near upper Sandusky with every indication that
they were preparing for war. After observing their movements from their
concealed positions for about two days, the scouts set out for Fort Pitt, with
their supply of provisions so exhausted that they subsisted for a week on wild
berries. As they neared the junction of the Mahoning and Shenango rivers,
they had but two charges of powder left. Brady had one of these and approached within shooting distance of a deer, but when he pulled the trigger his
gun "flashed in the pan," that is, failed to go off. As he was priming it again,
for everything was very damp, his quick ear detected the approach of Indians.
Concealing himself he saw an Indian on a horse and riding behind him was a
captive woman, while the Indian held her child in his arms. Following them
were six warriors on foot. Brady knew the woman to be Mrs. Jennie Stoops,
from the Chartiers settlement in Pennsylvania. As the mounted Indian approached, the scout took aim and shot him through the head. He fell from his
horse and dragged the woman and child with him. The six Indians disappeared at once and the scouts with the rescued woman and child pushed rapidly
~eastward. As they approached Fort McIntosh they met a band of settlers including NIrs. Stoops' husband, who were in pursuit cf the Indian band and their
captives, and the woman and child were thus returned to the husband and
father. After thirty-two days' travel they reached Fort Pitt, where a false
rumor of their capture had preceded them. So, glad were the soldiers because
of their retuTrn that much powder was consumed in celebrating it. Colonel
Brodhead recommended Brady's promotion and on July 25 the council made him:a captain, dating his commission from September, I779.
Luxurious crops of corn and rye'and wheat in the summer of I780 followed
the cold weather and deep snow of the previous winter, but the dry weather so
reduced the streams that the mills, propelled then almost entirely by water
power, could not be operated to grind the grain, and the garrison at Fort Pitt
could not buy flour. But few of the settlers had cattle for sale, for the Indian
raids had destroyed hundreds for them. Moreover the garrison had no money
with which to purchase stock, though the soldiers hungered for fresh meat.
]3rodhead was compelled to purchase with due bills redeemable in continental
currency, which in I780 was almost worthless. On August I8, I780, Brodhead
wrote to the president of congress: "The troops have been without bread for
several days and begin to murmur, but I expect to get a little grain chopped in
a bad horse mill near this place and if possible prevent a mutiny until a further
178PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I79
supply can be procured. I hear the pack horse men have left the service so that
not a shilling have we to purchase with."  The authorities in the East abandoned the idea of supplying Fort Pitt from that base by pack horse trains and
attempted to supply it from the county of Westmoreland. William Amberson,
of Pittsburg, was appointed commissary. But poor success attended his efforts, for on September 5 Brodhead wrote that the soldiers were alternately
without bread and meat and that he was not possessed of two days' allowance
in advance. He further wrote in the same letter that "unless something is
speedily done these posts which are of the utmost importance, must be evacuated
and the county will of course be deserted or, as some have hinted, join the
enemy."  A few days after this the ragged soldiers marched to the howase of
Brodhead and by their spokesman told him that they had had no bread for five
days and were extremely reduced by hunger. The general told them as best he
could what efforts he was putting forth to secure provisions, and the men went
quietly back to their barracks. Very soon a small amount of flour and a few
cattle arrived, but not enough to last any length of time. All this time the Indians were troublesome, but the army without provisions was powerless to protect the settlement. The commander was growing desperate and procured permission from the continental authorities to take such supplies as the army
needed by force. Captain Brady with a few men was appointed to execute this
work, but he was instructed to take only from the farmers who could spare and
not to take from those who had suffered severely from the Indians. Brady was
to place a fair value on all cattle and sheep taken and give a receipt for them,
so that the true indebtedness might some day be paid by the government. But
the farmers had received word of his mission in advance of his coming and had
driven their cattle and sheep to secluded ravines and neighboring forests where
they herded them. Brady found but little stock in the community that came
within the limits of his authority. All his party procured was consumed at
Fort Pitt as rapidly as it was sent in by them. In some sections they were met
by angry farmers who were armed to resist the taking of their cattle and Brady,
being instructed not to provoke violence, could not take animals from those who
showed a determined resistance. Brady was a farmer himself and had a deep
sympathy with the men who had struggled along against years of frontier
privations and who wanted to protect their small herds so that larger ones
might be produced. This duty, he said, was the most unpleasant one he was
ever called upon to execute. Lieutenant Uriah Springer headed another party
and after they had been out about two months with but little success they were
recalled. Brodhead also tried to call on volunteers for an expedition against
the Wyandottes, but in this he failed entirely. He had the power to draft men,
but he could not do this on account of the dispute between Virginia and Pennsylvania as to the ownership of the territory, and furthermore he did not want to
incur the wrath of the people if it could be avoided. In reply to his call for an
army to go against the Wyandottes the Delawares showed themselves as true to
the Pittsburg treaty and came to the fort ready for the war path. Brodheadi8o                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
told them frankly that his garrison was too poor to support an expedition.
These warriors had brought with them their squaws and their children and encamped around Fort Pitt. Very few of the early pioneers at that time distinguished between a good and a bad Indian, or rather they regarded them all as
bad and the whole race as worthy only of instant death and extermination. Accordingly a large body of farmers, rangers and soldiers was raised at Hannastown and marched to Fort Pitt to attack the friendly Delawares encamped
there. Brodhead hearing of it in time, placed a strong gu,ard around them and
this doubtless saved our history from a disgraceful massacre of really innocent
and friendly Indians. But the resourceful colonel soon found use for these Indians. He sent them, accompanied with the best hunters and marksmen of the
fort, to the Big Kanawha Valley in Virginia to hunt buffaloes during the winter
and bring the meat up the river as soon as spring should open up. The garrison
was by this time reduced to about three hundred men and required fewer supplies of meat and flour from the East to subsist them until spring.
Colonel Brodhead was always anxious to lead an army against the Wyandottes and Shawanees of Ohio, whom he though richly deserved the chastisement, and all the time depended on the help of the Delawares.  This tribe
obeyed the terms of the Pittsburg treaty more strictly than might have been expected till I78I, considering the unfortunate death of White Eyes. Kilbuck
was elected in place of White Eyes and he was ever loyal to the American cause.
But the tribe individually grew tired of being allied with the weak force of the
colonists, for in truth Brodhead had nothing to give the Indians, while the
British had everything to offer that was attractive to the savage mind. All
other tribes as well as the British, sent agents to the Delaware Indians to urge
them to join the league against the colonists' cause. Young warriors homeward bound from incursions in the East, delighted to flash the rich trophies of
their trip in the eyes of the Delawares and this excited the ambitious youths of
the tribe to emulate their example. In February, I78I, while Chief Kilbuck
was at Pittsburg, the Delawares voted to enter the war against the settlers of
Pennsylvania and Virginia. For this perfidy the chief never returned to his
tribe. He and his family and a few other loyal Indians removed'to Salem,
Ohio, and notified Brodhead of the act of the Delawares. Brodhead now concluded to march an army to the Coshocton region to punish the Delawares for
their bad faith. His force at Fort Pitt had been reduced to about 200, but from
Virginia he received I34 volunteers or militia and with these he was able, on
April Io, to raise an army of about 300 men, who. marched to the Muskingum
Valley. Bad weather prevented rapid marching. Kilbuck, a few of his warriors from Salem and five other Delawares went to join these troops and fight
against their own race. The chief town at Coshocton was reached on April 20.
Fifteen warriors were met who fought bravely but all were killed. Most of
the volunteers were mounted on their own horses and showed no lmercy to the
Indians, though they did not harm the old men, the women or the children.
They took much "peltry" and destroyed about forty head of cattle owned byPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
the Indians. Brodhead knew that by a further journey of fifteen miles many
more Indians could be destroyed, but the militia refused to go further, saying
that they were worn out by bad weather and must return home. They were not
under Brodhead's command or restraint, having volunteered for the service, and
the colonel was powerless to order them. On their return.they found near
Newcomerstown about thirty Delaware Indians who had left their tribe and who
supplied the troops with corn and meat to strengthen them on their march to the
Ohio. At Wheeling they sold the furs which they had taken for almost a
fabulous sum. (See Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, Vol. 9, page I6I).
In "Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars," etc., by Rev. Joseph Doddridge, the story of this campaign is told quite differently and reflects on the
high character and soldierly deportment of Brodhead. The same narrative has
been followed in "Craig's History of Pittsburg," and in "Howe's Historical
Collection of Ohio." Doddridge was the original author on the subject but depended on his memory for his facts, repeating stories which ignorant pioneers
had given him around the old-fashioned fireplaces of Ohio when he was a credulous boy. This version is from Brodhead's own account of the affair, which
was not published when Doddridge wrote his imaginative story. It is moreover borne out by a letter from Simon Girty to the lieutenant-governor of Detroit and by other contemporary records which have been published recently.CHAPTER XII.
The Close of the Revolution.
A great deal has been said and written about General George Rogers
Clark's expedition to the West. In I778 he had practically secured the Illinois
country for Virginia, a section which that colony had claimed before by virtue
of her original charter. But after July 4, I776, a right granted by an English
monarch was seriously discounted and actual possession or possession gained
by contest, gave a much stronger show of title. Clark was anxious to capture
Detroit. This fort was an incubus which overhung the western settlements and
was continuously sending forth savage emissaries. Clark's brilliant success in
former expeditions had gained for him the approval of the government of Virginia. He was therefore given I40 soldiers with power to complete an army in
the western settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania.   He promptly sent
agents to the vicinity of Pittsburg who bought provisions, cattle, etc., for his
expedition. This encroachment aroused Brodhead, who not only had to subsist
his army on the western products, but who had a laudable ambition to capture
Detroit himself. Jealous of Clark's movements, he wrote: "I have hitherto
been encouraged to flatter myself that I should sooner or later be enabled to reduce Detroit, but it seems the United States cannot furnish either troops or resources for the purpose, but the State of Virginia can."  He was about to stop
the collection of supplies when Washington wrote him to aid Clark all he could
and give him Craig,'s Field Artillery and at least one company of infantry.
Clark reached western Pennsylvania in the month of March and established
headquarters at Colonel Crawford's place on the Youghiogheny river near
Connellsville and also with Dorsey Pentecost at Chartiers creek. But the
pioneers were divided as to their duty. Those who opposed the Penns and upheld Virginia in her claims of territory in this section favored Clark's expedition, while the others as a general rule opposed it. There were marfy who took
this as a pretext for doing nothing for either party, claiming not without reason,
that they had enough to do to plant their crops and defend their homes from
the savages, whilst others of Penn's adherents adhered loyally to Clark with the
hope that he could exterminate the obnoxious nest of British and Indians in the
West. Clark meant to raise an army of 2,000 troops and go down the Ohio inPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
boats and then march overland to Detroit, but he found that the western sections were still being raided by Indians from the Scioto, the Muskingum and
the Sandusky rivers, and that an expedition to chastise these Indians was much
more popular in Pennsylvania than one against Detroit. He accordingly, with
great wisdom changed his plans, or at all events announced a change, saying
that he would march against the Ohio savages first, but his ultimate purpose of
reducing Detroit remained unchanged. Brodhead was not only slightly jealous
of his expedition but was suspicious that he cared nothing for the depredations
which the western Indians were committing so that he could conquer Detroit.
Clark had written: "If our resources should not be such as to enable me to remain in the Indian country during the fair season, I am in hopes they will be
sufficient to visit the Shawanee, Delaware and Sandusky towns. Defeating the
enemy and laying those countries to waste would give great ease to the frontier
of both states." These were indeed the words of an honest soldier and
are entitled to credence.  President Reed, of Pennsylvania, approved of
the campaign and notwithstanding the  claim  contest between  Virginia
and Pennsylvania, advised that the friends of Pennsylvania join Clark's
expedition, saying that they would thereby not only give no offense to his
government but on the contrary their actions would be considered highly
meritorious.  Christopher Hays was at that time a member of the council
of Pennsylvania from  Westmoreland county and brought a letter to the
above effect from  President Reed to this section.  Hays was himself opposed to Clark and did not deliver the letter dated May IS until July
3, when it was too late to do any good. Hays, however, called a meeting
of the officers of the militia of Westmoreland county to arrange for a more
perfect frontier defense. They met on the Big Sewickley at Captain John McClelland's house and, undoubtedly contrary to Hays' expectations, decided by a
majority vote to aid General Clark with all the power that in them lay. The
meeting resolved to furnish 300 men for the expedition and appointed Colonel
Archibald Lochry to enlist them either "by volunteer or by draft." A great opposition went up from this western section at once concerning the draft measure,
for it was the first instance in western Pennsylvania that such drastic measures
were proposed. Lochry and Clark, as the meeting of the officers had directed,
consulted as to the manner then in vogue of drafting men in Virginia. A public
meeting was called to convene at Crawford's on July I6. All who would were
there to enlist and after that the remainder of the soldiers needed were to be
secured by draft. July I6 was chosen because nearly every citizen in the community was a farmer and by that time, it was thought, they might have their
harvest well out of the way before they were called on to shoulder their muskets
in the western expedition. In the meantime Washington county had been
erected (March 28, I78I), and the new county at once set up an additional rival
power to Virginia. Its leading men were probably too much uplifted biy their
offices to be controlled by an authority that had no relation whatever with Virginia. The meeting called for on July I6 was poorly attended and proceedings
i83A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
were instituted at once to raise men by draft. They had really no legal authority in Pennsylvania for this, and the majority vote at the military meeting ordering it was not able to pass such a measure and make it legal. The Virginians hated the Pennsylvanians and the enforcement of the draft gave them
the longed for opportunity to vent their wrath by many needless examples of
personal insult and outlawry. The drafting party from Virginia were little less
lawless than Connolly's soldiers had been. They seized and beat men, frightened women, broke into houses, impressed provisions, and caused almost a reign
of terror in the land. A very pronounced man against these high-handed proceedings was Captain John Hardin, who resided at Red Stone. The reader
will recall his loyal s-on John, of the Eighth Regiment, who afterwards became
known as General Hardin, of Kentucky. With forty or fifty mounted men,
Clark visited his place in person and at last threatened to hang him. Hardin
had wisely secreted himself, but they secured one of his sons and held him a
prisoner for several days. The troops broke open Hardin's mill and house,
killed such of his live stock as they could use, and with their horses lived at his
expense for three days. Clark gave out that Hardin's estate had justly been
forfeited by treason and he cautiously gave the estate to Mrs. Hardin. An
honest settler in Clark's camp denounced the draft as an illegal proceeding. He
was put to jail at once, with the threat on dlark's part that he should be
hanged in a short time, but this threat was not executed. It is likely that these
foolish and unlawful acts on the part of Clark we're in some degree excusable
because of this unlooked-for opposition, and furthermore because he was
drowning his troubles by the intemperate use of "Old Monongahela Rye," with
which the community abounded. Gabriel Cox headed a body of ruffians who
tried to arrest John Douglas, of the new county. Breaking open his house at
midnight, they threatened his wife and children and even threatened the defenseless woman with the sword, but she would not tell where her husband was
concealed. Colonel Marshall wrote to Philadelphia: "Cox and his party have
taken and confined a considerable number of the inhabitants of this county; in
a word, the instances of high treason against the state are too many to be
enumerated."  Thomas Scott wrote that Clark's conduct had been hig'hly oppressive and abusive and that the particulars were both numerous and horrid.
Christopher Hays and Scott both signed a letter saying: "The general's expedition hlas been wished well and volunteers to that service have been encouraged,
but we have heartily reprobated the general standing over these two, counties
with an armed force, in order to dragoon the inhabitants into obedience to a
draft under the laws of Virginia."  These unwise proceedings caused the failure of Clark's expedition. It is probable, though, that had he been sustained,
he could have overpowered the savages and captured Detroit, and thus saved
the \Nest from years and years of bitter suffering. Clark's army was concentrated at the mouth of Chartiers creek, where McKee's Rocks now stands, and
from there marched to Wheeling where boats were built, for the upper part of
the Ohio river was too shallow to navigate. He left Wheeling on August 8
184PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
with about 400 men and the Craig battery of three field pieces. Disappointed
in the size of the army and with little hope of success, he was too much of a
soldier to abandon the project, and so wrote to Thomas Jefferson, governor of
Virginia, as he was leaving.
In the meantime Colonel Archibald Lochry had gone on busily in raising
the company he was instructed to enlist to join Clark's expedition, but met with
great opposition. Jealousy was not confined to Brodhead. There was a general quarrel among the officers of the western posts, as is abundantly proved by
complaining letters of Perry, Cook, Lochry, Marshall, Duncan and Hays. Brodhead and Duncan were accused of speculating with public money in buying
farms and mill sites, while Lochry and Perry were accused of speculating in
ammunition and whiskey, the latter article being then regarded as one of the
necessaries of frontier life and extensively supplied to the soldiers. Great
quantities of it were purchased by the commissary. All of these charges were
probably unfounded. President Reed had also upbraided Lochry when writing
to him in March, I78I, saying: "It is with much concern we hear that when
troops are raised for your protection they are permitted to loiter away their
time at saloons o.r straggling about the country." All this perhaps urged
Lochry, who was a man of high character and convictions, to demonstrate that
he was deeply interested in the welfare of the country.
A small company of thirty-eight men under Captain Stokely had been
raised for services in the general army, though their assistance was needed here
at all times, for the frontier settlements for miles east of Pittsburg were being
almost daily overrun by Indians. Thirteen settlers were killed in the Hannastown region in April, two of whom were killed within a mile of the fort.
Lochry therefore found it all the more difficult to enlist for a far off expedition.
Captain Robert Orr had raised a company near Hannastown of about twenty
men, and Captain William Campbell had a small company of men who were
mounted. After waiting to finish their harvests these honest yeomanry, less
than one hundred in all, were brought together and started on their march on
August 3. They were poorly clad for a campaign, one report saying that
Stokely's.company was in a manner almost naked. As they journeyed westward others of their neighbors caught up with them, eager to join the expedition, so that Lochry's full force numbered one hundred and seven. Ensign
William Cooper had been sent out by the president of the council with clothes
and equipments for at least as many as belonged to Stokely's company, but he
arrived too late, and though he hastened on to overtake them, it is doubtful
whether they ever reached the troops. When Lochry's forces reached Wheeling, they found that Clark had gone on the same day, having left provisions'
and a boat, with instructions that Lochry should follow them and join the army
twelve miles below. But they were detained four days at Wheeling in preparing boats and when they reached the place designated they found that Clark had
left the day before, leaving a few men under Major Craycroft but no provisions
or ammunition, both of which they stood greatly in need. Clark promised to
I85A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
await them at the mouth of the Little Kanawha river, but when Lochry reached
there he found only a letter attached to a pole directing them to follow. Their
provisions were about exhausted and forage through the new country was out
of the question. Without a knowledge of the currents of the river he could,
moreover, scarcely hope to overtake Clark. Lochry accordingly sent Captain
Shannon in a boat with seven men, hoping that they could overtake him and
return with some supplies for his company. Shannon carried letters to Clark
but had not gone far till he and his men were taken by the Indians. Two davs
later Lochry sent out two men to hunt ganie but they were never heard oif again.
Clark had artillery with him and the Indians feared to attack his forces. They
had also feared to attack Lochry, for these two forces were so close together that they supposed they were acting in conjunction.  But the letters which Shannon carried for Clark gave them the true knowledge of
the situation and of Lochry's weakness, alnd when he was captured they
fell into the hands of the enemy.  About this time nineteen of Clark's
men deserted and in passing ILochry's company learned of his weakness,
after which they went over to the enemy.  The Indians therefore, witll
all this information, sent out in all directions and collected a large number of warriors a short distance below  the mouth of the Miami which
flows into the Ohio, where they watched and waited for Lochry's arrival.
Close to that point is an island which, to this day, is called' Lochry's Island.
Upon this island they posted the prisoners captured with Shannon and promised
to spare their lives only on condition that they would hail Lochry and his
troops as they came down the river and induce them to land. Should they fail
in this they were to be tomahawked at once. But Lochry and his troops,
wearied with continued disappointment and misfortunes, landed on the Ohio
shore about three miles above the island. The place of landing invited the
tired and hungry troops by its natural beauties. It was at the mouth oif a
small creek since known as Lochry's creek, about ten miles below the mouth of
the Miami river. The creek is the dividing line between Ohio and Dearborn
counties, in the southeastern corner of Indiana. They landed about ten o'clock
on the morning of August 24, I78I. They also landed their horses that' they
might graze and thus obtain sufficient strength to sustain them until they could
reach Louisville, one hundred arid twenty miles below.
On the way down the river Lochry's expedition had been closely watched
by the Indians. A member of his company soon shot a buffalo, a fire was
kindled and all of the soldiers save a few who, were guarding the horses, were
preparing a much needed meal. The Indians had runners out and the landing
was scarcely effected till word was passed among the savages who lined the
banks of the river. Near the landing place was an overhanging bluff covered
by large trees. On this bluff the savages collected and into the midst of the
soldiers sent a volley of rifle and musket balls. The men flew at once to their
arms, but their ammunition was exhausted after the first or second fire. Many
of them attempted to escape by boats, btut the enemy soon closed in on them and
made prisoners of all who had not been killed. At the same time canoes filled
i86PITTSBUIRG AND IIER PEOPLE
with Indians put off from the Kentucky shore where they also had been watching their movements. Lochry was not killed in the battle, but while sitting, on
a log a stealthy Shawanee came up behind him and sunk a tomahawk into his
brain. He thus died while defending his country in the gloomy wilderness of
a far off territory. The Indians then prepared to slaughter the prisoners, but a
chief whom they obeyed came up at that time and stopped it. This was the
noted Joseph Brant, war chief of the Mohawks, who lived to contest a still more
bloody field on the head waters of the Wabash with the gallant General St.
Clair in I79I. Forty-two of the soldiers were killed and sixty-four were taken
prisoners. The attacking party was much larger than Lochry's and the prisoners and booty were divided according to the number of warriors engaged.
The next morning the Indians sot out for their homes with their prisoners,
whom they kept until the close of the Revolution. Late in I782 they were ransomed by the British officers who had command of the northern posts and
were exchanged for prisoners whom the American army then held. The loss
of Lochry's expedition was the heaviest sustained by the county of Westmoreland in any single action. None of them returned home until the spring of
1783, when they came by the way of Quebec, New York anld Philadelphia.
Very few who were captured lived to return home. After the men left Pittsburg nothing was heard of them for about twenty-two months. All this time
their friends lived in hope but at length hope sunk in despair. Captain Orr
wrote an account of the campaign which was published in the "Annals of the
West," and, as it is entirely corroborated by official documents, it is entitled to a
high degree of credence. Orr had his arm broken in the engagement by a ball
and was sent to a hospital at Detroit. From there he returned home and was
afterwards sheriff of Westmoreland county. Samuel Craig was a lieutenant in
Orr's company and was taken by the Indians on their march northward. As
they were crossing a river they threw Craig overboard, intending to drown him,
but he was a splendid swimmer and repeatedly made his way to the canoe and
with his hands on the sides, tried to climb into it. They beat him over the
hands with the oars and pressed his head under the water as often as he came
to the surface for breath. Finally, when he was about exhausted, an Indian
claimed him for his own and took him into the boat. In his long captivity
Craig suffered perhaps more than any other. Several times both he and his
captors came near starving. He had a cheerful disposition and was a good
singer and the Indians loved his songs. At one time they grew tired of their
prisoners and took them all out and placed them in a row on a log. They then
blackened their faces, which meant that they were to be killed. But just then
Craig began to sing as loud and as well as he could. This so pleased the Indians that they spared his life, while all the others were put to death. Soon
after this he was sold to a British officer for a gallon of whiskey. After his return he was married to a daughter of John Shields and lived on the Loyalhanna,
near New Alexandria, where his descendants yet reside.
i8740,     6PA4A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
With these men he at oiice began to build a fort. The day of his arrival at the
Fork was February 17, I754, and it is a'memorable one in Pittsburg's history,
for it was the beginning of a permanent occupation of the place. Trent was
captain, and John Frazer was lieutenant of the forces. The entire militia in
Virginia was increased to three hundred men, with Joshua Fry as colonel, and
Washington as lieutenant colonel, or second in command. Trent and Frazer's
men had worked but a few days at the fort when Trent went to Wills creek
(Cumberland) to communicate with the advancing militia. Frazer was also absent much of his time at his home at Turtle creek.
Early in April, Captain Contrecoeur had embarked at \Venango with about
one thousand men for the Fork of the Ohio. He had several field pieces, about
sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, and, sailing down the Allegheny river,
suddenly made his appearance before the astonished workmen on the fort. The
fort was not half completed; indeed, it was scarcely begun. Both officers were
absent. Contrecoeur drew up his canoes, planted his artillery, and summoned
the forces on the fort to surrender. The only officer to answer was an ensign
named Ward. He plead his want of authority, hopilng thus to gain time, but
the French commandant would grant him but one hour, after which, he said,
he would take the fort by force. The ensign obtained permission to depart
with his men and take with them their tools. Thus the fort was surrendered.
The French commander, with the urbanity for which his race is noted, invited
the ensign to dine with him, and wished him, as well as his men a pleasant
journey. Laden with their working tools they set out for the East. Both Captain Trent and Lieutenant Frazer were severely censured for being absent from
the fort when the French arrived. "Trent's behaviour," said Washington in a
letter to Governor Dinwiddie, "has been very tardy, and has convinced the
world of what they before supposed his great timidity. Lieutenant Frazer,
though not altogether blameless, is much more excusable, for he would not accept the commission until he had a promise from the captain that he should not
reside at the fort, nor visit it above once a week or as he saw necessity." Trent
was undoubtedly inefficient, but Frazer was a man of courage, ability and in:
tegrity. Yet, after all, it can scarcely be imagined that their presence would
have changed the course of events in any material degree.
As soon as Ward and his workmen had gone, the French began to build a
larger and more formidable structure, which they named Fort Duquesne, in
honor of the governor-general of Canada. But the French forces at the Fork
of the Ohio were cognizant through spies of the approach of the Virginia militia
under Colonels Fry and Washington, and almost immediately sent out an army
under the command of Jumonville to drive them back or capture them. It was
Washington's intention to march with his little army to the Fork, but when he
learned of the Trent-Frazer fiasco, he directed his army toward the mouth of
the Redstone, where Brownsville is now built, and where the Ohio Company
had already built a store house. Before reaching that place he learned that a
small company of French were watching his movements, and were hiding in a
IOA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Clark's expedition went down the river as far as Fort Nelson, opposite
Louisville, but by desertion and sickness his force, but small even at the beginning, was entirely unable to go against the Indians, and much less against
the British at Detroit. There he remained for several weeks, while his forces
gradually wasted away, the troops returning by small parties to their homes in
Pennsylvania and Virginia. The company sent out by Brodhead from Fort
Pitt under Captain Isaac Craig, had not gone with Lochry and when they returned to Fort Pitt they could scarcely be made to believe that Lochry's troops
had gone down the river at all, showing that Clark did not know that he was
really to be supported by Lochry's men. These fine marksmen and rangers
would have added greatly to Clark's expedition, but perhaps could not have
changed the results, though had they been with Clark, the Lochry disaster
would have been averted. Archibald Lochry was one of the strongest men in
Westmoreland county in the Revolutionary days. He was of North'Irish extraction but was born in the Octoraro settlement, for he was an ensign in the
Second Battalion in the provincial, service. Both he and his brother William
were appointed justices in Bedford county at its organization and later, when
Westmoreland county was organized, he was made a justice here, as the reader
has seen. He took up a large tract of land in what is now Unity township, on
the south side of the turnpike between Greensburg and Youngstown, near St.
Xavier's convent. The land has since added great wealth to the county, for it is
within the celebrated Connellsville coal belt. His correspondence is generally
dated from that place, namely, "Twelve Mile Run," the name of a small stream
on his land which flows into the Fourteen Mile Run, and is crossed by the
Forbes road about twelve miles from Fort Ligonier. His services as county
lieutenant, then a position of great importance though now unknown, made him
very near, if not quite, the foremost man in Westmoreland county in the
Revolutionary period. His name has been spelled differently from the spelling here. We take this from his will, which he signs "A. Lochry," and which
is recorded in Will Book No. I, at page 3I of the Westmoreland recorder's
office. His ill-fated expedition, while it seemingly accomplished but little, was
but one of the many sacrifices made to work out our final peace and harmony on
the western border. As long as Western Pennsylvania people revere the struggles and courage of their pioneer ancestry will'the name of Archibald Lochry
be held in high esteem.
It is altogether probable that Lochry and Hays were jealous of each other.
IH-ays was a member of the council and wielded a great influence in Western
Pennsylvania. Lochry as county lieutenant, had been somewhat tardy in rendering up an account of his large expenditures, and was loose in his military
discipline, though no one doubted his honesty and patriotism. Through the influence of Hays and Scott, Edward Cook was nominated as county lieutenant to
succeed Lochry. On August I5, while the latter was going down the Ohio on
his sad expedition and before the cowardly blow of the Indian ended his life,
Cook was elected in his stead. Cook's high character and standing among the
Iiss
0PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
pioneer element has been heretofore considered. He had been sub-lieutenant
with Lochry for more than four years and was probably the ablest man for the
position who was at that time eligible.
Brodhead also had had several quarrels with the men at Fort Pitt, not only
with the militia officers but with the members of his own staff. Finally Alexander Fowler was appointed to audit the military accounts of the West. He
was a Pittsburg merchant and publicly accused Brodhead of speculating with
money which belonged to the army. General John Gibson was next in command and was more popular with the soldiers and officers of the fort than Brodhead. They accordingly asked him to resign and a court martial was ordered.
Brodhead, knowing perhaps that he was innocent of all charges, refused to resign until Washington  ordered him on September 6 to turn the command of
Fort Pitt over to Gibson. On September 17 he obeyed the order and went to
Philadelphia, where he was acquitted of all charges against him.
Gibson had but a temporary command, for General William Irvine was appointed on September 24, I78I. He was born in Ireland of Scotch-Irish parentage, and was graduated in the University of Dublin and educated as a physician. Before coming to America he had spent several years as a surgeon in
the English army. Here he practiced medicine in Carlisle and was successful
not only in his profession but in business as well. When the agitation of I774
came, he was one of the leaders of his community and a membter of the provincial convention. Assisting in the organization of the Minute Men,.he became
a leader of the patriot cause and in June, I776, was appointed colonel of the
Sixth Pennsylvania Regiment. This regiment marched through New York and
took part with General St. Clair and others who invaded Canada. At the battle
of Three Rivers, June I6, I776, he was captured, In seven weeks he was released on a parole which compelled him to remain out of the service until May,
I778. After that he was a colonel in the Second Pennsylvania and commanded
a brigade under General Wayne in New Jersey. He came to, Pittsburg when
forty years old and proved himself the most capable and actomplished officer
of Fort Pitt during the Revolution, though he was not so successful as Brodhead had been, and moreover did not arrive until November I, I78I, when the
Revolutionary War was practically over, for Cornwallis had surrendered to
Washington on October 19 previous. Irvine's first duty at Fort Pitt was to
more thoroughly systematize the military service and try to conciliate the hostility which existed between the settlers and themilitiamen.
The slaughter of the Moravian Indians can fortunately by no possible
stretch of history, be attributed to the forces at Fort Pitt, but its evil results and
general effects on the frontier are such as to prompt us to review it briefly. The
reader should know, too, that the butchering was not all done by the savages.
Rev. John Heckewelder was the leading missionary among the Sandusky Indians, many of whom had professed Christianity and were in the main living
good lives. They took neither side between the English and the  colonies
though their preachers, Heckewelder and Zeisberger, were favorable to our
i8qcause. The Moravians numbered about one hundred families living in three
villages on the Tuscaro-ras river.   These villages were named Schoenburn,
Salem and Gnadenhuetten.  The villages were composed of reasonably well
built log cabins and around them
were good gardens and large
fields of corn.  They had also
horses, cattle and some rude
implements of agriculture. The
Indians occasionally, perhaps of
necessity, entertained war parties of hostile Indians, and doubtless as often showed equal courtesy to the invading armies of the
colonists.  The  Indian  incursions of I782 in VWestern Pennsylvania  began  early  because
of the early return  of spring.
On February 8 a young man
named  John  Fink  was killed
near Buchanan's fort, on the
lY\lonongahela  river.    Two
days later a body of Indians
visited Robert Wallace's place,
killed his live stock, destroyed
his furniture, stole his household
goods, and carried away his
wife and three children, the father being away from home at that time. Shortly
afterward a band captured John Carpenter, but he was rescued by his neighbors. Two of his captors were Wyandottes and the others told him they were
Moravians. Sometime before this the Moravian Indians had been removed by
the British authorities under De Peyster to the Sandusky river for the reason
that they wvere supposed to be friendly to the colonists and their presence between the British posts and Fort Pitt was a menace to the English officers,
Moving them vwith considerable hardships, they had been impoverished by the
loss of household goods and had been compelled to leave their crops ungathered.
With the early spring of I782 many of them came back to their uninhabited log huts to gather up their possessions and to secure at least a
part of the corn they had been forced to leave. In the fall previous (I78r) the
frontiersmen had decided to raid the Moravian Indians, and under Coloriel
David W illiamson, from seventy-five to one hundred men rode there to compel
them to go further west. But this being after they had been removed by the
British, YWilliamson and his officers found the villages almost deserted. The
few who were gathering up coitn were brought to Fort Pitt, where General
Irvine treated them kindly and later sent them to their people on the Sandusky.
REV. JOHN HECKEWELDERPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I9I
But when the outrages of February, 1782, broke out about one hundred and
fifty or sixty young men volunteered and were led west by Colonel Williamson.
Over swollen streams they pushed their way towards the deserted Indian village
of Gnadenhuetten. Not far from this place was found the naked and mutilated
body of Mrs. Wallace, impailed on the sharpened trunk of a small tree, and
nearby was the dead body of her innocent child. Robert Wallace, the husband
and father, was with the party when they came upon this horrible spectacle.
After burying the bodies of the unfortunate victims, the pioneers with feelings
of hatred for the Indians which may be imagined, pushed onward, following the
trail of the marauders. As they neared the town of Gnadenhuetten, scouts
brought back word that it was full of Indians. The reader will understand
what the impetuous members of this expedition could not, that the Indians in the
town which many of the same volunteers had found deserted in November
previous, were really the Moravian Indians, who were temporarily there to
gather their corn, for they had passed the severe winter in their new homes.
Some of them had been there for some time, for they had come in small parties,
perhaps impelled to do so because of hunger. But they were not all Moravians,
for there were perhaps eight or nine Wyandotte warriors among them. It
was they, the Wyandottes mainly, who had raided western Pennsylvania so
early in February, but they were undoubtedly accompanied by some few of the
Moravian Indians whose savage instincts still remained and who, were not true
to the Moravian faith. Wliliamson approached the town as though he believed
it was filled with savages by dividing his forces into three squads. But the
Indians showed no resistance whatever, which should have opened the eyes of
the company to the true situation. The colonel then told them that they must go
to Fort Pitt and this seemed to please them, and at his suggestion they sent messengers to the other towns, telling them to come to Gnadenhuetten. One of
-the squad under Williamson's command had killed two Indians in a cornfield
before they reached the town. Other Indians discovered later were not killed
but were brought in alive. When the Salem Moravian Indians arrived there
were about ninety-six in all. They were all disarmed and confined in the log
church, in which they had doubtless often attended religious services held by
their pious ministers, Heckewelder and Zeisberger. While the pioneers were
examining the huts they found many household goods, apparently stolen from
the settlers, and some of them were readily identified by Wallace as the property
stolen fronm him but a few weeks previous. Moreover, one Indian woman was
wearing a dress which belonged to MArs. Wallace and was clearly identified by
her heart-broken husband. This seemed proof positive to the volunteers and
they were determined at once that they should be put to death. Some of the
captains under Williamson favored the same manner of death to the Indians
that was perpetrated on Mrs. WVallace and her child. All were brought before
them and all denied their guilt. Unfortunately for the innocent, it was developed that some of them had recently been on the war path. A few of them
had their hair trimmed and had yet traces of paint on their faces, all of whichA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
indicated their guilt. This testimony was probably sufficient evidence to prove
the guilt of the Wyandottes, but in the judgment of the impetuous young men
who had but recently seen the mutilated body of Mrs. Wallace and her child,
and who did not believe in the Christianity of the savage race, it was sufficient to
condemn the whole party to instant death. Colonel Williamson was not able to
resist the general clamor for vengeance. He put the question as to whether
the prisoners should be put to death or taken to Fort Pitt, and it is well
authenticated that only eighteen of the volunteers voted for leniency. It was
therefore, decided to kill the Indians the next morning, and accordingly, on
March 8 they were brought two by two to a cooper shop and were beaten to
death with mallets and hatchets. - Some of them died praying, as they had been
taught to do by the missionaries; others went to the block chanting savage war
songs; two of them broke away but were shot down. After all the men were
killed, the women and children were taken to another building and killed in a
like manner. It is said that one noble white man after killing fourteen Indians,
handed the mallet to a friend, saying that his arm was tired. About forty of
the volunteers took part in the murder and they thus killed forty Indian men,
twenty women and thirty-four children. All save two boys were put to death.
One of these had hidden in a cellar and escaped, while the other survived the
stroke of the mallet and the removal of his scalp, and both escaped to, tell the
story. Thus "By the mouths of two witnesses shall these things be established."
It is not likely that those who, stood by regarded this horrifying spectacle as a
serious crime. It was to them the meting out of justice to fiends incarnate who
had spent their lives in savage warfare and in murdering innocent men and
women. It was, as a general rule, considered no worse by them to kill an Indian than to kill a dangerous'wild beast or snake, and the children of the
savages were regarded as but the offspring of beasts whose thirst for blood
would develop with their years. All buildings of the towns, including the
houses which held the bodies of the murdered Indians, were burned to ashes.
All the Indian property, incl,uding eighty horses, was taken by the volunteers
and brought to Pennsylvania.
It was but a short time, March 24, till a similar raid was made on Kilbuck
Island at the mouth of the Allegheny river, for after Brodhead had destroyed
Coshodton, Kilbuck and his friends, who were friendly to our cause, had settled
on this island. Indians from Kilbuck's people frequently accompanied scouting
parties of the fort and were of great service to them. Kilbuck was, moreover,
a colonel in the United States service. These friendly Indians were guarded by
troops from Fort Pitt, but the guards were surprised and several of the tribe, including Nanowland, a friendly scout who had so often accompanied Captain
Brady, were killed. Kilbuck and most of his friends saved their lives only by
escaping to Fort Pitt, where Gibson was in temporary command.. The volunteers were greatly enraged at Gibson because he had defended the Indians. The
people did not believe in the existence of a friendly Indian. The raiders were
collected in and about Hannastown and included many of the most daring
I92PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                              193
rangers of the community. They, of course, did not have any faith in the
professed friendship of those they sought to kill.
Inquiry was made of General Irvine, but it was found that the people decidedly sustained Williamson's party in the slaughter of the Moravians and
that a united populace would resist any measure of punishment instituted
against them. An entertaining story entitled "Three Villages," by William
Dean Howells is founded on this massacre, though it is not faithful to the true
history of the affair. This terrible slaughter fell as a just vengeance on but few
who were really guilty. Its greatest effect was to arouse all the savage tribes
without exception, to fiercer hostility than ever against the colonists, and this
fell not only upon the guilty alone in Western Pennsylvania but upon the defenseless pioneer wherever he was found. The crimes which followed were too
many to enumerate. They brought about another expedition under Col. William
Crawford, who had sat on the Westmoreland bench. General Irvine had been
asked to command it, but he knew too well the difficulty of commanding volunteers. They were scarcely subject to military restraint and he, therefore, declined to lead the army. He did, however, aid the expedition in every way he
could but was unable to spare any troops except a surgeon, John Knight, and
Lieutenant John Rose, a Russian nobleman who served in the American army
with singular ability and skill.. The forces under Colonel Crawford were nearly
all Scotch-Irish farmers from Washington county, who were mounted on their
own horses. Colonel David Williamson was a candidate for the position of
commander, but by the influence of General Irvine, was defeated by Colonel
Crawford by five votes. The mounted troops met on the west bank of the Ohio
river, about three miles below Steubenville, and started northwest on May 25.
It was Crawford's hope that by rapid horseback marching he could surprise the'
Indians. On the contrary he was watched nearly all -the way by stealthy spies
of the enemy who, being able to run more rapidly than Crawford's army could
march, almost daily reported his progress to the forces at Sandusky and Detroit.
It took Crawford's mounted men ten days to make the journey, and the Indians
could not have asked more time to prepare for his coming. He reached their
headquarters on June 3, but found it deserted. The commander then learned
that the Indians had had notice of his approach and advised a retirement, but
the counsel of officers and the troops opposed it, and another day's march was
determined on. Late in the afternoon they were fired on by a body of Indians
and British. After a spirited fire, night closed down on them and temporarily
ended the contest. The following day the battle was resumed with the opponents far apart, so that the fighting was done at long range. In the afternoon
a Shawanee band of one hundred and forty Indians reinforced the Indians and
British, and Crawford thought the enemy now far outnumbered his troops, but
in reality they were about equally matched. The Pennsylvanians therefore concluded to steal a hasty retreat in the night. Fires were built to deceive the
enemy, and the soldiers retreated rapidly late in the night. The Scotch volunteers unfortunately became panic-stricken by the darkness and fled in great con13A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fusion. Some had lost their horses in the battle and in their flight through the
wilderness were easily run down and killed by the enemy. Among the troops
were Crawford's son John, his nephew William Crawford, and his son-in-law
William Harrison. Failing to find them among the troops, the colonel awaited
their approach and finally, came up with Dr. Knight and nine others who had
lost their way in the darkness. After wandering about for two days all were
taken prisoners by the Indians. The next day the troops retreated more orderly
and even repulsed an attacking band of savages. Colonel Williamson had taken
charge of the retreat, and on June 12 reached the Ohio with about three hundred
men. Others came straggling in afterward until nearly all had returned, the
missing soldiers in the end being perhaps less than fifty.  Among those who
were captured and killed were Crawford's son-in-law and a nephew. His son
John returned to his home. All privates who were captured by the Indians were
put to death at once, while the officers were saved for special torture. Crawford's cruel punishment and death has been written of a great deal and perhaps
of all outrages committed by the Indians, is the one which will dwell longest in
the memory of civilized people. He was tied to a tree and, amid fiendish yells
of joy, the Indians, thinking they were avenging the death of the Moravians
who had perished recently, put burning wood near him so as to prolong his
torture. The squaws cut his ears and nose off, scalped him and placed burning
coals on his bleeding head. While enduring this agony he saw Simon Girty,
whom he knew well, among his tormentors and shouted to him, saying: "Shoot
me, Simon, to end my misery." But Girty tauntingly replied, "I can't do it, for
I have no gun," though he held his rifle in his hand. For three hours he endured this agony, when at last the brave but exhausted colonel sank into a most
welcome death. Dr. Knight was made to witness it and felt that he was being
saved but for a similar exhibition in another locality on the night following.
When being taken there the next day he fortunately escaped and after twentytwo days' wandering reached Fort McIntosh and thence returned to his home.
Lachland McIntosh was born of Scotch-Irish parentage at Inverness, in
I725. His parents came to America with John Oglethorpe and found a home
with his colony in Georgia. At the age of seventeen he entered the mercantile
business in Charleston, South Carolina, which he relinquished to learn surveying
and to serve later in the militia of Georgia. Though many of his people became
Tories, he was from the first an enthusiastic American and was made a colonel in
the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and in I776 was a brigadier-general.
Quarreling with Button Guinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence,
he was challenged to fight a duel, which resulted in the death of Guinnett. McIntosh was tried for murder and was acquitted. Opposition in Georgia raised
by this unfortunate affair, impelled him to leave the South. In I778 he was attached to Washington's army at Valley Forge, and from there came to Fort
Pitt.
Still another campaign against the Indians was arranged for, mainly by
General Benjamin Lincoln, who had charge of the war department of the United
194PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                              I95
States in 1782. This expedition was to be led by General Irvine from Fort Pitt,
and was to be composed of twelve hundred soldiers. They were to be collected
from western Pennsylvania and Virginia and to be reinforced by a detachment
from Colonel Moses Hazen's regiments which were then stationed at Carlisle
and Lancaster. Delay in the arrival of Hazen's troops caused a postponement
of the expedition from August to October 8, and still another until late in October. On October 23, however, word came to Pittsburg of the appointment of
Sir Guy Carleton as commander of the British forces in America. He was
a man of both brain and conscience and was naturally horrified at the burning
of Colonel Crawford and other prisoners, as well as at the union made between
the savages and his own people in waging war in America. He gave orders at
once to all British of the border to prevent, rather than instigate, any further
deeds of violence on the part of the savages. His orders forbade the British
posts of Detroit and Niagara from sending out parties of Indians against the
frontier settlements. Thenceforth these posts were to act only on the defensive.
This word was sent promptly to Fort Pitt on the 27th of September, and it recalled the proposed campaign of General Irvine. General Hazen received the
word at once and abandoned his westward march, but the important message to
Irvine was sent by a traveller who was journeying westward on private business, who lingered on the way and did not deliver the letter to Irvine. In the
meantime Irvine sent Captain Samuel Brady east to meet Hazen and his forces,
and hasten them to Fort Pitt. Brady was shrewd enough to find the bearer of
the letter at a wayside inn on his way east, and thus the word of Carleton's appointment and the end of the troubles from the allied forces of the British and
Indians reached Fort Pitt on October 23. This incident throws a light on the
usual manner of conducting even the most important business in the Revolutionary days.
While Indian depredations did not end with the accession of Sir Guy
Carleton, a stop was put to the inhljman warfare as carried on by the British
with the Indian allies. How much more glorious would the English nation be
had they always employed agents of the high character and humane principles
of Sir Guy Carleton. Even after the Revolutionary War closed, the Indians
had been so long and so thoroughly allied with the English that they could not
realize that peace had been declared between the two countries, or that orders to
stop their depredations against the pioneers had been issued by the British
commander. The Pennsylvania council accordingly asked congress to take
some action in the matter. When, in April, over forty people were wantonly
put to death or taken in captivity by the Indians, for'they doubtless thought they
were carrying out the wishes of their English allies, the request was repeated
and congress acted at once. The scheme adopted was to send a messenger
among the Indians to inform them that the king had been compelled to make
peace with the United States and that the British armies were to evacuate Detroit and Niagara, and that above all things, the United States desired to live
in peace and harmony with the inhabitants of the forest. To perform this most196               A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
delicate and dangerous mission, Major General Benjamin Lincoln, then secretary of war, selected Major Ephraim Douglas, of Pittsburg. He too was of
Scotch-Irish parentage, though born in Carlisle in 1750, and was the son of
Adam Douglas. When thirteen years of age he had watched a weak army
under a strong commander move slowly westward from his home to, relieve Fort
Pitt, and doubtless shortly afterward was thrilled with the startling news of
Bouquet's victory at Bushy Run. Shortly after that he came to Pittsburg to
work as a carpenter, and still later engaged in the Indian fur trade with sucli
men as Devereux Smitli and Richard Butler as partners. In I776 we have seen
that he was appointed quartermaster of the historic Eighth Regiment. Captured
with General Lincoln's forces at Bound Brook, New Jersey, on April I3, I777,
he was kept for two years as a prisoner in New York. When at length he was
exchanged, he was made assistant commissary of the army at Fort Pitt. Douglas was a man of great strength, great energy and of absolute fearlessness.
These rare qualities, added to his knowledge of the Indian country and his high
character, commended him to the secretary of war for this important mission.
He was accompanied on his journey by Captain George McCully, whom he
knew well and who had also served in the Revolution. They took with
them a guide who knew the western wilderness better then they. All were
provided with good horses and with a white flag, known throughout all
nations as the emblem  of peace.  They left Fort Pitt on June 7, I783,
and reached Sandusky on June I6. They first visited the principal towns of
the Delawares, where they were kindly received by Captain Pipe, who
was then chief sechem of that tribe. There they remained two weeks in
conference with the captain and his associates.  But no treaty could be
effected with the tribe until they had first treatied with the Wyandottes
and Shawanees, for the latter tribes, it will be remembered, had dominion
over the Delawares, having once taken up the hatchet and forced the
former into an open and unwilling war.  Captain Pipe sent an agent,
however, to the Shawanees towns, calling the chiefs to a consultation with
the Delawares at Sandusky. The chief of the Wyandottes was away from
home and it was soon learned that many of the Shawanees had been called to
Detroit to meet the British commander. Captain Pipe entered into Douglas'
plans most heartily and advised him to go to Detroit to meet the chiefs in the
presence of the English, for he assured him that without the authority of the
Wyandottes in the council which was to meet soon on the opposite side of the
river from Detroit, no extended peace was possible. Douglas took his advice,
and with Pipe and two other chiefs, set out for Detroit. In the meantime Douglas had greatly influenced the Indians with whom he came in contact and had
induced in them an almost universal desire for more friendly relations with the
American people. Hearing of their approach the commander, De Peyster, sent
Matthew Elliott and three others to meet them and conduct them to the fort.
Elliott had been a Pittsbrurg Tory and knew Douglas before the former had
stolen away from Pittsburg in I778. All were invited to attend the IndianPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE':9?
council at Detroit. De Peyster treated them with extreme courtesy, but he
would not allow Douglas to hold a council with the chiefs alone, maintaining
that he had no authority from his government to do so. He objected also to
Douglas' letter from the secretary of war,' which stated that the king had been
comipelled to make peace with the colonies; for this, he said, might arouse a contempt in the Indian mind for the British, which would be injurious to both them
and the English. Nor did he wish the Indians to know that the English had
agreed to evacuate Detroit and Niagara. As a final arbiter of these matters he
referred Douglas to General Allan Maclean, who was then commanding at
Niagara. De Peyster gave Douglas very little assistance in his main object,
that is, to effect a peace with the Indians. On July 6 the looked-for council was
held near Detroit. Eleven tribes were present, being represented by Indians
from nearly every section between the Scioto river and Lake Superior. De
Peyster told them the object of Douglas' visit and of the peace with Great
Britain and that he could no longer assist them in the war against the colonists.
He told them that Douglas represented the American army, who desired peace
with all Indians, and advised them to close their warfare with the United
States. The chiefs were impressed with Douglas' mission and gave him many
expressions of friendship. The conference undoubtedly was attended with
great good. Douglas and his party then travelled northeastward through
Ontario to Niagara. But there Maclean raised the same objection that De Peyster had offered. While he would not permit Douglas to address the Indians,
-yet through Colonel Butler he informed them of the desire of the United States
for peace and harmony with all Indian tribes. While there Douglas had a long
talk with Captain Joseph Brant, chief of the Mohawks, and tried to impress
upon his savage mind the really kind disposition of the American people toward
the Indians. Governor Maclean asked Douglas to go to Quebec to confer with
the governor-general of Canada, but he did not comply with this request, feeling
that he had accomplished all that was possible and that he should return to report to the authorities who had sent him. Maclean sent him -through Oswego,
and he returned by way of Albany to Princeton, New Jersey, where the government of the United States then had its headquarters and where he reported in
person to General Lincoln. His entire mission was fraught with great good
by practically closing up the general Indian outbreaks on the frontiers of New
York and Pennsylvania.
But the close of the Revolution left the western district of Pennsylvania in a
very impoverished condition, with many soldiers in the field and ranging parties
performing almost daily duty, and with the militia constantly guarding the forts.
Agricultural interests were sadly neglected and many homes which, prior to that
had been supplied with abundance, were reduced to absolute want. There were
scarcely men enough during the Revolution to gather the scanty crops. Sometimes they were not permitted to sow their ground in the spring, and sometimes
those who sowed amid the dangers from the Indians lurking in the forest, were
unable to reap their harvest. Often the husband and older sons went to thePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
II
ravine nearby. On May 28th, taking about forty men, he set out to meet them.
The French sprang to their arms and the fight began at once on the approach of
Washington and his men. Jumonville and nine of his soldiers were killed,
twenty-two were taken prisoners, and one escaped who ran back and finally
reached Fort Duquesne. Washington now expected a stronger force from
Fort Duquesne, and fell back to a small open valley called Great Meadows,
four miles west of Laurel Hill, there to fortify himself and await the arrival of
Colonel Fry from Wills creek. But three days after the battle in which Jumonville was killed, namely May 3Ist, Colonel Fry died suddenly at Wills creek.
This left Washington in chief command. He wrote that he regarded Great
MIeadows as a "Charming field for an encounter," and with the assistance of
Captain Robert Stobo a fort was built there, which, from the circumstances compelling them to build it, they called Fort Necessity. Washington's forces now
amounted to about four hundred and at noon on July 3rd, the enemy appeared
under command of Coulon de Villers, a relative of Captain Jumonville. They
at once opened fire from the forest near the fort. Washington's army had
neither amnmunition nor provisions. The French were not only concealed, but
were on higher ground and could fire into the fort. The wonder is that Washington did not select the higher ground himself, since he had entire choice of
position. The rain came down in torrents, and those within the forts were
standing in mud and water up to their knees, and yet the rain increased so that,
as Francis Parkmnan says "the combatants could do but little but gaze at each
other through a gray veil of mist and rain." About dark the French proposed
an armistice or parley, and Washington sent Captain Jacob Van Braam to
confer with them. He returned with the terms of a proposed capitulation by
which Washilngton's army was to retire with colors flying and take with them all
their provisions save their artillery. The twenty-two prisoners whlom Washington had taken on May 27th, when Jumonville was killed, had been sent
under guard to Governor Dinwiddie at Williamsburg, and the terms of the
capitulation required that two of the Fort Necessity soldiers should be given as
hostages for the safe return of the prisoners. It is likely that the French selected the hostages, for otherwise Washington would not have given his most
prominent soldiers. They' were Captain Van Braam and Captain Robert Stobo.
The enemy outnumbered the Virginians two to one, yet the English losses were
thirty killed and seventy wounded, while the French lost seventy-two killed
and wounded. On July 4th the English army marched from the fort, greatly
weakened by exposure, hunger, and.by the loss of their horses which the Indians
had killed. Van Braam and Stobo were confined as prisoners within the newly
made walls of Fort Duquesne. The defeat was disastrous but not'disgraceful
to the English. The only English flag west of the Alleghenies had been torn
down. The French returned to Fort Duquesne to glory over their victory,
while Washington began his weary return to Wills creek. His horses and
cattle were gone to enrich his enemy; most of his baggage had to be distroyed
or left behind, while the sick and wounded of the army had to be transported198                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fields in the morning and never returned, or perhaps on their return found their
loved ones had been captured or murdered. Men, women and children were
taken as prisoners and carried away, and frequently nothing was heard of them
for months or years, and often they were never heard of again. This apparently
never-ending warfare had induced the authorities of the government to fromn
time to time, increase the bounty on the scalps of Indians. A person who was
scalped is generally supposed to have been killed, though we have many instances of those who survived the injury. The scalping itself did not necessarily kill the victim, for it consisted in the taking of the skin from the crown
of the head-a piece about four inches in circumference. This operation was
performed by the savages by taking a firm hold of the hair with the left hand
and when the skin was tightly drawn froin the skull bone, a sharp knife readily
severed a circular piece from the head. Scalping was a custom prevalent
among the Indians in warfare among themselves, when the Europeans first arrived in America, and was probably then only used to verify the number of the
enemy they had slain. The great greed for scalps among the Indians was
superinduced by the rewards offered by the British. Many honest pioneers regarded the Indian as the natural enemy of the white man and it soon became the
general belief that the only solution to the Indian question was the utter extermination of the race. From an early date the proprietaries of Pennsylvania
had offered a bounty for the scalps of Indian warriors. In I756, says Craig in
"Early Pittsburg," Governor Morris offered one hundred and fifty Spanish
dollars for every male Indian above the age of twelve years, taken prisoner and
delivered to the authorities. For the scalp of every male Indian over twelve
years taken iii war, one hundred and thirty Spanish dollars were offered; for
every male or female prisoner under twelve years old, taken alive, they offered
one hundred and thirty Spanish dollars; for the scalp of every Indian woman
produced with the evidence of being killed, fifty dollars. These bounties were
paid by the commanders of the forts in Western Pennsylvania upon the delivery
of the prisoners or the scalps, with the proper proofs of the manner in which
they were taken. The jail keepers at the county seats were also authorized to pay
for them. In I764 Governor Penn offered a reward of one hundred and fifty
dollars for every male Indian prisoner over ten years old, and one hundred and
thirty-four dollars for his scalp when killed. For every male or female under
ten years of age, whein captured, he offered one hundred and thirty dollars, and
fifty dollars for the scalp when killed. In I782 there was a standing reward
of one hundred dollars for a dead Indian scalp, and one hundred and fifty dollars for the Indian if captured alive and brought to the garrison at Fort Pitt,
The same offer was made for white men who were taken prisoners while aiding
the Indians. Colonel Samuel Hunter, Colonel Jacob Stroud and others in this
section were authorized to offer these rewards. It is somewhat startling, to the
modern reader to notice the manner in which prominent men of that age wrote
of this apparently inhuman systeln of warfare and rewards. In a letter to President Reed, Colonel Hunter says that he had just organized a party to go scalp
hunting, and that, though they do not make as much money out of a dead IndianPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
as out of a living one, yet it was much less trouble and much more agreeable to
the hunters to shoot him at once and scalp him afterwards than to be bothered
carrying him along as a prisoner. Colonel Archibald Lochry, who has been so
prominently mentioned in these pages, wrote from his home near Latrobe that
there was no doubt but that the reward would insure a good end. In the same
letter he asks for more ammunition to supply a party of scalp hunters. Colonel
Hunter reported later of an unsuccessful return of his party so far as securing
scalps was concerned, and in reply President Reed wrote him a consoling letter,
advising him to be of good cheer, and expressed a hope that another hunting
excursion would prove more successful. Many scalps were thus taken, and on
one occasion thirteen, with the accompanying certificates, were sent to Fort Pitt
at one time. The scalp hunting business reached its highest point in I78II782, if the colonial records are to be believed. It must not be forgotten by the
reader that the Indians were all these years engaged in the same business and
were paid much higher rates by the English for scalping men,.women and children, and even innocent babes.
This method of warfare was perhaps questionable, but the reader nmust remember that the exigencies of the times prompted it. The bounty was rarely
ever taken by well established settlers. But whether the theory was right or
wrong, the authorities never offered a bounty on the scalps of friendly Indians.
Perhaps the average settler did not discriminate between a friendly and a
hostile Indian, but nevertheless the government itself was actuated by good intentions toward all but the hostile warrior. The well known treachery of the
race was ever present in the mind of the white man. The modern saying that
the only good Indian is a dead one, undoubtedly existed in the minds of the
rangers long ago. George Wilkinson, in the "American Pioneer", says the
scalp bounty law was brought in disrepute by killing friendly Indians to sell
their scalps. There was no bounty during part of the Revolution on Indian
prisoners and this led to the death of some. Moreover, a friendly Indian was
much more easily scalped than a hostile one. At all events the abuse of the law,
says the above writer, "brought the scalp bounty measure into disrepute," and it
was rightfully repealed. It had been offered mainly to encourage settlers to
sustain the soldiers in battle.
Stephen Bayard was born January 23, I744, of an old family in Maryland.
The first years of his life were spent as a Philadelphia merchant, and in the beginning of the Revolution.he raised a company in Philadelphia and was made its
captain. The company at once became part of St. Clair's expedition to Quebec.
Later he served under Richard Butler of Pittsburg, in the Eighth Regiment, and
when it returned from Valley Forge, Bayard came to Pittsburg with it. He
was a colonel under Brodhead in his expedition against the Indians in Ohio and
also in the expedition up the Allegheny river. In I78I he commanded a regiment at Fort Pitt. After the Revolution, Bayard located at Pittsburg and became a wealthy citizen. He had taken up large tracts of land on the M1onongahela river and on one of these founded a boat building town which he named
after his wife Elizabeth, and the town yet bears her name. In the War of r812
199.,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
President M1adison offered him a major-general's commission, but he wisely
declined it because of his age. He died in Pittsburg on December I3, I8I5.
George Wilson, lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Regiment, was a native of
Augusta county, Virginia. He had been an officer in the French and Indian
War and had settled in the West shortly after its close, He was appointed a
justice for this western district, first of Bedford county and later of Westmoreland county, and held the position for many years. He will be remembered as
one of the trustees appointed to locate the county seat of Westmoreland, and
also as a leading spirit in Dunmore's War, during which he was one of the
three justices arrested by Connolly. He died, like Colonel-Mackay, from the
effects of the long march of the Eighth Regiment to New Jersey.
The Butler family was purely a Westmoreland and Pittsburg family and
was the most noted one hailing from the West during the Revolution. Their
father was Thomas Butler, who had been born in Ireland, and three of his sons,
namely, Richard, William and Thomas, were also born there. Richard, as will
be remembered, was lieutenant-colonel of Morgan's Rifle Regiment. From his
first connection with the regiment he drilled them at all seasonable hours and
much of the glory gained by them in battle was due to the pains he took in preparing them for future actions. He was with General Wayne when he charged up
Stony Point and was prominent at last when Cornwallis was comlpelled to surrender to Washington. In I790o he was appointed a major-general but unfortunately, as we have said, was killed the following year, I79I, while fighting the
Indians in Ohio in St. Clair's celebrated battle. His brother, Thomas Butler,
was a law student in Philadelphia in I776 when the Revolution was raising the
patriotic spirit of that city. He enlisted as a private and rose to the rank of
captain, serving until the close of the war. It was Thomas Butler whom General Washington publicly thanked at the battle of Brandywine. At the battle
of Monmouth he defended a dangerous ravine while his brother Richard's regiment was retreating through it. For this he received the special thanks of
General Wayne. He was also in the battle of the Wabash with St. Clair in I79r
as commander of a battalion. When St. Clair in that battle ordered a bayonet
charge against the Indians, Thomas Butler was on horseback and had had his leg
broken by a ball, yet in this painful condition he led the charge. He was removed from the field by a third brother, Edward. Thomas died on September
5, I805. Percival, the fourth son, was born in Carlisle and entered the Revolution when eighteen years of age as a lieutenant. He was at Valley Forge, 4Monmouth and Yorktown, and was greatly trusted by the great commander. He
moved to Kentucky in I784 and was adjutant-general of that state in the War
of 1812. Edward B'utler was too young to enter the Revolution, but was a captain in St. Clair's army in I79I, and in I794 was an' adjutant-general in General
Wayne's army in its successful expedition against the western Indians, showing
that he had in a high degree the military spirit so noted in his family. The
mother of the Butlers was a strong-minded, patriotic woman who was willing to
part, with her husband and sons and endure the hardships which their absence
added to her life, if by so doing the cause of the colonies might be advanced.
200PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
It was probably this spirit that led Washington at his own private table, surrounded by army officers, to propose a toast, "The Butlers and their five sons."
Lafayette at one time passed an equally great compliment to the family by saying that when he had a particularly difficult order to execute he gave it into the
hands of one of the Butlers.
At the surrender of Cornwallis, Baron Steuben had command of the
trenches at the time that overtures of surrender was sent out by the British.
While the terms of capitulation were being considered by Washington and his
generals, Lafayette's division marched up to relieve Steuben, the time for such
relief having arrived. But the baron did not want to be relieved then for he knew
that the great surrender, the most momentous incident in the Revolution, would
soon be at hand, and had a pardonable desire to share in the honor of hoisting
the flag. This question was laid before VWashington, who decided that neither
Baron Steuben nor Lafayette should hoist it, but that the honor should be conferred on Ebenezer Denny, of Pittsburg. But when the ensign was about to
raise it and plant it on the rampart, Steuben, perhaps forgetting himself in the
excitement of the moment, hurried forward, took the flag and hoisted it himself. Richard Butler thought this an insult to the Pennsylvania or the Pittsburg
troops, and therefore challenged the baron to a duel. Both these men had rendered great service to the colonial army and there was now too much glory
among the American troops to allow two of its best and most faithful officers to
engage in a deadly conflict. But, nevertheless, it required all the efforts of
Washington, Hamilton and Rochambeau to prevent the duel.
At the risk of being tedious we have tried to portray the sufferings of the
Pittsburg people during the Revolution in as graphic a manner as the meager
records will admit of. The pioneers had more important.duties to perform
than to make notes of the events of the day. The reader must remember that
there was no newspaper published then in Western Pennsylvania and that for
information concerning that period, we must depend largely upon letters, army
orders and upon tradition. But enough has come down to us to give some idea
of the hardships to which they were subjected. Perhaps the people scarcely
realized that the surrender of Cornwallis meant in reality the close of the long
contest. At all events there was no special demonstration when the "glorious
news" was received.  General Irvine issued the following order which was
doubtless received with less joy than its true import warranted:
"General Irvine has the pleasure to congratulate the troops upon the great
and glorious news. Lord Cornwallis, with the troops under his command, surrendered as prisoners of war, on the Igth of October last to the allied armies of
America and France, under the immediate command of His Excellency, General
W\ashington. The prisoners amount to upwards of five thousand regular
troops, nearly two thousand Tories and as many negroes, besides a number of
merchants and other followers. Thirteen pieces of artillery will be fired on this
day at ten o'clock in the fort, at which time the troops will be under arms, with
their colors displayed. The commissaries will issue a gill of whiskey extraordinary to the non-commissioned officers and privates upon this joyful occasion.
November 6th, I78I."'
20ICHAPTE  XI I I.
Major-General Arthur St. Clair.
The most illustrious name connected with the pioneer days of Western
Pennsylvania is that of Major-General Arthur St. Clair. Though he belongs
to the nation, rather than to any particular locality, there are nevertheless many
reasons, some of them now almost forgotten, why Pittsburg people should be
particularly interested in his life and character.
He was the prime mover in the project which first spread civil government
over the unsettled West in I773, by the formation of Westmoreland county; he
was the first to see and advocate the importance of making Pittsbiurg a county
seat; he stood first as the leader of the people in resisting the invading army of
Dunmore, who claimed this territory for Virginia, and there is little truth in the
records of that day, if it is not a grave doubt that, but for him, the cause would
have been abandoned or lost by the pioneers, and the territory relinquished to
the Old Dominion. It was he, moreover, who, in the Hannastown convention,
inspired the first public declaration against the tyranny of Great Britain, and it
was he who drilled the young men of this section and led them to the front in the
beginning of the Revolution. Long after this, as governor of Ohio, he opened
up and implanted the civil law in the great West under the Ordinance of I787,
a movement which more than any other, induced Pittsburg to first engage in
manufacturing. These matters have -each been discussed in their places in
other chapters, and need not be more than mentioned here.
Arthur St. Clair was born in Scotland and came from one of the most noted
British families. His people were of Norman birth and in the line of his ancestry, were dukes, earls, lords and knights, many of whom had battled for English and Scotch supremacy, and whose names have for centuries been embalmed in the poetic and legendary lore of English story. He was splendidly
educated and at twenty-three was a student in London when the French and
Indian war broke out. General James Wolfe was raising an army for service in
Caiada, then under the dominion of the French government. William Pitt had
recently became prime minister, and under the enthusiasm which he created,
young men from every calling in life abandoned their pursuits and enlisted in
the services of the Crown. War was shaking both Europe and America andPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
under the exciting sound of the bugle and the steady tread of grenadiers, St.
Clair, like others, could not resist. With an ensigns's commission dated May
I3, I757, he sailed for America with Admiral Edward Boscawen's fleet. He
was in the army of General Jeffrey Amherst, whose object was to capture the
northern forts, and was in the division of the army commanded by General
Wolfe. He began his military life therefore, in one of the mocst daring and
romantic campaigns in American history. He was with the army the night
they silently floated down the St. Lawrence, and heard Wolfe repeat the Elegy
in a Count-ry Churchyard, and heard him say he would rather be the author of
that poem than to take Quebec.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour,
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
He was among those who in the darkness clambered up the hitherto impassable Heights of Abraham and was near the brave young Englishman when
he received his death wound and when the victorious shout recalled for a moment his departing spirit. He was in the Sixtieth Royal American Regiment,
which had been organized by the Duke of Cumberland for services in the colonies, and with him to inspire him to deeds of glory, were such men as Lawrence, Monckton, Murray and Bouquet, names without whose heroism in battle
the annals of the French and Indian War would be tame indeed.
When Quebec was taken it was garrisoned by the English and for a time
St. Clair remained in the fortress. A part of the Sixtieth Regiment was then
sent to Boston, which was then the leading city of the colonies after Philadelphia. While stationed there he was united in marriage with Phoebe Bayard, a
relative of the Temples, the Winthrops and the Bowdoins, and who was, in
every way, a woman of patrician birth. With her he received a legacy of I4,000
pounds, a princely fortune for those days. Shortly after this he resigned his
commission in the English army and removed to western Pennsylvania, where
he acted for some years as agent of the Penns. In I76.7 he was made commander of Fort Ligonier by General Thomas Gage, who was then in command
of the English armies in America. While thus engaged he took up large tracts
of land for himself and soon became a man of affluence and prominence in the
community.
His correspondence with the leading men of Philadelphia during the years
of unrest which immediately preceded the Revolution shows clearly that though
he had been an English army officer, he was in no danger of becoming a Tory.
The impartial reader cannot but regard his espousal of the cause of the colonlies
as one of the boldest and most independent acts in his eventful life. The centuries of royal blood in his veins, his every tie of kindred, his services in the
English army and his long and intimate associations with the Penns, all of
whom, save one, were Tories, apparently bound him indissolubly to Great
203A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Britain. But these bonds were as gossamer threads to him when they conflicted with the rights of the oppressed colonies.
In I775 the Indians in the Detroit region were much given to making raids
on the East, and St. Clair was appointed to raise an army to move against them.
He enlisted about five hundred young men in southwestern Pennsylvania, each
of whom was to furnish his own horse, provisions, arms, etc. At the same time
General Benedict Arnold, with a division of the Colonial army, was moving towards Quebec, and all interests centered there. St. Clair went to Philadelphia
to urge his Detroit expedition before the continental congress. But instead of
sending him and his. army to Detroit, he-was called into the Revolution, where
it wvas thought his services would be of greater value. He was commissioned a
colonel in the Colonial army and was assigned to duty around Philadelphia,
where he recruited, drilled and provisioned volunteers. On entering the Revolution he wrote these fervent words: "I hold that no man has the right to withhold his services when his country needs them. Be the sacrifice ever so great,
it must be yielded upon the altar of patriotism." Hardly did he imagine how
great his sacrifice would be. His first duty in the actual field of war was to
take a regiment of six companies to Quebec, where Arnold had been the victim
of misfortune. He was familiar with the St. Lawrence region and suggested
the fortification of Three Rivers to prevent additional British transports from
reaching Quebec. To his surprise he was given command of this important
point by General Sullivan. Though General Thompson afterwards reinforced
St. Clair, all were driven back by superior numbers, and by an unlooked-for
union between the Canadians and the English. With the assistance of the
people of Canada, the army could easily have overpowered the British. But
contrary to Washington's expectation, the people of Quebec and of Canada generally did not desire a union with the Colonies, and as a result the Colonial
army retired from Canada though they retired with their colors flying. For
these services St. Clair was made a brigadier-general and was called to Washington's army, then in its well managed retreat before General Howe across
New Jersey. He was now for the first time under the eye and direct command
of the great chief and fought with hini under his direction at White Plains. He
was with the army when they crossed the Delaware preparatory to their march
on Trenton and had command in conjunction with General Sullivan, of the division of the army which took the river road, Washington and Greene leading
the other division. He sliared in no small degree, the victory over the Hessians,
and no battle in the Revolution did as much to strengthen the cause of the
colonies as this. It is claimed by all of St. Clair's biographers and even by St.
Clair himself, that he suggested to Washington the movement which culminated
in the victory at Princeton a few days later. He directed the details of the
march and his brigade, composed of New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachlusetts troops, with two six-pounders, marched at the head of the advancing
army. For St. Clair's part in these two battles, he was made a major-general
on February I9th following, on the recommendation of Washington. It may
204PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
also be mentioned in this connection that he was the only officer from Pennsylvania who became a major-general during the Revolution.   Others were
brevetted after the war closed, but to him alone came this honor during its continuance.
The outlook for the Colonial army in the summer of I777 was a very
gloomy one. Washington's army was unclothed, unfed and was almost ready
to disband. This condition of affairs moved the British to greater efforts, hoping thereby to stamp out the rebellion at once. They set about to divide the
colonies by a line of English strongholds going up the Hudson, thence by Lake
George and Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence river. General Burgoyne's
army was already in Canada and his purpose was to march south by the lakes
and unite with General Clinton's army, which was to pass up the Hudson from
New York. This, we need scarcely add, would have hopelessly divided the
colonies and by stopping all communication between them, would probably have
compelled their armies to disband. Ticonderoga was then in the possession of
the Colonial Army and was situated between Lake Champlain and Lake
George. While it was held by our army, Burgoyne's army coming south, could
not unite with Clinton's army going north. St. Clair's success, particularly at
Princeton, prompted Washington to send him to Ticonderoga to take command
of and hold this important point. He was given about 2,200 men in all, a force
that was entirely inadequate, but as St. Clair well knew, it was the best which
Washington could do. The victories in the Revolution were won by taking
desperate chances, and no one was more willing to make sacrifices with even a
slight hope of success than St. Clair. Burgoyne's army came down to Lake
Champaign and attacked Ticonderoga in June, I777. Near by was a high,
rocky promontory called Mount Defiance, which overlooked and practically
commanded it. This was inaccessible to the Continental Army because of their
weakness, and, moreover, St. Clair's army was too small to occupy and hold
Ticonderoga and Mount Defiance both. Burgoyne found that he could not capture Ticonderoga without fortifying Mount Defiance.   He therefore with
ropes and tackle, hoisted cannon to its crest and placed on it sufficient arms and
men to overcome Ticonderoga. The French, English and American armies had
all regarded Mount Defiance as inaccessible. The top of the mountain now
bristled with the enemy's arms. St. Clair and his officers saw at once that ten
thousand men could not hold Ticonderoga and that he must either retreat or be
captured. The army retreated the following night, going towards Hubbardstown and Castleton, thirty miles away. The British followed them and several
small engagements ensued, in which St. Clair's army lost not less than a
thousand men. B'ut to follow St. Clair, Burgoyne was compelled to divide his
army, and this division gave General Horatio Gates an opportunity which he
seized and very soon forced Burgoyne to surrender his entire army at Saratoga.
All the blame was, for a time, put on St. Clair. In reporting his retreat he
wrote these words: "I know I could save my reputation by sacrificing the
army; but were I to do so, I should forfeit that which the world could not re20A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
across the Alleghenies on the backs of the weak and poorly fed survivors. This
was probably Washington's first memorable Fourth of July.
Some special reference to these prisoners is necessary at this place. Vanbraam was a German, but had acquired superficial knowledge of the English
and French languages, and frequently served Washington in the capacity of an
interpreter, notably on thi` occasion in translating the articles of capitulation.
These were written so that, by signing them, Washington practically admitted
that he had murdered Jumonville, "1' assassinat du Sieur de Jumonville," but
Vanbraam had translated it in the rain by the flickering light of a tallow candle, and read it as the "death" of Jumonville, in place of the "mrnurder."  There
were other minor mistranslations, all of which were used against Washington,
as witness, he had been made to stipulate that for a year his forces would not
work west of the mountains, whereas, it was translated and read to him as
stipulating that his forces should not work "on any lands of the King of
France," etc. Van Braam was strongly accused of treachery to Washington,
but his treatment while a prisoner among the French, which was very harsh, almost disproves this charge. His mistake was likely due to ignorance, or to the
want of knowledge of the value of words in the French and English language.
He was in prison about six years in Canada.
Robert Stobo must ever be remembered with kindness by the Pittsburg
people. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in I727. His father was a merchant, and a few years after his death in I740 the son came to Virginia, having previously been well educated. When the French troubles came, he enlisted in the army moving against the forces on the Ohio, and brought considerable wealth to the cause. He was a captain in Colonel Fry's regiment, and
traveled with several servants and a covered wagon stocked with wine and other
luxuries. He also engaged sportsmen to procure wild game for his table, yet
when the trouble came he displayed the fortitude of a true soldier. His first
adventure after having been imprisoned in Fort Duquesne, was to send two
letters by an Indian named Mono to Governor Dinwiddie. In these letters he
gave correct descriptions and plans of Fort Duquesne. "There are two hundred
men," he wrote, "and two hundred expected. The rest have gone off in detachments to the amount of one thousand besides the Indians. None lodge in
the fort but Contrecoeur, and the guard consisting of forty men and five officers:
the rest lodge in bark cabins around the fort. The Indians have access day and
night and come and go when they please. If one hundred trusty Shawanees,
Mingoes and Delawares were picked out, they might surprise the fort, lodge
themselves under the palisades by day, and at night secure the ground with
their tomahawks, shut the sally-gate and the fort is ours." As to the danger
which the expedition which he thus advises would necessarily entail on himself
and the other hostage, Van Braam, he had the courage to write these words:
"Consider the good of the expedition without regard to us. When we engaged
to serve the country, it was expected that we were to do it with our lives. For
my part, I would died a hundred deaths to have the pleasure of possessing this
I2A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
store, and which it cannot take away, the approbation of my own conscience."
He did not further defend himself, but quietly asked for a court of inquiry. A
very able one was finally granted, with Major-General Benjamin Lincoln as
president. The court martial entirely exonerated St. Clair "of all and every
charge against him with the highest honor." He was warmly congratulated
by the leading men of the nation, but the letter from Lafayette was perhaps the
most cherished of all. "I cannot tell you," wrote the eminent French general,
"how much my heart was interested in anything that happened to you, and how
I rejoiced, not that you were acquitted, but that your conduct was examined."
Let us look further into his reasons for retreating, for the facts brought
out by the court martial speak very eloquently in favor of St. Clair. Burgoy,ne's army, when he met St. Clair, numbered 7,863, while St. Clair had less
than 2,200, all of whom were ill-fed and but half clad. Burgoyne surrendered
I42 heavy guns, while St. Clair had less than Ioo second rate cannon of various
sizes and they were served by inexperienced men. It is scarcely necessary to
defend his retreat in this age of general intelligence. The Unlited States Gazette
in speaking of his defense before the court of inquiry, said: "His defense on
that occasion is still extant and exhibits a sample of profound generalship.
Whilst the English language shall be admired it will continue to be an example
of martial eloquence."  It is easy now to see the wisdom of St. Clair's retreat,
for by a letter written at that time it is known that he foresaw the effect his retreat would have on General Burgoyne; that he would prove careless in following up so weak a foe, with the result that a strong blow might result in the
capture of his scattered forces. In view of this, St. Clair wrote that by
"abandoning a post" he hoped he would "eventually save a state."
After this he was with the army at Brandywine and Valley Forge and was
then detailed to organize Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops and send them to
the front as rapidly as possible. When Arnold turned traitor Washington
scarcely knew whom to trust, but with implicit confidence, he selected St. Clair
to take charge of West Point. He was then selected to sit with Greene, LaFayette, Clinton, Knox, Stark, etq., as a member of the most noted military jury
that ever sat in this country, to try the unfortunate Major Andre. They were
selected because of their high character both as soldiers and civilians and because they were educated in the military history of Europe. They unanimously
reported that Andre should be considered as a spy and should suffer death.
During the closing scenes of the Revolution when the war-worn armies
l,ad practically surrounded the British at Yorktown, St. Clair was in daily consultation with Washington and was not by any means, the least of those illustrious men who stood guard at the final moment, when the long contest was decided in favor of the colonies.
In I783 he was elected a mrember of the council of Pennsylvania and two
years later become a member of congress. In I787 he was elected president of
congress, then practically the highest office in the government, and which can
only be compared to the present office of president of the United States, a pos206PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
ition not then created, but which came with the constitution in I787. It was
this congress over which he presided, which provided for the convention by
which the constitution of the United States was formed.
It is usual to consider St. Clair as a military character alone, while in reality
he was one of the statesmen of the Revolutionary period and united a very extensive knowledge of letters, of history and of the classics, with his military life.
His strongest points are indeed shown in his civil and political life. V;hile yet
in congress he became a Federalist in principle, though the party was scarcely
formed yet. Under the celebrated Ordinance of I787 he was appointed governor of the Northwestern Territory, which embraced all the country belonging to us then west of the Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio river.  His
prerogatives as governor were very extensive. He was not only the executive
officer of the territory, but the law-giver as well. He appointed judges, and
these in council, with himself, had the power to make laws for the government
of the territory. The government which he thus organized extended over a
territory which now constitutes five of the leading states of the Union, and has
a population of over sixteen millions. The states are: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
M\ichigan and Wisconsin.
Other duties which devolved upon him were to erect counties, appoint
officers, build forts, found towns and establish military roads, etc. In 179I he
went down the Ohio river to Fort Washington, where he organized a county
and named it Hamilton, after Alexander Hamilton, the distinguished leader of
the Federalists, who was St. Clair's life-long personal friend. The new town
around the fort he named Cincinnati, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati,
a new organization among the officers of the Continental army of which St.
Clair himself was a shining light and president of the Pennsylvania division.
Throughout the West he met the old enemy of the white man. They had
been driven west gradually and were now committing many depredations on the
Ohio frontier. General Harmar was sent against them in 1790, but his army
was badly defeated. In 179I General St. Clair was appointed commander-inchief and vested with a military power in his territory which corresponded with
his title. An army of 2,000 regular' soldiers was at his disposal and he tried
to strengthen it by calling out the militia. Visiting Philadelphia, at that time
the capital of the United States, President Washington gave him special caution
about the danger of surprises in Indian warfare. In September the army left
Fort Washington for the Indian country. There were three regiments of regulars in the infantry, two companies of artillery and one of cavalry. Six hundred militia joined them as they marched towards the enemy. They were compelled to cut a road through the wilderness and their progress was necessarily
sloiw. On the Miami river they erected Fort Hamilton, some distance farther
on they erected Fort Washington, and still later came Fort Jefferson, and at
each fort was left a small garrison. Shortly after they left Fort Jefferson, as
they were nearing danger, one. of the militia regiments deserted bodily. Of the
militia, Washington Irving says they were recruited from the worst element
207A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
in Ohio. Enervated by debauchery, idleness, drunkenness, and by every
species of vice, it was impossible, in a short campaign, to fit them  for the
arduous duties of Indian warfare. Even their officers were without discipline
and were not accustomed to being under a commander. Though they were
useless in a campaign, they had threatened the supply train which was following, when they deserted, and St. Clair was compelled to greatly weaken his
forces by sending the First Regiment of Regulars in pursuit of the deserters.
His army then numbered about one thousand four hundred, with less than three
hundred militia. St. Clair knew that this army was not fitted to meet the
Indians, but the matter was urgent, for the Indians, emboldened by Harmar's
defeat, were daily committing depredations on the frontier. He had learned in
the Revolution that a small army, by taking desperate chances, could often
win a brilliant victory. There was, there is no doubt, but that he could have
won, with a reasonable time given to discipline his army, but winter was fast
approaching, supplies were scarce, Indian outrages on the sturdy settlers were
increasing, and there was nothing left for him to do but go against the enemy
at once.
On the night of November 3d, they emcamped on the head waters of the
Wabash. The general, with the engineers, immediately laid out plans for a
proposed "works of defense" which they were to erect the following day, and
there await the arrival of the deserting regiment and the regiment sent in its
pursuit. They were not supposed to be yet in the Indian country. But with
the break of the following day, came the Indian attack. With their us,ual cunning, they fired first on the line of the militia, which at once fell back in confusion on the regulars. They were followed by swarms of Indians, some of
whom passed beyond the first ranks and tomahawked officers and soldiers who
had been carried back to have their wounds dressed. In a short time the entire army was over-run by Indians and completely routed. St. Clair was suf~fering from a fever. Irving says that "The veteran St. Clair, unable to mount
his horse, was borne about on a litter and preserved his coolness in the midst
of the peril and disaster, giving his orders  with judgment and  selfpossession." With him was Colonel Drake, of the Revolution, and the Butlers,
of Pittsburg, all of whom had won honors in the Great war and had seen much
service in the almost constant warfare with the Indians around Pittsburg.
Bayonet charges ordered by the general dispersed the Indians for a brief time,
but they almost instantly swarmed again from the tall grass, and seemingly in
increased numbers. With all came showers of arrows, the wounds of which
were more painful and exasperating than those of bullets. St. Clair's soldiers
were necessarily more or less in line, and this seemed only to aid the Indians
in their peculiar style of warfare. St. Clair did not require a litter to carry him
from place to place except at the beginning of the contest. When the battle
raged and his forces began to wane, the excitement brought back his strength
as though the vigor of his youth had been renewed. Eight balls passed through
his clothes and hat, one of which cut the hair trom the side of his head. Two
208PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
209
horses were killed,under him just as he had been helped to mount them. For
an hour or so, no horse being near, he moved about on foot and surprised all
who saw him by the agility he displayed. When again exhausted, he was
placed upon a pack horse, the only one that could be procured, and though
scarcely able to prick him out of a walk, he rode him till the battle closed. Adjutant General Winthrop Sargent, in a private diary, particularly mentions "St.
Clair's coolness and bravery, though debilitated by illness." After the battle
had lasted about three hours, there was little left for the army to do but retreat, and this was at best but little less than a confusion. Hundreds of soldiers
threw away their arms and' fled towards the fort. Though countless acts of
heroism and daring courage, which have challenged the praise and admiration
of four generations and will live as long as any war stories of our border history, were performed, yet the result was nevertheless most disastrous. There
were five hundred and ninety-three reported killed and two hundred and fourteen wounded.
After the result of the battle became known, a bitter feeling arose throughout the Union against St. Clair. The real situation, had it been known as it is
I1ow, would have thoroughly defended him against blame, but the means of circulating any explanation of the defeat were extremely limited, and most people knew nothing of the battle except the general result and the number of
killed and wounded. At. St. Clair's request, therefore, a congressional committee was appointed to investigate the entire affair and report their findings. They
reported as follows:
"The committee conceive it but justice to the Commander-in-chief to say
that in their opinion the failure of the late expedition can in no respect, be
imputed to his conduct, either at any time before or during the action, but that
as his conduct in all the preparatory arrangements was marked with peculiar
ability and zeal, so his conduct during the action furnishes strong testimonies
of his coolness and integrity."
St. Clair, through Washington, tendered the benefit of his information concerning the enemy to his successor, General Anthony Wayne, whereupon
Washington replied, "Your wishes to afford your successor all the information
of which you are capable, although unnecessary for any personal conviction,
must be regarded as additional evidence of the goodness of your heart and your
attachment to your country." General Wayne succeeded St. Clair in I792 and
after drilling his army for over two years, gave battle in August, I794, and
completely overthrew the Indians.
St. Clair has been more or less censured for not throwing up breast works
on the night of November 3, notwithstanding the greatly fatigued condition
of his army. The critics forget that an enemy confronted him which did not
fight by the rules of civilized warfare. Breastworks such as an army could
construct in a night would have been utterly futile' as a defense against the
savages. It must be remembered that the Indians fought like wild animals
14A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
and that the only defense against them was a stockade or other obstruction
which they could not surmount. Such were the fortifications that St. Clair
built on his march from Cincinnati, but it was impossible to build one in a
night. Bouquet was by far the most successful Indian fighter of his day and
in his greatest contest and victory at Bushy Run, he fought the enemy all
afternoon and until night-fall temporarily ended the battle. He could then
have thrown up breastworks in the night as a protection against the enemy
in the more terrible contest which he knew would follow with the earliest
dawn. Such an idea certainly never entered his mind. Like St. Clair he
knew too well the methods of Indian warfare not to realize that such earthworks, though potent against drilled troops, would have been no protection
whatever against the howling demons around him; indeed both commanders
must have known, that breastworks in either instance would have but aided
the savages by confining the troops to a position that was not, in any way,
inaccessible to them.
No intelligent student of history holds now that St. Clair should have been
expected to hold Ticonderoga against Burgoyne's army, or that his army was
properly equipped and drilled to go against the Indians in I79I.  Both these
disasters were,unfortunate for St. Clair's memory, for even in our highly educated and considerate age there are some who seemingly forget the great
achievements of both his military and civil life, and remember him largely in
connection with his last battle.
St. Clair remained as governor of the Ohio territory until the beginning of
Thomnas Jefferson's administration, in all about fifteen years. He was all this
time a Federalist and had unbounded faith in the centralized power doctrine as
advocated by Alexander Hamilton. The people of Ohio were, moreover,
anxious to form a state, and this could be brought about only through Jefferson's friends, for by that time the anti-Federalists were in power. Jefferson
therefore removed himn in I802, and the same year Ohiol came into the Union.
St. Clair's first home in Western Pennsylvania was in Bedford. After two
years' residence there he became commander of Fort Ligonier in I767. Dur.ing the Revolution his family resided in Pottsgrove, now Pottstown, near Philadelphia. When he returned from Ohio he built Hermitage Furnace near his
residence, a mile north of Ligonier, hoping thereby to recuperate his well-nigh
exha,usted fortune. For a time he manufactured pig iron and castings, the
former for Pittsburg iron masters. He also rebuilt a flouring mill which he
had built on his estate before the Revolution and which he gave to his nieghbors
for their use during the war. But his creditors pressed upon him and in I8o8
he was sold out by the sheriff. The most lamentable feature of his financial emb;arrassment is that his debts were nearly all contracted in the interests of the
state and nation and should have been paid by them and not by St. Clair. During
his last years he presented memorials to the state legislature and to the national
congress, asking, not for charity, but for a simple re-imbursement of the money
he had expended in the public interest. No single statement of these memor2IOPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE2
ials has ever been denied or even questioned. In one of them he explains his
situation by saying that when he entered the Revolution, he could not leave his
young wife, born and bred in the best society in Boston, alone with her children
cn the unprotected frontier, So he was compelled to sell real estate in Western
Pennsylvania at a great sacrifice, so tt sacrifice, so that he might purchase a house in Pottsgrove for his family to reside in while he was in the army. This tract of land,
he says he sold for 2,000 pounds in deferred payments, but the purchaser paid him
in depreciated Continental currency, so that out of the purchase money he received only one hundred pounds. On selling his Pottsgrove house he lost the
one-half by the bankruptcy of the purchaser. He says further, that beginning
in I774, he supplied nearly all thle forts and block houses in Westmoreland
county with arms and means of defense at his own expense. In a memorial to
congress he says that in the darkest days of the Revolution, when Washington's
soldiers were daily deserting him, and the army rapidly melting away because
they had not been paid, Washington himself applied to St. Clair to save the
Pennsylvania Line, the best organization in the entire army. St. Clair says that
he accordingly advanced the money for recr,uiting and for bounty and put forth
such other influence that, with the aid of Colonel William Butler, the Line was
saved. The indebtedness which directly caused the sale of his real estate was
contracted for the government while he was governior of the Ohio territory.
When the army for the campaign of I791 was collected it was found that the
money appropriated by congress was not sufficient to equip it. St. Clair gave
his bond for the amount necessary to move the army. All successive efforts to
secure an appropriation covering this amount were fruitless. The bond was
given on the express promise of the secretary of the treasury that it would be repaid. It probably would have been had Hamilton remained in office, but the
new party waS adverse to making good the amounts expended by the Federalists. There was hope, however, while Hamilton lived, for he better than any
other, knew of the justice of the claim. St. Clair, with no desire whatever to contest the validity of the bond, came into the Westmoreland courts and confessed
a judgment against his real estate for the face of the bond with interest, in
August, I803. The face of the bond was $7,042. Payments had been made on
it, so that at the time of the sale in I8o8 it amounted to! $I0,632.I7. The sales
took place in I808-09-Io, when the Embargo had driven all the money out of the
country, and all his property, though valued at $50,0ooo0, was sold and did not
bring more than the amount of the debt, interest and costs. The residence and
the furnace were sold for $4,ooo, though the fiurnace and mill alone had been
rented by him for $3,000 per year. The first sale took place, as the Westmoreland dockets show, in June, I808, and the last tract was sold on October I5,
I8Io. His creditors did not stop with the sale of his real estate, but sold also
his personal property, all of it save a few articles which he selected as exempt
from sale. Among the articles was one bed and bedding, a few books from his
English library, and among them  was his favorite, Horace, whose classic
2 I I.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
beauty of verse he had long admired, and a bust of John Paul Jones, King of the
Seas, presented to him and sent by Jones himself from Paris.
The assembly of Pennsylvania pensioned him, and in I817, a year before
his death, increased it to fifty dollars per month.  Congress, the same year,
being urged by Henry Clay and others, granted him sixty dollars per month and
dated it back a year. This was attached by his creditors before it left the
treasury, for there was then no law to prevent it, and St. Clair never received
one cent of it.
Soon after the sale of his property in Ligonier he was turned out of house
and home. His son Daniel owned a tract of land on the Chestnut Ridge, on the
Old State Road, about six miles west of Ligonier, and to this the brave old general and his family removed. Broken with the storms of more than three score
years and ten, saddened by the memories of the past, and denied by ingratitude
that which was justly due him from the state and nation, he quietly awaited the
last roll call. To secure bread for his family he entertained travelers, though
his house was only a four-roomed log cabin. To a truly altruistic man like General St. Clair, who had really given of his abundance with a profligate hand to
the weak and destitute, his poverty was a bright and shining crown of glory
which now adds only to his greatness. St. Clair at no time in the army appeared so well as when, under adverse circumstances, he tried to save an army
or prevent its destruction. So it may have been that in the poverty of his declining years, his true greatness asserted itself and shone forth all the more
brilliantly. He readily forgot that the nation had taken the best years of his
life and much of his property, and that now in penury, another generation refused to recompense him. The last pen picture of him we have describes him in
the log cabin, as he appeared but three years before his death. It was written
by Elisha Whittlesey, who was over sixteen years in congress from the Giddings
Garfield district in Ohio and afterwards an auditor of the United States treasury, so that by a life of association with distinguished men, he could recognize
true greatness when in its presence. His letter is as follows:
In I815, three persons and myself performed a journey from
Ohio  to  Connecticut on  horseback  in  the  month  of  May.  Having understood that General St. Clair kept a small tavern on the
ridge  east of Greensburg, I proposed  that we  stop  at his  house
and spend the night. He had no grain for our horses, and, after spending an hour with him in the most agreeable and interesting conversation, respecting his early knowledge of the Northwestern Territory, we took our leave
of him with deep regret. I never was in the presence of a man that caused me
to feel the same degree of veneration and esteem. He wore a citizen's dress of
black of the Revolution; his hair was clubbed and powdered. When we entered he arose with dignity and received us most courteously. His dwelling
was a common double log house of the western country, that a neighborhood
would roll up in an afternoon. Chestnut Ridge was bleak and barren. There
lived the friend and confidant of Washington, the ex-governor of the fairest portion of creation. It was in the neighborhood if not in view, of a large estate at
2I2PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
Ligonier that he owned at the commencement of the Revolution, and which, as
I have at times understood, was sacrified to promote the success of the Revolution. Poverty did not cause him to lose self-respect, and were he now living,
his personal appearance would commend universal admiration.
Some patriotic women of New York, hearing of his needs in his old age,
sent him a present of four hundred dollars. In reply he wrote them as follows,
though we quote only the first part of the letter: "To soothe affliction is certainly the happy privilege and is the appropriate privilege of the fair sex. And
although I feel all I can feel for the relief brought to myself, their attention to
my daughters touches me most. Had I not met with distress I should not, perhaps, have known their worth. Though all their prospects in life, and they were
once very flattering, have been blasted, not a sigh, not a murmur, has been allowed to escape them in my presence, and all their plans have been directed to
rendering my reverses less affecting to me; and yet I can truly testify that it is
entirely on their account that my situation ever gave me a moment's pain."
St. Clair did not seek pity nor charity. On one occasion he and Findley,
who was then in congress, were talking, perhaps concerning measures for St.
Clair's reimbursement. Findley was then a man of power and wealth, while
St. Clair was almost in penury. Findley with perhaps the kindliest feelings,
said: "General, I pity your case and heartily sympathize with you." Whereupon the old warrior, though bowed with the weight of many years, proudly
drew himself up and with flashing eyes said, "I am sorry, sir, but I cannot appreciate your sympathy." At another time, toasted at a militia muster by a
thoughtless admirer as "the brave b.ut unfortunate St. Clair," he drew his
sword in an instant and demanded that the offender, retract his words. He
would not be complimented and commiserated in a single breath; his achievements in the service of England and America, in war and in peace, were deserving of all glory without a compromising word of pity or regret.
The residence sold from him was one and a half miles north of Ligonier.
It is all gone now, save one room, torn down perhaps by the ruthless hand of an
ignorant iconoclast who neither knew nor cared for its tender memories. The
room preserved is the parlor, and its quaintly devised woodwork, the mantlepiece and wainscoating doubtless saved it from  destruction. It is now in
possession of Mr. H. S. Denny, who appreciates and preserves it because of its
historic associations. Vying in stately simplicity of design and in rich interior
with the woodwork of our best homes in modern times, it bids fair to bear down
to coming generations one of the few splendid specimens of Colonial architecture
in Western Pennsylvania. The old house on the Ridge, where he spent the last
years of his life, has long since disappeared.
On August 30, I8I8, while driving down the Ridge, he likely sustained a
paralytic stroke, since for some reason he fell from his wagon and lay unconscious by the road side. He was soon found and taken to his log cabin, where
he died the day following, without regaining consciousness. The citizens of
Greensburg, on learning of his death, called a public meeting at the court house,
2131 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
where appropriate resolutions were adopted and a committee appointed to wait
on the family and ask that the Greensburg cemetery, since called St. Clair cemetery, be selected as his final resting place. With this request the family conplied. Here then, on the bleak and lonely mountain side, in an humble log cabin
of pioneer days, lived and died the friend and companion of Washington,
Greene, Steuben, LaFayette, Hamilton, Franklin, Wayne, Sullivan and Sichuyler, and in no small degree did he share their glory. When the Revolution
closed he was one of the leading men of the new nation, whether considered as
a gentleman, a soldier, a scholar or a statesman. Phoebe Bayard, his wife, survived him but nineteen days and' was then buried by his side. She was a true
matron of the Revolution. Though brought up in the best circles of Boston, she
willingly accepted her hard life on the rude frontier, and bore its privations and
sufferings with great fortitude and without complaint. Both she and her illustrious husband contributed greatly to. the welfare and prosperity of Western
Pennsylvania in its pioneer days, but practically nothing has been done for them
in return. Their heroic privations, self-sacrifices and deeds of noble daring
should be written on the scroll of the nation's history as a perpetual incentive to
coming generations to preserve the rich heritage of freedom made possible by
such illustrious examples of true nobility.
In 1832, an humble monument was erected over his grave by the Masonic
fraternity, and its mute inscription speaks eloquently and truthfully of the
neglect of the people of Western Pennsylvania. "The earthly remains of MIajor-General Arthur St. Clair are deposited beneath this hunlble monument,
which is erected to supply the place of a nobler one due from his country."
214CHAPTER XIV.
Tories-Early Forts and Block Houses.
It is well for the reader to remember that the Indians were not the only
enemies the Pittsburg and other western Pennsylvania people had to contend
against. They were harrassed on all sides it is true, first by the French and
Indians; later by Dunmore and Connolly outlaws, and still later by an alliance
between the English soldiers during the Revolution and the Indians who opposed them in every possible way. This may have been considered legitimate
warfare on the theory that anything which would weaken and sap the strength
from the enemy was allowable on the part of those carrying on the war. It is
probable also that the English government at home never knew of the inhuman
results of their alliance with the Indians. The idea that the crown of England
authorized an alliance which they knew would result in the butchery of innocent
men, women and children in that age of the world is abhorrent to human reason
and indeed is at war with the well established reputation of the English people.
In addition to these sources of annoyance there were a few disreputable white
men who allied themselves with the Indians and became leaders more brutal than
the most savage Indian warriors. These men left civilization, and joining the
various Indian tribes, adopted the mode of life and warfare of their new associates. What induced them to do this can never be definitely known. In some
cases it is known that they were deserters from the American army who were
afraid to return, and being likewise outcasts from their own communities, went
over to the enemy, but oftener to the Indians. Most generally it is believed
their actions were due largely to the rewards offered on the part of the French
and later of the English,government for scalps. At all events they were more
dangerous to and more feared by the white settlers than the Indians were, because they knew their weak points, knew the territory and knew more about the
individual bravery or weakness of the people than the Indians did. When,
therefore, a band of Indians under tlhe leadership of one of those depraved
wretches, actuated by a hatred for the law-abiding members of their race, came
down upon a settlement it was indeed a most formidable and blood-thirsty onslaught. These white leaders, moreover, had great power over the Indians,
more indeed than the Indian chiefs had themselves. They could at a word rePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
I3
fort but one day. They are so vain of their success at the Meadows, it is worse
than death to hear them. Hasten to strike." Unfortunately this first English letter
written from and describing Fort Duquesne was delivered by Governor Dinwiddie to General Braddock at Cumberland when on his way to the French
stronghold. The letter was with his baggage, which was taken at the battle
on the Monongahela, and so found its way back to the fort and was read by the
French officers. Stobo was at once sent to close confinement at Quebec, and
his letter was sent to France. The decree was that he should be tried for his,
life, the charge being for "violating the known laws of nations, for breach of
faith and treasonable practices against the government that sheltered him."
This trial took place in Quebec in November, I756, and the gallant captain was
found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Before his trial he broke jail but a
reward of six thousand livres was offered for his arrest and he was soon recaptured. In April following he again broke jail, and concealed himself in a
barn near by, subsisting on eggs. When he supposed the furor and anxiety
for his capture had passed, he ventured out, but was captured below the falls of
Montmorenci. Yet on April 30, I758, he broke jail a third time, and in a
large canoe with other prisoners paddled rapidly down the St. Lawrence. For
ten nights they continued their course, but in daytime carried their canoe into
the woods and quietly secreted themselves. When they reached the Gulf of St.
Lawrence they became bold, and captured a French shallop, with five men;
later they captured a sloop, and then a schooner and in thirty-eight days from
Quebec reached Louisburg with considerable booty. He is the hero in the
Seats of the Mighty, by Gilbert Parker; and in the first editions brought out
in England the name Stobo was used, but this has been changed in all later
editions.
Stobo afterwards fought with General James Wolfe at Quebec, and with
General Jeffrey Amherst on Lake Champlain. In I759 he returned to Virginia,
where in his absence he had been made a major, and where he received the thanks
of the House of Burgesses, a present of a thousand pounds, and a leave of absence for twelve months. In I76o he went to England, and returned with a
letter to General Amherst from William Pitt, expressing the approval of King
George of the major's conduct. Little else is known of him.
Among the prisoners taken at the battle when Jumonville was killed, were
La Force and Drouillion. Both were prominent in the French army, and La
Force retarded Washington's progress at Fort Le Boeuf, though in justice to
him it should be said that he acted only on the orders of his superior officers.
But Governor Dinwiddie now refused to surrender the prisoners, for whose safe
return the hostages Van Braam and Stobo were given, giving as a reason that
since the capitulations the French had captured some British prisoners, and had
sent them to Canadian prisons. In this he acted in bad faith, but was
pertinacious in the stand taken. That his action might have a show of right he
offered to return Drouillion and two cadets in return for the hostages Van
Braam and Stobo, but his offer was rightfully treated with contempt by theA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
lease a prisoner at the stake around whose naked limbs flames were slowly creeping, or could have him stripped, tied to a tree and slowly tortured to death, as
they wished or ordered. The Indians cared little for the gold of the French or
the English, but were willing to commit any outrage for bright beads, blankets
and rum, w'hile the renegade whites cared but little for these articles but took
the gold of their allies as their share of the booty. A great deal of the early
trouble in and about Pittsburg was traceable to these outlaws, for here the more
prominent had lived in former years and regarded this as their headquarters.
Their names for generations have been held in abhorrence by the pioneers and
their descendants. There were three conspicuous men among them who surpassed all others. They were Simon Girty, Alexander McKee and Matthew
Elliott, and by far the boldest and most inhuman was the former. More than
I25 years have passed away since his evil deeds were perpetrated on our people,
yet his name is still a name of infamy. He had adopted the life of the Mingo Indians, with whom he generally associated, though he went on raids with other
tribes, but always as a leader. He knew Pittsburg and all of the western country, knowing the people, the houses, their strength and their places of refuge as
well as any man in the country. He was therefore not likely to lead the Indian
invaders into a stronghold where they might be captured and this important
feature of his leadership was well known to them. He had been a trapper in
early life and later a trader among the Indians, of the Ohio valley. Mention is
made of him in some of the early writings in this capacity even as early as I749.
He was frequently with Connolly's band of marauders who terrorized Pittsburg
and the surrounding community. He often led smaller parties in the absence of
Connolly and it is supposed that he led one of the parties which broke open the
jail at Hannastown to release his allies who were incarcerated. He worked
all over western Pennsylvania and Ohio and committed more depredations here
in southwestern Pennsylvania than any other. He was utterly without pity in
his make-up. Alexander McKee operated here less than Girty and Matthew
Elliott less than either of them, but neither of them was as brutal and inhuman
as Girty. McKee had formerly acquired land in the region of Pittsburg and
was then a man of good standing. He had been a justice of peace appointed
among those first in commission in Westmoreland county and hence frequently
sat on the bench in the early courts at Hannastown. For some years he was a
respected member of the court and the community. He forsook the white race
and, like Girty, committed acts of brutality against the people which have forever consigned his name to infamy.
These briefly referred to border troubles made it necessary for our western
people to protect themselves by garrisons and militia companies and often to
call for assistance from the Colonial Arnly. This explains why it was necessary
to build, repair and keep up old forts during and even after the Revolutionary
War, and long after Connolly's Army had been disbanded, though the actual
field of operation of the Revolutionary struggle was several hundred miles to
the east of us. Forts and armed soldiers thus were indispensable. When a
2i6PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE.
foray was made by the Indians into any town or settlement, the people ran for
their lives to the nearest block-house. Though they were able when within the
block-house to defend themselves, starvation would soon compel them to surrender, but a swift riding messenger could soon communicate with the nearest
garrison, whose soldiers were at all times ready to hasten to their relief. The
Indians knew this and did not dare to tarry long in one community. This was
done time without number and the relief came largely from Pittsburg for the
western section of the state, as the reader will see later on. Without these
garrisoned forts to draw on, the early settlements around Pittsburg would have
been literally devastated and the people either murdered or driven east of the
Allegheny mountains, or perhaps taken captives to the North, where many of the
Indians during the Revolution hailed from. And it must be remembered.that
the garrisons then were weak and at best but poorly equipped, although they
were as strong as the new government, struggling for its first foothold, could
afford.
There were four structures built by the pioneers for defense against the Indians or against any other attacking party. They were called forts, blockhouses, block-house cabins and stockades. When either of the first two had a
stockade in addition, it was properly called a stockade fort or stockade blockhouse. Block-houses were often called forts, and perhaps the general resemblance to them and the method of construction warranted this somewhat extravagant designation. A first-class fort was usually surrounded by a stockade.
A block-house was not very securely guarded and was invariably made of heavy
logs and in construction differed but little from the log houses of last century
which all have seen but which are rapidly passing away. The heavy logs were
used to give strength to the building and were generally unhewn. A blockhouse was often large enough to accommodate many families in times of distress. The first story was built from nine to eleven feet high, then another story
was begun on the top of the first, but the logs of the second story projected generally from two to three feet beyond the lower story. By this second story projecting, if the Indians were to attack the house below, they could be readily shot
by the inmates of the upper story firing down on them. The upper story was made
six or seven feet high and had port holes in its walls through which to fire at the
assailants. The block-house was only a place of refuge in times of Indian incursions and was not designed as a dwelling house or permanent place of abode.
Block-houses were almost universally constructed by the neighbors in a community who united to cut the timber and erect them as places of public safety.
They were not strong enough to resist an attack made by an enemy with heavy
guns. They were a splendid barrier against the Indians, whose implements of
warfare were almost exclusively confined to muskets or rifles, bows and arrows,
t6mahawks and scalping knives.
The English government while they were in possession of the country generally built forts. They were more substantially built than the block-houses
and were made strong enough to resist an attack of heavy guns as heavy guns
2I7A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
were then. The best of them, we need scarcely add, would be mere kindling
wood against the heavy guns of today. All forts, block-houses or stockade forts
built by the English army were constructed under the supervision of their best
engineers and according to the methods laid down by the authorities on military
tactics, and were built in the best manner then practicable in the new country.
Accurate drawings and pictures of these structures were made by the engineers
and sent to the war department of England, where they were carefully filed
away. The same method to some extent was afterward pursued by the Colonial
army, so that we have in the English and American Archives accurate drawings
of many of these structures. The stockades of the forts or block-houses in this
section were all made of logs. Fort Lig,onier, as the reader will remember, was
the first fort built by the English west of the Allegheny mountains, being built
by Forbes' army in I758. Its construction was determined by Colonel Henry
Bouquet and superintended by Colonel James Burd, and was built by the army
dn its way to capture Fort Duquesne. It was not completed by the English at
that time but was subsequently finished after the manner designed by them and
was kept up as a fort for many years. The place of its location was on a high
bluff, with almost a perpendicular wall of projecting rocks between the fort and
the Loyalhanna creek. This afforded a natural barrier against the approach of
an enemy from the South, the fort at its highest point being about ninety-four
feet above the water of the Loyalhanna. It had also a natural fortification, to a
great extent on the north side, for there lay a deep ravine which came from a
spring toward the East. These natural fortifications are yet visible but all else
concerning the fort has long since been obliterated. The stockade was about
Ioo00 feet square, with large diamond-shaped bastions or extensions at the corners
so that all of its walls were capable of protection from within these bastions.
The stockade was made of logs from ten to twelve feet long and set firmly in
the ground. These logs were mostly split and the flat surface tiurned outward.
They were called palisades and were set so closely that they touched each other.
They were reinforced with others behind them which were so arranged to to
close up the spaces that might be made by the palisades not fitting close together and they added strength to the structure. A strong piece of timber
called a ribbon was thoroughly fastened to the palisades at the top to brace the
whole structure and give it a more equal power of resistance at every point and
to keep the palisades from sagging. In that part of the fort which was most
likely to be attacked this horizontal ribbon was reinforced by others, and all
were thoroughly braced and held in place by strong timbers which slantingly
reached the ground. On the outside of the palisades the earth was thrown up
against them and this made a ditch which practically gave an additional height
to the stockade. The enclosure thus made was a space over Ioo feet square,
while the circumference marked by the palisades was over 600 feet long, this
being due to the projecting bastions. Within the enclosure were the officers'
quarters, store rooms, powder magazine, etc., while outside were the soldiers'
cabins. In times of siege, which frequently happened at Fort Ligonier, the
2I8FORT LIGONIER-THE FIRST ENGLISH FORT BUILT IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIAA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
soldiers, settlers and officers were all within the stockade. During a siege domestic animals were taken within the stockade and those that were left without
were destroyed by the enemy. On each bastion of the stockade was mounted one
or more small cannons. A covered way led from the east side of Fort'Ligonier to
the spring and the ravine was crossed by a foot-log. The covering was made of
shorter logs and was necessary and perhaps only used in times of siege. The
covered way gave rise to the popular belief that there was a tunnel extending
down to the Loyalhanna. There has never been any evidence of a tunnel discovered, save a few natural cavities in the rocks overhanging the creek, and
these were but shallow. It is not supposed that an underground tunnel would
be made and not reported or marked on the plan sent to the British war office,
for the English did not generally report less than they builded. There was also
a gate on the east side of the palisades made of strong timber like the palisades,
firmly bound and hung on iron hinges. During a siege this gate was closed and
barred. The fort was kept up for many years after its completion, being garrisoned by the English, and evei after independence was declared, it was occupied by the Colonial army and was yet a place of safety for all the surrounding settlements. It has been described, not that it necessarily belongs
strictly to the history of Pittsburg, but because it was the first fort built by the
English in western Pennsylvania when on their way to expel the French from
the Ohio valley, and because it is fairly representative of the early forts of our
day which anitedly played such an important part in the founding of the English civilization at and near the Fork of the Ohio.
A still more common method of defense was by what was called blockhouse cabins. Sometimes they were called stations or forts or block-houses, but
they were properly neither. They were strongly built log-houses with heavy
doors and heavy coverings for the small windows which could be put up and
barred from the inside. In the gables were cracks which admitted light and
air. When built after the fashion of the pioneer they could withstand a long
siege form the Indians on the outside. There were small port holes at every
side, and the Indian who attempted to approach them when the inmate was on
his guard did not generally do much damage after that. Two or three dozens
of settlers could be reasonably secure in one of these cabins, and, armed with
flint-lock guns, were easily able to cope with twice their number of savages outside. The fort at Hannastown was a stockade fort and was built at a spring on
the north side of the Forbes road. It was, as we have seen, built largely as a
protection against Connolly's army and the Indians and was put up at the suggestion of St. Clair by Robert Itanna and his neighbors in I774. It was a large,
two-roomed loig structure with only one door below and no window whatever in
the upper story. The only light came from small port holes, through which the
barrel of a musket could be aimed at an Indian. It had a very nearly flat roof to
prevent the Indians from setting it on fire from the outside. This house was additionally strengthened by being surrounded with palisades arranged after the
manner of those around the fort at Ligonier. The upper story was higher than
220PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
the palisades, so that they could be defended from the inner fort. The structure
was not completed. in I774, but in I776 it was greatly strengthened and did
good service. Its construction was superintended by David Semple, and for this
service the minutes of the supreme executive council show that he was paid
twenty pounds. The palisades surrounded a storehouse where the settlers could
make secure their private property. In transporting provisions from the East to
Fort Pitt it became a very important stopping place. From the time it was built it'
was frequently filled with families of the neighborhood who were forced there to
take refuge from the Indians. There were soldiers of the Continental army
stationed there during all the years of the Revolution, though because of its
well-known strength and of its garrison it was not subject to many severe attacks. The force within was not strong enough, however, to preserve peace on
the settlement, as may be seen from a letter from Colonel Archibald Lochry to
President Reed of the council, which says: "The savages are continually making
depredations among us; not less than 40 people have been killed, wounded and
captivated this spring and the enemy have killed our creatures within 30 yards
of this town." This is dated at Hannastown, more than six years after it became a seat of justice. On January I, I78o, Lochry wrote again to President
Reed, saying: "I have been under the necessity of removing the public records
from Hannastown to my own plantation, not without the consent of the Court."
Often when the Indians had been seen lurking in the community or perhaps
when a false alarm had been spread through the country, the inhabitants would
gather in Fort Pitt or at Hannastown or at other strongholds and spend the
night, resuming their work the following day -in the fields. Their protection
depended more on their united strength than on the strength of the fort or
block-houses in which they were gathered. Men, women and children were
from time to time housed in these places of refuge. The women of that day
were innured to the hardships of frontier life and iA times of danger readily
performed important services. They could, through much practice, dress the
wounds of those who were inj!ured and knew well the herbs of the field which,
when properly brewed, would cure or allay the sufferings of the wounded settlers. They could stand guard at night and give the alarm if the stealthy foe
approached. They could make bullets, cut patches of cloth, then used in loading
guns, and they could load them for the men who did the shooting. As the
reader has seen, the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment was raised in the wegtern
part of Westmoreland exclusively for border defense in and around Pittsburg
and that in an emergency it was ordered to New Jersey. After its removal
from this section in January, I777, the whole western frontier was laid open to
the most violent- Indian depredations. The militia was called out and they were
poorly equipped, and if paid at all it was in depreciated Continental currency. In
I777-78, therefore, there were numerous depredations all along the border. The
Indians, under the leadership of Simon Girty, or others of like character, seemed
lurking in every place of concealment. The dangers of this community from
ambuscading red men are illustrated in Captain James Smith's narrative, which
22I2A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
has been previously referred to. About this time he marched a regiment up
the Allegheny river region to chastise the Indians for their depredations. In
his notes he says they marched in four columns, each about forty rods apart,
with scouts posted on the flanks of each column. The men of each column
marched one rod apart. In case of an attack each man was to face out and
make for the nearest tree. This was to keep the Indians from surrounding
-them and to prevent them from shooting more than once without exposing
themselves. Before night they encamped in a hollow square, each line being
about a quarter of a mile long. Guards were placed outside to watch for
the approach of an enemy and to guard the cattle which were talken along as
meat for the army.
These were dark day-s indeed. The Continental Congress had no power to
raise money sufficient to carry on the war except by promises to pay in the
future. These promises were based on the credit of the country and depended
entirely on the success of the struggling Continental army. People knew that
if the cause of the colonies failed, their promises to pay would be worth nothing. No man who entered the service after I778 expected to be paid in continental money, for it had then been depreciated until it was almost worthless.
For the expenses of the army which must be paid congress depended almost
entirely on private subscriptions. Soon the depreciation was so great that they
ceased sending it out as soldiers' pay. Under these difficulties Colonel Brodhead marched out with the English Regiment in the summer of 1778 and did
great service against the Indians of the Allegheny valley. His regiment cut
off a party of about forty savages on their way to raid Fort Pitt and the, surrounding community. Both Colonels Smith and Lochry accompanied the expedition. It had a sal.utary effect upon the peace and good order of our western community, but the army returned exhausted, for serving without pay and
clothing themselves, they had nothing wherewith to recuperate unless their
work at home went on while they were gone. These were the difficulties without limit heaped on the pioneers of this section and they were all thoroughly
un(lerstood by the enemy.  Finally the supreme executive council issued a
proclamation encouraging young men to turn out to fight the Indians in small
parties and in a'manner somewhat after the Indian style. This proclamation
had a good effect. There was an adventure in it which was very attractive to
small parties of energetic young men. They were called "Rangers."  Prominent among them was David Shaw and his brother, the Brownlees, Colonel Wilson, the Barrs, the Wallaces, Captain Brady, Captain Van Swearingen, Samuel
Shannon, William Cooper, Joseph Erwin, Michael Huffnagle, James Guthrie,
Matthew Jack, James.Smith, Thomas Stokely and others. These were all bold
young rangers, any one of whom might have figured as a character in the inspiring novels of Sir Walter Scott; might have taken the place of Bois Gilbert,
or Ivanhoe, or of the bold MIacGregor with his foot,upon the heather of his native land and his eye on the peak of the much loved Ben Lomond. They went
forth dressed in homespun garments, each armed at his own expense, and they
222PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
223
were comparatively well armed for that day, for each carried a rifle or musket, a
knife and a hatchet. They acted together or each separately, as the occasion demanded. They stood together for protection and they were frequently well acquainted neighbors and friends who would not stop at any danger to rescue a
pioneer or a companion from difficulty. These rangers patrolled the country
from the junction of the three rivers to Fort Ligonier. They had officers whom
they obeyed whether they were in small parties or engaged in a general turnout
for public defense. More than all this, they were at home in the woods and
upon any sign or news of distress they knew how to travel by the shortest
route to the place of need. They could soon spread the news of the presence of
the Indians over an entire community, and they very rapidly gathered the
women and children to the nearest block-house or place of safety. From long
experience in the woods they could travel the most trackless forest on dark
nights with unerring steps. Their faculties or hearing and sight were sharpened to such acuteness, by constant use, that the slightest movement of an Indian in the bushes was noticed by them, and sounds )vhich fell on deafened
ears of the unskilled, were distinctly heard and understood by them. They
could endure long tramps through the woods and over mountains. They were
rapid runners and were experts in the use of the rifle, so that they rarely ever
failed to hit the mark. From places and difficulties in which capture seemed
almost inevitable, members of their association several times freed themselves
by a display of agility and strenigth which made even the hardened Indian
marvel and fall back. All these qualities were bred and born in them from
their youth, and were, in hundreds of instances, necessary for their preservation.
Quick perception, unerring judgment and boldness of execution scores of
times saved their lives. For years they were the salvation of our pioneer homes
and to them we owe every possible meed of praise.CHAPTER XV.
Permanent Location of County Seat-Attempts to Form a New County with Pittsburg
As Its Seat of Justice.
The reader will recall that the law which provided for the formation of
Westmoreland county specified also that the courts should be held at the house
of Robert Hanna until a court house should be built, and that the same Act
authorized Robert Hanna, George Wilson, Samuel Sloan, Joseph Erwin and
John Cavett or any three of them, to select a county seat, purchase lands and
erect a court house. A letter has' already been quoted in which Arthur St.
Clair lamented that the law had been so worded that the commissioners by failing to build a court ho,use could indefinitely continue the courts at Hanna's, and
that was exactly what happened. Hanna was undoubtedly a strong-minded
man of great shrewdness. Against the will of the people and against the power
of St. Clair, who had more than any other secured the erection of the new
county, and against the violent opposition of the people of Pittsburg, he was
able to force the committee to retain the county seat at his own place for thirteen years. Indeed it is doubtful whether it would then have been removed had
not other matters over which Hanna had no control intervened and had not
Hannastown been destroyed by the Indians. Another misfortune for Hannastown was the proposed location of the state road which passed about three miles
south of it. The road so projected was to be a better and more direct route between the East and West then the Forbes'road, on which Hannastown was
built. On the new road sprung up a village called Newtown, about three miles
southwest of Hannastown. This town, afterwards called Greensburg, as well
as Pittsburg became rival aspirants for the location of the county seat. The
courts were regularly held at Hannastown after its destruction and it certainly
must have been an inconvenient place, for but few houses were rebuilt and the
town was practically without accommodations. Notwithstanding this, Hanna
was strong enough to prevent the commission from taking action and the intent
of the erecting act was defeated. In I784 the question of a county seat was
carried to the legislature by an indignant people and on November 22 an act
was passed which set forth that, "W~hereas, the trustees appointed by the lawPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
erecting the county had not complied with the powers given them to erect
county buildings, they were dismissed and a flew commission was named."
These new commissioners were John Irwin, Benjamin Davis, Charles Campbell, James Pollock and Joseph Wilkins. They'or any three of them were
authorized and enpowered to perform the duties required of the commissioners
in the old act of February 26, I773, relative to county buildings. The second
board of commissioners could not agree on the location, however, though they
met and deliberated over the matter with the various claimants. They were
confronted with representatives from three places, all demanding the county
seat. First were Hanna and his friends, who wanted it to remain at Hannastown. Second, there were those who were trying to have it located in Pittsburig, which was then by far the most important and growing town in Westmoreland county, and was rapidly increasing in population and standing.
Third, there was the village of Newtown, well located, full of promise and its
friends were urging it with all their power. Upon the refusal or inability of
the second board of commissioners to decide between these three aspiring towns,
the legislature on September I3, I785, removed them and appointed a third
board. As this Act was the one by which the county seat was actually changed
and which brought forth the question of the formation of Allegheny county,
with Pittsburg as a county seat, we give that part of it in full.
"Whereas, the Seat of Justice of Westmoreland hath not heretofore been
established by law, for want of which the inhabitants labor under great inconvenience, it shall and may be lawful for Benjamin Davis, Michael Rugh, John
Shields, John Pomeroy and Hugh Martin of the County of Westmoreland, or
any three of them to purchase and take assurances in the name of the Commonwealth of a piece of land in trust for the use of the people of Westmoreland
County; provided such piece of land be not situated further east than the Nine
Mile Run nor further.West than Bushy Run, nor further North than the Loyalhanna, nor further South than five miles South of the old Pennsylvania
Road leading to Pittsburg;, on which piece of ground said Commissioners shall
erect a court house and a prison sufficient to accommodate the public services of
said county."
In more modern geographical terms this law forbade the location of a
county seat further west than Penn, further east than Lathrobe, further north
than seven or eight miles north of Greensburg and further south than two miles
south of Greensburg. By these terms Pittsburg had lost all power in the
legislature and nearly all hope for the county seat. The act further provi(led
that the money expended in purchasing land and erecting a court house and
jail should not exceed Ioo pounds. The contest now lay between Hannastown
on the old and somewhat abandoned Forbes road and Newtown, at that time beginning to be called Greensburg on the proposed new state road, which was
then only partly in use. Of the new commissioners named in the above Act,
Benjamin Davis lived in Rostraver township, Michael Rugh in Hempfield
township, Hugh Martin in Mt. Pleasant township, John Shields in Salem township, and John Pomeroy in Donegal township. Three of them lived south of
15
22 "A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
French. La Force was confined in prison for two years, when he broke jail,
and for some time wandered around the country, ignorant of its roads, and
afraid to make inquiries lest his French tongue should betray him. At length
he was.captured by an over zealous Virginian and was sent again to prison at
Williamsburg, where he was bound with irons and chained to the floor of a
dungeon. All of this was perhaps magnified when it reached the French, who
sought to retaliate by the rigorous treatment meted out to Stobo and Van
Braam.
These three military episodes, namely, the forced surrender at the Fork of
the Ohio, the battle in which Jumonville was killed, and the battle at Fort Necessity, coming so closely together may be called the first steps, the beginning of
the French and Indian war, which for nine years desolated our western border,
and which in the end resulted so favorably to the English; this war which was
to shape the destinies of our struggling American colonies so that in a few years
they surpassed in dominion and power the empire of Louis, and compelled the
representative of George III to surrender his sword to Washington at Yorktown.
Fort Duquesne was not even for its day a strong fortification, and we
doubt whether it could have long withstood an attack of the army of Virginia.
But the French very greatly added to its early strength by forming an alliance
with the Indians. This they accomplished in part by giving them presents.
Bright colored blankets and beads so common in France were quite potent with
the Indians, much niore so than the plainer objects of greater-utility with which
the English were supplied. While it is true that both the English and French
tried to appease the wrath of the red man, yet the latter affiliated much more
readily with the French that with the English. The chief reason for this was
that the English were largely farmers, who, of necessity cut away the fdrests and
ruined the hunting grounds of the Indians, while the French in America dealt
largely in furs, paying much less attention to house building and agriculture
than the English. A French and Indian alliance was, therefore, most suitable to
both races, while an alliance between the English and the Indians would have'
been extremely detrimental to the nomadic habits of the latter. Parkman observes that "Spanish civilization crushed the Indian; English civilization scorned
and neglected him; French civilization embraced and cherished hinh."
All these difficulties on the frontier served to make a more bitter enmity
than ever between the English and French, and as the reports of them reached
Great Britain, the English people and ministry both became greatly aroused.
In I754 three expeditions were fitted out by the English for service in the
colonies. One was under General Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, and its
aim was against Fort Niagara and Fort Frontenac. Another was commanded
by General, (afterwards Sir William) Johnston and sailed against Crown
Point. The third, which more deeply concerns our story, was under the command of Gefieral Edward Braddock, and the objective point was the reduction
of Fort Duquesne.
I4A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the Forbes road and two north of it, while Pittsburg had no representative on
the commission at all even if the Act itself had not proscribed it as a county
seat. Shortly after their appointment the commission met at Hannastown.
On November Ist and 2nd they deliberated but came to no agreement, and in
December met again at Greensburg, and the three of them living south of the
Forbes road decided in favor of Greensburg as a county seat, They were
Benjamin Davis, Michael Rugh and Hugh Martin, while John Shields and
John Pomeroy, who lived north of the road, favored Hannastown, and these
two dissenting from the decision, refused to act further with the trustees or
commissioners. Thus it will be seen that all of the commissioners voted in
favor of drawing the county seat toward their own homes. But by the terms
of the Act three of them had the necessary power to make the location, and on
December Io, I785, they entered into an agreement with Christopher Truby and
William Jack, to which Ludwick Otterman afterwards subscribed, to sell them
in trust for a county seat, two acres of land on which to erect public buildings.
This day, December Io, I785, is the day upon which the second place in which
Pittsburgers were interested was selected as the place of holding the Westmoreland courts.
The three trustees immediately proceeded to erect public buildings. Anthony Altman was employed to erect the court house and was to perform the
work under the supervision of Michael Rugh. The court house and jail were
all one building, made of logs and heavy planks. The jail portion had a heavy
stone wall which extended some distance above the ground, perhaps to keep
prisoners from cutting their way out. The structure was pushed rapidly and
by July I, I786, both jail and court house were ready for occupancy. The
trustees reported its completion to the July session of the court at Hannastown.
Upon this the judges visited the new county seat and inspected its buildings,
after which they made the following report, which is in part given to show the
simple mode of life and few wants of our people in that day:
We, the subscribers, Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Westmoreland, upon receiving a written report from the Trustees of said County informing us that a new court house and prison was erected in Newtown, and
that a number of other convenient buildings were also erected and opened for
entertainment, found that we were warranted by law in adjourning our courts
to the said town; now being desirous as soon as possible to take leave of the
many inconveniences and difficulties which attended our situation at Hannastown, as well as to avoid the cost for rent for a very uncomfortable house, in
which we held our courts, we did, therefore, accordingly adjourn to the said
town. And we do certify that we found a very comfortable, convenient court
house and prison, included in one commodious building, together with a number
of large commodious houses, open for public entertainment, in which we enjoyed great satisfaction during our residence at court. We do further give it
as our opinion that the situation is good, and possessed of every natural advantage that can contribute to the comfort and convenience of an in-land town;
that it is as nearly centrical to the body of people as any spot that can be found
possessed of the same advantage; that it lies in direct course between Ligonier
226PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
227
and Pittsburg and will admit of the straightest and best road between these two
places; that its situation is in the center of the finest and wealthiest settlement in
this western country, and cannot fail of being supplied with the greatest
abundance, upon the most reasonable terms; in short we think the said Trustees
have done themselves honor in their choice and proceeding through the whole
of this business.
Given under our hand the Ioth of August, I786.
HUGH MARTIN.                         CHRISTOPHER TRUBY.
RICHARD WILLIAMS.                    GEORGE WALLACE.
JOHN MILLER.                         WILLIAM  JACK.
ALEXANDER MITCHELL.                  GEORGE BAIRD.
But even this did not quiet the dissension against the selection of Newtown,
now Greensburg, as a county seat. The greatest dissatisfaction came from north
of the Forbes road and from the region around Pittsburg. All these interested
now united to overthrow what had already been done in the way of permanently locating the seat of justice. As a result of these agitations the legislature
on December 27, I786, passed an act suspending the authority granted to the
trustees to establish a county seat, etc., until further directed. The Act also
provided that the trustees were to exhibit their accounts, with proper vouchers
for all expenditures made by them in their work so far as they had gone.
These were to be inspected by William Moore, Charles Campbell and James
Bryson and to be laid before the justices of the court and grand jury. Two of
these inspecting committeemen were from unfriendly sections, Bryson being
then a resident of Pittsburg and Campbell a resident of Wheatfield township,
now in Indiana county. The subject was taken up by the people, who discussed
it in the Pittsburg Gazette, there being then no other newspaper in the county.
Some one from Brush Creek, who signs himself a "Friend of His Country,"
has a letter in the Gazette of October 26, I786, from which we quote:
It is well known that the establishment of our present seat of justice was
not a hasty, rash or inconsiderate piece of business. Almost sixteen years have
lapsed since it first claimed the attention of the government; it has been deliberately considered and cautiously conducted; the sense of the people have
been generally and repeatedly known by petition, remonstrance, etc., and in consequence thereof no less than four different Acts of the Legislature have been
passed to effect and complete its establishment. When we reflect upon the
many evils which have resulted from the want of such establishment, I think we
ought rather to congratulate ourselves on the event, and rest perfectly satisfied
that it is at last fixed anywhere nearly centrical to the body of the people.
Hugh Henry Brackenridge, who was then a member of the legislature from
this county, and a very prominent resident from Pittsburg, on December I6,
I786, wrote the following letter, which was published in the Gazette of January 6, I787:
"A bill is published superseding the powers of the trustees for building a
court house and jail in Greensburg. The object is to prevent any further exA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
penditure of public money in public buildings at that place, inasmuch as thE
court house and jail already erected are sufficient at least for a number of
years. This appeared to us, the representatives from Westmoreland, to be
sufficient for the present. It must remain with future time to determine
whether the county seat shall be removed or a new county erected on the Kiskiminetas. The last, I believe, will be deemed more eligible."
In the same paper, dated February io, I787, the following letter appeared,
written by one who signs himself a "Firiend of Westmoreland."
"We find by Mr. Brackenridge's late publication that the seat of justice in
this county yet remains an object of envy in our legislature, as a bill is published superseding the powers of the trustees for building a court house in
Greensburg; I wonder when we shall see the end of the cavilings on this subject and the succession of ridiculous laws occasioned thereby. By the first
law we find a number of trustees appointed for erecting a court house and
prison, etc. By the second law we find their proceedings rejected, though
perfectly legal, and the former repealed, and another set of trustees appointed
with more extensive and conclusive powers. A third law approves and confirms their proceedings, and a fourth law supersedes their powers in the midst
of the duties assigned them; and to carry the farce a little farther, I think the
fifth law ought to amount to the total annihilation of the county."
The reader will discover that in the justice's letter or certificate given
above, dated August Io, 1786, they say they have adjourned the courts to the
new court house at Newtown. They had probably done this, but even then
troubles were brewing, engendered largely by Hanna and his friends and by
Pittsburg people who were loath to see the courts leave, Hannastown or be
permanently located at any new place, unless it should be Pittsburg. So in
some degree to appease the wrath of the adherents of Hanna it was determined
to hold the October term of court at Hannastown, and this was accordingly
done. The first court held in Greensburg was the January term of I787, beginning January 7, with Judge John Moore on the bench. The following is
a list of the jurors who served at this first court in the new county seat: Grand
Jurors-David Duncan, James Carnahan, John Carnahan, John Sloan, Abraham
Fulton, Charles Baird, William Best, Nathaniel McBrier, Joseph Mann, James
Fulton, William Mann, Charles Johnson, Jacob Huffman, Samuel Sinclair and
John Craig.  Traverse Jurors-Alexander Craig, John McCready, Peter
Cherry, John Giffen, John Buch, Phillip Carns, Patrick Campbell, George
Swan, Isaac McKendry, Robert McKee, John Anderson, James Waterson and
Lawrence Irwin. The term only lasted about three days and the minutes do
not show any proceedings of momentous interest. The grand jury, however,
reported that the new jail was insufficient and not strong enough to hold the
prisoners. The trustees submitted their accounts as required by the suspending
act. The total expenditures so far had been less than a thousand dollars. The
accounts were finally laid before the grand jury on July I2, I787. It may be
added here by way of explanation, that much of Brackenridge's opposition to
228PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             229
the court house and county seat proceedings arose from his desire to form a
new county. This is intimated in his letter above quoted, though there for
reasons of his own, he located his proposed new county on the Kiskiminetas.
His object was undoubtedly to unite the north with him in oppostion to the
factions around Hannastown and Greensburg and take them into the new
county at the Fork of the Ohio. It is admitted on all.hands that he was elected
to the legislature for the purpose of securing the erection of a new county.
To this project the eastern part of Westmoreland county was naturally hostile.
They were proud of their large dimensions as the county was originally formed,
but in I78I Washington county, and in I783 Fayette county was entirely
carved from its territory. They, therefore, tried to prevent any further encroachments. Nevertheless, the project of forming a new county was urged by
the people in the vicinity, of Pittsburg, as we shall see later on.CHAPTEFR XVI.
The Burning of Hannastown.
Increased depredations on the part of the Indians made the summer of I782
a very gloomy one to our pioneer settlers. In nearly every instance where men
worked in fields they were compelled to have others stand guard around them.
This unusual Indian hostility was due in part to the murder of the Moravian
Indians a year before. The enemy was also emboldened by the unfortunate
termination of -Lochry's expedition. Around Hannastown those who were
looked up to as special defenders were Colonel John Campbell, Captain Matthew Jack, Captain Love, Lieutenant Guthrie, the Brownlees, the Brysons, the
Shaws and the Wilsons. As the Indian troubles increased the pioneers became
more and more annoyed until in the summer of I782, when they nearly all lived
in forts and block-houses or in close proximity with them. When a field of
grain was to be harvested it was done, not by the owner alone, but by the community, so that the reaping party might be the more formidable in the event
an attack by the Indians. Hannastown, it will be remembered, had been the
county-seat for more than nine years, and the country for several miles in each
direction and particularly on the Forbes road between Hannastown and Pittsburg, was pretty well cleared, and, for that day, thickly populated. The
farmers had fenced their land, some of them at least with stake and rider fences,
to protect their crops against live stock. Almost every farmer had cattle,
horses and sheep and the community of Hannastown bid fair to surpass all
others in Western Pennsylvania. Its only rival was the Pittsburg settlement.
There had been militia soldiers guarding the garrison at Hannastown, but they
had deserted their post because they were not paid, nor can they be blamed for
this, for they are said to have been actually in rags when they left. The citizens
of Hannastown were, therefore, left to take care of themselves. In every direction there were many deserted houses, the owners having gone to the section
from which they came, east of the mountains. Hannastown being the county
seat and, therefore, unusually prominent, had special fear that if a raid was
made their settlement would be the objective point. The people were accordingly unusually vigilant, but they had had no particular warning to put them on
their guard.PITTSBURG AND' HER PEOPLE
On Saturday, July I3, 1782, the men of Hannastown and of the near community were engaged in cutting a field of grain for Captain Michael Huffnagle,
who had been prothonotary of the county and also a captain in the Eighth
Pennsylvania Regiment. He had formerly sat on the bench as a justice, had
acquired considerable property and was a man of more than ordinary strength
of character. In the Revolutionary service he had been wounded in the leg,
and this incapacitated him for further duty in the main army, but it did not
prevent him from taking a leading part in the defence of the frontier.  His
fields of grain lay one and a half miles north of Hannastown.  The grain of
that day was cut entirely by sickles and the reapers with their heads and bodies
bowed down could be easily approached by Indians. They had cut one field and
had eaten their dinners in the shade and were about ready to begin on a second
field. One of the reapers crossed to the side of the field bordering on the
woods and detected Indians hiding behind the trees and stealthily waiting until
the reapers should resume their work. He ran at once and gave the alarm
and the entire party of reapers ran for their lives. Some of them secured their
firearms, others ran to notify their neighbors, but the general trend was toward the fort at Hannastown. In a few minutes they reached the town and in
an instant almost, all was in a commotion. The Westmoreland county minutes
show that court began on Tuesday, July 9, with Judge Edward Cook and his
associates on the bench. The first work of the excited inhabitants was to take
the court records from the court room to the stockade. These are the records,
most precious heirlooms of the pioneer days,-from which we have so frequently quoted and which are yet in a good state of preservation. The door of
the log jail was then broken open and all of the prisoners were set free. Able
young people hurriedly assisted the children and the old men and women from
their houses to the stockade. The haste with which this was done may be
imagined from the fact that they took with them none of their clothes, furniture
nor belongings, not even provisions for a single meal. In a few minutes all
were in the fort who wished to go in, and preparations were made to close the
gate of the palisades. There were several young men who did not care to
enter the fort but who preferred to stay out and fight the Indians in their own
way. These were the rangers whose exploits in Indian warfare have been referred to before. They regarded it as their duty to seek the protection of the
fortress only when they warned the entire settlement of the presence of the Indians. Among these were James Bryson, David Shaw and Matthew Jack.
Bryson is the young man who kept the records of the court as clerk of the
prothonotary and who afterwards settled in Pittsburg and became one of its
leading citizens. He and the others volunteered to go, north toward the approaching Indians and learn something of their strength and intentions. There
was no way for them to go but on foot, and they started out at once. At the
same time, Matthew Jack, the sheriff of the county, mounted a horse and set
out, not directly to the North but in a circular direction, intending to pass
around and reconnoiter the enemy and at the same time notify' the surrounding
23IA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
settlement of the presence of the Indians. The Indians did not at once pursue
the reapers. Their idea had evidently been to make way with them before they
reached the fort and attack the town without warning. Thinking perhaps that
the repears did not know the strength of the invaders, and that they would return and attack them, they waited nearly an hour in the vicinity of the grain
field. By rapid riding, Captain Jack soon reached the vicinity of the Indians.
When he saw them he turned to ride back and was followed by them. On the
way he met Bryson and the others, whom he warned to run for their lives, and
said he would circle around somewhat before entering the fort. He accordingly rode southeast to the cabin of the Love family and warned them. The
scouting party took Jack's advice and ran as rapidly as they could towards
Hannastown. The Indians soon caught sight of them and gave them a hard
run for their lives. They undoubtedly mistook them for the reapers, whom
they supposed had not yet warned the citizens of the town. If, therefore, they
could catch them they would yet surprise the fort. On any other theory the
Indians would have shot them while on the run, but a shot fired would have
aroused the fort. It was a very exciting race for a distance of more than a
mile, with one advantage only on the part of the scouts, namely, that they knew
the ground thoroughly, knew every short cut to take or hill to avoid. This
familiarity probably won the race for them. Before they reached Crabtree Run,
a short half mile north of the fort, they could hear the foot falls of the pursuers and a backward glance revealed the naked breasts and glittering forelocks of the savages. All of them ran directly to the fort except Shaw. He
first ran to his father's house to see if his family was safe and then made for
the stockade gate. By that time the savages were swarming on the banks of
the creek below, Drawing up his long barreled gun and taking deliberate aim,
Shaw sent an unerring bullet which ended the career of a warror, and then ran
within the gate. He was the last to enter and thus all the Hannastown people
had passed the stockade gates before the Indians reached the town.
Michael Huffnagle's report says, that about two o'clock in the afternoon
the town, consisting of about thirty houses and cabins, was attacked by about
one hundred and fifty Indians and Tories. When they saw that they had failed
to surprise the town and that the scalps must be fought for if gained by them,
they gave forth a prolonged, indescribable Indian yell, resembling the cry of an
infuriated wild beast in torture, the recollection of which alone caused those
who had escaped to shudder long years afterwards. The Indians then took
possession of the houses and cabins in the town in full view of the fort.
Clothes and household goods were thrown into the street. Some of the bolder
Indians arrayed themselves in these clothes and, brandishing knives and tomahawks, danced in full view. of the fort, though at a safe distance from it.
Their leaders seemed to be white men dressed as Indians, and there is no
doubt but that they were urged on by these traitors. They could have been
successfully fired on from the fort, but those in the fort were slow to begin
battle, knowing their own weakness. They knew also that the force of Indians,
232PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
233
though at considerable loss, could take the fort and that their only safety lay ill
receiving additional strength. After a consultation among the Indians, about
one-third of the band started off in the direction of Miller's block-house, which
was about three miles southeast. In a short time those remaining set fire to
the town in many places and perhaps in every house. The houses had been
built for some years and their clap-board roofs were thoroughly dried. In a
few minutes the entire town, save two houses which were too near the fort for
them to fire, was in flames. One house left standing was Robert Hanna's,
which had served as a court house since the county was formed. The Indians
found some rum and whiskey in these houses and with the aid of these they
had a jovial time while the town was burning. They paraded in the garments
of the settlers in full view of the fort. One Indian decked himself out in a
bright colored military coat which he had taken from one of the houses. He
at length grew bold and paraded, peacock like, too close to the stockade. Some
one within took a steady shot at him. The Indian leaped into the air a-:d fell
dead, his vanity costing him his life. All communication with the outside
world was cut off when the stockade gate was closed. There were several
scouts out, but they did not return but performed better service by moving
about and alarming the settlements, who at once tried to devise a means of
rescuing the unfortunate prisoners. The stockade at Hannastown was naturally a strong one, but on this occasion its defence was very weak. Some reports say they had only nine firearms, some say thirteen, but all agree that they
were of a poor quality, being the cast-off firearms of the militia. It is probable
that a few of the scouts, like Shaw and Bryson, had good arms. The Hannastown people in the fort were largely elderly men, women and children. The
young people were at Miller's block-house that afternoon. This weak condition of the fortress was known to those outside, and hence their anxiety to
march at once to relieve their friends. The number of those in the fort is not
known, nor are the names given except of a few who performed service
worthy of special mention in the reports.
At Miller's block-house were collected about forty people. Samuel Miller
had been a captain in the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line and had
been killed in I778 while doing recruiting duty in Westmoreland. At all times
his house had been open for all who came there socially or for safety. In addition to the block-house there were several log cabins built near by and all of
them were strong in times of Indian raids and were capable of being strongly
barricaded. The Millers were a lively, sociable people, and hither went the
young men and maidens for an afternoon's dance. They did not go to Miller's
for safety, for it is well known that Judge Hanna's wife and daughters were
there, and had they been in quest of a place of safety they would have remained
at home, for the Hannastown stockade was stronger than the block-house. It
is reasonably well authenticated that there was a wedding there, which was the
chief attraction. Justice Richard Coulter wrote an account of the burning of
Hannastown in I836,' gathering much of the material from those who were capA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
tured at Miller's as well as from others who participated in the affair, says this:
"At Miller's there had been a wedding the day before. Love is a delicate plant
but will take root in the midst of perils, in gentle bosoms. A young couple,
fugitives from the frontier, fell in love and were married." All accounts agree
that there were many women there. The company had been dancing to the
tune of a fiddle and there had been great glee among the guests, when almost
instantly there burst upon them the war whoop of a band of savages. Among
others who were there was Captain Brownlee, whose duties as a ranger have
been mentioned. He was one of Erwin's bravest soldiers in the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment. When his term of enlistment expired, he left the service to
devote his energies to Indian fighting on the frontier. In this he was very successful. He did not discriminate between a good and a bad Indian, thinking
perhaps that there were none of the former class. He thought it his duty to
kill an Indian as he would a snake or a dangerous wild animal, yet he was an
excellent neighbor and a good husband and father. Indeed it was to protect those
he loved that he remained at home rather than do service in the army. Few
men of his day were better or more honorably known than Brownlee. On the
afternoon of the raid a number of men were mowing in a field close to
Miller's. Hearing the rumble of the firing at Hannastown they became apprehensive of danger and hastened to the block-house. As they were leaving
the field the Indian band from Hannastown entered the other side of it. Here
again the Indians were foiled, for they doubtless meant to capture the men in
the field.and thus have an easier victory at the block-house.  The Indians
followed them and very soon closed in o.n the frightened party.  The cries of
the helpless people, mingled with the Indian yells, added to the consternation of
the few fighters who were there. One of these at least, lost his life in trying to
save those who were comparative strangers to him. But though strangers, they
were defenceless women, and that has always called forth the best efforts of
Anglo-Saxon manhood. A few who ran on the first sign of danger made their
-escape by going to George's Cabin, and still others made their way to Rugh's
block-house. When the Indians were surrounding the block-house, Brownlee
seized a rifle and ran out to give battle. He could probably have escaped and
formed a rescuing party at once, but his wife cried to him: "Captain, you are
not going to leave me, are you?" The brave man turned around and gave himself up as a prisoner to those to whom he had never before bent his knee. He
had faced the savages time and time again, but he could not resist the plea of
his wife. No one who knew him could imagin!e that he meant to make a selfish
escape.: Soon after the Indians captured Brownlee, Captain Jack came riding
toward the cabin to give the alarm. As he approached he saw the Indians near
it and that he was'too late. He turned his horse and galloped away. The Indians had remained quiet while he approached, but sent a shower of bullets
after him when he turned. They all missed him, though they whistled about
his head and one cut his bridle rein.
234PITTSBURC  AND HER PEOPLE                            235
The alarm was not confined to the community alone. It was a still, calm
afternoon preceding a rain, when sound travels a long distance. Many in the
neighborhood heard the excessive firing and were alarmed at once. At Unity
Church, near Latrobe, the congregation had met for preparatory communion
services when the rumor of the incursion came. The people hastened to their
homes, the pastor, Rev. James Powers, who lived long afterwards to tell the
story, rode with his utmost speed to his home near Mt. Pleasant. Men in the
fields heard the distant roar of muskets and went home to make bullets, gather
in their children and barracade the windows and doors of their cabins.
The Indians proceeded to secure the prisoners taken at Miller's. The
hands of the men were tied behind their backs. Taking all the provisions they
wanted, they fired the block-house and cabins. Many who had gone there for
safety had taken their live stock, consisting of cattle and horses with them.
These were all shot by the Indians. Both Hanna and Duncan in their reports
estimated that one hundred cattle were killed. Of the captive prisoners, the
most conspicuous was Captain Brownlee. One of Robert Hanna's daughters
escaped. The other daughter and Mrs. Hanna were taken. The captives were
made to carry the goods stolen on their backs. Brownlee kept up a good spirit
and undoubtedly encouraged this disconsolate party. At length an unthinking
woman, said to have been Mrs. Hanna, through her tears cried: "Captain
Brownlee, it is well you are here to cheer us up."  The unfortunate remark
was undoubtedly the first indication the Indians had that their docile prisoner
was their fearless enemy-Captain Brownlee. All the Indians knew him by
name and reputation, but few Indians who met him face to face ever disturbed settlers afterward. After it was all over Captain Brownlee's friends saw
clearly that he'was all the while attempting to conceal his identity with the hope
that in a day or two he might escape and head a rescuing party. It was for this
reason that he gave himself up and was extremely meek when they tied his
hands and placed heavy burdens on his back. All this was unlike the Brownlee
whom the Indians knew of. His friends both among the prisoners and those
who were free, believed that he would soon escape and return with a full
knowledge of their strength and how best to attack them. But when his name
was mentioned, immediately there were hasty glances from  one Indian to
another, and two of them in gutteral tones consulted with each other. In addition to his burden he was carrying one of his children on his back. As he
bent down to enable the innocent child to cling more tightly with its arms
around his neck, a savage sneaked -up behind him and buried a hatchet in his
brain. Brownlee fell dead and the child rolled over him. As it was scrambling
to its feet the Indian killed it in the same way. A woman near by screamed
and fell swooning to the ground. She met a similar fate, the savage doubtless
mistaking her for the wife of Brownlee. Mrs. Brownlee, the rest of her children and the other captives, were compelled to witness-these deeds in the silent
agony of despair. The march was towards Hannastown, where they joined the
band that had remained to burn the town. About dark the entire band changedThere are perhaps few instances in American history that are fraught with
as much interest to the Pittsburg people, if not indeed to all American readers,
as the Braddock campaign. Much has been written about it, yet, like Bunker
Hill, it alwavs remains an interesting tale. Its bearing on humanity has given
it a lasting and a national, if not indeed a world wide interest. It was in this
campaign that Washington for the
first time came in contact with
trained English soldiers, and it was
the first campaign of drilled troops
and modern artillery in the new
world. Braddock had by bravery
and by ability won very'high honors
in the military services of England.
He was sixty years old, and had
spent his life mostly in the English
army. His father, whose name he
bore, had  entered the renowned
Coldstream  Guards as a lieutenant
as early as October, I684. He rose
to the rank of major-general, and
remained in the service until I7I5.
His son Edward, in whom we are
interested, entered the same regi1ent in October, I7Io, and retired
GENERAL EDWARD BRADDOCK        from it with the rank of lieutenantcolonel in February, 1753. Thus the roster of the Coldstream Guards bore the
name of Edward Braddock, father and son, for seventy years. On the son's
retirement from the Guards, he was appointed colonel of the Fourteenth Foot.
In March, I754, he was made a major-general and on September 4th of the
same year was made a general, and commander of the forces in the expedition
to North America that we are considering. He sailed from Cork, Ireland,
January I4, I755, with two regiments of royal troops, each numbering about
five hundred men. These regiments were the Forty-fourth, under Colonel
Thomas Dunbar, and the Forty-eighth  under Sir Peter Halket. They arrived
at Alexandria, Virginia, February 20, I755. Two months later, on April 20th,
the army left Alexandria for Fort Duquesne, marching by the way of Frederickstown, Winchester and Fort Cumberland. In the light of modern events
it may well be said that the entire campaign was badly planned. The army
had no adequate base of supplies, and for the most of its proposed journey,
the country, being, uninhabited, could neither support an army nor furnish its
transportation.  The army should have landed in Philadelphia and gone
through the rich district of Pennsylvania where supplies and horses were plentiful. But the Duke of Newcastle, who, as premier of England sent out the
army, had innocently consulted with the London merchant, John Hanbury, who,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
their location, moving to the northeast and encamping for the night in a ravine
or hollow made by the Crabtree creek. During the afternoon the Indians
watched the fort closely and kept up a regular fire. The romantic event was
the shooting of Margaret Shaw. She was a young girl of about fourteen years
and was a daughter of Moses Shaw and sister of the brothers of whom we
have written. During the afternoon a child within the stockade had wandered
toward an opening in the pickets and was within the range of the enemy's
bullet. Seeing this, Margaret ran to take it away but as she bent down to lift
the child a bullet struck her in the breast and penetrated her right lung.
After a long, lingering illness she died and was buried at the Middle Churches,
near Mt. Pleasant.
About forty men gathered near George's Station that afternoon, all bent
on rescuing the prisoners in the fort. The night fortunately brought dark
clouds and rain. In the meantime the location of the Indians, the destruction
of the town, etc., were reported to the rescuing party by scouts. As the
rescuers, about thirty in number, approached, they could see from the gleam of
burning logs the outline of the fort with its whitewashed palisades. As they
crept up to it the scouts made known their arrival and the gates were opened to
receive them.
As soon as the evening meal was over among the Indians they proceeded
to divide their plunder. One unusually large Indian arrayed himself in a silk
dress, but could not get his foot through the sleeve. His attempts were very
ludicrous, and he seemed highly pleased that he could make the others laugh so
heartily. They also prepared to celebrate their victory. One captive was
selected, his body was painted with black stripes and he was tied to a tree, to
be tortured by being burned alive. Then they made the prisoners run the
gauntlet, the men first and after them the women. The daughter of Robert
Hanna was put through but had gained the favor of an Indian by laughing at
his grotesqueness when he arrayed himself in the silk dress and, therefore, got
through without great injury. A young woman named Freeman, who had red
hair, which was always held in contempt by the dark-haired race, was beaten
almost to death. More than a generation afterwards she was treated by Dr.
Postlethwaite in Greensburg for injuries to her skull, received that night.
It was believed by those in the fort that an attack would be made in the
morning, so they tried to deceive the Indians by making them think that very
large forces had arrived. Some old drums were brought out and pounded.
There was a wide bridge across the ditch surrounding the fort, and all of the
horses of the rescuing party were galloped back and forth several times across
this bridge to the music of the drums. All in the fort were now hilarious, or
acting so at least, and, as intended, these acclamations of joy apparently over the
arrival of forces, were plainly heard by the Indians. It was, moreover, not impossible that by twelve or one o'clock forces from Fort Pitt or Fort Ligonier
might arrive. At all events the strategy had the desired effect on the minds of
the Indians. They stole away so silently that no one in the fort knew that they
230PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
237
had gone. Not having time to torture the prisoner, they tomahawked him before they left. They traveled north and crossed the Kiskiminetas river about
where Apollo now stands. The forces in the fort followed them to that point,
but could not pursue them into the Indian country beyond, which was then a
wilderness. For the failure to pursue them further they were more or less
censured, but, we think, unjustly. There were at least one hundred and fifty
well armed Indians and Tories, and the force in the fort, including the relief
party, did not amount to one-third that many even if both old and young could
have joined the pursuit, which was practically impossible. The Indians had
with them about twenty prisoners whom they had taken at Miller's. These they
marched to Canada, where they sold both the prisoners and the scalps they had
taken to the English for beads, trinkets, firearms and whiskey. The prisoners
were kept until a final peace was effected between Great Britain and the
colonies, after which most of them found their way back to Hannastown. Of
those who are known to have hurried to rescue the fort and follow the Indians
not yet mentioned, were the Craigs, the Sloans, Captain David Kilgore and two
of his sons and Captain Wendell Ourry.
Who commanded the Indian forces on the Hannastown raid is not definitely
known. Some have written that it was Simon Girty, but this is known to be an
error, for it has been well proved that he was in Kentucky at that time. The
leadership of nearly all incursions of that character was attributed to him.
It was more likely Guyasuta on the part of the Indians, and Connolly, of the
Dunmore war fame, on the part of the white Tories. The Indians were mainly
from a small tribe called "Munceys," then in northern Pennsylvania.
Hannastown was'never rebuilt, though the courts were held there for
some years afterwards. Cities of untold wealth and power have arisen, but few
of them have so interesting a record in their early history, as this little collection
of mud-plastered log huts built in the heart of the "forest primeval" in Western Pennsylvania.
In a letter from General William Irvine to General Washington, dated
January 27, I783, it is learned that the Indians had assembled near the head
waters of the Allegheny and that an attachment composed of about 300 British
and 500 Indians had actually. embarked with twelve pieces of artillery, with
the intention of taking Fort Pitt. This expedition was abandoned because of
important repairs made at Fort Pitt, intelligence of which was carried to them
by a spy from the neighborhood of the fort. The Indians and British then contented themselves with the usual mode of warfare by sending out small parties
on the frontier, one of which came to Hannastown.
The destruction of Hannastown and the injuries inflicted on the community in connection with it, were much more serious and far-reaching than the
reader at first may imagine. Its evil effects cannot be estimated in dollars and
cents, though when viewed from that standpoint alone, it was a fearful calamity.
For almost a quarter of a century Western Pennsylvania had been gradually increasing, with Hannastown as its seat of justice. Rude though its log cabins238
A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
may have been, they were the best in the community and with their contents
represented many years of toil and sacrifice. Here the hardy pioneer had expended his best energies in tilling the land and building up a civilization. Upon
the perpetual growth of law and;order depended the values of their properties,
not only in Hannastown but all over western Pennsylvania. But now all for
which they had labored had been swept away by a single blow, and the word
went East to prospective settlers and land purchasers that in Westmoreland
county, under the shadow of the Temple of Justice, savage warfare prevailed,
property was ruthlessly destroyed and life itself was in constant danger. With
the exception of a country store and a few old houses built long since the
original town was destroyed, there is nothing at Hannastown to point the inquiring stranger to one of the most historic spots in Western Pennsylvania.
When it was burned the war for Independence was practically over, for Cornwallis had surrendered to Washington in October of the previous year. Its
destruction was in reality the last instance in America during the Revolution, in
which the English united with their savage allies to destroy the innocent
pioneer by what can be called little else than common butchery.CHAPTER XVII.
Formation of Allegheny County-Copy of Old Petition Urging Passage of the Bill
Erecting It.
The movement which brought about the formation of Allegheny county
originated in the ambition of Pittsburg to become the county seat of Westmoreland county. When, therefore, the act of September I3, I785, was passed,
which, in effect, it will be remembered, precluded the selection of Pittsburg,
movements were set on foot to form a new county. A petition, it is true, was
presented to the Pennsylvania legislature before this, on March 7, but only when
the hopelessness of the removal of the county seat was apparent to everyone.
Pittsburg was then a small country town of perhaps Ioo log houses, and had
but little power in state legislation. The representatives from Westmoreland
were William Findley, Thomas Morton and William Todd. It is quite likely
that they were all opposed to dividing Westmoreland, for the petition, though
presented, was not brought up afterwards. More than a year and a half
elapsed before the matter was brought up again, when on September 2, i886,
a similar petition was presented, but after being read it was laid on the table
and forgotten. But new assemblymen were selected in October, I886, and
though William Findley was re-elected, Hugh Henry Brackenridge and James
Barr were elected in place of Todd and Morton. The new legislature convened in Philadelphia on October 23, I786, but because of the tardiness of the
election returns, Brackenridge was not sworn in till November 13. He was
elected for the purpose of having a new county formed and on November I6
presented petitions from the citizens of Westmoreland and Washington counties, praying for a new county, and he also called up the former petitions which
had been presented and not acted on. They were pushed rapidly by him and on
the twenty-first of November were read a second time and referred to a committee composed of Representatives Ross of Lancaster, Piper of Bedford, Findlev of Westmoreland, Brackenridge of Pittsburg in Westmoreland, Flenniken of
Washington, Gilchrist of Fayette, and Carson of Dauphin county. This committee acted promptly and reported on November 29 in favor of erecting a riew
county. Their report gave the boundary of the county recommended, agreeingA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
in the main with that prayed for in the petitions, and urged it because of the increased value it would give to a tract of land which the state had reserved west
of the Allegheny river, and the report recommended that the county seat be
located on this tract of land. They recommended further that until a courthouse and gaol could be built, the courts of the new county be held in Pittsburg
in buildings rented for that purpose. The committee was ordered to prepare a
bill to that end, and on December 6 a bill was presented. But before the bill
was passed finally, the legislature adjourned and though there was a short session in February and March, I787, the Allegheny county bill was not reached.
At this session a petition from the citizens of Pittsburg and vicinity was presented. It is the only one that has not been lost and is signed by nearly I,ooo
petitioners. The legislature met again in September and Mr. Brackebnridge was
present to push it as rapidly as possible. He also presented additional petitions,
one from Washington county asking that it also, be annexed to the new county.
He further presented petitions from the western parts of Westmoreland asking
that their section be annexed to the proposed Allegheny county. The bill came
up before the house for debate and was opposed because of the additional expense it would entail on the people of the new county, and that it was too near
election time to create new county lines. Brackenridge responded ably, as he
always did, and urged the expense the people were now put to to go to the court
houses in Washington and Westmoreland counties. He urged that Pittsburg
expected and deserved to be made the county seat when Westmoreland county
was created, but had not obtained it. Members named Whitehill and Wright
both spoke against it. The latter urged that five hundred people, meaning the
people in Pittsburg, could not afford to keep up a county organization. He
argued that they could not cross the Allegheny river to the court house and
gaol, and there was not a soul living over there and no one to commit,
unless it were bears. After considerable discussion the question was put as to
the taking up of the bill, when the matter was voted down by a majority of eight
votes, there being twenty-five yeas and thirty-three nays.
This did not discourage the friends of the new county. Mr. Brackenridge
was not a candidate at the October election, and John Irwin was elected in his
place, the old members from both Washington and Westmoreland being otherwise re-elected. The question was brought up again on November 20, I787,
and was referred to a committee composed of Messrs. Clymer, Lewis, Lowry
Heister, Findley, Irvine, McDowell, Philips and Schott. The day following
the old petitions were read to the house and referred to the committee above
named. The report of this committee was finally laid on the table on November
29, and that was the last of it for that session.
The next session convened on February 19, I788. By that time the other
side was heard in the form of a remonstrance from Washington county, though
signed by but ninety people, opposing the formation of the proposed county.
The house, however, took up the matter on March 22, and appointed a committee to decide on the boundaries of the proposed county. This committee re240PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
24I
ported on March 26, but on the 29th the house adjourned. It met again on
September 2, and received petitions from a new section, viz., the Yougliiogheny
river section of Westmoreland county praying to be included in the new
county. This was laid on the table. On September ii, the following Tuesday
was fixed as the day for the third reading of the Allegheny county bill. September I6th it was read and postponed till the following Saturday. On September I6 a large petition was presented, signed by over fifteen hundred citizens of Westmoreland and Washington counties, asking that the bill be passed.
This was followed by a petition exclusively from Washington county on September 22. On September 24, I787, the bill entitled "An Act for erecting certain parts of the counties of Westmoreland and Washington into a separate
county," was finally passed and the speaker signed it the same day.
The following petition, presented to the legislature at the February and
March session of I787, has never been published. It was discovered in a box
of old papers in Harrisburg by Mr. Luther R. Kelker, custodian of public records, and was copied for this work. In this connection it becomes a most
valuable document, for it gives the names of the men who took the lead in
Pittsburg and vicinity in the great work of erecting and founding Allegheny
county. Many who signed it became leaders in the city and county afterwards,
and some of them are well known in our national history.
To the Honorable the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met. The Petition of sundry Inhabitants of the Counties of Westmoreland and Washington
Humbly sheweth
That your Petitioners have seen the Bill published for consideration entitled
an Act for erecting part of Westmoreland and Washington Counties into a
separate county. We are pleased to find the Honorable House have given
time to those Inhabitants who wish to be included in the new County, to make
their sentiments and situation known to the House upon this subject. Your
petitioners conceive by the limits specified in the before mentioned Bill your
honors were not so well acquainted with the situation of the Country adjacent
to Pittsburgh as to fix the bounds which ought to designate the new County
with that precision the importance of the subject requires, and as we are
unanimously o.f opinion your honors wish to lay out the County so as to make
the same convenient to the Inhabitants and without injuring either Washington or Westmoreland Counties. Your petitioners with due submission beg
leave to give your honors informntion of what we humbly conceive to be the
proper bounds for the new County, viz.: Beginning at the mouth of Racoon
Creek where it empties into the Ohio, thence up the middle of the said Creek
to White's Mill, thence along a new cut Road to Armstrong's Mill on Miller's
Run, thence in a direct line to the mouth of Mingoe Creek where it empties
into the Monongahela River, thence up the middle of said River to the line
of Fayette county, thence along said line to. the mouth of Jacob's Creek on
Youghiogany River, thence in a direct line to Cavet's AMill on Brush Creek,
1624 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
from thence a direct line to where Forbe's old road crosses Turtle Creek and
from thence a direct line to the mouth of the Kiskamenitis, where it empties
into the Alleghany River, thence up the middle of said river to the line of
Northumberland County at the mouth of the Conowago River, thence up the
middle of said River to the northern boundary of this State (if the said River
shall extend so far and if not then from the said River by a line due north to
the said Northern boundary, thence along the said Northern boundary westward to the western boundary of this state, thence down the said boundary
southerly to the Ohio River aforesaid, thence up the middle of the said River to
the place of beginning. The above described bounds will give general satisfaction
to every Inhabitant in the two Counties, excepting a few interested persons or
those who make it their business to object to every measure for the publick good,
besides it will be much nigher and more convenient for every person living
within the beforementioned bounds to go to Pittsburgh to courts or market than
to Washington or Greensborough, having the advantage of the diffirent waters
leading to Pittsburgh to transport ourselves and produce. At the same time
we are obliged to attend Courts of Justice, either as suitors, jurors or witnesses,
we can carry our, produce with us, with which we can pay our court charges
and Tavernkeepers Bills, and also procure such necessaries as we want for the
use of our families. This a matter of great importance to us who at present
are labouring under many difficulties for the want of Cash to patent our Lands
and pay our Taxes. Your petition humbly conceive that the laying off a county
with respectable bounds will greatly advantage the Inhabitants of the three
Counties, the greater number of Inhabitants in a County makes the County
Town the Richer, this induces persons of wealth to become Citizens, and consequently a greater consumption of produce. Pittsburgh the Capital of the Western Country seems intended by nature for a place of consequence from its situation at the confluence of two large Rivers that glide through an extensive and
fertile Country, this will induce a great number of persons of trade and business
to settle it, it will also increase the value of all the lands within the reach of that
market, and also, bring forward at an earlier period the Sale of the State lands,
and the Settlement of that part of the Country Northward of Pittsburgh. Your
Petitioners humbly conceive that it is the intention of your honors to accommodate the Inhabitants of the new County with such bounds as will make it
more convenient for them to attend the Courts of Justice at Pittsburgh than at
any other place, and we are happy to inform your honors that every person
residing within the beforementioned bounds will find it more convenient to go to
Pittsburgh than to any other place. Your petitioners beg leave to inform your
honors that we do not mean to dictate to the honble House, when we mention
the bounds, but only.as a matter of information, and this we have thought incumbent on us as the persons who are immediately concerned in the consequences that are to ensue from the determination of the House. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that your honors would be pleased to enact a
law for erecting a part of Westmoreland and a part of Washington Counties
242PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
into a separate County up
Petitioners as in duty bout
Westmoreland, Februa
John Ormbey
Samuel Barr
Isaac Craig
Robert Galbraith
Geo. Adams
Richd. Butler
Geo. Thompson
Wm. Tilton
Hugh Ross
John Scull
A. Tannehill
John Handeyn
Jos. Tannehill
Robert Petterson
John Patterson
Chas. Wilkins
John Warner
David Boies
John Rammage
George Sipes
his
James x Reed
mark
William Richey
Charles Pamer
Richard flocks
Mathas Broker
William McCoy
Jacob Wise
William Hall
John Morison
John McNall
Caspear Bowman
Jno. Willims
Jno. Grubs
Eli Power
William Lowrey
James Willson
Wm. Wilkinson
Nichs. Neil
Matthew Willson
James Colhoon
John Poynts
James Lawless
Wm. Irwin
Denis Kenedy
Thos.
Sam Morison
John Reed
on the principles of liberality and
ad will pray, ca.
Iry I5th, I787.
243
justice and your
Jno. Gibson
David Duncan
John Boyd
Wm. Butler
Jno. Wilkins
Jno. Finley
Stepn. Bayard
Geo. Wallace
Wm. Greenough
Nathl. Bedford
A. Lawler
John Brown
Geo. Cochran
Wm. Weisthoff
Adam Sharp
Nehemiah Sharp
John Clark
Wm. Patton
Bert Garvey
Samuel Kerr
Adam Waltr (Walter)
Stephen Cisna
James Scott
Josiah Wynn
William Rosberry
Stephen Crawford
Tho. Jackson
Petter Cuthwright
Robert Mcfarland
James Williamson
Arthur Gardner
Jas. Littell
John Mcelland
John Collons
Alex. McCadams
Nathaniel Points
Nich. Welch
Geo. Mitchell
Jno. Meek
Timothy keen
Ephraim Herriott
George Herriott
Allen Boys
his
Jas. x Miller
mark
Yost Wribel
Mr. Lacassagne
William DunningA CENTURY ANVD A HALF OF
John Dunning
John Gill
Thomas Gorham, Jr.
Gorge Browaugh
Nathaniel Cotton
Jas. Thompson
Edw. Thompson
Jno. McGruger
Francis McElwain
John Leeth
James Reed
Weldon Reagen
Saml. McKay
Abdiel MLure
William Black
Charles Duke
petter McAchene
Daniel M\lcdonald
Isaac Young
John Walter
James Chambers (H. Constable)
Isaac Whitaker
Jas. Whitaker
Aaron Whiteker
Jno. Clevedence
Charls Morgan
Thomas Fisher
Thomas McKenzie
Geo. Bowers
Thomas Dougherty
James Dougherty
Robert Jackson
John Mavie
Tho. Garvin
Jon. Irwin
Wm. Irwin
Jacob Stone
Philip Everhard
Samuel Shreve
Isreal Moorcroft
John Glass
his
Michel x McChristle
mark
Hugh Sterling
Adam funk
Pattrick McFarlen
John Miller
Benjamin Wilson
Robert Shawhan
Isaac Williams
William Redmon
George Sill
Jos. Fisher
Isaac Drumon
Samuel (?) Calhoun
John Small Shott
Fredrick Clevidence
William Dick
Willm Earl
John Boggs
James Robertson
John Plash
Isack McBride
John Wilsoai
Thos. Hilldrooth
Robt. Colhoon
Joseph Thornell
Oliver Ormsby
Robt. Thompson
Charles Morgan
Fauntley Muse
Joseph Philips
Jno. Richardson
Jno. Stokes
Tho. Carter
John Carter
Winm. Cassedy
John Persons
Ezek. Shelkint
Wm. Cecil
Wm.. Haisting
George Fraiser
Dinnis Feris
Elias Williams
Hugh Hoffernan
David Coventry
William McDonald
Johan Riikert
Henry Taylor
Matthew Pheonix
Frederick Rothair
John Ward
Jos. Ashton
Jno. Ward
James Morrison
And. Jeffries
James Grant
William Thompson
Peter Rockafellow
James Hillman
Christian Maurer
Jacob Mlyers
Alexander Dunlap
244PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE         2,I
Henry Edwarts
Johannes barnhart
John Martin
John Clemmens
Elexander McCoullester
Adam Later (?)
Wm. McMillen
Johann Gorg Lichtenberger
Joseph McMahhen
Eng. Wilkeson
Andreas Drukenbrott
Wm. Boniface
Langn. McClane
Adam Matter
John Barr
William Boone
James Farrell
James Fleming
William Funk
Samuel Ferguson
Wm. McCoy
Jas. Dinsmore
Hugh Knox
Daniel Craig
John Armstrong
Adam Funk
George Jay
Hugh Rippey
Dinis kenedy
Alexr Fife
Robt. Philips
Isaac Morton
Willm. Phibbs
James Smith
Mich. Murphy
Wm. Claerich (?)
Thos. Wilkins
Saml. Duncan
Ezekiel Boggs
Morris Melone
John Tinny
Alexr. Downie
Jo Gardner
William Gill
Patrick Rylie
John McClure
Abraham Pyott
Wm. Wilson
Jacob Springer,
Geo. Wallace, Jr
Edward Smith
Joseph Couch
Thos. Parker
Andw. Boggs
Winm. Driver
Winm. Chadwick
Thomas Greenough
his
Robert x heaton
mark
Jesse Kirkpatrick
James Pride
Charles Mathews
Bargi Lippincott
Jonathan Pew
John Shinn
John De huff
Gorge Morton
John St. Clair
Daniel McHenry
John Orr
Frederick Byerly
David Morris
Willm. Ludly
Peter Gainer
Jn. Johnston
Mickl. Arclebee
John Housholder
Thos. Wylie
Robt. Hawthorn
Robert Templeton
Robert Correv
John Connor
James Scott
Thomas Scott
David Scott
Roderick Strase (?)
Richard Sparrow
Winm. Clark
Winm. Braden
Joseph Nicholas
Andrew Simons
Joseph Lowry
William McMellan
Tho. Hill
Thomas McGinness
Wm. Chribbs, for P. Murphy
Robert Bratherton
Hugh Neelley
Wm. Collins
John Collins
Wm. S. Menig
William Evans
Joseph Newton
245A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
as a member of the Ohio Company, selfishly advised that the Virginia route be
taken for he did not want the fur trades diverted from the Potomac route.
Braddock had been promised twenty-five hundred horses, and wagons in abundance, and provisions had been ordered and contracted for months before, but
they did not materialize. Braddock was almost in despair, and called a meeting
of the Colonial governors which was responded to by Dinwiddie, Dobbs of North
Carolina, Sharpe of Maryland, Delancy of New York, Morris of Pennsylvania, and Shirley of Massachusetts, but they were unable to assist him. The lack
of transportation was largely supplied through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin, then postmaster general of Pennsylvania. By his personal influence he
induced the Pennsylvania farmers to turn out with their private teams and
transport the supplies and baggage of the almost stranded army. In a short
time he secured one hundred and fifty wagons and the necessary horses while
more followed. Franklin pledged himself personally to repay them, a pledge
he made good, but it was many years before it was audited and finally paid.
Otherwise than this, Pennsylvania did very little for the expedition. She had
more soldiers with General Shirley in the north than in Braddock's army.
Braddock appointed Washington as aide-de-camp, and this was the best
appointment he could give him, for the general bore an order from King
George II, dated at St. James, November I2, I754 which forbade him to suffer
any American field officer to command even a battalion of the Colonial troops.
In his appointment of Washington he exercised unusual wisdom, for, Washington in addition to his military experiences, had been over the proposed line
of march several times, and was thoroughly familiar with the topography of the
country. Besides the English troops, he had with him over twelve hundred
provincial troops who came mostly froin New York and Virginia. He had
also about one hundred and fifty backwoodsmen and Indians from Pennsylvania. The backwoodsmen were dressed like Indians, and had learned to fight
by the Indian methods of warfare. The general had but little faith in these
rough-coated and undrilled soldiers. By the time he had reached Western
Pennsylvania they had nearly all left his army, and he was undoubtedly glad of
it. This was his first great misfortune. They could have served him nobly as
scouts and their acuteness as woodsmen and their knowledge of the enemy
might have saved his army from the ambuscades which eventually overtook it.
They arrived at Cumberland on May Ioth. There he reviewed'the army,
and expressed great pride and confidence in the scarlet coats, bright buttons,
polished muskets, and most of all in the Red Cross of St. George, and in the
sound of the bugle which echoed through the forest. Braddock was entirely
unable to divest himself of the habit of luxury acquired in the lifetime of warfare on the beaten battle fields of Europe. He journeyed part of the way with
Governor Dinwiddie in the latter's chariot, with his bodyguard of light horse
galloping on each side of him. Not infrequently did his staff, arrayed in their
most gorgeous uniforms and with drums beating the Grenadier's March,
escort him as he journeyed through the forest. When not on their march he
i6A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
John bailey
Robart brotherton
Charles Richards
J. S. Monceau de bougei
Philip Everhart
John Greer
Benjamin Richards
Gorg. Altman
his
Peter x Allon
mark
John Dehuff
John Walton
John Craig
John McClure
Jas. Munrow
his
John x Gordon
mark
Edward Murphey
John Brockney
James Martin
Jas. Beaty
Johan Griin (Green)
William Jones
Leaven phllips
Wilhelm Diehl
Matthew Deen
Mark Deen
John Dobin
Hugh Gardner
John Cowan
James Gill
Noble Wilkins
Roger Sweeney
Richard Spence
Jno. Gibson
Jas. Gibson
John Patterson
Joseph Patterson
David Updegraff
Daved Saven
James Williamson
Joh Gelen (?)
Saml Colhoun
Andrew Watson
William Watson
William Rodman
Tho. Martin
James Seal
Dennis OBryan
Robert Burns
Jair. Banden
John Reed
Saml. Todd
Deverux Smith
Owen Newman
Wm. Amberson
Saml. Sample
Jno. Colhoon
Joseph Gelln (?).
Alexander Nagely
Thomas Chambers
Alexdr. McNickell
James Lucky
David White
David Watson
Willm Story
Benjamin Chambers
Wm. Christy, Jr.
Jno. Robison
H. Redman
Henry Ewalt
Henry Hoglin
his
Jacob x Dixon
mark
James Myers
Abner McMahan
David Dunfield
Martin Cox
James Semple
Geo. Burns
David Leviston
Thomas Watson
James
Edward Watson
James Horner
William Carr
James Hawthorn
Reynor Smith
Andrew Robertson
Jas. Robison
William Freeman
Simon Small
Philib frantz
John McCollogh
his
Rob x McGinnes
mark
Benjamin power
James Power
John McKean
Amos Gristin (?)
246PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
James McKean
James licKean
Johannes Hartner
Jas. Myar
Robt. Henderson
Arthur Boorns
James Boorns
Patrick Moore
John thompson
Robert Kenedy
Danl Carmichael
John Carmichael
Maekel Barckman
Alexander Carson
Arthur Withney
daniel Shawhan
John Kennedy
William Kennedy
William Reno
John Kerr
Jas. McDermut
James Richardson
Thomas Williams
Alexr. Long
Daniel Herbert
Martin McKeen
Henry hurst
James (illegible)
*James Stewert
Robt. Johnson
Henry Middlesworth
Obediah Holmes
Robert Shawhan
Jno. Saviers
Isaac McMichael
John McMichael
Adam Keller
John Philips
John Nisbett
bartholomew Dinnis
Joseph McDowell
Thomas Lownsdale
Jacob Wyant Junr.
Thos. B. Patterson
Charls Smith
Ebenezer Gallahar
Amos Wilson
Wm. Hall
Michl Brown
Richard Sparrow
John Bell
William Tiddball
John Clifford
Benj. Kuykendall
-Nicholas Bausman
Alex Steel
John Metzger
John Meck Clennen
James Bevard
George Adams
Joseph McCollogh
Robt. Snodgrass
Saml. Blackmore
Charles Allison
Thomas Redmon
Thos. Neilly
William Fife
John Ross
George Justus
Jno. Henry
William Boggs
Samuel Barber
David Felton
his
William x Anderson
mark
Jacob Ferree
John McLaughlin
John Hays
Robert Wilson
Andrew McAnsland
John Kinkead
Thos. Scott
Alexander Watson
Jacob Haymaker
James Kelly
Benjamin Vander Slice
John Millikin
James Kennedy
William Vaughan
James McMculleum
David Kennedy
Henry Wolf
John Stewart
Joseph Kerr
James Kennedy
Thomas Hogg
Joseph Mcdermit
Isaac Miller
Wm. Davidson
John Stees
John Neel
Obednego Davison
John Patch
247A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
John Carr
William Black
John Kinkead
Robert McKee
James McPherson
William Carson
Isaac Williams
John frew
Thos. Williams
John Williams
Wm. Williams
Alexander Frew
John Boyd
Zac. Burdin
John Carn
Isaac Lane
George Gaunce
Joseph Robison
James Colwell
Patrick Armer
Hackai Slidem
William Wilson
Wm. Daugherty
Job Harvey
John Hull
Matt Hurley
John Barr
John McCormick
Joseph Curry
Thos. horsfiel
Conroad Wimbeidel
William Boggs
Christian Harseoh
George Evans
Daniel Shewhen
Jno. Sharer
James Finney
Wiliam Finney
Alexander kean
William Long
Jno Wallace
Daniel Reisher
Nathanael Patterson
Robert Thompson
Ja.s. Hamilton
John McKee
Michael Reisher
John Boggs
Thos. Lapely
James McKinney
John Wilson
Oliver Elliot
James McMullen
Joshua Long
James Brady
Eadward Coile
William  Stewart
James Erwin
David Kennedy
Henery Shever
Robt. Bryarly
James Rutherfor(l
John Johnson
John Scott n
Dunning McNair
Peter Parchment
William Stephens
Saml. Sinclair
Jacob Miller
William Wightmai1
Simon Fletcher
John McDowel
David Calhoon
Henry Shaver
John Powell
James Elliott
John Small
Augustin Leibhardt
James Coulter
John Forgey
Saml. Sinclair Junr
Samuel Glass
Andrew Patterson
Mobray Evans
Andw. McClure
William McKee
Wm. McGill
John Elliot
Mathew Wigfield
(illegible)
Henry Reichard
Thomas Hamilton
Hugh Davison
William Hamilton
Robert Henderson
Henry Wood
Sanders Snoodgrass
James Snoodgrass
Willum McLauglin
Thomas Finney
Saml Cunningham
John Shields
Thos. Dunlap
John Loudobough
248PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
William Powell
Joshua Davidson
William Reed
James Turk
his
Alexr. x Barr
mark
Wm. Daugherty
Sal. Young
John Miller
James Patton
Robert Boaken
Ebenezer Patton
David hill Sener
Mikle Strain
Samuel hill
David hill
H,ugh McCoy
francis kirkpatrick
James thompson
Winm. Barr
James Richardson
Robert Sanders
John Dull
Joshua Meeks
John Meeks
John Purdy
William Boyd
Alexander Spiars
Robert Lyons
John Evans
John Morgan
John Ormsby, Junr
Jacob Haymaker, Junr
Charles Brooks
John Willson
Robert Holms
Isaa Walker
Isaac Israel
Robard hall
Steeven hol
James hol
William holl
John Mc bride
James Bear
Geidon Miler Junr
Geidon Miler
James Reed
John Smith
Jacob Hook
James Patten
John (illegible
(illegible)
(illegible)
James Henry
Joseph Christel
Robert Ramage
James Reed
Wm. fulton
Thomas Ramage
Thos. Willson
James Burns
Isaac Benet
John Tradle
James Cassey
James flaeanaghan
Jacob Dixon I76
Bartholomy Garvy
Saml. Sample
Hahnes Dauss (illegible)
Wm. Reed
Abraham (illegible)
Geo. Kelly
John Stille
Edward Pall
Thos. Craig
James Wallace
John Bever
Andw. Crauford
John Gallaher
Thomas Murdoch
Hans Murdoch
Daniel Robins
Ebenezer Magoffin
Jo~hn Kerlisle
Frances Willson
Beneamin Bennit, Juner
Beneamin Bennit
Samuel tailor
Thos. Sands
Hugh McDanall
Peeter (illegible)
John Williams
Jno. Carnaghan
John Crowder
Abraham Bennett
Geo. McCully
Nat. Irish
Tho. Martin
Wm. Ryan
James Ryan
Saml. Crage
249A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Steward Wilkins
Jams Willis
Wm. Wilkins
Thomas Ross
James Ross
John Armstrong
Rpbt. McMaharg
Henry Speers
Joseph Flienter
Charles Duke
James Harosh
Niel McAchaney
Michael (illegible):
Thos. Morten
James Rice
Daniel Robins
William Murphy
Jno. Murphy
Pati ick McDonnald
Abraham M. Dean
Samuel bar
Hugh Quigley
Gorge Bowers
Jno. Rice
Wiliam Deen
Jno. barr
Samuel Barr
Jno. Brakeny
Mathias Brakeny
Robt. Barr
Pat. Lenerd
David Crutchrow
Drenkin Rubsin
177 Jams Norish
Jnob. Ryan
Samuel McNear
Benjamin Ryzar
Arthur Brown
James Bows,his
Jacob x Burkheaut
mark
William Black
Thomas Black
Thomas Davison
Henry Fusher
Robert Black
Robt. Miler
Robt. Hain
Robt. Hutchusin
WVulliam Ross
John McClean
Edward McGlaughlon
Seth Bryan
Denel teremyer (?)
Wiliam Robisen
Anthony Evenes
Samuel Hulen
Tumues Garety
Danil Swany
Jas. Wilkinson
I83. Wm. Asqua
Sam Martain
James Martain
James Cissna
Elina Powell
Jas. Amberson
Thomas McKee
James Huey
James Fisher
James Thomson
Samuel Mclure
Samuel Eve (torn)
James Guffy
I96 John Mclean
James Gray
McMillan
(torn out)
250PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Richard Sparrow
Charls Dunkin
Marmaduke (illegible)
John Smith
(torn Lerch
(torn) McDonald
(torn) eny
(torn) trotter
(torn) Camreon
(torn) Selly
(torn) McDonald
(torn) fiusher
(torn) ald
(torn) Betty
(torn) English
(torn) bans
(torn) Myclaw
(torn) Mcbroay
(torn) broay
(torn) iffe
(torn) Brothers
James Cannon
John McFaal
his
John x Mcdonald
mark
his
John x Camron
mark
Alexander Mcdonald
Hennry Small
Henry IMclinear
James Thompson
Thomas Christy~
Henry Simons
William Mcfarish
Tilnothy Burderskull
John Titus
David Betty
Charles Willson
Henry McMeen
John Edwards
Mathew Mconnal
John Jacks
James Willson
John buffe
William Broday
Murdgah Mclowd
Daniel Grahams
215
John Wolter
James Chambers
William Willson
Danl. Britt
Edwd Ward
Thos. Gibson
Jno. Lockart
Wm. Durragh
Wm. Christey
Archd Reid
James Carr
Charles Bell
Charles Forgie
Jas. McLelland
Pattrick McCartney
Thos. Sampson
pat. Mcdoneld
Willm White
Hugh Nicehol
William Dowell
James Wilson
Harrisburg, Penna., October 8, I907.
To whom it may concern:
I hereby certify that the foregoing pages I to Io contain a true copy of the
original petition of citizens of Washington and Westmoreland counties for the
erection of a new County, with Pittsburg as the county seat, date as mentioned
on page I. Now on file in Division of Public Records, Harrisburg, Penna.
In testimony whereof I              LUTHER R. KELKER,
hereby affix the Seal       Custodian, Division of Public Records.
of this Department.
[SEAL]
25ICHAPT'E2a XVIII.
Pioneers of Pittsburg; Their Habits, Customs and Hardships.
The early settlers around Pittsburg were nearly all young men who had
come from Virginia and from the Cumberland Valley and were largely descendants of Scotch-Irish parents. Rarely ever were they beyond middle age.
The old people were left behind in the East. Often a young man came across
the mountains unmarried, and here located a tract of land, clearing part of it
and sometimes built a house the first year. Late in the fall he returned to his
former home to get married, and early in the spring the two set out for their
new home. He usually had a horse on which the young wife rode and on
which was also carried a few indispensable household goods which could not be
purchased here. Sometimes a well-to-do pioneer had two horses. If so, on
one was a pack-saddle on which was b,rought west perhaps 300 pounds of
household utensils. In any event they brought a skillet, a pot, a few dishes, an
axe and a mattock for clearing land. They generally brought some bedding
material, though this was often entirely of skins of animals killed on the way
or procured after their arrival. They also brought garden seeds and a few dry
herbs to last them until new ones could be raised. Seed corn and seed grain
was always kept at the garrison of Fort Pitt for the benefit of the community,
and thither went the young farmer who was in need when planting time came.
Those who came west also often brought seeds of favorite apple and peach
trees, which they planted near their new homes. The settler himself usually
walked all the way and carried a rifle on his shoulder, for this he must have in
the new country. With this outfit, if they had with them a few pounds of
hard-baked bread and if he was fortunate enough to shoot a deer, turkeys or
other smaller game on the way, they were well supplied for a fortnight's journey through the wilderness. There were often days of travel without the sign
of a human habitation. If the travellers were near a settler's house, be it ever
so humble and crowded, they were always welcome. This long journey was
usually made in the springtime, when sleeping outside was not dangerous nor
inconvenient. They were, moreover, often going to a settlement where they
were looked for by relatives or old acquaintances, and the journey had in it
much to look for with pleasure. Seldom did a family locate in a new countryPITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
253
alone. In case the community in which they were moving was entirely new,
they formned a company among their neighbors in the East, who made the
journey anid located together. These companies were called colonies and often
had among them entire families who were being transplanted to the West. As
has been observed before, the first log houses or cabins were built near the
forts; then they spread out along the military roads and finally the entire community was settled. Fort Pitt was all this time garrisoned by the government
or the state, and in this the settlers, except during Dunmore's War, were made
welcome until their log houses were ready for occupancy, so that their residence
in the fort was not always limited to times of danger.
Western Pennsylvania had few Daniel Boones in its early history, men
who isolated themselves entirely from companionship and lived alone in the
wilderness. Fur traders, of course, did this in the early days, but they are not
generally considered among the thrifty pioneers who cleared away the primeval
forest and were the original founders of the homes we glory in today. The
early pioneers whom we are considering were home-makers, and, after the acquisition of land, what they most desired was neighbors. They did not come
here to hunt and fish, nor to buy furs and skins from the Indians. Generally
they left better homes in the East, but were willing to endure all manner of
hardship for a few years with the hope of abundance later on. They very soon
learned to love their new homes and to fight for and defend them, as we have
seen in Dunmore's War, even as though thy had been palaces. However
rough the land, however small the clearing or however rude his mud-plastered log cabin, it was his own, and that consolation alone was enough to enable
him to overlook all its imperfections. Because he owned it himself he was
willing to defend it against the world, if necessary. "To be a freeholder,"
said Blaine in his eulogy on Garfield, "has been the patent and passport of
self-respect with the Anglo-Saxon race ever since Horsa and Hengist landed
on the shores of England."  For many years, as we have seen, the pioneer
worked with his gun near him and in company with his neighbors. In house
building he was almost compelled to have neighbors, or at least some assistance
in putting the logs in place. He could cut down and hew the timber and perhaps a neighbor could help him to draw the hewn logs to the place selected for
the house. Then came a "raising," which was a big day among our pioneer
ancestors. The whole community assembled and put up the log house in a single
day. Sometimes they cut and hewed the logs and put up the house between
"sun-up" and "sun-down." A house fifteen by thirty feet, two rooms below
and one or two above, was a very large house for that period. The axe was the
principal tool used in house building. On the day of the raising the older people had each a dram before they began work, for whiskey was supposed to be
indispensable in every well regulated community. There was also a big dinner,
which was prepared by the women of the community. Thus both old and young
were brought together at the raising and all had a part to perform. Not by
any means the least attractive feature of the occasion were the young maidensA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
who attended to prepare the noon dinner. The young men, who proudly
showed their strength by lifting logs to their places, were often rough and unpolished, half hunter and half farmer, but nevertheless they greatly attracted
our grand dames. The raising was governed by rules which greatly facilitated
the work. The men were divided into two equal companies, and, after the
military order of that day, each chose a captain. The logs were pushed up on
slides at each side and ends of the house and the party which could the most
rapidly put its logs in place were the victors. When the log was at its proper
height it was notched at the ends to fit on the log underneath it and thus be
held firmly in the house. The man who notched the ends of the logs was called
the "corner-man," and there were four of these, that is, one for each corner.
A sharp ax, a true eye and a strong arm were the'requisites of a corner-man.
Had he these qualifications he could very quickly notch the log to fit on the log
below and cut its upper side to fit the triangular notch of the next log.  He
must also keep his corner plumb and this required more care than we might
think. He was a very important man at a raising. While he was doing this,
those on the ground were moving the next log up the slides to its final position.
A good corner-man must also have the last log finished by the time the next log
arrived so as not to keep the men waiting. But if he did keep them waiting
sometimes in the morning when the logs did not have to be raised very high,
later in the day he could often indulge in the sarcasm of calling for logs, for
each succeeding log had to be raised about a foot higher. The average log
when green, if twenty feet long, would weigh about I,500 pounds, and it was
not an easy matter to hoist it ten or fifteen feet with the limited appliances of
that day. The average house, say fifteen by twenty-five feet, was nine or ten
feet to the top of the first story, and the second story was not generally more
than four or five feet to the eaves of the roof. Sometimes when the house was
more pretentious, the second story was a full story of eight or nine feet. The
entire house was generally built of logs of equal length, making no provisions
for the door or for windows. The logs were afterwards sawed away for such
openings, and this can be noticed even to this day in our'old log houses. Sometimes there was a chimney in the center with a fireplace on each side, but this
was a more pretentious style of architecture than the pioneer in his hurry
usually adopted. The chimney was often at one side or end of the house and
frequently on the outside, in which case there was an opening through the logs
for the fireplace. In most houses the chimneys were made of stones and
mortar. A few that were more hurriedly constructed had chimneys made of
small pieces of wood which were laid in thick mortar, which thoroughly covered
the inside and thus protected it fairly well from the sparks of the fire. The
earliest houses had no glass windows. Light was admitted through greased
paper, and the light at best was very poor. There was no glass manufactured
in America then and it was a luxury only indulged in by those who could afford
to transport it from the East. Glass was first manufactured in Pittsburg in
254PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                              255
I791, but it was long years after that until it came into general use in making
windows.
At the top of the first story logs called joists, were laid across the building
and these were hewn on one side only. They were usually small saplings from
eight to ten inches in diameter. On the top of the house came the rafters, made
after the same manner but not so heavy. The roof was made of clapboards, that
is, boardlike pieces split from straight-grained trees. They were much larger and
thicker than split shingles. Sometimes they were smoothed off with a drawing
knife. From these were also made the rough floor of the second story if there
was a second story at all, for many of the houses were but one story high, and
indeed many of them had but one room and were not over fifteen feet square.
The floor of the first story in the most primitive houses was made of clay.
Next to clay in advance was the puncheon floor, which was made of logs split in
the center and laid with the flat side up. These flat surfaces with a little dressing, made a comparatively level floor. The fireplace was a great, wide opening,
so that a log six feet or more in length could be rolled into it as a back log and
thus help to throw out heat. Over this great fireplace was hung che rifle, bullet
pouch and powder horn of the owner of the house. Sometimes the antlers of a
deer hung above the fireplace and from them were suspended the implements
of the hunter. The door was hung on wooden hinges. The door latch was
a short bar of wood on the inside, and from it upward through a hole in the
door passed the latch-string so that it could be opened from the outside, but
when night came the latch-string could be drawn in, a simple way of locking
the door. From this came the favorite expression of welcome, "the latchstring is out."  The houses were made comparatively warm by filling up the
cracks with small pieces of wooql and covering them with mortar. It was also
a dry house after the floor was put in, but these were almost its only merits.
The houses burned in Hannastown and also the houses in Pittsburg at that
time were the best in the western country, yet none of them was better than
the description  above and  some of them  were much  smaller.   The
houses in Pittsburg before the Revolution were not equal to this. In I774
there was but one house in Pittsburg with a shingle roof and it was pointed out
as a marvel in town improvement and as an evidence of the great enterprise
around the Fork of the Ohio. Dr. MacMillan, who came to the West to preach
in I778, says: "The cabin in which I was to live was raised but there was no
roof to it, nor any chimney or floor. We had neither bedstead, table, nor stooil,
nor chair, nor bucket. We placed two boxes, one on the other, which served
us for a table, and two kegs served us for seats, and having committed ourselves
to God in family worship, we spread our bed on the floor and slept soundly
until morning. Sometimes, indeed, we had no bread for weeks, but had plenty
of pumpkins and potatoes and all the necessaries of life; as for luxuries we
were not much concerned."  Dr. James Power; who also preached in the West
during the Revolution, says that for years after he came there was not a frame,
stone or brick house within the limits of his congregation, and his charge inPITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE'7
held a levee in his tent every morning from Io to II o'clock. He was moreover a Martinet in discipline. He forbade theft and drunkenness, and punished
the offenders perhaps with undue severity. He spurned the backwoods tactics
of the Virginia Rangers, and with the confidence born of conceit and ignorance
of the situation, said to Benjamin Franklin, "These savages may indeed be
formidable to an enemy of raw American militia, but upon the King's regulars
and disciplined soldiers, Sir, it is impossible they should make any impression."
The great philosopher smiled.and wished him well. But this absolute confidence of victory did not exist alone in Braddock's mind, but pervaded all the
colonies. Franklin says that money was raised by public subscription in Philadelphia to celebrate his victory by an immense bon-fire, so confident were they
of Braddock's success.
The reader must not forget that it was indeed a very difficult march. The
distance from Alexandria was about two hundred and eighty miles, and much
of this way a road had to be cut through a dense forest and across the Allegheny mountains. The horses were weakening each day, for there being no
grass they were compelled to subsist on leaves. Sir John Sinclair was quartermaster-general and though he "stormed like a lion rampant," at the want of
provisions, it did no good. Generally following the line of Nemacolin's Path,
as previously mentioned, Braddock moved very slowly westward. His prey,
he thought, could not escape him. "Duquesne," he said, "can hardly detain me
above three or four days, and I see nothing that can obstruct my march to
Niagara." The train with its wagons and supplies was fully four miles long.
The slowness of the march could not be understood in England. The Duke
of Brunswick had planned the campaign, and was impatient at its delay.
Horace Walpole, who has so thoroughly preserved the gossip of his day, with
characteristic wit wrote: "The Duke of Brunswick is much dissatisfied at the
slowness of General Braddock, who does not march as if he was at all impatient to be scalped."  Washington complained in a. letter that the army
stopped to level every mole hill and bridge every small stream so that in four
days they had only advanced twelve miles.
When the army reached Little Meadows, at the foot of the western slope
of the Allegheny mountains, Braddock held a council Qf war. In this he advised with Washington, whom he called Young Buckskins, because of his
dress, and not in derision. Washington's advice was followed, and the result
was  that the  army  was  divided.  Washington  had  suggested  this
arrangement at Cumberland, but its importance was not then apparent to the
general. The heavy wagons and main supplies were left behind. A litile
more than half the entire force, the ablest of the soldiers and the flower of the
English army, with pack horses carrying only necessary supplies, with a few
pieces of artillery, was to push on toward the fort. More than twelve hundred
well trained soldiers under Braddock himself thus marched on rapidly, while
the remaining stores, ammunition, heavy wagons, etc., were left with Colonel
Dunbar to follow by slower marches. On June 3oth Braddock's advanced army
2A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
cluded nearly all that is now embraced within Allegheny county. Stone houses
were not built until the latter part of the century, and even then were built only
where stones could be readily procured. The furniture within the houses of
that day was nearly all home-made, and in many instances without sawed lumber. Our day laborers now would scarcely live in such houses, even though
they were rent free, yet those were the houses and castles of our ancestors who
fought so bravely to protect them and who were not inferior to us in physical
and moral qualifications, nor were they by nature intellectually inferior to us.
If any reader who prides himself on being descended from one of Pittsburg's
oldest families will go back far enough he will find his ancestor living in just
such a house as is described, and likely in one not quite so complete. Nor will
he be ashamed if he is a truly worthy and loyal son of his pioneer ancestry.
The greatest and most distinguished man of last century was born in a onestoried log cabin in Kentucky. Daniel Webster, the Hercules of American
statesmen, in a political address made during the Log Cabin campaign in I840
at Saratoga, New York, bore this testimony to the old log huts: "It did not
happen to me to be born in a log cabin, but my older brothers and
sisters  were born in a log cabin, raised amid the snow-drifts of  New
Hampshire at a period so early that when the smoke first rose from its rude
chimney and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a
white man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada.
Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children to it, to
teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before
them."  The second story of the log-house of that day, if there was a second
story, was generally called a loft, and was reached sometimes by a stairway but
often by a ladder, or by wooden pins driven into the logs. On the rafters were
often hung pieces of smoked meat, all kinds of herbs for medicines, and clothes
when not in use. The stables of the pioneer were built like the houses, but of
smaller logs, and they were rarely hewn. The smaller logs were used so that
the cracks between them might be less and thus protect the stock from wild
animals, such as bears and wolves, which roamed the country at will and were
very destructive to domestic animals. The stables were not much of a protection against the blasts of winter, for the cracks between the logs were very
rarely closed. When the early settler began to erect buildings he always located them near a never failing spring, and thus generally on the lower ground.
In felling trees for his house and stable he was clearing his land, and thus his
first fields were near his house. Afterwards he cut other trees, rolled them
together and burned them. The forest was further cleared by deadening
trees and among these he raised grain even the first season. One man in a day
could deaden the trees on three or four acres of land. In a few years the
storms uprooted the deadened trees and the huge boles by that time were very
dry, so if four or five were rolled together, making a "log heap," they could be
reduced to ashes in a few hours. In this way the primeval forest was cut away,
and very little of the timber was utilized.
256PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
The pioneer's next duty was to fence a few of his fields, that is, such as he
intended for agricultural purposes. The cattle and horses were allowed to
wander at large, browsing in the woodland, and the fences were to protect the
growing crops from them. Bells were hung on the necks of animals so that
they could be found when needed, and that the farmer might know from the
sound of the bell when they had broken into his fields. Bells were almost indispensable in a new unfenced country, yet they sometimes wrought great harm.
The prowling Indians frequently removed the bells from domestic animals,
and, hiding behind bushes or in dark ravines, induced children or the pioneer
to come close to them, they thinking they were approaching the cows or horses
for which they were searching. The bells on animals were also said to be a
protection against wild beasts, for rarely ever, it is said, would a wolf or bear
attack an animal which wore a tinkling bell.
Corn, rye and potatoes were the principal products of the early farmers.
They were very anxious to raise wheat, but had poor success in its culture, even
in our present wheat growing communities. They believed that wheat and rye
could be raised only on high ground, and for that reason cleared the hills first.
The more level tracts and rich river bottoms which afterwards constituted the
most productive farming land, were then too damp for wheat or rye, particularly the former, to live in over winter. Furthermore, the rich bottom land
was very prolific in the growth of weeds and briars and req;uired much more
labor to reclaim it than the higher ground. Corn was largely used for bread
and by hunters and travellers in the form of "johnny cake," which for this
reason was originally called "journey cake." The average garden of those
days was a small affair. They raised their sage, from the leaves of which they
made tea, used as a substitute for the tea of commerce. To, the real tea our ancestors were always hostile after the tax was put on it by Great Britain in I765.
When Arthur St. Clair first moved his family to Ligonier Mrs. St. Clair, who
was a Boston woman of gentle birth, brought with her a chest of real tea.
Many of her new neighb6rs had heard of it before but had'never tasted it.
They came from near and from far to attend her "tea parties." They enjoyed
it so much that it was but a short time until it was exhausted.  Coffee was not
known to our early settlers, but by the time of the Revolution it was used for
special occasions. The root bark of the sassafras tree, roasted chestnuts and
roasted rye or wheat were all used in place of coffee.
From necessity our ancestors of that age were clothed almost entirely in
homespun garments of linen or wool or a mixture of the two, called "linsey
woolsey," or in the skins of animals. Flax culture is so far removed from our
generation that perhaps a few words concerning it may not be out of place
here, for it was undoubtedly the main-stay of our pioneers. Its culture is one
of the oldest of human industries. Dr. Herr, the great German botanist, has
proved thoroughly that it was cultivated among the pre-historic races of
Europe. After many years of research he asserts that it was grown in
Egypt 5,00o years ago. Its use in the formation of textile fabrics is much
17.61"5A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
older than the use of wool, notwithstanding the fact that sheep are among the
oldest of domestic animals. Flax is a fibrous plant, from the bark of which
all linen is made. It will grow readily in any soil but it will grow best on loose
ground. The seed is a small brown grain and from it is manufactured all pure
linseed oil. The seed is so small that a gallon of it would sow about two acres.
It grew about two and one-half feet high and bore a pretty blue blossom, a field
of which when in fuill bloom, was most attractive to the eye. When ripe it
was pulled up by the roots and dried on the ground. The seeds were easily removed by thrashing it with a flail. The stem itself was very brittle when dry,
but the bark of the stem was very tough, and so when "broken" on a crude
machine called a "break," the bark remained whole while the brittle stems were
reduced to small pieces and were easily separated from the fibre.  The finer
part of the fibre or bark could be spun into linen and the coarser part was made
into cloth called "tow." This separation was done by drawing it lengthwise
over a "hackle," which was a small piece of wood set with numerous iron
spikes projecting about four inches. This caught the rough material and allowed the finer fibre to be drawn through.
Then the housewife spun it on a spinning wheel propelled by a treadle
tramped by one foot. Spinning wheels may yet be seen in many houses, preserved as mementoes of that age. Spinning with a wheel was a very ancient
and very simple art. They spun in the days of Virgil, for he says, "the slender
thread of life is drawn out from the spindles of the fates." They both spun
and wove in Greece and still further back than Homer's age the Egyptians were
weaving linens which would be of high order even in our advanced age.
Homer compares the life of a man to the "swift flying shuttle of the weaver."
Nor was the spinning in the latter part of the eighteenth century confined to
the pioneer women of the West, but our grandmothers in the best eastern
families had been taught to spin and knit, and many of them to weave. The
mother of General Washington, Mary Ball, who was a woman of high birth and
wealth, could spin, knit and weave, and Martha Washington, the wife of the
general, became famous for her knitting societies during the Revolution. The
cloth was woven on looms, which were rather expensive structures and only
perhaps one family in a dozen could afford one, though every family of any
standing had one or more spinning wheels. The neighbor who had a loom took
in weaving and retained a part of each web woven in payment for his services.
A fabric made of tow or linen was very durable but not a warm covering for
cold weather, so a mixture of wool and linen called linsey-woolsey was made.
Through many a long evening, aided only by the flickering light of a tallow dip,
did the industrious mother nod and bend over the spinning wheel or grasp the
countless threads with weary fingers and weave them into webs of cloth for her
husband and children. Wool could be prepared for home spinning by "carding," which was done by two hand cards looking not unlike horse curry-combs.
It could then be spun and woven like linen or tow. But the pioneer's great
difficulty in producing wool was to protect the sheep from the wolves and
258PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
bears which were found in every section of the West. Foxes, too, which were
very destructive to young lambs, abounded in the forests. When the country
grew older these animals were banished and wool carding by hand was
abandoned, for in many localities late in the century, there sprung up fulling
mills. To these the farmer sent his wool where, by simple machinery, it was
made ready for spinning. Or he could, at a later period, have it spun at the
mill and woven into such cloth as he stood in need of. The woolen factories
were run by water power and the work they did was not expensive. Still later
these factories colored wool and made it into blankets of red and white or blue
and white, some of which may yet be seen, preserved as heirlooms among the
older families of the country. But these factories were scarcely built before
I8oo, and for twenty-five or thirty years at least, all pioneer families around
Pittsburg spun and wove their own cloth almost entirely by hand.  In
the winter men wore caps made from the skins of animals and in the summer
they wore straw hats, but all were of domestic make. Men wore buckskin
trousers and these were worn by men in all ranks of life. They often wore a
hunting shirt, as it was called, though its use was not confined to the chase.
It was sometimes made of doe skin and was very slow to wear out. The wellto-do men wore shoes with buckles in the summer, while the poorer class wore
moccasins, a soft-soled shoe of home manufacture made of buckskin. Along
with shoe buckles and knee breeches went blue coats and brass buttons, but,the
cloth of these was not generally of home manufacture. There was much more
difference between the well-to-do and the poor as to dress then than there is
now. Women wore short skirts of linsey-woolsey in the summer and of all wool
in the winter. They wore beaver or felt hats on special occasions arid their
hats did not differ very much from those worn by men on dress occasions. It
was then fashionable for women to tie a fringed silk handkerchief over their
heads. Most women before I8oo were barefooted in the summer when about
their house work, and prior to that time many of them attended church, the
only dress occasion they had, without shoes. In the winter they wore moccasins. It was at least thirty years after the founding of Pittsburg by the first
settlers that silk dresses began to be worn by women. It is true, as we have
seen, that a silk dress was taken from a house in Hannastown by an Indian, but
this was remarkable, and its being silk was perhaps what preserved the incident to us. Calico and all kindred fabrics were unknown to our ancestors of
the Revolutionary period. During the early years of the last century calico sold
for $I.oo per yard, and even as late as 1825 it was selling for fifty cents per
yard.
Another crude industry by which the pioneer lived was boiling the sap of
the maple or sugar trees and making syrup and sugar. It was done in a very
primitive manner compared with the same industry of our age, yet the result
was nearly the same. They bored a small hole into the tree and inserted a
hollow reed or stick, through which the sap dripped rapidly into a trough
about three feet long, made of the halves of a small split log. These logs
259260                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
were hollowed out with an axe and could be made to hold three or four gallons
of sap. The sap they boiled in kettles over wood fires. The season for making
it was very short, being confined to the first mild weather of springtime, and
consequently when the pioneer had many trees on his land he kept the sap boiling night and day, for it soon soured if not used up. The sugar camp was a
favorite place for'roung men and women to meet at night to make sugar and
keep the fire going and the water boiling after the older people had gone home,
for the boiling was always done in the midst of the grove of trees. The trees
on the eastern slopes of the hills and in the bottoms where the warm morning
sun struck them most directly, were the most productive of sap. An average
tree produced eight or ten gallons of sap per day, and a large one produced
muclh more.
A Scotch-Irishman who located here early last century was very much delighted with the sugar making, which to him was a new way of securing the
saccharine substance. He worked his trees all he could in the early springtime
and told his neighbors that he would "stap aff" until his corn was planted and
then would begin again. The great English novelist, Thackeray, made a
greater mistake than this in his charming story entitled "The Virginians,"
written to portray the ill-fated expedition of General Braddock to capture Fort
Duquesne. He represents his hero, George Warrington, as being taken a
prisoner by the French and confined in the fort until his escape in October,
1756. The, hero started on foot at once by Idng night journeys through the
wilderness to his home in' eastern Virginia. The novelist represents him as.
very greatly admiring the hues of the October forests in Western Pennsylvania,
travelling mostly by night to escape pursuers, when one night he saw a distant
light in a valley.' The escaped prisoner was very hungry yet feared to go to
the light lest the campers be Indians or hostile French. But finally, spurred on
by hunger, he ventured close enough to discover to his great delight that they
were farmers boiling sugar, for this, says the novelist, "is the season of the yearthat the Pennsylvania farmers secure their sugar by boiling the sap of the
maple tree."  The Indians made syrup from the maple and the hickory treeand also from the walnut tree, the latter producing a very dark colored but
very sweet fluid or sugar. Indeed, it is said on good authority, that the industry now so common in America was taught the white pioneer by the Indians. They cut a small niche into the tree and caught the drops of sap in vats
or troughs, boiling it very much as our forefathers did. The sugar or syrup
was, like all products of that day, made for home consumption only. It was
long years before there was a sale for it. The industry, with many modern
improvements, is yet carried on in many parts of Pennsylvania, though the
product is now almost exclusively maple syrup.
The woods also at that time were full of wild fruits. Moreover, all small fruits
and berries grew more abundantly and were more luscious then than now. Horace Greeley noticed the same change in the New England states, and attributed
it entirely to the destruction of the original forests. This so changed the moisturePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
26of the atmosphere and the earth and so subjected the ten'der buds to intense
heat, to the stormy blasts of winter and to severe cold, that small fruits scarcely
thrive at all now compared with their natural growth when the country was in
its original condition.  Blackberries, whortleberries, raspberries, wild plums,
wild strawberries, haws, wild grapes, and servesberries, the latter ripening with
the early days of June, were plentiful then and of a much finer quality than the
few stragglers which woodsmen may now occasionally find. The peach and
cherry trees both bore fruit in their third or fourth year and were easily raised
then while, owing to climatic changes, they can scarcely be grown at all now.
In the early days of Pittsburg many of these small fruits were grown profusely
on almost every residence lot in the town. Wild fruits were of great advantage
to our ancestors. It is an undoubted fact that many of them lived sometimes
for days without bread or meat. Often an escaping captive travelled hundreds
of miles through an almost unbroken forest, subsisting entirely on wild fruits.
NIost of the early families depended mainly for their meat supply on the trusty
rifle. All men of that day were presumed to know how to handle a gun.
Small boys looked forward to the great day in the future when they could be
entrusted with firearms and go into the woods to hunt. The country was full
of game. The most dahgerous animals were the black and brown bears, which
were very common, and especially among the hills around Pittsburg, where
the cavernous rocks near the rivers and deep ravines afforded them good dens
and hiding places.  They by nature inhabited the wildest regions and, of
course, were more common in the early days of Pittsburg on the Allegheny
mountains. They ventured out into the settlements in those days in the pursuit of food. The settlers' sheep, pigs and calves were always in danger and
were much more likely to be carried off in the winter than in the summer for
obvious reasons.   All parts of Allegheny county, at least until I8Io, suffered
from such depredations. Bears were often killed in this section as late as I820,
but these had probably come from the Laurel Hill 6r Allegheny mountains in
search of food. The meat of the bear was used by the pioneer and very much
resembled pork. They invariably laid in a stock of it for winter and preserved it in the same manner that pork is now preserved. The bear skin also
made at least a half of a very warm blanket because of its thick covering of
fine soft hair. The bear was hunted with dogs. It could travel long distances through dense underbrush and was therefore, not by any means an easy
prey for the hunter. When closely pursued by dogs it climbed a tree for safety
and could then be brought down with a ball from the rifle. They were also
caught in large steel traps and were so furious when thus captured that they
frequently bit off the foot above the jaws of the trap and thus escaped. They
were caught more securely in pens made of strong logs, built on the side of a
hill or so that the bear could easily reach the top of the covering of the pen,
which was baited with a tempting cow's head or other piece of meat. The top
of the pen was so arranged that it tilted with the bear's weight and dropped it
into the pen, the tilting part of the roof closing immediately over its head, and- A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
was thus ready to entrap another bear. They were not crafty or cunning
animals and were frequently entrapped by this and other similar devices.
There were also many deer in the country and they were not confined to the
mountains but roamed all over the present limits of Allegheny county and
Western Pennsylvania. Later, of course, they were driven to the mountains
exclusively. They fed on grass, herbs and buds and frequented this section,
where the three rivers afforded them an abundance of fresh water. They
were wild and quick in movement when frightened, but with the hunter who
understood their habits were comparatively easily shot, and upon them the
pioneer depended largely for his supply of meat. Dozens of them were sometimes shot in a single year by one hunter. The deer had certain places where
they cros,sed from one high hill or spur of mountains to another and these crossings were well known to the hunter and were sometimes well defined paths.
Posting himself on these he could easily shoot the deer. There were certain
places where the water that oozed from the earth was slightly salted; these
were called deerlicks and were much frequented by them, for they had the
same taste for salt that cattle, sheep and horses have. The meat of the deer,
called venison, most nearly resembles mutton or beef. It was dried or jerked
to preserve it for future use. The skin of the deer was, like that of the bear, of
great service to the hunter. It was covered with a thick growth of hair and it
was almost impervious to cold or rain. When prepared in the form of buckskin or doeskin it was manufactured into breeches, coats, moccasins, etc.
There were no buffaloes here after the advent of the white man, but Washington, in a letter wrote of hunting them on the upper Ohio river sections and the
Kanawha river regions were relied on to some extent, to furnish buffalo meat
for the army in charge of Fort Pitt during the Revolution. Formerly they had
undoubtedly inhabited this region.
Small game, such as wild turkeys, pheasants, rabbits, squirrels, etc.,
abounded everywhere, and in some localities were an annoyance to the growing
crops. Ammunition was too expensive to be wasted on them, though wild
turkeys were always considered a great delicacy and were much sought after
by the pioneer. Twice a year they had droves of wild pigeons to.shoot at, that
is, on their migrations north in the spring and south in the fall. These birds
came in great numbers. Wolves were a great annoyance to the farmer. Taken
singly a wolf was a cowardly, skulking animal, but a pack of them, when driven
to desperation by hunger, would attack either man or beast. The wolf of
Pennsylvania was brown in color rather than the gray wolf of the West with
which we are more familiar. It hunted its prey by scent like a dog. A pack
of them would approach the cabin of a farmer in quest of pigs or sheep and
announced their presence by prolonged howls which terrified the, community
almost as did the war-whoops of the Indians a few years previous. In that
frenzied condition, produced by hunger, a gang of them would spring on a
horse or cow, fasten their teeth and claws into its flesh and though all its
strength was put into play, the suffering animal could not rid itself of them and
in a few minutes was brought to the ground and devoured. A man alone after
262PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
nightfall was equally in danger should he encounter a pack of hungry wolves.
The only safety for him was to climb a tree. They could not follow him there
but they could watch him all night, which they often did, skulking away to their
dens in the morning. They were always gregarious animals. They generally inhabited mountainous countries or sections where they could readily find dens
among the cavernous rocks and later where they were not too far removed from
the domestic animals of the early settlers. In I782 the state offered $5.00 for
the scalp of a wolf whelp and $25.00 for that of a full grown wolf. This was
in state currency, which was greatly depreciated, but a few years later a reward
of $8.oo in gold was offered for every wolf that was killed, and this reward
was afterward raised to $I2.oo. In addition to this some counties in Western
Pennsylvania were so sorely afflicted with them that they offered special rewards. Squirrels and crows were also a great nuisance to the farmers. They
dug out newly planted corn grains and feasted on the ripening fields of grain.
Premiums were put on their scalps also, and some counties were specially
authorized by legislative enactments to assess and collect a squirrel scalp fund.
The premium offered by the state was two cents for squirrels and three cents
for crows, and was but little more than the cost of the ammunition, which itself was a very important question with the pioneer. He could not produce the
ingredients of powder nor could he dig lead from the earth. All firearms were
then discharged by flint locks and hence they were not compelled to buy caps,
which came afterward, but lead must be purchased. Powder was very frequently
manufactured by the early pioneer. Its explosive quality is brought about by
the chemical action of the union of three non-explosive ingredients, namely,
saltpeter, charcoal and sulphur. Taking about six-tenths of the former and
two-tenths each of the latter, they first pulverized each separately, then mixed
them in water and dried the mixture over a fire. To keep the mixture from
becoming a solid mass they were compelled to stir it constantly. W'Then
finally dry they had a fair quality of powder. The charcoal they could produce
but were compelled to purchase the saltpeter and sulphur. It could still be
made at less cost than the selling price of powder and the latter could not be
purchased at all times in this section. One old hunter was thus manufacturing
powder and was drying it over an open fire. Forgetting himself and perhaps
not realizing that it was dried, he stirred the fire below with the same paddle
he was using in stirring the powder. When he began again to stir the powder
a small coal perhaps adhered to the paddle. At all events it exploded and very
nearly cost him his life. A good hunter in those days used nothing but a rifle,
and for small game a gun of very small bore and bullet was used. It was not
an uncommon thing for a hunter to bring in a dozen squirrels or small birds
like partridges or pheasants, each of which was shot in the head. Squirrels
were often killed by "barking" them; that is, by shooting a bullet into the bark,
or between the bark and the squirrel. This was almost sure death to the
squirrel and did not destroy the meat.
263A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
There were few tools used by the farmers in those days compared with'the ones used now. Scarcely any farmer had a wagon, but hauled his crops on
a rude sled, which he could easily manufacture himself if he had a saw, an
auger and an axe. Hay was often dragged with a grapevine used in place of a
rope, and a comparatively good sized pile, weighing several hundred pounds,
could thus be dragged by drawing the vine underneath and around it and hitching a horse to the end. There were no ropes in the community then.  They
had a rude shaped plow, but very few harrows. To mellow the ground after
plowing they dragged a thorn or other tree with projecting branches over it.
The land was covered with deadened trees and stumps and because of these
was very much more difficult to cultivate than when thoroughly cleared. Grass
was cut with a scythe and grain with a sickle. Finally grain cradles were introduced, but were used only in cutting wheat, rye and perhaps buckwheat. So
it will appear that a farmer with an axe, saw, auger, sickle, scythe and plow
could manage to get along reasonably well as far as tools were concerned.
There was little done in this section then except farming. There were no
towns of any consequence, and nearly all the people depended upon agriculture
for a livelihood. Women not infrequently worked in the fields and helped
to perform much of the labor which is now performed by men exclusively.
To destroy the forest was the pioneer's first duty, for it will be remembered
that the entire country was practically an unbroken wilderness when first settled by white men. The work on the farm was very hard. A day's work
was from daylight until dark. In the winter months the pioneer cleared lands
and later threshed his grain with flails. No one at that time who worked a
day or two for a neighbor was paid in money, but in return labor when he
needed help, and any pioneer living within two or three miles of him was considered a near neighbor.
Prior to I790 there was scarcely a market for any farm product, but each
pioneer was content if he raised enough to live on from year to year and improved his land and increased his acres. After that, when there came a market
for rye for distilling purposes and when the manufacture of iron made a market
for horses, oats and corn, then the pioneers began to build better houses and
all over the country we can see the crumbling ruins of old stone houses and
barns built in the early years of last century. The pioneer during these primitive years had few expenses. He had scarcely any doctor bills, for there were
but few physicians, and, moreover, the housewife knew the simple remedies of
ga'rden herbs which she had carefully preserved. His fuel was cut from the
surrounding forest, his clothes were homespun or grew on the backs- of wild
animals, while the crude iron implements and ammunition were among the few
necessaries which he could not produce. But often these were subjects of
barter and he could procure them in return for rye, potatoes or the skins of
animals.
The great crying need of the settler was salt. This he could not produce
from his land and neither he nor his livestock could live and get along, well
264PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE2
without it. In "Craig's History of Pittsburg," is quoted a letter from Daniel
Brodhead written to the president of the supreme executive council, in which
he says salt will purchase any material which money would not buy. He urges
them to send it and urges that they cannot send too much salt. All salt was
then brought here on pack horses from Hagerstown, Maryland, or from Philadelphia, hence its great scarcity. In I790 one barrel of salt was worth
twenty bushels of wheat. Meat could not be conveniently kept without salt,
so the scarcity of salt brought about a corresponding scarcity of meat. When
Fort Pitt was garrisoned as a place of safety it was not uncommon to send
soldiers out to hunt in the woods for game. Few cattle were raised because of
the enormous price of salt.  About I8oo, Kentucky salt was manufactured
from the inexhaustible salt wells of that state and was brought up to Pittsburg
in barrels on boats, and after that it was cheaper. Yet as late as I8o6 Kentucky salt was selling in Pittsburg at $I4.00 per barrel, though the barrels were
about one-third larger than they are now. For many years salt was worth
from twelve and one-half to twenty cents per quart at retail. Deerlicks, it is
true, were known here long before the Revolution, and Captain Brady and
other hunters from Fort Pitt frequently took advantage of them in securing
venison. But the pioneer had neither the money nor the knowledge to bore for
and manufacture the salt from the water which oozed from the earth. The
common way of procuring it was to send a train of pack horses East laden with
skins and furs and return with them laden with salt.
Both congress and the legislature passed measures to relieve the people of
the growing need of salt. In September, I776, a large amount of salt was
found secreted by some Tory merchants in Philadelphia, and it was at once
confiscated and divided among the counties of the state. Pittsburg was then
in Westmoreland county and the share given to the county was three hundred
and nineteen bushels. In I778 the legislature purchased a large quantity of
salt for free distribution, and they also passed a law against any one having a
monopoly of the salt trade. The Continental congress itself established a salt
works in New Jersey, but like most of its exploits this was not successful. In
I779 a Committee of Salt was appointed by the state to regulate its price and
force its sale,on the part of those who had laid up large quantities of it. In a
"Merchants' Memorial," relative to a seizure of salt made by the Salt Committee
on October 23, I779, it is stated that they had refused two hundred dollars per
bushel for it and that now when taken from them for the state's benefit, they
were only receiving about one hundred and fifty dollars per bushel for it.
Flour was a very scarce article in the East, so President Reed proposed in I799
that salt be distributed among the counties in proportion to the amount of flour
sent east by them. While salt was more abundant in Kentucky, they had
not yet begun to distill whiskey, and therefore when our pioneers began to
make whiskey, boatloads of it were sent down the river and exchanged for
Kentucky salt. But salt in the early years of the last century remained at a
very high price and it was not unusual for the pioneers near the Fork of the
265A CENTURY AND A HALF.OF
crossed the Youghiogheny river about one mile below the present town of
Connellsville, the place being afterwards known as Stewart's Crossing. After
this the crooked road he cut to the mouth of the Youghiogheny may be accounted for in part on the theory that they had lost their bearings. Washington had been twice over the way and very largely guided the expedition, but it
must be remembered that Washington was taken sick with a fever at Little
Meadows, and much to his chagrin was compelled to remain in Dunbar's camp.
He only joined the army again on the day before the battle. The direct course,
after crossing the Youghiogheny river, was down the river and down the
Monongahela, remaining far enough from the river, bottom to secure high
ground, and thus avoid the danger of the enemy ambuscading them while they
were in narrow defiles or on low ground. But they left the river at Connellsville and came across the country to Jacobs creek, in Westmoreland county,
crossing that stream about one mile from Mt. Pleasant. After this they journeyed northwestward and crossed the Big Sewickley creek near Ruffsdale
station, on, the South West Pennsylvania railroad and then journeyed nearly
north, passing within four miles of Greensburg, and passed thus toward Irwin
and near Wilmerding until they reached Brush creek, a branch of Turtle creek.
On July 7th, when apparently in doubt of the correctness of this route, they
turned toward the south, and passing down Long Run valley they reached
Crooked run, about two miles from the Monongahela river. A glance at the
map will show that the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers form more
nearly a straight river than the Monongahela alone, and this may have misled
them, for they may have meant by leaving the river on their left, to strike the
Monongahela several miles below the mouth of the Youghiogheny river. On
the other hand it must be remembered that Christopher Gist was with them as
chief guide, that he had gone over the country repeatedly, was with Washington on his trip to French creek and again at Fort Necessity, and was moreover
at that time a resident of Western Pennsylvania, residing on Gist's plantation,
not far from the line of march.
While they encamped quietly at night, their camp was closely watched by
spies of the enemy, as indeed their every movement had been more or less for
many days. Braddock was not cautious in his marching through this country.
Robert Orme was an aide-de-carnp on this expedition, a member of the Coldstream Guards, and to his carefully kept diary we are indebted for much information concerning the expedition. On July 4th he says that two Indians who
were with Braddock were sent out to learn something of the French fort, and
that Christopher Gist without the Indians knowing it, was sent out to keep
trace of them. They returned on the 6th with the scalp of a French officer
whom they had killed within a half mile of the fort, and said they saw but few
men or tracks of men. They reported additional works around the fort and
some boats near it, and that they had seen a boat coming down the river carrying a white flag. Gist returned shortly after they did, and his report corresponded with theirs. He had been chased from the vicinity of the fort by two4A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Ohio to unite and send down to Hagerstown or to Kentucky, a train of pack
horses which would carry back the salt for the coming year. Each pack horse
could carry from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty pounds of
salt. Even as late as I820 farmers' boys went east in groups for salt. One
horse could carry two hundred and fifty pounds of salt and a boy rider in addition. The speed of travel was about twenty-five miles per day. The boys, an
old pioneer has told the writer, looked forward all year to the prospect of the
trip to the salt works in the fall, and when they returned they were veritable
young heroes and were asked to tell of their sight-seeing trip. Shortly after
I8oo salt was discovered in the Conemaugh Valley by an old woman named
Deemer, who noticed salt water oozing up in the river bottom in times of low
water. William Johnson first sunk a well and started a salt works. His land
lay near the present town of Saltsburg, where he also built a grist mill, and
called the place Point Johnson. This was as early as I8I2 or I813 and his
works could produce about thirty bushels of salt per day. This brought down
the price of salt considerably. Salt was also known to ooze from the ground
at Jacobs' creek because of well known deerlicks at that place. William Beck
first began its manufacture in that locality on Sewickley creek. The bed of'salt was about five hundred feet below the surface, though Johnson had bored
a well only about two hundred and ninety feet deep, where he found an
abundance of salt water. These wells were bored purely by man power. Four
men stood on the ground and four on a platform above them -and the eight
men grasped the shaft of the auger and raising it about three feet, simultaneously let it fall. This was repeated time after time, and the auger was turned
an inch or so each time. There was a rope fastened to it after the shaft of the
auger passed below the surface of the ground. It is known that they actually
worked in this manner two or three years in boring a hole five hundred feet
deep, but it is scarcely probable that the work was pursued daily. The well
was tubed and the manufacture of salt began here in Western Pennsylvania;
this resulted in another reduction of several dollars per barrel. The water was
pumped from the well with horse power and was boiled in kettles and pans
over large fires. This primitive manner of the manufacture made it very expensive and for many years afterward a good cow might be exchanged for
salt, and bring only one barrel.
A great many references have been made to the Continental money of this
early period in ]~ittsburg's history and about its fluctuating values. The real
value was so indefinite and irregular that it is hard to say what it was worth in
gold  or silver.  It was, however, an  important factor in  our early
settlement, and  must be properly  considered.  It was practically  the
only measure of value the pioneer had. Gold and silver had scarcely any circulation at all west of the Allegheny mountains before it became a measure of
values in I789 when the country, as a union, came under the present Constitution. Prior to that continental money had scarcely any purchasing power. An
old order book of 1780, among other things, prescribes the amount which land266PITTSBURG AND: HER PEOPLE,.
lords are allowed to charge their patrons for liquor and accommodations. These
rates are given in continental money and are as follows:
"Half pint of whiskey, $6.oo; whole pint o.f whiskey, $8.50; supper, $2.00;
breakfast, $2.00; lodging with clean sheets on the bed, $3.00; one horse and hay
over night, $3.o0." Accordingly no valuation of property based on such depreciated currency can be of any value to us. In I779 flour and bacon were
very scarce here and were brought across the mountains on pack saddles.
Bacon frequently sold for one dollar a pound. Congress resorted to all mannier
of schemes to sustain the value of its Continental currency. It passed embargo
acts, legal tender acts, limitation of prices acts, enacted penalties for refusing' to
take it, etc., but all their enactments were ineffectual in giving it a purchasing
power equ,al, or anything like equal, to its denomination. The only result of
their legislation in this direction seemed to be to bring about a contempt for
the Continental Congress. Perhaps our people suffered more from it after the
Revolution than at any other time, for the reason that the soldiers at the close
of the war were paid off in this currency. This brought much of it into the
Pittsburg region and resulted in the immediate disappearance of what little gold
and silver the people had. As if this was not enough, the state also issued a
currency. There was no reason why the latter might not have been good upon
redemption by the issuing power. But the pioneer sentiment was so opposed
to paper money a prejudice brought about by their experience with Continental money, that the state's currency had but little more value than that of
congress.
The county commissioners of Westmoreland in I780 adopted a system of
value which was probably a fair one, for it was confirmed by the courts of the
county. In this system thirty dollars in Continental money was valued at three
shillings and six pence. This would indicate that one dollar in gold was worth
about fifty  dollars  in  Continental currency.  David  Duncan, a  well
known Revolutionary soldier of Pittsburg, was Commissioner of Purchases and
reported that he had purchased in 1781, stall-fed cattle at one shilling per
pound, state money, and whiskey at six or seven shillings per gallon. He further said: "I have been in the glades trying to purchase beef, but no one would
sell without hard money." By the "glades" he probably meant the section now
included in Somerset county.
The people of'this section had much difficulty in paying their preachers,
and often paid them in farm products instead of money. In some sections they
stipulated that the amounts subscribed by the members of the congregation
should be paid either in money or grain, the latter to be delivered at the parsonage at, say four shillings per bushel for rye and two shillings and six pence per
bushel for corn. They also agreed that this should be paid quarterly and
should be sued for as lawful debts if not paid. It was frequently agreed that
the preacher's salary should be paid one-half in money and one-half in
provisions. Rye was then rated higher than corn or wheat, because they had
already begun the manufacture of it into whiskey. It is not uncommon in the
267A CENTURY AND -A HALF OF
records in Greensburg to find a will in which the father gives his land to a son,
or perhaps divides it between his sons, and stipulates that the devisee shall deliver to the other heir or heirs a certain number of bushels of wheat, rye, oats
or corn annually for a given number of years as their share of the estate. In
this manner he made, as he supposed, an equal division of his property between
his children. Late in the century came the merchant, and stores were started
by laying in a small stock of groceries, common fabrics, hunting material, etc.,
which were replenished twice a year by his going to the eastern cities for them.
It is true that we had fur traders before this, but they dealt exclusively in the
one product and were scarcely to be called merchants as we understand the
term now. The country store was usually at some small cross-roads, where
water power was near at hand and a grist mill was erected. The storeroom Qf
the merchant was perhaps not over twelve or sixteen feet square and had
counters around three sides of it and was heated by a wood fire. On his
shelves were a few dishes, groceries, ammunition, tobacco, and a few common
fabrics, sold by the web or yard. His goods were sold mostly at one hundred
per cent. profit, which was perhaps not too great, for he took in return all kinds
of farm products and sometimes had great difficulty in disposing of them. He
took bacon, wool, bu,tter, eggs, whiskey, flour, and, as an old-time merchant
once told the writer, "a little of everything except money." With all his large
profit on his goods he generally had hard work to replenish his store twice a
year. This he did by-long horseback journeys to Baltimore or Philadelphia,
carrying in his saddle bags the money with which to pay for the goods he purchliased. The merchant was usually looked upon as the leading business man
of the community. He wrote letters, articles of agreement, etc., for his neighbors, and sometimes founded a little town whic'h frequently grew and became
an important centre and perhaps a part of the present city.
268
16CHAPTER XIX.
The Beginning of the Town of Pittsburg, Its Streets, etc.-Washington's Last Visit
-The Founding of Alleghenytown.
It will be remembered by the reader that prior to Pontiac's war in I763
there was a considerable collection of huts around Fort Pitt and that the population of the place and the number of houses at that time have been given.
When Captain Simon Ecuyer saw that the Indians were about to besiege the
fort he levelled it to the ground and burned all the houses, so that the Indians
could not fire them and thus set fire to the fort, the main. part of which was
made of heavy logs. The buildings extending up the Monongahela were not
burned by him for they were several hundred feet distant from Fort Pitt, but
the besieging Indians destroyed them entirely. So on the arrival of Bouquet's
army on August Io, there was probably not a human habitation within sight
of Fort Pitt. George Croghan's house was about two miles up the Allegheny
river, but it had been burned by the first of Pontiac's Indians to arrive. The
people who were thus rendered homeless could scarcely be called the first settlers of Pittsburg. They were fur traders, camp followers and Indian fighters,
who were at best but temporary sojourners; though they pitched their. rude
huts at the fork of the rivers they neither attempted nor intended to form a
permanent settlement. Yet many writers have referred to them as the pioneers
of Pittsburg, and the real pioneers who came here to plant civilization at the
Fork of the Ohio, who were men of the highest character, have to a great extent,
been confounded with these early adventurers. In I764 Bouquet had built a
block-house, had strengthened the fort and had conquered a peace with the
western Indians, and the' garrison in the fort had apparently come to remain.
All these matters gave an air of safety and permanency to this community that
was very encouraging to new settlers. Accordingly in I764 Colonel John
Campbell laid out the plan of lots in the point formed by the union of the
Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. The ground laid out by him  is now
bounded by Water and Second streets and lies between, Market and Ferry
streets. He undoubtedly recognized the importance of the point and sought to
reap the advantages frequently gained by the far-seeing pioneer who locatesA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
on a promising tract of land. At all events his plan of lots succeeded. It was
the nucleus of a town which has since become one of the most prolific of the
many great manufacturing centers of the world.
The town plat laid -out by Campbell was necessarily near Fort Pitt.
The place had been frequented more or less by white men since 1I748, but
until after I758 there were but few settlers anywhere in western Pennsylvania.
When the French were banished in, 1758, white settlers, ever anxious to locate
on the frontier, began to arrive. The first who came built their cabins as near
the fort as possible. Campbell had no legal right to lay out a town, further
than the military permits which were issued by the commandant of,the garrison. The Indian title to the land had not yet been purchased and no settler
could have more than the permission of the commandant to locate here. When
the title was purchased from the Indians in I768, the Penns, who were then the
only ones who had title to this section, ordered a survey of a tract of land at the
junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which was called The Manor
of Pittsburg. This survey was completed on March 27, I769, and contained five
thousand seven hundred and sixty-six acres. When the Penns laid out a town
on this tract of land in I784, they made their additional streets to conform to
Campbell's plan of lots, the only change being that they enlarged it. In this
way they sanctioned and confirmed the plan of lots already laid out. Colonel
Campbell was a Virginian and most likely received a show of authority from
Governor Dunmore, who then claimed that Pittsburg was within his dominion.
During Dunmore's war Campbell was a follower of Connolly, which partly
substantiates the theory that he drew his authority to lay out a town from the
governor of Virginia, who did not recognize the Penns' ownership at all. The
town which Campbell founded was occupied mainly by traders. Reverend
Charles Beatty in "The Journal of a Two Months' Tour," who had preached
here as chaplain of Forbes' army in I758, came to Pittsburg with Reverend Mr.
Duffield in I766. In this journal we learn that "Mr. Duffield preached to the
people who lived in some kind of a town, with a fort, to whom Mr. Beatty also
preached in the afternoon."  These ministers, or missionaries as they may be
called, had been sent here by the Presbyterian Synod of New Ylork and Philadelphia to ascertain what assistance was needed in the western settlements.
They were here on Sunday, September 7, I766, and found Reverend McLagan,
who was here as chaplain of the Forty-second Regiment. It seems therefore
that religious services were held regularly while the British were in charge of
the fort, and prior to that when under the rule of the French Catholics, particular attention was paid to the spiritual man. The language of Reverend
Beatty's Journal does not indicate that Pittsburg was a very flourishing place
at that time. It was undoubtedly a town of very slow growth for the first
thirty years of its existence. Emigration came rapidly to the West after the
Stanwix purchase in I768 and the opening of the land office for warrants from
this section in I769. Yet they were nearly all farmers who wanted to clear
away the wilderness and to own broad acres of tillable land. For that reason
but few of them could locate close to the fort. The constant stream of emi270PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
27I
gration across the mountain passed down the Ohio river to Kentucky and to
other western points, and those who passed by Pittsburg to some extent benefitted the settlement at this place. Thus invigorated, Pittsburg took the form
of a town. In I770 it consisted of four squares, with perhaps twenty log
houses situated mostly on the bank of the Monongahela river. These houses
were, perhaps with one exception, occupied by traders who were scarcely here
even then to found a permanent village, but rather to collect furs and skins and
transact such business with the westward bound people as came their way. This
exception was the house occupied as a tavern by Samuel Semple, and was situated on the corner of Water and Ferry streets. It was a double log-house erected
by Colonel George Morgan in I764. It was somewhat famous in its day, for
it was the first house in Pittsburg that was roofed with shingles, and this
peculiarity was pointed out as a marvelous evidence of the advancement of the
age. It was a pretentious structure for that time and contained three rooms
below and sleeping apartments in the upper story. In it Washington was entertained during his last visit to Pittsburg in I770. He reached this place on
October I7, as he indicates in his diary. He had with him his life-long friend
and physician, Dr. Craik, Colonel William Crawford and others. The tavern
at that time was probably known as Semple's Tavern, but long afterward it
was given the more pretentious name of The Virginia House. In I770 Washington was living on his estate at Mount Vernon in the beautiful mansion yet
preserved, and there were probably few men in America who were better surrounded than he, yet of Semple's Tavern he says that it was "a very good house
for public entertainment." What was then known as the town of Pittsburg,
Washington says, "lay about three hundred yards from the fort and consisted
of about twenty log-houses inhabited mostly by Indian traders." The population, without counting the soldiers in Fort Pitt, he estimates at from one hundred to one hundred and twenty. The forces in the garrison consisted of two
companies of Royal Irish commanded by Captain Edmundson. On October I8
Washington took dinner in the fort with Colonel George Croghan and others,
being the guests of the officers of the garrison. Colonel Croghan had rebuilt
his house on the Allegheny in 1766. On October 19 Washington dined with
him at his place. At Croghan's house he met White Mingo and several other
Indian chiefs of the Six Nations, who greeted him warmly and assured him
that they wished to be friendly with the people of Virginia and to, consider them
as friends and brothers, "linked together in one chain." Croghan returned to
Pittsburg with Washington, who remained that night in Semple's Tavern. On
the day following, October 20, they secured a large canoe "with sufficient
store of provisions and necessaries," and all set off for a trip down the Ohio
river. On November 21 Washington returned to Pittsburg and on November
22 he invited the officers of the garrison and others to dine with him at Semple's
Tavern, thus showing a hospitality perhaps in return for the courtesies that the
garrison and others had extended to him and his party a month previous. On
the 23rd of November, Washington and his party rode away on horseback, as
they had come. This was the last visit that he made to this place. When heA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
was here there were a few unpretentious shops, a gun-smith, a weaver, a
breeches maker, and perhaps one or two stores, each keeping a few simple
articles that all western settlers stood in need of. The British officers with
their well-known red coats and gold lace were probably the only ones
here who were not dressed in homespun garments or in garments made
from the skins of animals. Elsewhere in these pages this manner of dress and
the style of log-houses found then on the rude frontier has' been properly considered.
Notwithstanding the slow  growth of Pittsburg, when Westmoreland
county was formed on March 26, I773, it was the largest town in western Pennsylvania and aspired with great reason to become the county seat of the new
county. St. Clair, it will be remembered, was the most prominent citizen west
of the mountains, and his foresight was shown in the efforts he put forth to
have the county seat located at Pittsburg. Shortly after this came the Revolution, which greatly retarded the progress of Pittsburg as it did all settlements
in Western Pennsylvania. With this and the constant Indian troubles, Pittsburg survived perhaps only because of its splendid situation. The population
and houses both increased but it was not a healthy growth, for many of the new
citizens came here for the sole purpose of the safety afforded by the garrison.
The new buildings were put up nearer the fort and even encroached on the
ground which the commanders had set apart for the special use of the soldiers.
Colonel Daniel Brodhead, who commanded the fort, complained that the fences
of the settlers were within a few.yards of the bastions of the fort. The population of the place was a very mixed one at that time. John Wilkins, who came
here shortly after the close of the Revolution, says that the town was filled with
old officers, soldiers and camp followers, mixed with a few families of credit.
There was at that time but little religious sentiment or morality among the
people of Pittsburg. In fact the opposite of good order and culture was the rule.
Arthur Lee, from one of the first families of Virginia, came here in I784, and
wrote as follows:
"Pittsburg is inhabited almost entirely by Scotch and Irish who live
in log houses and are as dirty as in the north of Ireland or even in Scotland.  There is a great deal of small trade carried on, the goods being
brought at the vast expense of forty shillings per hundred weight from
Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops money, wheat, flour
and skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors and not a
priest of any persuasion, nor church or chapel, so they are likely to be
damned without the benefit of the clergy.  The rivers encroach fast on
the town and to such a degree that as a gentleman told me, the Allegheny had
within thirty years of his memory, carried away one hundred yards. The place I
believe will never be very considerable."
The low grade of morality was likely the result of the lonm continued
war, but the place had even then many points of interest, some of which it can
scarcely boast of now. It was even then an historic place and the moats and
walls of Fort Duquesne were still visible. The logs of Fort Pitt still brre the
272impression made by the arrows of Pontiac's Indians. Close to the point on the
Allegheny river was an orchard of apple and pear trees planted by an English
officer when the fort was held by the British army. Above this were the gardens of the garrison, where Ecuyer's famishing band had secured their first
food after the siege of Pontiac's war. The limpid waters of the three rivers were
filled with fish, and over all was the blue sky, which we fear has been dimmed
for all time by the smoke of modern industries of the great city. A pond of
stagnant water lay across the ground traversed by the present Wood street,
north of Third avenue. A much larger pond or swamp began at Grant's Hill
and extended to a point beyound the present Sixth avenue, passing diagonally
across Fourth avenue. This pond had a shallow outlet into the Monongahela.
On the upper side of Wood street was still another pond, which lay south of the
location of the present Liberty avenue and between Fourth and Fifth avenues.
Its outlet was near Short street, into the Monongahela. Major Samuel Forman came here in the winter of I789 and thought that Pittsburg was the
muddiest town he had ever seen, but he said the place was noted for handsome ladies, who were also very hospitable.
PITTSBURG IN 1795A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
The second survey of a plan of lots in Pittsburg was made by George
Wood and Thomas Vicroy, of Bedford county, in June, I784. This plan was
laid out by the Penns and approved by their attorney, Tench Francis, on September 30. The main part of the survey had been made by George Wood and
after him the prominent street in Pittsburg was named. Wood removed from
Bedford county and came here taking up a tract of land upon which Hazlewood
was afterward built. The plan which Wood and Vicroy laid, out extended to
Grant street on the Monongahela river, thence along Grant street, crossing
Grant's Hill to Liberty street, thence to the Allegheny river and down the river
to the point or place of beginning. By an act of the legislature passed in 1794,
which incorporated. the town into a borough the limits were extended, the line
on the Monongahela being extended to a small run, now a sewer, which empties
into the Monongahela directly above the Panhandle railroad bridge. The line
then extended north thirty degrees east one hundred and fifty perches to a post
(near Ross street); thence north nineteen degrees west one hundred and fifty
perches to the Allegheny river. When the town extended on the Monongahela
river only as far as Grant street, that is, between 1784 and I794, the lots were
sold as extending only to Water street, which was next to the river, and the
land between Water street and the river was reserved for a wharf. But above
Grant street the lots were sold to the river. This is the explanation of the fact
that the Monongahela wharf only extends to Grant street. Above Grant street
Bakewell's glass factory was built between Water street and the Monongahela
river and remained there until taken away by the Pittsburg  Connellsville
railroad, now the Baltimore  Ohio railroad. The map of Pittsburg in I795
will be. fraught with interest to the student of early street making in Pittsburg. By Wood and Vicroy's plan all lots faced the Monongahela river and
the'streets running parallel with it; in no instance do they face on Ferry,
Market, Wood, Smithfield or Grant streets. This peculiarity was probably
due to Campbell's plan' of lots, which was unchanged.  They were laid
out in I764 and faced on the Monongahela river, Front and Second streets.
Wood and Vicroy, when they adopted this plan as a basis, made all new streets
to conform to it. It will be noticed that the width of the streets vary
in a way not expected. Market street is narrow, while Wood, Smithfield and Grant streets are much wider. So Front, Second, Third and Fourth
avenues are narrow  while Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues are wider.
There was formerly an Eighth street, or avenue, extending from Grant street to
Liberty street, but the Pennsylvania railroad long ago, secured possession of it.
Liberty street is wide, while Penn avenue is narrow. Market street one would
naturally suppose would be wide, for the old idea was to have a market-house,
roofed but open at the sides, down the middle of the street, and under this the
hucksters collected and retailed their goods to the purchasers. In Pittsburg,
however, the diamond was reserved for a market place and the street did not
need to be so wide. Undoubtedly Campbell laid out the lower part of it in that
way. Vicroy, in a letter written describing the work done by Wood and him274PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
self, says that when they attempted to make changes in any street they were
met with most violent opposition on the part of the lot owners who would
thereby be placed to great inconvenience because of the location of their houses.
They therefore left them unchanged. The Penns perhaps did not care or did
not instruct the surveyors what to do in disputes of this kind. The reason for
the varying width of the other streets can only be conjectured. Pittsburg owed
its origin principally to its being at the head of navigation on the Ohio river,
which was almost the only means of travel westward from this place. There
were then but two routes over the mountains by which emigration could reach
the navigable waters of the Ohio. The town was laid out to suit the circum7
stances existing then, knowing or caring little about the future. The lots were
laid out facing the river because that was the all-important highway of travel.
Many emigrants came down the Youg,hiogheny and down the Monongahela in
small boats, and stopping here they would secure westward transportation by
larger crafts. Those who came by land would also take boats here. The
streets were not badly laid out, as will be seen, so far as accommodating the
trade as it then existed was concerned. Penn street was the leading way from
the East, but houses were built on it before the survey was made. Its width
was therefore not changed but Liberty street, which ran parallel with it, was
new and was made wide to accommodate the wagons and horses which stopped
here to load and unload. Market street reached the river at a high bluff and
would not be used much by heavy teams going to the wharf; it was therefore
left narrow. Wood street terminated at the river with a gradual descent, the
bluff being much lower there. It would therefore be much more used than
Market and was accordingly made much wider. Generally the inhabitants at
that time preferred to live near the river where there was more life, and these
streets being mostly residence streets, were narrower, while from Fifth avenue
eastward horses and wagons would naturally concentrate and these streets and
Liberty were made wider. The traffic of Pittsburg was carried on on these
lines and in this way, even up to the bu'ilding of the Pennsylvania canal in
I827-1828. The great lumbering Conestoga wagons of the early days of last
century and the taverns to accommodate the horses and drivers, were largely
concentrated on; Liberty and Fifth avenues and on the avenues east of Fifth,
There was a large tavern on the corner of Liberty and Seventh avenue called
the "Spread Eagle" and one on the corner of Wood street and Fifth avenue.
On Fifth avenue near Smithfield street, close to the old postoffice, was a great
arch under which the wagons were driven, and nearby was a large courtyard
where the horses rested at night. Tavern keeping of that kind was all-important in Pittsburg until the building of the canal. All lots in the old plans were
sixty feet in front by two hundred and forty feet deep. They were nearly all
composed of rich alluvial bottom land such as is Igenerally found near the banks
of streams. The rich soil and the depth of the lots afforded each landowner a
prolific garden and also a stable on the rear of his lot. This plan of lots was a
very important one. It was laid out large enough to accommodate the growing:275PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
watchful Indians. So far as is known this is the only instance in which scouts
were sent out by the general though they were traveling in a strange land, that
was covered with a dense growth of trees and infested with a savage arnd stealthly
foe, whose strength lay largely in ambuscades and surprises. Nevertheless, the
negative reports of these scouts may have gone far to convince Braddock that
an easy victory awaited him at Fort Duquesne.
On July gth, they went down the valley and forded the Monongahela where
McKeesport now stands. The advance was led by Lieutentant-Colonel Gage.
The army marched between the bordering hills and the river down the Monongahela about three miles, where the river was again forded. This crossing of
the river a second time seemed necessary to avoid high hills and defiles yet visible on the right bank as one passes down the stream from McKeesport to Braddock. They were not expecting the enemy until they reached the fort, yet
Braddock maintained a most rigid discipline. The splendidly equipped army,
with bright uniforms shining in the morning sun, marching along the river bottom, the high wooded hills on their left and the tranquil river on their right,
was, said Washington long years afterward, one of the grandest sights he ever
saw. About Io o'clock, according to Washington, though in reality it was most
likely about I o'clock, the rear of the army crossed the second crossing. They
were then less than ten miles from the long looked for fort, and buoyant feelings doubtless filled every soldier's breast. Some delay was occasioned by the
leveling of the river bank so that the heavier wagons and artillery could ascend.
The second crossing was a short half mile below the mouth of Turtle creek.
After leaving the river the ground was nearly level, rising at an angle of about
three degrees, to the hills a half-mile beyond. Abrupt ravines extended from
these hills to the river. They had crossed between two ravines which came together or nearly so, far up the hills, forming something like the letter V with
the apex pointing away from the river. As the ravine approached the river,
their waters scattered and made the low ground extremely marshy. The banks
of these ravines and the hills beyond and between them were covered with a
thick growth of vines, underbrush, long grass and many large trees, some of
which had fallen to the ground. The rear of the army had scarcely marched
from the river before the fight began. In the forest, on both sides of the advancing army, and behind almost every rock, large tree, vine or clump of bushes
and behind the vine-covered banks of these ravines was concealed the enemy,
watching every movement, and ready at the appointed time to make the attack.
Gage with his division was in front. Both his and another smaller division
under Sir Peter Halket were between the ravines forming the letter V. The
engineer, Henry Gordon, who was a short distance ahead of Gage's troops, to
mark out the road, gave the alarm of "French and Indians."  A small company
of these was then seen approaching rapidly. They were urged on by a Frenchman whose bright colored unform betokened his rank as the commanding officer. Shots were quickly exchanged, and several of the French troops fell, but
all the rest of them vanished almost instantly from sight. Seemingly from out
igA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
town for nearly fifty years, for the city even in I837 extended but little beyond
the original boundaries of the plan of lots of I784 as extended by the incorporating Act of Assembly of I794. Moreover the plot included lots that are yet
by far the most valuable in the city of Pittsburg. After the plan of lots was
made in I784 the usual sale followed; blut the town did not increase rapidly as
we understand rapid growth now. According to Craig's best judgment based
on his personal residence, the twenty houses noted by Washington in 1770 had
increased only to one hundred and two in I796. Many people purchased lots
in I784 who did not build on them and many purchased two or three lots
building on one and using the others for pasture and garden purposes. While
the land around Pittsburg had been purchased from the Indians in I768, all land
north of the Ohio and east of the Allegheny had remained in their possession
and was designated as the "Indian Country" until October 2I, I784. No white
man had a right prior to that date to reside there. At that time a treaty was
held with the Iroquois Indians, again at Fort Stanwix, by which the Indian
rights were purchased to all lands in Pennsylvania north of the Ohio and west
of the Allegheny, except the triangle on Lake Erie. Very soon after this purchase, a number of residences were built on the north side of the Allegheny
river opposite Pittsburg but the country was not settled rapidly. While the
growth of Pittsburg seems slow to us, it must have been more favorably regarded by the people of that day. It was founded by the Penns and now that
the country north of the Allegheny was owned by the state, the legislature concluded to found a rival town on its own land. Allegheny was therefore
founded by an Act of Legislature passed in I788, and it is supposed that itwas induced to do so by the success of the Penns in selling lots in Pittsburg.
The state was in great need of money, for it had not recovered from the long
and exhaustive struggle of the Revolution. It had kept up a force of militia
whose enlistments were numbered by thousands and whose services were very
largely required in Western Pennsylvania. The credit of the state was bad;
its currency was greatly depreciated and it had almost no, source of revenue
except by direct taxation and by the sale of its public lands. These lands it had
taken from the Penns by the divesting act of I779, which did not, however, take
from them their private manors, such as the manor of Pittsburg. The act had
not only alienated the Penns but had engendered a natural hostility between them
and the state. The legislature, therefore, never thought of uniting with the
Penns in extending the limits of Pittsburg north of the Allegheny, but, on the
contrary, for the sole purpose of pecuniary gain, established there a town of its
own. It was fortunate for the state that its land was separated by a comparatively narrow stream of water from the thriving town of the Penns, from
which they were reaping a regular income. Pittsburg's growth would natur--
ally stimulate Allegheny and enable the state government. by the sale of lots,
to pay off its debts in part. In selecting the location of the new town the legislature showed great wisdom. It grew side by side with Pittsburg and in a
measure has kept pace with it for nearly a century and a quarter. While it has
276PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             277
been a separate municipality all these years, its general history is almost identical with that of Pittsburg. For all other than municipal purposes the two
towns have been regarded as one and our story might well be called a tale of
two cities. The Indian name of the north side city which it took from the
river which flows at its feet is more beautiful and more appropriate than any
modern English name can be.
The manner in which the town of Allegheny was laid out will be of interest
to the reader. In I788 the legislature ordered a survey of three thousand acres
of land opposite Pittsburg. This was known as "the reserved tract opposite
Pittsburg." A part of it was divided into town lots and all the remainder of it
became Reserve township. There were one hundred lots, each lot 6ox240 feet,
and each inlot was to carry with it the title to the purchaser of an outlot of
equal size. The one hundred inlots formed a square on the river and the one
hundred outlots lay on the three sides of the plot of inlots. The reserved tract
began at the mouth of Wood's Run on the banks of the Allegheny and ran
back in a straight line to the vicinity of Millville, thence to the Allegheny river
and down the river to the junction with the Monongahela, and thence down the
Ohio to the mouth of Wood's Run, the place of beginning. The centre of this
plan of lots was opposite St. Clair, now Sixth street, in Pittsburg. The Act of
the Legislature laying out the town reserved a public square at the corner of
Federal and Ohio streets, which is now marked by the City Hall and the
Carnegie Library in Allegheny. For many years the sale of the outlots was a
matter of much controversy. The original intention and purpose was that they
should be used as pasture lots for the cows belonging to the owners or residents
of the inlots. Attempts to sell them separately brought the decision of the
courts that they were the common property of the inlot owners and that no
separate outlot could be legally transferred without the consent of all the inlot
owners. After many long drawn out controversies in the courts, the lot
owners consented to dedicate them to the town, the land to be used as a public
park. In this way originated the splendid parks of Allegheny. A park commission was appointed, composed of far-seeing men who borrowed money by
issuing bonds and improved the parks. They levied a small tax for the final
redemption of the bonds and in this way the city, at a very small cost considering their real value, secured a magnificant though not a very large park. For
a long time the city was called Allegheny Town; then Allegheny City, and now
it is generally known as Northside Pittsburg. It was incorporated into a
borough by Act of 1828, and into a city by Act of I840. When incorporated
into a city it had four wards, the division being the Federal and Ohio street
crossing. The wards were: First, Second, Third and Fourth, and included all
the territory back to Observatory Hill. South of the town or city of Allegheny
was built the town of Manchester, named perhaps to offset Birmingham on the
Pittsburg side. Still another independent borough sprung up on the northeast
of Allegheny and took the old name of Duquesne. Both of these boroughs
have long since lost their identity by being taken into Allegheny, the former278                A CEArTURY AND A HALF OF
as the Fifth and Sixth wards and the latter as the Seventh ward. Allegheny
City spread rapidly and has absorbed more than the original reserved tract. In
I82I and 1822 with the city's consent, the state built the Western penitentiary
on its commons, and the building of yellow sandstone was completed in I826.
It remained there sixty years, when new buildings were erected at Riverside
on the Ohio and the old site reverted to the city, thus becoming a very valuable
addition to its park system. The site of the old penitentiary is marked by the
public greenhouse erected by the generosity of Mr. Henry Phipps.
All these years from the foundation of Pittsburg, its law business had been
transacted in Hannastown, it being then in Westmoreland county. On September 24, I788, the legislature passed an Act erecting the County of Allegheny. The Act, among other things, provided that the courts should be held
in Pittsburg until the trustees named in the Act should erect the necessary court
house and jail on the "Reserved Tract Opposite Pittsburg." The legislature
thus donated land on the Allegheny side, upon which the necessary buildings
were to be erected. They were perhaps unduly jealous of their own interests.
They did not intend to contribute to the benefit of the town of Pittsburg,
founded by the Penns, by establishing the seat of justice in that town at the expense of their own town across the river. The state, moreover, owned all the
land north and west of the Allegheny and owned no land in Pittsburg. From
its abundance, therefore, it could easily grant land for public buildings. A further investigation disclosed the fact that the state land west of the Allegheny
was almost entirely a howling wilderness, inhabited only by Indians and wild
beasts, while Pittsburg was a growing town and the metropolis of western
Pennsylvania. Accordingly the legislature in I789 repealed that part of the
Act of I788 and authorized the trustees named in the original Act to purchase
lots in Pittsburg for a court house and jail. The trustees erected a court house
on the diamond and built a jail back of it.CHAPTER XX.
The Early Thrift in Pittsburg-Sale of Fort Pitt-Ordinance of I787-Indian TroublesFort Lafayette-Wayne's Victory.
Out of the manor of Pittsburg as reserved by the Penns, three acres were
sold to Isaac Craig and Stephen Bayard in January, I784. This tract lay between Fort Pitt and the Allegheny river.
In I784 the Penns also sold the privileges of mining coal in what was called
the Great Seam of the hill across the Monongahela river. This hill was divided into lots, and mining privileges were sold for thirty pounds for the right of
mining for each lot, and the mining right was to extend back to the centre of
the hill.
In I786 the town had advanced far enough to be able to support a newspaper. At all events, the first edition of The Pittsburg Gazette appeared or
the 29th of July. To undertake to publish a newspaper in this remote part of
the state with a very small population, who were certainly much more given to
hunting, buying furs and fighting Indians than they were to literary pursuits
was indeed a great undertaking. It was established by John Scull and Joseph
Hall, who brought their press, type, paper, ink, etc., from the East. There was
no paper mill in the West then, and they were compelled to transport their
paper across the mountains. The supply was necessarily irregular and some
times the editors were forced to reduce the size of their paper to that of a handbill. The paper on which it was printed was at all times of a very poor quality.
Joseph Hall was probably the main type-setter, and Scull had the more experience in the newspaper business. Hall died on November Io, I786, when
only twenty-one years old. Scull continued to edit and publish it alone for a
time, when he took John Boyd, of Philadelphia, into partnership with him.
The kind of news material found in the columns of papers of those days
is entirely different from the style of material found today. Local news is
rarely ever given in the papers of an early day. As a rule the subscriber read
but one paper and local news could be handed around by gossip from one neighbor to another, and what the subscriber demanded in his paper was foreign
news that he could gain in no other way. The founding of new enterprises,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
marriages, or deaths of prominent citizens, etc., found no place in the pioneer
newspaper. European news necessarily nearly two months old, long articles
on the management of public affairs, controversies carried on from week to
week between rival. exponents on different theories, essays on morality and
amateur poetry, fill up the columns of nearly all the early newspapers of Western Pennsylvania. To this rule the Gazette was not by any means an exception. Their value to those who would learn of early local history is found
chiefly in the advertisements and from these of the Gazette one may gather
some important information concerning Pittsburg's early days. Its files are
unfortunately not complete, the file beginning with the fifth number, dated
August 26, 1786. In this issue is a part of a continued article entitled, "Observations on the Country at the Head of the Ohio River." From this we learn
that there was a minister in Pittsburg, for the writer says, "a clergyman has
settled in this town of the Calvinistic church."  He refers to some of the inhabitants being of the Lutheran and Episcopal churches, but makes no mention
of a regular congregation of these churches. Further he says, "A clergyman
of the German Calvinistic church also occasionally preaches in this town," and
expresses his opinion that from the rapid increase of the German population it
will not be long until a minister "who can deliver himself in this language will
be supported here altogether." In laying out the town he says, "five lots
were assigned for churches and burying grounds." These lots were near the
centre of the Wood and Vicroy plan of lots and were about midway between
the two rivers. The writer also refers to an ancient cemetery of the natives in
the form of a mound, the height of which indicated that it had been a place of
sepulture for ages. A log church was also being constructed in the summer of
I786 by the Presbyterians. The same writer speaks of there being two
physicians in Pittsburg, one "a native of South Britain," and the other an
American, though he fails to name them. From other sources it is learned
that one of these was Dr. Nathaniel Bedford, who came here as early as I770.
Most likely the other was Dr. Thomas Parker. There were also two lawyers
in Pittsburg, and this, we believe, completed the list of professions. All other
Pittsburgers were tradesmen, mechanics, farmers or laborers. The manufacturing establishments had not yet arrived, though several of the tradesmen
had shops. Boat building on a minor scale began about this time. The same
writer on observations, speaking of Pittsburg's future, says that "this town
must in future time be a place of great manufacturing; indeed the greatest on
the continent or perhaps in the world." Had he stopped there he might have
achieved undying fame for his prophetic vision, but the reason he gives for the
town's future'greatness is that Pittsburg is so far removed from the manufacturing establishments in the East that the great expense of transportation of
articles would force the people to manufacture them for themselves. "The
present carriage from Philadelphia," writes he, "is six pence for each pound
weight, and however improved the conveyance may be and by whatever channel, yet such is our distance from either of the oceans that the importation of
28oPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
heavy articles will still be expensive." His forecasting was not acute enough
to predict that Pittsburg would one day sell its products in all the open markets of the world. A favorite subject discussed by the same writer is the removal of the county seat from Hannastown to Pittsburg. He gives as a reason
for this that the distance is more than thirty miles, over a very rugged road
and over a stream which, for a great part of the year, is difficult to pass. He
also urges the lack of conveyance among the people of Pittsburg, by reason of
which many persons, even women and aged people, "are often under the necessity of travelling on foot." He urges the removal of the county seat for another reason, which however would apply equally well to Hannastown, namely,
that "the holding of court brings money to a town, retains a number of officers,
and brings inhabitants and contributes to its improvement."
Another subject which he discusses is that of education, in which he says,
"I do not know that the Legislature could do a more acceptab!le service to the
Commonwealth than by endowing a school at this place. The door of Janus
has long been open, presenting battle axes and all the armory of war. The
literary education of our youth has been in the meantime neglected." He observes that even "since the late war" the legislature has added to the treasury
of the University of Philadelphia, but that that institution could not be of the
least service to the people of Pittsburg, and suggests that the college at Carlisle
was but little more accessible than Philadelphia, and why at all events, argued
he, "should this county be under the necessity of remitting money to the
County of Cumberland for the advantages of education."  The state at that
time frequently appropriated money to the higher colleges and academies.
Pittsburg Academy, which afterward became the University of Western Pennsylvania, was incorporated in 1787 and was endowed by the state. In view of
this apparent lack of facilities of gaining an education Mrs. Pride advertises in
the Gazette in November, I786, that she is about to open a boarding and day
school for young ladies, and that she will teach them Plain.Work, Flowering,
iFringing and Knitting, and she adds that reading English will also be taught
if required. For more than fifty years the private schools were the only
means by which a youth could obtain an education. Some of the private
schools were of a high grade and well attended. At that time Hugh Henry
Brackenridge, of western Pennsylvania, was representing the county in the
legislature, and in December, 1786, wrote to the editor of the Gazette that a
bill had been offered and published, naming the trustees in the western country
for an academy at Pittsburg, and that he had obtained from the Penns a grant
of one square in what was then called Ewalt's Field, upon which to locate it.
This bill was finally passed and became a law on February 28, I787. The trustees named were Reverends Samuel Barr, James Finley, James Power, John
McMillan, Joseph Smith and Matthew Henderson; General John Gibson; Colonels Prestly Neville, William Butler and Stephen Bayard; Messrs. James
Ross, David Bradford, Robert Galbraith, George Thompson, George Walls,
Edward Cook, John Moore, William Todd and Alexander Fowler; Doctors
28'iA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Nathaniel Bedford and Thomas Parker. With many of these the reader will
become quite familiar on a further perusal of these pages.
There were also two taverns in Pittsburg in I786, both of them being on
Water street, presumably that they might be close to the river trade.  One
was kept by David Duncan. The other advertised as being "two doors above
Market street," and was kept by A. J. Tannehill. Other business men were
John and Samuel Calhoun, who had a dry goods store on Front street; Daniel
Britt  Company; Wilson  Walls, and James O'Hara were also merchants,
while John Gibson kept a store on the bank of the river and advertised "wet
and dry goods." The advertisement of Hugh Ross notifies the public that he
intends to erect a rope walk in Pittsburg and that he will have for sale a
quantity of hemp seed before the sowing season of that article comes in. Ross
owned a ferry which crossed the Monongahela river, and in October, I787, informed the public that the ferry will be thereafter free to all foot passengers on
Sundays "when there is divine service in Pittsburg, between the hours of
twelve o'clock in the forenoon and from three to four o'clock in the afternoon,
so that every person might have it in their power to attend a public worship
who resided in the neighborhood of Pittsburg and Washington counties." In
1786 there was no mail service either to or from  Pittsburg. Letters were
seldom written in those days except upon most urgent business and mostly
then were of military character and were sent from one section to another by a
traveller who chanced to be passing that way. Frequently the traveller neglected to deliver the letter or package, as is indicated by a notice in the Gazette
wherein William Freed and John Grof state that some westward bound traveller had undertaken to carry a valuable letter from the "Sign of the Ship," a
tavern in Lancaster county, but who had failed to deliver it to them and they
would like to have it. John Blair advertises that he will go up and down the
Monongahela river with a boat every week and will deliver the Gazette to subscribers on the river "at a more reasonable rate than any other conveyance."
About this time James Bryson, of whom we have previously written, at the
suggestion of the people of Pittsburg went to New York and to Philadelphia to
try to arrange a more perfect mail system between Pittsburg and the East.
While there, in September, I786, he was appointed to establish a post between
Philadelphia and Pittsburg, but he did not succeed at that time in its etablishment. Still later than this a notice was sent out from the postoffice department
in Philadelphia that a regular mail service was about to be put on between Alexandria, Virginia, by the way of Bedford, Pennsylvania, to Pittsburg, and the
postoffice authorities advertised for some one to carry the mail directly from
Pittsburg to Philadelphia.   The offer included the exclusive privilege of
carrying it and all the profits of the service for a period of not over seven years
were to be given to the one who undertook it. This advertisement appeared in
the Gazette of March I4, I787, but the offer was not tempting enough to
induce a contractor to engage in it until July, I788, when James Bryson established a regular route. John Scull, the Gazette editor, was the postmaster
282PITTSBURG: AND..HER PEOPLE 2of Pittsburg and published a list of uncalled-for letters in the office in the issue
of December 6, I788.  There were one hundred and sixty of them, which
would indicate considerable correspondence. Bryson carried the mail sometimes on horseback and later in a gig or sulky. A mail left Pittsburg for the
East every Friday morning and one arrived from Philadelphia every Friday.
If it was carried on Sunday, which was the case, the daily average travel was
about forty-three miles. The postoffice of Pittsburg was in the printing office
with the Gazette, on Water street, near Ferry. For the year ending October
I, I790, four years after Scull was appointed postmaster, the total receipts of
the office in Pittsburg were $III.oo.
In i772 the British government concluded they had no reason for longer
holding Fort Pitt. General Gage accordingly ordered Major Edmundson, who
was then in command, to dispose of it. On October Io, I772, he sold to Alexander Ross and William Thompson "All pickets, bricks, stones, timber and iron
which are now in the building or walls of the fort and in the redoubts," for the
sum of fifty pounds English currency. The English soldiers left the fort, but,
leaving some property there, they left a corporal and three men to look after it.
This abandonment of what the people of Pittsburg thought was a very important post, annoyed them very much and they at once remonstrated strongly
and in the remonstrance, among other things, stated that the sale had been a
private one purely. It was also charged that Major Edmundson had received
fifty pounds from the purchasers as a present for throwing the property into
their hands, and that Ensign Prideaux and Surgeon Hand, both of whom witnessed the sale, had also been kindly remembered by the same parties. In
General Gage's reply he admitted that the sale had been irregular, but declined to interfere in the matter. He explained the matter to Governor Penn
and also the abandonment of the fort on the part of the English. In his letter
he says, "It is natural for the people of Fort Pitt to solicit the continuance of
the garrison as well for their personal security as obtaining many other advantages; but no government can undertake to erect forts for the advantage
of forty or fifty people."  While this seems to be an unusually low estimate of
the population at that time, Gage may have meant that forty or fifty people
represented the number who were specially benefited by the fort.  He also
added that the fort was comparatively useless, as it could afford little or no
protection to the people at any distance from it and could not cover or protect
the frontiers, which, he says, "was fully evidenced in the late Indian War."
The sale was therefore held to be a good one and the fort was, to a considerable
extent, destroyed. Ross, the purchaser, is known to have sold part of the
material which entered into its construction, and he is also known to have built
several houses mostly from  its material.   Ross must also have purchased
Thompson's interest in the property, for the latter does not appear again in
any transaction concerning it. But before it was damaged to any great extent it was seized and occupied by Connolly's army, and still later, as the reader
has seen, by other Virginia forces, and held by them for many months. In
283A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
December, I775, Ross, the purchaser, presented a claim against the Virginia
authorities for damages done him because of the taking of the fort. This claim
was for 1,482 pounds, seventeen shillings, and two pence. There was no doubt
but that Virginia had seized the property belonging to Ross and he was finally
allowed I07 pounds, I shilling and 9 pence. This, with the amounts he realized
in the sales and in building houses and also from the fact that he still owned
"two redoubts and eight stacks of chimneys," showed that Ross' fort-buying
was not a bad speculation. VWhen the war of the Revolution was ended it was
scarcely supposed by many that there was any further use for the fort. In
I784, therefore, the council ordered those who had charge of estates in Westmoreland county which had been confiscated as the property of Tories during
the war, to sell the fort, but this order, perhaps because of a general opposition,
was countermanded in July following. In August a new order was issued to
the state commissioners to take charge of the fort as the property of the state.
But little is said about it then for some years, and it was likely falling into
ruin rapidly, for in February, I788, a lieutenant of the army offered a reward
of a guinea for the discovery of the "evil minded persons" who had been taking
pailings from the fence which surrounded it. The following winter the same
officer published an advertisement of the desertion of a private from one of
companies at Fort Pitt, and an ensign named Jeffers, of the First United
States Regiment, and published word of the'desertion.of two privates from
Captain Hart's company. The fort was therefore garrisoned because of the
constant troubles with the Indians, for several years after the close of the
Revolution. In July, I788, General Richard Butler, then the Pittsburg superintendent of Indian affairs, notified the people below Pittsburg to be on their
guard concerning the Indians. When the Revolution began the fort had been
repaired somewhat by the Virginia company then in possession of it, and was
garrisoned until the close of the war. The Indians were still troublesome in
the West, and a company of soldiers was kept in the fort for frontier defense
long after the Revolution.
March I, I787, a public meeting was held to devise means for erecting a
market house for Pittsburg. Hugh Ross, Stephen Bayard and Rev. Samuel
Barr were appointed a committee to secure or erect the house and to fix certain
days of the week as market days. The house was erected as they had designed, on the corner of Market and Second streets, and Wednesday and Saturday of each week were named as market days. When the first court house was
erected a semi-circular market house, roofed but open below, was built on the
public square in front of it. After this, as the market increased, two wings,
one at either end of the court house lot, were added. For nearly half a century Wednesday and Saturdays continued to be market days almost exclusively,
but gradually each day in the week except Sunday became a general market
day. In January, 1785, Reverend Samuel Barr came here and began to
gather up the Presbyterians for public worship. On September 20, I787, the
first Presbyterian congregation was incorporated and prior to this a log church
284PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
285
had been put up. The church was authorized by the legislature to raise funds
to build it by a lottery and regular lottery tickets were issued, some of which
are yet in existence in Pittsburg. This proceeding on the part of the church
and the legislature was not at all uncommon in that day.
The Continental congress in I787 passed the celebrated "Ordinance of
I787," and also a resolution providing for, and which during the same year
brought about, the constitution of the United States. The "Ordinance of
I787" related to the government of the Northwest territory, then generally
known as the Ohio territory, which had been ceded by Virginia to the United
Colonies. Major-General Arthur St. Clair, who was president of the Continental congress at that time, was appointed territorial governor of Ohio. The
Ordinance, with its unique provision prohibiting slavery in its territory, was the basis upon which the new governor established west of us, in a
land that has since been peopled largely by emigrants from Pennsylvania, a
very thriving government. The emigrants who went there were an extremely
industrious and frugal people and from the first contributed greatly to the
growth of Pittsburg. In April, I788, the "Mayflower" left Simrall's Ferry,
later known as Robbstown and now West Newton, laden largely with New
England people who were bound for the new territory of Ohio which had just
been opened up by General St. Clair. This was the beginning of the more
extended immigration to the west. These people had come over the mountains
by Braddock's road and had taken the boat at the very head of navigation.
They and nearly all others who followed stopped in Pittsburg to lay in all
manner of supplies for their new homes in the west. Many others came here
afterwards from Philadelphia over the "Old State Road," and still later over
the Turnpike when it was built. Almost invariably these people came'west
on their long journey without supplies, but stopped at Pittsburg to lay in an
abundance of all they would need in the West. It was this patronage which
first inspired the Pittsburg people to manufacture and sell articles of commerce such as the westward bound people stood in need of. Nor did Pittsburg's trade with them stop when they left for their new homes. It had in
reality just begun, for as the great West filled up it needed more of Pittsburg's
products. It was then that this city, situated at the "Gateway of the West,"
laid the foundation of its immense manufacturing interests which are now the
marvel of the civilized world.
Boat building had been carried on to a limited extent before the western
trade began, but with the opening up of Ohio a new impetus was given to the
industry. A demand was created for boats by the constant arrival of emigrants by land. They demanded a boat that was neither large nor substantial
and that could therefore be purchased with a small outlay. The boats for this
purpose were made with flat bottoms, sloping in front, and with tightly
caulked sides and with a cheap roof for shelter. There were oars in the front
and a rudder at the stern, but the current of the Ohio river bore them onward
on their journey with very little rowing. In such a craft a man with his famA CENTURY AND A HALF
OF
PITTSBURG
AND
HER PEOPLE
BY
JOHN NEWTON BOUCHER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1908A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the earth, suddenly came the terrible roar of musketry and the fiendish yells of
Indians. No enemy could be seen yet thousands of shots were poured into the
faces of the leading division. Almost instantly following, came the same
leaden hail on their right front.  Braddock  hurried an orderly forward
to hold the advancing division, and sent Colonel Burton with the
vanguard  to  assist the  front rank.  In   a  short time  two-thirds
of the army were in the front, and about one-third left behind
to  guard  the baggage, which  was placed  under the command of Sir
Peter Halket. The fire of the enemy was returned by those in position with
but little or no effect, for no enemy could be seen. Yet there was a moment's
cessation of firing on the part of the enemy after the first fire from the English.
Braddock's soldiers could see nothing to fire at, yet they were falling in every
direction. Confusion and excitement was the result, and the entire advance
guard with its support fell back. When Braddock rushed forward to cheer
them on, he was met by bleeding and disordered ranks fleeing from an invisible but most deadly enemy. In less time than we can conceive, so terrible
was the onslaught and so complete was the rout, that the artillery, infantry,
pioneers and baggage formed a tangled mass, with the enemy almost surrounding it, yet still invisible. In the meantime the force left to guard the baggage
was attacked, but this was on the more open ground closer to the river. SirPeter Halket was killed. Many wagoners were shot down while others seeing
this, cut their horses free from their wagons and retreated across the river in
wildest confusion. Some of the English soldiers who could do so followed bythe same means. The artillery was almost useless, for still no enemy was in
view, nor were they seen by the British and Americans until the retreat began.
The only open space, if it could be so called, was the road about twelve feetwide cut by the advancing army, while almost every place of concealment was.
occupied by the stealthy enemy, Every attempt made by Braddock to turn thetide of affairs seemed to result only in confusion. The General, who was a
total stranger to fear, rushed rapidly from point to point trying to rally his.
men. They would fight, they said, if they could see the enemy, but it was.
useless to fire at trees and bushes, and they could not stand to be shot down by
an invisible foe. Braddock stormed and called them cowards when they tried'
to secure concealed positions. He moreover persisted in forming them into,
platoons, as-though he was drilling them on a review day in St. James Park in,
London. This, we need scarcely add, only aided the enemy in shooting them
down. Mingled with the cries of anguish on the part of the wounded werethe shouts of the officers, the rattle of musketry, and the roar of the cannon,
while over and above all was heard the frenzied war whoop of the infuriated'
savages. These terrible Indian yells seemed to frighten the English more than
the bullets of the enemy. Survivors for long years afterward were not able to
drive this horrible picture from their memory. The battle lasted nearly three
hours; the British much of the time were huddled together like sheep, and'
were even trampled under foot by da'shing, runaway horses. It is not to be
20A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ily, or several families if the boat was large enough, could float down the river
to Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, stopping at whatever point they had selected for a
permanent settlement. The boats scarcely ever came back. They were sold
to new emigrants going further west or were abandoned entirely. This was
the beginning of the river trade of Pittsburg.
In I790 the Indians from Ohio and Indiana began to more frequently raid
the section around the Fork of the Ohio. But few depredations had been committed by them in this section since the close of the Revolution but the memory
of their inhuman actions was ever present with the people, who at once became
terrorized beyond measure. The entire region was then without protection
save a few troops of the militia who were quartered here the greater part of the
time. General Harmar had led an expedition against them from Fort Washington in I790. In a battle fought with them in the Sciota Valley his army
was severely repulsed. A victory on the part of the Indians always encouraged them to think that by a few successful efforts they could banish the
white race from their country. Shortly after Harmar's defeat they approached
within a few miles of Pittsburg, and the people trembled lest the cruel race
might fall upon them at any moment. In March, 179I, a town meeting was
held and largely attended by the terrorized people. Major Isaac Craig was
quartermaster here at that time. A demand was made on him for the use of
one hundred muskets, armed with which the people proposed to defend themselves. The demand also carried with it the threat to take them by force if
he refused to lend them. Craig had scarcely any other alternative than to
comply with their request, and therefore gave them the arms asked for. The
town was thoroughly aroused, but the Indians did not arrive and the muskets
were finally returned to Craig. Major Craig knew of the great danger the
town was in, for in a letter of May I9, I79I, he wrote of the frequent murders
committed on the frontier and that several parties of Indians had penetrated
ten, fifteen or twenty miles into the settlements and had committed many
depredations. Fort Pitt was then in a very dilapidated condition, and this,
with the defenceless situation of Pittsburg, made the people extremely restless.
The condition in Ohio was much worse than here. Major-General Arthur St.
Clair was appointed commander of the armies and was instructed to lead an,
expedition against them in the fall of I791. His army, a very weak and
poorly equipped one, started from Cincinnati and marched northwest. The
urgency of his'mission was such that sufficient time was not taken to drill his
troops, many of whom were raw militia and were utterly unaccustomed to the
obedience which is requisite in a good soldier. On the 4th of November, I79I,
his army was surprised, and cut to pieces by the enemy. The result of this
second victory was to make the Indians more than ever confident of a final
triumph over the white race. The situation in Pennsylvania was now alarming
in the extreme. General Henry Knox was then secretary of war, and on Decemnber I6 ordered Major Craig to collect materials for a block-house and
stockade fort to be erected in Pittsburg in the place best suited to cover and
2-86PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
287
protect the town. Craig was rendered every assistance by the frightened
people of Pittsburg and carried out the instructions of the secretary of war
with great promptness. Lots were selected on what was then the upper end of
Penn street, at Garrison alley, extending to the Allegheny river on the one side
and from Penn to Liberty street on the other. In a letter to the secretary of
war dated December 29, I79I, Major Craig wrote as follows: "I am making
every possible exertion for the erection of a work to defend this town and the
public stores. Accounts from Fort Franklin, as well as your orders, urge the
necessity of prompt attention to the defense of this place. By next post I
shall enclose you a sketch oif the ground and the work that I have judged
necessary; it will be erected on eight lots, numbers 55, 56, 57 and 58, 9I, 92, 93
and 94. They belong to John Penn., Jr., and John Penn; Anthony Butler, of
Philadelphia is their agent; the prices were fixed when the town was laid out.
It is not intended to cover the whole of the lots with the work, but the portion
not covered will be suitable for gardens for the garrison." "I take the liberty
of enclosing you two letters from Fort Franklin, extracts of other letters of
same date, December 26, by which it appears that the garrison is in imminent
danger and that the fidelity of the northern Indians is not to be depended on.
I am mounting four six-pounders on ship carriages for the block houses; but
there are no round shot nor. grape shot -for that calibre here, the last being
sent to Fort Washington. As there is no six-pound shot here I have taken the
liberty to engage four hundred at Turnbull  Marmie's furnace which is now
in blast. Reports by the way of Fort Franklin say that in the late action (St.
Clair's battle of November 4th, I79I,) the Indians had three hundred killed
and many wounded and that there were eight hundred Canadians and several
British officers in the action. I shall take the liberty of communicating to the
inhabitants your assurance of such ample and generous means of defense."
In later letters he conveys the intelligence that he has "contracted for
forty-two boats, namely, thirty-two of fifty feet each, four of sixty feet and six
of fifty-five feet. They are to be one-fourth wider than those purchased last
year, namely, fifteen feet; to be also stronger and better finished, delivered
here with five oars to each, price per foot eight shillings nine pence-$I.I7 per
foot. Further he says fifty boats now ready will transport three thousand men;
they are the best that ever came here and I believe the cheapest." And still
further on May I8, I792, he wrote: "Captain                     with his detachment has occupied the barracks in the new fort since the first instant.
Two of the six-pounders are very well mounted in the second story of the
block house, the others will be mounted in a few days. The work, if you have
no objections, I will name Fort Lafayette." On June I5 he noted the arrival
of General Anthony Wayne. The new fort, as Major Craig had intimated,
was called Fort Lafayette and extended across Penn street and occupied the
ground on each side of it about equal to the width of the street. This fort
was never attacked by the Indians, but there is no doubt that its erection
deterred them from coming here.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
In I792 General Anthony Wayne was appointed to succeed General St.
Clair to equip an army and make a third expedition against the Indians in
Ohio and Indiana. Wayne is known in history as Mad Anthony Wayne from
the fact that he was a man of very high temper and in his army life, particularly at Pittsburg, was a Martinet in discipline. It is generally claimed
that the severity of his rule in Pittsburg gained for him the name of Mad
Anthony Wayne. His army, like St. Clair's, was composed in part of the
worst elements in the community. Wayne knew from the sad experience of
Harmar and St. Clair, the magnitude of his undertaking. He was not willing
to take the chance of a third defeat without taking every possible precaution
against it. Though the Indian outrages on the western frontier increased from
month to month, he took his own tirne to prepare his army, subjecting them
to the severest discipline ever known here. As a result of this long period of
drilling he transformed them from an army of green troops, many of them
being totally without restraint, to an army that was perfectly under his control. In the early maps of the town a building is marked as "General Wayne's
Stable." These were sheds put up for the use of his cavalry and stood on
the Monongahela river about where the Baltimore  Ohio station now stands.
He arrived here on this new mission on June I4, I792. His army was called
the Legion, and when he established winter quarters below Sewickley the
place was called Legionville. On November 9, I792, Major Craig wrote:
"This morning the detachment of the troops and the road officers with the
necessary tools for building set off for the -Winter ground beloN Logstown on
the Ohio. In a few days the whole army will follow." Wayne's army remained here in Pittsburg until November 30, I792, under which date Craig
again wrote: "This morning at an early hour the artillery, infantry and rifle
corps, except a small garrison left in Fort Lafayette, embarked and descended the Ohio to Legionville. The cavalry crossed the Allegheny at the
same time and will reach winter ground as soon as the boats. As soon as the
troops had embarked General Wayne went on board his barge under a salute
from the militia artillery corps of the place and all have no doubt, before this
time, reached their Winter quarters." Wayne was censured very bittterly for
the severity of his discipline while in Pittsburg. Many of the troops were
naturally insubordinate and disobedient, so much so indeed that nothing but
the heroic treatment of a Martinet like Wayne would have made them fit to
meet the enemy in battle. Sergeant Trotter was guilty of some gross disobedience, whereupon Wayne had him tried, condemned and executed as an
example of the punishment that would certainly follow all disobedience.
Trotter had many friends who raised a great cry about the brutality of the
commanding general, but nothing short of the severest discipline would avail
in armies composed of such elements of the frontier as were found in St.
Clair's and Wayne's armies. The following extract from a letter written by
Wayne, dated at Pittsburg, July 20oth, I792, will throw some light on the
matter: "Major Ashton's detachment arrived here on Monday. Lieutenant
288PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Campbell and Stokes' Dragoons and Franklin's Riflemen on Tuesday. No
less than fifty of Ashton's detachment and seven dragoons deserted on the way
from Carlisle to this place." Nothing but the severest discipline would improve an army of such men. The army remained in Legionville until April
30, I793, and were all the time subjected to the severest discipline and to constant drill. Craig says that sham-battles were frequent and that neither life
nor lash were spared. Major Craig, the quartermaster at Fort Lafayette, received the following order from General Finley at Legionville on February 22,
1793: "Major Craig please send down some whip cord for cats; they have no
cats to whip men with." This, too, on Washington's birthday. On April 30,
I793, Wayne and his army left Legionville in their boats for Marietta, Ohio.
A few days before this a public meeting was called in Pittsburg, of which
General John Gibson was made chairman. The meeting instructed the chairman to express to General Wayne in a letter their greatest respect for him
personally and for the just attention paid by him to the rights of the citizens
while the army lay at Pittsburg. General Wayne showed by his response that
he appreciated the compliment paid him by the people of Pittsburg. For more
than a year after he left Legionville he continued to drill his army and prepared them for the work before them. In this way he gained a mastery over
the forces under him which made his army successful in battle against the
Indians. On August 20, I794, he met the enemy at Fallen Timber, in Indiana, and defeated them so badly that his name was ever afterward a name
of terror to the Indian race. Wayne's victory was of great advantage to
Pittsburg. It broke the spirit of the Indians and led to the treaty of Greenville and the cession to the United States of the Indian title to eastern Ohio.
The population in all that section increased rapidly and very soon afforded a
growing market for Pittsburg's products. More than all this, its important
result was to remove all danger of Indian raids on the people around Pittsburg,
and this security alone contributed a great deal to its growth.
Major Craig's letter above quoted speaks of a "Militia Artillery Corps'
of Pittsburg. Only when one considers the smallness of the town then
can he realize how active must have been the military spirit of the place
to support an artillery company. A list of the mechanics of Pittsburg for
this year, I792, was published in the American Museum and is as follows,
namely:  One clock and watch maker, two coopers, one skin dresser and
breeches maker, two tanners and curriers, four cabinet makers, two hatters,
two weavers, five blacksmiths, five shoemakers, three saddlers, one maltster
and brewer, three wheelwrights, one stocking weaver, one rope maker and
two wheel smiths, the total being thirty-six mechanics.  The number of
families at that time was given in the same article as one hundred and thirty,
and allowing six people to each family would give the place a popualtion of
seven hundred and eighty. In all parts of the country buckskin breeches were
commonly worn then and the men who made the breeches generally dressed
and tanned the deer skins. Hence the occupation "one skin dresser and
19
28924 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
breeches maker."  Cloth was' scarce and expensive, while deer skins were
plentiful and were more serviceable in breeches than cloth.
As we have noted, there was a small distillery on the Allegheny river
nearby Pittsburg as early as I770. In I784 Isaac Craig and Stephen Bayard
were engaged in the mercantile business at Pittsburg and entered into a
partnership with Turnbull, Marmie  Co., of Philadelphia. The new firm established a salt works and saw mill near Pittsburg and also sent here a set of
stills which were probably operated in the same year, for in a letter from the
latter firm in Philadelphia to Craig, Bayard  Co., of Pittsburg, dated October
28, I784, is the following: "We are very anxious to hear that the stills have
reached you and that you will be able to set them going this fall." Whiskey,
it will be remembered, was in great demand then. The agent of Craig, Bayard
 Co. about this time wrote them: "I am greatly in want of three barrels of
whiskey and a barrel of rum. For the want of them my neighbors get all the
skins and furs."
Few men who are interested in the history of Pittsburg can fail to remember the exploits of Captain Samuel Brady. In one of the great trials of Pittsburg's early courts he was the defendant, the indictment being for murder.
It was held on May 20, I793, with Chief Justice Edward Shippen of the Supreme court, and Judge Yeates of the same court,- on the bench. It was the
only case before these judges at that term. Brady was charged with, murder
in killing certain Indians at the mouth of Beaver creek in the spring of I79I.
and as Beaver county was not then formed, it took place in Allegheny county.
The treaties with the Indians at Fort Stanwix, McIntosh, Muskingum and
Miami, had not only bound the Indians to keep peace with the people of the
United States but had obligated them to surrender all of their number who
should commit murder or other depredations on the frontier, yet many bands
of them had infested the frontier and had stolen horses and other property and
had murdered peaceable citizens. Just prior to the killing for which Brady
was tried the Boggs family, a man named Phillips and Mrs. Van Buskirk'had
been killed by the Indians, their homes being near Wheeling, in Ohio county,
Virginia. Brady had almost at once headed a party of volunteers from Ohio
county and pursued the Indians who had committed these outrages and to recover the stolen property. Following the trail of the Indians from the community where the killing had occurred they crossed the Ohio and fired on the
band when they caught up with them. For this he as leader of the pioneer
expedition, was tried for murder. Guyasuta, a chief of the Iroquois, testified
that the Delaware Indians had long before broken their treaty of peace and
that the Shawnees, Chippewas, Ottawas, Wyandottes and many of the Mingoes had united with the enemy which confronted Harmar in I790 and St.
Clair in I79I, all of which was contrary to the terms of their treaties. It was
also proved that Captain Kirkwood's house had been fired on by the Delaware
Indians, who had committed other depredations and murder, and that the Indians killed by the party headed by Brady were Delaware Indians and had
299PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
29I
in their possession much of the property taken in the recent raid and killing in
Ohio county. It was proved that when fired on the Indians were in the act of
seizing their guns to fire. The evidence of General Hamilton, who was a
trader in that region, set out that the Indians whio were killed were malignant
and hostile in temper. The charge to the jury delivered by the chief justice,
was a very learned and a very humane one. He explained the laws of war and
the right of putting enemies to death. He urged the impropriety of killing
those who could with safety be taken prisoners. He lamented any act of outrage by the white citizens which would impel fhe Indians to retaliate, but told
the jury that in his opinion the Indians on this occasion were hostile to the
white race and directed that if the jury were of his opinion, of which he had no
doubt, they should acquit the prisoner without leaving the box. The jury did
so and the court ordered Captain Brady to be discharged. James Ross, the
celebrated lawyer and senator in the United States congress from Pittsburg,
was Brady's chief counsel. He was surprised at the testimony of Guyasuta,
which was unusually strong in favor of Brady, and so expressed himself to
the wily, chief after the trial was ended. The Indian straightened himself up
with great pride and said, "Am I not the friend of Brady?" The Indians'
idea was that a man should testify as well as fight for his friend.CHAPTER XXI.
Early Census and Description of Pittsburg-Predominating Nationality.
The size of the town of Pittsburg when it was incorporated in I794 is a
matter of some importance to those interested in its early history. We have
spoken of its slow growth prior to this time, but in 179I the state road was
opened up from the East and seemed to have a good effect on the growth of
Pittsburg. All old writers agree that during the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794
the town had a population of about I,ooo. The Gazette of January 9, 1796,
states that the population of the "Borough of Pittsburg as taken by the assessor
last week was I,395."  It was not the assessor's dtity, however, to take a
census of the town but of the taxable citizens only, whether they were residents.
of Pittsburg or not. This statement of the Gazette was probably a calculation
made from the assessor's book and it is of but little value. When the census
of I790 was taken Pittsburg was not yet incorporated and its population was
included in Pitt township. The first census of Pittsburg proper, that is after
its incorporation as a borough, was taken in I8oo, when its population was
I,565. Brackenridge had in a somewhat boastful article reproduced in part
later on in these pages, given its population in 1786 as I,5oo, and the numberof houses at Ioo. This was manifestly too large, for it is not likely that
fifteen people could live in one house and that a growing town would only increase sixty-five in population in fourteen years. The Niles Register, Vol. 30,
page 436, on the contrary states that "Pittsburg in 1786 contained 36 log
houses, I stone and I frame house and 5 small stores."  The apparent exactness of these figures entitles them to greater credence. Stores were nearly all
dwelling houses as well in these days, and counting seven people to a house there
would be 30I of a population in Pittsburg at that time, viz.: in I786. T'he
Historical Review of NTorth Am4erica, which was published in Dublin, Ireland,
says in I789, "Pittsburg is a neat and handsome town containing about 400
houses." Brackenridge admits that his articles were written to advertise the,
town, and we have a like opinion of the reporter of the Historical Review.
Most Irish were suppoised to have kissed the Blarney stone, and we not only
disbelieve these figures as to the number of houses but doubt whether Pittsburg'
was either "neat or handsome" even for that day of rude frontier habitations.PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
293.
The Amnterican Museum, Vol. 2, gives a list of 36 mechanics and I30 families
of Pittsburg in I792. This is a rapid increase over the figures given by the
iViles Register for I786, but may have been very nearly correct, though the
number of families is undoubtedly large. It is quite likely that many of the
houses contained more than one family. There were likely nearly goo people
in Pittsburg in I792. Mr. Craig is very accurate in his statements and
recollections. He was a young man in Pittsburg in I796 and in writing of
the town and its inhabitants of that day and of the calculation of the Pittsburg
Ga-ette of January 9, I796, as above referred to, says:
"This is the earliest authenticated account of our population, and it may be
well to tarry awhile and notice the condition and appearance of its people at
that time. The number of inhabitants, at six to each house, upon the average would give 232 houses, and although the writer's memory goes back pretty
distinctly to that time he cannot conceive where that number of houses could
be found. I have taxed my own memory severely, and, with the aid of one
whose recollection is more distinct than my own, have made out the following
enumleration of the houses of Pittsburg about the time above mentioned.
"On Penn street, east of Fort Pitt, Col. William Butler, James O'Hara, D.
MIcHenry, 3; Liberty street, Cecil's and Dr. Bedford, 2; The Diamond, Black
Bear Tavern, George McGunnigle, William Denning, 3; Market street, Old
Jail; Corner of Fourth, John Irwin, Mollie Murphy, Brady's smith shop; Corner of Third, Horner's; Corner of Second, Brackenridge's, Mowry's, Ewalt's
and Christy's, Corner of Water, Io; Water Street, P. Neville's, McIntyre's,
Schull's, Wilmer's, Duncan's, J. Irwin's, John Ormsby's, S. Sample's, John
Neville's, Craig's Redoubt, Kirkpatrick's, O'Hara's, Tannehill's, Greentree
Tavern, Ferryhouse, Roose's, Audrian's, I8; Wood Street, John Wilkins, Jr.,
John Wilkins, Sr., Henderson's, Sturgeon's, Palmer's Log House, Rody's, McKinney's, 7; Ferry  Street, Devereaux  Smith's, Diehl's, Funk's, Charles
Richard's and two other log houses, Wilcock's, 7; Front street, Ward's, M.
Adams', George Adams', Hanlon's Stone House, Larwill's, Cooper's, Watson's,
two story log house, small log house east of Pittsburg Bank, Granny Irwin's
log house, Engleman's, D. Hogg's, Jones', Murrie's, 9; Fifth street (east of
Wood) Riley's, Cogan's, Vaughn's, and two or three more, 6; (west of Wood)
Lightenberger's and two others, 3; Marburry Street, General Richard Butler,
Log Tavern, Delaneys', Io; Second Street (west of Market) Hex Gibson's,
Chambers', General Gibson's (first brick house) Turnbull's stone house, McLaughlin's, Jimmy Long's, Benjamin Askin's, Major Irwin's, 9; Second street
(east of Market) McNickles', Mrs. Elliott's, HI. Reed's, Nicholson's, Hanna's,
Addison's, 6; Third Street, Benjamin Richard's, I; Fourth Street (west of
Market) Hamsher's, McCord's, 2; (east of Market) two one story log houses,
I; Bouquet's old redoubt, I; in Fort Pitt, four or five, 5; total number of
houses, Io3."
Mr. Craig says, that in this list there are not five houses overlooked;
that allowing eight people to a house the population would be a little over
800. This we regard as a correct and reliable enumeration of houses of
that day. The population of Pittsburg in I8oo, taken four years and six
months later was, as we have said, I565, while in I8Io it was 4,768, sl-iowing an increase in ten years of over 300 per cent.  It is not so difficultA CENTURY`AND,A  HALF OF~
to suppose, therefore, that the population doubled itself between I795 and i8oo
as it is to suplose that it only. gained I70 in that time. Mr. Craig wrote this
account in 1850, and says further:
"We would be pleased if we could give our readers and adequate conception of the appearance -of the plain on which our city stands at the time
of the first assessment, or even many years later. Those who see Pittsburg in its present not very pleasant aspect, can scarcely imagine its former ragged and broken appearance. We shall attempt to describe it. The
ramparts of Fort Pitt were still standing and a portion of the officer's
quarters; a substantial brick building was used as a malt house; the gates were
gone, and brick wall called the revetment which supported two of the ramparts facing toward the town, and against which the officers used to play ball,
were gone, so that the earth all around had assumed a natural slope. Outside
of the fort on the side next to the Allegheny river was a large, deep pond, the
favorite resort of wild ducks. Along the south side of Liberty Street, and extending from the foot of Diamond Alley to the foot of Fouith Street, was
another pond, from which a deep ditch led the water into a brick arch way,
leading from Front Street, just below Redoubt Alley, into the Mionongahela.
By whom this archway was built I have never learned. It was no trifling
work. The writer, when a boy, has often played through it. The sides, Mwhich
were from three to four feet high, and the top, were of hard burned bricks, the
bottom of flag stones. Before it was made there must have been a deep gulley
extending up from the river below Redoubt Alley and I have supposed that
when General Grant built the redoubt on the bank of the river, just below the
gulley, he probably had the archway or culvert constructed to facilitate the
communication between the redoubt and Fort Pitt.
"South of Market Street, between Front and Water Street, was another
pond and still another in the square in front of the St. Charles' Hotel. Finally
there was Hogg's Pond, extending along the north side of Grant's Hill from
Fourth Street up to Seventh. From this last there was a low, ugly drain. extending down nearly parallel with Wood Street to the river. A stone bridge
was built across this gulley in Front Street probably soon after the borough
was incorporated, because without it the gulley would be very difficult to pass.
We have now  (I850) a beautiful landing along the Monongahela from the
bridge to the point. Fifty years, nay, even thirty years ago, nothing could be
less pleasing to the eye than the rugged, irregular bank. From the bridge
down to near Wood Street the distance from the lots to the break of the bank
was from sixty to seventy feet. Wood Street was impassable even when the
river was moderately high. From Wood to Market the distance from the lots
to the break of the bank was fifty or sixty feet. At Market Street there was a
deep gulley worn into the bank so that a wagon could hardly pass along. At
the moutkh of Chancery Lane there was another chasm in the; bank so that a
horse could not,pass between the post at the corner of the lot and the precipitous bank. At the mouth of Ferry Street there was another similar contraction
of the way, so that it required very careful driving for a wagon to pass along.
at Redoubt Alley there was quite a steep and stoney descent down to the level
of the covered archway of which weS have spoken before. Below that archway
the space between the lots and break of the bank nowhere exceeded twenty feet
and between Short and West Streets it varied from fifteen feet to five. Between
West Street and below Water Street was closed by a fence extending to the
foot of the bank so that persons going to Jones' Ferry from any place on Water
294PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Street had either to climb down the steep bank and go along the path. or else to
turn up from Water to Front and pass along it to Liberty. Such was Pittsburg less than fifty years ago. No doubt the next fifty years will produce as
much improvement as the last."
The region around Pittsburg was settled very largely by Scotch-Irish and
their descendants who came from the Cumberland Valley or from Maryland
and Virginia. In many instances they came directly from Ireland to Pittsburg.
They were a sturdy race of people in all colonies wherever found. They had
originally come to America from  Ireland, but their ancestors had formerly
been the bone and sinew of Scotland before they were removed to the Emerald
Isle. They and their descendants, more particularly the latter, were scattered
thickly over Western Pennsylvania. They were the first to settle around the
forts and particularly around Fort Pitt, where they made money by trading in
furs and skins with the Indians; by taking up and selling lands and by sharp
dealing generally, rather than by agricultural pursuits. They lived by their
wits, by thrift and by cunning rather than by hard labor such as the German
elements in all colonies were willing to perform, yet they did not attempt to live
on the unpaid labor of others. They were an extremely aggressive and independent people who made splendid pioneers, particularly in a country infested
with a hostile enemy and abounding with wild animals. A very large percentage of all early settlers around the Fork of the Ohio, had for their mother
tongue the English language. The Scotch-Irish very soon obtained control of
public affairs in and around Pittsburg, as indeed they did in almost every
colony or province in which they settled.. Those who, came from Ireland or
even from other colonies, designated their coming here as settling among the
"Broadrims," a term applied generally to the Pennsylvanians because of the
shape of the hats worn by the Quakers of the eastern counties. More of
them came to Western Pennsylvania than to any other section of the state, if
not indeed more than to any other section of America. About the time the
region around Pittsburg was opened up for settlement, they went through a
series of domestic troubles in Ireland, among which were the high rents and
other oppressive actions on the part of the landed gentry of Great Britain.
The large landed estates of Ireland, it will be remembered, were almost entirely owned by lords, dukes and nobles who resided in London during the
greater part of the year and came to their estates only to hunt and to lead a
short period of rural life each year. The metropolis was then the centre of a
most profligate and spendthrift age and race, to support which high rents and
oppressive measures on the part of the land owners seemed necessary. Here
in Western Pennsylvania land was cheap and plentiful and here they settled in
untold numbers. With them came many of the same national extraction from
the central and eastern parts of the state, and from Virginia and Maryland.
All were actuated mainly by that progressive westward moving spirit so common among the enterprising, which has since filled the western states with a
most progressive and intelligent population.
29 PPITTSB'URG  AND HER PEOPLE                           2 I
wondered at that in this time of confusion many were killed by their own
friends. Captain Waggoner, of Virginia, attempted to secure a spot of rising
ground where, partly concealed by a large fallen tree, he hoped to mend the
condition of the army, or perhaps change its fortunes. With about eighty Virginians, who were accustomed to backwoods warfare, he reached the objective
point, and for a brief space did splendid work against a body of Indians concealed from the panic stricken soldiers but in full view from his position. But
very soon, in the whirl of confusion, the British mistook the smoke of Waggoner's guns for that of the enemy, and made against him one of the most
effective fires of the day on their part. The brave Virginian soon fell back,
leaving fifty of his eighty soldiers dead or wounded on the ground. Such
heroic efforts were indeed worthy of a better fate. When at length Braddock
found it impossible to oppose the enemy further, he tried to have them retreat
in such a manner as would in some degree, be conducive to their safety, but
even in this he succeeded but moderately. Many of them were so wild and bewildered that they were firing in the air. By this time one-half of his army
were killed or wounded, with most of his best officers among the slain. The
brave but rash old general had five horses shot under him, and had received
his death wound. It will never be known whether he' was shot by a friend or
foe, but likely it was an unintended shot from one of his own soldiers. In a
letter from Washington to Governor Dinwiddie (see Spark's letters of Washington, vol. II, p. 88) Washington avers that two-thirds of the killed and
wounded in the battle received their death shots from the cowardly and panic
stricken royalists.
The concealment of the enemy in this battle was much more thorough than
the reader may suppose. Many brave Virginians said positively that during
the entire engagement they had seen but one, others saw two or three and some
had not seen any of the enemy. Washington had several bullet holes in his
clothes, and two horses wounded and one killed under him, but was not
wounded. The Indians even fired on the retreating army as they were crossing the river, and some were thus killed in the water. All of the dead and
most of the wounded, with the baggage and supplies and the money chest, were
left on the field. The road to Dunbar's camp was strewn with the abandoned
accoutrements of the army. Indeed, the Indians only ceased firing to hastily
gather in the rich harvest of scalps and divide among themselves the baggage
and provisions of the vanquished. This greed for scalps alone saved them
from utter extermination. "Had pursuit taken place," says Washington, "the
whole army, except a few woodsmen, would have fallen victims of the relentless savages."  "The conduct of the British officers," says Parkman, "was
above praise. Nothing could surpass their undivided self-devotion, and, in
their vain attempts to lead their men, the havoc among them was frightful."
Washington had associated with the English officers in camp and on the westward march, and they had impressed him as being almost effeminate in their
tastes and in their desire for personal ease and convenience, yet he noticed thatA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
The Scotch-Irishman adhered closely to the Calvinistic religion of that
day, and had a personality strong enough to very largely impress his belief
upon other neighbors who differed with him. A noted writer of their own
people says they kept the Ten Commandments and everything else they could
lay their hands on. They were intellectual, steadfast, independent, shrewd, industrious, and ambitious. They very readily became Americanized, perhaps
more so than any other pioneers. The Scotch-Irish had no strict nationality
to forget, no sympathetic national faiths to unlearn, for their was no, pure Celtic
blood in their veins. They had left no nation across the Atlantic ocean which
they longingly regarded as the mother country or the father land. The songs
of Robert Burns which have made the pure Scotchman loyal to his native
heather, had no special music for them, nor did the memory of any song
learned in childhood from the lips of an Irish mother, fill them with patriotic
glory or draw them in memory from the New back to the Old World. The
Shamrock to which the true sons of Erin are universally loyal had no tender
memoried mystic chords of interest to them. They were no more attached to
Ireland than the Hebrews were to Egypt by their long sojourn there, or than
the Puritans were to Holland from whence they came to America in I620.
The pure Irish are loyal to the mythical traditions of their hearthstone in whatever nation they may be found. The pure Scotch weep as readily on the banks
of the Monongahela as in Scotland over the chant of "Bonnie Doon."  But
different from these the Scotch-Irish remembered Ireland only for the severity
of its landlords and regarded it purely as a place of temporary tenantry. These
characteristics made them very independent, if not arrogant, in the world and
gave them the power to impress their identity on, if not to govern, any community in which they permanently located. They and their heroic deeds in
America have received the highest measures of praise by their friends, while
their enemies have apparently with equal reason, held them up to the bitterest
ridicule and contempt.  They always looked down on the Puritans and
Quakers, who in turn despised them. They abhorred the Pennsylvania Dutch
and would not settle in the East because of them, and yet from the beginning
to the end they ruled the Quaker, Puritan and Dutchman as though with a rod
of iron.
The aggressive spirit of the Scotch-Irish and their descendants led to
many difficulties between the Indians and the white men in Western Pennsylvania. The English and the Germans had both adopted, as far as possible,
Penn's peace policy in dealing with the Indians. They were willing to endure many hardships and wrongs on the part of the red men for the sake of a
hoped-for peace and tranquillity in the future. But not so with the aggressive
spirit so characteristic of the Scotch-Irish race. They wanted land, caring
little whether it came from the Indians or the Penns; whether it destroyed the
Indian hunting ground or encroached on the rights of the Quakers, English or
Germans; and when they once procured a show of title to it, woe be unto the
one who interfered with their possessions or tried to shove them and their
rights aside. No ignorant or brutal race of red men should encroach on the
296PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
rights of a people who had for centuries stood up against and held their own
with the oppressive hand of the Irish land owner. But when the Indian,
spurred on by his inborn vindictive wrath, came to retaliate he made and
perhaps knew no distinction between the pacific, hardworking Dutch, the peaceloving Quaker or the high-minded, if not quarrelsome, Scotch-Irish. All were
alike palefaces to him and upon the white race without distinction, fell the
severity of the incursions which he thought were a just punishment for the
wrongs received at the hands of the white men in general.
How loyal these people were to Washington and our institutions is
indicated in the manner in which they honored him at his death. The
early Pittsburgers bore always in mind distinctly his youthful efforts in behalf of the English-speaking people of this section. Though all sections of the
United States paid him  the highest homage, the little town of Pittsburg
took a special pride in his achievements in life and at his death set apart
a special day upon which to honor his memory. This was on Jan. 8, I8oo.
The ceremonies were such as might have been expected had Washington
been a life-long citizen of Pittsburg, and as though they were in reality carrying his body to its last resting place. The military companies and the griefstricken populace generally, met at Fort Lafayette. There was in the parade
a company of cavalry from Westmoreland county, another from Pittsburg,
under the command of Captain James Bryson, a company of light infantry
under Lieutenant Magee and a regiment of troops under Captain Shoemaker.
These all marched with arms reversed while the bands played funeral dirges.
The soldiers all wore white sashes trimmed with black. At early dawn the
city was awakened by the firing of sixteen heavy guns. All day a gun was
fired every half hour, and minute guns were fired during the funeral ceremonies.
All business was suspended and the houses were closed and men and women
joined in the procession which marched as though in actual funeral services.
First came the military organizations; then the clergy two of whom walked
in front and wore black cloaks; then came the bier supported by four soldiers
wearing white sashes trimmed in black; these were followed by the follolwing
veterans of the Revolution similarly attired: Captain Herron, Colonel Neville,
General Neville, Major Kirkpatrick, Major Craig and General Gibson; then
came other officers of the Revolution, members of the Order of Cincinnatus,
Masonic orders, county and civic officers, professors and students of the
academy and citizens generally. The procession began to march promptly
at twelve o'clock. The way led over the principal streets and to the
court-house, into which the bier was carried. Religious services were conducted by Rev. Sample. To Colonel Neville was accorded the honor of
delivering the funeral oration. After that an anthem was sung, whereupon
the bier was taken out and placed in front -of the court-house. The orders
of President Adams and of General Alexander Hamilton were then read and
the services ended by firing three volleys from the small arms.
297CHAPTER XXII.
Whiskey Insurrection.
The Whiskey Insurrection forms a very interesting chapter in Pittsburg's
early histQry and became moreover a question of national importance. The
lawlessness which characterized it was confined almost entirely to four counties of western Pennsylvania, namely, Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington
and Fayette. Serious in its aspect at the time, it benefited the western section in the end and furthermore added strength to and faith in the government
which finally interfered to suppress it.  The entire trouble originated
from  the  method  adopted, mainly  by  the  government,  in  raising
money by taxation. This tax was known in the language of that day as an
excise tax, a term that was extremely opprobrious to the English speaking
people of all ages. In Scotland the inherent hatred of the excise duties had
become proverbial before the days of Robert Burns, for in his age, as is indicated in his songs, the peasantry regarded the killing of an excise tax collector as almost, if not quite, a virtue. The predominating nationality among
the early settlers of these four counties was Scotch-Irish. If they brought
nothing else to America with them they came with a hatred of the excise
system of taxation in England. They were not particularly opposed to paying
a tax if it were levied, for example, on real property and collected in the usual
way, for then it was at least supposed to be based on an equitable valuation of
the land. Nor did they seriously object to a tariff which is primarily a duty
collected by the government on all articles brought in from foreign countries.
But an excise tax is one levied on home manufactures and collected either
when the material is produced or when it is first exposed to sale in the open
market. If fairly and honestly collected, its very nature demnands that thd
government imposing and collecting the tax shall take charge to a very great
extent, of the labor and raw material which produces the commodity to be
taxed. This system of espionage, of close inquiry into the private affairs of
the people, was extremely distasteful to our ancestors and perhaps was rendered
more so because of their natural hatred for everything which savored of
Great Britain.PITTSB-URG AND -HER PEOPLE                           299
But the reader will much better understand the nature and causes of this
very important epoch in Pittsburg's history if he will glance at the social and
financial condition of the people in southwestern Pennsylvania in the years
which closely followed the close of the Revolution.
The four counties mentioned as the principal ones engaged in the Insurrection were by nature, a grain producing community. When the eighteenth
century closed our state was the only one in the union that was producing
more grain than its inhabitants consumed. For this surplus, particularly in
the western section, there was but a limited market. Flour could not with
profit be carried a long distance on pack horses, even though the East had
great need of it.' Every section in that age had learned, because of the limited
facilities of transportation to produce enough of each commodity to supply its
own needs. Nevertheless we had a surplus of grain and this brought about the
manufacture of whiskey. Furthermore, the country merchant purchased skins
and furs from the Indians and from white trappers, who in return desired
liquor more than any other commodity. We have preserved to us many
letters written by agents from this vicinity to houses in the East, stating
that they are handicapped in securing furs and skins by not having whiskey to
offer in return for them, and that those who had whiskey secured all the
peltry trade. All these things superinduced the manufacture of whiskey.
In 1784 the firm of Turnbull, Marmie  Company, who were iron producers in Philadelphia, sent a few stills to Pittsburg and vicinity. They were
at once set up and the business grew rapidly. In a few years the Philadelphia
company opened up in Pittsburg with the main purpose of making stills, but
they afterwards engaged in the general iron business. They were among the
first, if not the first, iron producers in the city which has since controlled the
iron market of the world. Our people now could find a market for their
whiskey and by distillation get rid of their rye and corn. As early as I792
stills were very numerous all over Western Pennsylvania. Judge James
Veach says that there were only a few less than six hundred distilleries in the
four western counties of the state. Every community had them. In some
sections, there was a still in every fourth or fifth house.  All of them were
small affairs compared with the mammouth distilleries or our generation,
but they made whiskey. The pioneers frequently traded land for stills. The
farmer who did not have a still took his grain to his neighbor who had one
and the distiller took part of the product in payment for distilling it. Most of
the farmers necessarily engaged in rye culture and those who had no money
could convert their rye into liquor, which found a more ready sale. These
stills were so small that they could be put into a cellar or into a one-roomed
log house, perhaps not even built for that purpose, but which has since been
known by the pretentious name of "still house." Very few of them had mills
connected with their stills but they had their grain ground at a neighboring
grist mill. The farmer took his grain to the mill and after it was properlyA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ground hauled it to the distillery. It was practically the only market he had
for his grain.
As a result the use of liquor became very general, though the almost universal testimony is that but few of our ancestors drank to excess. Store
keepers took whiskey regularly in exchange for goods and sold it to their customers. It was not unusual, indeed it was quite common for the country merchant to have a barrel of whiskey on his counter and to give each customer a
dram, the women and children as well as the men. There were few farmers
who did not have a barrel in their cellars, to which all of the members of the
family had access. This custom was prevalent among the best of families and
was kept up as late as I840. They generally drank it "straight," but sometimes it was mixed with tansy or mint or sweetened with maple sugar. Taken
in moderation in the absence.of modern medicines, it was probably a preventative of fever, ague and colds, and of many other diseases in their incipiency.
Davy Crockett said it made a man warm in winter and cool in summer, but it
is difficult to believe both of these propositions. It was used by the barrel at
raisings, parades and musters. It was common to pass it around at weddings
and other gatherings. Ministers did not preach against it, and often at
funerals in cold weather it was heated and given in tin cups to those who had
a long ride or walk to the graveyard. In this connection it must be remembered that they drank it as a tonic or medicine as we of a modern age
drink coffee, and not as a beverage. Clergymen frequently drank it openly.
Rev. Dr. MacMillan was certainly a man of high character and of many virtues, yet his biographers all relate of him that when on his way to Presbytery in
company with Rev. James Patterson, they stopped at a tavern to get a drink.
When the liquor was poured into the glasses, Patterson, being a very devout
man, proposed to ask a blessing before drinking. The invocation being a somewhat protracted effort, while it was in progress and while Patterson's eyes were
closed, the old doctor drank both glasses and then admonished the young
preacher that he must thereafter "watch as well as pray." But doubtless the
young preacher did not go away thirsty. In I756 Rev. James Beatty, who has
been spoken of as chaplain in the Forbes army, and as preaching the first
sermon at Fort Duquesne, after its capture, accompanied Benjamin Franklin
and his forces to Fort Allen. Franklin in his auto-biography says that Rev.
Beatty complained to him that the soldiers did not attend prayers with any
degree of regularity. Thereupon the great philosopher told him that each
soldier was entitled to a gill of rum each day and advised the reverend to act
as steward in dispersing the rum and to distribute it each morning after the
sermon. The sedate preacher took kindly to the advice and told Franklin
afterward that it worked to a charm, saying that the prayers were never more
generally attended. Yet he was a man of high character and, as the reader
will see, figured largely in the early church history of Western Pennsylvania.
The government, though economical by necessity, purchased a great deal
of whiskey for the Revolutionary soldiers and issued it to them as regular
3o0PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
rations. The reader will recall the "gill extraordinary" which General Irvine
gave to the soldiers of Fort Pitt when he announced the surrender of Cornwallis. It was not uncommon in that day for a young man to engage to work
during the winter for his board and "three drams per day."  In fact, whiskey
was used in those days somewhat like coffee is now. Favorite proverbs of our
liquor-using ancestors were, "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to
perish and wine unto those that be heavy of heart," and "Let him drink and
forget his poverty and remember his misery no more."
Whiskey, furthermore, in Western Pennsylvania, became almost a measure
of value, a medium of exchange in place of gold, which did not circulate, or in
place of continental or state money, which had no fixed value. Corn, rye, etc.,
were valued by the quantity of whiskey a bushel would make or bring in the
market. "John Barleycorn" was always a ready sale and with it the pioneer
could procure by barter all groceries, household goods or almost anything else
in the market. Indeed land was often purchased with whiskey. The old
records show that farms and lands now of great value were once sold for a
few gallons of whiskey. Even subscriptions to clergymen's salaries were sometimes paid in whiskey, and not infrequently it was used in paying off church
debts. From the first, as the reader has seen, the manufacture and sale of
liquor was under the control of the courts and in the earlier day they fixed the
rates that the landlord might charge his customers for accommodations, but
this rule did not apply any more to whiskey than it did to meals, night's
lodging and horse-feed, and the sale of liquor in large quantities was not limited
by the law as it is with us at present. By the law, however, in that day a
justice of the courts could neither make nor sell liquor. Several times Edward
Cook, one of the justices and a man of the highest character, was returned for
distilling liquor, but the informations were always quashed by the judges or
ignored by the grand jury. In I784 several men of Westmoreland county
were convicted and fined for both,making and selling liquor without a license.
The council in Philadelphia remitted the fines because of "the peculiar distress
to which the frontier inhabitants had been subject during the Revolution."
While a justice could not sell liquor, he could grant permission to his relatives,
and so Robert Hanna, a justice, had his daughter licensed repeatedly to keep
a public tavern. Many smaller matters now paid for by the county or by the
civil authorities, were then done without the thought of pay except a free supply
of whiskey. On election day the constables of that age served at the window
of the election room and never received any remuneration more than as much
whiskey as they cared to drink. Jurors served regularly with6ut pay or mileage, but the county commissioners supplied them with free whiskey while at
the county seat; still later they arranged to pay for their dinner at the hotel,
but their principal compensation was free whiskey.
These four counties, as we have said, were moreover well adapted to the
product of grain and could, in that day of limited markets, produce but little
else that was salable. It is true we have frequently referred to the skin and
1101A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fur trade as a product of the West, but that was necessarily the business of but
few of the earlier pioneers. It could not be depended on by the people in
general and was growing less and less each year as the country became more
densely inhabited by the white race. To the mind of the western farmer, who
could really produce but little else, there seemed to be an injustice in the excise
tax on whiskey for the reason that it was based on the quantity of the commodity and not on its value. Owners of lands of lesser value today could with
reason object to a system of taxation that would levy the same amount of tax
on every acre of land in the state. Land in the mountains may be assessed at
$I.oo per acre and lands near our cities at $I,ooo.oo per acre and the tax
based on these valuations may be entirely equitable and just. The leaders in
the Insurrection imagined that the very opposite of this equitable adjustment
was brought about by the excise tax on distilled spirits. Their view of the
situation may be further illustrated: Whiskey in any of these four grain
producing counties could be purchased in large or small quantities at from
twenty to twenty-five cents per gallon, and an excise tax of seven cents per
gallon was a little more than one-quarter of its value. But the same whiskey
if taken to Philadelphia, or if a liquor of equal grade were purchased there,
would readily sell for fifty or sixty cents per gallon, and the excise duty of
seven cents per; gallon levied and collected in the East was therefore less than
one-eighth of its value. So they theorized and reasoned that if a farmer on
the banks of the Monongahela raised one hundred dollars' worth of rye and
made it into whiskey he paid to the government twenty-five dollars tax on it, but
if he lived in the East and by the same labor produced the same amount!of rye
in value he paid but twelve dollars tax on it. There was no public market for
the rye at that time except by transporting it east of the'mountains on pack
horses. A good strong pack horse could carry about five bushels of rye, but if
it were made into whiskey the same horse would carry the product of from
fifteen to twenty bushels of rye. Those who framed the law had in view,
of course, the greater value of the land in the East than in the West, a question
which did not appeal readily to our ancestors. Accordingly the apparent injustice was very potent to those who, while the'r could not understand the finely
spun theories of political economy could see the difference between giving the
government the one-fourth in value of their grain product raised on the Ohio
and the one-eighth of its value if raised near Philadelphia.
An excise law in Pennsylvania had been passed by the legislature in I772,
but had never been executed, particularly in the western section, largely because there were but few products here to tax. But the state still owed considerable money on the Revolutionary debt which had been provided for by an
appropriation but had never been paid. The law of I772 was greatly opposed
by the counties west of the Allegheny mountains. It was complied with in a
measure by the eastern counties who, however, rightfully complained bitterly
at the glaring injustice of forcing them and not the western counties to pay
the excise tax. It was therefore concluded- in I785 to raise the money with
302PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
303
which to pay the Revolutionary debt by a rigid enforcement of the excise law
of I772 in all parts of the state. This, they reasoned, was such a debt that the
patriotic men of the West who had done so much and fought so nobly for the
cause of freedom, would gladly help to pay, regardless of the mode of taxation.
Accordingly, in June, 1785, an excise collector named Graham was sent out to
enforce the obnoxious law. He met with much opposition in all of the counties
but succeeded in collecting some tax in Fayette and in Westmoreland counties.
When in a hotel in Greensburg in'the night-time he was awakened by a man
in disguise who told him that he was Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils, and that
he had called for him to hand him over to a legion of smaller Devils who
were outside awaiting the collector, it being his pleasant duty to conduct him to
them. Assisted by the landlord of the tavern he managed to escape from the
mob that night. He tried to prosecute a citizen of Greensburg whom he
thought he recognized as the "Prince," but the defendant proved an alibi and
was discharged. Graham accordingly left Greensburg and went over to
Washington county, where he received still rougher treatment. They took
his pistols from him and broke them into pieces before his eyes. They then
relieved him of his commission and papers, threw them in a muddy part of the
street and compelled him to walk back and forth over them and trample them
still deeper into the mud. They also shaved the hair from the one side of his
head, fixed his hat so that it looked ridiculous, and compelled him to wear it
wrong end foremost, for the cocked hats of those days were made with a well
defined front and back. They shaved his horse's tail, put him astride of the
animal and started him eastward toward the county line. The Washington
county citizens followed him and as they progressed the crowd increased.
They stopped at each still house on the way and compelled the collector to
drink of the liquor he was sent there to collect a tax on. When the county
line was reached he was allowed to go free with a fair warning that the treatment he had just received was mild in comparison to what would be meted out
to him should he ever return to their county again. This demonstrated that
the West would not pay the tax willingly, and, rather than engage in an open
war with the people, the legislature repealed the law. The citizens of these
four counties felt confident that they had won the battle by this opposition and
gloried a great deal over the result.
But in I79I congress passed a law levying four pence per gallon on all
distilled spirits. There were three members of congress from these four
counties, namely: General William Irvine of Pittsburg, John Smilie of Fayette county, and William  Findley of Westmoreland county. All of them
knew the pronounced feelings of their constituents in the matter and strongly
opposed the passage of the law in the halls of congress. Upon their returnl
they were. heartily endorsed by their constituents for this action. Albert
Gallatin, who was undoubtedly one of the greatest intellectual forces of his
day, was then a citizen of Fayette county and opposed the law with all his
power. But when the government came to appoint a collector, no one in theA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
four counties would accept the position. Congress, hoping to amend matters,
then changed the law by reducing the tax and modifying its terms, the new
law to take effect with the fiscal year of I794. The first public meeting held in
the western section to oppose the enforcement of the measure generally, was
held at Redstone, near Brownsville, on July 27, I79I. It was there arranged
that the county committees should meet at the county seats of the four counties, namely: Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington and Fayette, on August
23. The committee for Washington county passed resolutions and published
them in the Pittsburg Gazette. These resolutions, among other things, provided that "Any person who had accepted or who might accept an office under
Congress in order to carry the law into effect should be considered inimical to
the interests of the country." Delegates from the four counties met at Pittsburg on September 7, I79I, and passed equally severe resolutions against the
execution of the law. The state had been divided into districts for the purpose of collecting this tax, and an inspector was appointed for each district, or
"survey," as the districts were denominated in the act. By the terms of the
law each distiller was to furnish the inspector nearest his works, with a full
description of his establishment. His distillery was at any time to be opened
to a visit and examination on the part of the inspector. This may not seem
remarkable to us now but it appeared to raise the wrath of the pioneer to its
highest pitch.  For the purpose of opposing the law the four counties were
most thoroughly united and worked almost as one force. The general terms
of the resolutions adopted at a Pittsburg meeting advised the people to treat
any person accepting the office of collector with contempt, to, absolutely refuse
all kinds of communication or intercourse with him, and to withhold from him
all aid, support or comfort. Nevertheless, Benjamin Wells, of Fayette county,
accepted the office of collector for the counties of Fayette and Washington, and
Albert Johnson, of Allegheny county, accepted the office for the counties of
Allegheny and Westmoreland. Wells, according to the character given him
by Judge Addison, was a most contemptible and unworthy man, whom his
neighbors would not want to see in any office of trust. Johnson was said to be
an honest man, of inoffensive manner and kindly bearing. Johnson established
an office about nine miles southwest of Pittsburg. Wells' office was at his
residence on the southern bank of the Youghiogheny river near Connellsville.
These were the only offices in the four counties.  On September 6, 1791, a
party, armed and disguised, assaulted Johnson npar Pigeon creek, in Washington county. They stripped him, tarred and feathered him, cut off his,
hair, took his horse from him and then started him on the way on foot in that
condition. The marshal at once sent an officer to arrest them or to arrest the
supposed offenders, but he was seized, whipped, tarred and feathered, his
money and horse taken from him, and then blindfolded and tied to a tree in
the woods, where he remained helpless for five hours. In May, I792, a few
alterations were made in the law; the rates per gallon were slightly lowered
and the distillers were allowed to pay for monthly instead of yearly licenses,
304PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
305
but the penalty for not reporting a still was increased from one hundred to two
hundred and fifty dollars. Efforts were in the meantime put forth to secure
offices for the collectors in Westmoreland and Washington counties, but none
could be obtained. Wells tried to open an office in Greensburg and one in
Uniontown in June, I792. The one at Greensburg was soon abandoned, after
having done but little business. He did not appear at Uniontown on the day
announced and this only made the distillers more confident in the contest.
Some of the distillers in Western Pennsylvania made the proper return of
their places and some quit the business, but there being no offices in two of the
largest counties, fully two-thirds of the distillers were entirely exempt from
taxation. Many others shipped their' product down the Ohio river, but the
Youghiogheny and the Monongahela rivers were pretty closely watched by the
officers of the law. On August 2I, I792, a meeting was held in Pittsburg
which assembled the most prominent men in the four counties. John Cannon
was made president of the meeting and Albert Gallatin was appointed clerk.
Others present were: William  Wallace, Shesbazar Bentley, Bazel Bowel,
Benjamin Parkinson, John Huey, John Badollet, John Hamilton, John McClelland, Neel Gillespie, David Bradford, Thomas Gaddes, Rev. David Phillips,
Matthew Jamison, James Marshall, Robert MIcClure, Peter Leslie, Alexander
Long, Samuel Wilson, and Edward Cook. They passed resolutions, an important clause of them being as follows: "Resolved, that David Bradford,
James Marshall, Albert Gallatin, Peter Leslie and David Phillips be appointed for the purpose of drawing a remonstrance to Congress, stating our
objections against the law that imposes a duty upon spirituous liquors distilled within the United States, and praying for a repeal of the same, etc."
"And whereas, some men may be found amongst us so far lost to every
sense of virtue and feeling for the distress of this country as to accept offices
for the collection of the duty.
"Resolved therefore that in the future we will consider such persons as
unworthy of our friendship, have no intercourse or dealings with them, withdraw from them every assistance and withhold all the comforts of life which
depend upon those duties that as men and fellow-citizens we owe to each other,
and upon all occasions treat them with that contempt they deserve, and that it
be and it is hereby most earnestly recommended to the people at large to follow
the same line of conduct towards them."
A committee was appointed to confer and correspond with committees and
with those interested throughout the f'our counties. On September I5, President Washington issued a dignified and commanding proclamation admonish.ing all citizens of the district of the trouble they were making for themselves
and' demanding in the firmest terms that the people cease all unlawful combinations and stop all proceedings which tended to obstruct the operations of the
law.
The act passed had fixed the month of June of each year as the time for
"entering a still," that is, for filing the statement concerning it with the collector.
20A CENTURY AND,4 HA4LF 01F
in battle they knew no fear, but on the contrary exposed themselves to death
with a courage that even increased as the horrors of the battle thickened.
Washington's first duty was to convey from the field the wounded general and
as many of the wounded soldiers as it was possible to save. When Braddock
fell from his horse, he was caught by Captain Stewart, of the Virginia Guards.
He had been shot through the left arm and lungs. He was placed on a tumbrill, and with great difficulty borne from the field. In his despair, it is said he
begged them to permit him to die without removal. About a quarter of a mile
beyond the ford of the river the last retreating soldiers overtook Braddock,
while Dr. Craik was dressing his wounds and also those of his aide-de-camp.
Washington was there attending them with that unfailing fidelity which characterized his entire life. Braddock was still able to give orders, and had even
yet a hope of reforming the army and regaining the field, but those who were
placed as sentinels soon stole away, and the deserted general and his wounded
officers were compelled to resume their retreat. Washington was then sent to
Colonel Dunbar's camp for assistance. Though weakened by disease and by
the hard day's fight (for both the other aides being wounded early in the battle,
their duties fell on him), he rode nearly forty miles that night and reached the
camp early the following forenoon. He had orders to hurry back provisions,
hospital stores and wagons for the wounded, and these, under the escort of two
Grenadier companies came rapidly to meet the broken ranks. The news of
the terrible defeat carried there by the wagoners had preceded Washington,
and he found the camp scarcely in less confusion than the army on the field had
been.
The fatalities in this battle were very great, on the part of the English
army, and were entirely out of proportion to the number of men engaged.
This was due in a great measure, to the hurried flight of the survivors, who
were thus compelled to abandon many wounded solaiers and officers who
might otherwise have been saved. All who were left on the field, so far as
known, were either killed by the Indians or perished through want of attention
and from starvation. Few of the wounded, however, were allowed to survive
the day. The British  army lost sixty-three out of its eighty-six officers.
Every mounted officer, save Washington, was either killed or wounded. Accounts do not agree as to the exact number killed on either side.  The best
authority places the killed and wounded in the British army at seven hundred
and fifteen privates. This number, if increased by the number of officers
killed, represents more than half of the army. The French and Indians lost
three officers and about thirty soldiers killed and an equal number wounded.
A few days before the battle, a young man named James Smith h4d been
captured near Bedford by a marauding party of Indians and taken to Fort
Duquesne. Like many captives he was compelled to run the gauntlet, and had
been beaten almost to death. On July gth he had so far recovered that he was
able to walk around through the fort by the aid of a cane. To him we are
greatly indebted for much information concerning the battle. In his most in22A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
When the month of entry, June, I793, following, approached, the great question
with those interested in the execution of the law was to get officers and offices
for them. On June I the inspector of excise for the district, General John
Neville, who had recently been appointed, gave notice in the Gazette that an
office would be opened at the house of Johnson, the collector for Allegheny
county; at the house of Benjamin Wells in Fayette county, and at Philip
Reagan's house in Westmoreland county. Alexander Hamilton made a report
concerning the Insurrection and it has been used as a basis of nearly all articles
written on the subject. He says that up to I794 he was unable to establish any
regular office in Washington or Westmoreland counties. Wells was the most
persistent in holding his office. He was insulted and personally abused whereever he appeared, and his family were likewise ostracised and looked down
upon. As early as April, I792, a disguised band attacked his home in the
night and terrorized his family, he being away from home. On November 22,
they again attacked his house and finding him at home, compelled him to surrender his commission and books. They also exacted a promise from him to
publish a resignation from office in the papers within two weeks, and, on his
failure to do so, they warned him that they would burn his house. In I794
John Wells, a son of Benjamin, was made deputy under his father and opened
an office in the house of Philip Reagan, near the Big Sewickley creek. The
office was under the joint care of the deputy and Reagan. They were both
men of courage and seemed to understand what was to be expected from the
public. They at once converted the house into an old-time block-house, with
port holes and a door and window that could be closed and barred from the
inside. They had, in addition to this, a number of men to defend and protect
it and all were supplied abundantly with arms. It was promptly tested and
withstood several night attacks in June, one of them being from a very large
and well armed body of people. This mob which had collected fired repeatedly
on the house from the outside and the fire was promptly returned from the
fortress w'ithin, thou;gh no one was wounded on either side. Seeing that they
could not take the stronghold, they set fire to his barn and then returned to
their homes. Not to be defeated in their scheme to capture the officers of the
law, they returned two or three nights after with a crowd of about one hundred and fifty men and renewed the attack. After considerable parley, Reagan,
who knew it was useless to defend his castle against such a mob, proposed to
surrender if they assured him that they would not molest his person nor destroy his property. Should they grant him these honorable terms he promised
to surrender his commission and never again act as an excise collector. These
terms were put in writing, whereupon Reagan came out and brought with him
a keg of whiskey, which was promptly put to use by the besiegers. Unfortunately for Reagan, many of them imbibed too freely and became intoxicated.
Not a few who were in this condition said that Reagan had gotten off too
easily and proposed that he should be set up as a target to be shot at. The
besiegers had brought with them a good quantity of tar and several pillows
3o6PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
307
filled with feathers, and it was proposed that Reagan be supplied with a new
coat from these. Others claimed that he should go unpunished and be allowed
to go home unmolested as they had agreed. But these conciliatory arguments
gave umbrage to several of the party and a fight ensued. After this was settled it was proposed, voted on and carried that Reagan should be court-martialed and that they should go at once to Wells' house, take him prisoner and
try both him and Reagan together. When they arrived at Wells' house he was
not there, whereupon they set fire to it and burned it to the ground, with all its
contents. They then detailed a party to lie in ambush until Wells should return to the smoldering embers of his home, when he should be captured by
them. During the night Reagan escaped, and when the effects of the liquor
died on those who were to capture Wells, he was also allowed to escape. The
mob did not always vent their wrath on those who were really upholding the
law, as will be seen from the following extracts from a letter written by Alexander Hamilton under date of August 5, I794:
"Nor were the outrages perpetrated confined to officers; they extended
to private citizens who only attempted to show their respect for the laws
of their country.  Some time in October, I79I, an unhappy man of the
name of Wilson, a stranger in the county and manifestly disordered in his
intellect, imagining himself to be a collector of the revenue or invested with
some trust in relation to it, was so unlucky as to make inquiries concerning
who had entered their stills, giving out that he was to travel through the
United States to ascertain and report to Congress the number of stills,
etc. This man was pursued by a party in disguise, taken out of his bed,
carried about five miles to a blacksmith shop, stripped of his clothes, which
were afterwards burned, and having been himself inhumanely burned in
several places with a heated iron, was tarred and feathered, and about daylight
dismissed, naked, wounded and otherwise in a very suffering condition. The
unhappy sufferer displayed the heroic fortitude of a man who conceived himself to be a martyr to the discharge of some important duty."
The same mob which had attacked Reagan, or practically the same, then
sent a detachment to capture Captain Webster, who had been appointed an
excise collector for Somerset county. Over one hundred men surrounded
his house, took his commission from him and made him promise never
to act as a collector of excise tax again. They took him with them several miles on their way homeward and had frightened him so that his
conduct was submissive in the extreme. When they came to part with
him they compelled him to mount a stump and cheer three times for
"Tom the Tinker." This term had come into popular use to designate
the opponents of the excise law.  Brackenridge claims that it originated
with a certain John Holcroft, who first used it at an attack on William
Cougran, whose still was cut to pieces.  This cutting or breaking of a
still was popularly called "mending" the still and the menders were called
"Tinkers," so that the name given to those collectively who broke up stills and
who opposed the law, was "Tom the Tinker." The reader will understand that
not infrequently the still of a man who complied with the law was destroyed byA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
disguised insurrectionists. Notices threatening prominent citizens, admonishing them to desist or to leave the county were understood thoroughly if
signed "Tom the Tinker."  Letters were sent to the Pittsburg Gazette signe(l
"Tom the Tinker," and they frequently closed with a threat against the person
of the editor if he failed to publish them. The following may throw some
light on the manner of proceeding; it was a notice given to John Reed and is
taken from the Gazette:
"Mr. Scull, Editor, and one of the proprietors of. the Pittsburg Gasette:
I am under the necessity of requesting you to publish the following in your
newspaper. It was found posted on a tree near my distillery. July 23, I794.
John Reed."
ADVERTISEMENT.
In taking a survey of the troops under my direction in the late expedition
against that insolent excise man, John Neville, I find there were a great many
delinquents among those who are carrying on distilling. It will therefore be
observed that I, Tom the Tinker, will not suffer any certain class or set of men
to be excluded from the service of this, my district, when notified to attend, on
any expedition carried on, in order to obstruct the execution of the excise lawand obtain a repeal thereof.
I do declare on my solemn word that if such delinquents do not come forth
on the next alarm with equipments and give their assistance, such as in them
lies, in opposing the execution and obtaining a repeal of the excise law, he or
they will be deemed as enemies, and stand opposed to virtuous principles of
republican liberty, and shall receive punishment according to the nature of the
offense.
And whereas, a certain John Reed, now resident in Washington, and being
at his place near Pittsburg, called Reedsburg, and having a set of stills em--
ployed at said Reedsburg, entered on the excise docket, contrary to the will and
good pleasure of his fellow citizens, and came not forth to assist in the suppression of the execution of said law, by aiding and assisting in the late expedition, has, by delinquency, manifested his approbation to the execution of
the aforesaid law, is hereby forthwith to cause the contents of this paper, without adding and diminishing, to be published in the Pittsburg Gazette the ensuing week, under no less penalty than the consumption of his distillery.
Given under my hand this nineteenth day of July, one thousand seven
hundred and ninety-four. Tom the Tinker.
The reader has doubtless noticed that the entire community seemed to be
interested in overthrowing the law. There were many distillers in comparison
to the whole number of inhabitants, though all distilleries were small. But
these could not have held up as they did in opposition to the law had they been
unaided by others. The sequel to this public uprising lies in the fact that
nearly every man in the community was engaged in producing rye and to each
and every one of these the law seemed to apply directly. It is difficult now toappreciate the extent of this uprising or the rapidity of its growth. Reason
was thrown to the winds. Many ministers took the side of the people bolcl-,.
308PITTSB,URG  AND  HER PEOPLE                          309
though the conservative discouraged all mob violence.  Findley, Smilie,
Brackenridge, Cook, Young, Ross, Bradford, Holcroft and others were all in
sympathy with all legitimate methods used in opposing the execution of the
law. They probably laughed at the head shaving demonstrations and were
not entirely cast down in gloom when the excise man was clad in a coat of tar
and feathers. No minister taking the opposite side could have retained his
pulpit. He alone was orthodox and popular with his hearers who sustained
the people in their "great strike for liberty," as they called it. The lawyer
was in good standing only when he defended the rabble when one of them was
accused. No man's property in these four counties was safe, if there was
the least suspicion that he was disloyal to; the insurgents. The people were
first undoubtedly instigated by such men as Gallatin, Findley, Smilie, Brackenridge, Cook, Young, Cannon, Ross, etc., and were afterwards led on to greater
deeds of outlawry by such men as Bradford and Holcroft.
In I794 the law was again modified by congress, but nothing short of a
general repeal would satisfy the people. Some of the lawbreakers were indicted before the courts, but able lawyers defended them and no jury could be
found in this community to convict them, no matter what the evidence was. A
large number of distillers who had not complied with the law were finally
suimmoned to be tried in the United States courts in Philadelphia. General
John Neville, the inspector, in company with the marshal of the district, went
to serve a summons on a distiller named Miller. A furious outbreak followed,
which was due more to Neville's presence than to the serving of the summons, for others had been served before this. Men came from the surroundin:z harvest fields, fired at them and chased them out of the country. The
same day a military meeting was being held at Mingo Creek, in Washington
county, to raise a company of men for service against the western Indians.
The report of the chasing of the marshal and Neville soon reached this meeting,
which was seven miles away. A mcb at once took across the country for the
marshal's house. When they arrived they demanded a surrender of his commission, his papers, etc., which was promptly refused. A general battle began
at once. The inmates of the house were better armed and better protected than
the attacking party. Six of the besiegers were wounded and one was shot
dead. On this the law-breakers retired to their homes, but only to better prepare themselves for another attack. A meeting was called and all good citizens were warned "to strike for freedom" or "be forever enslaved," etc. In
response to the call a large meeting was held at Mingo Creek Meeting House,
the purpose of which was to avenge the outrages of the previous day. This
meeting appointed three men as their leaders and elected Major James McFarlane, an old and experienced Revolutionary officer, as colmmander of the forces.
In the meantime United States soldiers were collected to guard General John
Neville's house. The mob marched at once to his place and demanded his pa-.
pers and commission which, of course, were refused. Then the women of the
house were allowed to pass out unmolested, immediately after which a battleA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ensued. The regular soldiers defending the house were in command of Major
Kirkpatrick. It is hardly fair to say that McFarlane commanded the insurgents, for they very soon reached that degree of excitement that the commander was entirely impotent. Early in the fight Major McFarlane stepped
from behind a tree to confer with Major Kirkpatrick, intending to try to bring
about a settlement of the difficulty. As he did so he was shot, and died immediately. His death only added fuel to the fire. The barn and outhouses,
with all their harvested crops, were at once set on fire, and Kirkpatrick and his
soldiers were allowed to retire. When this became generally known, lawlessness became the rule over all of the four counties. The United States mail
carrier was waylaid within a mile of Greensburg by two men who perhaps had
no other motive in view than to show their contempt for the authority of the
government of the United States, though they searched for orders concerning
the Insurrection. They broke open the bags and rifled their contents, not for
financial gain, but to show that the people and not the government held complete sway. After this trouble at Neville's and the mail robbery, a public meeting was called for by David Bradford, of Washington, who claimed to be the
leader of the united forces of the four counties. This meeting was held at
Braddock's Fields, as it was then called, the location of which is well known
to the reader. The call was that all should come armed and provided with
four day's rations. About seven thousand citizens (some reports give many
more) actually came on the day appointed, though many came through idle
curiosity, others because they were afraid to remain away, and perhaps more
than half of the number were without arms. David Bradford was chosen
commander-in-chief of the forces and Edward Cook was made chief lieutenant.
Bradford's idea was to besiege the town of Pittsburg and burn the homes
of the leading citizens interested in sustaining the law, such as Neville, Gibson,
Bryson, Kirkpatrick, etc. Had this been done the town would have protected
itself and blood would have flown freely with the probable result that Pittsburg would have been laid in ashes.
Hugh Henry Brackenridge was then the most gifted and eloquent lawyer
in Western Pennsylvania. He had defended, free of charge, many of the ringleaders of this Insurrection who had been indicted heretofore, and was thoroughly trusted by all of them. When he and his friends saw that no power
could prevent them from marching to Pittsburg, they tried to induce them to
go in a peaceable and orderly manner. In his address to them he said: "Let
us go there by all means if for nothing else, to show to them that the strictest
order can be observed by us; that we are not the rabble they take us for but that
we are the people; that we are asserting their rights. We will do them no
danger nor put them in fear. We will march through the town, take a turn,
come out again upon the fields by the banks of the river, and after drinking a
little whiskey with the inhabitants who will gladly receive us, the troops will
cross over to the other side of the river, then we will have won the people of
Pittsburg to our side."  Cook advocated the same behavior, and with the
3IOPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
standing of these men the mob could not well turn a deaf ear to the advice of
either of them, and particularly to the eloquent appeal of Brackenridge. The
inhabitants of Pittsburg were greatly alarmed but their fears were allayed on
the arrival of the army, for they had no doubt been very largely influenced by
Brackenridge's advice. There was little harm done. Some one in the night
set fire to Kirkpatrick's barn, and we believe this was the only danla,ge done to
the town. In a day or so the greater part of the army was disbanded or had
disbanded itself, and peace and quiet again reigned in the four counties.
About this time the more conservative citizens of the West began to see
the inevitable result of this opposition if not in some way gotten under control.
A meeting was therefore called at Parkinson's Ferry, to convene on August
I4, I794. This was attended by two hundred and sixty delegates from the
four western counties. Edward Cook was made chairman of the meeting and
Albert Gallatin was made secretary. They as usual persisted in a series of
resolutions against the excise law, and particularly against the taking of
offenders to Philadelphia, three hundred miles away, for trial. The meeting
was the most conservative yet held in the four counties. There were some
very eloquent speeches made by such men as Gallatin, Brackenridge, Edgar
and others, and a slow procedure by purely legal methods was the trend of
their addresses. It is now generally supposed that these men and many of the
delegates were there for the purpose of manipulating the convention and to thus
gain, by a clever management and by wholesome advice, what could not be
gained by open opposition to the rabble. The whole force of the Whiskey Insurrection was here represented by the two hundred and sixty delegates, and
by the management of Brackenridge' and his friends, their power was delegated to one representative from each township, which reduced them to sixty
delegates. From these sixty delegates were then appointed a committee of
twelve who would thereafter represent them and serve as a standing committee.  The newly constituted cdmmittee could therefore bind the four
counties and could be much more readily managed by the conservative leaders
than a large body could be. It was certainly a wise move on the part of the
managers and went far toward the re-establishment of order in the excited
community. ~The committee of sixty met at Redstone on September 2, and
the standing committee was ready at any time to meet a similar committee appointed by the government or the state. About this time Governor Mifflin, of
Pennsylvania, ordered that the Pennsylvania troops be equipped for service at
once, and issued a call for an extra session of the general assembly. The
capital of the United States was then in Philadelphia, and President Washington was not slow to act in a matter of this magnitude. On August 7th he
issued a proclamation commanding the insurgents to lay down their arms before
September I or abide the consequences. He also began to raise an army, and in
a few days had I2,950 men ready to march at a moment's notice. Many of
them came from the drilled soldiers of the Revolution and were recruited from
Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. The president
3IIA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
appointed James Ross, Jasper Yates and William Bradford to represent the
government and to confer with a like delegation should one be appointed representing the insurgents. Governor Lee, of Virginia, commanded the troops
raised in that state by Washington and the governors of the several states commanded the troops sent out by them. The president himself, as commanderin-chief of the army, under the then new constitution of the United States, arranged to accompany the troops, and with him were General Henry Knox,
General Alexander Hamilton, secretary of war, and Judge Peters, the latter
being judge of the United States district court of Pennsylvania. The army set
out from Plliladelphia on the first day of October; President Washington,
leaving the capital a few days after, joined them at Carlisle. It is probable that
Washington learned for the first time at Carlisle, from delegates sent to meet
him, of the conciliatory movements that were then in progress, and of the
actions of the committees appointed to secure a cessation of hostilities in the
West. He came on west with the tarmy as far as Bedford, where he arrived on
October 19. There he remained two or three days, then went back to Philadelphia, reaching the latter city on October 28. It is often claimed that he
came on west and was in Allegheny county, but the claim is entirely unfounded.
From the fact that he journeyed a part of the way with the army and then
returned without coming near the seat of the war, it is supposed that he
learned on the way that the backbone of the Insurrection was broken by the
people realizing the injury the general uprising was effecting. The loyal citizens had then begun to manifest an interest in the matter. It will be remembered in this connection that news travelled much slower then than now. On
Aiugust 8, I794, Washington had appointed James Ross, Jasper Yates and
William Bradford to go at once into the western district with instructions and
power to confer with the citizens in revolt, or with those representing them.
Previous to this, on August 6, the governor had appointed chief justice McKean and General William Irvine to go to the western section representing
Pennsylvania and there ascertain the facts concerning the turmoil, report the
result of their findings to him and make known the will of the authorities of
Pennsylvania to those in opposition. The meeting at Parkinson's Ferry which
convened on August I4, perhaps knew nothing of the proceedings in the East
concerning the appointment of these committees, the calling out of the army,
etc. The committee of sixty, that is, one from each township in the district,
was to meet at Redstone on September 2, and the committee of twelve, which
was called the standing committee, was to meet and confer with any committee that had been or that might be appointed by the government, and they
were to report the result of their conference. The commissioners appointed by
Washington arrived at Pittsburg about the middle of August, and the commissioners on the part of the state reached Pittsburg on August I7.  On
August 20 all these commissioners met the standing committee of twelve.
This last committee was composed as follows: From Allegheny county were
Thomas Morton, John Lucas, and H. H. Brackenridge; from Westmoreland
312PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
county were John Kirkpatrick, George Smith, and John Powers; from Washington county were David Bradford, John Marshall, and James Edgar; from
Fayette county were Edward Cook, Albert Gallatin, and James Lang. All
these seventeen men met at Parkinson's Ferry. The commissioners on the part
of both the national and state governments made it known distinctly that they
could only exercise the powers vested in them to suspend prosecutions or to
agree to a general pardon for crimes and irregularities already committed, when
those in opposition to the law had given full and satisfactory assurance of a
change of sentiment and of a fixed determination among the entire people in
rebellion to obey the laws of the United States. The committee of twelve on
the part of the people presented their causes of complaint, dwelling greatly
on the disadvantages and hardships of being indicted and tried in a court distant across a range of mountains and three hundred miles to the east, before a
strange judge and strange jurors. They also advanced every argument of
the day against the excise laws.'This conference was in session about a
week and adjourned on August 28, to meet at Redstone. There they held a
session of two days in which both Gallatin and Brackenridge spoke long and
eloquently in favor of law and order.   Bradford, on the contrary, spoke
against both law and order, but the committee was carried against him. So
strong was the sentiment of the people in favor of proceeding in the lawless
manner he set forth, that great difficulty was experienced in getting men to vote
openly lest the popular frenzy be brought down upon them. Nor would they
vote "yea" or "nay," for fear that their handwriting might be discovered on
their ballots. The expedient was at length devised by which the words "yea"
and "nay" were written by the secretary on the same piece of paper, and these
were distributed among the delegates. Each voter could then destroy the
one-half of the ballot and put the other into the ballot box. This resulted in
the appointment of another committee who, in conference with the state and
national commissioners, were empowered to appoint a day upon which the
sentiment of the people could be taken on the question "Whether the people
would submit to the laws of the United States upon the terms proposed by
the commissioners of the United States." This submission, the commissioners
prescribed, was to take the form of signatures to a paper circulated throughout
the four counties, pledging the people who signed the papers to be loyal to the
government, and pledging their intention to abide by the tet-ms of the excise
law. It was, moreover, to be signed on or before the I Ith of September.
The time was undoubtedly too short, for but ten days remained and four of
these elapsed before the test papers to be signed were printed, allowing but six
days to circulate them over a region about a hundred miles square. After this
was agreed upon, all of the commissioners returned east while papers were
being printed, except James Ross, who was delegated to remain in the district
and take the report of these signatures to the president. At many places
designated as signing places, the people were not notified and did not meet- at
all. Some few polls were broken up by a lawless assemblage.  Marshall an(d
3I3Bradford, the ringleaders of the insurgents, both signed the paper, the latter
urging the people to follow his example. The report carried east by James
Ross, becautse of the shortness of time, was a very meagre one so far as a
universal expression of loyalty was concerned, and particularly was it meagre
when compared with the large and growing population of the four counties in
the Insurrection.  It impressed the president so unfavorably that he determined to send the army, which by this time had collected at Carlisle, on its
original mission over the mountains.
The delegates from the townships who had been appointed by the Parkinson's Ferry meeting on August 14, met again at that place on October 2.
They adopted resolutions which set forth that the meagre number of signatures
was not caused; by a disposition to oppose the law but because of a want of
time to collect the true sentiments of the community. They resolved to submit
to the revenue laws without further opposition, and appointed William Findley,
a member of congress, and David Redick of Washington county, to carry their
resolutions to the president and governor, and to explain the condition of the
country. These commissioners met the president at Carlisle on October Io and
after that had several interviews with him. They represented that the great
body of people remained quietly at their homes, being engaged in their work,
and were latterly everywhere organizing for the suppression of disorder. The
president listened to them attentively, censured them for the part which they
had taken in the inception of the trouble, but decided that as the army was already under marching orders on its way to the disaffected country, the orders would not be countermanded. He assured them,
however, that no violence
would be used and that all
he desired was that the people should return to their
former allegiance to the
government. After Findley
and Redick returned from
their conference with the
president, they called a
meeting of the committee
of safety at Parkinson's
Ferry for October 24, so
that they could report to
it. In the meantime imany
meetings  were  held  all
over the district and this
ESPY HOUSE; WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, OCTOBER, 1794:
BEDFORD COUNTY.PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
assured the delegates that the inhabitants were rapidly changing their opinions
and were now in favor of a restoration of law and order and of submitting to
the revenue laws without further opposition  or complaint.  Findley  and
Redick were again delegated to visit the president and express to him the growing sentiment manifested at the meeting on October 24. The delegates started
at once to lay the matter before the president at Bedford, but found when they
reached there that he had already gone east. From there the commissioners
went to Uniontown to confer with General Lee, who by this time had his army
headquarters at that place. He had full power to treat with them and assured them that his army would neither injure the people nor destroy their
property.- He advised them to induce the people to be as active in restoring
order as they had shortly before been in bringing about'dissension. The report of this conference with General Lee was published and widely circulated.
General Lee further published an address to the people of the four counties,
advising them to subscribe to and support the constitution and to obey the
laws. Books were promptly opened at the offices of all justices of the peace
which gave notice that they would receive the test oaths of allegiance of all
who wanted to come out on the side of law and order. Notice was given as to
the place and time of entering the stills, and the distillers at once came forward
and made the proper entry. In fact, they seemed anxious to enter them, and
the people, as General Lee requested, were actually as enthusiastic in sustaining
the law as they had formerly been in opposing it. All was quiet in Pittsburg
when the army arrived and had been all the way west. Thousands were daily
taking the oath of allegiance. While the army was passing through the western section it became its duty to hunt up and arrest men who had been most
active in raising this disturbance, as well as distillers who had failed to make
their reports as required by law. Most of those who were arrested were really
guilty, but Judge Peters, perhaps in every case where he could do so without
stultifying himself, ruled that they were guilty of no offense against the government. Some who had been arrested were released after a hearing, and
others were sent to Pittsburg. While confined there some were released because they had influential friends, it was said, while others, no more guilty
than they, were sent to Philadelphia for trial. There they were unfortunately
confined nearly a year before they were tried. This was a great injustice to
them, and particularly does the injustice appear when it is learned that nearly
all were finally acquitted. Probably by a fair construction of the law, many
might have been found guilty of treason, for they had levied war against the
United States and had incited and engaged in rebellion and insurrection.
John Mitchell was the leader of those who robbed the mail near Greensburg.
He was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, but was afterward pardoned by
the president. The other conviction was for arson, the defendant being the
principal one who had set fire to Wells' house. After being sentenced to be
hanged it was learned that he was a very ignorant and impetuous man and
3I5teresting narrative, the simplest and best of all narratives of captives among the
Indians, in the English language, he says he climbed to the top of the wall and
perceived a great excitement among the Indians outside of the gate. Barrels
of powder, bullets and flints, had been opened, and every warrior was helping
himself. Very soon they marched off in considerable order towards the woods,
and with them also went many French Canadians.
Smith underestimated the number, and marveled that they would go out
against the strong advancing forces. There were about eight hundred of them.
There had been great difficulty in persuading them to go out against the English, and this caused their delay in starting and in arriving at the place of battle.
The approach of the British army was well known to the officers in the fort, for
they had Indian spies out and!had
watched them  almost hourly in the
latter half of their westward joiurney.
It is now known that the main fighting
on the part of the forces overthrew
Braddock's army, was done by the Indians.  Of these the W\yandots and
Ottawas, who were commanded by
Pontiac, the famous leader, outnumbered all the rest. Contrecoeur had
been commander, and at the approach
of the English had contemplated abandoning the fort, for he knew his
strength was not sufficient to meet the
advancing army. But shortly before
the battle, Lionel de Beaujeu had been
made commander of the fort. He was a
brave officer of great ability, and as a
leader of a dashing campaign must
have supassed all the French Canadian  officers of his day.  He
LIONEL DE BEAUJEU
was born at Montreal, in I7II, was a soldier in early life, and had won the
cross of a Knight of St. Louis, and prior to his going to Fort Duquesne had
been in command of Fort Niagara. It was he who, in bright colors, led the
Indians against the British. He was killed with almost the first fire of the
English, and then it was that his followers dropped back, and there was a lull
in the fighting, which was noticed and remembered even by the frightened English. At that time the enemy, with their leader shot down, contemplated a retreat, and could the proper spirit have been shown, the field might have been
won by the British forces, but in a moment the opportunity had passed and
the field was lost. Dumas, a cool, brave Frenchman and afterwards commandant of the fort, took Beaujeu's place and won the victory. The body of1A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
was subject to epileptic fits. Washington at first reprieved and then pardoned
him.
The Insurrectionists were not as evilly disposed as they have generally
been represented. They had perhaps no legal reason for opposing the excise
law, but there were many reasons why it bore with great severity on them,
and these should in some degree palliate their actions. To tar and feather
an officer was a more common punishment in those rude days than now. True,
they burned General Neville's residence, but only after their leader was needlessly shot down. They frightened a marshal by shooting, but certainly shot
purposely over his head, for the skilful marksmen of that day who. could pick
a scluirrel from the highest tree, could easily have sent a ball unerringly.
had they desired to injure or kill him. Those who will compare the several
acts of the Insurrectionists with those of the mob which took possession of
Pittsburg after nearly a century of civilization (July, 1877), will conclude that
the former, in almost all their actions and meetings were comparatively well
controlled and deliberate. The masses in those days were uneducated. Acting under the advice of fanatics and adventurers, whom they looked up to
they were led into error, but there is no evidence whatever that they seriously
contemplated the taking of life or the wholesale destruction of property.
The evidence, indeed, is all on the other side.
On the I7th of November general orders were issued for the return of the
troops, except one detachment under General Mlorgan, which remained for the
winter in Pittsburg.   One company of this detachment was stationed at
Uniontown and another at Greensburg. The march of the army eastward may
be fraught with interest to those who are accustomed to the rapid mobilization
of soldiers in our present day. The first day's march was to Hellman's, fifteen
miles east of Pittsburg; the second day's march was to a point near Greensburg, marching fourteen miles; the third day the army marched to Nine Mile
Run, near Youngstown, eleven miles; the fourth day they marched to an encampment two miles east of Fort Ligonier, marching eleven miles; the fifth
day they crossed Laurel Hill and encamped near the foot of the eastern slope,
having marched nine miles; the sixth day they reached Stony Creek, a mile
beyond where Stoystown now stands, making eleven miles; on the seventh
and eighth days they marched respectively eleven and twenty-four miles and
reached Bedford. From Bedford they marched to Carlisle, a distance of about
ninety-five miles.
In former chapters we have given brief sketches of the lives of General
John Neville, and Edward Cook, and these need not be repeated here. General
Neville's son, Presley Neville, also figured with his father in the Whiskey Insurrection. He was born in I756 and was graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania. He entered the Revolutionary War as an aide to General Lafavette and was taken a prisoner at Charleston. Later he was connected with
the militia of Allegheny ceunt-y anUd was a mlember of the Pennsylvania Assembly. His wife was a daughter of General Daniel Morgan. During most of his
A-1i6PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
317
life he was engaged in Pittsburg in the mercantile business. He died in Ohio
on December I, I8i8. Captain James McFarlane was also a soldier in the
Revolutionary War and was a man of exemplary character and conduct. The
day following his unfortunate death he was buried at Mingo Creek graveyard
and on his mossy headstone may yet be read the following inscription: "Here
lies the body of Captain James'McFarlane of Washington County, Pennsylvania, who departed this life July I7, I794, age 43 years. He served during the
war with undaunted courage in defense of American independence against the
lawless and despotic encroachments of Great Britain. He fell at last by the
hands of an unprincipled villain in the support of what he supposed to be the
rights of his country, much lamented by a numerous and respectable circle of
acquaintances."
John Marshall was a Virginia settler who came to Washington county.
He was register, sheriff and a member of the legislature from Washington, and
was also county lieutenant of that county during part of the Revolution, and
always one of the strong and conservative men. He had come originally from
the north of Ireland.
Benjamin Parkinson was born in Pennsylvania. He was a Federalist and
had been a justice of the peace before the constitution of I790o, during which
time he was therefore entitled to sit on the common pleas bench of the county.
He had for long years been a supporter of General Neville, but in the Whiskey
Insurrection he assisted in superintendingl the operations when the general's
house and home were attacked.
John Cannon had come from Chester county and settled south of the
Monongahela near the town of Cannonsburg, which still bears his name. He
sided with Virginia in the state boundary disputes and afterward favored the
formation of a new state. His name has been clouded because of his participation in the murder of the Moravian Indians.
David Bradford was a native of Maryland. He was an able member of
the western bar, living in Washington county, where he was district attorney
in I783. He was a Federalist also and one of the leaders of the Whiskey Insurrection, which accounted for his election as commander-in-chief of the
forces at Braddock's Fields. He was the only one not included in the Amnesty
Proclamation issued by the government of the United States after the close of
the Insurrection. He accordingly went to Louisiana Territory, which was then
owned by the Spanish government. There he became a planter and made great
financial gains. Before going south he had built a large stone house in Washington which was not only said to be the first pretentious stone structure of the
county but is standing, to this day. He was respectably connected, being a
brother-in-law of Judge James Allison, who was a grandfather of John Allison,
afterward register of the United States Treasury.
Albert Gallatin was a native of Switzerland and after a thorough education which the high standing of his family secured him, he came to America
during the Revolution, in which he took an active part. Though an able talker
he was not a professional man. He was opposed to the federal constitutionA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
and this perhaps led him into the Whiskey Insurrection. In after life he became one of the great men of the United States, by far the greatest of all who
were concerned in the Whiskey Insurrection.
David Redick had come from Ireland and settled in Washington county,
where he was admitted to the bar in I782. In I786 he was elected a member of
the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and in I788 was vice-president
of that body, which position he filled until June I9, I789. In I79I he was
prothonotary and clerk of the courts of his county. He was also a surveyor
and was frequently appointed to lay out lands in and around Pittsburg. He
died in Washington in I805.
At the time of the Whiskey Insurrection the most noted man connected
with it was William Findley. He was born in the north of Ireland in I742 and
came here in I763, settling first near Carlisle. Entering the Revolution as a
private he was promoted to a captaincy, and after its close settled in Westmoreland county, purchasing land near Latrobe. He was a weaver by trade
and plied the shuttle for years after he came west. He was elected to the
Assembly of Pennsylvania and was a member of the constitutional convention of
I789. In I790 he was elected to the second congress and remained there until
I799. In I802 he was again elected after an absence of four years, and remained there for seven terms, that is fourteen years. He was a very industrious man and though he had perhaps a limited education in his youth, became, in after years, a man of wide information. He was the author of several
books which, though now out of print, show considerable research and ability.
Like many others he sided with the people at the beginning of the Insurrection
but saw to what lengths his theories would lead them when free from legal restraint; he therefore promptly admitted his error, turned around and became a
leader of the element which strived to undo the unlawful work already accomplished. He died April 5, I82I, and is buried near Latrobe.
The Whiskey Insurection is generally regarded as affecting but a narrow
district of Pennsylvania and as such has been widely written of. In a wider
sense it was fraught with great good to the American people. It was the
first attempt on the part of the people to overthrow the national authority. It
came, too, when the new government was in its infancy, struggling for its first
footholds among the governments of the world. It seems like a small affair to
us, but it was in reality a very dangerous one, and in proportion to the population of the United States, those in rebellion and those who would have followed
their lead on the same issue, had it not been effectually checked, were a very
important element in the new republic. It is well for us that Washington was
president of the United States and that he met the Insurrection in its inception
and with that unbending and dignified bearing which was characteristic of his
every official act.'Those who would know more of this subject will be
abundantly repaid by reading "The Lattimers," a novel of great strength, by
McKook, founded on the Whiskey Insurrection and in the main true to
its history.
318CHAPTEFR XXIII.
Manufacturing-Early Industries in Pittsburg.
Manufacturing in its many varied forms is the chief industry of Pittsburg.
The manufacturing of iron, as every one knows, largely predominates in the
city which has long since earned the title of the "Iron City." This branch of
its industry is so important that we shall consider it in special chapters
and in this chapter shall give more particular attention to other industries and
their origin. Nature seems to have specially designed Pittsburg as a suitable
place for manufacturing. Standing practically at the'head waters of inland
navigation at the "Gate-way of the West," with an abundance of all kinds of
fuel, there was no place in Western Pennsylvania that equalled it in natural advantage when the infant city first began to turn its attention towards supplying
its neighbors with the simple results of its handiwork.  Nor is the situation
changed after more than a century of busy manufacturing;, and after a progress
such as the world has never seen equaled. Pittsburg still maintains its former
pre-eminence as a manufacturing center. Previous references have been made
to the boat building industry, which was indeed a very important one in former
days.  It, like all other important industries of Pittsburg, began on a small
scale and became great by a slow and steady growth. The demand was confined at first almost entirely to the West, which was at best but sparsely settled
for many years after Pittsburg began to build up. But Ohio, West Virginia,
Indiana, Illinois and Michigan were gradually filled with an industrious and
thrifty people, and this accounts for the slow but sure growth of Pittsburg.
The first factories, if such they could be caiied, turned out but little else but
the products made by hand, and each in turn was brought about by the necessities of the day. Tanneries came first, for there were skins of animals that
could not be easily transported east and the people were in constant need of
leather. Harness making, shoe making, wagon making were among the first
industries, and all were carried on in the most primitive manner. Blacksmiths and their ringing anvils were found in Pittsburg almost from its beginning and with them came stone masons, carpenters and brick layers. Stone
masons came before brick layers, for the surrounding hills afforded an abundant
supply of reasonably good building stone which was of easy access, and this
/A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
rendered the making and burning of bricks for a time unnecessary and brought
about the substantial stone houses of the pioneer days. Hatters also came early
and were probably followed by tailors, clock and watch makers, and by other
tradesmen who were necessary to supply the wants of the growing population.
These did not depend specially upon the natural advantages of the place.
Coal was mined from Coal Hill, now known by the more dignified name of Mt.
Washing;ton, as early as 1760, but was used only for domestic purposes for at
least a generation, nor was it used extensively for that purpose, for fire wood
was then abundant and was both cleaner and cheaper than coal. A distillery
had been started on the Allegheny river northeast of Pittsburg, in I770. It
was but a small affair but undoubtedly found an abundant demand for all its
products. A glass factory, to which we have referred as having been erected
by General James O'Hara and Major Isaac Craig, was erected in 1797,
though Albert Gallatin was a pioneer of glass making in Western Pennsylvania,
having started a factory in New Geneva, on the Monongahela river, in I787.
It will be seen that the eighteenth century closed with Pittsburg especially
noted for but little else in the manufacturing line than boat building, which
was begun in I777. Early in the nineteenth century the town laid claim to a
standing as a manufacturing center, and in fact was rapidly becoming so, considering the population and the scarceness of factories generally. Cramer's
Almanac, published in I804, says somewhat boastingly: "Do not be surprised
when you are informed that the aggregate value of the articles manufactured
in Pittsburg in I803 amounts to upwards of $350,000.00." The population of
Pittsburg in I803 was about 2,500 and the output, as given, was not only remarkable for the size of the town but was prophetic of the future greatness of
the manufacturing interests of the city. Nearly all its products were shipped
west on the Ohio and north and south on the Allegheny and Monongahela
rivers, for the only method of transporting products to the East was by wagons
over a very imperfect highway. The sale of the products of Pittsburg's primitive factories brought other business, so that the population did not depend on
the factories alone. It was the age of barter. The West, which purchased
the greater part of the output of its factories, was then producing wheat and
grain of all kinds, flour, bacon, skins, wool, hemp, flax, whiskey, etc., and these
came up the Ohio and similar products came down the other rivers to exchange
for dry goods, hats, shoes, harness, wagons, iron, glass, furniture, etc. These
exchanges were all made practically by barter.   Thus manufacturing contributed directly to the general commercial interests of Pittsburg, and perhaps
made it a jobbing center for which it has since been noted. Many hundreds of
merchants in all parts of Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio supplied their
shops from Pittsburg's wholesale institutions. Cramer's Almanac, as above
quoted, gives also a statistical.table of Pittsburg's industries for I803. The
town was then less than twenty years old, yet the table makes a showing that
many thrifty towns today would be proud of, for it must be remembered that
320PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
321
these are all goods manufactured in Pittsburg, not goods purchased elsewhere
and retailed here. The table is as follows:
Glass and glass-cutting, $13,000; tinware, $12,800; bar-iron, axes, hoes,
plow-points, etc., $19,800; brass, andirons, still-faucets, etc., $2,800; cutlery,
augers, chisels, hackles, planing-bits, etc., $1,000; cut and hammered nails,
$16,128; cowbells, $200; guns, rifles, etc., $1,800; clocks and silversmith work,
$3,000; grain-screens, $120; scythes and sickles, $I,500; grindstones, tombstones, $2,000; cabinet-ware, Windsor chairs, etc., $16,700; carpenter's planes,
$850; wagons, carts, etc., $1,500; barrels, tubs and buckets, $1,150; boats, ships,
keel- and flat-boats, $40,000; spinning-wheels, pumps, etc., $1,700; carpenterwork, $13,500; candles, soft soap, etc., $5,600; beer and porter, $4,500; flour,
1,400 brls. @ $6, $8,400; boots and shoes, $12,365; saddles, bridles and harness,
$9,500; buckskin breeches and dressed skins, $2,300; clothing, price of labor
only, $5,950; cigars, snuff and tobacco, $3,000; ropes, cables and bedcords,
$2,200; matresses, 19 @ $20 each, $380; dyeing, cotton and flaxen yarn, $450;
carded and spun cotton and woven striped cotton, $6,500; linen, tow-linen and
linsey-woolsey, $3,675; rag carpets, woven stockings, coverlid and diaper
weaving, $1,900; weaver's reeds, $200; hats, wool, fur and chip hats (chip hats,
$675), $14,675; leather, tanned, $10,000; brushes, all kinds, $2,500; bricks,
1,250 M @ $4, $5,000; crockery-ware, $3,500; mason-work, $10,500; plastering
and painting, $3,500; books, printed, $1,000; total, $266,443.
From the same source we get the following as the principal articles of
barter in the trade carried on in Pittsburg during the same year:
Whiskey, 2,300 brls. @ $12 per brl., $27,600; linen, 700, 28,000 yards @
40 cts. a yard, $11,200; linsey-woolsey, 4,000 yds @  50 cts., $2,000; towlinen, 9,000 yds. @ 25 cts., $2,250; twilled bags, 3,000 @ $1, $3,000; striped
cotton, 3,000 @  80 cts., $2,400; raw cotton, from  Tennessee, 30,000 lbs. @
25 cts., $7,500; maple-sugar, 15,000 lbs. @ 12 cts., $1,800; lake salt, Onondaga,
1,000 brls. @  $12, $12,000; castings, 50 tons @  $100, $5,000; bar-iron, 80
tons @ $160, $12,800; flax, hemp, oats, cheese, etc., say $5,00o; total, $92,550.
The Almanac also boasts that a cotton factory, a foundry and a wool carding establishment are soon to be located in Pittsburg. In 1807 it again speaks
boastingly that "the town is growing rapidly in its importance," and makes
mention of the following manufactories and their output:
O'Hara's Glass Works, annual product, $18,000.00; Kerwin  Scott's
Cotton Factory; McClurg's Foundry; Potters, Stringers and Stewart's Foundry of hammered nails, produces 40 tons a year; two breweries-O'Hara's and
Lewis'-"whose beer, it suggests, and porter was equal to that so much celebrated in London"; 2 rope walks-Irwin's and Davis'; 3 copper, and tin factories-Gazzems, Harbison and Bamtin  Miltenberger's. In 1810 there
were three glass works which produced $30,000.00 worth of flint glass annually
and $40,000 worth in bottles and window glass. There were two cotton
mills, which though driven by horse power, produced $20,000 worth of goods
yearly. There was one foundry, which the same authority says, has but recently cast seventy tons of cannon balls for the United States; I iron grinding
21A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
mill, one white metal button factory which was making from forty to sixty
gross of buttons per week. There were several nail factories which unitedly
produced 200 tons of hammered and cut nails per year, one factory making
bridle-bits and stirrups, and six copper and tin factories producing $30,000
worth of material annually. Only the large ones are mentioned, yet they alone
produced more than the entire city, by the boasted figures of the almanac, had
produced in I803, but seven years before. The town was, therefore, in truth"a town growing rapidly in importance." Cramer says further that 52,800
yards of linsey-woolsey were manufactured in Pittsburg in I8Io, this product
being worth $40,000, and that 8o,ooo yards of flax linen were brought to the
Pittsburg markets yearly. Nor is the almanac silent on the product of
whiskey. It says-"that a vast and unknown quantity of flour and whiskey are
made yearly throughout the country," and adds, "There is too little foreign demand for the former, and too great a home consumption of the latter."  The
town had then grown enough to warrant Owen, Oliver  Evans to erect a steam
flour mill with a capacity of Ioo barrels of flour per day. The census of I8Io
was taken by a marshal, and his report shows that the factories are steadily increasing in number and that they are growing more varied. This report is as
follows:
"The steam grist mill, using 60,0o00 bushels of grain yearly, output
$50,000; 3 carding and spinning mills producing $I4,248 annually; one flat iron
mill, product $2,000; one button factory, product $3,000; 2 distilleries producing 6oo barrels of whiskey valued at $6o,ooo; 3 chandlers, product $I4,500; 4 brick yards, product $I3,600; 3 boat and ship builders, product $43,000;
I rope walk, $2,500; 2 foundries, product $40,000; Io silversmiths, and copper,
tin and brass factories, $35,000; 3 red lead factories, product $I3,I00; 6 nail
works, product $49,890; 2 wagon makers, product $3,000; 3 glass works,
product $62,000; 2 potteries, product $3,400; 2 gun smitheries, product $2,400;
I6 looms producing I9,443 yards of cloth yearly, valued at $I2,000; 3 tobacconists, product $II,500; 6 tanneries, product $I5,500; 17 turneries, product
$34,400; 4 cooperies, product $2,500; saddles, boots, shoes and hats annually
produces $I44,485. The total of these products as enumerated is $625,773.
In 1813 there were five glass factories, three foundries, a new edge tool factory,
Cowan's New Rolling Mill, a new lock factory built by Patterson, two steam
engine and boiler works, one steel factory and a goodly number of small concerns manufacturing various articles. In I8I7 the city councils appointed a
committee to collect and publish a list of all the large factories in the city. This
was done perhaps to let the'world know of the industry and thrift of Pittsburg,
and is valuable because it is an official list and is to be relied upon. It must
also be remembered that these figures represented the industries of Pittsburg
when barely emerging from the panic of I815-I7, a financial depression that
has scarcely been equalled in Western Pennsylvania in all its history. The report made by the committee is as follows:
322PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
BUSINESS                  Amount         BUSINESS                   Amount
BUSINESS   6       Produced                                  Produced
Auger-maker............  1    6   $ 3,500  Pattern-maker..........  1    2   $  1,500
Bellows-maker..........1    3    10,000  Planemakers 3    6                           57,600
Blacksmiths............ 18   74    75,100   Potter, fine ware.......  1    5           8,000
Brewers...............  3   17   72,000  Ropemaker 1    8                   15,000
Brushmakers.............  3    7       8,000   Spinningwheel maker    1    6             6,000
Button-maker...........  1    6        6,250   Spanish-brown maker    1    2             6,720
Cotton-spinners.........  2   36    25,218   Silver-plater 1   40                      20,000
Copper- and tin-smiths... 11  100   200,000   Engine-builders 2   70    125,000
Cabinet-makers........  7   43   40,000  Gristmills 2   10                  50,000
Currier..............  1    4   12,000  Saddlers...............  6   60            86,000
Cutlers 2  6   2,000 Silversmiths 5  17   12,000
Iron-founders...........  4   87   180,000   Shoe- and boot-makers 14  109    120,000
Gunsmiths.............  3   14    13,800   Tanners 7   47                              58,860
Glass-factories, flint       2   82   110,000  Tallow-chandlers 4    7                  32,600
Glass-factories, green       3   92   130,000  Tobacconists 4   23                      21,000
Hardware merchants....  2   17    18,000   Wagon-makers.5   21                         28,500
Hatters............  7  49   44,640  Weavers...............  2   9           14,562
Locksmiths.............  1   7    12,000  Windsor-chairmakers              3   23      42,600
Linen-factory...........  1   20    25,000   Woolen-manufacturers    2   30             17,000
Nail-factories...........  7   47   174,716   Wire-drawer 1   12                        6,000
Paper-maker............  1  40    23,000   Whitelead-maker 1    6                     40,000
Total............................................................ 148  1270 $1,957,166
Estimated by committee 111 357 700,000
Grand Total.... 259 11627 $2,657,166
The Gazette of November 19, 1825, gives a partial list of the industries of
Pittsburg for that year, with their products. It enumerates seven rolling
mills, 8 foundries, 6 machine factories and one wire mill. The glass product
during that year was 27,000 boxes of window glass worth about $135,000, and
of flint glass about $30,000 worth. In 1829 the same paper states that nine
foundries, 8 rolling mills, 9 nail factories and 7 engine factories are in operation in Pittsburg. The same year the iron mills consumed 6,ooo tons of pig
iron and an equal number of blooms. In 1830 there were 9,280 tons of iron
rolled and 100 steam engines built in Pittsburg. In 1831 there were eight
glass factories and four window and flint glass factories, and these used 7,000
cords of wood, 700 tons of sand, 1,000 barrels of salt, 40,000 pounds of potash
and 150,000 bushels of coal, producing about $500,000 worth of glass. There
were twelve foundries with a yearly product of about $190,000 worth of
material.
Touching the manufacturing interests of Pittsburg, a traveler who
visited the city perhaps a year later, took a different view. He says: "Pittsburg was hidden from our view until we descended through the hills within
half a mile of the Allegheny river. Dark, dense smoke was rising from many
parts, and a hovering cloud of this vapor, obscuring the prospect, rendered it
singularly gloomy. Indeed, it reminded me of the smoking logs of a new
field." Later on in his "Diary of a Journey," he regards the smoke as not an
unmixed evil, for he says: "The peach, the plum, the apple and the cherry
323A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
abound on the branches, though the frosts have been severe. Much of this exemption ought to be ascribed to the smoke, which constantly,. day and night,
loads the atmosphere over the place.'But this benefit is not without its counterpoise. Often descending in whirls through the streets, it tarnishes every object to which it has access. The gloomy appearance thus imparted to the
houses, especially to those of wood, whether painted or not, is such as instantly
to fix the attention of a stranger." Later in his writings he says:
"The slitting and rolling mill, together with the nail factory of Stackpole
 Whiting, is moved by steam engines of seventy horse-power. These we visited
with much satisfaction. On entering the southwest door, the eye catches the
majestic beam, -and at the same instant nine nailing machines, all in rapid motion, burst on the view. Bewildered by the varying velocity of so many new
objects, we stood astonished at this sublime effort of human ingenuity. The plate
to be cut into nails is fixed in an iron cramp with a short wooden handle. The
w,orkman is seated, and with a motion of the arm, like a smith who turns his
iron under the hammer, he alternately inverts the plate to keep the end square.
The breadth of the nail is accurately gauged, as in other'nailing machines, but at
the instant of its separation, and before it can move, it is clamped to the spot by
a strong iron jaw, which leaves the brooder end to project, while an iron
mallet at one blow completes the head. While J. R. held his watch, I made
several attempts to count the number of strokes in a minute, but the motion was
too quick. The nails would ascertain it,'but we never saw the workman keep
pace with the machine for a minute. Knowing, however, that between three
and four may be counted in a second, I compute the strokes at 240.  The
smaller nails are cut cold, but the plates for brads are heated. The quantity
made is about one and a half tons per day, and twenty cents a pound is the
common retail price. Two cotton factories, one woolen factory, one paper
mill, two saw-mills and one flour mill are all moved by steam in this city and its,
suburbs across the Monongahela. Four glass factories, two for flint and twofor green, are very extensive, and the productions of the former for elegantworkmanship are scarcely surpassed by European manufacture. It is sent in
many directions from this place; one of the proprietors assured me that lPhiladelphia receives a part, but the great outlet is down the Ohio.
"The vast advantages that accrue to this place from its coal will be appreciated when we consider that almost every manufactory owes its existence to
this article of fuel. The glass-house, the furnaces for castingss, the steam
engines, and every domestic fireplace are supplied from the mines. These are
situated near the top of the hills, in every direction from the city, and the vast
mass of earth that once buried this plain appears to have been removed by the
waters. A correct idea will be had by supposing (and even believing) that the
stratum of coal once extended across'from hill to hill, several hundred feet
above where the city now stands. The shafts of these mines extend far into~
the hills. The pick-axe and the shovel are the instruments used; on wheelbarrows the coal is removed to the entrance, where it is placed on scaffolding,
from which wagons are conveniently loaded. The citizens are supplied in their
yards for seven or eight cents a bushel."
Who the above traveler was we are unable to determine. His book is a
valuable one but the title page is missing and we are also unable to give the
name of the publisher or the date of publication. His visit to the mills of324PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             325
Stackpole  Whiting, however, fixes the date as prior to I8I9, for during
that year the firm failed and the factory took a new name. The writer was a
painstaking and a very careful traveler, a close observer, and we think, a
Quaker from Cayuga county, New York.
At all times urging that their city was a great manufacturing center, the
early Pittsburger was rather proud and boastful than otherwise, of the smoke
which continuously overhung it. They pointed the casual observer to the dark
clouds as the most conclusive proof of their greatness in this direction. The
stranger noticed and wrote of these clouds of smoke, even though he said nothing else of the city. There is something that is difficult to understand about the
renowned darkness of Pittsburg's atmosphere in the early days. Major Foreman wrote of the smoke of Pittsburg as early as 1789, when the town consisted
of perhaps one hundred houses and had no factories whatever, as we know
factories now. Yet he says the coal smoke is so dense in Pittsburg that "it
affects the skin of the inhabitants."  He writes of it being a manufacturing
town and attributes the smoke to the coal which is daily consumed as fuel.
The factory of that day did not make more smoke than a blacksmith's forge,
and there were at best but few of them. F.or a fact, coal was used' for domestic
purposes because it became cheaper than wood, but it is unreasonable to suppose
that a hundred or more dwelling houses would contribute materially to the
dinginess of the atmosphere. Zadoc Cramer, publisher of the Navigator, in
I8o8 says that on "entering the town the stranger is rather offended with its
dark and heavy appearance. This arises from the smoke of the coal, which is
used as a common fuel and of which about one hundred and seventy thousand
bushels are consumed annually. It costs six cents a bushel at your door and is
said to be equal to any in the world." By his reasoning and figures, 365
bushels of coal consumed in Pittsburg in a day made the atmosphere dingy and
gloomy. So with James Stuart, the author of "Three Years in North America," who visited Pittsburg in I832. He says: "Pittsburg is well known as the
great manufacturing city of Western America, and would be a very delightful
place of residence but for the clouds of coal smoke which cover it and give a
gloomy cast to the beautiful hills which surround it and to all the neighboring
country." The consumption of coal in Pittsburg prior to the introduction of natural gas was about 3,000,000 tons per year, which amounts to over 200,000 bushels per day.
The first great venture in manufacturing in Pittsburg was the Glass
Works, built by General James O'Hara and Major Isaac Craig in I797. The
factory was located on the banks of the Monongahela above the present
Smithfield street bridge. The investment of the money necessary to erect such
a plant by a man of General O'Hara's well-known shrewdness in business circles, gave Pittsburg an air of permanency as a manufacturing center. The
works were probably begun in I795 and finished so as to begin manufacturing
in I797. Glass making was new in the West and the projectors brought William Eichbaum from the Schuylkill valley, where he had had considerable ex,4 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Beaujeu was brought back, and on July I2th was interred in a cemetery at Fort
Duquesne.
One can imagine the hilarity of Beaujeu's army as it returned to Fort Duquesne late in the afternoon of the battle. For a little band to go out haltingly
to meet an English army reputed to be over two thousand strong, and in a few
hours to return richly laden with the spoils of victory, was enough to draw
from the victors and from the French in the fort the most unstinted acclamations of joy'and triumph. They came back in scattered companies, bearing
with them the bloody scalps of the vanquished, trains of pack horses laden with
booty, droves of cattle, savages arrayed in gold laced caps and glittering
epaulettes, canteens, swords, bayonets and all manner of plunder taken from
the defeated army. They were discharging their firearms and making the
woods ring with their fiendish yells of joy, and these acclamations were replied to by the great guns of the fort, which filled the valleys of the three rivers
with the reverberating sounds of victory. No one can do otherwise than admire the boldness and dash and bravery of these returning victors, but how sad
indeed, that we must introduce the following from the writings of James Smith,
the only eye-witness who has told of the departure of the French and Indians
under Beaujeu and of their return in the evening. He says "About sundown
I beheld a small party coming with about a dozen of prisoners, stripped naked,
with their hands tied behind their backs, and their faces and part of their bodies
blackened. These prisoners they burned to death on the bank of the Allegheny
river opposite the fort. I stood on the fort wall until I beheld them beginning
to burn one of these men; they had him tied to a stake and kept touching him
with firebrands, redhot irons, etc., and he screamed in the most doleful manner,
the Indians in the meantime yelling like infernal spirits. As the scene appeared
too shocking for me to behold, I returned to my lodging both sore and sorry."
These prisoners were burned on Duquesne Way, not far from the lower end of
the present Pittsburg Exposition building. It is due to the French officers at
the fort to say, however, that they always disclaimed all complicity in this matter, and claimed that they were powerless to prevent the Indians from treating
their prisoners as was their custom to do in their native forest. The Indians,
moreover, greatly admired Beaujeu, and sought to avenge his death by their
cruel treatment of these prisoners. Such was the Indians' idea of the ethics of
war. Beaujeu and Braddock the leaders of the first great battle of the French
and Indian war both died bravely, just as did Montcalm and Wolfe who led
their respective armies in the last battle of the war at Quebec.
Almost the only officer in the entire army who did not demean himself like
a soldier was Colonel Dunbar. It will be remembered that half of the army remained with him to follow Braddock by slower marches. When the remnant
of the advance army returned to him, his army must then have numbered from
twelve to fourteen hundred, yet he showed no desire to reform it and march
again against the enemy. The least he could have done would have been to remain in the vicinity and protect the frontier from the Indians. A little fortitude
~24A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
perience in the business, to superintend the erection of the buildings. On
the day the works were started General O'Hara made this note in his diary:
"Today we made the first bottle at a cost of $30,000."
They advertised that they had brought skillful glass workers from Europe
and having a superior quality of raw material, could furnish a splendid quality
of glass of any size from 7x9 to I8X24 inches. They offered to furnish glass
of a larger size for coaches, pictures, clock faces, etc. They further advertise
bottles of all kinds, pocket flasks, pickling jars, apothecary shops' furniture at a
price 25 per cent. lower than the same goods can be purchased in any of the
seaport towns in the United States. In May, I802, they offered publicly $Ioo
to any one who would discover clay from which they could make melting pots,
the clay to be within one hundred miles of Pittsburg and not over ten miles
from the upper rivers. They also advertised for other materials, such as
potash, alkaline, salts, etc. Zadoc Cramer's Almanac for I804 gives the
product for I803 at $I2,500. For the reason that this was the only glass factory in the West and that transportation from the East was very difficult, they
were enabled to charge high rates for their products, as may be seen from the
following quotations made in April, I8o4:
Hollowware gallon bottles, $4.00 per doz., $2.40 per half dozen; quart
bottles, $I.6o per doz.; pint bottles, $I.20 per doz. Porter and claret bottles,
$I.33 per doz. Window glass, 7x9 inches, $II.oo per box; 8xIo inches, $I2
per box; IOXI2 inches, $I3.00 per box. A box of window glass at that time
contained Ioo pieces, which would make the wholesale price of 8xIo panes
$I.62'2 per dozen. There were but few glass used in windows up to the close
of the eighteenth century in the common house in Western Pennsylvania; instead of glass they used greased paper. It is likely that the industry was not
very successful at first, for the reason that the managers experienced great
difficulty in procuring the proper material and for the further reason that
Major Craig retired from the firm in September, I804, leaving General O'Hara
alone in the business. General O'Hara owned and operated the factory until
his death in I8I9. His success in the glass industry induced others to engage
in the same business. After his death the management of the works passed
into other hands and they were increased with the population of the city until
they employed about fifty hands in I825 and produced $37,000 worth of glass
per year. The works were then known as the "Pittsburg Glass Works." In
I8o8 Bakewell, Page  Bakewell built a new glass factory on the Pittsburg
side of the Monongahela river near the foot of Grant street. This became the
largest and the most noted works in the city, for they manufactured a
higher grade of work than had been attempted before. Their specialty was
flint glass, and they were the first to manufacture cut glass and did all kinds of
ornamenting and engraving in glass work. The reader will learn that Lafayette visited the works and took to France specimens of their work which
he thought equal to Bacarat glass. They sold their product in almost all parts
of the world, but particularly in the West and in Mexico.
326PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Another glass works was built on the south side of the Monongahela by
Sutton, Wendt  Co. They seem not to have prospered at first, for there were
several changes in the firm. In I825 it was.owned by Wendt, Ensel and other
partners, and their product was window, glass and green glass hollow-ware.
They employed about forty hands and their yearly product was about thirty
thousand dollars' worth. These successes induced a man named John Robinson to erect a fourth works on Ross and Second streets in I823. It was known
as the Strawbridge Glass Works and was like the Bakewell Glass Works in the
grade of its product. All this time the manufacturers were clamoring for protection or more protection on home industries. From the Mercury (I832) we
learn that "President Jackson has ordered from Bakewell, Page  Bakewell,
of the city of Pittsburg, a set of glass for his own use. It consists of large and
splendid bowls, with and without stands, celery glasses, pitchers, quart and pint
decanters, tumblers, wine and champaign glasses, salts, etc., all executed in the
very best style of workmanship. The glass is as pellucid as crystal and the
beautiful cuttings give a brilliancy of effect not easily described. We understand the order is valued at about $I,5oo." They also made a full set for
President Monroe and received a medal from the Franklin Institute awarded to
the producers of the best work in cut glass.
The glass business grew rapidly until I837, when stringent times, known
since as the panic of 1837, came. There were then sixteen glass factories and
eight or nine glass cutting establishments in and near Pittsburg, which employed about 500 men. The best authority accessible places the yearly product
of these factories at $520,000, and the capital inmvested at $58,000. These
figures may seem small when compared with those of the glass industries in
the Pittsburg district in our day, but they were large enough then to entitle
the city to rank among the leading glass producing centers in the United
States. It will thus be seen that Pittsburg, very early in the last century, acquired a name as a manufacturing city. If this seems strange to the reader,
he has but to remember that other cities and manufacturing centers were
equally infantile in that day, and that Pittsburg, though small in its output,
compared favorably with them. Again in I817 a census of the manufacturing
establishments of the city was taken by order of the city councils. The report
shows 248 factories of various kinds and that they employed I280 workmen.
It also shows  II smaller industries which it enumerates as trades, these latter
employing 357 workmen. It is evident that many of them would not be
counted at all now in estimating the manufacturing strength of the city, for the.
larger class employed an average of less than six hands and the smaller class
but little more than an average'of three.
In 18I7 Morris Birkbeck, an Englishman traveling in America, visited
Pittsburg. In his account of his travels he says, concerning this city: "Here I
expected to have been enveloped in clouds'of smoke issuing from a thousand
furnaces and stunned with the din of a thousand hammers. I confess I
was much disappointed in Pittsburg. A century and a half ago, perhaps,
327328               A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Birmingham  might have admitted a comparison with Pittsburg."  It will
be seen, therefore, that before this the fame of Pittsburg as an iron city,
as the "Birmingham of America," had reached England, for in reality the
city was not slow in those days in boasting of its strength. It was, for a
fact, the Birmingham of America though it presented almost as ludicrous a
spectacle in comparing itself with Birmingham as the English city does now,
when it compares its iron product with that of Pittsburg. Mr. Birkbeck, however, says that he found the city "a very interesting and important place." In
his notes he says that a journeyman in the mechanical arts earned about two
dollars per day, but that they were not economical of their earnings, spending
them, not so much in dissolute practices as in excursions and entertainments.
He says: "Ten dollars spent at a ball is no rare result of the gallantry of a
Pittsburgh journeyman."CHAPTER XXIV.
The State Road-The Philadelphia and Pittsburg Turnpike-Plank Roads-The
National Road.
On September 25, I785, the legislature passed an act providing for the
construction of a road, the western end of which, when built, was known as
the State Road. The act appropriated two thousand dollars to open this road
from the western part of Cumberland county to Pittsburg, a distance of over
one hundred miles, or less than twenty dollars per mile. It also authorized
the council to appoint a commission to lay it out and provided that it should
be made as straight and in as direct a line as the hills and mountains in Western
Pennsylvania would admit. The right of way was to be sixty feet wide. The
council had unlimited authority to refuse all locations determined on by the
commission. This road was surveyed and laid out at once and the report
of the commissioners for that part of it lying east of Bedford was confirmed
on November 24, I787. The part of the road from Bedford to Pittsburg was
refused a confirmation and a resurvey was ordered. The people of Western
Pennsylvania, particularly those of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties,
were greatly in need of the road. A second and indeed a third survey in part
was ordered and the western end of the road was finally approved on May
26, I790, and was soon afterward opened up for public travel, so that its date
of construction may properly be said to be. I79I. It passed over the Allegheny
mountains and over Laurel Hill on a line that is almost parallel with the
more modern turnpike. It may be asked why a new road was needed from
Bedford to Pittsburg when the Forbes Road traversed that very locality;
the explanation is very simple. The Forbes Road was a military road purely.
It was made for the' sole purpose of transporting the army through a wilderness infested with a stealthy and barbarous enemy. As such, a precursory
glance at the topography of the country will show that it was very wisely laid
out. What Forbes most earnestly desired was to avoid the possibility of ambuscades or surprises on the part of the Indians and to do this most effectually
he kept on the highest possible ground.. So his road, which was often called
in those days the King's Road, was not suited for a public road in manyA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
places in times of peace. It was so steep in sections that wagoners tied trees
to their rear axles and these by dragging on the ground enabled them to pass
down more slowly. Braddock's Road was laid out according to the same principle in engineering and was for the same reasons, equally objectionable as a
highway in times of peace. It was on the State Road, completed in I79I, that
transportation by pack horses reached its highest point.  The road must
necessarily have been very imperfect for, with the amount appropriated for its
construction scarcely twenty dollars per mile, they could do but little else than
fell the timber in the way. The State Road served its purpose, however, and
over it came many new settlers, both for this section and for the boundless West.
In I805 a mail route was established and carried over it regularly by express
riders on horseback. Mail was often sent by private individuals who chanced
to be passing over this road. Many a letter now important to us as indicating the early condition of our people, was carried across the mountains in the
pocket of a casual passer-by on this road to the East.
It may be a surprise to some to learn that prior to and even after the
building of the turnpike, which leads from Pittsburg to Harrisburg, a very
common way of travelling between the eastern cities and Pittsburg was by
foot. Many hundreds of men walked the entire distance from Philadelphia
to Pittsburg on a westward journey each year. Walking was of necessity
more.of an art then than now and many who found it necessary to go east made
the journey in the same way. The average pedestrian could walk thirty or more
miles per day and could thus journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg in nine
or ten days.. We need not say that this mode of travel was not undertaken by
the wealthier people, nor was it done in those days for pleasure or exercise.
Wagoners were hauling freight each way most of the time and their demands
brought good country inns all along the way so that the foot passengers could
find good eating and comfortable night's lodging every few miles between
Pittsburg and Philadelphia. Pack horses, it is true, were sometimes used for
carrying passengers but were most generally used in the transportation of
freight. Wagons superceded them but the State Road was never piked and
except in the summer and fall was almost impassable fo.r heavy wagons or
carriages. There were but few carriages that passed over the mountains,
indeed there were but few in the country in that day. Colonel Morgan, the
Indian agent, referred to in the Revolutionary chapters as having been appointed
by Congress for this section, is generally regarded as the first man who crossed
the Allegheny mountains in a carriage, but he did not traverse the State
Road. Perhaps the second carriage to, reach Pittsburg was that of Dr. Schoef,
who was a German physician and naturalist. He crossed the mountains
mainly by the Forbes Road in I783. After returning to Germany he published an account of his trip which was printed in I788 and has been translated. From it we learn that his carriage was a great curiosity all the way
westward. As he passed the lonely cabins in the wilderness the women and
children came to look with wonder and admiration at this new and peculiar
330PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
method of travel. When he arrived in Pittsburg his carriage was for days
the chief object of interest in the village. He says that "many well dressed
gentlemen and highly adorned ladies came to'his tavern' to see it." All
wagons and carriages of that early period were necessarily clumsy affairs.
The tires of the wheels were put on in sections, each section being about the
one-eighth of a circle, and they were bolted to the felloe, or wooden part of
the wheel. This method of construction alone necessitated very heavy wheels
and all other parts of the wagon were made in proportion.
In I805-o6 a regular stage line over the State Road was started from
Pittsburg to Chambersburg where it connected with a similar line which had
been operated for some years and which carried passengers from there to
Philadelphia. The western line then was a primitive one indeed but it was
the embryo of the stage-coach of a later period which played an important part
in the history and development of Western Pennsylvania. The stage in I8o6
carried the mail and was a great convenience to the people of Pittsburg. A
journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg over the State Road made in I8o08
is graphically described in a letter which came under the observation of the
writer and is herein given. The letter is dated from day to day, beginning on
September I4, I8o8, and reads; "We left Philadelphia in the Mail Stage
for Pittsburg with one through fellow passenger, Mr. Bell of Steubenville,
Ohio, and two passengers for Lancaster, which city we reached at five P. M.
After taking in two more passengers the stage drove ten miles further and
brought us to a stopping place where we had comfortable quarters for the night.
Thursday, the I5th, we passed through Elizabethtown, Middletown and Harrisburg, crossing the Susquehanna in twenty minutes. After a ride over
excellent roads which led through Carlisle and Shippensburg, we reached
Chambersburg by night-fall. Before breakfast on Friday, the I6th, we started
on our passage over the mountain range. The next fifteen miles our stagecoach was drawn by six horses over rough and steep roads. It was dark when
we reached our quarters for the night. We started at three o'clock Saturday
morning, the I7th, and after six miles ride crossing the Juniata, reached Bedford. Here we met Mr. and Mrs. Zachary Biggs of Steubenville on their wedding journey; they were accompanied by the bride's sister, Miss Wilson of
Chester county. All this day our road lay across the Allegheny mountains
and we often got down from the stage to foot it at'places where the road was
steep in ascent and descent. At five o'clock we reached Somerset where we
rested over Sunday. Monday, the Igth, we made an early start and by five
P. M. reached Greensburg. On the road we passed Henry Stouffer in charge
of four wagon-loiads of'store goods' for Pittsburg merchants. It was court
week in Greensburg and the town was crowded. An elephant was on exhibition there. Here we were glad to meet our friend Mr. Ross of Pittsburg.
In spite of rain and rough roads we reached Pittsburg by five o'clock Tuesday
afternoon on the 20th. Pittsburg is a lovely place and extensive business and
manufacturing are carried on. We visited Mrs. Butler and her daughter Mrs.
331A CENTURY AND A HALF OF.Mason, and called on Mrs. Addison's family and took tea at her house."
Pittsburg's population was perhaps 4,000 in I8o8.
A journey made to Pittsburg by Mrs. Mary Dewees on her way from
Philadelphia to Kentucky was described in her journal published in the
Pennsylvania Magazine and will be fraught with interest to Pittsburg people.
She came over the State Road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg as far as it was
finished in October, I787. They took a boat at the place where McKeesport
now stands and her letter says: "We pushed down the river very slowly,
intended stopping at Fort Pitt where we expected to meet the wagons with
the rest of our goods. Our boat resembled Noah's Ark not a little. At sunset we got fast on Bradffock's upper ford where we stayed all night and until
ten o'clock the next day. Our boat is forty feet long; our room is sixteen by
twelve with a comfortable fire-place; our bed-room partitioned off with
blankets and is far preferable to the cabins we met after we crossed the mountains. We are clear of flees which I assure you is a great relief, for we were
almost devoured when on shore. The Monongahela with its many colored
woods on each side is beautiful and in the Spring must be delightful. We are
now longing for rain as much as we dreaded it on the land, for it is impossible
to get down until the water rises. About three o'clock we passed the field just
about Turtle Creek where Braddock fought his famous battle with the French
and Indians and we got fast on the lower ford. October 2oth: We expect to
reach Pittsburg tonight. We are just off the hill where General Grant
fought his battle with the French and Indians. As the sun was setting we had
a sight of Coal Hill and the country opposite Pittsburg. This hill is amazing
huge and affords a vast deal more coal than can be consumed in that place;
what a valuable acquisition it would be near your city (Philadelphia). October 2Ist: We are now lying about a mile from Pittsburg and have-received
several invitations to come on shore. We have declined all as the trunks with
our clothes have not arrived and we in our travelling dress are not fit to make
our appearance in that gay place. Just received an invitation from the French
lady we travelled with to come up. Mr. Tilton called on us with Mrs. Tilton's
compliments. Would be happy to have.us to tea. Then three French gentlemen and an Englishman came on board and expressed a great deal of pleasure
to see us so comfortably situated. In the afternoon Mr.  Mrs. O'Hara
waited on us and insisted on our going to their house which in compliance to
their several invitations,'we were obliged to accept and find them very polite
and agreeable. We stayed up and supped with them nor would they suffer
us to go on board while we continued at this place. October 22nd: Mrs.
O'Hara waited on us to Mrs. Tilton's, to Mrs. Nancorrow's and Mrs. Odderong's, and engaged to tea at Mrs. Tilton's. Colonel Butler and his lady waited
on us to the boat, was much delighted with our accommodations, took a bit
of biscuit and cheese with a glass of wine and then returned to dine at Captain O'Hara's. Spent the afternoon at Mrs. Tilton's with a roomful of company and received several invitations to spend our time with the ladies at Pitt.,%"1PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
333
Called on Mrs. Butler and saw a very handsome parlour elegantly papered and
well furnished; it appeared more like Philadelphia than any I have seen since
I left that place. October 24th: The town is all in arms. A report prevailed
that a party of Indians within twenty miles is coming to attack the town. The
drums beating to arms with the military collecting from every part of the town
has, I assure you, a very disagreeable appearance. October 25th: Left our
hospitable friends Captain O'Hara and lady not without regret as their polite
and friendly entertainment demands utmost gratitude. They waited on us to
the boat where we parted forever. At eleven o'clock we dropped down the
Ohio, at a distance of a mile had a full view of Captain O'Hara's summern
house which stands oin the banks of the Allegheny River about one hundred
yards from the bottom of their garden. It is the finest situation I ever saw.
They live in the upper end or rather out of the town. Their house in the midst
of an orchard of sixty acres, the only one at that place, from the front of
which they have a full view of the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers. At the
close of the day we anchored at the lower point of McKees Rocks under a
large rock nearly sixty feet high having the appearance of just falling in the
water."
The building of turnpikes from the east is a very interesting period in the
history of Pittsburg. Not only is there a glamor of romance which surrounds
the turnpike travel of 70 to 80 years ago, but they were of great commercial
interest to the city and to the country through which they passed. The first to
be constructed has been popularly known as the Pittsburg and Harrisburg or
Pittsburg and Philadelphia Turnpike, though its corporate name was "The
President, Managers and Company of the Harrisburg and Pittsburg Turnpike Road." Its history dates back to the act passed by the Pennsylvania
Legislature on the 24th of February, I8o6, when the Governor of Pennsylvania was authorized to incorporate a company to build a turnpike from the
west bank of the Susquehanna at Harrisburg to Pittsburg. The pike between
Harrisburg and Philadelphia had been built before that, indeed it was the first
great road built in the United States. The Act of, I8o6 appointed commissioners in each county to look after and put under way the project of building the
pike. Those appointed from Allegheny county were Nathaniel Irish, Thomas
Beard, James O'Hara, Adamson Tannehill, John Woods and George Robeson.
The route laid out in this act was so worded that the road when completed,
should begin at Philadelphia and pass through Lancaster, York, Harrisburg,
Carlisle, Chambersburg, Bedford, Somerset, Greensburg to Pittsburg. By another act, a turnpike known as the Northern Turnpike, was also to be built
from the East to Pittsburg. This pike left the Frankstown branch of the
Juniata river and came to the Conemaugh river and thence across Westmoreland county into Pittsburg. It was originally called the Harrisburg, Lewistown, Huntingdon and Pittsburgh Turnpike Company. Its course was almost over the route of what was known earlier as the- Frankstown road, and
was opened up for travel in I8I9. These roads naturally became rivals inA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
their construction and this very much delayed the building of either of them,
for it was plain that the sparsely settled community at that time could not
afford two roads almost parallel with each other. By an act for the construction of turnpikes generally within this Commonwealth, passed on the
second day of April, I8II, the governor was authorized to subscribe $300,000
in stock of any company as soon as $I50,000 should be subscribed to it by the
citizens along the route or by those interested in its construction. The rivalry
between these two turnpikes was of course to secure the capital stock to be
subscribed by the governor and this delayed their construction. By the supplemental act of I8II a committee of five men, composed of Wilson McCand:
lass, Adamson Tannehill, Nathan Beach, Robert Harris and John Schoch, was
appointed to determine which was the better route of the two. These men went
over and examined both routes and made a report in which they favored the
southern route, that is, the route by the way of Bedford, Somerset and Greensburg. By an act of November 8, I815, this route was changed so as to pass
through Stoystown instead of through Somerset. By a supplement passed on
March 3I, I807, a number of separate companies were incorporated in the severai counties through which the road was to pass, the western section of the road
being known as the Greensburg and Pittsburg Turnpike Company. The intention of these divisions was to facilitate the subscription of stock along the
wav, and the act itself provided that when the work was completed they should
be united under the one name as above given. The act of April 2, I8II, also
extended the time for the building of the turnpike for three years from that
date. All along the route books for the subscription of stock were opened and
the farmers, merchants and smaller capitalists subscribed their share of the
entire stock. This pike was finally completed to Pittsburg in I8I7 and I8i8,
though parts oif it along its entire length were built and in use a year or more
earlier. The legislature passed acts from time to time authorizing the governor to draw warrants in favor of the company for such parts of the road as
were finished, and of course as soon as a section was finished it was put to use.
The name "Turnpike" as applied to, a road originated from the fact that
a pike or pole was placed across the road at the toll-house which prevented the
traveler from passing until he paid his toll when the pike or pole was swung
around and he was allowed to pass through.  As its name indicated, this
was a toll road and from the proceeds thus taken in, the stockholders were to
be paid their dividends. The toll gate keeper collected toll from all who
passed over the road except from the officers and others who were entitled
to free travel. Toll gates were located from ten to twelve miles apart and
though the rates may have varied somewhat under different management, the
following list of rates does not vary much, if any, from the amounts charged
throughout the entire life of the road. They are taken from an old rate bill
now in the possession of Mr. James M. Shields of Pittsburg.
334PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Rates of toll on the Turnpike Road for every io miles on said road:
For swine, sheep and cattle: For every score of swine, 6 cents.
For every half score of swine, 3 cents.
For every score of sheep, 6 cents.
For every half score of sheep, 3 cents.
For every score of cattle, io cents.
For every half score of cattle, 5 cents.
For every horse or mule, laden or unladen, led or drove, 6 cents.
For every sulky, chair or chaise with one horse, I2 cents.
For every chair, coach, phaeton, chaise, sulky and light wagon with two
horses, 25 cents.
For either of them with four horses, 50 cents.
For every other carriage of pleasure it may go to like sum according
to the number of horses drawing the same.
For every sleigh or sled for each horse, 6 cents.
For every cart, wagon or other carriage of burthen, the wheels of which
do not in breadth exceed 4 inches, per horse, I2 cents.
For every cart, wagon or other carriage of burthen, the whkels of which
do exceed in breadth 4 inches, per horse 8 cents.
And when any such carriage aforesaid, the whole or part is drawn by
oxen, 2 oxen shall be estimated as equal to I horse in charging the aforesaid toll.
EXCEPTION.
No toll shall be demanded from any person or persons passing or repassing from one part of their farm to another, nor for any persons attending
funerals, or going to and from places of worship.
The last clause exempting certain persons from paying toll was incorporated in an Act of Assembly authorizing the company. The stockholders
never received dividends and the road was eventually put in sequestration.
The shares of the state were sold to private individuals in the seventies and
under the act of I879, the greater part of it was thrown on the several townships through which it passed.
Section 20 of the Act of February 24th provided that all drivers, whether
of burden or for pleasure, should keep to the right side of the road in the
passing direction, except when overtaken and passing carriages of slower
draft, leaving the other side of the road free and clear for wagons and carriages to pass and repass, and imposed a fine not exceeding $Io.oo on any
driver who should disobey this provision, the fine payable to the driver who
should be obstructed by disobeying this clause.
The building of a turnpike road was quite an undertaking for that day and
generation, fully as much so as the building of a railroad across the state is
today. It was morever of great importance to the people of Pittsburg and
improved the city and the country through which it'passed, all of which was
made to contribute to Pittsburg, more than any other means of transportation
built prior to the construction of the Pennsylvania railroad except the Pennsylvania canal. Next to the National road advocated so long by the eloquent
Henry Clay, it was the most complete road of any extent in Pennsylvania in
its day.
335PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
on his part, a tithe of Braddock's bravery, and he could have stormed the fort
within a short time and taken the field for the English. But instead, he and
his soldiers joined in the excitement of the hour, buried and destroyed their
heavy artillery, destroyed what stores and ammunition they could not transport,
destroyed their wagons, and hurriedly, if not cowardly, skulked away to Philadelphia. It was a common rumor at that time that he destroyed the stores,
artillery and heavy wagons so that he might have more horses to, speed them on
their way east. From Philadelphia he marched north, on the pretence of joining General Shirley's campaign against Niagara, but a well known writer observes that he marched "at a pace which made it certain that he could not arrive
in time to be of the least use." But his cowardice did not lose him caste entirely with the English army. In I756 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of
Gibraltar, and in I760 was promoted to lieutenant-general. He died in I767.
The proud spirit of General Braddock was broken by the defeat. He remained silent most of the day and weary nights, speaking only when necessary
to give orders. It is said that in his last hours he could not bear the sight of a
"red coat" but with his waning breath praised the "blues" and hoped to live to
reward them. He bore the pains of his journey without complaint, and lived
until eight o'clock on the night of the I3th of July. "Who could have thought
it," he said. Yet until death overtook him, he had hopes of another battle, for
his last words were, "We shall know better how to deal with them another
time."  He died at Great Meadows, where Washington had capitulated a year
before. There is a great deal of tradition about Braddock's harsh treatment of
Washington, but there is nothing authentic to substantiate it. Washington's
own words almost disprove it, though Washington says they frequently had
warm arguments. Braddock bequeathed to Washington his favorite charger
and his servant Bishop, who remained with him many years. Washington, in
describing the battle forty years afterward, has written these words concerning
General Braddock:
"At an  encampment near  Great Meadows, the  brave  but unfortunate General Braddock breathed his last. He was interred with the
honors of war, and it was left to me to see this performed, and to mark out the
spot for the reception of his remains. To guard against the savage triumph, if
the place should be discovered, they were deposited in the road, over which the
army wagons passed, to hide every trace by which interment could be discovered.
Thus died a man whose good and bad qualities were intimately blended. He
was. brave even to a fault. His attachments were warm, his enmities were
strong, and there was no disguise about him."  (Scribner's Magazine, May,
I903).
"Braddock's melancholy end, too," writes Washington Irving, "disarms
censure of its asperity. Whatever may have been his faults and errors, he in a
manner expiated them by the hardest fate that can befall a brave soldier ambitious of renown; an unknown grave in a strange land; a memory clouded
by misfortune; and a name forever coupled with defeat."
The entire blame of the defeat was put on Braddock, and no writer of his
generation either in England or America did him justice. His defeat was due
25A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
On the old State road it required six horses to haul a wagon laden with
three thousand pounds from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, and required from
twenty to thirty days to make the journey, but on the pike the same team could
haul six thousand pounds and could make the trip in from fifteen to twenty
days.
The funds for the construction of the turnpike were limited. The road
was made throughout its entire length about 25 feet wide and at some places
was even wider. There were stone bridges over rivulets and creeks and these
were arched and made of solid masonry which is, in most instances, yet in
good condition. When one considers, therefore, that this pike of two hundred
miles, the distance from Harrisburg to Pittsburg was completed for $450,000,
he will understand that the funds for its construction had to be applied in the
most economical way. The bottom of the road was generally made of large
stones laid according to the Telford plan of road building, with finer broken
blue rock and limestone on the top. The stone thus composing the road was
about a foot and a half thick for its entire length. All along the turnpike
sprung up little towns, villages and hamlets, and these partook somewhat of
the improvements of the day.  The pike was so thoroughly constructed,
carrying with it every evidence of permanency, that the builders thought they
might well expend enough on their new houses to have them in keeping with
the progressive age that had suddenly come upon them. Prior to this the
houses had generally been built of logs, but with the new age came brick and
stone houses, and especially did this apply to the public houses or taverns which
were built.on the new pike. Many specimens of these are yet standing, having
withstood the storms of nearly a century. They were built in advance of the
style of their day and are yet in good condition.
When a village was laid out along the pike there was usually a public
square in its center, and at least two corners of this public square were set
apart for taverns. This square generally called a diamond, was not intended
as a place of ornament as it usually is now, but was for special purposes.
There the wagons laden with freight stood over night, and as a general rule
in all kinds of weather, the horses were blanketed, fed and bedded in the
public square. Upon these wagons were transported nearly all of the goods
between Philadelphia and Pittsburg.
There was almost a continuous stream of four or six horse wagons laden
with merchandise, going west and returning'with the product of the Ohio
Valley to supply the eastern cities. These wagons journeyed mostly between
Pittsburg and Philadelphia and Baltimore. The wagoners generally stopped
at a wayside inn which was less expensive than at the inns in the villages.
Wagoners cared little for style but demanded an abundance while the stagecoach passengers demanded both. The wagoner invariably slept on a bunk
which he carried with him and which he laid on the floor of the big bar-room and
office of the country hotel. Stage drivers and their passengers stopped at the
best hotels and paid higher prices. For the purpose of feeding his horses in
336the public square, the wagoner carried a long trough which at night he fastened
with special irons to the tongue of the wagon, the end of the tongue being
held up by a prop. It was rarely ever that a team was fed in the middle of the
day, the morning and evening meals being regarded as sufficient. There are
few of our old public squares which have not thus been filled to overflowing
with wagons and horses. An old gentleman told the writer that he had once
seen 52 wagons in an unbroken line going towards Pittsburg on this pike.They were Conestoga wagons with great bowed beds covered with canvas,
and none of them were drawn by less than four, while many of them had six
horses. The old fashioned public square which kept them over night must
have been a good sized one. The public squares on this turnpike were usually
from three to four hundred feet long and fromn two to three hundred feet
wide. Some of the older villages had two squares separated a short distance
from each other, but this was generally brought about by a rivalry among
two factions when the town was first laid out.
A requisite of the old-fashioned wagon or stage town hotel or of the
wayside inn was a large room used as an office and bar-room and as a sleeping
place for the wagoners. In it was a large open fireplace which was abundantly
supplied with wood in the early days, and later with coal. Around this, when
the horses were cared for and the evening's diversion was over, the wagoners
spread their bunks in a sort of semi-circle with their feet to the fire, for
they were said to be much subjected to rheumatism, and this position was taken
as a preventative. Colored men drove: wagons sometimes but never became
stage drivers. They stopped at the same hotel with white wagoners but never
ate at the salne table. Wagoners drove in all kinds of weather and the descent
of a mountain or large hill was often attended with great danger, especially
SIX HORSE TEAM USED IN EARLY TURNPIKE DAYSA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
when it was covered with ice. The day's journey of a regular wagoner when
heavily laden, was rather less than over 20 miles, and Ioo miles in a week
was a fair average. To urge his horses on or to compel a lazy one to, pull its
share, the wagoner would use a tapering wagon whip of black leather about
five feet long with a silken cracker at the end. The best whips were called
Loudon whips, made in a little town of that name in Franklin county. The
average load hauled was about 6,ooo pounds for a six horse team. Sometimes
four tons were put on, and even five tons which the wagoner boastfully called
"a hundred hundred," were hauled, but these were rare exceptions. The
wagons were made with broad wheels, four inches or more, so that they would
not "cut in" if a soft place in the road were passed over. The standard wagon
for heavy work was the "Conestoga." The bed was low in the center and
high at each end. The lower part of the bed was painted blue. Above this
was a red part about a foot wide which could be taken off when necessary,
and these with the white canvas covering, made the patriotic tri-color of the
American flag, though this was probably unintentional. Bells were often
used in all seasons of the year though not strings of bells such as were afterwards used in sleighing. The wagoner's bells were fastened to an iron bow
above the hames on the horses and were pear shaped and very sweet toned.
Perhaps they relieved the monotony of the long journey over the lonely pike.
Wagoners always preferred to stop with a landlord who was a good fiddler,
not a violinist as an old wagoner recently said to the writer, but "just a plain
old-fashioner fiddler." Then when the evening work of the wagoner was
over, a dance in the dining or office bar-room was not an infrequent occurrence. Gathered together at one place were the young maidens of two or
three nearby taverns or other neighbors, and then to the music of the landlord's fiddle came the Virginia hoe-down, the memory of which makes the old
wagoners' eyes sparkle with joy, even to this day. The young wagoner who
saved his money did not always remain a wagoner. Very soon he could own
a team of his own, then another and another until he could finally purchase a
farm with a "tavern stand" on it, or engage in other business. Some of them
became men of prominence as merchants and manufacturers in Pittsburg or
elsewhere.- One of the best known wagoners between Pittsburg and the
East afterward became a business man of high standing and wealth in Pittsburg. On one occasion he said that he had "driven over the road many
times and knew every man, woman and child on the way. I was welcome
everywhere and had plenty of enjoyment." "Indeed," said he, "those were the
best days of my life." Gears, not harness, was the name used in that day,
and they were so large that they almost covered the horse. The backbands
were often a foot wide, and the hip-straps as much as Io inches in width. The
breeching of the wheel horses were so large and ponderous that they almost
covered the hind quarters of a large horse. The housing was a heavy black
leather and came down almost to the bottom of the hames. It required the
strength of a man to, thrown them on the back of a large horse. The wagon338PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             339
er's saddle was made of black leather with long wide flaps or skirts made
square at the bottom.
With the Conestoga wagons originated our modern "stogie" cigars which
have become so common in Pittsburg and which have been in recent years,
sent from Pittsburg to every section of the Union. They were made in that
day of pure home grown tobacco and being used very largely at first by the
Conestoga wagoners, took the name "stogies" which clings to them yet.
There was no revenue on them then and labor being cheap, they were retailed
at 3 and 4 and even 5 for a cent. The wagoner smoked a great deal which
perhaps relieved the monotony of his life, but he very rarely drank liquor to
excess, though whiskey was only worth 3 cents per drink, and was free to him
at most tavern stands. The landlords kept liquor, not to make money out of
it, but to really accommodate the traveling public. There was on this pike,
it is said, an average of one tavern every two miles between Pittsburg and
Bedford, yet all put together outside of the city, did not sell as much liquor
as one well patronized house does now. In a corner of the 15ar-room of the
country tavern, was a small counter and back of this were kept several bottles labeled with the name of the liquor they contained.
It may be surprising to the modern reader that the best wagons in the.
early days of this pike were not supplied with brakes or rubbers to enable the
wagon to move slowly going down a steep hill. They were not in use at all
until later in the history of the pike, and were invented by a man named Jones
of Brownsville on the National road. They were never patented but came
into general use soon after the inventor put them on his own wagon. In place
of this the wagoner tied a flexible hickory pole across his wagon, so that the
one end bore heavily on the wheel. Sometimes he cut a small tree which he
tied to his rear axle and allowed it to drag behind and thus descended the hill
slowly and safely. In winter when the pike was covered with ice, he used a
rough-lock, which was a heavy link chain which he tied around the wheel and
then tied the wheel when the chain touched the ground, so that the rough-lock
would drag on and score the ground and thus hold the wagon back. Wagoning as a business between the East and the West began about I8i8, and
reached its highest point about I840, or perhaps a year or so later. With the
building of the Pennsylvania Canal the wagoning was greatly crippled, but in
a few years gained all it had lost by the increase of the population of Pittsburg and the West. The business of the pike declined very rapidly when the
Pennsylvania railroad was built so that in I853 it was almost a feature of the
past. Most of the elderly men of the past few years fix the highest point of
travel and transportation on the pike at about I840. This was the year o,f the
greatest political campaign in the Nation's history, the Log Cabin Campaign,
and is likely fixed by that event in the minds of the older inhabitants. There
is no reason why more business should not have been done on the western
end in 1842 or I846. After wagoning a few years in the method we have
described, the times demanded a faster method of transportation between theA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
East and the West, and this was brought about by the Pittsburg and Philadelphia Transportation Company. They introduced a system of relays, that is,
a change of horses about every I2 or 15 miles, by which they kept the wagon
going day and night from the beginning to the end of the trip. When the
tired team entered the relay station, a new team and another driver took the
wagon and moved on at once. The tired horses rested and in a few hours
took the returning wagon of the same company back over the route. These
relay wagons were never heavily loaded, 4000 pounds being about the heaviest
they carried. The driver was expected to make on an average two miles per
hour. For freight thus delivered in less than half the time consumed in the
old way, the merchants of both Pittsburg and Philadelphia were willing to
pay a much greater rate per ton. To approximate the extent of the wagoning
on the pike it is hardly fair to take the record of a gate keeper close to Pittsburg or close to any populous community or growing town, for in such places
the local travel undoubtedly amounted to considerable. But the gate keeper
on the Chestnut Ridge, about 43 miles east of Pittsburg, reported the following for the year ending May 3Ist, I818, which was the first year after the
road was completed. Single horses, 7,112; one horse vehicles, 350; two horse
vehicles, 501; three horse vehicles, Io05; four horse vehicles, 28I; five horse
vehicles, 2,412; six horse vehicles, 2,698; one horse sleighs, 38; two horse
sleighs and sleds, 201; making a total of 38,599 horses for the first year of the
pike. From March I to, March 29, I827, 500 wagons passed a gate
about midway between the gate mentioned and Pittsburg.  On March  I,
I832, 85 wagons passed through the same gate and on March I2, I837, 92
wagons passed through it, but this was one of its best days. Wagoners
often drove in companies of 6 or 8 and sometimes more. In this way they
could assist each other in any misfortune that might befall them and they
were thus company for each other at night. It was not unusual for a wagoner
with a heavy load to get two additional horses, making 8 in all, to help him
up Laurel Hill or up any steep grade. These were furnished at regular
rates by a farmer or tavern keeper who lived nearby and who sent a boy along
to bring the team back.
Another feature of the old pike days was driving horses, cattle, sheep and
sometimes hogs to the eastern market. Then, as now, the West raised more
live stock than they needed and they were made to walk east in droves. By
the West of that day is meant Ohio and Indiana and later Illinois. Men in
the live stock business were called drovers. They bought up all kinds of stock
in Western Pennsylvania and further west and drove them east on the
pike for Philadelphia and New York markets. Horses were taken east b.y
the score and even by the hundred in this way. They could be taken east
almost any season of the year for they could be stabled and fed at night.
They were always led, that is, a man rode on one and led five or six others
with halters. Hogs moved more slowly and droves of them were not so
common, for they could move only eight or ten miles per day. Droves of'
340PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
34I
cattle or sheep were more numerous and during the summer months could
be seen almost daily on the pike as they passed through the city, all going
east. Sheep were taken in droves of from three to six or even ten hundred. They walked further each day than hogs but not so, far as horses
or cattle. The average drove of cattle was about I50, sometimes many more
but oftener less. They at first paid toll by the score and less than a score
passed free; so occasionally a drover took east a herd o.f nineteen to avoid
the payment of toll, and this brought about a change in' the rates which provided for the collection of toll for a half score. But small droves were the
exception for a large number could be driven with about the same help. The
cattle were generally full grown, that is from two to four years old. One large
steer having a rope around his horns, was led by a boy and the rest followed
him. After a few days driving they followed the leader as though they had
been driven all their lives. In that day oxen were used more or less instead
of horses, for heavy drawing and for farm work. When a yoke of oxen
became old they were frequently fattened and sent east with other cattle,
so that a drove often included a number of very long-horned steers. Behind the drove followed a driver who kept the lazy cattle from lagging behind.
The owner of the drove usually rode on horseback. In the afternoon he
rode on ahead to look out a good field of pasture where his drove could be
kept all night. They paid the farmer a price which varied, but it was generally about three cents per head for the night. A drove of cattle, particularly
if they were heavy animals, could not make more than Io to I2 miles perday. They plodded along and at length reached the markets of Philadelphia,
New York or Baltimore, and if they were fat enough, were slaughtered at
once. As a general rule they gained weight rather than lost on the way east,
particularly if the pasture was good and the drover a careful one. The drover
was paid in cash for his cattle and was generally paid in gold which he put
into his saddle bags and rode home to purchase another lot. The young
men who drove for him generally walked all the way home, and tried to reach
there by the time the drover had collected another lot of cattle and was ready
for the long journey eastward.
The plank theory of road making was the prevailing one in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the late forties and early fifties. Most country roads then
led through regions abounding with good timber. Small streams that are
now almost dry for a greater part of the year because the country has been
denuded of its forests, then gave an abundant supply of water power to run
a small sawmill. Labor was cheap and the trees were a complete bar to agriculture, and had to be disposed of. The result was that plank roads became
popular. They were made generally of two or three inch plank laid cross wise
and resting on three sleepers of plank laid lengthwise. The plank road was
rarely ever as wide as sixteen feet, the plank usually being cut twelve or fourteen feet long. For a short time the road was splendid but soon the plank,
warped by the sun became very uneven in most places. They were madeA CEANTURY AND A HALF OF
largely of oak which soon rotted and by that time timber was too scarce to
repair them. They were rapidly abandoned and for many years afterwards
the decaying plank could be seen lying in piles by the road side. The first
plank road to reach Allegheny was the road to Perryville. It began with
Federal street and led by the Franklin and Harmony road about seven miles
to a point a mile north of Perryville. It was planked in I849. About the same
time a corporation was formed called the Allegheny and Butler Plank Road Co.
This road led to Butler and was planked all the way. The Braddocks Field
Plank Road Company opened up in I85I. The Temperanceville and Noblestown Plank Road Company had been incorporated in I849 and issued 800
shares of stock at $25 each. It was not finished for a year or so. The Allegheny and Manchester Plank Road was incorporated a year later and
had an authorized capital stock of 600 shares at $25 each. One was also built
to New Brighton, another through East Liberty north to Apollo and the longest of all from Pittsburg up the river to West Newton and thence across Westmoreland, Somerset and Bedford counties to intersect the National road at Cumberland. All these roads were toll roads, the idea being that the stockholders
should thus receive dividends on their investment. Some of them, notably
the one leading to Cumberland, were laid on roads which had formerly been
piked. None of them, so far as we can learn, ever paid dividends worth speaking of.
The National road; to which we have referred, did not touch Pittsburg
but passed through Washington and Fayette counties.  The  reader may
marvel that Henry Baldwin, the Pittsburg congressman, opposed its construction most bitterly and was very popular because of this opposition. Pittsburg
people were thoroughly united in its opposition. The building of the road was
the pet idea of Henry Clay. It undoubtedly diverted trade from the Southwest, taking it to Baltimore, which otherwise would. have come up the Ohio
river to Pittsburg and have been taken thence by the pike or the canal to
Philadelphia. All the states through which the National road passed, including Pennsylvania, had helped to build it. Pittsburg claimed that the state
should equip its own road more perfectly, viz., the pike leading from Philadelphia westward; rather than assist in building a road which passed only through
the extreme southwest corner of the state, and the'main object of which would
be to divert trade from Pittsburg and from Philadelphia to Baltimore. The
Pittsburg people called mass meetings, signed petitions and sent all manner
of memorials to congress in.opposition to its completion and did this purely
as a matter of self defense. The bill providing for the National road was
passed by congress in I8o6, but it was not completed rapidly, in fact did not
reach a point west of the Allegheny mountains till I8i8. It was opened from
the first free from toll, yet Pennsylvania in common with other states, had
helped to construct it, and had, at about the same time, completed a pike three
hundred miles long, without any assistance, but on which they were compelled
to charge toll. Toll, it must be remembered, was a very important matter,
342.PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             343
in wagoning at that time. From Pittsburg to Philadelphia and back, the toll
for a narrow wheeled wagon with six horses, was $29.30 and was $I9.20 for
the same team with a broad wheeled wagon, for our ancestors knew better
than we in that respect, how to preserve roads. On the other hand Wheeling
was overjoyed with the National road scheme, for there it crossed the Ohio
river. They expected the trade of the West to come up the Ohio and then take
the National road to the eastern cities. They claimed that Wheeling would
thereafter be at the head of navigation on the Ohio and that Pittsburg had
seen its best days. A Wheeling paper of that day said editorially: "Poor
Pittsburg; your day is over; the scepter of influence and wealth is to travel to
us." It is not to be wondered therefore that Pittsburg became a unit in its
opposition to the National road, the first of our great internal improvements,
and demanded and applauded the same hostility on the part of her representative in congress.CHAPTER XXV.
Early Descriptions of Pittsburg-Brackenridge, Royal, Cumming, Pope, etc.
Justice Hugh Henry Brackenridge in I786 wrote a beautiful but overdrawn description of the town of Pittsburg. While we shall not reproduce it
here there are parts of it that cannot but interest the reader and we shall
quote them indirectly. He says he arrived in Pittsburg from Philadelphia
having crossed the Allegheny mountains in the spring of I78I and found the
town to consist of a few old buildings under the walls of the garrison which
stood at the junction of the two rivers. Nevertheless it appeared to him that
it would one day be a town of note which might be pushed forward by the
usual means that raise such places. Two or three years elapsed, some improvements had been made, when the Gazette was established and one of his
earliest contributions to the Gazette is the article we are following, written to
induce immigration to this particular spot:
At a distance of about four or five hundred yards from the head:
of the river is a small island lying to the northwest side of the river at a
distance of about seventy yards from the shore. It was covered with wood
and at the lower point was a lofty hill, famous for the number of wild
turkeys which inhabited it. The island was about one-fourth'of a mile
long and in breadth about one hundred yards.  A small  space  at  the
upper end of it was cleared and  overgrown  with  grass.  The  savages
had cleared it during the Revolution, a party of them  attached to the
United States having placed their wigwams and raised corn there.   The
Ohio, at a distance of about one mile from  the source  (the  confluence
of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers), winds around the lower
end of the island and disappears. It is pleasant to, observe the conflict of these
two rivers when they meet. When of equal height the contest is equal and a
small rippling appears from the point of land at their junction to a distance
of about five hundred yards. When the Allegheny is master, the current keeps
its course a great way into the Monongahela before it is iovercome and falls
into the bed of the Ohio. The Monongahela having the mastery, bears away
the Allegheny and with its muddy waters discolors the crystal current of that
river.  This happens frequently, inasmuch as the two rivers coming from
different climates of the country are seldom swollen at the same time. The
flood of the Allegheny rises perhaps the highest. "I have observed it to have
been at least thirty feet above the level by the impression of the ice on thePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
branches of the trees which overhang the river." The current of the Allegheny is in general more rapid than that of the Monongahela, and though not
broader nor of greater depth, throws forward a greater quantity of water in
the same space of time. About a mile above Pittsburg in the Monongahela
is a beautiful little island.
The fish of the Allegheny are harder and firmer than those of the Monongahela or Ohio, owing, it is supposed, to greater coolness or purity of the
water. The fish in general are good. There are pike, weighing frequently
fifteen or twenty pounds; the perch are much larger than I have seen in the
Bay of the Chesapeake. There are also sturgeon and many more kinds of
fish. It is high amusement to those who are fond of fishing to angle in these
waters, more especially at the time of a gentle flood when the frequent nibbles
of the large and small fish is very gratifying. When fish of a greater size are
taken it is necessary to play them a considerable time before it can be judged
safe to draw them in. "I have seen a canoe half loaded in a morning by some
of those expert in the employment."  You will see in a spring evening the
banks of the river lined with men fishing at intervals from one another. This
with the stream's gentle gliding, the green woods at a distance, and the
shadows lengthening towards the town, forms a deligtful scene.
7McKees Rocks is at a distance of about three miles below the head of the
Ohio and is the end of a promontory where the river bends to the northwest,
and by the rushing of the floods the earth has been cut away through several
ages, so that the huge overhanging rocks appear hollowed beneath so as to
form a dome of majesty and grandeur nearly one hundred feet high. There
the names of French and British officers are engraved. The town of Pittsburg is scarcely visible from these rocks because of an intervening island, the
lower end of which is nearly opposite the rocks.
At the head of the Ohio stands the town of Pittsburg on an angular
piece of ground, the two rivers forming the two sides of the angle. Just at
the point stood, when I first came to the county, a tree, leaning against which
I have often overlooked the wave, or committing my garments to its shade
have bathed in the transparent tide. On this point stood the old French Fort
known by the name of Fort Duquesne, which was evacuated and blown tp
by the French in the campaign of the British under General Forbes. The
appearance of the ditch and mound with the salient angles and bastions still
remains so as to prevent that perfect level of the ground which otherwise
would exist.  It has long been overgrown with the finest verdue and depastured on by cattle, but since the town has been laid out it has been enclosed
and buildings are erected. Just above these works is the present garrison
built by General Stanwix and said to, have cost the Crown of Britain sixty
thousand pounds. The fortification was regularly constructed according to
the rules of art and about three years ago was put into good repair by General Irvine, who commanded at this point. The savages come to this place
for trade, not for war, and future contests that we may have with them will
be on more northern rivers that flow into the Mississippi. The bank of the
Allegheny on the northwest side of the town of Pittsburg is planted with an
orchard of apple and pear trees brought and planted, it is said, by a British
officer who commanded at this place. The fruit is excellent and the trees bear
in abundance every year. On the Allegheny bank were formerly the King's
Artillery Gardens, highly cultivated, the soil favoring the growth of plants
and flowers equal with any on the Globe. On the west side of the Alleghenv is a level of three thousand acres reserved by the state to be laid out
345A CENTURY AND A IHALF OF
to an unwarranted contempt he had for the foe, and to an equally unwarranrited
confidence he had in himself and in the British regulars. His title to bravery
and personal courage had been tested on many battle fields, and never found
wanting. Though repeatedly advised to do so, he was too headstrong to adopt
or to allow his soldiers to adopt the savage methods of warfare in dealing with
his unknown enemy. The impartial reader cannot but attribute this ignominious defeat almost entirely to obstinancy and conceit on the part of the general.
He and his English soldiers were long skilled in warfare, and the vaunted courage of the latter led the Americans to look up to them and to expect great
things of them. Yet, instead of setting an example of bravery to the undrilled
American troops, the English soldiers were the first to disobey orders, desert
their comrades and flee from the field in cowardly disorder. The English
officers, like Braddock, measured up to the highest mark of true soldiers on the
battle field, nor were either they nor the American officers lacking in natural
ability. Braddock's bravery has been, even on his last'fatal field, admitted by
friend and foe alike; indeed, it has become proverbial. Washington, whether
in victory or in defeat, was never aught but great, but he was particularly
strong in saving a waning army from distraction. Gage commanded the British at Boston during the siege at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
Then there was Horatio Gates, who afterward arose to distinction, and was a
major-general in the American army in the great war. With Braddock also
was Colonel Daniel Morgan, still renowned throughout America as the hero of
Cowpens. There, too, were the Lewises of Virginia, a name that will always be noted in the war annals of America. The battle occurred on ground
afterwards occupied by the buildings of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, now
the United States Steel Company. It extended, however, up to and across the
present line of the Pennsylvania railroad.
There was one sense in which the defeat of Braddock was not a misfortune.
Hitherto the world had been taught that the English army was invincible in
war. Perhaps no people in all the world revered and hoinored the English
soldiers as highly as did the American colonies. The defeat of Braddock, and
by such an enemy, too, most truly demonstrated the fallacy of this opinion.
Henceforth in the mind of the average American colonist, the royal English
soldier was measured by his actions on the banks of the Monongahela. And
when we remember that in less than twenty years after the battle, these same
colonists had so changed their ideas of the superiority of the English army
that they were induced to engage in the war of the Revolution, we cannot doubt
that in one sense, at least, the defeat of Braddock was a benefit to the American
people.
26A CEiNTURY AND A HALF OF
in lots for the purpose of a town. The situation is not so convenient as the
side of the river where Pittsburg is built, yet it is a delightful grove of oak,
cherry and walnut trees.
The bank o.f the Monongahela is closely set with buildings for the distance of half a mile and behind this range the town is chiefly built. To the
eastward is Grant's Hill from which two crystal fountains issue which in the
heat of summer continue with limpid current to refresh the taste. In I78I a
bower covered with green shrubs was erected on Grant's Hill. The sons and
daughters of the day assembled, joined in the festivity, viewing the rivers at
the distance and listening to the music of the military on the plains below
them. To the northwest of Grant's Hill is another still higher at a distance
of about a quarter of a mile which is called Quarry Hill, from an excellent
stone quarry opened on it. From Quarry Hill you have a view of four or five
miles of the Allegheny, along which lies the fine bottom with enclosures and
farm houses, the river winding through the whole prospect On this a strong
redoutit might be placed to command the commerce of the Allegheny river
while opposite on the Monongahela side to the southeast stands a hill equally
high known as Ayers Hill, named after a British engineer who advocated the
building of a fort there.
At the junction of the rivers, until eight o'clock in the summer mornings, a light fog is usually incumbent but it is of a salutary nature inasmuch
as it consists of vapor not exhaled from stagnant water, but which the sun of
the preceding day had extracted from trees and flowers and in the evening
had sent back in dew so that rising from a second sun in fog and becoming of
aromatic quality it is experienced to be healthful.  Pittsburg stands chiefly
on the third bank above the Allegheny. The first bank confines the river;
three hundred feet is the second bank, the third at a distance of about thre'e
hundred yards, and lastly the fourth bank all of easy inclination and parallel
with the Allegheny river. These banks would seem, in successive periods, to
have been the margin of the river which has gradually changed its course
and has been thrown from one descent to another to the present bed where
it lies. The town consists at present of about three hundred dwelling houses
with buildings appurtenant. It is improving with continual pace. The inhabitants, men, women and children, are about fifteen hundred. There is no
more delightful spot under heaven to, spend any of the summer months than
this place. I am astonished that there should be such repairing to the Warm
Springs of Virginia, a place pent up between hills where the sun pours its
rays concentrated as in a burning glass and not a breath of air stirs and where
the eye can wander scarcely half a furlong, while here we have the breezes
of the river, the gales that fan the woods and are sent from the refreshing
northern lakes; the extensive hills and dales whence' the fragrant air brings
odors of a thousand flowers and plants or of corn and grain upon its balmy
wings. Here we have the town and country together. The winter season
is equally enjoyable, the buildings are warm, the fuel abundant, consisting
of coal from the neighboring hills, or ash, hickory or oak firewood.
In the fall and winter season there are usually many strangers in this
place from the different states about to descend the river to the westward.
They spend the evenings with the inhabitants in parties at different houses or
at public balls, where they are surprised to find an elegant assemblage of
ladies not to be surpassed in beauty and accomplishments perhaps by any on
the continent.  It must appear like enchantment to a stranger, who, after
traveling a hundred miles from the settlements across the dreary mountains
346PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            347
and through the country where in many places the spurs of the mountains
still continue, to see at once and almost on the verge of the inhabitated globe,
a town with smoking chimneys, halls lighted up with splendor, ladies and
gentlemen assembled, various music and the mazes of the dances.
The above extravagant sketch has been very much shortened but an
effort has been made to give its most important points, and furthermore the
language of the writer has been preserved almost entirely. It is the first pen
and ink sketch ever written of Pittsburg and when we remember that it was
prepared in his youthful days, the somewhat magniloquent style may be
overlooked. He afterward became one of the most noted men of Pittsburg.
The island he describes in the Allegheny river was known as Wainright's Island and the one in Monongahela river as Buckwheat Island, for on it buckwheat was grown as late as I798. Both of these islands were but little more
than sand bars and have long since been washed away by the floods. The
island he describes between McKees Rocks and Pittsburg is now known as
Bruno's Island.
An Irishman named Thomas Ash came to Pittsburg over the old Forbes
road in October, I8o6. From his book "Travels in America in I8o6" it is
learned that he was a tourist whose main object it was to explolre the Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio and Mississippi rivers and to ascertain the products of the valley and the nature of the rivers generally. In some ways he
left an unsavory name in Pittsburg where he passed under the name of Arvil.
A writer of that day sarcastically says of him "that he assumed the manners of a gentleman." From Pittsburg he made journeys into various parts
of the country but always came here again for this had been established as
his headquarters. He thus remained in and about Pittsburg until the spring
of I807. His description of the town as he found it is more complete than
any other we have of that age, yet he was so unreliable that many of his
statements have been seriously doubted. He refers to the beautiful valley
which surrounds Pittsburg than which nothing could be more interesting. It
extended three miles, he says, on a perfect level and was cultivated in the
highest degree; bounded by rising'ground on the left and by a transparent
river on the right. He doubts if any town in the world could boast of a
position superior to that of Pittsburg both as to its beauty and as to the many
advantages it enjoyed. He says, it contained about four hundred houses,
many of them large and elegantly built of brick, and that the population was
over 2,000. He says that many industries were carried on, particularly referring to the manufacture of glass, nails, hats, tobacco and to ship building.
Goods for the Kentucky and Louisiana trade were brought across the mountains in wagons and here loaded on boats on the Ohio. He speaks olf the
commercial industry of Pittsburg and of the good breeding and hospitality of
the people. Both of these qualities he attributes to the Irish origin of the
principal inhabitants of the town.' He mentions several gentlemen of Pittsburg who were distinguished for their liberality and their generous attentionA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
to strangers. The influence of these and others of similar sentiments "hindered the vicious propensities of the general American character from establishing here the horrid dominion which they assume over the Atlantic states."
He also speaks in the most glowing terms of praise when he speaks of the
ladies of Pittsburg.
The market house, he said, stood in the square in the center of the town
and while it was daily frequented, on two particular days of each week it was
over crowded by vast numbers of country people who brought produce of all
kinds to the market. First class beef was often sold, he says, for three cents
per pound, good veal at seven cents and pork at three cents. Fine fowls sold
for a shilling a pair, while partridges, pigeons and all kinds of game were sold
at equally reasonable prices. A haunch of venison was sold for fifty cents and
a flitch of bear meat at about a dollar. Butter, he says was fourteen cents a
pound, eggs five cents per dozen and milk three cents per quart. Vegetables
and fruit were abundant. Whiskey sold at two shillings per gallon and
the best taverns charged but fifty cents per day, while boarding, washing and
lodging could be had at one hundred dollars per year. In winter sleighing
was a favorite amusement, and every young man of a certain standing possessed a horse and sleigh with which they drove with great dexterity through
the streets, calling on their acquaintances and taking refreshments, "at many
an open house where excellent porter was brewed at a very cheap rate."
The summer amusements of the people of Pittsburg-he  said-consisted
principally of "concerts, evening walks and rural festivities held in the
vicinity of Clear Springs and under the shade of old odoriferous trees." In
April, I807, he left Pittsburg and went down the river in a boat, which he
purchased for $40.00.  "In turning into the stream  from  Pittsburg,"  he
says, "I found the scene instantaneously changed and become peculiarly grand.
In ten minutes I got into the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela
waters. For half an hour I steered my boat in this confluence being able
to dip up whitish water on one side and perfect green on the other. The
hills on the right hand were nearly 1,200 feet high, those on the left something less lofty, each clothed with sumptuous and increasing timber from the
base to the summit, the garb of many thousands of years, each tree perishing
in an imperceptible progression, and each as imperceptibly renewed. The
whole and the individual, still appearing the same, always conveying a grand
idea of the munificence of nature and the immutability of all her works."
Another who wielded a facile pen was John Pope, who visited Pittsburg
in I790 and afterwards published his journal called, "A Tour Through the
Southern and Western Territories of the United States."  He did not flatter
the people generally very much, for he says, "I stayed ten days. Here I saw
the celebrated Hugh Henry Brackenridge, in whoise company I viewed the
fort and the neighboring eminences in Pittsburg, which will one day or
other employ the historic pen as being replete with strange and melancholy
events. The town at present is inhabited, with only some few exceptions,
348PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            349
by mortals who act as if possessed with a charter of exclusive privilege to
filch from, annoy and harrass their fellow creatures, particularly the incautious and necessitous; many who have emigrated from many parts to
Kentucky can verify this charge. Goods of every description are dearer
in Pittsburg than in Kentucky, which I attribute to a combination of pensioned
scoundrels who infest the place. Was a Spaniard to: reside among Pittsburgers
only one week, he would be apt to exclaim in the words of Nuevedo:
"''Tis not for thee but for thy bread
Tray wags his tail and shakes his head.'"
Another interesting writer on early Pittsburg was Mr. F. Cumming,
who came in I807, and his writings prove that he was a close observer and
a fearless critic. He says it "is inhabited by people who have fixed here
for the express purpose of making money." He did not deny that the people
were celebrated for their hospitality, but concluded that the reason might be
due to politics. Speaking of old settlers, who had purchased property when
it was very low in price, and had seen it grow valuable, "assumed airs of
superiority even over the well-born and well-bred part of the community,
who had been reduced from a more affluent situation by misfortune, or who
had not been so fortunate as themselves in acquiring what stands the possessor
in lieu of a descent and all the virtues and accomplishments."  It was perhaps
true in I807 that, as he says, everyone seemed bent on making money, but
we doubt whether they were more so inclined than the people of other towns
at that time, or more so than they are now. There was then and there always will be in all communities of even comparative wealth, a well marked
line between the old resident who had an abundance of property and an
established reputation and a new-comef who had but little property and no
well earned good name. He states also that in I807, not a street in Pittsburg
except Market was paved, but wrote afterwards that during the next three
years the greater parts of Wood and Front streets, Third street between
Market and Wood, and Chancery Lane from the river to Second street were
paved, and that considerable grading had been done, particularly on Diamond
Alley. He wrote that Pittsburg was a very unprepossessing place in I807-o8
because of the bad condition of the streets; also said' that because of the
extensive use of coal the houses were black from soot and smoke. Coal was
sold and delivered any place in Pittsburg at five cents per bushel. He refers
to McCullolugh's Inn, which was one of the principal taverns, and states
that mail came from Philadelphia and Baltimore twice each week. Fort
Duquesne had then entirely disappeared but the ditch and ramparts of Fort
Pitt were still in existance and beyond were "a few straggling apple and pear
trees, being all that remained of the King's artillery gardens, planted and
cultivated by the first British garrison, and now laid out in streets and
towns." Two miles up the Allegheny from the town stood Hill's tavern,
while farther down as the traveler approached, he first caught sight of the
belfy of the court house, the brick octagonal Episcopal Church, a handsomeA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Presbyterian brick meeting-house, and the roofs of the dwelling houses, surrounded with Lombardy poplars and weeping willows. Mr. Cumming also
refers to Grant's Hill, saying it was one hundred feet high and covered with
a delightful short, green herbage, and was a favorite resort of the people
for parades and out-door exercises.  "It lies," wrote he, "within the bounds
of the borough, but it is to be hoped that General O'Hara, who is the
proprietor, will, with true patriotism, reserve it for its present use, and not
permit one of the greatest ornaments of Pittsburg to, be destroyed by having
it cut down and leveled for building lots. Was General O'Hara to fence
it in, terrace it, which could be done at a small expense, ornament it with
clumps of evergreens and flowering shrubs, and erect a few banquetinghouses, in the form  of small temples, according to the different orders olf
architecture, it would be one of the most beautiful spots of which not only
America, but perhaps any town in the universe could boast." Further he says,
"the eye looks over a fine level of three thousand acres once intended as the site
of a town to be called Allegheny to be the capital of the county, but the situation
of Pittsburg being very properly judged more convenient, it has eventually
became the seat of justice of the county and the most flourishing inland
town in the United States." Pittsburg at this time contained about four
hundred houses, but in I8Io it had increased the number to 767. Mr. Cumming observed and wrote of the houses too. He says, "In seventeen streets
and four lanes or alleys, in March, I8o8, there were 236 brick houses, of
which 47 were built in the last twelve months, and'36I wooden ones, 72 of
which were added last year. There are twenty-four taverns, four or five
of which are excellent ones, and the rest of every grade."
Mrs. Ann Royal was a great woman in her day. She was born in Maryland, but for many years resided in Washington City, where she made her
name a famous one by editing and publishing "The Huntress" and "Paul
Pry." Though a woman of superior mind. and keen perception, she was
extremely eccentric and conceited. Traveling a great deal over Pennsylvania
by stage coach in the late twenties, she visited Pittsburg in 1828, and the
year following published two volumes of her travels. A great deal of space
is given by her in these books to descriptions of her quarrels with stage
drivers and'landlords, but aside from this her works are of considerable value.
She describes the towns, scenery and people of Pennsylvania in a style that
is fresh and interesting, even after a period of eighty years. Her descriptions
are accurate in the main and in their line they are classics. She visited the
little city of Pittsburg in one of its most fortunate periods. It had recovered
from the long financial and business depression which followed the war of
I812; it had reaped ten years of stimulated industry brought by the completion
of the pike between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, and was just pluminc itself
in the enjoyment of a still greater commercial thrift resultant to the West from
the building of the Pennsylvania Canal. In some matters she may have been
unduly enthusiastic concerning Pittsburg, but from the fact that she thoroughly
350PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            351
and systematically investigated its most interesting features for two weeks,
and that she does not generally write in flattering terms, but rather the
reverse, of other places, her picture of the city as'here given may be taken
as a true one of that day.
She  says:   Of  all  towns  in  our  country,  Pittsburg  excites
most astonishment.  Everything pursued in other towns  is thrown  into
the shade in Pittsburg; even in the building of steamboats it excels, by
a long way, our great city, New York. You see nothing but columns
of smoke rolling out of these manufactories in every part of the city and
in every street. Go to the river Monongahela, and you see nothing but steamboats, two-stories high, many of them, and two tiers of windows, precisely
like a house with gable ends.
As we drove down the Allegheny river we were closely hemmed in
by a vast hill on our left. This hill makes a sudden stop as you draw near the
city, and runs across in a steep, perpendicular precipice to the Monongahela
river, forming a perfect wall in its rear seventy feet high. This hill takes
different names in its progress; that part opposite the point or the great body
of the city is called Grant's Hill, so named from Col. Grant, who was defeated
on its summit by the French and Indians in 1758; that part of it on the
Monongahela is called Boyd's Hill, from one Boyd who hung himself theres
that part extending to the Allegheny river is also distinguished by the name
of Quarry Hill, being 440 feet high. From each river there are also seen vast
hills so that you are in the city before you can see it. Its situation is much
lower than I expected to find it. The city runs up the banks of both rivers
beyond its limits in the center, running much farther up the Allegheny however. The two rivers and the point give it the form of a triangle. It is about
one mile on the one river and one and three-quarters on the other.  The
whole city sits on an even plain, about 30 to 40 feet above the low water mark,
higher, however, on the Allegheny side. On the opposite side of the Allegheny
river is a steep hill called Hogback Hill.  On the opposite shore of the
Monongahela river is another called Coal Hill. Coal Hill is 465 feet high
and very rugged. The height of Hogback Hill is unknown. It is a barren
eminence of unsightly appearance. In all these elevations coal is found except
on Grant, Boyd and Hogback Hills, their altitude not being sufficient to
bring them within the range of the great strata of that mineral which pervades
this region.
The scenery around Pittsburg is very beautiful, highly delightful in
summer and when viewed from some points presents the most interesting
association of nature and art. The view from Coal Hill is not surpassed
in any country, earth, air, rocks, water, woods, town and sky break upon
the vision in forms the most picturesque and deligthful. Coal Hill affords another point of interesting observation where the eye at a single glance takes in a
hundred beauties that might vie with the purest and brightest of the other
hemispheres.
Pittsburg has several suburban villages that contribute to and are supplied from the great center with which their strength and prosperity are
intimately connected. On or nearly adjoining the northeastern boundary of
the city and on the flat between Quarry Hill and the Allegheny river the
Northern Liberties are' situated and are intended as a continuation of the
city. They were laid out in I8i6 by George A. Bayard and James Adams
and are now improving rapidly and contain the Phoenix Cotton Factory, theA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Juniata Iron Works, etc. Adjoining the southeastern boundary of the city
on the north stands Kensington, or as it is some times called-Pipetown,
deriving its name through one of its early settlers, an eccentric little gentleman still well known among all classes for his odd humor and the universality
of his mechanical business, Mr. William Price, who'established a pipe manufactory there. Kensington is partly on a steep hill side, the houses, which
are low, seem to stick to Boyd's Hill by magic. Over the Monongahela is
another considerable village called Birmingham; it is incorporated into a
borough and sits at the base of Coal Hill on the bank of the river and here
the celebrated Birmingham  glass is manufactured.  It also contains several
steam mills and an extensive lock manufactory. It is well built and makes
a handsome appearance from Pittsburg. Over the. Allegheny river, directly
opposite the city, is another very handsome and  flourishing  town  called
Allegheny. The Western Penitentiary is built here, one of the most splendid
buildings in the United States and the site of the town is by far one of the
most pleasant of any in the vicinity, not excepting Pittsburg itself.  It is
unrivaled in scenery and soil. There are two superb bridges, one over the
Allegheny and one over the Monongahela of the first architecture and are
the finest ornaments belonging to Pittsburg.
Two miles above Pittsburg is the village of Lawrence, the seat of the
United States arsenal on the Allegheny. The Allegheny river is I,Ioo feet
wide at Pittsburg and the Monongahela is 1,400 feet wide.  No language
can convey the beautiful appearance of these rivers.  I should  say  the
Allegheny was the handsomest of the two; it is equal in beauty to the Ohio
and the bridges constitute one of the handsomest sites, beyond doubt, in the
Union, where beauty alone is considered.
I. read so much of the steam manufactories and coal and smoke of Pittsburg that I tried to form some idea of them, but was greatly disappointed.
More smoke than I could have conceived, and the manufactories were far
beyond my conception in skill of workmanship and amount of capital.
Pittsburg City has a population of Io,6oo, Northern Liberties 7II, Kensington 390, Birmingham 459, Allegheny 7II, miscellaneous 260. Of those
born in foreign countries there are 3,000 nearly. Pittsburg at the last enumeration contained, dwelling houses I,I40, churches I2, public buildings 7, stores
60, groceries I46, banks 2, taverns I6, factories, mills and shops 440, ware
houses, etc., 76. This number, however, has greatly increased and the'buildings are going up at the same time in all parts of the city. Most of the
houses are brick, and some of them are lofty, fine buildings, but all of the
houses are colored quite black with the smoke. The interiors of the houses
are still worse. Carpets, chairs, walls, furniture are all black with' smoke;
no such thing as wearing white; the ladies mostly dress in black and a cap.
or white ruff put on clean in the morning is tinged quite black by bed time.
The ladies are continually washing their faces. Many times the smoke,
particularly in the absence of the sun, is quite annoying to the eyes of strangers,
and everything has a very gloomy, doleful appearance at first (excepting always the interior of the work shops). But in a few days the stranger becomes so familiar to it that the novelty of the thing is completely worn off
and your walks and rambles through the city are pursued with the same
pleasure common to others.
In all the towns of Pennsylvania the public buildings and offices are
built on squares in the center of their towns. These squares are uniformally
called the "Diamond." I had often heard the word but from haste and in352PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
353
attention never stopped to ask what it meant, and that it meant the public square
is one of the last things I should take it to apply.-"You will find such a man
on the east, west, etc., of the diamond," said my friend, Mrs. Roberts, and
"what is the diamond?" I asked. "Where the market house is."-The diamond
is about the center of the town, is large and contains the market house in
the center and the public buildings, attorneys' offices and a few oyster cellars.
The public buildings are large and well built of brick. The churches are
small and make no show, except one just rebuilt, touched off in great gothic
style. The streets of Pittsburg are not regular, running in all directions;
most of them, however, angle with the Monongahela. T'Ihey are paved but
not lighted. The side walks as a whole are dirty and in wet weather very
muddy in some parts of the town. The citizens are now engaged in furnishing the city with good water and have sunk a very handsome reservoir
upon the top of Grant's Hill for the purpose, but for some cause, to me
unknown, the pipes have mostly bursted and filled the streets with water,
which I find very unpleasant.
There are in Pittsburg thirty-two attorneys and counselors and I6
physicians, a museum, the Western University, a high school, an academy
and 40 smaller schools. The manners of the people of Pittsburg, as in all
other large towns, some are liberal and polite and others quite the reverse.
The University exists only in name and cannot be said to be in operation
though it has a l1ong string of professors. Miss Parry is at the head of,
an academy for young ladies.  Misses Roberts and Campbell have a large
school of both sexes. The Sisters of Charity also have a very large school.
The high school is by far the best conducted seminary in that place. It is
kept in the Unitarian Church. The name of the principal is E. Worthington,
Esq. He has 54 students.
Lambdin's Museum and gallery of paintings was established September
8, 1828, and now contains a valuable collection of paintings from ancient
as well as modern masters. Fine land sketches by Doughty, Birch, Lawrence,
etc.; pictures from the collection of Baron Muller, portraits of distinguished
characters by Stuart, Sully, Peale and Lambdin. The museum contains about
two hundred foreign birds among which are the "Birds of Paradise," 20
quadrupeds, 5oo minerals, 300 fossils, 300 marine shells, I,200 impressions
of medals, Ioo ancient coins and a handsome collection of articles from the
South Seas Marine Protection, Indian articles, etc. Mr. Lambdin is himself
an artist and his museum is the one specimen of taste or amusement in the
city. No library, no atheneum, no gardens, no theaters. I understand there
was an Apprentice's Library gotten up by a few liberal gentlemen, Messrs.
Holdship, Eichbaum and several others. There are, however, many liberal
and enlightened men in Pittsburg. The whole city is a perfect work shop
and the most remarkable fact in regard to the character of the city of Pittsburg, and one that excites astonishment and pleasure, is that the mechanics
and artificers are by far the most enlightened part of the city.  There is
not a more honorable, orderly, well behaved class of men, doubtless, to be
found on the globe of their calling. I was not prepared for this part of the
history of Pittsburg, never having heard it mentioned by any other writer.
They appear to form an exclusive city of gentlemen. By far the most interesting portion of my description of Pittsburg, and without which such would
have but little weight, is its trade and manufactories. In this it excells any
city in the Union, either in kind, excellency or variety of the articles. Every
article manufactured out of iron, copper,. brass, tin, leather or wood is made in
23A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Pittsburg in a superior style; besides glass, delft, pottery and paper are also
manufactured there as well as sheeting, shirting, coverlets, carpets, clothes,
cassinets, plaids, checks, etc. But what distinguishes Pittsburg from every
other part of the Union is the fame she has acquired from her steam engine
factories. Another distinguished trait in the character of Pittsburg is the
polite, chaste and gentlemanly deportment of her workmen and mechanics,
which, joined to their skill, sobriety and industry, surpass any set of mechanics in America or perhaps in the world. They as a body are the only
gentlemen in the city. In all the manufacturing establishments I have visited
in the United States I never fail to find the mechanics more or less depraved; even in New England you too often find the workmen, and very often
the principals, vicious, idle and impertinent, with a total want of respect to
strangers-not so with Pittsburg. I spent thirteen days in the manufacturing
houses and factories in the city, where, but in three cases, I found none but
mechanics and never saw or heard the most distant indelicate look or word
among the whole of them; on the contrary I was treated with marked respect.
I was more astonished with this than with anything else in the wonder working
city. Why Pittsburg should differ so widely in this respect from all other
manufacturing towns I am unqualified to say, but it is a well known fact that
both in this country and in Europe, I am told, those manufacturing houses
exhibit a lamentable picture of low, vicious manners. During the whole
of my visits to these manufactories I never saw an instance of intoxication or
the smallest indication of drinking. The workmen were almost as black
throughout as the coal of their pits but this disguise could not conceal the
noble mien, the chaste smile and manly deportment for which they are uneq4ualled. Had they been looking for me I should have thought their manners
assumed, but to recur to my own axiom-"No one can affect what they do not
possess, least of all politeness,"-and nothing was farther from  them than
the thought of receiving a visit from a female, and thouglh some time accompanied, I mostly stole a march upon them.
The Sligo, Rolling-mill is situated on the south side of the Monongahela
river, opposite the mouth of Market street. It was built in I825 by Robert
T. Stewart and John Lyen. It is a branch of the iron works on the
Juniatta, and all the iron they use is brought from there in blocks called
blooms, which are ready for rolling. They use in the Sligo mills I,400
tons each year. The engine of I30 horse power-the largest in Pittsburgwas made by Mark Stackhouse. Their machinery weighs I20 tons.  Fifty
hands are employed and they consume I4,ooo bushels of coal per year.
The value of the iron made per year is $I50,oo0.   The  Juniatta  Iron
Works on the Allegheny river in Northern Liberties are owned by Dr. Peter
Shoenberger and were erected in 1824. They are also a branch of the Juniatta
works. The establishment in Pittsburg is a very extensive one and was
put up under the superintendence of M. B. Belknap. The engine, I20 horse
power, was built by Matthew Smith, of the firm of Binney  Smith. One
thousand tons of blooms are used by them annually, and the mill contains
six nail machines, making six' tons of nails a week. Eighty men are employed.
The Grant's Hill Iron Works, owned by William H. Hays and Daniel Adams,
were erected in 182I. The engine, built by the Columbia Company, is of 80
horse power. The works employ thirty hands. Last year they used 800 tons
of pig metal and 400 tons of blooms. They use 90,00ooo bushels of coal per year.
They produce $8o,ooo worth of iron. The Union Rolling Mill in Kensington is owned by Baldwin, Robinson  McNickle and is the largest and most
354PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            355
extensive establishment of its kind in the western country. The machinery
is driven by two engines of Ioo horse power each, built by'the Columbia
Company in I8I9. They convert 1,500 tons of metal into merchantable iron,
which at $Ioo per ton is worth $50,ooo. Attached to the mill is an extensive
nail factory. They employ Ioo hands, consume I82,ooo bushels of coal yearly.
Their capital is $Ioo,ooo. The Dowler Iron Works, erected in Kensington
by Mr. Lewis in I825, has a Ioo horse power engine and makes 6oo tons
of iron per year. The Pittsburg Rolling Mill, on the corner of Penn and
Cecil's alley, is owned by R. Bowen. It has a I20 horse power engine built
by the Columbia Company, which drives one pair of rollers and ten nail machines. They use only bar iron. From the blooms, three tons per day, are
reduced to rods, sheets, etc. The nail machines make one and three-fourths
tons per day, besides hoops and sheet. Their capital is $40,000, and they employ 80 hands. Mr. Bowen was for a long time a common sailor. The
Pine Creek Rolling Mill, owned by Elkins  Ludlow, is on Pine Creek a few
miles above Pittsburg, and has a Ioo horse power engine. They employ both
steam and water power and manufacturing axes, scythes, sickles, shovels, etc.
Forty hands are employed and about 600o tons of bar iron is used each year.
The Pittsburg Foundry was erected as early as I804 by Joseph McClurg,
and was the first of its kind west of the mountains. The opposition that
Mr. McClurg met with from his friends shows how limited the views of
the citizens of that period were in relation to the important situation of Pittsburg, and the great sources of wealth that lay around it. They thought he
would be ruined, that a foundry was useless and that he could not succeed.
He persevered and showed the fallacy of human prognostications. He realized
a fortune, retired from business and left the old foundry to fill the pockets
of his successors with better stuff than pig metal. The foundry is at the
present time carried on by A. McClurg, Cuthbert  Company, on an extensive scale. There are two furnaces in daily use which produce some 6oo
tons of castings a year. The cannon used by Commodore Perry on Lake
Erie were cast here, and the United States government still uses it as a
source of supply of cannon balls. The Jackson Foundry on the corner of
Sixth and Liberty streets is owned by Messrs. Kingsland, Lightner  Sowers.
It makes stoves, grates, wagon-boxes, plow-plates, machinery and all kinds
of heavy castings. It employs 20 hands and turns out 500 tons of castings
annually. The Eagle Foundry in Kensington is operated by the same men
but was erected by A. Beelen. Its annual product is 300 tons. The Pheonix
Foundrv is on Scotch Hill, at the corner of Ross and Third streets, and is owned
by Freeman  Miller. It was established in 182I by one named Clark; it
makes a high order of castings, sad-irons, grates, stoves, wheels, etc. Its
annual product is 200 tons. The same owners have just established Washington Foundry with a nail factory attached. Stackhouse's Foundry is attached
to the Columbian steam engine factory on the corner of Front and Redoubt
alley. It casts mostly for steam machinery. Its annual product is 400 tons.
The Allegheny Foundry is near the Allegheny river on McCormick's alley,
and is owned by William Franklin. Its annual product is I50 tons. Stackhouse  Tomlinson's Foundry is on the corner of Liberty and Second streets,
and is attached to their steam engine foundry. It produces I20 tons annually.
The steam engines here produced are mainly for steamers. Price's Cupalo
Foundry is situated one-fourth of a mile east of Pittsburg and is a brass as
well as an iron foundry, as both articles are produced. The Birmingham
Foundry is carried on by Sutton  Nicholson, and produces 200 tons ofCHAPTER II.
The Forbes Campaign.
The history of the Forbes campaign, which we are now about to consider,
is a matter that is fraught with great importance to those who would know
the early story of Pittsburg. For the reasons that its privations were not of
unusual severity for that day, and that, through the sagacious management
of its main projector it did not terminate in a bloody conflict, the expedition has
too often been regarded as of minor importance. When measured by the true
standard of its effect upon the human family, it was by far the most important
of all the campaigns in Western Pennsylvania. To thoroughly understand its
difficulties and to appreciate its far-reaching effects on the civilization of the
West, the reader should glance casually at the conditions of the country immediately preceding it, and at the efforts then being put forth by the early settler to surmount the obstacles in his way.
The flight of Dunbar was a great misfortune to the settlers in Western
Pennsylvania. The Indians were spurred on by the temporary victory, and
became at once more hostile than ever, and determined that the English should
never gain a foothold in this section. So far as was possible, Western Pennsylvania settlers were at peace with the Indians, for they had adopted William
Penn's pacific principles in dealing with them. But after Dunbar retreated, the
entire frontier, being unprotected, was subject to the ravages of this brutal
race. Many settlers were driven to their eastern homes, compelled to leave
their hard earned harvests ungathered. Of those who remained, many saw
their log cabins in ashes and their families murdered or taken to Canada as
prisoners. It was expected that the opening up of Braddock's road to the
west would be followed up soon by thrifty pioneers who would settle and make
homes in the rich valleys surrounding the head waters of the Ohio, but the very
reverse was the result, and many who had already cast their lot on the lonely
banks of the three rivers were driven back to the mountains, or carried away
in captivity or murdered in cold blood.
The most western English forts then were immediately west of the Susquehanna, and were: Fort Luther, at Carlisle; Fort Franklin, at Shippensburg;
Fort Shirley, near the Juniata; and Fort Littleton and Fort Loudon, withinA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
castings annually, as well as screws for tobacco presses and paper-mills and
fulling-mills.  The Union Rolling Mill nail factory has I4 nail machines,
producing 360 tons of nails a year. The Sligo nail factory has four machines
and produces 200 tons a year. The Pittsburg Nail Factory has ten machines and produces 400 tons a year. It produced last year, 5,804 kegs of
cut nails and 22,000 pounds of wrought nails. The Grant's Hill Factory has
five machines and yields 250 tons annually. The Juniatta Factory produced
the same amount with five machines. The Pine Creek Factory with four
machines, produced 228 tons.
In manufacturing steam engines, Pittsburg has acquired great celebrity.
No place in the world can surpass it as to means and materials for these
powerful machines. There are six steam engine factories in Pittsiburg--tne
Columbian owned by Mark Stackhouse; the factory of Warden  Arthurs
on Second and West streets; that of Stackhouse  Tomlinson, corner of
Liberty and Third; that of Smith  Benney, on Grant's Hill; that of M.
B. Belknap at Pine Creek, and that of Mahlon  Rogers, corner of
Grant and Hewith streets. The steam wire manufactory of Mllr. Arnold
Eichbaum is in Kensington near the Union Rolling-mill. It manufactures
wire from No. I to No. I6, and employs seven hands. The Steam Cottonfactory of James Arthurs  Sons is on Strawberry near Cherry alley, runs
288 spindles, and is principally employed in manufacturing fine yarns, from
No. I6 to No. 20. They employ 13 hands. The Phoenix Steam Cottonfactory is owned by Adams, Allen  Grant. It is in Northern Liberties and
runs 2,700 spindles, producing daily 700 pounds of yarn, from 5 to 22,
and 450 yards of cotton cloth. It employs I70 hands, and its annual product
is over $Ioo,ooo. John McLeroy, on Wood, between Front and Second streets,
has in operation 80 hand looms, producing I,200 yards of plaids, stripes and
checks, and employs I55 hands. Their yearly product is 363,600 yards.
James Shaw, Wood street, betwe,en Sixth and Liberty, has 8o hand looms,
producing 300,000 yards of cotton cloth yearly. Thomas Graham, Market,
between Fifth and Liberty, has 34 hand looms, and Telford  Sons, nearPittsburg, have 8 looms. There are also 47 looms which are engaged in
various kinds of weaving, such as coverlets, carpets, etc., producing over
200,000 yards yearly. James Arthurs  Sons, in connection with theircotton factory, have a woolen establishment where they last year made or
dressed I2,800 yards of broad cloth, cassinette and country cloth. Headrick
 Gibb, corner of Liberty and Diamond alley, produced last year 4,200 yardsof cassinette. The Fleecedale Woolen factory, on Chartiers Creek near the
Steubenville pike, owned by A.  J. Murphy, produced last year I,500 yards
of broad cloth and 9,600 yards of cassinette.
Bakewell's Glass House is owned by Bakewell, Page  Bakewell, and
is on Water street above Grant. Erected in I8II. It is entirely devoted to
the manufacture of white or flint glass. Everything in the glass line arrnd
every grade of workmanship is made here. Their output last year was
$9o,oo0. The Birmingham Glass Works were built in I812 by Sutton, Wendt
 Co., but are now conducted by Wendt, Eucel Ihmsen  Co. This establishment makes window-glass and green hollow-ware entirely. Its product
last year was 4,000 boxes window-glass, Ioo gross bottles, and Io,ooo dozen
hollow-ware. The Pittsburg Glass Works are on the south side of the
Monongahela, opposite the Point, and are conducted by Mr. F. Lorens. It
was the first of the kind established in the western country. It was built,
early in 1797 by General O'Hara and Major Craig. For a few years their
356PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
357
success seemed very doubtful, so much so that Major Craig withdrew and
left O'Hara to make the best of what was then termed a losing concern.
But the General, who had a happier knack of seeing a few years before him
and drawing deductions from the nature of things than any of his contemporaries, persevered with his glass house, made large additions, prospered,
and conducted it until his death in I8I9. It produced last year, 7,500 boxes
of window glass, I6o gross bottles and 3,I60 dozen hollow-ware. The Stone
Bridge Glass Works, near the corner of Ross and Second, were erected by
John Robinson in I823, and manufacture white and flint glass only. Besides
these, there are window  glass factories at Bridgeport, New Albany, New
Boston, Williamsport and Geneva up the Monongahela, producing I7,ooo boxes
of window glass yearly.
The Anchor Steam Paper Mill on Ross street owned by Mr. Holdsipe; the
Pittsburg Steam Paper-mill, in the Northern Liberties; the Clinton Papermill at Steubenville; the Franklin  Big Beaver at Beaver; the Sewickley at
West Newton; the Redstone at Brownsville and various other mills, are all
engaged in making paper, producing about 30,000 reams per year. There
are four steam grist mills in operation: The Pittsburg, corner of Water and
Redoubt alley, established by Oliver Evans in I812, now operated by George
Evans; the Allegheny on Irwin's alley, operated by John Herron; the Eagle
at the mouth of Dukes run, owned by Mr. Henderson, and the Birmingham
by Sutton  Nicholson.
Besides there there are in Pittsburg four brass foundries, 24 blacksmith
shops, 6 white. smith shops, one lock factory, 4 gunsmiths, 8 silver-smiths, 9
tanneries, 3 saddle factories, 45 boot and shoe makers, 8 chair makers, I4
cabinet makers, 2 coach makers, 7 wagon and plow makers, 2 wheelwrights,
360 carpenters, I4o boat builders, 3 potteries, one rope walk, 3 white lead
factories, 4 distilleries, 3 breweries, II tobacco factories, 2 wire-weaving establishments, 5 salt works, one sickle maker, 3 brush makers, 7 hatters, 2 dyers,
I I painters, I I plasterers, I2 coopers, 44 tailors, 8 bakers, 4 confectioners,
one organ maker, one button maker, 2 saddle-tree makers, 2 chemists, 5
chandlers, one comb maker, 2 reed makers, 4 wood turners, 2 sash makers, one
rigger, 2 bellows makers, 3 pattern makers, and two cutters.
The value of the annual product of factories, $3,400,000; value of total
imports, $2,II9,000o value of total exports, $2,781,276. There is a city for
you, without a parallel in manufactories, in proportion to the inhabitants, perhaps in the world.
A description of Pittsburg written by a gentleman from Wheeling and
published in Sears' Treasury of Knowledge in 1847 may be fraught with
interest to the reader. After speaking of its location at the junction of the
two rivers he correctly gives its latitude as forty-six degrees twenty-six minutes and twenty-five seconds, and its longitude west from Greenwich as seventv-nine degrees and fifty-nine minutes.
"It is," he says, "three hundred miles by pike west from Philadelphia and
one hundred and twenty miles south from Lake Erie; eleven hundred miles by
land and two thousand twenty-nine by water from New Orleans. The Allegheny
comes down with a strong current from the northeast and sweeping suddenly
arcund to the northwest secures the more gentle current of the Monongahela
from the south, their combined waters forming the Ohio, or Beautiful river.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
The Aborigines and French considered the Ohio and the Allegheny to be the
same stream, the Monongahela to be a tributary; Allegheny being a word
in the Delaware Indian language and O-hee-o, a Seneca word, both meaning'fair water'; hence the French term'Belle Riviere,' Beautiful River, was only
but a translation of the Indian name. The alluvial bottom on which the city
is built is very limited, for immediately back of it and at less than a mile
from the point, rises Grant's Hill on which the Court House stands, with
Ayers Hill on the west and Quarry Hill on the east of Grant's Hill. At
the foot of these hills there extends up the Allegheny a strip of alluvial land
about a quarter of a mile wide, on which the suburb of Bayardstown is
built, and on the Monongahela side is a still narrower margin. The city is
rapidly pushing its eastern limits on the sides and summits of these hills.
Grant's Hill is already occupied. Opposite Pittsburg on a beautiful plain on
the north bank of the Allegheny is the large city of Allegheny. Below it a
mile or two is the rival village of Manchester; while on the other side of
Pittsburg, across the Monongahela, the smoky city of Sligo with its noisy
manufactories is nestled under the precipices of Coal Hill, and about two
miles above Sligo where the alluvial bottom spreads out wider, lies the large
manufacturing town of Birmingham  City.  A  Board of Inquiry  visited
Pittsburg in I84I for the purpose of selecting a site for the United States
Marine Hospital. They found a thriving place with numerous engines, furnaces and machinery; they found it with a rich and industrious population,
a people that would work, and would thrive and prosper; at the same time
they found them a hospitable, gentlemanly class of beings possessed of intelligence and willing to impart it. From the hills that environ the city
they could have looked down on a sea of smoke that lay like the cloudsi
upon Chimborazo's Base. No breath of air moved its surface, but a sound
rose from the depths like the roar of Niagara's waters or the warring of
the spirits in the cavern of the storms. They looked around about them,
and saw no signs of light or human habitation. They looked above them and
the summer sun, like a haughty warrior, was driving his coursers up the
eastern sky. Then from the sea of smoke a vapor rose, another and another
cloud rolled away, and a speck of silver sheen glistened in the sunbeams.
Again a spire comes into view, pointing heavenward its long slim finger.
Then a roof, a house top, a street, and lo, a city lay like a map spread out
by magic hand, and ten thousand mortals were seen in the pursuit of wealth,
of fame, of love, of fashion. On the left a noble river came heaving onward
from the wilderness of the north bearing on its bosom the treasures from the
forest. On the right, an unassuming but not less useful current quietly
yielded to the vessel's prow, that bore from a more genial soil the products
of the earth. They looked again, and extending downward through portlv
vales, checkered with gently swelling hills, they saw the giant trunk formed
by the union of these two noble branches. Ruffling its mirrored surface they
saw the noble steamer leaping like a bounding courser bearing the rich
burden from the far sunny south; another gathering strength and rolling onward to commence its long journey past portly fields, high hills, rich and
flourishing cities, and forests wide and drear, bearing the handiwork of her
artisans to Mississippi, Texas, Mexico, the Groves of India and the hills of
Pernambuco, nay, to every land to which the sun in its daily course gives
light. Such they saw as Pittsburg and as such as citizens of the west we are
proud of her. The villages on the left bank of the Monongahela are connected
with Pittsburg by the Monongahela bridge, fifteen hundred feet in length
358PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
359
and having eight arches rising on stone piers. It was erected in I8i8 at a cost
of one hundred and two thousand four hundred and fifty dollars. Over the
Allegheny there are not less than four bridges to Allegheny City besides the
splendid aqueduct of the Pennsylvania Canal. The first was erected in I8I9
at a cost of ninety-two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. It is eleven
hundred and twenty feet long, rising on six piers of stone and is elevated
thirty-eight feet above the water. There are in Pittsburg and its environs,
within convenient walking distance, seventeen Presbyterian Churches, three
Cumberland Presbyterian, twelve Methodist Episcopal, three Protestant
Methodist, four Baptist, four Roman Catholic, five Episcopal, two Associate,
four Associate Reformed, two Evangelical Lutheran, two Congregational, two
Disciple, one'Church of God,' one Unitarian, one German Evangelical Protestant, one German Reformed, three Welsh, and four German churches of
different denominations."
The writer gives the population of Pittsburg and Allegheny and suburbs
in I830 at twenty-one thousand nine hundred and twelve, and, including the
same territory, in I84I,.at thirty-eight thousand nine hundred and thirty-one.
He further says "Pittsburg owes its prominence to the fortunate combination
of several advantages. It is, with slight exceptions, at the head of steamboat
navigation; it is also the terminating point of the main line of internal improvements. It is the mart of pursuits of Virginia and New York as well as
of Western Pennsylvania, while the Ohio opens to the enterprise of its citizens
the whole of the Mississippi Valley. The exhaustless banks of coal in the
neighboring hills, and the excellent mines of iron ore found in great aboundance in the countries along the mountains and on the banks of the Ohio
below, together with the vast forests of pine timber on the headwaters of the
Allegheny river, give to this city its pre-eminence over all others in the West
for manufacturing purposes. The principal articles manufactured are steamboats, steam  engines, and a great variety of machinery of both iron and
wood; bar iron, nails, plows and agricultural implements; glass, cotton-clothes,
leather and saddlery; flooring boards with a great number of articles of which
the manufacture is prosecuted on smaller scales. The steam power exerted
in these various departments is immense, probably greater in proportion to
the population than any other city in the Union. For the stranger the manufactories are well worth a visit, especially those of glass, nails, bar and rolled
iron. There is much moral power in this city; many men of talents in the
learned professions whose light shines throughout the great valley of the West;
many benevolent societies and institutions of learning."CHAPTER XXVI.
The War of I8I2.
Few of the American people, even among those who are reasonably well
informed, can give a definite idea of the causes and the questions involved in
the War of I8I2. It was a trivial affair to our Nation, particularly when
compared with the Revolution and the reader probably has therefore paid
but little attention to it. But it was a war of heroic deeds and by its successful termination we, as a Nation, not only won the rights for which we contended, but added greatly to our civil and military glory among the nations of
the world. A brief review of the manner in which it was brought about is
therefore in place here.
After the Revolutionary War was over, though we had' fairly won our
freedom from the mother country, yet England scarcely realized that we
were one of the civilized powers of the world. For thirty years therefore
England treated us as though we were a few struggling colonies, whose
rights in America were conceded, but whose rights on the ocean were still
retained by England.  She accordingly assumed rights on the seas which,
by the way, she did not presume to exercise in dealing with other governments, One of the many unwarranted powers which Great Britain assumed
was that of overhauling American vessels on the ocean and searching them
for men who had deserted the English naval service, and in doing this they
necessarily committed many outrages upon our ocean trade. These may not
have been specifically authorized by the English government but it was responsible for them and practically admitted its responsibility by defending
them. For many years our government protested most vehemently against
this right of search and the people of the United States were much aroused
over it. In various other ways Great Britain advanced her presumed prerogatives on the seas and invariably injured our commerce in doing so. This
was carried on until I8Ii when because of the growing trouble, Congress was
called together by President James Madison a month earlier than usual. On
due consideration Congress sustained the President who at least declared
England guilty of offensive actions and preparations were at once made for
war. On June I 2th the President laid before Congress the official corresPITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
pondence relative to the subject and when it was known all hope of a settlement without war was practically dispelled. James Madison had drawn one
of the best of his many strong papers in enumerating our grievances. Everything seemed to point to war and accordingly on June I8, 1812, Congress
declared war against Great Britain. Measures were at once taken to increase
the regular army to 35,000 men, and a much larger volunteer army of one
year enlistments was to! be raised, equipped and put in the field.
Simon Snyder was then Governor of Pennsylvania. He was a man of
more than ordinary courage and executive ability, having in his make-up much
of the old time Revolutionary spirit. He organized the Pennsylvania Militia
at once. Our state was to furnish 14,000 men on the one year enlistment
plan besides our share of the number requisite to raise the proposed increase of the regular army to 35,ooo. Again the British, in opposing us, allied
themselves with their old companions in uncivilized warfare, the American
Indians. A large force of the English army and Indians appeared on Lake
Erie, opposite the town of Erie. At this the whole of Pennsylvania was
aroused for they expected an invasion, of the western part at least, to follow. Accordingly the militia of the western part of the state was sent there
and partook in the glories of the world famous battle commanded by General
Oliver Hazard Perry. This victory settled the Indians and the British in
that section. It will be remembered that Perry, before he could fight the
English on the water, had to cut trees and construct a navy. The main forces
who guarded his soldiers were from Western Pennsylvania and they were
ready to support him in any emergency either on land or sea. The English
also had an army in the region of Baltimore and many Western Pennsylvania soldiers were sent there, particularly after the British army under General Ross had burned the National Capitol. But there was but little fighting
done in that section by our troops. Others were sent to the northwest and
placed under the command of General William Henry Harrison, afterward
President of the United States. It was in this army that Pittsburg soldiers were
called on to perform the most duty. In considering this war it must be remembered that we were yet at enmity with the Indians, though not situated
as we were during the Revolution, for the race had been gradually driven
westward and were then most numerous in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.
The English had another army in the South where General Andrew Jackson
defeated the English General Peckenham at the battle of New Orleans after
peace had been declared between the two countries. So the reader will understand that war was raging in almost every direction.
General Hull was at that time Governor of the territory of Michigan and
had under his command an army of volunteers who were warring with the
northwestern Indians. When he heard that war had been declared against
England, he foolishly and without any authority whatever, led his army from
Michigan into Canada to invade the enemy's country. But the British immediately sent forces there, who, with superior skill and much more experience than Hull in military matters, so encompassed tke field that Hull and his
36iA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
army were ignomiously forced to surrender seventeen hundred troops to about
seven hundred British and six hundred Indians. This unfortunate affair also
included great supplies, military stores and provisions,  which  were  collected and sent west to him at an enormous expense and upon which he was
supposed to support his army. It greatly weakened the American cause, for
hundreds of troops became discouraged and deserted. So great was this disaffection that desertions were more numerous in the War of I812 than in
any other of the five wars in which we, as a Nation, have engaged. But, on
the other hand, the surrender of Hull in a measure benefited the American
cause. The memory of the Revolution was fresh in the minds of the people.
Often in that war had a small, starving, poorly equipped army of American
soldiers escaped from or taken captive a much more formidable body of men.
But here the larger army had surrendered to the smaller and weaker one and
it aroused the patriotic spirit of the American people in every section of the
Union. As a result there were in Western Pennsylvania and in Pittsburg, after
Hull's surrender, more able-bodied men who wanted to enlist than could be
accepted. Refreshed in his memory of these events of the War of I812, by
these general observations, the reader, we trust, will better understand the
part taken in it by the Pittsburg troops.
At the beginning of the war the advantages were all on the side of the
English, for all along the Canadian border they had maintained a chlain of
military posts extending from Niagara to Sault Ste. Marie and all were well
supplied with men and provisions. This region was moreover far in advance of the northwestern part of the United States in population, wealth and
commerce. The Province of Canada furthermore had a navy which practically gave them complete command of the northern lakes. Added to these
advantages was the constant war with the Indians in all the Northwest and by
cultivating their friendship, the British were able to make this feature still
more galling to the western settlers and to keep the whole Northwest in a
constant terror and alarm. There still lurked in the Indian's mind the idea
that they could yet exterminate the white man and perserve the hunting
grounds for themselves. On the other hand the population of the United
States in the Northwest was sparse, the settlements were small and widely
separated and military posts, such as they had, were few and very poorly
equipped. We had practicallly no regular army and no navy. Twenty-nine
years of peace had passed since the close of the Revolution and the military
spirit of that day had died out, so that we had at best a poorly equipped and
insufficient militia. Pittsburg was far removed from the active hostilities but
her soldiers were promptly sent to the front. A company of volunteers
called the "Pittsburg Blues," composed of about sixty men and officers and
under the command of Captain James R. Butler, a son of General Richard
Butler who fell in St. Clair's battle in I79I, was the leading force from Pittsburg during this war. Another company under Captain Jeremiah Ferree
enlisted, but were not in actual service, and the interest centers around the
362PITTSB URG AND HER PEOPLE
Pittsburg Blues. They were called out by the proclamation of Governor
Snyder on August 25, I812, though the company had been a militia organization before the war began. They were joined in their northern march by
other regiments of Western Pennsylvania and General Adamson Tannehill
was made commander. They first went to Meadville and from there on October 25th, started for Niagara. The enemy then lay on the Canada side
across the Niagara river and it was their intention to go over and attack them,
but so insufficient were their equipments that they were unable to cross the
river. The Pittsburg Blues were then put under the command of General
William Henry Harrison and in November a detachment of 600o men, including the Pittsburg soldiers, all under the command of Colonel John B. Campbell, was ordered to, march from the headquarters at Franklintown in Ohio
to destroy several towns on the Mississinewa river, a tributary of the Wabash.
These towns were about fifteen miles above its junction with the Wabash.
The journey connected with the battle of Mississinewa was an extremely severe one. On leaving the camp at Franklintown near Dayton, Ohio, General Harrison addressed the troops in a most patriotic vein and bespoke great
things of them, for he said he considered them the flower of the army. It
was extremely cold weather. The troops were warned that it was a hard
march and withal a perilous venture, and were told if any felt timid about it
they should remain in camp. They crossed the partly frozen Miami river
with great difficulty. At New Lexington they received the last supply of
forage. Each man was furnished with one bushel of corn to be carried on
his horse. Great care was taken to instill in the army a spirit of caution, for
they were now to penetrate a wilderness infested with Indians and the company was guided only by spies. In the same locality the army of the brave
General St. Clair had been cut to pieces by the same treacherous enemy and
in addition were now aided by the British. The weather grew colder, and
most of the streams and swamps were crossed on the ice. The snow was
about six inches deep. On the night before the battle, December IIth, they
marched all night and in the morning attacked the Indian town of Mississinewa. With great difficulty they drove the Indians away and destroyed their
houses. After the troops had returned from destroying the towns down the
river they were compelled to encamp in the snow without shelter and the
night was bitter cold. The officers feared an attack and were determined
they should not be surprised by the enemy; so little rest was obtained by any
one for half the force was on guard all night. At three o'clock there
was an alarm and all were at once ready but it proved to be false. Shortly
before day light the real attack came. It was a heavy volley from the Indians
and was accompanied by the usual terrific yells. One company was closely
pressed and almost surrounded, but were promptly relieved by the Pittsburg
Blues under Captain Butler. Captain Markle's company from Westmoreland came in and all united in a charge against the Indians which drove them
away. It was then about day break and they returned to find the dying and
363316 CENTURY AND. A HALF. OF
wounded lying in the snow and almost overcome by the cold. There were
about forty killed and wounded and another attack with reinforcements was
momentarily expected.
The situation was appalling. They were ninety-six miles from the settlement and the increasing cold had greatly reduced their rations. They proceeded at once to bury the dead soldiers in the frozen ground. Litters were
made for twenty-seven wounded and they started for headquarters on the
I8th of December. They fortified their camp at night with logs and brush
and kept fires burning all night to keep the troops from  freezing. They
reached Dayton on December 24th, and were given a royal welcome. They
had left the town in high glee but two weeks before, but were greatly weakened on their return. Though they had weakened the enemy it had been done at
a fearful cost.
The American army had troops at Fort Wayne, and the object of these
was to drive the Indians away from that section so! that they could not interfere with a free passage from the settlement to the troops. The purpose
was to break up parties and drive them to Michigan so they could not unite
and surprise the troops at Fort Wayne or elsewhere. For this reason the
Pittsburg Blues were united with the other Western Pennsylvania troops and
sent away from the main army and this work was to a great extent accomplished by them. It was a very severe though brief campaign, for they suffered from cold, hunger and from hard marching. Nearly two hundred of
them had their feet frozen. The loss to the Indians was very great in men,
houses and property, and they suffered still more from hunger and cold. It
was one of the ablest managed campaigns of the war.
On January I9, 1813, Butler's company was placed in the battalion commanded by Major John B. Alexander. A few weeks later General Harrison
determined to capture the territory in Michigan which had been held by the
English since General Hull's ignominious surrender referred to above. To
do this he had to extend his line of forts and in furtherance of this scheme
Fort Meigs was erected on the'Maumee near where General Wayne had defeated the Indians in I794. This fort was left in command of General Leftwich of Virginia with his own troops and two hundred and fifty Pennsylvaniians, among whom were the Pittsburg Blues. Shortly after this enemy began to assemble in the region of Fort Meigs which was situated on rising
ground and surrounded by timbered prairies. General Leftwich and his Virginia troops left the fort. most likely because their time of enlistment had expired. There was as yet no concentrated army to prevent their going. The
Pennsylvania troops though their terms of enlistment had also expired, determined to remain and defend the fort. When General Harrison learned of
thes'e matters he hastened forward with relief forces and these raised the
strength of the army at the fort to about I200 and all worked night and day
to strengthen their position. On April 28th the British army appeared in a
concentrated force. Orders were sent to General Green Clay, who was bring364PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
ing on I500 Kentucky volunteers, to hasten his journey to Fort Meigs. The
British and their Indian allies began at once to entrench themselves, and the
American army under General Harrison, was not idle by any means. On
May 3rd, the armies began to storm each other with cannons but with little
effect on either side. On May 4th the British were reinforced and General
Harrison learned to his great joy that General Clay was approaching, coming
down the river in open boats with his I500 troops, which he hoped to land in
front of Fort Meigs about four o'clock on the morning of May 5th. General
Harrison was not by any means slow in strategic warfare. He sent word to
General Clay to land about half his force as he came down the river and for
them to quietly gain the rear of the British batteries. At the proper time,
when the enemy would be naturally giving their attention to the remainder of
Clay's forces, and when Harrison from his own fortress could be storming
them, Clay's landed troops were to assault the English troops from the rear,
destroy the wagons, spike their guns and do all the damage they could, and
then take their boats and pull for Fort Meigs. Clay's main force was to come
on down the river and enter the fort. Clay was delayed until about eight
o'clock in the morning and his forces were severely attacked by a band of
savages as they were entering the fort. This was on May 5, I8I3. Major
John B. Alexander and his troops were ordered to protect them when they
should land. The Indians increased and Alexander's troops charged them
with bayonets and forced them back about a half a mile while Clay's troops
disembarked and entered the fort in comparative safety.
The part of Clay's forces which had landed down the river were under
the command of Colonel Dudley, a daring officer of sufficient skill and executive ability to successfully carry out the scheme. They gained the rear of the
enemy and at the proper time by a fierce attack had captured their four batteries and put them to flight before they realized the situation. Their guns
were spiked, their carriages cut to pieces and the red cross of St. George was
hauled down. Then Dudley, who, was always cool headed, ordered an immediate retreat to the boats and to Fort Meigs as had been pre-arranged, but
the soldiers under Dudley were by this time wild with joy and excitement over
their unprecedented victory. In place of obeying orders they madly pursued
the enemy whom they had driven away. The English soon recovered themselves and though driven from their fortification, they united with a band of
Indians near by and quietly awaited the approach of Dudley's reckless and
disobedient soldiers. They exposed a few Indians and British to draw them
into the proper locality. The batteries taken by Dudley's men had in their
excitement been left lightly guarded. By a quick movement on the part of
the English and Indians these men were cut off from the fortress they had
just taken and the British and Indians easily over-powered the guard left
there. It was a victory fairly won by brave troops but thrown away through
an almost criminal disobedience. The Americans in charge of the fortifications resisted bravely when the British came back, but fifty of them were
365A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the present limits of Franklin county. The military forces of the entire province were weak, and these forts were very poorly garrisoned. Farther west of
these, however, were a few block houses, and to these the settlers could flee in
time of Indian raids, and, thus united, could in some degree protect themselves.
From month to month the Indian depredations became more and more severe,
and it was discovered that the instigators were two chiefs, Shingas and Captain
Jacobs. Each had a large band of warriors, and their habitation and field of
activity was east and north of the Fork of the Ohio. On the death of General
Braddock, General Shirley was commander-in-chief of the British forces in
North America, but General Montcalm, the French commander who afterward
died so heroically when opposing General James Wolfe at Quebec, was then
invading Northern New York, and Shirley and his army were scarcely adequate to the defence of even that section. This left the French and Indian
marauders in Western Pennsylvania but little opposition in I755-56.
In August of the latter year, Colonel John Armstrong, a bold and daring
military officer of Pennsylvania, who afterward became a general in the
Revolution, made preparations to surprise and if possible exterminate these
tribes of Indians. He took with him the Second Battalion, which consisted
of eight companies stationed on the western side of the Susquehanna. He left
Fort Shirley on August 30, I756, with 307 men, and marched up the Juniata
and stealthily down the Kiskiminetas, journeying by the Kittaning Indian path,
and marching a greater part of the way by night. His objective point was the
Indian stronghold at Kittaningtown, which he reached on September 8th. The
last night he marched thirty miles, and reached the town before daylight.
These Indians were of the Loup family, of the Delawares, and were at that time
preparing an attack on Fort Shirley, and had a war dance preparatory to their
expedition on the night of Armstrong's arrival. Knowing that there were no
English troops here, they were not on their guard, and for these reasons Armstrong's march was not discovered, though he marched with a train of pack
horses and necessary munitions of war. The town was composed of about
thirty buildings. Dividing his forces, he placed one detachment on the hill beyond the huts, to intercept the Indians if they should take that course in their
flight. The night being hot, many of the Indians had slept in a cornfield which
lay between the Allegheny river and the town. Captain Jacobs discovered the
forces of the army, and gave out a few war cries to arouse the Indians, and
then the battle began. The attack was from both divisions of Armstrong's
troops. The Indians kept close to their huts, and wounded a good many
soldiers in the early morning by firing through cracks and portholes. Against
these barricades, though slight in themselves, the soldiers' fire was almost futile,
but at considerable loss of life Armstrong ordered the houses to be set on fire.
In the firing of a hut Armstrong was severely wounded in the shoulder. The
fire spread rapidly and soon enveloped the entire collection of huts and wigwams, and drove the Indians from their shelter. The Kittaningtown Indians
had boasted that they had ammunition enough to fight the English for ten
28A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
killed and seventy wounded. About 500 of Dudley's troops were taken prisoners and only I50 of them escaped.'These fought their way to the boats
and entered Fort Meigs. Colonel Dudley himself while trying to get through
the line and gain the boats was mortally wounded. After he fell he killed his
Indian assailant and then expired.
The Indians by this time had reached a high pitch of excitement and
began at once to murder prisoners, and this under the very eye of the British
commander, General Proctor who had not manhood enough to even attempt
to stop it. But in the midst of the slaughter fortunately came the greatest
Indian warrior of his day, the savage who knew nothing of civilized warfare
but who, next to Pontiac, was the greatest leader of the Indian race, Tecumseh, who had been engaged in another part of the battle. His ideas of the
ethics of warfare far surpassed those of the British general and he stopped
the bloody work of the Indians at once, saying that no defenceless prisoners
should be killed where he commanded.
When Dudley began his attack on the batteries, Harrison was carrying
out his part of the program to the letter. Alexander's battalion, which included the Pittsburg Blues, had acquitted themselves so nobly in protecting
Clay's landing that Harrison at once sent them to Colonel John Miller's force
to storm the British fortifications. Miller, therefore, commanded the Pittsburg Blues, the Peterson Rifles and the Pennsylvania Volunteers. A part of
the fortifications which they meant to and did attack was the side next to the
river, for in doing so they would not interfere with Dudley's men on their
work in the rear of the fort. They were opposed largely by the Indians
under the command of Tecumseh and his brother, and there were also with
them five companies of British troops. The American army numbered only
350, for that was all General Harrison could spare from the fort for that part
of the attack. They charged the British and Indians numbering about II50,
routed them from their concealment, wounded and killed many of them, and
drove the remainder into the woods. The attack, though against great odds,
succeeded admirably; they also took 43 prisoners.
The English under General Proctor sent a request to have Harrison surrender but this was indignantly refused. Proctor's army was in bad condition, for though it had provisions it had no wagons. Their four cannons
which had been captured were rendered useless by Dudley's men before they
were retaken. They had also lost more men than the enemy whom they attacked and whom they hoped to annihilate. An exchange of prisoners was
asked for and granted by Harrison. On May 9th the British moved off under
a heavy fire on the part of the Americans. Thus ended the siege of Fort
Meigs, which had lasted about two weeks. Had Dudley's forces obeyed orders it would undoubtedly have resulted in one of the most brilliant victories
of American armies. Even as it was our army did most glorious work. The
American's loss was I3I killed and 259 wounded. General Harrison made
special mention of the gallant conduct of the 350 men under Miller and Al366PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
367
exander. Two of the Pittsburg Blues, James Newman and William Richardson, were killed during the seige by one bullet. Newman was standing up,
while Richardson was behind him stooping down fixing the flint of his gun.
A bullet fired by an Indian concealed in a tree passed through the body of
Newman and into Richardson's body, killing them both instantly.
Another incident illustrating the coolness of one of the soldiers of the
Pittsburg Blues is given in the language of the one who related it-"I had
been in attendance on Captain Butler lying sick in one of the block houses at
Fort Meigs during this siege, and starting out one morning to procure some
breakfast, saw Sergeant Trovillo cooking coffee over some coals. I told him
my errand and he told me to wait a few minutes and he would divide his
coffee with me. I took a seat and in minute of two heard the peculiar singing of an Indian bullet that entered the ground a short distance from where
I was sitting. I said to him-'Sergeant, what does that mean?'-he pointed
to a tree at considerable distance from the pickets where I observed an Indian
perched on one of the branches. He said with great good humor-'That
rascal, George, has been firing at me ever since I commenced cooking my
breakfast.' I swallowed my cup of coffee pretty expeditiously, during which,
however, I think he fired once or twice, and told Trovillo I was not going
to remain a target for the yellow skins."
A detachment composed of the Pittsburg Blues, Petersburg Volunteers
and Westmoreland soldiers, in all about I6o men, was sent to the Lower
Sandusky where there was a stockade fort commanded by Major George
Croghan, an extremely youthful but brave officer, who was a son of Major
Croghan, so prominent in the early history of Pittsburg. On August I, 1813,
the fort was surrounded by 500 British soldiers under Proctor and about
803 Indians besides a large number of Indians who were stationed outside
to intercept any reinforcements to the fort. Proctor then sent a demand for
surrender under a flag of truce, and warned them they would be butchered
if they compelled him to take the stockade by force. Croghan, young as
he was, had an abundance of the true soldier spirit and his soldiers were
mostly young and spirited like their commander.  He first learned that
the sentiment of all his soldiers was to hold out as long as possible and
then sent an answer declining to surrender. To the threat of butchery he
answered-that when the fort was taken there would be none left to butcher,
as it would not be given up while one man was left who was able to fight.
The firing began at night from the enemy in boats on the bay. It was soon
discovered that the enemy fired on one angle of the fort alone, intending
doubtless to effect an entrance there when the fortress was sufficiently, bombarded at that point. Croghan had only one cannon and this he placed in a:
position so that it would rake the ditch surrounding the fort should the
enemy attempt to climb over the palisades. The firing was kept up all the
next day, but Croghan's men put bags of sand and even bags of flour in the
angle aimed at, so as to prevent any serious damage. At four o'clock theyA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
turned all their cannons on this one angle and made the assault amid the.
clouds of smoke which this heavy firing produced. Two attempts were made
by 350 British soldiers, but each time their ranks were thrown into confusion
by the active firing from the soldiers in the fort. They were then led on
by a brave officer, Colonel Short, and actually jumped into the ditch. The
port hole was opened at once and the six pounder within thirty feet of the
man in the ditch was fired. By this enfilading shot Colonel Short and over
50 of his men were cut down, though some of them were only wounded.
At the same time the rifles in the fort, perhaps I50 of them, opened on the
men in the ditch and this soon compelled them to retreat leaving the wounded
behind. By this time darkness came. The wounded begged for water but
their friends dared not venture near enough to them to supply it. Major
Croghan and his men handed them water from the pickets. He also opened
a hole under the pickets to the ditch and many of the wounded crawled
through it into the fort. At three o'clock in the morning Proctor and his
men quietly retreated down the bay and in their haste left a boat load of
valuable supplies behind. They also left seventy stands of arms and many
braces of pistols. The Americans lost one killed and seven or eight slightly
wounded. The loss to the British was estimated at I50 or more, over 50 of
whom were left in the ditch.
In the fall of I8I2 a brigade of militia was recruited in the western
part of our state and stationed at Pittsburg where it was placed under the
command of General Crooks in October. They afterwards made a part of
the force of General Harrison in going up the Sandusky river where, with
other troops, they were engaged in construction of fortifications. From that
point they were marched to the rapids of the Maumee and remained there
until the expiration of their term of service. In the summer of 18I3, when
Commodore Perry at Presq' Isle, now Erie, was, as we have said, engaged in
building his ships, and with this navy on the Ioth of September achieved his
celebrated victory on Lake Erie. At that time all of the northwestern frontier
was a wilderness and the timber for his large vessels was easily obtained from
the unbounded forests. The rigging for the large vessels which he built was
sent up from Pittsburg where Commodore Perry contracted for it in person
with John Irwin and Boyle Irwin, each of whom carried on a rope manufactury to this city. This rigging was taken up the Allegheny river in keel
boats. Fortunately the many rains of the summer had kept the water of the
Allegheny at such a stage that this conveyance was possible even until August. By this means alone the fleet on Lake Erie was rigged in time for
Perry's glorious victory which followed.
Nothing can better close this brief account of the work of the Pittsburg
Blues in this war than to reprint the order by which they were discharged
from further service. It is as follows:368PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Headquarters, Seneca Town, Aug. 28, I813.
(After General Orders.)
The Pittsburg Volunteers, commanded by Captain Butler, and those of
Greensburg by Lieutenant Drum, of Major Alexander's Battalion, having
performed their service, the General hereby presents them an honorable discharge.
The General has ever considered this corp as the first in the Northwestern army. Equal in point of bravery and subordination, it excelled in every
other of those attainments which form complete and efficient soldiers. In battle, in camp and on the march their conduct has been an honor to themselves
and their country.-A. H. Holmes, Ass't. Adj. General.
24
369CHAPTEER XXVI I
Navigation on the Ohio River-Early Boat Building-The First Steamboat; Slackwater
Improvements on the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers.
It is so long ago since travel by steamboat was common among Pittsburg
people that it is almost forgotten. The present generation can scarcely
realize that there was a time when the only method for the traveler to reach
or leave Pittsburg was by turnpike or steamboat, yet these methods of travel
were only supplemented in part by the canal and finally by railroad building,
which is a feature of comparatively recent years. Navigation at Pittsburg
grew almost constantly from the balmy day in April in I754 when the canoes
bearing the French and Indians came down the Allegheny river to expel the
forces of Fraser and Trent from the fort they were building at the Fork
of the Ohio. John McKinney was a prisoner in Fort Duquesne in I756 and has
left a diary of the arrival of thirty batteaux which had come up the Ohio river
from the Mississippi river bearing corn, peas, brandy, flour and pork. As
early as I76I a fur trader at Fort Pitt named James Kenney gave an account
of a double keeled boat which was built at Pittsburg by William Ramsey. A
peculiar feature of the boat was that it was propelled by a wheel, a primitive water wheel, which was turned by a man tramping on treadles. This
simple craft was a long distance from the paddle wheel steam boat of the
modern age, but the builder, Ramsey, had the idea lacking only the motive
power, which was then not thought of.
When the Ohio country was opened up by the Ordinance of I787, boat
building on a small scale to supply the demands of western bound people,
who came here to take passage by the Ohio river to the South and West,
became an important, primitive industry in Pittsburg. These vessels were
nearly all sailing vessels or were propelled by oars, and but few of them
ever came back to Pittsburg when they once passed down the river. None
of them were of great value except to illustrate the importance of the Ohio
as a highway to the West, and to demonstrate that Pittsburg as it stood at the
"Gateway of the West" could produce the crafts which the river trade dePITTSBURG  AND HER PEOPLE                           37I
manded. Many hundreds of these small boats, some of them being more
or less pretentious, were built and sent from Pittsburg in the first ten years
of last century.
Robert Fulton first proved that steam could be used as a power by which
to propel boats in I807. But the great inventor came to Pittsburg in i8ii to
build the first steam boat ever built in the United States. This boat was
named the New Orleans and its keel was I38 feet and was capable of bearing
about 350 tons. "Her cabin was in the hold and she had port holes and a
bowsprit eight feet in length in ocean steamer style, which was painted sky
blue." It was constructed under the supervision of one of its owners, a man
named Roosevelt, who with Chancellor Livingston and Fulton, the inventor,
were its owners. It cost about $40,000.00, and was launched in March, I8II, on
its first journey, which was to Natchez, Mississippi, where it was intended
for the general trade between that place and New Orleans. Roosevelt was
an engineer and before engaging in this enterprise he had surveyed the Ohio
river. He reported to his friends in New York that steamboats could run
from Pittsburg to New Orleans. The new steam boat, New Orleans, carried
neither freight nor passengers when it left Pittsburg save Roosevelt and his
wife, the engineer Baker and the pilot, Jackson, and five or six hands. It
was intended only as a trial trip and to demonstrate the purpose for which it
was built. The progress down the river was very slow for they had great
difficulty in procuring fire wood along the route. They reached Louisville,
however, on the fourth night after running about 70 hours of actual travel.
The noise and the smoke of the new craft Wvhich came down the Ohio
frightened the people of the city and many of them ran from their houses
to determine what fiery monster had suddenly swooped down on them.
There was a comet at that time in the Northern heavens which was creating
a great deal of speculation among the less scientific people and many of the
Louisville people thought that it had suddenly fallen into the Ohio river.
They remained in Louisville for some time, for the water was so low that
they could not pass over the falls opposite that city. In the meantime they
plied back and forth between Cincinnati and Louisville until a freshet in
the Ohio made it possible for them to pass over the rapids. Between Natchez
and New Orleans the boat did splendid work, making the round trip in ten
days, and it is said its owners secured a net profit of $20,000.00 from its work
in the first year. The passenger fare from Natchez to New Orleans down
the river was $I8.oo and from New Orleans to Natchez was $25.oo. The
steamboat was kept in this trade until I814, when she unfortunately struck
a snag and sunk near Baton Rouge. While the boat was being constructed
in Pittsburg, Fulton himself came across the Allegheny mountains to this
place. He was in company with some gentlemen from Kentucky, and like all
inventors was enthusiastic and perhaps somewhat communicative about the
effects which steam power would have on navigation.  His companions
thought him extremely visionary and laughed a great deal at his extravagantA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ideas of the future. Fulton then predicted that the day would come when
carriages would be drawn over the Allegheny mountains by steam power, at
which prediction the Kentuckians were assured that their companion was
crazy.
"The Comet," a small stern-wheel boat carrying 25 tons was built in
Pittsburg in I812 and 1813, while the Vesuvius and the Etna were built in
1813 and I814. The Enterprise, a boat of 45 tons, was also built in 18I4.
In I8i6 the Franklin carrying I25 tons, the Oliver Evans of 75 tons and the
Harriet of 40 tons were all built at Pittsburg. The Expedition, carrying I20
tons, and the Independence of 50 tons'were built here in I8I8, and the Western
Engineer was built and launched in I8I9. The first steamboats built were
not successful in going up stream when well laden and the popular idea was
that they would never pass up the Mississippi above Natchez, nor was it
believed that they could ever stem the rapid current of the upper Ohio. True
the New Orleans had been passing up and down between Natchez and New
Orleans, but this did not disprove the general theory, for the lower M/lississippi river has but little current. Captain Shreve, however, brought the
Enterprise from  New  Orleans to Louisville in I8I7, leaving New Orleans
on May 6th, and reaching Louisville on May 3Ist. This was considered a
great achievement in rapid travel. The Washington shortly afterwards made
the same trip and both accomplished it without difficulty. This disabused the
minds of the incredulous public anZ when these and other like experiments
demonstrated beyond a doubt that steamboats could navigate up stream as
well as down, the boat building industry all along the upper Ohio was
greatly increased. Pittsburg led all other northern towns from the first and
held this position for sixty years. All boats built here were registered so
that the number built each year can be stated definitely. From i8ii to I835.
there were I97 boats built in Pittsburg, 22 in Brownsville and 7 at Beaver,
and these were the largest boat building towns on the northern Ohio. In
I836 there were 6i boats built here making the boat building output of the
city 287 in 25 years, but the greater number of them were built after I825. In
1837 the traffic was so great on the Ohio that there were 63 steamboats
running regularly to and from Pittsburg. Then came a great depression
of the business interests of the country and this crippled the boat building
industry and the steamboat traffic as well, so that many boats were temporarily
out of commission. Both branches of this industry revived at once when
better times came. In I846 there were 63 boats built here and from I852 to,
I856 there were 362 built in Pittsburg. There were 84 built here in I857.
From 1857 to 1875 there were 649 boats built in Pittsburg. But the river
trade began to diminish with the lower freight rates which followed some
time after the building of the railroads to the West, several of which were
almost parallel with the Ohio river. The number of boats built has, therefore, decreased since i875 until now steamboat building in Pittsburg is almost an industry of the past. The passenger traffic on the rivers is also very372PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
373
small. Aside from the local steamers which ply daily on the Monongahela
and a few which ply between Pittsburg and Cincinnati the trade is almost
gone. There are many steamers which tow coal barges down the river to
Cincinnati, Louisville and New Orleans and the tonnage moved by these exceed many times the freightage of the river in the palmiest days of steamboating, but because of the immense number of tons towed by the average
steamer very few steamers are required for this purpose.
The many boats built here and the immense trade on the Ohio in former
days discloses very largely the secret of Pittsburg's extensive manufacturing_
industries. The West demanded these commodities and Pittsburg had the
energy and industry to manufacture them. The cheapest possible transportation at present or in the past is by water, though it is not so rapid as by rail.
When the railroads were built they went into competition for this traffic with
the West and secured most of it from the river transportation companies. Both
shippers and consumers are willing to pay greater freight rates in order that
they may more promptly secure the commodity.  Still the river remains
navigable at nearly all seasons of the year and is a perpetual reminder to all
transportation companies of the alternative which the Pittsburg shipper may
avail himself of should the shipping rates by rail become exhorbitant. The
city can scarcely realize the peculiar advantage of its location on this account
at the head of navigation on the Ohio river.
The Monongahela was not naturally a navigable stream for the greater
part of the year but has been navigated more or less regularly since 1825, at
which time a steamboat was put on to ply between Pittsburg and Brownsville.
The river was then only navigable when it was swollen by heavy rains. Its
daily flow in the dry season is very small, estimated by some to be no more
than would pass through a two inch pipe. In cold weather it is frozen up so
that in its original condition it could be navigated but a few months in each
year. But before railroads were built people adapted themselves to the circumstances surrounding them and in that day they did their traveling very
largely in the spring and fall seasons when steamboating was certain. The
usual route taken by western and southern travelers bound for New York,
Philadelphia, Washington and elsewhere in the East was up the Mississippi
river to Wheeling, where they took a stage coach on the National road to Cumberland where they took the steam cars of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, for
it was finished that far west as early as I836. But the National road crossed
the Monongahela at Brownsville, and many passengers continued by boat to
that place when the water was high, thus avoiding a longer stage ride between Wheeling and Cumberland. This and the growing coal trade led to
the formation of the Monongahela Navigation Company in I836, for the
immense veins of coal were even then visible all along the river between
Pittsburg and Brownsville. As early as I828 E. F. Gay, a civil engineer in
the employ of the state made a survey of the Monongahela river and first
suggested and recommended a system of locks and dams modeled after those374                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
used in canal building. By this method he proposed that this important river
should be navigated by large steamers all the year around except in the severe
winter weather. His recommendation was disregarded because the state was
already burdened by a debt for money expended in canal building. In I832
Hon. Andrew Stewart of Faydtte county tried to induce the Congress of the
United States to improve the river. He had been elected to Congress in
1820-22-24-26 and again in 30 and 32 and still later in 42-44 and 46. As a
shrewd business man as well as a man who saw a great way into the future,
he was one of the leading men and statesmen of his day and paid particular
attention to public improvements and to the tariff question. He was a well
educated Uniontown lawyer and died on July I6, I872.  He succeeded in
having a survey of the Monongahela river made by a United States engineer,
William Howard, who reported in favor of a series of eight dams which it was
supposed, would reach to the Virginia line.
No I, the first above Pittsburg, was to be 6 feet high and all the others
were to be 4Y2 feet high. His idea was that the dams should be used only
when the river was low and this alone proves that for a considerable part of
the year the river was navigable.  But the importance of public improvements had not impressed itself upon the United States Congress if indeed the
country was able to afford much outlay in that direction at that time. The
measure, therefore, failed before Congress as it had, before the Legislature,
but on March 31, 1836 an act was passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature
authorizing a charter for "The Monongahela Navigation Company" and its
purpose was to slack-water the river by locks and dams from Pennsylvania
to Virginia, and to continue it further if Virginia would take the proper interest. The capital stock was $300,000 with the privilege of increasing it to
such a sum as might be necessary. The United States Bank of Pennsylvania
by its charter, was compelled to subscribe for $50o,ooo of stock at first and
$50,000 when $Ioo,ooo had been raised by subscription from other sources.
The state subscribed $25,000 in I838 and $Ioo,ooo in I840. The charter was
issued to the company in I837 and they began work as soon as they had secured subscriptions enough to warrant it. The shares were $50 each and the
first subscriptions were as follows:
Citizens of Allegheny county.............. 948 shares, $ 47,400
Citizens of Fayette county................ 508 shares,  24,500
Citizens of Washington county............  20 shares,   I,000
Citizens of all other counties..............  86 shares,   4,300
National Bank of Brownsville............     Ioo shares,   5,000
U. S. Bank of Pennsylvania...............000 shares,  50,000
Total......................................... $I33,IO
These subscriptions were added to as rapidly as possible. In I838, I839
and I840, $I25,000 of stock subscriptions were secured, making a total of
$258,Ioo.  Work was completed to Brownsville with less than the above sum,PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
375
for many of the subscribers were unable to pay the amount due from them.
The United States Bank of Pennsylvania broke up and suspended payments
generally so that its second subscription of $50,000 was never paid. The
State paid its subscription of $Ioo,ooo by issuing bonds to the company.
These bonds were sold below par which resulted in a further loss. Just then
came the financial panic of 1837 which prevented many private individuals
from paying their subscriptions and all these difficulties resulted in a great
loss to the company. W. M. Roberts was chief engineer and was assisted by
Robert W. Clark and Nathan McDowell. The work was put through with
anusual expedition for that day of deliberate procedure. The distance to
Brownsville was fifty-four miles and the ascent was 3312 feet. The dams had,
therefore, to be raised from the height at first recommended and were then
and afterwards fixed at 8 and Io feet. Dams Nos. I and 2 were finished in
I84I. Nos. 3 and 4 were begun but the work was suspended on them because the money was exhausted. In I843 the state sold its interest or stock
in the company. This was purchased by men of capital who became more
deeply interested in the matter and by their assistance the system was built to
Brownsville in the winter of I844 and 45. The work was not extended further up the river for some years. The company did immense business from
I845 until the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad in I852, for a great
amount of travel passed up the river and thus over the National road to
Cumberland, where it was taken by the Baltimore and Ohio, railroad. When
the Pennsylvania railroad was opened to Pittsburg much of the Monongahela
river travel was taken away, but by that time the coal trade in the Monongahela valley had begun so that there was perhaps but little falling off. The
company was greatly in debt in I845 but this was rapidly paid off and the
stock greatly increased in value and for many years was universally quoted
at a high figure. The dams were afterwards completed to the state line and
through to Morgantown, the United States bearing the expense of the more
recently constructed ones. Each packet, steamer, tow boat or other craft was
compelled to pay a heavy toll for passing through the locks and this like toll
on a public highway, became very unpopular, resulting in a constant clamor
for "free locks." For years this was urged'in the United States Congress
when at last the purchase was made. It cost the government about four million
dollars. Then it was that the wisdom and foresight of Andrew Stewart was
realized. A half million dollars when he advocated the public improvement
would have been abundant for its completion while nearly eight times that
much was paid for it in the end. Yet this immense sum was doubtless more
easily paid in our day than $500,000 would have been in I833.
The success of the slack water improvement on the Monongahela brought
about a similar movement to supply the Youghiogheny river with dams and
locks. Two dams and locks were built in I85I but the Youghiogheny river
flows much more rapidly than the Monongahela and in times of high water,
owing in part to its crookedness, becomes very violent. In the high flood of
I865 both dams and locks on the Youghiogheny were swept away and they
were never rebuilt.PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
29
years, and its abundance was well proven, for, as the buildings burned, many
guns were heated and discharged and kegs of powder were exploded with terrific effect. As the Indians broke from the burning huts, they were shot down,
the soldiers being so stationed as to command every retreat. Jacobs, their
leader, was reported killed, but this has been questioned. The stronghold was
destroyed, and the Indian inhabitants were either killed or driven away. It was
a most effectual blow to the Indians, fhe entire secrecy of the march and attack
making it all the fmore so. Thereafter for many months the Indians were
afraid to join in large raiding parties lest they might at any time be attacked
and cut down as they were at Kittaningtown. In its immediate salutary effect
on the peace and good order of our western border, it has been justly rated as
one of the most effectual expeditions in the pioneer history of America, and is
famous as "The Armstrong Expedition." The reader, in this modern day of
large armies, will probably smile at 307 men being called the Second Battalion.
It is the language of the colonies, and perhaps, with their limited'means, this
was in reality a large body of men to enlist and support.
Still, the French and Indian power over the British in America largely
predominated, and this state of affairs dissatisfied the English. Their people
believed that the deporable situation was due to bad management on the part of
the home government. The Duke of Newcastle had proven himself to be a
weak war minister, and in June, I757, William Pitt, "The Great Commoner,"
(a name which should always be revered in America), was made Premier.
From the beginning of his administration he favored the colonies, and in'return
they were always loyal to him. Pennsylvania voted abundant funds for the
defence of its western borders, and showed many other signs of loyalty. Pitt
set about at once to regain the lost standing of the English armies in the new
world. In the early part of I758 Admiral Boscawen reached America with
I2,ooo soldiers. The colonists enlisted very rapidly, and with the British
soldiers already here, swelled the number to over 50,0ooo0 troops, all in the English service and in defence of the colonies.
Again three distinct expeditions had been projected-one against Louisburg, on the St. Lawrence; another against Ticonderoga, in Northern New
York; and the last, most important of all, to Pittsburg, against Fort Duquesne.
The latter was under command of a Scotch brigadier-general, John Forbes.
He started west from Philadelphia. After the preliminaries incident to such a
campaign were arranged, the first question which presented itself to him was
the route he should select. The Pennsylvanians asked him to go directly
through the province, they being interested in having a new road opened up
through their territory; but Virginia had the same claim, and she too was
furnishing many soldiers and munitions of war. The old route was, of course,
Braddock's Road, by the way of Cumberland, and the new one was by way of
Bedford. So much had been said about the slowness of Braddock's march
west that his defenders had undoubtedly magnified the difficulties of the route
he took. Washington strongly favored Braddock's route, which in the lightCHAPTER XXVIII.
The Constitution-Hamilton's American System-Henry iBaldwin-Henry Clay.
The constitution of the United States was framed before the formation of
Allegheny county, that is while Pittsburg was a village in Pitt township of
Westmoreland county. Two of the county's representatives in the Legislature, William Findley and Samuel Barr opposed the resolution looking towards its formation. The Articles of Confederation had many principles
which the people admired, and those who like Findley and Barr, opposed the
calling of a new convention doubtless did so fearing that favorite features of
the articles would find no place in the new document. Findley and Barr had
both absented themselves from the house when the measure was being considered, and thus obstructed the transaction of business by preventing a
quorum. In the fall of I787, the new constitution having been signed by its
framers on September I7th, William Findley, William Todd and John Beard
were sent as delegates from the county, representing it in the convention called
to consider the new plan of government. Pittsburg was deeply interested and a
meeting of the people was called at the tavern then kept by Adamson Tannehill, to meet on November 9, I787. The purpose of the meeting was to learn
the consensus of opinion concerning the new form of government propYosed by
the Philadelphia convention. This meeting was presided over by General
John Gibson. This meeting, convened in a log tavern, perhaps in the barroom on the outskirts of civilization, adopted a resolution which would reflect credit even upon the most enlightened law-making assembly of our
present age. Their resolution read that "Whereas, after considering the fact
that the people had heard both sides of the question; that the new system was
the result of much political wisdom, good sense and candor in those who
framed it; that no reason existed why anything better should be expected
from any body of men; that from the necessity of mutual concessions by the
different states, another more equitable could not probably be formed; that
posterity required a speedy adoption of some mode of government more efficient than the Articles of Confederation; that the western people particularly
desired the accomplishment of these objects." Therefore, it was unanimously
Resolved "That it is our ardent wish and hope that this system of governmentPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
377
may be speedily adopted." Notwithstanding this the three delegates, Findley,
Todd and Beard, opposed its adoption, but they were fortunately in the
minority, and the state convention of Pennsylvania ratified the constitution
on December I2, I787, becoming thus the second state in the Union to take
this important step, Delaware having ratified it by her convention on December 7th.
Article VIII of the constitution provided that the ratification of the conventions of nine states should establish it as the organic law between the
states so ratifying. When therefore on June 2I, I788, New Hampshire's convention ratified it, that being the ninth to ratify, the union was formed between the states having ratified it.
After the constitution had been formed its adoption became a very great
question in Pittsburg. The general belief among the leading thinkers of
Western Pennsylvania was that the Articles of Confederation by which the
colonies had been governed during the Revolution, were not suited when new
questions in time of peace were to be met and dealt with, yet they were
cautious in deciding that the constitution presented to them was the best possible plan of government.
Though a backwoods town of perhaps a hundred houses, Pittsburg kept
in touch with the doings of the Nation. When the news came by a packhorse
reaching Pittsburg late in June, I788, that New Hampshire, the ninth state, had
ratified the National constitution of September I7, 1787, a celebration of the
event was gotten up by the inhabitants at once. They met on Grant's Hill the
day following. Modern fireworks were unknown to them, but they substituted
the best they had. They collected thirteen large piles of wood, to represent
the thirteen states. Nine of them were close together, representing the nine
states which had already adopted the constitution. Four others nearby represented the four states which held back. The nine piles were fired and burned
speedily, casting the light of their lurid flashes over the town which lay below,
while the four piles, though fired, burned very meagerly, the wood being
purposely dampened. But finally this was overcome by the general heat and
all of the thirteen piles were aflame and were a united mass of luminous
splendor. Muskets and cannons were fired and the air was filled with cheers
from the loyal citizens who had gathered from all directions to celebrate the
great event. The boys and girls danced around the flames. The Indians who
yet remained in the community came and seemed to regard it as a renewal
of the green corn and scalp dances so common among them at this same spot
a few years previous. The spirit of those days forbade that an event of this
kind should be unattended with speech-making. With but few newspapers and
still fewer books, the platform was the most generally adopted method of
reaching the people, and so remained for many years. The eloquent lawyer,
Hugh Henry Brackenridge, was the orator of the hour and spoke with his
usual ease and grace. But the closing words of his address will be given as
taken from the Gazette of June 28, I788: "With you, O men of Pittsburg itA CENTURY AND A HIALF OF
remains this day to celebirate this event. You gave your approbation when
this plan of government was first produced; your voice has been heard and it
has done you honor. These hills and these mountains, in distant prospect,
were they imbued with vital motion, would assent with you. These lucent
streams which run gently by; yonder Ohio himself who receives their waters,
could he speak in vocal language, would approve the sound; with hoarse murmers he will approve it and kiss his natal banks with greater rapture than
before. For on these hills and by these streams will those live who shall trace
at early dawn and in the evening shade your footsteps, shall place your names
with the heroes who have lived before them and have thought wisely on this
subject. Join then, in a loud acclaim and let future ages know that you are
worthy of them in having handed down this palladium of liberty; and by preserving it entire and unbroken, let future ages show themselves worthy of
you.~"
One of the many great questions which confronted Washington when he
became president in 1789, was the financial standing, the credit of the new
nation. Recognizing the great constructive powers of Alexander Hamilton,
the President had perhaps no other choice for chief of the Treasury Department. This very important branch of the new government was established in
September, I789, and Hamilton at once took charge of it as Secretary of the
Treasury. He recommended the honest payment of the Revolutionary war
debt, both domestic and foreign, though many of the obligations were in the
possession of new parties who were mere speculators. He also advocated the
assumption idea, that is that the new government should assume the payment
of such parts of the debts of the states as were incurred in the cause of freedom during the Revolution. He recommended that all Continental money
be paid in gold at $I.oo for $Ioo. His recommendation would create a debt
of nearly $Ioo,ooo,ooo, and many, both in and out of Congress, thought his
ideas visionary and his policy suicidal. To pay this immense indebtedness, for
it was immense for the new nation, he recommended that duties be levied on
wines, coffee, etc., brough into the country and on various domestic productions.
He advocated a high duty on luxuries and a moderate duty or a moderate tax
on necessities. In this way he outlined the policy of protection to American
industries which-has been considered for more than a century a question of
vital importance to the people of Pittsburg. His plans were bitterly opposed
by the Anti-Federalists, but were taken up and advocated by the Federalists
and were rapidly pushed to a success by them. Under this financial system
the country developed so rapidly that in a few years his enemies were disarmed. It was his policy which paid the debt of the Revolution and established a national credit which is even yet the pride of the American people.
Daniel Webster, in one of his most beautiful periods paid his highest tribute to
Hamilton's financial policy.
The system now known as the protective system was then called the
American system, a name it took shortly after Hamilton first recommended it
378PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
379
and had it introduced. Very early in the eighteenth century this question
overshadowed all other political questions in Pittsburg. At first the city cared
little for a tariff on any other commodity save iron, for it had already become
a great iron manufacturing center. Later when the manufacture of glass,
cotton and woolen goods was taken up and became somewhat important, the
scope of Pittsburg's demands was widened and gradually was made to include almost every article that was not exclusively manufactured in America.
The first really able Pittsburg advocate of the American system or of protection to American industries was Henry Baldwin, who became a member
of the fifteenth congress on March 4, I817, the first session  beginning
on December Ist. The charge that both Pittsburg and her talented member of
Congress were selfish in their demands, basing them on the apparent wants of
Pittsburg regardless of their effect upon other manufacturers, was a very
common and perhaps to some extent a just one in those days. Their selfishness was certainly shown in their opposition to the National road. Though
they were proud to stand with Henry Clay on everything that benefited Pittsburg's industries, they bitterly opposed this most impcrtant measure of internal improvement, because in its westward passage it went a few miles
south of Pittsburg and would therefore divert the river trade from Wheeling
to Baltimore. Baldwin was, however, great enough to bring the city into national prominence by his strength in Congress, even in his first and second
terms.
As early as I8i8 or I820, Henry Baldwin had won honors and power in
Congress that any member might be proud of, even though he had spent
many years there; he was in I8i8 serving his second term and was less than
40 years old. With great ability he had steadily advocated all measures which'contributed to the building up of the interior cities. Though violently opposed in some of his measures, he was able to maintain his side of all questions against all opponents, with a dignity and an exactness scarcely excelled
by Henry Clay. He favored the manufactories of Pittsburg by supporting a
protective system, advocated the cause of the Revolutionary veterans, encouraged the Irish Emigration Society founded in Pittsburg and secured a
branch of the United States courts for his own city. He opposed the completion of the Cumberland road because it would divert trade from Pittsburg.
These measures made him the idol of the city. No one up to that time save
Henry Clay, had advocated these protective measures with an ability equal
to that which he brought to bear on them. He was a man of marvelous versatility in debate. When defeated in one measure he introduced others intended to serve his purpose and advocated them with an ability which commanded the admiration, even of his opponents, and inspired new hope in his
people at home. In the early summer of 1822 he was taken severely ill in
Washington and for a time his life was despaired of. In his convalescent days
he traveled abroad for his health and came back to Pittsburg in October,
reaching the city on the I6th. Even when the city prepared to welcomeA CENTURY AND A HALF'OF
Lafayette, they scarcely made a greater demonstration than on this occasion.
The people gathered from every direction and united with the city, in welcoming their brilliant representative. All the volunteer companies, the mayor
and the members of the council met about two miles east of the city to await
the approach of his carriage. A salute of thirteen guns was fired as he drew
near. Judge Walker was the spokesman and in addressing him said: "You
ask the cause of this assemblage of your fellow citizens; they answer, their
gratitude for your tried services in the National Council, which, while they
have given you a distinguished place among the American statesmen, have
reflected their luster on the district and the country; they regret that they
are about to lose a representative who broke the first ground in a systm of
financial and national policy which will form an era in the political history of
the republic; their sympathy for your protracted indisposition, produced in
your and their country's cause, prosecuted with all the labor and industry of
council, and all the zeal and eloquence of advocacy; their joy at your restoration to health and home."
MIr. Baldwin was overcome by this heartfelt demonstration on the part
of those who knew him best, and in his reply said he was unable to, express
his feelings but that he would never forget the manner in which he was
welcomed home. He said he had but one regret, viz., that he had been able
to accomplish so little for those who had honored him so much.
On August 5, I824, the leading manufacturers of the city tendered him
a banquet as a testimony of their appreciation of his services in Congress in
securing the passage of the Tariff of I824. In his address, with a modesty
that is characteristic of all truly great men, he attributed the success of the
bill largely to Henry Clay. He ended his address by proposing a toast, "Henry
Clay and the American System." Both Baldwin and John Todd were spoken
of at the banquet as natives of Connecticut, whereupon Judge Shaler, also a
native of the same state, proposed the toast, "The State of Connecticut; whilst
she can manufacture such domestic fabrics as Baldwin and Todd, she will
scarcely need a tariff for the protection of genius and perseverance."
His address in Congress on the Tariff of 1824, is a very able presentation
of the question; we doubt indeed whether our ablest statesmen have presented it in a better light. It is this together with its historical character,
which impels us to give the following extract from it:
It would be going too much in detail to trace the various rates of ad
valorem duties from I789 to 1804. In that year they were permanently fixed
at I2'2, 15 and 20 per cent.; with the addition of the Mediterranean fund they
were I5, I7'2 and 22'2 per cent., and continued so during the most of the
prosperous period of our commerce and revenue till 1812, when the permanent
duties were doubled, making 27Y2, 32'2 and 42,2 per cent. They continued
so until I815, after the peace, when the Mediterranean fund ceased and the
duties remained until July, I8i6, at the rate of 25, 30 and 40 per cent. ad
valorem. Had they remained so you would not have been assailed by general
cries of distress from all parts of the Nation. We should have enjoyed, not a
380PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
nominal but a real independence. Our resources would not have been sent
abroad to protect and reward the industry of others, to the ruin of our own
merchants, manufacturers and farmers. * * * If it was right, in I8i6,
to impose a duty of 25 per cent. on woolens and cottons, principally with a view
to revenue, there will be found a strong reason for its increase in the duties
now imposed by the British government of six pence sterling on every pound
of wool and six per cent. ad valorem on cotton imported after the 5th of January, 1820. Wool has been an article of export from this.country to England.
The duty now excludes it; the ports are now shut against your provisions.
In France a duty of four dollars per Ioo pounds on cotton, equal to 20 per
cent. ad valorem on the raw material, is aimed at this country. Thus we find
the two nations pursuing the same policy toward our products; both are enriched in the manufacture. * * *. I beg the House not to loose sight of one
fact, which is admitted by all to be true, that coarse domestic cottons are now
made cheaper than they were ever imported. This remark is equally true of
nails and every other article of which this country commands the consumption.
*  *  *  This has been called a Pittsburg, a cut-glass bill, local, partial in
its operations, and framed through interested motives. Gentlemen had better
be cautious how they use the word Pittsburg as a name of reproach; it may,
like the term'Whig' become one of pride and not of disgrace. I will tell the
House frankly that I have not lost sight of the interests of Pittsburg, and
would never perjure myself if I had. If you are not convinced that the interests of that place are identified with the nation, that cut glass can be defended
on national grounds, then I agree that Pittsburg, its representatives, its favorite
manufactures, iron and glass, and the tariff may go together. I will rest the
whole bill on this item, glass, and freely admit that the increase of duty on
glass, plain not cut, is among the greatest proposed. *  *  *  In the days
of our prosperity we have made to the amount of a quarter of a million dollars
worth in a year. It was so much money extracted from the bowels of the
earth-a raw material of no value for exportation converted into articles of
the greatest usefulness and beauty.  *  * *  The present duty is a mere tax
on the consumler; it operates as no discrimination between ours and the industry of other nations, but leaves it to struggle against the effects of a positive premium on importations. The proposed increase will not, as a protecting
duty, amount to more than 20 per cent. ad valorem on cut glass. It is only
proposed to add five per cent., the duty being now thirty. I am aware of objections to the duty on plain glass, and am sorry to find they come from manufacturers, glass cutters, not makers, but importers of plain glass, who are not
satisfied with thirty-five on cut glass, and represent plain as raw material
which ought to be duty free. In Pittsburg it is both made and cut, and the
House will judge who is most actuated by national principles. * * *
Gentlemen, you are mistaken in supposing mine an iron-making district; it
is iron buying and iron consuming. The time was when 6,ooo tons were purchased annually, not one of which was made in the district. It is a matter of
most perfect astonishment that so imPportant an article should have been not
only so perfectly and wantonly abandoned by the present tariff, but pointedly
selected for reprobation by a strange policy, which, while it raised the duties
on most other articles, reduced that on iron nearly Ioo per cent. From I804
until I815, it was seventeen and a half per cent., and until I8i6, at fifteen per
cent., a duty which might have saved these interesting establishments thus
apparently destroyed by design. Pigs and castings in I8I5 paid fifteen per
cent. ad valorem; bar iron nine dollars a ton equal to say nine per cent. ad
38IA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
valorem. In I8i8 the duties were increased to fifty cents a hundred on pigs,
seventy-five on castings and bar iron. In this house it was raised to $20o a ton
by a majority of forty-seven, but reduced in the senate to $I5. Had the duty
been a proportionate one in I8i6, a lower rate than the one proposed would
have been sufficient to have insured a domestic supply, but the reports of the
treasury present us with facts which call for immediate and efficient interference. In I8i8 the importation of bar-iron exceeded I6,ooo tons; in I8I9
it exceeded 20,000 tons.
While the early Pittsburg people were always loyal to the protective policy
as advocated by Henry Clay, they were not always loyal to him or his measures. Jane Grey Swisshelm speaks of them burning him in effigy in Pittsburg
in I825 when they blamed him for making John Quincy Adams president over
Andrew Jackson, and when he became Secretary of State in Adams's administration. This was probably done by a few lawless enemies and not sanctioned
by the better men of either party. They opposed his internal improvement
policy as illustrated in one of the most noted of his measures, viz., the building of the National road. This has been considered elsewhere in these pages
and we believe at all other times during his long and eventful public life, he
was the beau-ideal of American statesmen in the mind of the average citizen
of Pittsburg. That the better people harbored no ill will against him for the
part he may have played in the presidential contest before Congress in I824
and 1825, is evinced by the grand reception they extended him two years later,
when he was the regularly invited guest of the city. As such he visited Pittsburg on June 20, I827, while he was Secretary of State. He was given a
grand banquet by the citizens and manufacturers, at which six hundred feasted
and drank toasts to the early advocate of our American Protective Tariff system.
The gathering was held in the warerooms of the Anchor Paper Mills, then
owned by Henry Holdship. In the party were fully four hundred manufacturers, and all of the judges, prominent lawyers, bankers, and business men
of the city. The address was delivered by Mr. Clay in a masterful manner,
true to his own peculiar and eloquent style, and embellished with all of his
matchless powers of oratory. He was frequently interrupted by long and fervent applause, coming from all who were present, even from those who disagreed with him politically. The presiding officer on that occasion was General William  Marks. The tariff question was thoroughly discussed by Mr.
Clay, especially as to its bearing on the vicinity of Pittsburg, which had already come to be known as a great manufacturing center. He closed his
speech with giving a toast to: "Pittsburg; the abundance, variety and excellence of its fabrics attest the wisdom of the policy which fostered them."
Other toasts followed, including: "Alexander Hamilton--the First Advocate of Protective Duties."  Also one to: "The Woolen Bill Let us feed,
clothe and Protect ou.rselves." The telling toast was to: "The Anchor Paper
Mills-the only American factory ever stopped through Clay.  It stopped
one day, to honor him who prevented it from stopping altogether."
382CHAPTER XXIX.
Politics of Early Pittsburg.
The Federalist party was practically founded by Alexander Hamilton,
and the opponents of his policy were those who adhered largely to the political
tenets of Thomas Jefferson. At first they were called anti-Federalists, but
later were more generally known as Republicans, or Democratic Republicans,
a name which had really been their true name from the beginning. Originally
the Federalists were those who favored a strong government, which they
thought consisted chiefly in a centralization of power in the National government. They advocated the theory that all possible governing power should
be vested in the nation and as little as possible in the states.  Ham;ilton
thought that the President should appoint the governors of the states, and that
to the states should be given the least governing power possible. The AntiFederalists favored a system of government directly the reverse of this. In
the first few years of the nation's history many of the old principles of each
party were discarded and many new ones adopted. Both the Federalists and
the Anti-Federalists or Republicans favored and supported the Constitution
of the United States which was adopted in 1787, but for the first twelve years
after it became effective, the Anti-Federalists were greatly in the minority.
But during the administration of the elder Adams the political affairs of the
country were completely changed, and in I8oi the Democratic Republicans
had become so numerous and the party had gained such strength that it was
able to assume control, not only of the national affairs, but in most sections
of the local affairs as well.
For some years after the Revolution, nominating conventions as we know
them now were unknown. The custom was then that the people, or many of
the most prominent of them, as many as could conveniently do so, should meet
in some central place in each county to suggest the names of their neighbors
or leading men who would make suitable and acceptable candidates for public
offices. Later when the party spirit of political factions became more
manifest, efforts were made by these factions to dominate the will of the convention in the interests of certain beliefs or principles. Gradually then eachA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
party began to have separate meetings which were shortly afterwards designated as county conventions.
When Allegheny county was erected from the territory of Westmoreland
in 1788 the town of Pittsburg was composed of but perhaps one hundred log
lhouses with but little more than five hundred inhabitants, though it was even
then the largest town in Western Pennsylvania. Its politics at that time canl
scarcely be considered though the majority of its voters were doubtless AntiFederalists, who were later known as Democratic Republicans. The Gazette
was then in the second year of its publication and was for many years the
only paper published in Western Pennsylvania. It was a Federalist paper but
fhe mild terms in which it advocated the doctrines of Alexander Hamilton indicated that many of its readers did not hold the same political views. Public
officers were not then elected as they are now. Most of them were appointed
by the Governor. The only elective officers were the State Legislators, County
Commissioners, Coroner, Sheriff and Congressmen. Political conventions to
nominate candidates were unknown in those days; all who cared to enter the
field for county offices did so. Each elector cast his ballot for two candidates
and from the two who.received the most votes the Governor selected the officer
and appointed'him. It rarely ever happened that the Governor did not appoint
the one who received the highest number of votes. But such selection was not
obligatory upon him and he did not always adhere to that rule. In electing
legislators a voter cast his ballot for but one candidate and generally the candidate best known in the district received the greater number of votes. Voters
were not so numerous then as now and they were likely to know most men
personally who sought their support at the polls.  For fourteen years
after the adoption of the Federal Constitution Allegheny county, and
of course Pittsburg, was in the same congressional district with Washington county.  Albert Gallatin was then a resident of Fayette county, but
was elected to represent Allegheny and Washington counties in the fourth,
fifth, sixth and seventh congresses. Gallatin was moreover an ardent Democrat,
but the fact that he did not live in the district seemed to be no barrier to his
representing it in Congress. Hugh Henry Brackenridge was then the leading
lawyer and orator of Pittsburg and was a candidate against Gallatin in I794,
but was defeated. Gallatin did not have the polish of oratory that Brackenridge was master of, but was an abler man in many other ways. Both candidates had been prominent in the Whiskey Insurrection but Gallatin had made
a stronger impression on the popular mind because of his sympathy with the
insurrectionists. The excise tax was known to be a Federalist measure brought
about more or less directly by Hamilton's policy of assumption. Brackenridge
was also opposed to the excise tax but had taken a leading part in the final
settlement of the insurrection, showing perhaps that he leaned somewhat toward the Federalists, and though his services in the difficulty were really of
great benefit to the people, the distillers and the grain producers all over
Washington and Allegheny counties would not risk sending him to Congress.
384PITTSBURG. AND -HER PEOPLE
Prior to this the political line seems to have been less tightly drawn. The
Nevilles, both father and son, were open and avowed Federalists, but the son
had been elected to the Assembly in I790 from Allegheny county. His election
was purely a personal matter and the voters did not connect the members of
the Legislature with the excise laws which came from the national Congress.
When Allegheny county was formed it comprised all of the territory west
and north of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers in addition to what it now contains.
From the Act of the Legislature forming it, it is probable that the first officers
were appointed to serve till I790o and that there was no occasion for a county
election in I789; at all events the first election returns for Allegheny county
that we can find are for I790. The voting places were at Pittsburg, Beaver,
Butler, Franklin, Mercer, Mifflin, Erie and Freeport. The returns are not
given that year by districts, the totals only being mentioned. The total vote
cast was seven hundred and one, which does not by any means represent the
population at that time, but rather indicates that the new settlers who were
filling up the regions north -of the Ohio very rapidly then did not take much
interest in the elections. The election was held on the second Tuesday of
October, I79o, and the essential part of the return was as follows: Assembly,
John Neville, 70I; sheriff, James Morrison, 70I, William Wilson, 462; coroner,
David Watson, 682, William Elliott, 588; commissioner, George Wallace, 467,
George McCully, I93.
A more exciting contest which followed it was the election of a sheriff in
I798. The election papers on file in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth in Harrisburg give the vote only which was polled for the two
highest candidate for sheriff. They were Ephraim Jones -and Joseph R.
Postlethwaite. There was then filed a protest by Postlethwaite's friends which
sets forth that Jones received only the one-fourth of the votes polled. There
were many candidates and while none of them approximated Jones' and Postlethwaite's vote the entire list received about eighteen hundred votes.  Each
voter voted for two candidates. The total number of votes cast would therefore be about three thousand and six hundred. The country north of the Ohio
and west of the Allegheny had been opened up for settlement in I784, before
which it was called the Indian county, a name it received by the Stanwix purchase in I768 when it was reserved for the Indians, while all east and south,
not already sold, was granted by the Indians to the white settlers. But the Indian county had been filling up very rapidly with settlers, squatters, land companies, etc., and many conflicts arose as to the rightful ownership of the land.
At that time by our law a sheriff selected all jurors and these sat in judgment
to decide all contests concerning the ownership of lands. The land owners
therefore thought the election of a sheriff was a very important matter to
them. Jones was the people's candidate while the land companies favored
Postlethwaite.  From  letters filed with the Governor it would seem  that
Postlethwaite had come to the county from Carlisle and after the contest he
is not known in the annals of Pittsburg, having doubtless returned there.
25
385COPYRIGHT, 1908,
BY
LEWIS PUBLISHING  COMPANY.A CENTURY- AND -A HALF OF
3C
of sult.cr.utent discoveries was undoubtedly the better one to take, if to reach the
fort with the least effort and in the shortest time were the chief objects. It was
fifty miles longer than the Bedford route, but it was opened, in part at least,
while by the Bedford route a road must be cut from Bedford to the Fork of the
Ohio, a distance of one hundred miles. Notwithstanding this, it was selected
with the expectation that the making of the road would require less effort than
to overcome the difficulties which retarded Braddock's march. It was probably
Sir John Sinclair, who was supposed to know the country, and Colonel Henry
Bouquet, who more than any others determined on this new route. Forbes was
undecided, but even after they had selected it and the difficulties of the new
route were made manifest, he for a time doubted the wisdom of the selection.
Washington favored the Virginia route, in common with all Virginians, for
they did not want the transportation of the Ohio'/alley diverted from the
Potomac route. This was one of the objects of the Ohio Company, in the interests of which he made his first journey west. He regarded the selection of
the Bedford route as a great error, and repeatedly reiterated this opinion in his
letters. Yet he at all times did all he could to make the campaign a success.
Bouquet, on the other hand, in a letter to Chief Justice Allen, dated November
25, I758, attributed the success of the expedition largely to the selection of the
Bedford route, because of the greater facilities to procure transportation by it.
Forbes was much wiser and not less courageous than Braddock. He did not
hesitate to imitate the backwoods or Indian methods of warfare, and wrote to
Bouquet, saying, "I have been long of your opinion of equipping numbers of
our men like the savages, and I fancy Colonel Burd of Virginia has most of his
men equipped in that manner. In this country we must learn our art of war
from the Indians, or any one else who has carried it on here." His army was
nearly three times as large as Braddock's had been, he having in all over 7,000
men, consisting of I,200 Highlanders, 350 Royal Americans, 2,700 Provincials from Pennsylvania, Ioo from the lower counties of Delaware, I,6oo from
Virginia, 250 from  Maryland, I50 from  North Carolina, and about I,ooo
wagoners and laborers. The Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland troops
were brought together at Winchester, and were placed under command of
Colonel George Washington. The Pennsylvania forces were assembled at
Raystown (now Bedford), and were commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet,
General Forbes was long detained in Philadelphia by the delays incident to a
campaign in a new country, and by a severe sickness of which he was never
cured. He did not reach Shippensburg until the advance army was cutting
a way across Laurel Hill, and did not arrive at Bedford until September, by
which time Colonel Bouquet, with the assistance of Colonel James Burd, with
2,500 soldiers and axmen, had finished the road across the Allegheny Mountains
and across Laurel Hill, and had encamped on the banks of the Loyalhanna, in
Ligonier Valley, where the town of Ligonier now stands. There was erected
a fort called Fort Ligonier, named after General Sir John, Lord Viscount
Ligonier, under whom Forbes had served in the English army. Instead of attempting to march direct to Fort Duquesne, burdened with a long and cumberA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Jones owned land at Pittsburg which he sold to General O'Hara when the
latter started a glass works near the southern terminus of Point Bridge. He
was the father of Thomas Jones, Sr., who afterward owned the Liberty
Street Ferry, and was the grandfather of Ephraim Jones who ran for sheriff
of Allegheny county in I855, and also of Thomas Jones, Jr., who first began
the shipment of coal down the Ohio river. When the election judges met to
count the votes they discovered that three of the election districts had made
the returns of votes cast in "figures" and not in "words" as was required by
the Act of Assembly. By throwing out these districts Postlethwaite would be
elected and by counting them Jones would be elected. The judges refused to
decide but made the following return: "We, the judges, etc., of the election
held October 9, 1798, do certify that Ephraim Jones and Joseph R. Postlethwaite are duly elected to represent the freemen of the said county of Allegheny as sheriffs. the said Ephraim Jones having six hundred and eighty-four
returned to us in writing and two hundred and thirty-three in figures only, and
the said Joseph R. Postlethwaite having eight hundred and eight votes returned to us in writing and sixty-four in figures only." This return was signed
October I3, I798, by John Cunningham, John Henry, Robert Vance, James
McDermott and John Joyce of District No. I, Pittsburg; Moses Devore, District No. 2, Elizabeth; Thomas McKee, District No. 3, Plum and Versailles;
Samuel Wilson, District No. 4, Moon; John McLure, District No. 5, Mifflin
and St. Clair; Ephraim Herriott, District No. 6, Fayette; John Power, District No. 7, Mead's (Crawford County); Anath Satterman, District No. 8,
Erie; Henry Keener, District No. 9, Franklin; J. Coulter, District No. Io,
Beaver; James Clark, District No. ii, Freeport:
Postlethwaite's friends took advantage of the technical error in the
returns, examples of which political actions may be found in more modern
contests, and objected to the returns as illegal because the law required that
the returns be in words. They therefore demanded that they be thrown out.
Jones's friends thought that the error was but a technical one, which, with
no evidence of fraud, could not vitiate the returns. They set forth in sworn
statements that because of the ignorance of the board only, the figures were
used, and that such had been the custom for years in several districts, and that
they have deposited the ballot boxes with a justice of the peace where access
can be had to them if required. Under any circumstances the final decision
lay with the governor as to which one he should appoint and when it reached
him both sides had a hope of success. Thomas Collins, who represented the
Pennsylvania Population Company, wrote that Jones was "of depraved mind
and manners, grossly ignorant, insolent, prejudiced, mean, intemperate, and
I believe dishonest and altogether unfit for the office of sheriff." He also
urged that Jones was hostile to the company and would decide with the
squatters as against it. He supported the last allegation by an affidavit of
James Fulton, who sets forth that when Jones was a candidate he asked
Fulton for his support on the ground that if his opponent succeeded they
386PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
would choose juries to suit the land jobbers, but if he, Jones, was elected, the
juries would be chosen from the west side of the Allegheny to suit the actual
settlers, since he, Jones, was no friend of the land jobbers. They also filed
another which sets forth that Jones received barely one-fourth of the votes
cast, and that a great proportion of these were obtained in Beaver and
Mlifflin by promising to summon juries who would favor the claims of settlers
in land contests. On Jones's side was filed a letter urging his good character
and fitness for the office, representing him to be a man who by industry had
acquired a valuable property, and urging that an error on the part of an
election judge should not operate against the suffrages of the people, particularly when the return was made "as hath hitherto been usual in those
districts." This was signed by A. Kirkpatrick, A. Richardson, John Neville,
Abner Barker, Isaac Craig, Josiah Barker, Samuel S. Mahon, John Johnson,
A. Tannehill, John Hannah, Pressley Neville, Samuel Ewalt, Samuel Creigh.
Brackenridge also wrote to the secretary of the Commonwealth, Alexander
J. Dallas, saying it was he who had advised the special return, and that the
county had gone entirely in favor of the Republican or Democratic interests,
that is against the Federalists. He then asked the secretary to render Jones
any services he could with the Governor that might be expedient and adds
the following:
"If it is any object with you to have an interest in this county at the
ensuing election for Governor, it is of moment that he (Jones) be commissioned. You will appreciate the value of this hint and take, measures
accordingly. You may have heard the rumor of the opposition to John
Woods as a candidate for congress. The part taken by me has involved me
with a quarrel with Judge Addison and others; but after a severe battle they
have been all routed, horse, foot and dragoons. John Woods could not have
gone to the state senate without my acquiescence, and I was struck with his
audac'ity and that of his connection in attempting anything else, until the period
for which he was elected had expired.
"If the Chief Justice, Thomas McKean, is offered for governor at the
next election you may be assured I shall take an avowed and decided part in
his favor, and one decided man that can write and speak both is worth a thousand. But this is running into what does not immediately relate to my subject and so I have done."
On October 29 the Governor, Thomas Mifflin, appointed Jones, "he being the highest in vote upon the return." The whole proceedings have such
a modern aspect that one can scarcely realize that it all happened and that
Brackenridge's letter was written nearly one hundred and ten years ago.
Whatever may have been the ambition of Alexander J. Dallas for the governorship in I799, the candidates were James Ross, of Pittsburg, and Thomas
McKean, whose probable nomination was intimated in Brackenridge's letter.
Perhaps the people of Pittsburg and Allegheny county were easily induced
to support Ross because of his being their neighbor. At all events he received
two thousand one hundred and six votes, while McKean received nine hundred
387A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
and seventy-six votes. Brackenridge's great power, which he boasted in his
letter to Dallas, did not materialize. He was, however, a man of much strength
and high standing in Pittsburg. The vote for representatives in the legislature:
showed that James Semple received one thousand eight hundred and thirtyseven votes and Dunning McNair received one thousand five hundred and
eighty-two votes.  To show the various election districts and their judges
we give the following signatures to the returns for that year, I799: William
Earl, First District, Pittsburg; Richard McClure, Second District, Elizabeth;,
Thomas McKee, Third District, Plum and Versailles; John Taylor, Fourth
District, Moon; John Kinkead, Fifth District, Mifflin and St. Clair; George
Dickson, Sixth District, Fayette; Edward Werk, Seventh District,'Mead;
Robert McNair, Eighth District, Erie; James McClellan, Ninth District,.
Franklin; David Watson, Tenth District, Beaver; James Clark, Eleventh District, Freeport; David Kerr, Twelfth District, Middlesex; Timothy Tuttle,
Thirteenth District, Greenfield; Jabez Colt, Fourteenth District, Conneaut;
William Hays, Fifteenth District, Springfield; Jacob Connack, Sixteenth District, Waterford; Samuel McCrag, Seventeenth District, Oil Creek; James.
Elder, Eighteenth District, Slippery Rock; T. McMillan, Nineteenth District,
North Beaver.  This was furthermore the last election held in Allegheny
county as it was originally bounded, for the counties of Beaver, Butler, IMIercer,
Armstrong, Venango, Warren, Crawford and Erie were all carved out of
Allegheny county in one year, that is, in I8oo. In I804 the vote in Allegheny
county for electors was 526, which was small for there was no opposition. In
I805 the election places in the county, the territory being very much as it
exists now, were Pittsburg, Plum, McKeesport, Elizabethtown, Mifflin, Fayette,
Union, Ohio, Robinson, -Pine, Deer, Pitt and St. Clair. The opposing candidates for governor that year were Thomas McKean and Simon Snyder. The
total vote given for McKean in the county was 1,I25, while Snyder received
9II. Pittsburg's vote was 2Io for McKean and I25 for Snyder. There were
four candidates for governor that year, namely: William Porter, Z. A. Tannehill, James Kerwin and Joseph Curry. Porter received I,OOI, Tannehill 960,
Kerwin 860, and Curry 89I. Pittsburg gave Porter 28I, Tannehill 275,.
Kerwin I25, and Curry I20. There were also in the same year three candidates
for state senator for the district which was then composed by Allegheny,
Beaver and Butler counties. The candidates were James Martin, Samuel
Ewalt and Thomas Morton.  Martin received in the district 1,912 votes,
Ewalt 1,719, and Morton 40 votes. Allegheny county gave Martin I,ooo,
Ewalt 996, and Morton 40. There were seven candidates for the legislature
from the district composed of the same counties. They were Jacob Macklin,
who received 956 votes in Allegheny county and 1,850 in the district; Abner
Leacock received 966 in Allegheny county and I,828 in the district; Frank
McClure received 96I in Allegheny county and I,825 in the district; James
Caruthers received I,055 in Allegheny county and 1,790 in the district; John
McBride received I,030 in Allegheny county and I,755 in the district; Jacob,
388PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                        389
Ferree received 799 in Allegheny county and 1,069 in the district, and George
Robinson, who received 344 in Allegheny county and 836 in the district. At
the election held in Allegheny county in 1809 for coroner, James Kerwin received 1,093 votes while Joseph Curry received 1,274. In 1810 this congressional district included the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Mercer,
Venango, Crawford, Warren and Erie. There were three candidates, Adamson
Tannehill, Abner Leacock and Samuel Smith, who received the following
support:
COUNTIES                              Adamson
COUNTIES                                            Tannehill                Abner Leacock                 Samuel Smith
Allegheny.............................                                         1,390                         349                            99
Beaver..................................                                          246                          735                             3
Butler.................................                                            193                        347...
Mercer................................                                              31                       755                            11
Venango  and  Warren...................                    19                        297                           77
Crawford..............................                                            484                         192
Erie.........................                                                                                  222                         136
2,455                       2,897                         326
The vote for sheriff in Allegheny county in 1810 was as follows: William
Westhoff, 1,095; William Steel, 695, and Thomas Jones, 290.
None of these returns, except in the case of the defeat of Brackenridge by
Gallatin in 1794, show the formation of any special political party. The small
vote polled throughout the district was usual in those days, for the great
number of voters had a long distance to go to the polls, and they were deeply
interested in more important matters than politics. Voters supported or opposed a candidate entirely according to their personal preferences.  There
were few newspapers and no political oratory to sway public sentiment. The
United States was then passing through the "era of good feeling," which
was renowned mainly for the absence of all political asperities. Had any question arisen which was fraught with political significance to the voters of this
section the expression in and around Pittsburg would undoubtedly have been
Democratic or in opposition to the Federalist doctrine. It took Pittsburg
people a long time to forget that the excise tax, which brought about the
Whiskey Insurrection, was a Federalist measure. The first question which
arose to divide the people in bitter dispute came with the election of Andrew
Jackson to the presidency in 1828. With the war on the United States Bank
began the anti-Masonic question which was somewhat agitated before this,
but both matters came with the election of Jackson and they were so closely
united, particularly in this section, that it is almost impossible to think of them
as separate issues.
Those who were opposed to Jackson's financial policy found themselves
at this time without an organization. They began the opposition in many
sections by calling themselves the National Republican Party, an organizationA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
which finally grew into the Whig Party. Around Pittsburg there was a
strong, well defined anti-Masonic feeling, which had partly crystallized into a
party even before the anti-Jackson movement came. Later th'e anti-Jackson
men naturally went over to the anti-Masonic men for this they regarded as the
most effectual method of opposing Jackson, and thus they all apparently for
a time forgot in a measure their hostility to secret societies. There was no
candidate for the presidency on a purely anti-Masonic ticket in I828. The
fight was between Jackson and John Quincy Adams, the Jackson men claiming that he, and not Adams, should have been selected by the national congress in I825, and they were now determined to right the wrong. Pittsburg
and Allegheny county were both strongly in favor of Jackson in 1824.
In that contest, it will be recalled, there were four candidates in the field,
viz.: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William H.
Crawford. When it was learned that no one of them received a majority of
the electoral votes, and that the selection would be made by the lower house
of the national congress, the people naturally supposed that Jackson, who had
had received the largest number of votes, sho.uld be selected. When the house
selected Adams, the wrath of the people was unbounded. Most of the Jackson
men openly charged a "bargain and sale" between Adams and Clay, and when
the latter became secretary of state under tne new administration, they were
only more thoroughly confirmed in their belief. Adams had a very successful
administration, but the politicians throughout the country began in due time
to make sure that'he should not succeed himself. Particularly was this feeling
manifested in Pittsburg, where Jackson had received a very large majority of
the votes cast.  (The vote of Pittsburg was, Jackson 1,386, Crawford 402,
Clay 26, Adams I9.) The campaign began in earnest in I827, or even before
that. The ablest men of Pittsburg'were Jackson mnen. An immense Jackson
meeting was held on July 4, I827. It was stated without contradiction that
sixteen hundred people sat down to dinner. -There were three tables each
250 feet long, and all were filled. Henry Baldwin, who among many- other
prominent men of Pittsburg, had but recently espoused the Jackson cause,
stood on a pyramid of cannon captured by Commodore Perry on Lake Erie,
and read the Declaration of Independence, and was the chief orator of the
day. On March 22, 1828, a public meeting was held at the court house by
"The friends of General Jackson and the American System," for the Pittsburgers were too wise to fail to connect the "American System," of which
Henry Clay was the chief sponsor, with their champion candidate. Robert
M. Stewart was chairman of this meeting, while John M. Snowden was a
secretary, and a series of resolutions were offered by Benjamin Bakewell. These
resolutions, among other things, demanded more protection on flax, hemp,
iron and wool, and on cotton fabrics.
The Adams supporters, called the Administration Party, also held meetings. William McCandless presided at one of the most important, held on
Novemb!er Io, at which John Darragh and Francis B. McClure were vice-presi390PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
391
dents, and John Scott and B. R. Evans were secretaries. Charles Shaler was the
orator of the day, and after his address, which was a most complete and
scholarly production, he introduced a series of resolutions setting forth that the
Adams administration favored protection to manufacturers, asking for a
proper diffusion of public moneys and censuring the South for being jealous
of the prosperity of the North. They ended by re-nominating Adams, and
recommending John -A. Shultz for vice-president. They also appointed a
committee of William McCandless, Thomas Gibson, Joseph Patterson, Charles
H. Israel and Alexander Johnston to represent Pittsburg in an administration
meeting already called to meet at Harrisburg on July 4, I828, its delegates
to be sent from all parts of the state. It was thus that the people of Pittsburg
were preparing for one of the bitterest political contests in the city's history.
A city election took place in January, I827, at which the Administration
Party won a victory over the Jackson adherents by a majority of I38. The
leaders of public opinion in Pittsburg were Baldwin, William Wilkins, James
S. Stevenson, Harmar Denny, Snowden, McCandless, Charles Shaler, William B. Foster, etc. Stevenson had been elected to the twentieth congress in
I826, and in I827 had became a Jackson man. The people of Pittsburg were
interested in a bill called the "woolen bill," which raised the tariff on goods
of that material. Stevenson both spoke and voted against it. This perhaps
contributed to the defeat of the Jackson party in January, I828. As the
campaign progressed it became very bitter. A pamphlet, which was then
known as the " Coffin Handbills," created a great stir in Pittsburg. It was
secretly printed and published, but was supposed to have come from  the
"Statesman," a weekly paper of Pittsburg, and to have been mainly the work
of John B. Butler. The pamphlet ridiculed General Jackson's pretensions as
a statesman. It charged that Jackson had ordered the execution of six militiamen during his military life; it represented him as a slave-trader, a duelist
in his affair w'ith Benton at Nashville, and also sought to connect him with the
conspiracy of Aaron Burr.
Stevenson ran for congress again on the ticket with Jackson in 1828. He
was supported by the newspapers but was very unpopular with the manufacturers because of his attitude on the "Woolen Bill."  Late in the contest
William Wilkins, also a Jackson man, came out as an independent candidate
against him. He could secure the support of but one paper, which, it was said,
was founded solely to aid his campaign. Political meetings were held in all
parts of the county. Buildings were not large enough to hold the~ Jackson
men whio came to hear the popular orators of the day in their eulogies of their
candidate for the presidency. Dr. Edward D. Gazzam introduced a series of
resolutions at an Adams and Rush meeting held in Pittsburg, which set forth
the opposition of both Jackson and Calhoun to the "American System." They
lauded Henry Clay as the "general subaltern and sentinel of the tariff." The
Jackson supporters tried to break up the meeting, but the attempt failed for4A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
thle young men were very enthusiastic.  A  correspondence committee of
twenty-five, and a vigilance committee of I50 were appointed.
The anti-Masonic question also came into this campaign. In September,
I826, a man named William Morgan had suddenly disappeared, and it was
charged that the Masons had'abducted and murdered him to prevent the
publication of their secrets. Still another charge against masonry came into
the campaign in Allegheny county. In I8i8 the Farmers' and Merchants'
Bank of Pittsburg had been robbed by a man named Pluymart. He managed
to escape punishment nearly ten years, but was tried in I828 and sentenced
to three years imprisonment.  He had in these ten years been arrested
several times, but had escaped and had again broken from the penitentiary.
In some way he had strong friends among the prominent people of New
York, Philadelphia, Columbus, Cleveland and elsewhere, who by petition secured his pardon while he was yet a fugitive from justice at the hands of
Governor Andrew Shulze. This somewhat remarkable proceeding was explained to the people by saying that both Shulze and Pluymart were Masons,
and that his city friends were Masons who were thus bound by their oaths to
assist him. Pluymart was a robber, a swindler and an underhanded villian, who
had, however, the faculty of convincing people of his innocence. The Statesman, edited by John B. Butler, favored his pardon doubtless because it regarded
him as " a persecuted man." But is was known that Shulze, Butler and many iof
his supporters were Masons, and the anti-Masons charged that in addition
to their oaths, the Masons were forced to liberate Pluymart to prevent their
secrets from further publicity. If the masonic oath, it was argued, compelled
one Mason to assist another and even to violate all laws to do so, no Mason
should serve on a jury or be elected to an office. It was asserted and believed
that the mystic sign of distress known among Masons had been given from
criminals in the dock to Masons on the jury or on the bench, even in the courts
of Pittsburg. It may be difficult for the modern reader to understand how
these incredulous stories could be of weight. They were believed by many
of the intelligent people of Pittsburg. The city as a result became one of the
strongest anti-Masonic cities in Pennsylvania. These, as meagerly outlined
above, were the war cries of the Jackson men, and of all who were opposed
to Adams and Rush. It became one of the bitterest campaigns in Pittsburg's
history. The anti-Masons and the Jackson supporters were aggressive in the
extreme, and they carried on a campaign which for magnitude and splendor
would do credit to our best modern efforts in that direction. Beginning with
the city against Jackson, as was shown in the election of January, I828, his
cause, when strengthened by the anti-Masonic feeling, grew steadily until the
election, the vote of which was as follows: Jackson and Calhoun in Pittsburg had 1,216 votes, while Adams and Rush had 606; In Allegheny Jackson
had 223 votes, as against 75 for Adams. Wilkins, the volunteer candidate for
congress, defeated the regular candidate, Stevenson, by I86 votes, this being
392PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
due largely to his opposition to the Woolen Bill, but in a great measure to
Wilkins's great popularity and ability.
William Wilkins was one of Pittsburg's brightest and best men. He had
been on the bench before he entered congress. In I829 a large majority of
the members of the bar, many jurors and prominent citizens united in asking
him to resign his seat in congress and continue his work on the bench. He
was prevailed on to do this, and Henry Baldwin, who had been tried and
found faithful to the American System in congress, was generally looked upon
as the proper person to succeed him. He was accordingly put in nomination.
The Jackson administration supporters nominated Stevenson as their candidate, for they claimed that, having been defeated by Wilkins, he was the
logical successor when the successful candidate resigned. Then a third meeting was held and Harmar Denny, who was a prominent anti-Mason, was
placed in nomination. Baldwin was regarded as the ablest man in the race,
and as the man most likely to succeed, until it was discovered and made known
that he was a past deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Masons. Before the nomination of Mr. Denny the anti-Masonic party had tendered their
nomination to Baldwin, but he refused to accept it. The opposition to masonry grew and this became also a very hot campaign, indeed, one of the hottest
for a special election, ever known in Pittsburg.  Seeing that his masonic
principles had made him candidacy a hopeless one, Baldwin withdrew and left
his two opponents, Stevenson and Denny, alone in the field. The result was
that Denny was elected by a majority of 62I over his opponent. This brought
into congressional life one of the best men Pittsburg has yet produced, and of
whom we shall have more to say elsewhere. William Wilkins had scarcely
resumed his duties on the bench until his friends began to urge his election
to the United States senate. There were many candidates for the position,
among them being Stevenson and Denny of Pittsburg, and Governor Thomas
McKean, Charles J. Ingersoll and George M. Dallas of Philadelphia. Wilkins
received only six votes on the first ballot, but his strength steadily grew
until he had seventy-two votes on the twenty-first ballot, and this elected
him.
393CHAPTER XXX.
Canals; Their Effect on the Commerce of Pittsburg.
At the close of the Revolution the people of the Colonies began at once to
agitate the transportation question. This agitation was first applied to country
roads which served well their day and generation. Next after these came
canals. Water always had been, and perhaps always will be, the cheapest
medium of transportation when practical, and where speed is not a requisite.
Wind has been the great power which has carried the wealth of the East
to the old-time centers of industry in Western Asia and Eastern Europe. But
this was out of the question as a motive power for internal navigation. In
honoring Robert Fulton as the father of steam navigation it is often forgotten
that. he was equally prominent in canal building prior to the great invention
so inseparably connected with his name and fame. Fulton was a native of
Lancaster county, and in early life spent several years in England studying the
question of inland navigation. There he published a book illustrated with
drawings of canal boats, aqueducts and locks for lifting and lowering boats.
On his return to the United States he urged canal building as a method
of internal navigation for the commerce of his native state. In a letter which
he wrote to Governor Penn, of Pennsylvania, he used these words:."The
time will come when canals shall pass through every vale in our land and
every hill, and bind the whole country in one band of social intercourse."
This became an oft-quoted sentence by the early advocates of canal building
as a means of internal improvement. The. extravagant prophecy would probably have been realized had not better methods of transportation been introduced. It must not be supposed that canals were new in the world's history
at that time. They had been used in Egypt and China even before the days
of Julius Caesar, and had for centuries been used throughout Europe before
the days of Robert Fulton, btft most of the canals of Europe, although of
ingenious conception, were impracticable in America, and none were so valuable
to us as those which were outlined and advocated by our own Pennsylvania inventor. In' I79I a "Society fo-r Promoting Improvement of Roads and Inland Navigation" was formed in our state and gave a great deal of attention
to the surveying of several routes across Pennsylvania by which the DelawarePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
river might be connected with the northern lakes. At that time, it will be
remembered, the Mississippi was closed to American commerce for the
Spaniards owned Louisiana, and they were somewhat hostile to the United
States.  Nor was the situation improved by its sale to France for that
country was almost equally hostile to us. But when Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiana from Napoleon' Bonaparte for the United States in i803,
the great object sought by our people from that time forward was a connection between the Delaware and' the Ohio rivers. The advantages of such
an achievement, particularly to Pittsburg, must be easily obvious to any one
who contemplates its surroundings at that time. The Louisiana purchase
meant more to Western Pennsylvania than we are likely to imagine now. It
gave this great isolated section, rich in its products or rather rich in the
possibility of its products; its first real outlet to the seaboard and to the commerce of the world. It was equally beneficial to the East and that section
of Pennsylvania, far in advance of the West in -wealth, became greatly
interested in the canal across our state so that our products gathered by the
three rivers at Pittsburg, might not reach the East by sailing first westward on
the Ohio river. The canal from Buffalo to New York was built largely through
the efforts of DeWitt Clinton and was opened up on November 4, I825. The
result was that the cost of carrying freight over the route from Buffalo to
the Hudson river was at once reduced from $Ioo per ton to $io per ton,
and a still further reduction came later. This awakened our people to the
great importance of a similar waterway across Pennsylvania. The legislature
took up the question and had surveys made of all the principal rivers in order
that the most practicable route might he selected. They began on the theory
that a canal across the Allegheny mountains was impossible, but they had the
enterprise to arrange that the gap might be supplied by good roads across the
mountains. Much time was spent in trying to locate the canals on the east
and west side of the Allegheny mountains, so that the roads crossing them
would be as short as possible. In I824 the assembly authorized the appointmen of three canal commissioners to explore and determine on the best route
from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and on April I, I825, they were appointed.
The Union canal had already been built connecting the Schuylkill river with
the Susquehanna, its western terminus being near Harrisburg. The commissioners appointed by the governor reported the route by the Juniata river, and
the Conemaugh river to be the most practicable. Accordingly in I826 the legislature provided for the construction of the Pennsylvania canal. It was to
begin at the western terminus of the Union Canal and extend to the mouth of
the Juniata river. West of the mountains it was to extend from Pittsburg to
the mouth of the Kiskiminetas river. The object of these commissioners was
evidently that both the Juniata and Allegheny rivers should be made navigable
by slack water improvements. The legislature appropriated $300,000 for
the building of the canal, so that the work could begin on it at once. This was
done and it was pushed so rapidly that in i827 the water was turned into
395PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
somne train, he pushed on by easy stages, establishing fortified magazines as he
went, intending:at last, when close to the fort, to overwhelm it with his united
forces. In furtherance of these plans he meant to unite his army at Fort
Ligonier before a final march was made.
While Bouquet was at Ligonier awaiting the arrival of the main army
of Forbes, he sent out, perhaps unwisely, an expedition under Colonel James
Grant, composed of thirty-seven officers and eight hundred and thirteen
men. Grant was supported by Major Lewis, of Virginia, and Captains
Bullet, McDonald and, McKenzie. He was particularly instructed by the wary
Bouquet not in any event to bring on a battle, but to approach as near the fort
as safety would permit and to collect all possible information concerning the
enemy. Major Grant had urged Bouquet to send him out on this mission.
Bouquet, however, had great faith in Grant, for in a long letter written to
Colonel Burd, relative to the westward march, (the original of which is now
in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania), he says, "If any
difficulty should occur to you, consult Major Grant, whose experience and perfect knowledge of the service you may rely on."
The command left camp at Loyalhanna on September IIth. They made
rapid marches, for they were unincumbered with baggage. The first day's
march took them across Chestnut Ridge, and at night they encamped near
the mouth of Nine Mile Run, so named from its flowing into the Loyalhanna about nine miles from'the encampment they had left, now Ligonier.
The place of encampment was a plateau covered with heavy timber, and is accurately described in the diary of Christian Frederick Post, the pious Moravian
missionary. On the east was the run, with a steep bank about twenty feet
high, which formed a natural fortification. Grant threw up earthworks facing
the west and north. These are all gone now but they are remembered by the
oldest men of the community, and the place is still known as Breastworks Hill.
The second day he marched twenty-five' miles west, and was then within about
fifteen miles of the famous Fort Duquesne.
The French and Indians had spies out, mostly Indians, who kept a close
watch on the main army, but undoubtedly overlooked Grant and his forces, who
passed under the very shadows of the fort without being seen. Two miles
east of the fort he left his horses and baggage, under the command of Captain
Bullet, with about fifty men. Late on the night of September I3th, or early on
the I4th, he reached the hill overlooking the fort, and less than a half-mile from
it. The celebrated hill which has since borne his name and is traversed by
Grant street, Pittsburg, is now known as the much discussed but apparently
immovable "hump." It was much higher then than now for its paring down
has been gradually going on for the last hundred years. It was then a rocky
bluff thickly covered with timber and was steep in its descent to the low ground
nearer the fort. Moreover, it was cut up by ravines which near the foot of the
hill formed a lagoon or swamp around which were thickets of underbrush,
making the passage still more difficult. Near the fort was a cornfield from.,l CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the levels at Leechburg. About this time the slack-water projects for the
navigation of the Juniata and Allegheny rivers was abandoned, and the canal,
when completed, reached from the Susquehanna river to Holidaysburg at the
base of the eastern slope of the Allegheny mountains, and from Johnstown, at
the foot of the western slope, to Pittsburg. The -canals were managed by a
board of Canal Commissioners, consisting of three men appointed by the governor. The appointment was one of the most important in the state, and
most invariably our leading business men were at first selected for these positions.
Next to the canal system itself, the question of the route by which it
was to enter Pittsburg and where it was to have its terminus, was uppermost
in the minds of the citizens of the place. Allegheny City people, as might be
supposed, saw no need of it being extended over the river, but Pittsburgers
looked upon it as a question of vast importance to their commercial interests,
as they expected to connect it with other canal systems reaching to the West
and North, thus gaining better shipping facilities. One plan advanced, was to
extend the canal down Liberty and Penn streets; another down Smithfield
street, and still a third scheme, was to tunnel a route through Grant's Hill,
the objective point being the mouth of Sukes run, which emptied into the
Monongahela river. After much delay and local parley, the tunnel route was
settled upon and carried out. Whether it was a wise or an unwise choice,
matters not at this time when the old style canals in Pittsburg are a matter of
the past, the railroads having long since superseded them. Thus it happened
that the canal entered Pittsburg by means of an aqueduct constructed over the
Allegheny river, the main canal reaching the Monongahela river through the
Grant's Hill Tunnel, emerging at a point near Try street, thence to the mouth
of Sukes run. What was styled the "Basin" was located at what is now
Eleventh street and Penn avenue, near the present Pennsylvania railway
Union Station, where the collection and distribution of freight and passengers
was carried on. The scene there was one of a truly busy mart. Numerous
warehouses, owned by the various transportation companies, were located
along the several "Slips," or shorter canals, which diverged from the main
"Basin," where boats were daily seen with their heavy cargoes of freight, being
loaded or unloaded. Since the abiandonment of the canal system for railway service, the scenes along the line of this canal, and its feeders, have
been greatly transformed so that scarcely a trace of the old canal can be seen
by the keenest-eyed passer-by, the excavations having long ago been filled
up, and many tall buildings stand now where once stood the sluggish waters
of the canal, bearing on its turbid bosom its valuable merchandise.
During the latter part of June, I827, the western division of the canal
was under contract. The construction of the Allegheny river aqueduct was
undertaken by La Barron for the sum of $Ioo,ooo, but on his failure to complete the work, it was finished by another contractor. The tunnel through Grant's
Hill to the Monongahela river was let to Meloy  Company at $6I,ooo.
396PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             397
It was stipulated that both tunnel and acqueduct should be completed
March I, I829. The Gazette of June 23, I829, said: "The waters of the canal
have at length arrived within the bounds of Alleghenytown."  The Mercury
of September, I829, announced that: "The canal packet, "General Lacock,"
under Captain Leonard, made its first trip on the last of June, I829, on the
western division of the canal, the starting point being opposite Herr's Island."
In I830 David Leech owned and conducted a line of canal boats between
Blairsville and Pittsburg, the rates being: for freight, twenty cents per hundred pounds, and two cents a mile for passengers. The reader will appreciate
the bit of sarcasm with which the following paragraph, which appeared in the
Statesman, in August, I832, was tinctured:
Boats have passed the subterranean passage through Grant's Hill and
safely debouched into the Monongahela river. The canal is also generally
navigable and an inland trade is brisk.  Some! skeptical gentlemen have
affected not to understand the underground project, but they may now not
only see through it, but go through it in a canal-boat.
Mr. David Stevenson, an English engineer, made the journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg in I836, and gave an extensive and well prepared account
of it. The entire distance, he said, was 395 miles which he traveled in ninetyone hours at an average rate of about four and one-half miles per hour, and at
a cost of three pounds sterling, nearly four cents per mile. One hundred
and eighteen miles of this distance was made by railroad, and this method
of travel he styles as "extraordinary." The main part of the journey, 277
miles, was made by the Pennsylvania canal. He came by the Columbia railroad from the Delaware river to the town of Columbia on the Susquehanna;
thence by the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers and by the canal to Hollidaysburg at the eastern base of the Allegheny mountains. Over the mountains
he came on the Portage road to Johnstown, where he took the canal down the
Conemaugh and Allegheny rivers to Pittsburg. Canal boats for the central
division of the canal were frequently hauled on the railroad to Columbia and
there put into the canal and brought to Hollidaysburg. That division of the
canal had thirty-three aqueducts and one hundred and eleven locks, and rose
585 feet between its eastern terminus and the foot of the Allegheny mountains at
Hollidaysburg.
The Portage road, thirty-six miles long, cost $I,86o,ooo, and required
fully two years of steady work, work as work was then done, to build it. It had a
second line of rails in I835, two years after the completion of the first. It crossed
the mountain at Blair's Gap, 2,326 feet above sea level, and had a tunnel on
the summit about goo feet long. Much of this distance was made by side
hill cuttings and embankments, which required heavy walls, some of them being
oo00 feet high. At the head of the incline was a thirty horse power engine,
which by the means of a large cable pulled the trains, the descending and asA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
cending ones moving at the same time on the double track. Three cars, each
laden with three tons were considered a load for the stationary engine and
cable. Twenty-four cars with seventy-two tons freight could be taken over
an incline in an hour, and this was abundantly rapid for the traffic of the road
as it existed at that time, for there were during its first years seldom more than
a hundred cars passed over it per day. For passenger traffic the trip over the
Portage road was a very tedious one. A passenger might start from Hollidaysburg in the morning, say at nine o'clock, and reach the summit of the
mountain at noon, where, after a wait of an hour, during which time he could
dine at a hotel, he could resume his journey and reach Johnstown at about
five o'clock p. m. Rarely ever were there less than six or seven hours of
actual time consumed in traveling this distance of thirty-six miles.
The western division of the canal, 105 miles long, had 64 locks, and
I6 aqueducts, and a tunnel about I,ooo feet long. Canal business had scarcely
begun in earnest when the agitation of building a railroad across the state
begun. The Pennsylvania Canal is said to have cost the state $26,ooo,ooo
originally, and subsequent outlays for loss by floods, repairs, changes, improvements, etc., brought the cost up to $4o,ooo,ooo.oo. The canal, during
the latter years of its existence, was managed by politicians who were appointed as Canal Commissioners by the successive administrations of the state.
Resultant upon this method of appointment, its management was a constant
expense to the state during its entire life. It was almost universally called
the "Old State Robber." In 1847 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company purchased it from the state for $7,500,000. It had already entailed a debt on'
the state of about $40,000,000, the payment of which required -nearly a
generation. But the state gained immensely by the canal, for it saved the
traffic of the West from going across New York by the Erie canal. This
traffic built up Pittsburg and Philadelphia, and developed all the intervening
territory in Pennsylvania. The reader will readily notice by the.census table
elsewhere in this work that Pittsburg's growth was slow until the canal was
finished and that, barring a few financial depressions, its progress in population
and wealth has been rapid and steady ever since. The business men of the city
should never forget the debt they owe to the old Pennsylvania canal.
The canal came down the Conemaugh river from Johnstown and crossed
the Allegheny river at the mouth of the Kiskiminetas on an aqueduct, and
then came down the western bank of the Allegheny river to Allegheny City.
There were two branches of it; the one branch followed Lacock street
to the river near Balcam street, while the other crossed the Allegheny by an
aqueduct built at a great expense and came into Pittsburg. The canal on the
Pittsburg side came up to the intersection of Penn avenue and Eleventh
street, where the "Basin," a very important adjunct of the canal, was constructed. There were several short branches of the canal in Pittsburg, which
led to warehouses and other prominent places for the taking on and unloading of freight. The main line of the canal came up Eleventh street,
398PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            399
crossing Liberty street to Seventh avenue. There it entered a tunnel by
which it passed under Grant's Hill, and came out onto the Monongahela river
near Try street. The mouth of the tunnel entering Grant's Hill was a short
distance below the present tunnel of the Panhandle railroad.
The canal very greatly reduced the cost of transporting commodities between Pittsburg and Philadelphia. The average freight charges on the canal
between these two cities was about one cent per pound and the time consumed
by freight boats was between six and seven days. Packets on the canal, which
carried passengers, ran more rapidly, making the journey one way in about
three days on an average. The fare was also much less than the fare by stage
coach. So the canal took from the turnpike a great deal of its travel and
freight and was of great advantage to Pittsburg in its day.
Canal boats were not expensive, and a man with a capital of but a few
hundred dollars could purchase a boat, employ a few laborers and engage
in the general canal transportation business. Had the management been kept
out of politics it might have resulted in great gains rather than in immense
losses for the state. The authorities of Pennsylvania were anxious to improve
the state and enlarge its traffic in every way and in doing so they probably
grasped and undertook more than they were able to manage and pay for.
Every outlying section of the state wanted its share of the improvements.
To secure the votes of the legislators of these remote districts so that the
main line improvements might be introduced, concessions had to be made to
them that were in the end ruinous to the entire system' of internal improvements.
The business done by the canal for the year ending with October, I833,
may be seen by the following table, which shows the traffic of the eastbound boats only:
Passengers
Months.                  Tonnage.    miles traveled.   Value
I832  November......  470,320         6,I52        $330.72
December.............    40I,020       18,246           228.05
I833  January..............   215,593           645           6o. Io
February, closed.
March................    388,966           605          203.94
April................. I,187,670           990          548.30
May..................  712,578            8,326         58I.IO
June.................  1,5 I2,809          I36          576.95
July..................   943,000        I,I02           498,28
August...............   820,440           1,593         486.87
September..........       814,669         1,257         597.02
October...............   939,578        1,228           802.74
Total............. 8,406,643        40,280       $4,914.07
By the above it will be seen that the canal was closed during the month
of February. This was, of course, due to the cold weather, which did notA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
generally last more than one month in a year. The Erie canal was frequently
frozen up three, four or even five months in a year, and the Pennsylvania
people took advantage of this by spreading it broadcast, so as to draw the trade
from a route which they said was liable to be "frozen up half the year."
In the early thirties a firm, consisting of Peter Shoenberger, John McFadden, John D. Davis, John and William Bennett, John Dougherty, James
M. Davis, G. and J. H. Shoenberger, had formed a company known as the
Reliance Transportation Company. Their object was to, operate a line of
hacks or stages three times a week between Pittsburg and Uniontown. In
June, I839, this company sold out to the Reliance Portable Boat Company,
which was composed of the same men, except John Dougherty. They at once
engaged in the canal-boat trade. In I840 the principal canal transportation
companies were: David Leech  Co., of the Western Line; H.  P. Graff,
of the Union Line; Laaffe  O'Connor, of the Portable Car Body Line; John
McFadden  Co., of the Portable Iron Boat Line; William Bingham, of Bingham's Line; J. C. Reynolds, of the Dispatch Line, and McDowell  Co., of the
Pennsylvania  Ohio Line.
No improvement up to this time in the history of Pennsylvania was
attended with so much benefit to Pittsburg and the West as the completion
of this canal. Towns and villages sprung up all along its route, and those
who will look at the population of Pittsburg will see that it increased correspondingly from that on. Blast furnaces were started in many sections of
Western Pennsylvania at once. The mountains, which had hitherto been regarded as almost worthless, now became of great value because of their
deposits of carbonate iron ore, and because they were densely covered with
timber. The blast furnaces afforded a market for the timber, for they were
operated entirely by charcoal. The canal came west from Johnstown on the
north bank of the Conemaugh, passing near the towns of Nineveh, New
Florence, Lockport, Bolivar, Blairsville, Saltsburg, Leechburg, thence to Freeport and down the west bank of the Allegheny. It crossed the Conemaugh
to the south bank at Lockport on a beautiful arched stone aqueduct, which
stood for many years as a monument to the enterprise of the past, and was
removed by the Pennsylvania railroad in I888. The first canal boat on the
western part of the canal was built at Apollo, and was called the "General
Abner Leacock." It was intended as a freight and passenger boat, having
berths and cabin like the steamboats of that period. Of course a great hinderance to this method of transportation was the road across the Allegheny
mountains, but the genius of the age overcame that, and in 1834 a portage railroad over the mountains was built which connected the two canals. Its method
of construction will be considered in the part of this work relative to the
Pennsylvania railroad.  As a result of its construction, a canal-boat was
brought from the East over the canal where it was loaded on trucks and brought
over the mountains to Johnstown, where it was again put on the canal and
400PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            40I
finally reached Pittsburg. The newspapers of that day heralded this as one
of the great feats of business enterprise of modern times.
Capitalists invested money in all schemes along the line of the canal, and
business men who were not interested in canal lines, in its boats, in iron
furnaces, and in many other agents of transportation, such  as turnpikes,
stages, etc,, were not regarded as the most enterprising or wealthy, nor were
they supposed to be on the true highway to fortune. A canal may be briefly
described as an artificial water way over which boats were drawn by mules.
By the side of the canal was a narrow path, called a tow-path, on which
the mules were driven. They were hitched, tandem, to a long rope which
was fastened to the front part of the boat. By means of the rudder, the boat
was kept in the middle of the canal and could readily be landed at the side
opposite the tow-path when necessary. Each section of the canal was a level
from one end to the other. The next section of the canal being lower or
higher than the first, the boat was either lowered or raised as might be necessary, by means of a lock, which was practically the same in construction
as the locks now used on rivers which are made navigable by slack water
dams. Those on the Monongahela near Pittsburg illustrate well the principle, but are much more complete than those in the. early days of canal building with their limited capital would warrant. The average canal was about
30 feet wide and held from four to five feet of water. The canal boats varied
in length and width. They were generally about I2 feet wide and from 25
to 50 feet long. Two boats could therefore pass each other, for a boat was
never quite half as wide as the canals.  These canals sometimes passed
through hills by tunnels and likewise over small valleys or rivers by embankments or bridges, the latter being called aqueducts. The canal was fed at
its highest section, usually by a dam across a stream or river, and the water
then moved slowly from there to the next section lower, and so on to the
end of the canal. These basins being almost level, the water went so slowly
that it often became stagnant in the summer, and there being almost no
current at all, the boat could be landed at any time, and the draft was about
the same going either way. It was indeed a very cheap system of transportation, and was well suited to that age of limited finances. Two mules
could easily draw a canal boat laden with from 50 to Ioo tons, and the average
speed was about three miles per hour. The mules were driven on a rapid
walk or slow trot, unless the boat was unusually heavily laden. While this
speed was sufficient for iron, coal, lumber, stone or almost any species of
freight, it was too slow for passenger traffic, and the canals were never, therefore, very much opposition to stage lines passing over the turnpike between
Pittsburg and Philadelphia. They were, however, of great advantage in
the transportation of freight and reduced the wagon trade correspondingly
on the pike. From the Blairsville Record of July 23, I829, we copy the following:  "We have delayed the publication of our paper until this morning so that we might announce the arrival of the first packet boats, the
26A CENTURY AND A HALF OF'Pioneer' and the'Pennsylvania,' at the port of Blairsville.  They arrived
last evening. They are owned by Mr. David Leech, whose enterprise and
perseverance entitle him to much credit. A large party of citizens and
strangers met the- boats a few miles below this town and were received on
board with that politeness and attention for which Mr. Leech is proverbial.
The'Pioneer' passed the first lock below, this place in the short space of
three minutes. The boats are handsomely fitted up and well calculated to
give comfort to the passengers. They were welcomed at our wharves by the
presence of many citizens of both sexes. They departed at nine o'clock this
morning for Pittsburg." These were the first real passenger boats which
passed over the canal, though freight boats had been used about two years
before this. One of the most interesting descriptions of travelling by canal
in Western Pennsylvania is given by Charles Dickens in his American notes,
written during his first visit to the United States in 1842. He arrived in Pittsburg at 9:30 p. m., on MVIarch 28, and his arrival was announced in the
Morninlg Chronicle on March 29. So the trip which he describes was taken
on the 28th. Dickens came from Johnstown on David Leech's packet called
the "Express," and went from  Pittsburg to St. Louis.  From  his'Notes'
we quote the following:  "The canal extends to the foot of the mountain,
and there of course it stops, the passengers being conveyed across it by land
carriages, and taken on afterwards by another canal boat, going aboard of
the. first which awaits them on the other side. There are two canal lines
of passage boats; one is called the'Express,' and the other, a cheaper one,
the'Pioneer.' The'Pioneer' goes first to the mountain, and waits for the'Express' people to come up, both sets of passengers being conveyed across
it at the same time. We were the'Express' company, but when we had
crossed the mountain and had come to the second boat, the proprietors took
it in their heads to drive all the'Pioneers' into it likewise, soi that we were
five and forty at least, and the accession of passengers was not at all of
that kind which improved the prospect of sleeping at night. One of two
remarkable circumstances is indisputably a fact with reference to that class
of society who travels in these boats, either they carry their restlessness to
such a pitch that they never sleep at all, or they expectorate in their dreams,
which would be a mere mingling of the real and the ideal. All night long and
every night on this canal, there was a perfect storm and tempest of spitting.
Between five and six o'clock in the morning we got up, and some of us went
on deck to give them an opportunity of taking the shelves dowri, while others,
the morning being very cold, crowded round the rusty stove, cherishing the
newly kindled fire and filling the grate with these voluntary contributions of
which they had been so liberal at night. The washing accommodations were
primitive. There was a tin ladle chained to the deck with which every
gentleman, who thought it necessary to cleanse himself, many were superior
to this weakness, fished the dirty water out of the canal and poured it into
402PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
403
a tin basin secured in a like manner. There was also a jack-towel hanging up before a little looking-glass in the bar, in the immediate vicinity
of the bread and cheese and biscuits, with a public comb and hair-brush.
And yet, despite these oddities, often they had for me, at least, a humor
of their own-there was much in this mode of travelling which I hardly
enjoyed at the time, and look back upon it now   with  great' pleasure.
Even the running up barenecked at five o'clock in the morning from the painted
cabin to the dirty deck, scooping up the icy water, plunging one's head into
and drawing it out all fresh and glowing with the cold, was a good thing.
The fast, brisk walk upon the towing-path, between that time and breakfast,
when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health, the exquisite beauty
of the opening day, when light comes gleaming off from every thing; the
lazy motion of the boat when one lay idly on the deck, looking through,
rather than at, the deep blue sky; the gliding on at night so noiselessly, past
frowning hills, sullen with dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red, burning
spot high up where unseen men lay crouching round a fire; the shining out of
the bright stars, unadisturbed by noise of wheels or steam or any other sound
than the rippling of the water as the boat went on, all these were pure delights."CHAPTER XXXI.
Pittsburg's Prominent Visitors:  Lafayette, Dickens, Kossuth, The Prince of W7ales,
Lincoln, Grant.
The homage which a city pays to a distinguished man who spends but
a day within her gates may not be a true index to the character of her citizens,
nor may it form a chapter in the city's history. Nevertheless, from the description of the manner in which the stranger is received, we may form soime
idea of a people who have long since passed away.
In 1824-1825 Marquis de Lafayette visited America for the last time.
The Congress of the United States had requested President James MIonroe
to send him a special invitation, in response to which he came here as the
nation's guest. Lafayette had come to America when a youth of less than
twenty years to play a very important part in the Revolution. His coming
here as a wealthy stranger, of noble birth and lineage, to assist in the weak
cause of the colonies, had inspired the Revolutionary soldiers with new hope
and courage. He made many sacrifices in order to aid our people in their
struggle for liberty. He was married to a lady of rank and fortune, from
whose youthful beauty and charming companionship he had torn himself with
great reluctance. He had also relinquished the splendors of the French Court,
and turned his back upon the blandishments of official preferment in his native
land. In return for this he asked only to be allowedl to enlist in the American
army as a volunteer, and to serve at his own expense. Because of his illustrious family and his great zeal for the cause of freedom, Congress voted him
the honorary title of a lMajor-General in the United States Army. Fortyeight years passed away and he came again to our shores, not as an unknown
youth, but as a venerable man of nearly three score years and ten; not as a
stranger but, after Washington, as the idol of the American people.  He
spent more than a year here visiting all of the twenty-four states then in
the union and was everywhere greeted with an enthusiasm which could only
spring from a deep-seated affection. He came into Allegheny county from
Uniontown, in the county which had been named in his honor. On May 28,
1825, he left Uniontown and after visiting the residence of Albert Gallatin,PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
405
reached Elizabeth, where he and his party were taken in a boat and rowed
down the Monongahela river to Braddock's Fields, reaching the latter place
about sunset. Braddock's battle had taken place nearly seventy years before
and the main part of the field was farming land with a splendid country residence nearby, owned by Mr. George Wallace. In this Lafayette and his party
were entertained, and they spent considerable time in going over the battle
field, discussing the unfortunate defeat. Though seventy years had passed
since the battle, the farmer could scarcely draw a furrough without "turning
up bones whitened by time and fragments of arms corroded by rust." Many
people were at the residence of his host, Mr. Wallace, and all greeted him
most kindly. A large delegation of citizens of Pittsburg were there to meet
him when the boat arrived at Braddock's Fields and early the next morning
Captain Murray's Troops of Light Dragoons went out from Pittsburg to
escort him and his party to the city. The entire road from Braddock's Fields
to Pittsburg, we are informed, was "covered with people." The escort moved
slowly and many hundreds shook hands with the General as he sat in his
barouche. They visited the arsenal, which announced the arrival of the distinguished guest by the discharge of twenty-four guns.  Major Churchill
and his officers of the garrison entertained him at breakfast. After leaving
the arsenal he was taken to a field nearby where the military companies of
Pittsburg, under the command of General Wilkinson, were drawn up in line
to receive him. From there the cavalcade resumed its way to the city where
they were received by Mayor Darragh and the public officers, and almost
every man, woman and child in the city had turned out to meet him. The
General was seated in a barouche drawn by four white horses. Immediately
upon entering Pittsburg they were driven to Darlington's Hotel on Wood
street. There the school children were drawn up to extend him a welcome.
Three carriages had followed the General's barouche containing the veterans
of the Revolution. These were John Bamwell, Alexander Gray, Elijah Clayton, Thomas Rae, David Morse, Thomas Vaughn, Richard Sparrow and Galbraith Wilson. All of them dined with him at the Darlington Hotel on Monday and at Ramsey's Hotel on the day following. They seem to have been
the last survivors of the Revolution in Pittsburg and the respect paid them on
this great occasion shows the loyalty of the people of the city to those who
had fought bravely that this nation might be born. One of the soldiers,
when presented to Lafayette, asked him if he had forgotten a young soldier who
offered to carry him on a litter when he was wounded at Brandywine. Lafayette looked at him carefully for a moment and then said: "No, I have not
forgotten Wilson, and it is a great happiness to be permitted to greet you
today.'  The General also recognized the venerable Reverend Joseph Patterson as another whom he knew as a young man in the Revolution. Before
leaving Pittsburg he presented Wilson with a gold-headed cane, perhaps in
special memory of the soldier's proffered assistance when he was wounded.
Prior to the battle of Brandywine Lafayette had fought only with WashingA CENTURY AND A HALF OF'
which the French occupants of the point in their first year had harvested as
much as two thousand bushels of corn. Closer to the fort were twenty-five or
thirty cabins scattered promiscuously about, and in these lived the Indian
allies.
Before the break of day on the I4th, Grant sent Major Lewis forward
with about four hundred Virginians, to "take anything that was found about
the fort."  Grant's forces, which were about equal to those of'Lewis, remained
on the hill. Lewis's men each wore over his clothes a white shirt, in order
that they could easily distinguish each other in the dark. Lewis very soon returned and reported to Grant that because of the many barricades of logs,
briars, fences, swamps, etc., and of the darkness, he could do nothing. Grant
investigated the matter personally, and found Lewis's men in great confusion,
returning to the hill, as he said, "each one seeking out his own way." Grant at
once sent forward a new party of fifty men, who approached near enough to
the fort to fire an outbuilding. The fire was discovered by the French and put
out, and so meagerly was the fort guarded that these approaches were not
discovered, the fire being doubtless regarded as an accident. Daylight had now
arrived. Grant was thoroughly disgusted with Major Lewis, and he accordingly sent him to the rear, with two hundred men, presumably to strengthen
Bullet's command. In reality, it is believed that he sent him back so that he
(Grant) might claim all the victory for himself. His undiscovered march an,d
the undetected approach of his men had led Grant to conclude that the fort was
in reality very weak. He therefore became most anxious to win the great
honor of taking the fortress over which two mighty nations had been for years
contending. He overstepped his orders, if, indeed, he had not done so before.
Had Grant reached the fort a few days earlier his rashly ambituous scheme
might have succeeded, for, but a day or so previous to his arrival, Captain
Aubrey had come from the Illinois region with large reinforcements for Fort
Duquesne, and the enemy now outnunmbered Grant's forces more than two to
one. Lewis took with him to the rear most of the Royal Americans and the
Virginia troops, leaving the Highlanders and the Pennsylvanians with Grant.
Even after daybreak a heavy fog obscured his vision almost as much as the
darkness, and Grant was still unable to more than locate the position of the fort.
He now determined to attempt its capture, and seemingly did it in the most
blundering way he could imagine. He ordered Captain McDonald with Ioo
Highlanders to go forward and assault the fort. He placed Captain McKenzie, with about 250 troops, on the left of the fort, that is, on the Monongahela
side, and Ioo Pennsylvanians were ordered to the right, that is, on the Allegheny side. Thus his forces were divided, so that they could not in any event
support each other. The drums and bagpipes were kept with Grant on the hill.
In a long letter which he wrote to General Forbes, explaining his actions, he
says that "in order to put on a good countenance and to convince our men that
they had no reason to be afraid," he gave orders to beat the drums and sound
the bagpipes. It was probably the noise of these bagpipes which exasperated.
32A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
ton, but on that occasion he asked permission to join Sullivan, and while dismounted and trying to rally his troops he was shot in the leg and with great
difficulty placed on his horse and borne from the field.
With Lafayette, throughout all of his tour through the United States,
was M. Levasseur, who acted as his secretary. He noted carefully many
events that occurred and published a book entitled "Lafayette in America in
1824-I825." By the time he reached Pittsburg they had visited most sections
of the United States and were undoubtedly tired of being constantly entertained in this way and the secretary therefore writes but briefly of this place.
He says that he has been called on to describe so many triumphal entries
into great and rich cities in the course of their travels that he is compelled to
pass some of them by in silence. "It is for this reason I omit the account of
his reception at the National Hotel at Pittsburg; although that city yielded
to no other in the United States in the splendor of her festivals and in the
expression of her sentiments of patriotic gratitude."  Pittsburg was then a
town of perhaps ten thousand people between the foot of Grant's Hill and
the rivers and considering this, these were indeed very glowing words. Then
the secretary adds: "I will not, however, quit Pittsburg without paying my
tribute of admiration to the eloquence of Mr. Shaler, who addressed the
General in the name of the citizens, and that of Mr. Gazzam, charged with the
presentation of the children of the public schools. These two orators, so remarkable for elevation of thought and eloquence of expression, obtained the
approbation of their auditors and excited in the heart of him whom they
addressed, the most profound sentiments of gratitude."  The men whose
oratory he speaks so highly of were Honorable Charles Shaler, who was
graduated at Yale College and became President Judge of the Courts of Common Pleas (I824 to I835). He was one of the eminent men of his day, and
lived until I869. The,other was Edward D. Gazzam, who afterward read
medicine and became somewhat distinguished in his profession, and also
represented Allegheny county in the State Senate. This great reception day
was on May 29th and on the day following Lafayette's party inspected the
city. The secretary says: "He was struck by the excellence and perfection
of the processes employed in the various workshops which he examined, but
that which interested him above all was the manufacture of glass, some patterns of which were presented to him, that for clearness and transparency
might have been admired even by the side of the glass of Baccarat." Bakewell,
Page  Bakewell were the makers of cut glass and presented two of their
choicest pieces of work to Lafayette. This is evidenced by the note of thanks
which the General sent the firm, a photograph of which is exhibited in the
Carnegie Library at Allegheny. The presents given him were vases which
he carried home to France. Lafayette was doubtless the most distinguished
visitor who has yet visited Pittsburg and well did the city demean herself on
this great occasion.
4o6PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
The Jeffersonian simplicity of the early days is illustrated in the manner
in which James Monroe was received in Pittsburg. He was inaugurated on
March 4, I8I7, and visited Pittsburg on Friday, September 5, following. The
Mercury dated a week after his arrival says that a few miles out of the
city he was met by a committee of arrangements and conducted to the ferry,
where an elegant barge rowed by four sea captains awaited his approach. As
he came down the hill to the river a national salute was fired from the city and
a band furnished music on the barge while crossing. On landing he was
received with military honors by Captain Irwin's company of volunteer light
infantry, and by the citizens with loud acclamations. A coach with four horses
waited to convey him to his lodgings, but "observing that the authorities of
the city were on foot, he chose to walk also." He was then escorted to the
residence of William Wilkins who was then President of the Common Council
of the city of Pittsburg. The following morning the city officials called on him
in a body. They were headed by James Ross, the leading lawyer, who made
the address on behalf of the visitors. He thanked the president for his efforts
in behalf of the western county and particularly for having opened up the
Mississippi river to commerce which greatly benefitted the interior and particularly Pittsburg. Later on Saturday the President visited the arsenal. On
the next day he attended the Trinity Church (Episcopalian) in the morning, and
the Presbyterian Church in the afternoon. On Monday he visited some of the
larger factories of the city.
Charles Dickens came to, Pittsburg unheralded on March 28, 1842. His
trip across the Allegheny mountains and from Johnstown to Pittsburg on a
canal boat, has been described in the "American Notes" and is given in these
pages in the description of the Pennsylvania canal. Dickens came on one of
David Leech  Company's canal boats called "The Express."  In announcing
his arrival the Morning Chronicle of Tuesday, March 29, I842, -aid that
Charles Dickens and lady had arrived in Pittsburg at half past nine o'clock
on the evening before, on their way to St. Louis, and had taken lodging at
the Exchange Hotel. "We understand," says the writer, "that the managers
have given him an invitation to visit the Theater tonight." That was the
extent of the notice given by the leading morning paper of the arrival of the
great English novelist in Pittsburg. "It is truly painful to contemplate mankind in such an aspect, Master Copperfield, but our reception was decidedly
cool." The apparently cool reception was not in reality because the better
people of the city did not appreciate Dickens, but rather, we should say because they did not know of his arrival. The Exchange Hotel, where he
stopped, was at the corner of Penn and St. Clair streets, now Penn avenue and
Sixth street, and occupied part of the ground at present covered by the Hotel
Anderson. When it was learned that' he was in Pittsburg the people turned
out and showed him every kindness and feeling of good will. Many hundreds went to see him so that during his stay here his reception rooms were
crow(le(l with the best and most cultured people of the city. In letters to
4o7A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
friends he speaks particularly of the enthusiastic reception which the people
of Pittsburg extended him. It is a fact that he was fairly lionized while he
was here.  On his return to England he published the "American Notes"
and in it he has been charged of speaking very unkindly of Pittsburg. This
is true but it is scarcely correct to say that he criticises Pittsburg more severely than he does other parts of America. He had the proverbial conceit
and bigotry of his people and in the new country he had doubtless noticed
many crudities that he thought it his duty to correct and reform. On his approaching Pittsburg he says: "Furnace fires and clanking hammers on the
bank of the canal warned us that we approached the termination of this part
of the journey. After going through a dreamy place, a long aqueduct across
another Allegheny river, which was stronger than the bridge at Harrisburg,
being a vast, low, wooden chamber full of water, we emerged upon that ugly
confusion of back buildings and crazy galleries and stores which always abuts
on water, whether it be river, sea, canal or ditch, and we were in Pittsburg."
On the canal boat he had become acquainted with a passenger whom he calls
"a man from  the brown forests of Mississippi," and with him  he parted
company on the wharf of the canal basin at the corner of Eleventh and
Penn streets. Here he was kindly greeted by a little man who was then a
portrait painter in Pittsburg and whom he had known years before in London. This little man he calls "D. G.," and from the "Notes" the meeting
was equally agreeable to both Dickens and D. G. After the novelist was
dead some years Mr. Foster published a "Life  of Dickens,"  including
some private letters which were probably published with bad taste. In them
Dickens speaks discourteously of the people of Pittsburg, some of whom at
least had treated him more graciously than he deserved. In describing his
crowded receptions he says there were some "very queer customers," and
among them was "a gentleman with his inexpressibles very imperfectly buttoned and his waistband resting on his thighs, who stood behind the halfopened door and could by no temptation or inducement be prevailed upon
to come out." Another visitor at his reception he describes as a man with
"one eye and one fixed gooseberry, who stood in the corner, motionless, like
an eight-day clock, and glared upon me, as I courteously received the Pittsburghians." It is doubtless true that some "queer customers" called on him,
for they are found in every community, but it was somewhat inelegant in the
novelist, who boasted of his own courtesy, to single out one or two of his
visitors for caricature and to, in some degree, include the many more polishled
people who extend to him the highest possible meed of homage and respect
they were able to show him when he was their guest. Yet these criticisms
must be considered in the light of his words concerning the American people
as seen on his second visit to America in I867, wherein he retracted his
severe criticisms of us made in I842, and asked his publishers to forever print
the retraction in all future editions of his works. At best, however, he did
not admire Pittsburg in 1842 and gave it less notice as a city than it really
4o8PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
409
deserved. The entire notice is as follows: "Pittsburg is like Birmingham in
England, at least its towns-people say so. Setting aside the streets, the shops,
the houses, wagons, factories, public buildings and population perhaps it
may be. It certainly has a great quantity of smoke hanging about and is famous for its iron works. It is very beautifully situated on the Allegheny
river, over which there are two bridges; and the. villas of the wealthier citizens, sprinkled about the high grounds in the neighborhood, are pretty enough.
We lodged at a most excellent hotel and were admirably served. As usual,
it was full of boarders and very large, and had a broad colonnade to every
story of the house." What would he have said could he have known that in
half a century from the time he wrote these words, Pittsburg would manufacture more iron in one year than Birmingham, London, Sheffield and Glasgow, and all the other of the iron cities of Great Britain put together? After
remaining in Pittsburg three days he and his wife, the same wife with whom
he quarreled and ceased to live with a few years later, left on a steamboat,
"The Messenger," for Cincinnati.
LOUIS KOSSUTH.
The heartfelt welcome extended to Lafayette by Pittsburg was probably
surpassed in enthusiasm and excitement when the much larger grown city
made ready to receive Louis Kossuth. He had been honored with the Governorship of Hungary, his native land, and had led a revolting army of his
people against Austria. The expedition was overthrown, and Kossuth himself was captured and confined in prison. While imprisoned he procured a
copy of an English Bible and of Shakespeare, and with these works alone
began the study of the English language. It is said that in the mastery of it,
which he acquired mainly in this way, he surpassed in accuracy that of the
most eminent scholars of his day, even among those to whom the English
language was a mother tongue. Kossuth was eloquent, romantic and extremely potent as a leader of men. When he was finally released from
prison he visited most of the great cities of England and the United States to
advocate the cause of freedom in Hungary. He came to the United States in
the latter part of I85I. He told a thrilling story of the wrongs of Hungary
and told it with an eloquence which thrilled alike the rich and the poor, the
educated and the unlearned in all parts of Great Britain and United States.
Wherever he went he enlisted the sympathy of mankind for the cause
of freedom which he advocated. When it was learned in Pittsburg that he
would soon visit the city, a public meeting was called to make arrangements
to properly receive him. This was held in the Supreme Court room on Saturday afternoon, December 27. The room was crowded to overflowing with
men of all parties, all occupations and all shades of religious belief. Moses
Hampton was called to the chair and a long list of prominent men were named
as vice-presidents. J. Herron Foster, J. G. Backofen, H. Mustler, Lecky HarA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
per and D. N. White were suggested and appointed as secretaries. A committee on resolutions was also named consisting of Colonel Samuel W. Black, J.
H. Sewell, M. W. Irwin, James McCaulay, Morrison Foster, William  A.
Irwin, W. W. Dallas, James Schoonmaker, R. B. Roberts, Joseph Morrison,
S. McClurken, Samuel Fahnestock and W. J. Rose. Eloquent addresses were
made by President Hampton, T. J. Fox Alden, Thomas M. Marshall, Dr. Edward D. Gazzam, Colonel Samuel W. Black and Charles Naylor. In the
meantime the committee on resolutions reported, through its chairman W. W.
Irwin, in a series of spirited resolutions and they were adopted by the meeting with a warmth of expression that indicated the feeling of the city. The
excitement in Pittsburg ran so high over the looked for arrival of Kossuth that
it entirely engrossed the feeling of the city. The newspapers of the day contained little else. All other matters were temporarily laid aside. The editorial
of the Gazette, December 3I, has the following: "We pray our readers to
recollect that not many great men are born in a century, and that never before has so sublime a spectacle been presented to the world of an exiled, penniless, untitled man being received by a great people with such distinguished
honor and such profound respect, and that respect and that honor so worthily
bestowed." A large executive committee, appointed by Chairman Hampton of
the citizens' meeting, of which J. P. Guthrie, H. S. Fleming and Colonel Black
were active spirits, had in the meantime been making grand preparations and
the people were daily becoming more and more anxious to give the great Hungarian orator and philosopher a splendid reception. On January 12, I852, a
meeting of the ministers of Pittsburg was held in a church on Sixth street
and another committee was appointed to prepare an address representing the
sentiments of the clergy of Allegheny county toward Kossuth and his.principles. Dr. Homer J. Clark was chairman and Reverend Paxton was secretary. In the meantime the reception committee had formulated an elaborate
program. At that time the railroad west of the Allegheny mountains had
not been completed and Kossuth and his party were journeying westward
slowly on the Northern Turnpike. General William Larimer, Jr., had been
appointed chief marshal of the parade. The route laid out by him and in conjunction with the committee was down Penn to Hay street, along Hay to
Liberty street, down Liberty to Short street, along Short to, Water street, up
Water to Smithfield street, up Smithfield to Fifth avenue, down Fifth avenue
to Wood street and down Wood to the St. Charles Hotel. Every arrangement
was made, the city was worked up to the highest point of expectation, but
Kossuth was snowbound and all arrangements were necessarily deferred. On
Saturday, January 17, his party reached the top of the Allegheny mountains
and lodged at the Mountain House. In the meantime a great snow had fallen,
deep enough to stop all transportation on the Portage road and the Pennsylvania canal was frozen up. At Hollidaysburg his party, numbering fifteen, had
taken sleighs but even these could not come further west than the Mountain
House because of the bitter cold weather and the increasing snow; nor could
4IOPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
they get any communication westward. The people of Pittsburg thought he
was snowbound somewhere on the mountains but could receive no communication from him. With the Kossuth party was Francis Pulsky and his wife,
who afterward wrote and published an account of the tour in America called
"White, Red, Black, Sketches of American Society," and from it we quote:
"On our journey over the mountains we suffered much from intense cold in
the open sledges. We had to put hot bricks under our feet and cover ourselves
with buffalo robes. The country through which we drove is inhabited nearly
exclusively by Irish. The small towns of Blairsville, Ebensburg, Armagh
and Salem are filled with them; and on the slopes of the Alleghenies
I saw that land is constantly being taken up, the trees girdled, felled and the
country cleared, though the soil is very poor. I was astonished to see that
people stopped here among the mountains who, could find further west a rich
soil, which better remunerate their toils. I was informed that the first settlements were founded by Irishmen only, that this happened to be the first
country they met where land was cheap on their way westward and that the
gregarious habits of the Celtic race soon peopled the country. Americans
rarely remain here; they clear the wood, patch up a loghouse and sell it to
those emigrants who do not like the hard work of the pioneer. In every little town a yelling Irish crowd, with pipers and drummers, greeted us, and
boisterously claimed a speech, protesting their sympathy for Hungary." The
party finally left the Allegheny mountains on January 2I and remained all
night in Blairsville. In the meantime sleighs were sent out from Pittsburg
to hasten their journey. The Gazette, of January 22, has the following notice:
"We are requested by the chief marshal, General Larimer, to say that at the
ringing of the bells, all the fire companies, committees, associations, delegations
and citizens intending to take part in the procession, will organize themselves
and'repair to the ground designated in the program so that the procession
can be formed within two hours after the first ringing of the bells." But the
distance from Blairsville was forty-two miles and the Kossuth party did not
reach Pittsburg until about half past seven o'clock in the evening. Kossuth
was moreover tired, cold and ill and longed for nothing so much as a good
night's rest. From the same book, "White, Red, Black," we again quote:
"We happily escaped the hubbub of a grand reception and procession which
awaited us not far from the city; for a gentleman of the Pittsburg committee,
in compassion to our fatigues and dreading the consequences of our health,
gave out that it was not Kossuth and his party who came along in the sledges.
Nevertheless before we had reached the city, it oozed out in which carriage'
Kossuth was; and the horsemen, and firemen and engines with their tolling
bells caught us in the very moment of our alighting at the back door of the
hotel." A great crowd of people gathered around the St. Charles Hotel and
would not be quieted nor dispersed until Kossuth came out on the balcony
and spoke a few words to them. He merely told them that he was physically
unable to address them, thanked them for their manifestations of kindness and
4IIA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
hoped that after a day's rest he would be able to speak to them. Then Colonel
Black addressed them in his usually happy and eloquent style, after which they
went to their homes. Kossuth and his party remained eight days in Pittsburg
and it was a very busy and interesting period, both for the people and the visitors. They were all delighted with Kossuth and he could not otherwise than
be pleased with a people who treated him as they did. Quoting from above
again: "For the cause of Hungary they were enthusiastic, and especially the
ladies exerted themselves most nobly to give practical proof of their sympathy,
not only under the excitement of Kossuth's speeches, but they formed and
kept up a lasting association for the aid of Hungary. Even they, however,
were surpassed in generosity by the workmen of the Pittsburg Alkali Works,
who, without exception, handed to, Kossuth a whole week's wages as their
contribution for struggling liberty in Europe." The Alkali Works, whose
employes gave so liberally, were in Birmingham and were owned by Bennet,
Berry  Co. When he left the city on January 3I, the Gazette said: "No
city that Governor Kossuth has yet visited has given him a more cordial, hearty
and enthusiastic reception than Pittsburg; in no place, probably, has he
made a more favorable impression. There has been no idle pageantry, no expensive feasting, nothing in short but a plain republican hospitality, and a
generous contribution of substantial aid to his cause, contributed cheerfully and
gladly by all classes."
Kossuth made many addresses and they were all eloquent, beautiful and
thrilling. It is safe to say that never before nor since has any man come to
Pittsburg who equalled him in his power over the hearts and minds of the
people.
KING EDWARD VII.
In the month of October, I86o, Pittsburg gave an ovation in honor cf
Baron Renfrew, Prince of Wales,- now King Edward VII of England. It
was on the occasion of his only visit to this country. His royal highness was
then about eighteen years of age. He was accompanied by several quite celebrated Englishmen and perhaps a dozen attendants. His itinerary covered
much of the domain of Canada and many of the principal cities of the United
States. He landed in Newfoundland and traveled westward, touching this
country first at Chicago and from that city went to St. Louis, thence to Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, New
York and Boston, re-embarking at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He sailed
for England October 20, after having been made welcome in the numerous
cities at which he stopped. He was but a youthful Englishman, but was received as the future king of England, and perhaps no city made him feel
more welcome than did Pittsburg, which city had been the first to formally
invite his presence. Through reading the London newspapers, it was known
that this tour was to be made at least through Canada, and at the timely sug4I2PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
4I3
gestion of General William Robinson a meeting was called which met at the
old Merchants Exchange and at which gathering the mayor, Hon. George
Wilson, was requested to send a special invitation to the young Prince, to become a guest of Pittsburg. By this time the royal party had reached America and the mayor sent him a letter, which was directed to one of the Canadian
cities and was at once answered, by the Duke of New Castle and addressed to
"The Mayor of Pittsburg." The letter informed the mayor that the Prince
had accepted the invitation and stated that he expected his party would arrive in Pittsburg October I. Then followed the details of work preparatory
to receiving the distinguished visitors. Among those who were active in this
work of making ready for the unusual event were: Neville B. Craig, General J. K. Moorehead, Thomas Steel and James McCaully. Among the several committees was one appointed to go to Alliance, Ohio, to meet the party
and properly escort them to P'ittsburg. Another committee was selected to
receive the Prince and his fellow travelers on their arrival at the old Fort
Wayne depot in Allegheny. This committee consisted of Mayor George Wilson, Hon. Thomas MI. Howe, R. Biddle Roberts, George W. Cass, John Morrison and Captain David Campbell.
On May Io, I86o, the Sixth street bridge (wire suspension) built by Col.
John A. Roebling, first opened for travel and was the thoroughfare passed
over by the royal guests upon their arrival in Allegheny City. This bridge,
then less than six months old, never looked more attractive, and was especially noticed by the eminent Englishmen, who were i'mpressed with the
thought that America possessed enterprise and constructive genius, to be the
first in the world to span a great water course by means of wire bridges.
This bridge, on the night the Prince arrived, was beautifully illuminated by
many lights, attached to the wires -on either side and overhead. At the depot,
through the thoughtfulness of General Case, the agent provided ample light
by means of several large locomotive headlights, the reflection of which gave
a cheerful appearance to the station.
Upon the arrival of the train, the Prince was seen standing on the
platform of the car (the same as one might now see a Yankee boy), with the
reception escort about him. Here Mayor George Wilson made an address of
welcome, which was beautifully and appropriately worded and which was favorably commented on, both here and in England. The procession from the
depot passed down Federal street and on over the suspension bridge, where
hundreds of boys had taken positions high up among the wire cables, on either
side of the roadway, in order to get a good sight of the Prince, of whom they
had very exalted notions, from hearing their parents talk of him who would
one day be king of England, should he live until Queen Victoria passed away.
The party arrived at the Monongahela House at about ten o'clock at night,
and being very weary, soon retired. The next morning, which was October
3, the Prince inquired of the landlord, John McDonald Crossan, for a
clergyman of the "Church of England," known to us as the Episcopal church.414                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
He was informed that such a personage was a guest of the house, and he at
once sought out and presented to him, the learned and highly polished Rev.
David Cook Page, who remarked to the Prince: "This is not the first time
I have met your lordship; I held you in my arms a few moments when you
were about to be baptized in Westminster Abbey, I then being a guest of the
Archbishop of Canterbury."
An immense crowd formed at the entrance of the Monongahela House in
the early forenoon, and many sought entrance to the parlor at the head of the
stairs which was occupied by the Prince, but the royal personages who had
him in charge baffled their every effort, and kept them waiting until nearly
eleven o'clock, the time set for the party to take a drive throughout the city.
Upon coming to the Smithfield entrance of the hotel, where the carriages were
in waiting, the Prince was soon seated on the back seat of a carriage with
Mayor Wilson, while Lord Lyons and the Duke of New Castle ioccupied the
front seat. The carriage was drawn by four splendid gray horses. The procession was headed by Robert H. Patterson and Christian Magee, and proceeded up Smithfield street, while Chief-of-police Robert Hague breasted the
tide of anxious spectators, trying his utmost to keep the way open. At Fourth
avenue, they met the Duquesne Grays, that splendidly drilled military company, under Captain Campbell, preceded by Young's then celebrated brass
band, which defiled on each side of the Price's carriage, forming an escort.
The procession included several conveyances containing the committees of invitation, and others. The young Prince was "observed by all observers," especially by the ladies who smiled and waved their handkerchiefs, he in return bowing and lifting his hat, seeming at perfect ease, and indeed perfectly
delighted at the attention paid to him. The Duquesne Grays never looked
more beautiful than upon this occasion. They wore spotless white trousers,
gray coats and caps with white plumes, and, with their boots shining, their
white gloves and glistening guns, they presented indeed a very imposing
spectacle. From Fourth avenue, the procession passed to Grant street and on
to Fifth avenue, down this thoroughfare to Wood street, thence to Fourth, to
Hay and on to Penn. The last named street was then considered one of
the most fashionable residence streets in the city. There were the homes of
many of the wealthier people of the place, and there the scene was one of
supreme splendor. The doors, windows and steps, with every available spot
were crowded with the beauty, fashion, we;alth and culture of Pittsburg.
Headed for the depot, the procession passed from Penn to Wayne, thence to
Liberty, and on to the station, where the Duquesne Grays formed a line, and
the Prince and attendants boarded the train for the East. The Prince stood
on the platform of the special train, showing himself to the multitude, being
no doubt, thrilled by the sweet strains from the band playing "God Save the
Queen," followed by three rousing cheers by the assembled throng. His train
left Pittsburg, at one o'clock in the afternoon and the young Englishman remained on the car platform as long as the station and people were in view.PITTSB URG AND HER PEOPLE
4I5
The city was decorated with a great array of flags all along the route
traversed. In many places the American and British colors were significantly
intertwined or floated side by side in the October breeze.
The general impression left by this visit upon the minds of Pittsburgers,
was that the Prince was a gentle, cultured young man. There was some little criticism, as' is always the case. One man remarked that his light colored
suit would have been more befitting in August days than in October. Another
thought the high crowned, white hat he wore, might be good enough for an
Englishman, but was not the proper head covering for an American of such
tender years.
Perhaps no other man in Pittsburg had as good an opportunity of conversing with him, and forming a correct idea, of the man who is now on the
English throne, as Mayor George Wilson, who had the honor of receiving the
Prince on behalf of the city, on this occasion. But it is related by him, and
not many years since, that it was with much difficulty, that he could get his
attention, on account of the apparent over officiousness of the Duke of New
Castle, who seemed to be the Prince's mouthpiece, and insisted on answer7
ing all questions asked by the mayor. But this was possibly for the good
reason that he was better qualified than the youthful Prince, who had not yet
seen his nineteenth birthday, and could not be expected to converse on great
subjects as readily as one of more mature years. Among the Englishmen of
the party, during their sojourn in Pittsburg, were the Duke of New Castle,
Lord Bruce, a most charming conversationalist, and Lord Lyons, then minister at Washington, from the court of St. James. The London and Liverpool newspapers made many complimentary notices of the reception accorded
the Prince in Pittsburg and the good Queen in the years which followed,
frequently expressed her pleasure at the manner her son was received while
in America. A book was published, containing an account of his travels, in
which Pittsburg was favorable mentioned.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
On the I4th of February, I86I, Abraham Lincoln and his family came to
Pittsburg on their way to Washington. The reception which was accorded
him was a spontaneous rather than a pre-arranged one, but no returning conqueror, no prince or potentate ever received a more loyal nor a more demonstrative welcome than he. He came from his humble home among the prairies
of the West, in a train which should have reached Allegheny at 5:20 in the
afternoon. Long before the hour arrived the streets were packed with thousands of men and women and from almost everyone came cheers for "Honest
Old Abe," a name that had often been applied to him in the preceding campaign. By some accident on the road near Rochester, Pennsylvania, not far
out from Pittsburg, the train was delayed fully two and a half hours, but
the people did not disperse. About six o'clock a cold steady rain began toPITTSBURG AND HER PF]OPLE
33
the inmlates of the fort. Their method of defence was one which showed great
military ability. They knew the country better than Grant did, and sent about
one-third of their forces quietly and quickly up the bank of the Allegheny, and
one-third with similar orders up the AMonongahela river, while the remainder
occupied the fort until the first and second detachments had passed up their
respective rivers far enough to be practically in the rear of Grant's army.
When these dispositions had been made, the soldiers in the fort marched out
boldly toward Grant's men, while the other divisions moved again'st their right
and left rear. In a few minutes they had practically surrounded Grant's entire
forces, and from all sides came the attack. The Indians filled the woods with
their warwhoops, and sprang upon the soldiers with tomahawks and scalping
knives. Lewis heard the firing, and hastened to the relief of Grant, (perhaps by his order), but Grant had fallen back from his original position and
retreated by a different route from that taken by Lewis, and the latter therefore
missed him. Both Lewis and Grant were captured by the French. Captain
McDonald, who had led the center, was killed early in the fight, and his men
fell back in confusion. Captain McKenzie was made a prisoner, and those of
his men who were not killed or captured were chased away. In less than a
half-hour everything was in confusion.
Several attempts upon Grant's part to make a stand failed, and his only
hope was to make a hasty retreat. Just when the rout promised to rival Braddock's defeat three years before, a partial relief came from an unlooked-for
source. Captain Bullet, stationed in rear with the wagons and baggage, heard
the sound of battle and hastened to the rescue. Knowing his fifty men
amounted to nothing in the face of the enemy, he concealed them in the bushes
and behind rocks, and kept up such an effective fire that the enemy magnified
his force, and to a great extent ceased firing. Bullet then restored to a strategem. He and his men marched boldly toward the enemy, with arms reversed,
as if they meant to surrender. The Indians, being pastmastcrs in the art of
treachery, and undoubtecily with sinister designs, fell into the trap. When
within a few yeards of the Indians, Bullet commanded a death-dealing volley
to be thrown in their faces, and the next instant the little command charged
with bayonets. The Indians never withstood the bayonet, and by this means
were temporarily routed. Bullet's men kept up the fight, refusing quarter or to
surrender, until two-thirds of them were killed, and they were driven to the
Allegheny, where some escaped by swimming across, and others were drowned.
It was learned afterward that the audacity of the onslaught convinced the Indlians that the much larger force which they feared, was in waiting near by.
NMeanwhile Grant's army, though with little order, made the best of its way back
to the Loyalhanna camp, with a loss of 273 men. This loss fell most heavily
upon the Highlanders, because, like Braddock's men, they had fought in the
open while the provincial troops concealed themselves and fought more nearly
accordino to the mnethods of their savage enemy.
This battle occurred near the hill where the Allegheney court house now
3A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fall but this seemingly only increased the multitude which came to greet him.
It should be remembered in this connection, that Pittsburg and Allegheny
county had given an unprecedented majority for Lincoln in the preceding
N9vember election. This large majority gave rise to one of his best, andc
among the Pittsburgers, one of his most oft repeated jokes. When the news
was flashed over the wires and was read to him, at his home in Springfield,
that Allegheny had giving him a majority, first of five, then eight and finally
of ten thousand votes, he turned to some friends who were with him, and said:
"Where is this State of Allegheny?" The majority was 8,907, which in those
days of evenly balanced parties was, indeed, a victory of which even a state
might have been justly proud.
At eight o'clock Mr. Lincoln's special train arrived at the Federal street
station in Allegheny City. From the station to the St. Clair (now Sixth
street) bridge, was a densely packed mass of cheering humanity. The bridge
itself was filled with people, all of whom were willing to endure the weather
however inclement, that they might see and welcome the man upon whom the
eyes. of a nation were turned and upon whom they rightfully thought the
preservation of the Union depended. The crowd had been rather quiet, but
at eight o'clock when it was known that the train had arrived the cheering
began with its greatest force. All the military organizations of the two cities
were in attendance and their first duty was to force the people back, so that
the distinguished guest and those who were with him, could make their way
from the train to the carriage. The multitude recognized him by his towering
height above those around him and by his, even then, well known features, and
this was the signal for renewed and tremendous cheering from all classes.
When he reached the carriage the assemblage demanded a speech, and this
call was repeated from hundreds of people, as the carriage passed up St. Clair
street, for it was impossible to drive rapidly from the station. Mr. Lincoln in
answer to these calls arose in his carriage and begged to be excused from
making an address at that time, but assured them that he would have a few
words to say to them the next morning. The escort from the station was
under the command of General J. S. Negley and was composed of the Pennsylvania Dragoons, the Washington Infantry and the Jackson Blues. They
escorted him as rapidly as they could to the Monongahela House, at the corner
of Smithfield and Front streets, where they encountered another immense
throng, equally bent on having him address them. It was estimated by the
papers printed the following day that fully ten thousand people awaited him
at the hotel. Evidently he did not intend to talk to them that night, but the
multitude importuned him so that he at length stood on a chair in the hall
of the hotel and said a few words to them in which he asked to be ex:
cused from talking that night, but promised to talk to them the next morning.
Only a few in the hall and office could hear what he said, and they were
quieted and satisfied. But on the outside of the hotel was a far greater crowd
and they continued to call for his appearance and for an address. They
4i6PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            417
had long before learned of his power as a public speaker. They knew that the
tall, ungainly man whom they received now as their honored guest, had
not only displayed a marvelous power in convincing juries of the West,
but that he had successfully measured swords with Stephen A. Douglas, the
ablest parliamentary debater of his day; an address therefore they were determined to have. Mr. Lincoln then went out on the balcony of the hotel and
spoke as follows:
"Fellow Citizens: I appear now for the purpose of coming to an understanding as to the best manner of closing this scene for tonight, and will inform you that tomorrow morning I will address you in broad day-light, at
half past eight o'clock from this balcony, when you will have an opportunity
of seeing my handsome physiognomy. The train leaves for Cleveland at ten
o'clock, and I will be able to adress you about fifteen minutes on what I
understand to be the greatest interest to the State of Pennsylvania. With
these few remarks I will say for the present, good night."
Previous to Mr. Lincoln's appearance on the balcony, someone of the bystanders cried out: "Say something about Allegheny county!" To this Mr.
Lincoln replied, that it was not necessary as it was widely known as the "banner county" of the State, if not of the Union.
The following gentlemen composed Mr. Lincoln's suite: Dr. W. S.
Wallace, John G. Nicolay, John Hay, Hon. N. B. Judd, Hon. O. H. Browning,
Hon. David Davis, Col. E. V. Summer, Maj. D. Hunter, Capt. George Hazzard, Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, Col. Ward H. Lamon, J. M. Burgess, George
C. Latham and W. S. Wood. Mrs. Lincoln with their son Robert T., a nurse
and two children, were also of the party, Mrs. Lincoln having joined her
husbiand at Indianapolis, Indiana. The president and his wife occupied rooms
Nos. 7 and 8, at the Monongahela House; the same rooms that had been
occupied the October before by Baron Renfrew, then the Prince of
Wales, now King Edward VII of England.
During the campaign his opponents had published widely that he was a
very homely man, and indeed his friends had not denied this; it was only. in
after years when the great soul of the man was seen in his face, that the
world began to even admire his features. But his face did not disappoint the
Pittsburg people. Indeed they formed the opinion that those rugged features
meant kindness, strength, integrity and soul. As a facile New York writer
has said: "They were carried past all impressions of mere beauty of feature
and symmetry of outline and they saw only the nobility of face and the depth
of the marvelous eye."
It continued to rain nearly all night after the arrival of Mr. Lincoln, and
was still raining in the morning, when a vast crowd had assembled on Smithfield street, at the hotel balcony, to hear the promised address. He had made
speeches at Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Steubenville, on his way
from Springfield, before he reached Pittsburg. His Pittsburg speech was a
most excellent one, perhaps the most faultless of any on his trip to Washing27A CENTURY; AND A HALF OF
ton, and it was less criticised than any other. He was introduced by Mayor
George Wilson in the following words:
The people of Allegheny county, relying on your wisdom and patriotism,
that the dangers that threaten the permanency of our government, may by your
prudence and firmness, be especially removed, and the glorious confederacy established by our forefathers may find in you an able and patriotic defender.
Mr. Lincoln then spoke as follows:
I most cordially thank his Honor, Mayor Wilson, and the citizens of
Pittsburg generally, for their flattering reception. I am the more grateful
because I know that it is not given to me alone, but to the cause I represent,
which clearly proves to me their good will, and that sincere feeling is at the
bottom of it. And here I may remark that in every short address I have made
to the people, in every crowd through which I have passed of late, some allusion has been made to the present distracted condition of the country. It is
natural to expect that I should say something on the subject; but to touch
upon it at all would involve an elaborate discussion of a great many questions
and circumstances, requiring more time than I can at present command, and
would, perhaps, unnecessarily commit me upon matters which have not yet
fully developed themselves. The condition of the country is an extraordinary
one, and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety. It is my intention to
give this subject all the consideration I possibly can before specially deciding
in regard to it, so that when I do speak it may be as nearly right as possible.
When I do speak I hope I may say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the
Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which will prove
inimical to the liberties of the people, or to the peace of the whole country.
And, furthermore, when the time arrives for me to speak on this great subject, I hope I may say nothing to disappoint the people generally throughout
the country, especially if the expectation has been based upon anything which
I may have heretofore said. Notwithstanding the troubles across the river
[the speaker pointing southwardly across the Monongahela, and smiling],
there is no crisis but an artificial one. What is there now to warrant the condition of affairs presented by our friends over the river? Take even their
own view of the question involved, and there is nothing to justify the course
they are pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, excepting such a one as
may be gotten up at any time by turbulent men aided by designing politicians.
My advice to them, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. If the great
American people only keep their temper on both sides of the line, the troubles
will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be
settled, just as surely as all other difficulties of a like character which have originated in this government have been adjusted. Let the people on both sides
keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due
time, so will this great nation continue to prosper as heretofore. But, fellowcitizens, I have spoken longer on this subject than I had intended at the outset.
It is often said that the tariff is the specialty of Pennsylvania. Assuming
that direct taxation is not to be adopted, the tariff question must be as durable
as the government itself. It is a question of national housekeeping. It is to
the government what replenishing the meal-tub is to the family. Ever-varying
circumstances will require frequent modifications as to the amount needed
and the source of supply. So far there is little difference of opinion among
418PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
4I9
the people. It is as to whether, and how far duties on imports shall be adjusted to favor home production in the home market, that controversy begins.
One party insists that such an adjustment oppresses one class for the advantage of another; while the other party argues that, with all its incidents,
in the long run all classes are benefited. In the Chicago platform there is a
plank upon this subject which should be general law to the incoming administration. We should do neither more nor less than we gave the people reason
to believe we would when they gave us their votes. Permit me fellow-citizens,
to read the tariff plank of the Chicago platform, or rather to have it read in
your hearing by one who has younger eyes.
(MlIr. Lincoln's private secretary then read Section I2 of the platform as
follows:)
That while providing revenue for the support of the General Government
by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imports as will encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole
country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to
working-men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics
and manufacturers adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and
to the nation commercial prosperity and independence.
Mr. Lincoln resumed: "As with all general propositions, doubtless there
will be shades of difference in construing this. I have by no means a thoroughly matured judgment upon this subject, especially as to details; some
general ideas are about all.  I have long thought it would be to our advantage to produce any necessary article at home which can be made of as
good a quality and with as little labor at home as abroad, at least by the difference of carrying from abroad. In such cases the carrying is demonstrably
a dead loss of labor. For instance, labor being the true standard of value, is
it not plain that if equal labor get a bar of railroad iron out of a mine in
England, and another out of a mine in Pennsylvania, each can be laid down
in a track at home cheaper than they could exchange countries, at least by
the carriage? If there be a present cause why one can be both made and
carried cheaper in money price than the other can be made without carrying
that cause is an unnatural and injurious one, and ought gradually, if not rapidly,
to be removed. The condition of the treasury at this time would seem to
render an early revision of the tariff indispensable. The Morrill (tariff) bill,
now pending before Congress, may or may not become a law.  I am not
posted as to its particular provisions, but if they are generally satisfactory, and
the bill sh'all now pass, there will be an end for the present. If, however, it
shall not pass, I suppose the whole subject will be one of the most pressing
and important for the next Congress. By the Constitution, the executive
may recommend measures which he may think proper, and he may veto!
those he thinks improper, and it is supposed that he may add to these, certain
indirect influences to affect the actions of Congress. My political education
strongly inclines me against a very free use of any of these means by the
executive to control the legislation of the country. As a rule, I think it better that Congress should originate as well as perfect its measures without
external bias. I therefore would rather recommend to every gentleman who
knows he is to be a member of the next Congress to take an enlarged view,
and post himself, sol as to contribute his part to such an adjustment of the
tariff as shall produce a sufficient revenue, and in its other bearings, so far asA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
possible, be just and equal to all sections of the country and classes of the
people. Thanking you most cordially for the kind reception which you have
extended me, I bid you all adieu."
From  nine, to about ten o'clock, February 15, after Mr. Lincoln had
finished his speech, he held an informal reception, greeting many Pittsburgers.
The committee of the Legislature, which was to be his escort to Harrisburg,
was also putting up at the same hotel, and they with many others, were received by him and his wife in the main parlor. When he left the Monongahela House, he was escorted directly to Federal street station, Allegheny,
which he was to have reached by a much longer route, but which he had ordered his private secretary, Mr. Nicolay, to change on account of time, and
for which afterwards he gracefully apologized to General Negley, who had
charge of the parade. When he arrived at the station, he was greeted with
another great throng of people, who desired only to see his' tall form and face
and witness his departure. It is said that the crowd around the station had
never been equaled in numbers and density. The mass of humanity was almost impenetrable, and all were cheering the great man as he was about to
leave for his arduous duties at the National Capital.. Mr. Lincoln had attended the first Republican convention, held in Pittsburg, February 22, i856, and had often been in the city as an unknown passenger on trains. Upon this last occasion, his special train left the station
shortly after ten o'clock. From P'ittsburg, he went to Cleveland, thence on
through to Albany, New York, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Washington,
making speeches at numerous cities, arriving in the capital city, February 28,
when he spoke to a serenading party.
The day following Mr. Lincoln's Pittsburg speech, the Gazette said:
"The visit of the president-elect, is an event which will long be remembered by
the people of this city and vicinity."
True, indeed, was this newspaper comment, as viewed in the light of the
history, which was made in this war-stricken country, closing with the assassination of Mr. Lincoln four years and two months after his Pittsburg visit.
Upon the news of his assassination, which reached Pittsburg about one
o'clock a. m. of April 15, I865, all business was suspended and early in the
morning many of the business places and better residences, as well as the
suite of rooms at the Mononghela House which he had occupied when in
Pittsburg were draped in mourning.  Three days later all business of the
cities was again suspended, by an order from the governor and mayor, while
the dead president's funeral train was going through the State from Washington by the way of Harrisburg to Philadelphia. A universal gloom settled
down on Pittsburg, as well as over every loyal city in the North, as this man
with "charity for all and malice towards none" was borne to his last restingplace among the prairies of Illinois.
420PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
42I.U. S. GRANT.
General U. S. Grant honored the city of Pittsburg with three regular
visits, and of course very often passed through at other times. The first was
on October 4, I865; the second, September I3, I866, and the last was after he
was president, and was made September 14, I869. His family accompanied
him on the first and last visits. On his first visit, he was entertained at the
Mlononghela House, and was introduced to the throng, who greeted him, by
Mayor Lowry, who made a befitting address, saying in part:
"It is the pious purpose of our citizens to rear on yonder eminence, a
monument to perpetuate the memory of the fallen heroes of the late war. Let
there be inscribed upon its lofty summit-'Washington, the Father, Lincoln,
the Savior and Grant, the Defender of his country.' Through all the coming
ages may their glorious names be saluted by the beams of the morning and
illuminated by the evening sun." Mr.. Grant stood in his carriage during the
address, but modestly declined making reply. Accompanying the General, was
his wife and Frederick, Ulysses, Nellie and Jessie, their children, together
with Alirs. Grant's parents-Judge Dent and Mrs. Dent.
In I866, when he visited Pittsburg, he accompanied President Andrew
Johnson and Admiral Farragut. The party was entertained at the St.
Charles Hotel, where the people clamored for Grant to speak in the evening,
at a late hour, whereupon he came forward and remarked: "Fellow CitizensWould it not be prudent now for you all to retire to your homes and to your
beds'? None others of this party will appear outside tonight and it will be desirable for you to go home."
On his third and last public appearance in Pittsburg, General Grant and
family stopped at the Monongahela House, but declined to speak. He dined
there and visited, out four miles, at the grove of Dr. Gross, of the Seventeenth
ward, where Humboldt Day was being observed, and where he made a few
remarks complimentary to the German people. The throng of citizens from
all ranks in life, regardless of political lines, were eager to see arid meet him.
From this city he, with his family went to Washington, Pennsylvania, for a
quiet visit.CHAPTER XXXII.
Pittsburg Politics I832-I856--Formation of the Repu.blican Party.
In I832 William Wirt, a florid orator and able statesman and lawyer of
Baltimore, was the anti-Masonic candidate and the opponents of Jackson having no candidate of their own, voted generally for Wirt as the best means of
defeating Jackson. Wirt carried the county and city both, for that year the
party lines were pretty closely drawn. The city and county were each Democratic generally until this election of I832 and had been so since the Whiskey
Insurrection. It is true that James Ross was a Federalist and had carried the
county in his race for the governorship, but his success was due mainly to his
personal popularity and he carried the county rather in spite of his being a
Federalist. The same was true of Walter Forward who was so popular and
highly esteemed here that he could secure any office he asked for. The Federalist party originated shortly after the formation of the constitution of the
United States. Their opponents were then known as anti-Federalists and this
name was retained by them until about I8oi, when they became more generally known as Republicans. This name was adopted by them long
before  it came into general use by which  to designate them. James
Ross was moreover President of the Select Council of Pittsburg from I8i6 to
I832, though the members of council who elected him to the presidency were
mostly Democrats. Politics was very little considered in the election of public officers until Jackson's administration. The rule of the Federal party was
practically ended with the presidency of John Adams and from that time,
I8oi, until I825 politics, as we know the term now, was almost unknown in
Pittsburg. In I830 the city of Pittsburg was divided into four wards with an
election district in each ward In I836 the Whigs, anti-Jackson men and
anti-Masons, were united in opposing Van Buren and the county gave
William Henry Harrison 3,622 votes while Van Buren received 3,074. In
I838 David Ritner, who was the candidate for governor, received 6,oo000
votes as against 4,500 for David R. Porter, the Democratic candidate.
From that time on the vote of the county and city was generally with
the Whigs.  It was the anti-Mason party which in this section first broke
up the Democratic majorities. It was somewhat of a moral question andPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
its power was equally inveighed against all secret societies, but the Masons being the most prominent organization of that natu're, drew  most
of the opposition and gave its nalme to the party. The anti-Masons were
found in all sections but were most potent in the rural communities. Many
Democrats took up the fight against the Masons and most of them  became so embittered at Jackson and his followers that when the anti-Masonic party passed away they had no place to go but to the Whig party
which profited therefore by the death of the  anti-Masonic party.  The
United States Bank question came, it is true, before the death of the antiMasonic party. There were, however, many anti-Jackson men who became
Jackson men when their only alternative was the anti-Masonic party, not that
they loved Jackson more but that they loved the anti-Masons less. The Democratic party of the state was split in twain by the contest for governor in
I835. -The one faction representing about the one-half of the party, nominated
George Wolf and the other faction nominated Henry A. Muhlenberg. The
anti-Masonic party selected Joseph Ritner. He had made the contest on the
same ticket in I829 and again in I832, each without any well grounded hope
of success, though his vote in I832 was greatly increased over his vote of I829,
and this led to his nomination in I835. But in I835 with the two opposing
candidates in the field, both of whom relied mainly on the Democratic party
for their support, the outlook was so promising that Ritner drew many votes
from both factions and was elected by a large majority. Both branches of
the state legislature elected that year were anti-Masonic and as a result the
anti-Masons were in complete power in Pennsylvania. This power was so
great that it very largely wrought their overthrow and death. It was clearly
their duty as a party to exterminate Masonry but like Banquo's Ghost "it would
not down." They canvassed the situation thoroughly in Harrisburg and found
that the one thing they could do in the way of manifesting their power as
anti-Masons was to pass an Act prohibiting the administration of extra-j'udicial
oaths. This act was passed and signed by Governor Ritner. The object of
act was to prevent societies of all kinds from administering oaths of secrecy
to new members. The law became at once a dead letter, for no secret society
was ever compelled to close its doors because of it. It remains yet in force as
much as it did in I836, when it was passed, or at all events the writer cannot
find any evidence of its having been repealed.  Indeed the Masonic fraternity and all secret societies seemed to bie strengthened by this opposition
for they grew more rapidly thereafter than before and it was but a few
years until every vestige of the anti-Masonic party was gone. In its day
it had undoubtedly a moral force but it could not legally enforce its power.
United with the anti-Jackson sentiment around Pittsburg it contributed more
than any other cause to break down the long standing Democratic majority.
This was its chief political effect in this section and otherwise its existence
would be thoroughly forgotten by the present generation. In the gubernatorial contest of I838 the candidates were Ritner and Porter when Alle-,
423A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
gheny county gave Ritner a majority of I,530, a marvelously large one. In
I840 it gave Harrison a majority of 3,000 over Van Buren and this was considered overwhelming.
The city of Pittsburg elected its first mayor in I836 and elected one each
year thereafter for twelve years when the term was increased to two years.
Jonas R. McClintock, who was elected each year for the first three years,
that is, I836-37-38, was a Democrat, but was elected because he was a very
popular young man, though the city during these years had clearly a Whig
majority. In I839 William Little, a Whig, was elected. In I840 William
W. Irwin, a Whig, was elected and in October he was elected to Congress.
In 184I James Thompson, a Whig, was elected mayor of Pittsburg and was
succeeded by Alexander Hay, who was elected also in 1842-43-44; being
elected for the latter year as an independent candidate. In 1845 the Whigs
elected William  J. Howard and in 1846 William  Kerr, a Democrat, was
elected. In I847-48 Gabriel Adams, a Whig, was elected mayor and was succeded in I849 by John Herron of the same party. In I850 there was a
strong anti-Catholic feeling in the city and Joseph Barker, who ran as an independent candidate, was elected mayor.
THE "cLOG CABIN"~ CAMPAIGN-I840.
Pittsburg was the scene of great enthusiasm during the Harrison and
Tyler presidential campaign of I840, indeed more intense was the feeling
than in the Andrew Jackson campaign. The Harrison and Van Buren elements brought to bear all the strength of their respective parties-the Democratic and Whig. General William Henry Harrison was the standard bearer
of the Whig party and the watch-words of the campaign were "Log-cabin"
and "Hard-cider"-"Tippecanoe and Tyler too." On February II, I840 there
was a great mass-meeting held by the Whigs at the court house to support
the nomination of Harrison. Hon. Harmar Denny was president of the convention and delivered a masterful speech on the issues of the day. All old soldiers
of the war of I812 were given seats on the platform. No such political gathering had assembled in Pittsburg since the General Jackson campaign. A
meeting was then called for March II, I840 by those "who favored protecting the home industries of this country and taking into consideration the
present embarrassed condition of the country." Thomas Bakewell was president of that meeting. At an adjourned meeting resolutions were passed,
which, after first declaring the true dignity of labor, and the great importance
of protection to domestic manufactures, reviewed the tariff legislation of the
country. They recited that. the policy of the country from the first tariff of
July 4, 1789, to that of I833, had been found by practice to be eminently conducive and useful to the great good of the masses of American people-that
when the tariff was the highest, from I824 to I832, the country was most
prosperous and that with the decrease of tariff rates, hard times and slug424PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
gish business conditions had invariably obtained. The Pittsburg delegation
which attended the Harrisburg convention nominating Harrison and Tyler
was one made up of the most brainy and substantial looking men of Pennsylvania. They carried a banner displaying a splendid portrait of Harrison on
the one side and on the reverse was a large picture of a log-cabin, with
General Harrison following a plow  in the foreground.  The Whig candidates became popular at once and the well-drilled organizations were of a
spirited type, sweeping everything before them.  "Hard-cider" and "Logcabin" became household words and won many a vote, as they met the sentiment of the common people.
On August I3, 1840, the Whigs of Allegheny City raised a log cabin
that was forty by sixty feet in size. They were aided by hundreds who came
from remote rural districts. The Whigs of Bedford county furnished and
sent over by the turnpike, a distance of a hundred miles, a fine pine pole
seventy feet high for a flagstaff. It was planted in front of the log labin,
which was the parties headquarters during the campaign.  However, the
largest meetings were held at Tippecanoe Hall in Pittsburg. The issues of the
day were labor and the tariff, which had been bitterly opposed but recently
by the political leaders from the South. In the vicinity of Pittsburg, there
were distributed five thousand medals, bearing the log-cabin and cider
barrel emblems.  On the sixth of October that year, a mass meeting was
held in Pittsburg, at which John Tyler, candidate for vice-president, made
a telling address. It was estimated that forty thousand people attended this
meeting. Walter Forward and other eloquent speakers were present, and
at night the streets were lighted up by the immense torch-light processions.
Of this event the Pittsburger said the following day: "Yesterday afternoon
the city of Pittsburg as well as Allegheny City, looked like a couple of spacious
harbors in which the hulls of ten thousand ships lay almost invisible amidst
a forest of masts adorned with cider barrels, streamers and flags." The
Advocate of the same date remarked that "A more beautiful display it was
never our fortune to, witness. Almost every flag and banner bore an inscription that gave the lie to the charge that the Whigs had no principles."
The Bakewells, glass manufacturers, presented Mr. Tyler with a miniature
log cabin of glass, while the Curlings and others gave him a glass canoe and
cider barrel.
Greeley's "Log Cabin," a valuable campaign paper, published in New
York, was sold and freely distributed in Pittsburg during this campaign.
"The Log Cabin Rifle," was the name of another paper which was published in Harrisburg, but circulated much in Pittsburg. Its prospectus contained the following: "This paper will be got up in handsome style, well
polished and mountecd and the lock, stock and barrel shall be of the best of
materials. It will be published on a sheet of royal size and sold at the low
price of fifty cents a copy from  June to November, 1840.  Commissions
liberal to agents."
425A CENTURY AND A. HALF OF
stands. Grant and Lewis were held as prisoners a short time, and then were
exchanged. Both were kindly treated by the French officers. Grant was a
man of ability, though he did not display it on this occasion. His stolen marctl
was probably unobserved by the spies only because of its improbability and foolhardiness. Two years later he was made governor of Florida. He afterward
won high renown in the English army, and fought during a part of the Revolutionary war, notably in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth Court
House. He commanded at the latter battle, and defeated General Lee. After
the,Revolution he was a member of the British Parliament, and died at his
country seat, near Elgin, Scotland, May 13, I8o6, aged eighty-six years.
The battle above narrated occurred on September I4, I758, and the troops
marched from the scene of action at Ligonier to Fort Duquesne in three days.
Stragglers reached the camp at Loyalhanna on the I7th, bearing the sad news
to Bouquet. He was by no means discouraged, but at once set to work to
strengthen his position until Forbes and his army should arrive. Flushed by
this victory over Grant, Bouquet had little doubt but the enemy would soon
storm his gates, and so it was, for on October I2th the foe was in battle array
about the camp at Fort Ligonier, they having approached the fort from the
south-west. There came about 1,200 French soldiers, but only a few hundred
Indians. The small number of the latter was due to the fact that many of them
had by this time deserted the French and gone to their homes, as was their custom, to lay in a stock of venison before the cold weather came, so that their
families might not starve during the winter.
The French and Indians who gave battle at Fort Ligonier were under the
command of De Vitri. He commenced the action almost immediately after his
arrival. The firing began about II o'clock in the forenoon, and lasted four
hours. The battle was fought on or near the ground where the town of
Ligonier now stands. The army at Loyalhanna numbered about 2,500 men on
its arrival from Bedford, but nearly 300 were lost in Grant's fiasco, leaving
only about 2,200 men. Bouquet was not present at the battle, but was stuck
in the mud at Stony Creek, near Stoystown, in Somerset county. Colonel
James Burd commanded the fort in Bouquet's absence, and was undoubtedly
one of the ablest colonels of the colonial period. They made but little
impression  by  their four hours' fighting.  After nightfall they  renewed the attack, but Colonel Burd threw mortar shells into the
woods in which the French and Indians were concealed, and they
were  soon  glad  to  retreat.  The  loss to the American army was 63
officers and men, killed, wounded and missing; and that of the enemy was much
larger, though the exact number has never been known. The French were
employed most of the night in carrying off their dead and wounded. Securing
nothing by this foray, De Vitri's command with great difficulty made their
way back to Fort Duquesne. In order to subsist, they were obliged to kill an,l
eat their pack horses.
34A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
The Whig party on Fourth of July, I840, got up a large celebration
which was held in the grove, in the rear of Captain Broadhurst's Mansion
(hotel). Dinner was served at two o'clock, and tickets for the same were
on sale in the morning on the grounds. This was perhaps the only time when
a political party took occasion to monopolize the National Independence Day
for party purposes, exclusively, in the city of P'ittsburg.
The hard times which came during the administration of Van Buren
were unjustly attributed to his policy in a greater degree than it deserved.
This served to make the campaign of I840 the most exciting in Pittsburg's
history. Because of the want of employment the people devoted most of
their time in the summer and fall of I840 to the discussion of the remedy and
to the general contest for the presidency. The country was so impoverished
that the show of affluence was distasteful to them. Jackson, who like Jefferson, was renowned because of his simplicity, had been eminently successful in securing the suffrage and loyal support of the common people. The
Whigs in advocating the election of Harrison, did not claim that he was a
great statesman, a wise and experienced ruler, or a man of superior intellectual force. His chief claims on the presidency seemingly were that he had
fought the battle of Tippecanoe and had been born and reared in a log cabin.
During Jackson's administration the social functions of the White House had
been sadly neglected. This was due to his lack of interest in social life and
to the fact that his wife had died shortly before his first inauguraticn, to the
pressing demands of state made upon his time and to other matters which
need not be enumerated here. When Van Buren became president he perhaps found it necessary to refurnish the White House, particularly the culinary
department, in order that the social side of his administration might be in
keeping with the dignity of the Nation he represented. These expenses were
included in a general appropriation bill, introduced in I839. Mr. Charles Ogle
of Somerset, one of the brightest men in the Whig party, moved to strike from
the bill the clause relative to the repairs and furniture of the president's house.
On this motion he delivered on April I4, I840, the most potent of his many
public addresses. The address in pamphlet form, under the title, "The Regal
Splendor of the President's Palace," was scattered broadcast throughout
the country. Mr. Ogle spoke most eloquently, following the same line of
thought, in most of the cities and large towns of the Union in the following
campaign, and the address contributed greatly to the victory of the W\higs.
Among other items he objected to the silver spoons of the White House.
This brought him the name of "Spoony Ogle." The people who lived in log
cabins and who had suffered during the Van Buren administration for many
of the necessaries of life, could not see why he should eat with silver spoons.
In Pittsburg and all over Western Pennsylvania, where Mr. Ogle's high character and ability were acknowledged by all, his address was extremely potent.
There were many "liberty poles" raised here and there in the city and
its immediate environments. One was raised at Sharpsburg, September Io,
426PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
by those who had forsaken the Van Buren party. The Gazette of that week
contained a card announcing as follows:
"A boat will leave the Canal Basin, at the head of Liberty street at 9
a. m. Saturday, for the purpose of conveying all persons in the city desirous
of attending the'raisin' of the flag in Sharpsburg."
In raising the pole at Birmingham in the month of September, I840, the
pole broke and killed a young German who was assisting. He was aged
twenty-three years and was without relatives in this country.
When the candidate for the vice-presidency, John Tyler, was in Pittsburg, to address the Whigs, he had rooms at the Pittsburg Hotel, corner of
Wood and Third streets. At the presidential election held for Allegheny
county in November, I840, there were 7,620 votes cast for Harrison and
Tyler, while the Van Buren party received 4,573 votes.
The Clay and Polk campaign of I844 was also one of the most spirited
political contests ever known in Pittsburg. Henry Clay was the Whig and
anti-Masonic candidate for president of the United States, while James K. Polk
was the candidate on the Democratic ticket. As usual, the "tariff question"
was the great issue in the opinion of the Pittsburg people. Mr. Clay stood
squarely on his words uttered sometime prior to his nomination: "I have
everywhere maintained that in adjusting a tariff for revenue, discriminations
ought to be made for protection; that the tariff of 1842 has operated most
beneficially, and that I am utterly opposed to its repeal." This statement stood
at the head of the editorial column of the Pittsburg Gazette all through that
heated campaign. On the other hand, at the head of the Democratic papers
was placed Mr. Polk's declaration: "I have all times been opposed to the
protective policy. I am opposed to the tariff act of I842." On the item of
wool, then much talked of, he said: "The wool growers consider the duties
on foreign wool as important to their prosperity; this opinion I apprehend is
founded on error. My own opinion is that wool should be duty free." On
the question of annexing Texas territory to the United States, he said: "I
have no hesitation in declaring that I am in favor of the immediate annexation
of Texas."
Among the special features of that campaign, in and about Pittsburg,
were the numerous campaign poems and songs and the raising of the highest
"liberty poles" ever erected in this country. Aside from the two political
parties named in the field, was that of the Liberty or Abolition party, headed
by James G. Birney, but their views being too radical for that day they did
not poll a large vote. In the month of August, I844, there was a great Whig
mass meeting in Pittsburg, attended by about 3,500 Whigs, who had in their
procession fully seven hundred transparencies and banners. Both cities joined
in this gathering. The Gazette-Advertiser of that date said:
"It was truly an evening and a spectacle long to be remembered, or
rather never to be forgotten." The procession was forty-five minutes passing
a given point. An account of this affair in a daily p aper published the next
427A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
day, stated: "On, on the mass rolled in triumph from the lower to the upper
bridge, one chain of resolute and determined Whigs extended a living stream,
an irresistible throng of men, filled with high and holy feelings of patriotism,
with minds made up to rescue our loved land from the domination of those
who would inflict upon it the direct evils."
There were Young Men's Clubs from both cities from both the German and American people, speaking in their own tongue. The great convention was held in Pittsburg September Io, I844, when thirty thousand Whigs
were in attendance. They marched from Pittsburg to the slope of Seminary
Hill in Allegheny City, where many eloquent speeches were made, including
one from the fearless statesman, Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio. The National
salute of twenty-six guns, was fired both morning and evening. The display of flagpoles was very striking. Baltimore had long boasted of having the
tallest pole in America, but the one erected by the Whigs, in front of the
Monongahela House in Pittsburg, was never questioned as being the tallest.
It was three hundred and twelve feet high and from it floated a gigantic flag,
with the beautiful emblematic streamers. On Wood street, there were erected
sixty or more tall liberty poles. The Gazette in commenting on the wonderful display of poles remarked:
"Pittsburg turns out the tallest poles, the greatest conventions, the most
gorgeous torch-light processions, shows the most flags, casts the heaviest
votes and beats its opponents by the largest majorities of any in district with
the same population in the country."
On October 30, Hon. Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky, spoke to a vast
audience in McFadden's spacious warehouse, for two hours, making a strong
argument in favor of Henry Clay's,election. The election resulted in Mr. Clay's
defeat in the state and nation, but'not in Allegheny county. The vote stood:
Clay, 8,083; Polk, 5,743; Birney, 435.
The following was a paragraph in the editorial of the Gazette-Advertiser,
after this election:
"Little wanton boys that swim on bladders get far beyond their depth,
but the name and fame of Henry Clay will endure, while Freedom has a shrine
on earth, an Historic tablet."
It is quite fair to say that the Republican party, as a national organization, was born in Pittsburg. It is true that other localities have claimed this
honor by virtue of meetings which were held under the name of the Republican party prior to the Pittsburg meeting, one in Jackson, Michigan, and
some smaller meetings elsewhere. There were also state organizations bearing that name, notably in Pennsylvania and Ohio. But these were all local or
state assemblages purely, and had little or perhaps no bearing whatever on the
ultimate formation of the Republican party, while the Pittsburg meeting was
directly instrumental in its birth and formation as a national organization.
The Whig party met for the last time in a national convention in I852 and
chose for its standard bearer General Winfield Scott. The Whigs of the
428PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
429
North supported him generally but he was defeated overwhelmingly by Franklin Pierce, the Democratic candidate. The agitation of the question of African slavery as it existed in the southern states had been going on in Congress
and elsewhere and steadily increasing since I832. It excited great fear in the
southern states and as the fear increased the power of the Whig party
greatly waned. The Whigs had elected Taylor to the presidency in I848, but
when they convened in I852 the southern element of the party was sufficiently
strong and sufficiently excited on the slavery question to demand a plank in
the platform deploring or forbidding further agitation of the question. The
northern leaders knew that this would mean ruin to their prospect of success
and were willing only to insert a plank which could be interpreted either way
as might suit the northern or southern voter. This resulted in the adoption of
a platform that displeased both sections, for it favored slavery enough to
alarm and alienate many of the northern anti-slavery Whigs, and it did not
favor the institution enough to suit the southern Whigs, a great majority of
whom were either slave holders or strongly in favor of slavery. Neither
faction being satisfied, the support given to Scott in both sections was lukewarm and the election went practically by default. Scott, though a man of
high character, with the glory of the Mexican war to his credit, carried only
four states, two in the north and two in the south, while all the other states
gave their electoral vote to Franklin Pierce. The Whig party never recuperated from this overwhelming defeat. In I854 came the Nebraska compromise and the attempts to make Kansas a slave state, and these questions
drove the anti-slavery Whigs into smaller parties, most of them going into
the Free Soil party, the anti-Nebraska party or forming the Know-Nothing
party. But all this time the feeling against slavery was steadily increasing in
the northern states. This hostility was manifested mostly in their efforts to
prevent the spread of slavery in the new territories, which were rapidly being
filled up by westward bound citizens from the East and South. The leading
men of all parts of the North awakened to the fact that the best way to prevent the extension of slavery was to unite their forces and to form a new
national party.
In I855 Hon..Salmon P. Chase, afterward Chief Justice of the United
States, came to Pittsburg to consult with David N. White, who was then
editor of the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette, and perhaps with other men of
like views on the slavery question. These two men decided to call a national
convention, the purpose of which was to form a party whose chief object
would be to prevent th'e further extension of slavery. After preliminary arrangements were made, Chase returned to Ohio and White, as they had arranged, sent out letters and began to correspond with most of the better known
anti-slavery men in the northern states. Still later a call was issued for a
national convention to be held at Pittsburg on February 22, I856, and this call
was signed by the anti-slavery men from  nine states. The purpose was to
gather up the members of all political organizations opposed to slavery andA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
unite them in one great national party. It was not a convention of delegates
as has often been supposed, but was more nearly a national mass meeting, for
its doors were opened wide to receive all citizens of the United States who
cared to come and who held views in accordance with its principles as
enunciated in the call.
The Whig party, as we have said before, was practically disrupted by the
election of I852. In Pittsburg it fared worse than in most northern cities.
It had to contend with an anti-Masonic feeling which, even at that late date,
had a respectable number of adherents. Then there was the Free Soil party,
and still later the Know-Nothing party. The latter was very strong in Pittsburg. In I854 they polled 5,705 votes as against 5,II5 on the part of the
Democrats and 4,627 on the part of the Whigs. The Know-Nothing party
was a secret oath-bound organization, which was opposed to the Catholic
church and to the admission of foreigners. Because of their secrecy they could
not draw from the anti-Masonic remnant. They came largely from the Whig
party, which they regarded as a party that had outlived its day of usefulness.
They were opposed to slave labor, but this was the main idea of the Free
Soil party. Because of this one idea policy of the Free Soil party its friends
could scarcely expect it to assume the proportions of a great national organization, for there were other issues of importance as well as the abolition
of the black man. The situation in Pittsburg did not differ in the main, from
the general situation in all parts of the north. The time was rife, therefore,
for the formatio:l of a new party composed of all these contending factions.
The call sent out which brought together the first national Republican
meeting read as follows:
To the Republicans of the United States: In accordance with what appears to be the general desire of the Republican party, and at the suggestion
of a large portion of the Republican press, the undersigned chairman of the
State Republican Committees of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin, hereby invite the Republicans of the Union to meet in an informal convention at Pittsburg on the
22nd of February, I856, for the purpose of perfecting the national organization and providing for a national delegate convention of the Republican party
at some subsequent day, to nominate candidates for the presidency and vicepresidency, to be supported at the election in November.-David Wilmot, of
Pennsylvania; Lawrence Brainard, of Vermont; William A. White, of Wisconsin; A. P. Stone, of Ohio; J. Z. Goodrich, of Massachusetts.
Letters received by the committee some days before the convention, indicated, beyond a doubt, that it was going to be a great success. Two important committees were appointed, viz., the committee on arrangements and
the committee on reception. On the first committee were E. H. Irish, Thomas
Steel, Russell Errett, B. Singerly and Jared M. Bush. On the second committee were Thomas M. Howe, William Robinson, Jr., George Darsie, D. N.
White, John P. Penney, David Reed, Dr. Edward D. Gazzam, James Marshall, T. H. Elliott, James McCauley, Neville B. Craig, John McCaskey, Wil430PITTSBURG. AND. HER PEOPLE
43I
liam Coleman, G. R. Riddle, Robert McKnight, George W. Jackson and Joshua
King. Representatives from the nearer states began to arrive in Pittsburg two
of three days before the day set for the convention, viz., February 22. Many
of them put up at the Monongahela House and in the large parlor on the night
of February 2I, a caucus, or perhaps more correctly called a spontaneous meeting, of the delegates then in the city was held. The purpose of this was to
discuss the questions of the day that should be acted on by the convention and
to learn, by an interchange of opinion, the prevailing sentiment of the delegates. There were present at this meeting Horace Greeley, Preston King, E.
D. MIorgan and Simon Draper, of New York; E. R. Hoar and A. M. Stone,
of M\assachusetts; Francis P. Blair, of Maryland; Owen Lovejoy, P. H.
Bryant, J. C. Vaughan and Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois; Joshua R. Giddings,
of Ohio. There were of course more delegates present from Pennsylvania'than from any other state. These, or most of them, held a special meeting
on the mo-rning of the 22nd to agree upon some plan which they should follow during the convention. At about eleven o'clock the main convention was
called together in Lafayette Hall by Lawrence Brainard, of Vermont. After
reading the circular as above given, which he had signed, he spoke as follows: "My first duty is to thank the convention for the honor conferred upon
me, and my next to say that this meeting is simply to organize the Republican
party- and to put forth the principles, which are, as I understand them, the same
as those by which our independence was achieved, on which our Constitution
is established, and if we do our part with justice, wisdom and moderation, the
country and the Union will be perpetuated. I have no more to say; that embraces my creed." The temporary chairman of the convention was John A.
King, of New York. His address was a longer one than Mr. Brainard's, but
the sentiment was the same. He spoke of this convention being but a "preliminary meeting, simply for organization, in order to make a convention
which shall put forth the principles of the Republican party." Then came a
prayer from Owen Lovejoy, then known as Rev. Owen Lovejoy, afterwards to
make a name throughout the Union as an opponent of slavery if indeed he
had not already done so. His prayer was earnest and eloquent and characteristic of the bold advocate of freedom. He asked that the present administration be removed from power and that its unholy designs upon the liberties
of a free people be thwarted. The permanent officers of the convention were
selected by a committee appointed, consisting of one from each state. The convention did not pretend to accomplish much during its first session, for many
of the delegates had not yet reached the city. Hon. R. P. Spalding, of Ohio,
was present but declined to address the convention when called on, saying
he had come to hear, not to talk. Horace Greeley was then called on. A
prominent. newspaper of that day says upon being loudly called "the white
coat and broad, bald forehead of the Tribunze editor were seen moving towards
the speaker's stand, and as he mounted it, he was greeted by a perfect whirlwind of applause."  Mr. Greeley advised the convention to proceed withA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
caution, moderation and wisdom, but disclaimed these qualities himself. His
object was to win the American party to the Republican fold and touching
this phase of the situation he advised the convention not to ask them whether
they were in sympathy with the Republicans on the slavery question. Some
of the delegates, he said, had journeyed a thousand miles to attend this convention and it was wisdom on the part of the convention to go slowly, taking
plenty of time to deliberate calmly on every question.  "Let us deliberate
without haste. The future welfare of this Union depends on the action of
this body." Preston King, of New York, declined to respond to a call for an
address, but Joshua R. Giddings spoke briefly and then called on Owen Lovejoy, of Illinois, who stirred the audience with some of his most flashing eloquence. He said the time for moderation had passed. He said it was now
time for war to the knife and knife to the hilt, and that he was ready to lead
a company of troops to Kansas, or if leadership was denied him, he was ready
to go as private. William H. Gibson, of Ohio, was then perhaps, after Corwin,
the most eloquent man, particularly on the stump, in this country, and both he
and Mr. Carling of Illinois, delivered eloquent speeches. The convention, as we
have said, was free to all and was in reality a national mass meeting, but there
were some who were entirely too aggressive in their ideas on the slavery question
to warrant success. There were many cool heads present who, whatever they
believed, were anxious to conciliate the South and these brought about the
election of Francis P. Blair, of Maryland, as permanent chairman of the convention. His nomination was perhaps the culminating event of the convention,
so far as applause was concerned. In his address he said the South did not
understand the North. That it was his opinion that the North did not demand
the entire abolition of slavery, though such was the prevailing opinion in the
southern states. He also read a letter from the Baltimore Republican Association which was prepared to make manifest to the convention the general view
of the southern Republicans on the situation. Both his address and the letter
fell on unwilling ears. The time had probably passed when such doctrines
could be embraced by the northern delegates, who very largely outnumbered
all others in this convention. There was present also George W. Julian, of
Indiana, who with John P. Hale had been nominated by the Free Soil party
as candidates for president and vice-president in I852.  Indiana also sent
Oliver P. Morton, undoubtedly one of the greatest men in all her history; John
A. Foote was there from Ohio, and Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan. The
latter as well as Foote and Charles Remelin of Ohio, spoke at the afternoon
session on the issues before the convention. Numerous others who had more
or less fame at that time, but who are forgotten now, were introduced to the
convention. Then came addresses from R. P. Spalding of Ohio, George Bliss
of Massachusetts, Burrows of New York and from other noted men. At the
evening session it' was shown that sixteen northern states, eight southern
states and four of the western territories were represented by delegates present and participating in the work of the convention. Addresses were delivered
432PITTSBURG  AND HER PEOPLE                            433
by A. Oakey Hall, Preston King, J. C. Vaughn, of Illinois; Josiah Brewer,
C. G. Hawthorne, George W. Julian, David Ripley and by Joshua R. Giddings.
The latter delivered one of his many great addresses on this occasion. He had
spoken briefly several times before this.
At the close of the first day's session and by the newspaper reports the
next morning, the people of Pittsburg for the first time learned the real importance of the convention being held in their midst. There had never been
in the city at one time so many truly great and eloquent men, nor had they ever
listened to more eloquent addresses. It made a great impression on the people and filled the lovers of freedom with enttiusiasm for the cause of the
slave. While the great questions were being discussed there was a constant
stream of fervid eloquence from many of the brightest men of the nation.
It was indeed one of the most inspiring meetings ever held in any city.
On Saturday, February 23, W. P. Sherman, a vice-president, occupied the
chair and miscellaneous business was in order. Addresses were limited to ten
minutes. A very strong letter was read from Cassius M. Clay. It was in this
letter that he announced that "Cotton was no longer king." A very eloquent
address was also delivered by Dr. E. D. Gazzam of Pittsburg. He had spoken
eloquently in Pittsburg in I826, when he welcomed Marquis de Lafayette.
Other addresses were made by Stone, of Massachusetts, and Burrows, of
New York. The latter criticised most bitter the attitude of the Am,nerican party in
opposing the Catholics, while it was entirely unmindful of the strong hold
slavery was yearly gaining in the United States. This address was very
powerful. The committee appointed on National matters reported in favor
of a National Executive Committee and advised the formation of local organizations in every county and town throughout the Union. The convention appointed David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, of the "Wilmot Proviso" fame, as a
member of the National Executive Committee. While the convention was in
session in Pittsburg the American party was holding a convention in Philadelphia. In the closing hours of the Pittsburg convention a telegram was read
from the Philadelphia convention, saying that the convention had' dissolved and
that, owing to the importance of the slavery question, the party had decided
to cast its lot with the Republican party. A committee had been appointed to
prepare an address to the American people. Mr. Horace Mann, of New
York, was chairman of this committee, and th-e report was read by Mr.
Dennison, of Ohio. Its reading took two hours. In introducing the report
Mr. Mann in a very brief address said among other things, that if the administration by any authority it might assume, should shed one drop of human
blood in Kansas, that would be the end of human slavery, not only in this
country, but in every other land. The report read by Mr. Dennison demanded
the repeal of all laws authorizing slavery in any territory already settled by
freemen; it opposed the admission of any more slaves states to the Union and
appointed a committee to call a National Republican convention to nominate a
president and vice-president. It closed by urging upon Republicans through28434                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
out the Union, the importance of a thorough organization. It also asked the
support of the American people for Kansas in her struggles to exclude slavery
from their territory and asked for the overthrow of the national administration which it characterized as wedded to slavery and faithless to freedom. It
was also, announced that the national convention of the Republican party, the
first in its history, would meet in Philadelphia on June I7, I856. It afterwards adopted the resolutions as read by Mr. Dennison with nine cheers, and
then adjourned.CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Turnpike-Stage Coach Days-Taverns, etc.
The history of the pike leading from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, with the
droves of cattle, Conestoga wagons and carriages which for half a century
passed over it almost daily, has been properly treated of in a previous chapter.
It is by far the most picturesque highway in Pennsylvania. It passes over
rugged mountains and through fertile valleys, and in its construction was
displayed some splendid engineering, though this feature of it has been censured somewhat because in some places it passes over hills when it might have
been built on lower and more level ground. The object of the engineer was
undoubtedly to secure dry ground and to pass through rich sections of farmland and through hamlets which might become busy centers of population, and
thus afford traffic for the rcad. The pike being built in part by the state and
in part by popular subscription, as we have explained, in many places the engineer was compelled to lay the road over a hill, or forfeit the subscription of
a landowner whose residence would otherwise have been left farther from the
highway. It must also be remembered that the country through which the
pike was built was at that time almost entirely covered with a dense forest;
that the low grounds were then much more marshy than they are now and
through them it was very difficult to build a solid road-bed.
For these reasons the engineering i's much better in the mountains than
through the agricultural sections. There is perhaps only one place in its
course through Chestnut Ridge going east where the engineering could be
greatly improved. Passing up the western side of Laurel Hill in Ligonier
Valley, and zigzagging down the more precipitous eastern slope, its course
could not be improved by our best modern engineers. Likewise, it passes over
the Allegheny mountains, going up the western side in a straight line for a distance of five miles, the road being all the way visible from any point on this
part of its course. It passes down the eastern side by a system of curves and
turns which our advanced science of modern engineering could not in any
way benefit by changing its location. One curve in this descent, known nearly
a century ago as the "horseshoe bend," not only exhibits the superior skill of
the engineer, but affords one of the grandest and most sublime mountain viewsPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                              35
Forbes's army had mostly arrived at Loyalhanna by November Ist, and the
general himself reached there on the 6th. He was yet suffering greatly from
his malady. In journeying from Bedford he was carried most of the way in a
litter swung between two horses, but at intervals his pains were so severe that
the litter was carried by men. Most men, under such difficulties, would have
resigned the command, but the determined Scotchman was not easily discouraged, and there lay his great strength as a commander. In addition to all
this he was a diplomat as well as a soldier, and by the slowness of his westward
march he accomplished two very important objects which all writers accredit
him with having had in view all the time. First, he knew of the hunting fever
which comes over the Indians in the fall, and he was waiting until they would
leave the fort before he would attack it; second, through all his sickness he was
working through Sir William Johnston and Frederick Post to bring about a
treaty with the Indians by which they would be called from their hostile attitude towards the approaching English army. In both these measures he succeeded. The treaty conference was held in Easton, in October, 1758. It
was very largely attended by representatives of the Five Nations, by the
Mohegans and the Delawares and other kindred tribes, and the result was a
peace that was most pleasing to the English and most disastrous to the
French.
In the meantime Burd, Bouquet and Washington had about completed a
fort and place of deposit, at Ligonier, for on every hand were signs of winter.
Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge, both in full view of the camp, were covered
with snow. A council of war was held, and the consensus of opinion was that
with the little knowledge of the country intervening between the army and
Fort Duquesne, with the terrible lesson which the army learned by Grant's
foolhardy expedition, with no road cut except the path over which Grant had
traveled, and with winter coming on, it would be unwise to attempt to march
an army that distance. Forbes's army, a part of it, had consumed fifty days in
marching from Bedford to Loyalhanna, a distance of about fifty miles, and the
general had been greatly reduced by the journey. The outlook was so gloomy
that an abandonment of the expedition was contemplated. The place of deposit and so much of the fort as was completed were at once put in use, and the
army set about to prepare winter quarters and to remain until spring time.
The army crossed the Alleghenies and Laurel Hill by "hewing, digging, blasting, laying fascines and gabions, to support the track along the sides of the
steep declivities, or worming their way like moles through the jungle of swamp
and forest." Both horses and men were well nigh exhausted. All fall the
rain came down in torrents which tore up their road on the mountain side,
while in the valleys it was churned into mud by the wheels of the wagons and
by the tramp of animals. The teams had to draw their own oats and corn as
well as the army supplies. As a result they were overworked and underfed,
and the long pull of over two hundred miles through the forest had made their
condition a most wretched one indeed. But about this time several stragglersA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
in Pennsylvania. From this curve the "horseshoe bend" on the Pennsylvania
railroad is said to have taken its name. All through these mountains the engineers were free to select the best routes possible, for they were uninhabited
by prospective stock subscribers, and were on dry ground all the way.
All along the old pike may yet be seen the crumbiling ruins of the old
taverns, built nearly a century ago, when the pike was the only highway of
travel between the East and the West, and when the busy people of Pittsburg
and Philadelphia were constantly passing back and forth.
But to our generation, as we look back through the dim years to the
thirties or the forties, the most romantic feature is the stage coach, which
closely followed the completion of the pike. No one it is said, who thoroughly
saw a genuine stage coach in use can ever forget it. Its outside was tastefully painted and beautified with bright colors, while the inside was lined with
soft silk plush. There were three seats within, splendidly cushioned, and
three people could ride on each seat. There was also another seat by the side
of the driver, which was very desirable in fine weather. Then on the top,
others could ride in a way if the management allowed it, and these in turn
took the inside seats as they were vacated on the journey. Thus sometimes a
stage bore as many as fifteen people, while its capacity was nine or ten and
the driver. The stage was made without springs as springs are now, but
the bed or top part swung easily and gracefully on large leather girders
called thorough-braces, which were stretched between high bolsters or jacks
on the front and rear axles. By this arrangement, stiff springs were obviated,
and whether the stage were heavily laden or nearly empty, the passengers
rode with equal ease, a feature of comfort which cannot be obtained with our
modern springs of steel. This also gave a gentle swinging back and forth, a
rocking motion, which was by no means unpleasant to the passenger.
The horses were invariably showy animals, selected for their lightness of
foot and their strong build. Most of them'were of the North Star, the Murat,
Hickory or Winflower breed, strains which are now extinct, but which for
beauty of carriage, speed and endurance combined, have not been surpassed
by the best of our modern thoroughbreds. They were driven very rapidly,
frequently making ten miles an hour if the conditions were all favorable. The
object of the stage line was to hasten passengers on their journey, and
every possible arrangement was made to this end. A system of relays was
very early established, and from this the Pittsburg and Philadelphia Transportation Company doubtless took their idea in moving freight. By this arrangement, fresh spans of horses were hitched to the stage coach about every
ten or twelve miles. With his long whip the driver could touch his horses
gently, or at his will could lash them to their highest speed. Under ordinary
circumstances'they made from six to eight miles per hour, and the relays
enabled them to keep up that rate all day. The stage which carried the
mail stopped at all postoffices on the road, at all relay stations, and at taverns
at meal time to accommodate passengers, but did not stop elsewhere. They
436usually entered the little towns along the way at a very rapid gait, and
drew  up before the principal taverns, where the relay stations were kept.
There awaiting its arrival were the fresh horses, each span held by a groom.
The stage driver threw down the lines and the grooms unhitched the panting
horses, and "almost in the twinkling of an eye," soiJl an cld stage driver,
"the new span. took their places, the lines were handed to the driver, who,
without leaving his seat, cracked his whip, and away rolled the coach for
the next station."  If it was at meal tilme the stay was longer, but even then
it (lid not exceed twenty or twenty-five minutes.  The mail coach had to
stop at the the postoffice long enough to leave any incoming and secure the
outgoing imail. This was called "changing the mail,'" a correct term  in those
day, w-hich is even yet somnetimes used. This took perhaps not over five or
ten  xninutes, for letters were not so numerous then as now. In the early days
of stage coach travel, there were two, coaches leaving Pittsburg eacla day and
two arriving. The first left very early in the morning, as early as five and six
o'clock, the time varying with the seasons of the year. They not infrequentlyr
reached Greensburg at ten o'clock, having already exhausted three relays,
that is twelve horses. The next relay station was at Youngstown, and the
next at Ligonier, so by rapid driving passengers who left Pittsburg in the.morning frequentlv tock a noon dinner at Ligonier, having traveled fifty miles
STAGE COACH USED IN EARLY TURNPIKE DAYS BETWEEN PITTSBURG
AND PHILADELPHIA.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
in six and one-half or seven ho.urs. The next fifty miles took them to Bedford, but the time occupied was much longer, for they had two ranges of
mountains to climb and descend. The regular time between Pittsburg and
Philadelphia was fifty-six hours, and a good line of stages invariably made it
on time or nearly so. Of course there were more than two lines of stages
on the eastern part of the road, where the thickly populated districts gave
rise to more travel, and part of the time there were more than two lines on
the western end. About one o'clock in the afternoon the other line sent a stage
coach out of Pittsburg, which followed the first and kept up the same
general rate of speed. This was kept up from day to day, from one year's
end to another. One of these lines was called the "United States Mail Line"
and carried the mail, and while more or less time was lost in waiting for the
changing of the mail, it was made up by faster travel at other times. Another line was called the "People's Line," and still later its name was changed
to the "Good Intent Line." These rival lines, as may be supposed, proinpted
each to give the best possible service and the most rapid passage from one end
to the other.
The fare from Pittsburg to Philadelphia was twenty dollars, as a general
rule, though sometimes, when the rivalry became bitter, passengers were carried for less money.  For short distances the regular fare was eight cents
per mile.  Passengers generally changed coaches about every fifty miles.
The heavier coaches were used in the mountainous region of the route between
Ligonier and Chambersburg, while the newer and hlandsomer ones were near
the cities at the beginning and the end of the pike. Teams were also arranged
to suit the road, the heavier and stronger ones being used to draw the
coaches over mountains, and the most showy horses being kept near the
cities. These relay horses journeyed back and forth over the same road, and
thus learned its easy and hard places thoroughly. The four horses which drew
an outgoing stage to the first station, rested there ten or twelve hours, when
they took back a returning stage of the same line to the station from which
they started.  Stage coaches did not stop at night.  Passengers were required to travel in them day and night in a continuous passage until they
reached their destination. The driver had a given length of time in which to
make his run from one relay station to another, and he rarely ever reached
~the station behind time. Not infrequently, while going up the mountains in
the western part of the state, passengers would alight and walk for exercise
and to enjoy the beautiful scenery, for the pike was lined with a thick growth
of trees which, for miles and miles, formed almost an archway of green foliage
in the summer. A stage driver never attended to his team, though doubtless he assured himself that they were well cared for. No position seemed so
commanding in the eyes of a boy in that day as that of a stage driver. Many
a youth looked forward with bright anticipations to the time in manhood when
he could reach the acme of fame in his estimation-that of a stage driver.
He was paid about fifteen dollars per month and board, and the best of them
438PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             439
rarely ever received as much as twenty dollars per month, which was considered good wages in those days. A good horse could be purchased at that
time for fifty or sixty dollars, and a span of horses, with an occasional rest,
were good for eight or ten years staging. While they were being driven they
were forced to put forth their best efforts. They went slowly up a hill or
mountain where the pulling was heavy, but as soon as the top was reached they
started off more rapidly., and on the level rarely ever went slower than a
trot, while down grade or down the mountain side they sometimes went on
a slow but steady gallop. An old stage driver has told the writer that it frequently happened that a driver coming west started his team on a fast trot or
slow gallop at the top of Laurel Hill and made each horse strain every nerve
to keep out of the way of the stage, and thus kept up this speed for six miles
until the first hill was reached, a mile or so east of Ligonier. There was little holding back done by the wheel-horses of the average stage coach when
going down a hill or down the mountains. Wheel-horses, when made to hold
back, in time became "sprung in the knees," and this was an evidence of bad
driving. The horses, particularly in warm weather, came up to the relay stations panting for breath and covered with foam, but they then had a rest of
ten or twelve hours before another effort was required of them. The regularity of their arrival at given points along the road was remarkable. Rarely
ever was a coach more than a few minutes ahead or behind the time. For all
these reasons, excitement followed the whirl of the stage coach all along the
way. The driver invariably carried a horn with a very highly keyed loud
sounding tone, which he winded at the brow of the last hill, or just before
entering a village or town, to give notice of his approaching stage. New passengers, the relay horses, the postmaster, the landlord, were all notified in
that way, and were ready waiting for its arrival. To the country village the
arrival of a stage coach was the leading event of the day, much more so than
the arrival of the important trains are now. Idlers collected around the station to learn the latest news, or become acquainted with the newest arrival
should there be any. Farmers and workmen along the pike stopped their
work when the stage passed by. They could regulate the time, in a measure,
without a timepiece, for they knew the hour the stage was due to pass them.
Washington Irving took great interest in the stage driver and wrote of him as
follows:
"The stage driver had a dress, manner, language and air peculiar to
himself and prevalent throughout the fraternity. He enjoyed great consequence and consideration along the road. The women looked up to him as a
man of great trust and dependence and he had a good understanding with
every bright-eyed country lass. His duty was to drive from one station to
another, and on his arrival he threw down the lines to the hostler with a
lordly air. His dress was always showy and in winter his usually bulky form
was further increased by a multiplicity of coats. At the village he was surrounded by a crowd of loafers, errand boys and nameless hangers-on who
looked up to him as an oracle and treasured up his cant phrases and informaA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
tion about horses and other topics. Both of them tried to imitate his air and
rolling gait, his talk and slang, and the youth tried to imagine himself an embryonic stage driver. The horn he sounded at the entrance of the village produced a general bustle and his passage through the country put the world in
motion. Some hastened to meet friends, some with bundles and band boxes
to secure seats and in the hurry of the moment could hardly take leave of the
group that accompanied them. As the stage rattled through the village every
one' ran to the window and a passenger had glances, on every side of fresh
country faces and blooming, giggling girls. At the corners were assembled
the village idlers and wise men, who took their station there to see the Company pass."
The stage driver carried a long whip composed of a stock, lash and silk
cracker. The stock was made of hickory, heavy at the hand end, and tapering until it was very slender and flexible at the lash end, and was about three
feet long. The lash was made of plaited rawhide, and was much thicker at
the upper middle than at the ends. Its shape and the flexible stock made it
possible for the driver to handle it by a series of curves and swings that were
very accurate, and made it very severe in its work when he chose to make it so.
With years of practice the drivers learned to, handle the whip with great
dexterity. An old friend has assured the writer that he has often seen an
expert knock a fly from the back and shoulders of his lead horses with his
whip, and do it so gently that' it would not injure the horse nor urge him to
greater exertion. When the driver cracked his long whip over the horse it
was like. the report of a small gun, and without anything else urged each horse
to strain every muscle. It was seldom that a careful driver was compelled to
use his whip severely. Sometimes on the road, when one stage coach tried
to pass another (for there was always a rivalry as to speed between them) the
driver used his whip with all the skill he could command. Two stages abreast
have thus often come. down the Allegheny mountains or down Laurel Hill,
coming west, every horse exerting almost its utmost strength, and. the driver
lashing them to still greater efforts. In a race of this kind the rumbling of the
stages could be heard for miles. The heavy body with its tightly drawn sides and
top, its glass doors and heavy thorough-braces laden to their utmost tension,
gave it at all times a rumbling noise, but when two or more of them were
making time or racing while coming down the mountain pike, the roadbed of
which was stone, the noise is said to have been terrific. If the driver knew his
business well, there was little danger in such a race, and it was to the passengers one of the most exciting events of their travels.
The stage driver with his four lines and whip, sat perched high up on
the box, the position being somewhat imitated by that of the modern tally-ho.
He began training for his work almost in boyhood by becoming familiar with
horses, with their varied characteristics and dispositions when suddenly placed
under apparent danger, with their weak and strong points, and how best to
assist, care for and manage them under all circumstances. Indeed, his judgment of the noble animal was considered of the highest authority. By a life
440PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
of daily service he was enabled to attain almost perfection in his business.
Quite frequently his drive did not apparently require any particular skill, for
one of the first lessons he was taught was to drive rapidly, but to avoid unnecessary danger. But he drove under all circumstances and at all hours of
the day and night-through storms on the mountains when the lightning
played in the sky overhead, and when the terrific roar of thunder excited his
naturally spirited horses; through drifted snowbanks in mid-winter, with the
thermometer below zero, or down the steep mountain grade covered with an
unbroken sheet of frozen sleet, and all this perhaps in the darkness of midnight, made still more gloomy by the overhanging forests. He was moreover
compelled to meet hundreds of wagons and stages daily, and to pass them at
his high rate of speed by short turns and sharp curves, and he frequently encountered runaway teams in most dangerous places. The necessary speed and
high mettle of his own horses made them liable at all times to become frightened and to try to break away from him, yet notwithstanding all this accidents were few. Indeed, compared with the amount of driving, they were
generally so few and t'rivial that they were scarcely noted or remembered beyond their day. Hundreds of accidents were avoided by the skill, the clear
head and nerve, of the driver. Those who have outlived him who are fa.
miliar with the best drivers of both his and our days, are not slow to assert
that the stager managed his team under all the varied circumstances which
confronted him, with a dexterity in horsemanship that has never been even
approximated by our best modern drivers.
The road in its mountainous sections was much more subject to sleet and
ice and to high banks of drifted snow than elsewhere. Either condition rendered it temporarily impassable. While the icy covering caused by sleet was
likely to last but for a day or two, the snowbanks remained until the storm
had passed, when they were promptly shoveled aside by the authorities of the
pike, if it were possible, or were perhaps melted by warmer weather. In the
meantime it not infrequently happened that one or more stage coaches with
their passengers were snowbound at a wayside inn at the foot of the mountains. This might last for two days or more, and while the snow lasted there
was no remedy whatever. The landlbrd entertained such parties in his most
hospitable manner. Long before the pike had reached its palmiest days, the
old four-roomed taverns had given place to larger ones of stone, brick or
frame, with twelve or fifteen guest rooms, a large sitting room, bar-room and
dining room, and with extensive stables, barns and wagon yards attached.
The best men and women of our country traveled back and forth on the turnpike and their entertainment called for an improved style of inns. Many of
them became famous and were well.patronized by the'people of Pittsburg.
Accounts of them anrd their guests and landlords, written by very facile pens,
are frequently found in our old writings. The stage driver would put forth his
best endeavors to reach them before being snowed up by an impending storm,
and the passengers were in some degree recompensed for their delay by the
44IA CENTURY ANAD A HALF OF
wholesome entertainment. Country ham and sausage, fresh eggs, smoking
hot biscuit, buckwheat cakes and maple syrup, was often the tempting billof-fare for breakfast. But before this each man guest had an "eye-opener"
of "old Monongahela" at the regular price of three cents a dram.  Wild
turkey, pheasants, partridges, venison and all kinds of game were common in
those days, and the landlord bounteously supplied his table with these and
with all other delicacies he could procure.
The inns were often named after Washington, Greene, Lafayette or Putnam-names then redolent witli Revolutionary glory. The inn usually had a
large sign about three and one-half by five feet, hung in a strong frame which
allowed it to swing with the wind, and which was supported by a white painted
post standing by the wayside. The rooms were warmed by grate fires, and the
main sitting room of the inn had in it the old fashioned capacious fireplace,
such as Dryden and Johnson loved to write about. In the forties the fuel
used was mostly hickory wood, which threw out a great heat, while its crackling flames leaped brightly up the wide chimhey. Around this fireplace sat
the guests of the inn, like a happy family, cracking hickory nuts and spinning
stories, some of which, could they be produced, would doubtless be fraught
with more interest to us than the Canterbury Tales of tlhe poet, Chaucer,
which have already lived more than five centuries. Well may these surroundings have made the snowbound traveler think of England under the reign of
the early Georges, so charmingly pictured in the measured beauty,of Oliver
Goldsmith, or embalmed in the matchless prose of the Spectator. The city
people who chanced to becoine guests of these old-fashioned inns found them
most enjoyable places, indeed, for a few days of idle comfort. "Can I not
take mine ease in my inn?" was the question of Falstaff, which did not admit
of a negative answer. It is the lingering memory of these enjoyments, now
gone forever, which induces many elderly people to long for the good old days
of the past. To them at least the busy age in which we live has robbed us of
the chief glories of their youth, and brought us, as they think, but few compensations in their stead.
Though travel on this historic old state highway was practically abandoned nearly three-scQre years ago, yet here and there along its line may still
be found old rpen who delight greatly in recalling the palmy days of the forties, when the pike was in its prime. They love to tell of the droves of cattle
which, with heads bowed low, wound haltingly over the dusty pike, plodding
on their weary way to the shambles of the cities; of the ponderous Conestoga
wagons that with untold strength slowly bore the raw material to Pittsburg's
infant industries and their weighty products to the eastern markets; of the
whirling stage coach and its welcome rumbling which daily echoed through
the valleys and awakened the sleeping communities to a -new life and a new
energy; and most of all they delight to tell of the wayside inn, the ivy-covered
walls of which are among the last lingering momentoes of the good old days
so long gone by; of its hospitable landlord and landlady, and then they point
442PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
in sadness to the green mounds on the hillside hard by, covering them in their
last and sweetest sleep.
"It stands all alone like a goblin in gray,
The old-fashioned inn of the pioneer day,
In a land so forlorn and forgotten, it seems
Like a wraith of the past rising into our dreams;
Its glories have vanished, and only the ghost
Of a sign-board now creaks on its desolate post,
Recalling the time when all hearts were akin
As they rested at night in a welcoming inn.
"Oh! the songs they would sing and the tales they would spin,
As they lounged in the light of the old country inn.
But a day came at last when the stage brought no load
To the gate, as it rolled up the long, dusty road.
And lo! at the sun-rise a shrill whistle blew
O'er the hills-and the old yielded place to the newAnd the merciless age with its discord and din
Made wreck, as it passed, of the pioneer inn."
It is probably within the true province of these pages to treat only of
matters. of the past, but we cannot pass from this subject without expressing
a regret that this grand old highway has been neglected and has become, in
some sections, almost impassable; that the people along its line have moreover allowed it to be encroached on by fences, telegraph poles and by free-tops
dropped by careless lumibermen, until the original right-of-way has, in many
places been cut down to half its former width. The pike is not worn out by
travel but, because of these obstructions, the drainage has been neglected and
it has sustained its greatest damage from rains which have washed away the
top dressing in many places, and laid bare the rough unbroken stones which
form the Telford bottom. In at least four miles out of five, the original roadbed is yet perfectly solid, as substantial as it was ninety years ago when it was
built. All that is required on this part of it is a thorough macadam crown
and a system of drainage which will remove the apparent necessity of breakers on the hillsides and prevent the heavy rains of the future from again work-.
ing its destruction.
It has been repeatedly demonstrated throughout its entire length, and
particularly in the western sections, that in this way its thorough rehabilitation can be accomplished for less than two thousand dollars per mile. The
main expense, that is, the grading and the road-bed, was borne willingly by
our ancestors in the days of hard-earned dollars, and this part of their work
for the greater part of the way, is as solid now as our best modern roadmakers can build. Connecting the two great centers of industry of Pennsylvania, indeed two of tlhe most populous sections of the United States, and connecting them by a route that is 57 and 4-Io miles shorter than the most direct
railroad, it is indeed lamentable that it has been allowed to go down in neglect,
443For nearly  50o miles after leaving Philadelphia it passes through the richest
agricultural region of the state.  On every side may be seen the well-kept
farms and the inviting homes of a thrifty people,  The traveler then passes
over ioo mil es of mounitain scenery as the "gray old pike" wormlike winds
its way over the Appalachian systemo  0n every hand are sublime views with
enchanting beauties that woulod well repay the traveler, though he journeyed
half across a continent to beholdl them.  Leaving the foothills of the Alleghenies, its western section passes throughl the rich bituminous coal and coke
fields, a region that surpasses all sections of Pennsylvania in natural wealth
and in yearly products. To conrect the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgr
by sutch a highway, even though its course lay over a barren waste, void of
beauty ard interest, one would thirik the energy and wealth of the cities xwouold
induce them to      Trecrown this pike at once. With our modern modes of travel,
were the pike in the condition the yeo manry  of ninety years ago placed it, a
traveler  might breakfast late in the Quaker city, might lntnch in a hostelry
nestled among the peaks of the Allegheny mountains and dint in the Iron
City wixthout exeeding the speed limit of an average automobile. Would not
its re-building be worth while?  Do the historic associations of the old pike
over which thme founders of our modern civilization journeyed slowly back and
forth, counlt for nothing?  Has the State lost its pricde in the glories of the
THE OLD TURNPIKE BRIDGE AT THE CROSSING, BUILT 1818PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            445
past and in the memory of the pioneer who, with many privations, 9pened up
the West by hewing this highway through the unbroken forest? We trust
not, and that the day is not far distant when the old pike will be rehabilitated
and will again be one of the finest highways in the United States, connecting
two of the most important cities.6A CENTURY AND.1A HALF OF
from De Vitri's army were taken, and from them valuable though not entirely
reliable information concerning the weakness of the enemy was obtained. Still
later, on November I2th, the command ran across another squad of De Vitri's
men who were yet lurking around Fort Ligonier, their mission being doubtless
that of spies. They were attacked, and one of them was killed and three taken
prisoners. One of the prisoners proved to be an Englishman who had been
taken from his home in Lancaster county by the Indians. His testimony concerning the weak condition of Fort Duquesne was believed, and it corresponded entirely with that of the other prisoners. It was therefore resolved to
push rapidly forward and try to capture it. B-efore leaving Ligonier a circumstance occurred which undoubtedly involved Washington in great danger,
and this may be well related here.
To quote from Washington's own words, (Scribnzcr's Mlonthly Magazile,
May, I893): "The enemy sent out a large detachment to reconnoitre our camp,
and to ascertain our strength. In consequence of our intelligence that they were.within two miles of the camp, a party commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Mercer, of the Virginia line, a gallant and good officer, was sent out to dislodge
them. A severe conflict and hot firing ensued, which lasting some time and
appearing to approach the camp, it was believed that our party was yielding the
ground, and upon which, with permission of General Forbes, I called for
volunteers, and immediately marched at their head to sustain our troops. Led
on by the firing until we came within less than a half-mile of the enemy, and
the firing ceasing, scouts were detached to investigate the cause and to communicate with Colonel Mercer. Our troops advancing in the meantime, and it
being dark, and the intelligence not having been fully disseminated amongColonel Mercer's corps, they took us for the enemy, who they supposed were
approaching from another direction. MAercer's troops began firing a heavyfire on ours, and drew fire in return, and in spite of all the exertions of the officers, one officer and several privates were killed and many wounded before a.
stop could be put to it. I was, in accomplishing this, never in more imminent.
danger, being between two fires, and knocking up with my sword the presented
pieces."  It is worthy of note that Washington, in his last years, with the
memory of all the dangers of the Revolution; indeed, of a life of warfare fresh.
upon him-believed and wrote that in Ligonier his most imminent d!anger in
battle had occurred. The location of this occurrence was probably on the bluff'
northwest of Idelwild.
In preparing for the hard march on Fort Duquesne the army was divided'
into three brigades. One of these was under the command of Colonel Wash--
ington, and it was his duty to open up the road. It must be remembered that
it was on this occasion that Washington for the first time was placed in actual
command of a brigade. The promotion came to him at Ligonier. Washington had claimed the privilege of leading the advance colulumn from Ligonier because, as he said, "from long intimacy with these woods, and frequent scouting
in them, my men are at least as well acquainted with all the passes and diffi36CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Fire of I845.
The fire of April IO, I845, would have been a great fire for any city even
in this age of stupendous events, but coming to Pittsburg'when it was in the
midst of its struggle for a foothold among the cities of the United States, the
blow was indeed a heavy one. Fortunately, however, it was by far the greatest fire that has visited the city and in this Pittsburg is indeed fortunate. It
broke out Thursday, April Io, 1845, at twelve o'clock at noon in some frame
buildings situated on the corner of Ferry and Second streets. For perhaps
three weeks prior to this the weather had been very dry and high winds had
prevailed most of the time. For these reasons the frame buildings were in the
worst possible condition to be visited by a fire. When the conflagration came
there was a brisk wind blowing from the west. This very rapidly spread the
fire from the square in which it originated and it was soon communicated to
one of the adjoining squares. The wind increased apparently with the flames
and in a short time fully one-third of the city of Pittsburg was enveloped in
a raging tempest of fire. Like the great fire of Chicago in 187I it began by
an act of carelessness on the part of one of its citizens. A washerwoman had
built a fire in a back yard thinking it more convenient and open there than in
the house. From this the wind carried the sparks to a frame stable nearby
and in a few minutes the great fire began. The city was not then well supplied
with water and on this occasion it seemed unusually scarce. The fire companies were called out and they undoubtedly worked nobly, but in a short time
the water supply was exhausted and with the high wind and the dry combustible buildings within easy reach, the fire soon had a good start and all efforts
to subdue it were ineffectual. After the fire had gained some headway the
wind carried the flames eastward faster than the firemen could have extinguished them even with an abundance of water, and in less than an hour it
was entirely beyond control. It extended along Ferry street south to First
street consuming the entire square. It then crossed from the south side of
Third street to the north side and burned the entire block with the exception
of one or two small houses. It passed east on Market street and consumedPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
447
more than one-half of the block between Third and Fourth streets, and passed
up the street to Diamond alley and destroyed the larger part of the block
between Fourth street and Diamond alley, reaching the foot of Grant's Hill,
and thus consumed all of the buildings between Diamond alley and the Monongahela river. Its eastern sweep was arrested only when every house or building, almost without exception, was destroyed.' Kensington was the name given
at that time to that part of the town lying east of Try street and between
Grant's Hill and the Monongahela river.  It is now included in the Sixth
ward. It destroyed Kensington entirely. The burned district included most
of the large business houses and some of the most valuable factories in the
city. It was generally estimated that the fire covered one-third of the entire
city in squares, and the most conservative and intelligent people estimated
that two-thirds of its entire value in buildings went up in flames. The loss
was variously estimated at the time at between six and eight millions of
dollars, but a more conservative estimate would probably not be over four
million dollars. The bridge over the Monongahela, at Smithfield street, being
built of timber, was entirely consumed. The Monongahela House, which had
recently been finished and of which the young city was justly proud because
of its pretensions for that day, was ruined by the flames. Cotton factories,
iron works, glass works, hotels and several churches were literally in ashes
in a few hours after the fire began. The fire destroyed nine hundred and
eighty-two buildings and among them were the largest and the most expensively built structures in the city. Household goods and merchandise carried
out on the wharf for safety was caught in the flames and consumed. The
burned  district extended  along  the  Monongahela  side  of the  town
from the place where the fire began to where the Tenth street bridge
crossing the river stands. In the direction towards the city it was bounded
by Fourth avenue then up to Wood street and from Wood by Diamond street
to Ross street. It covered about fifty-six acres in all.
A committee was appointed consisting of Hon. Cornelius Darragh and
Hon. Wilson McCandless, two of the city's leading men, who presented the
matter to the governor of the state, Francis R. Shunk. The governor sent a
special message to the Legislature and with it sent the statement made by the
committee-men, Darragh and McCandless.  From  this statement the main
description of the fire given above has been largely taken. The Legislature
at once passed an act appropriating fifty thousand dollars for the city's relief,
and it further exempted all property in the burned district of Pittsburg from
the payment of state tax for the years 1846, I847, I848 and I849. The news
of the fire created great sympathy throughout the country for the stricken
city and contributions began to pour in from all sections, even from foreign
-ountri.s.  These contributions amounted to nearly eight hundred thousand
dollars, it is said, and there were large donations of provisions and clothing.
Many sufferers of the city stood in great need of this immediate assistance
for they had lost everything they had in the shape of clothing, furniture, etc.,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
and thousands of people were left homeless. Nearly all this property had
been insured in Pittsburg insurance companies, for the present system  of
dividing insurance between home and foreign companies was entirely unknown
in that day. Insurance companies were not reaching out much beyond the
immediate vicinity of their home offices for business. As a result every insurance company in Pittsburg, and they were good, reliable companies for their
day, was broken up and utterly unable to pay these losses. For this reason the
fire of I845 fell more severely on Pittsburg than other great fires have fallen
on cities in a more modern age. Those who owned real estate in the burned
district had to depend on themselves for new buildings, if any were put up.
The banks of the city were not then able to assist very greatly in the work of
rebuilding the district or placing the city on its feet, for there were not many
of them, and, compared with the loss of property by the fire, they were but
insignificant factors. Yet the banks helped amazingly and the people helped
themselves, and in a short time the work of rebuilding the district was going
on w'ith considerable rapidity.
But two lives were lost in the fire. One was that of Samuel Kingston,
a lawyer, whose office was on the corner of Fourth avenue and Smithfield
street. While the building was burning he rushed into his office, it is supposed to procure some valuable papers, and was overcome by smoke and
flames before he could get out. The high wind was not a local one. It was
felt all over the country. The writer has often heard a man, who then lived
in the Ligonier valley, probably forty miles southeast of Pittsburg by a direct
line, say that the day after the fire a great many small bits of charred shingles
and bits of wood reduced to ashes were carr:ied there by the wind. The ruined
city was a melancholy sight indeed. The iron and glassware houses were
mostly on Water street and the ruins revealed great masses of glass and iron
melted into all possible shapes, the whole a useless mass of material.
The losses of the real estate owners were not so great per man as one
might suppose. Lyon, Shorb and Crossan were the owners of the Monongahela House and their loss was estimated at sixty thousand dollars. Lyon and
Shorb were iron merchants and manufacturers and lost about fifteen thousand
dollars' worth of iron in a warehouse adjoining the hotel. They owned a
factory, but it was fortunately on the south side of the Monongahela river and
escaped.from the fire. The individual losses rarely exceeded twenty-five or
thirty thousand dollars. While many manufacturing establishments were
burned, the larger number of factories were not consumed, for the burned
(listrict included the business parts of the city. Bakewell's glass house and
novelty works, both on Grint street, and a rolling mill in Kensington, were the
largest of the factories destroyed.
It is said that the banks and nearly all others who were dealers in money,
acted nobly with the sufferers and really laid the foundation of the rebuilding
of the city, by exercising great forebearance with those who were borrowers. In this way they were able to tide themselves over the difficulties and
448PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             449
begin anew in the business of the city. All who had money to lend could find
plenty of borrowers whose real estate and rising buildings afforded abundant
security. Those to whom money was due waited more patiently than might
have been expected until the business of the city was resumed. In this way
the city was apparently soon on its feet again, but in reality the prosperity was
only apparent. New stores, and houses, and factories, better than those
destroyed, soon appeared to occupy the lots made vacant by the fire. But it
was many years before the heavy burden of debt assumed by the individual
builders  and  business  men  was  paid  off.  Every  year since  April
IO, I845, at twelve o'clock at noon on April Io, the fire alarm strikes I-8-4-5
on its alarm bell to remind the people of Pittsburg of the time when the city
was well nigh reduced to ashes by the greatest fire of its history.
This was Pittsburg's greatest fire. It was not only by far the greatest in
proportion to the size and strength of the city, but was the greatest loss of
property the city ever sustained by any one fire. An inquiry concerning the
real strength of the city immediately prior to the fire has not resulted in any
information that is sufficiently definite and ahuthentic to be of value. The nearest approach to it must be gleaned from the United States census of I840 but
the reader must remember that nearly five prosperous years intervened between
the time it was taken and the day of the fire. The census of 1840 gives the
population of Pittsburg as 2I,II5. The city in the past ten years had increased
about 70 per centum over its population in I830, and between 1840 and I85o
it increased about 70 per centum. Averaging the percentage of these increases
we should say that the population of the city of Pittsburg on April Io, I845,
was between thirty and thirty-one thousand. But we cannot do this with the
business industries and must be content to take the popular estimate of the
city and its loss which we have given. As we have said, the Legislature appropriated $50,000 to the sufferers.  Pennsylvania, by private donations, gave
$Io09,890;  New York, $23,265; Massachusetts, $I6,74I; IMaryland, $I I,513
Ohio, $io,08I; Louisiana, $7,I67; Kentucky, $5,773; Missouri, $3,833; Alabama, $I,652; Delaware, $I,322;- MissiSSippi, $I,29I; Tennessee, $I,259; New
Jersey, $557; Georgia, $470; Michigan, $Ioo; Indiana, $52. From foreign
lands, mainly from England, came $65I, and the District of Columbia sent
$2,872.
29CHAPTER XXXV.
The Mexican War.
When war was declared against Mexico the young man of Pittsburg
knew little of war except by tradition and history, for thirty years of peace
had followed the War of 1812 and over sixty years had passed since the Revolutionary  War had ended. Texas had fought for its freedom from Mexico ten
years before and the glories of the battle of San Jacinto and others we-re
heralded over the United States like the fame of the Trojans which inspired
the Carthagenians to greater feats of arms. In thirty or sixty years the suffering endured by an army is largely forgotten and its heroic achievements almost
alone are remembered. Then there was something grand and attractive in the
thought and expectation of waging war in a foreign country with a people
who were not of our blood and kindred. What little was known of the Mexicans had only engendered feelings of enmity against them. The romantic and
highly colored stories of the inhuman destrtuction of the American soldiers who
had fought at Goliad and at the Alamo, and the glories of San Jacinto, all
made the war with Mexico popular. It was a long journey to Mexico whether
over the broad uninhabited prairies or down the river and across the waters
of the Gulf. Mlexico was an empire of the past and its capital was supposed to
be filled with rare materials. There were marble baths and the lofty porticoes,
and the historic palaces of the ancient Montezumas; there were the crumbling
ruins of the temples dedicated by the Toltecs centuries before to the worship
of the sun; crumbling indeed, yet still magnificent in their decaying splendor;
there was the stone basin used to catch the blood of sacrificed human beings,
and there were the grand cathedrals of the modern Spaniards. It was a journey, too, to a land where the luscious fruits of the tropics were ripening under
the genial clime and bright rays of an unchanging summer. All these matters
awakened the enthusiasm of the Pittsburg people and it was intensified by the
transportation of heavy guns, mortars and all other war materials from the
arsenal through the streets of Pittsburg to the wharf from whence they were
to be sent to the seat of war in Mexico. Many companies were formed and
offered their services to the government. But so far only one regiment from
Pennsylvania was needed and other sections from the western part of thePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            451
state claimed their rights to furnish their share of it. But two companies
from Allegheny county were accepted at first. The one was Company A, commanded by Captain Alexander Hay. It was called "Pittsburg Blues," and was
a continuation of the company under the same name which had fought in the
War of I812. Its lieutenants were Thomas A. Rowley, James O'H. Denny
and William Charlton. The other company was Company K, which was commanded by Captain John Herron. It was called the "Duquesne Grays." Its
lieutenants were William Ankrim, William Trovillo and John W. Hague. They
were mustered in December, I846, and sent down the Ohio river to the Gulf.
About the time they were ready to embark another regiment was called for
from Pennsylvania and was filled at once. Pittsburg having furnished more
than its share of the first regiment was allotted but one company in the second.
It was known as Company I and was commanded by Captain Robert Potter.
It was in the second regiment and was called "The Hibernia Greens." Its
lieutenants were William Rankin, Jamnes Kane and William P. Skelly. It was
mustered into service in January, I847. There were many young men from
Allegheny county, who, not being able to enlist or be accepted from this county,
had gone elsewhere and the county was therefore represented in the war by
more than three companies. After the first companies had left Pittsburg with
their regiments, two others were raised here and accepted, but were credited
one to Maryland and the other to the District of Columbia. They were raised
by Captains N. P. Guthrie and Thomas A. Rowley and joined the main army
in Mlexico in July.
Taken as a body the soldiers of the Mexican war were probably better
educated and came from a higher grade of social standing than the average of
any other war in which the United States was engaged. The romance of the
expedition appealed to the educated youths of all sections and there were many
professional men, merchants, clerks and college students enlisted in the ranks.
The colonel of the First regiment was F. M. Wynkoop. The lieutenant-colonel
was Samuel W. Black, and William Bowman was major. Of the Second Regiment William B. Roberts was colonel, John W. Gerry, afterward governor of
Pennsylvania, was lieutenant-colonel, and William Brindle was major.
Pittsburg was the starting point South for most of the troops from Pennsylvania and the city assumed, for its day, a decidedly military appearance.
Those from the East came here mostly on the Pittsburg and Philadelphia turnpike. All along the route westward the farmers turned out with their teams,
wagons, carriages and sleds to transport the army and its supplies and munitions and thus hastened them on their journey to the far Southwest. It was
so arranged that each relay of teams hauled them from ten to fifteen miles,
where they were turned over to another relay and the first returned to their
homes. All were finally assembled in Pittsburg and placed on board of boats
or steamers. The First Regiment left the wharf on January 8, I847. They
went down the Ohio and thence down the Mississippi river, passing New
Orleans and encamped on Jackson's old battle ground six miles below the city,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the camp being called Camp Jackson. They were soon transported to Lobos
Island. They left this island in March and reached Anton Lizardo in sight of
Vera Cruz, where they disembarked and prepared at once to invest the city.
These preparations were attended with great labor and the hot climate and
bad weather ruined the health of many of the northern soldiers and caused
X them to break down.- General Stephen W. Kearny commanded the Army of
the West; General Zachary Taylor commanded the Army of Occupation and
General Winfield Scott commanded the army; that is, he was chief commander
of all the armies in Mexico. On March 22 General Worth had arranged his
batteries and mortars at Anton Lizardo and was ready to bombard the city
of Vera Cruz. General Scott first demanded a surrender of the city, for he
preferred not to injure the soldiers and property of the citizens. This was
most positively refused and the batteries and the fleet which lay in the Gulf
nearby opened fire on the city. The fleet had with it a battery of Paixham
guns with which the marines did a most destructive work. San Juan was,
the name of the gate to the city and it offered a stubborn resistance. The bombardment lasted two days and was attended with great destruction of propertyand loss of life. On the 24th of March the Mexicans asked for a cessation of
hostilities so that they could have time to bury their dead. This was granted.
Finally on the 27th the city and the castle were surrendered upon terms which
had in the meantime been agreed upon and the American troops were in possession of Vera Cruz. When this was accomplished the sick and disabled of the
regiment were at once sent. home or to the rear. Among those was Colonel
Hay and Lieutenant Thomas A. Rowley of Company A, First Regiment, and
Lieutenant Trovillo of Company K. General Scott remained at Vera Cruz
only long enough to complete arrangements for a further movement of the
army and on April 7 began a march toward the interior of Mexico. On
April I2 they reached Plan del Rio at the foot of Cerro Gordo, where General
Santa Anna commanded the Mexican army and had strongly intrenched himself. Scott's first work was to reconnoiter the place. On the I4th he began
to cut a road to the left of Cerro Gordo around the base of the mountains, thepurpose of which was to cut off the retreat of the Mexican army. The termination of this road was near the rear of the Mexican forces and its construction required several days of hard work. On the I7th a part of the army
charged the enemy with such impetuosity that they hurled them back in confusion and gained an important position. On the I8th the American batteriesoccupied the heights in front of Cerro Gordo. General Harney stormed the
Mexican forts while General James Shields guarded the left occupying the
new road which Scott had cut to prevent the escape of the enemy. The Mexican army was overpowered, their works taken and they were completely cut
to pieces. The American army took three thousand prisoners, five thousand
stand of arms, all siege guns and killed and wounded about twelve hundred
Mexicans. General Santa Anna himself narrowly escaped capture by hur415PITTSB.URG  AND HER PEOPLE                           453
riedly riding a swift running mule to the rear, and it is said that in his haste
he left his cork leg and his chest of silver behind.
General Scott did not rest on his laurels but advanced his army to the
city of Jalapa. Three companies of the Second Regiment, under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Geary, had been quarantined on Lobos Island because
of smallpox which prevailed there when the advance army left it. These companies now joined the regiment and all remained in Jalapa until about the
middle of June, when the army was advanced toward the city of Pueblo. The
hot weather began to deplete the fighting' strength of the army so that only
about five thousand out of a total of about fourteen thousand were' able to
march against the Mexicans. For this reason further movements were delayed
till early in August, at which time by rest and medical treatment the effective
army was increased to eleven thousand. It was necessary all this time for the
army to keep up a line of communication with Vera Cruz, for there were its
reserve forces and also its supplies. Scott had reached Pueblo on May 5. It
was a long and tedious march for the northern soldiers in the hot climate and
they were about worn out. But the road from there to the City of Mexico was
the most strongly fortified in all Mexico, and to reach it by that route seemed
to discourage even the stout heart of Winfield Scott. He remained in Pueblo
strengthening his army till August. All this time he held out the olive brancn
cf peace, for while no other result than the ultimate conquest of Mexico had
entered his mind, he very much preferred to do it without bloodshed or with
as little as possible. On the 8th he began to march toward the capital, but left
the First Regiment in Pueblo and thus for the first time separated the regiments containing the Pittsburg soldiers. This displeased many who were left
behind, for all seemed anxious to participate in the capture of the great City
of Mexico. Some of them secured positions on detached service and went
with the Second Regiment toward the city. Among these were O. H. Rippey,
who was afterward a colonel and who met his death in the Civil war, and
John Hamilton, afterward a member of the Pittsburg bar. The army advanced
on the 7th and 8th of August. Early in the morning of the IIth of August,
after three days of hard marching, it passed over the brow'of the mountain
and came in full view of the valley of Mexico with its famous capitol glittering in the distant sunlight. There were the lof.ty domes and castles of the
Montezumas, and beyond, but in full' view, were the snow-capped mountains
and volcanoes. From this same elevated spot which they occupied now, Cortez
and his followers three hundred years before had been cheered on their way
in their search for the City of Mexico, and its fabulous wealth. On August I2
the army encamped near Buena Vista. A careful survey of the positions of
the Mexican army proved to the Union'forces that they were even more
strongly fortified on the national road than Scott had supposed. A council
of war was held and the general opinion among the officers was that it was
best to march by the way of Elpinal, a very strong Mexican fort. General
Scott overruled this opinion. He had now an army of twelve thousand, while
Mexico had a population of two hundred thousand. To take the city with an
army of twelve thousand without first thoroughly defeating the Mexican armyA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
would be useless. He must therefore proceed cautiously and fight his way
to the city and he was not willing to make any unnecessary sacrifices to reduce
the strength of Elpinal. It was situated on Lake Chalco, and he now countermarched and made a detour to the left and passed Lake Chalco by cutting a
road which the Mexicans thought could not be made. But before his army
there lay the pass of San Antonio. It was a narrow gorge between two mountains that was strongly fortified. General Scott concluded not to attempt to
take the pass until he would first take Contreras, a fortification which guarded
the pass and lay between them and the City of Mexico. On August I9 four
brigades of the American soldiers fought the enemy around Contreras all day.
The Mexicans were superior in numbers and in the strength of their fortifications and held their own very well. Santa Anna was west of this and had
about ten thousand soldiers with him. Finally the infantry of the American
army moved to the rear of the enemy and the fight began from that section on
the 20th of August at about an hour before daybreak. At sunrise the other
divisions of the army began the attack, each from its position, bringing to bear
against the enemy all the force it could command. Though General Smith
was not the senior officer he had command of and outlined the place of battle.
After the battle properly began from all sides at the break of day it took them
but a few minutes more than a quarter of an hour to thoroughly defeat the
enemy. At Buena Vista two guns had been taken from the American troops
by the Mexicans and among the events of the battle at Contreras was the recapture of these two guns by a division commanded by Simon H. Drum. They
also captured many prisoners and munitions of war. About four miles from
Contreras was the fortress of Cherubusco. When Contreras was once thoroughly commanded by the American army General Worth's division was sent
to attack Santa Anna, which would open a shorter route to Mexico. After
taking Santa Anna they were to join another division of the army which was
in the meantime moving toward Cherubusco. The Mexican troops at Santa
Anna had become discouraged and did not wait to be attacked, but fled before
the army reached them. Their flight, however, was only to Cherubusco, and
thus added great strength to that fortress, so that the American army met a
strong resistance at that place. It was situated on a high hill and the American
forces crossed ditches and by great strength and fearless charging took one
intervening point after another until at length they entered the citadel at Cherubusco with drawn swords and drove the Mexicans out even pursuing them
till they reached the gates of the City of Mexico. Our army lost about one
thousand men, while the Mexican army lost perhaps seven thousand in all, or
nearly one-fourth of the forces that had been engaged. Nearly all of this fighting the reader will remember was done in two days; that is, August 19 and 20.
There were five battles in two days, but most of it was done on the 2oth. The
battles of Contreras and Cherubusco and that of the one wing of Santa Anna's
army were of such magnitude that a nation might exult in the glory of winning
any one of them. General Scott had established his headquarters in a large
454PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             45  
stone building of thick high walls and high towers at each end. This building
was at the foot of a hill about a mile from Chapultepec and was called Molino
del Rey. Santa Anna's army with about fourteen thousand men lay west of
this. The castle of Chapultepec and the city had to be taken before the army
could hope to reach the City of Mexico. The castle was in reality the Mexican
military college and the hillside upon which it rested was probably a volcanic
eruption. On the IIth the American batteries opened up on it and after bombarding it most of the time till the morning of the I2th a general charge was
made, which resulted in routing the defenders of the castle. The city of
Chapultepec was three miles distant and the army followed up the charge on
the castle by a general forward movement toward the city and toward the City
of Mexico. On the 8th of September Scott attacked the Mexican lines in
three places. He cut the Mexican army in twain, but could not support this
advanced position and was driven back by the Mexicans, who reunited their
army. On another attack he opened the army again and this time held his
ground. There were now in reality two wings of the Mexican army and
Scott's forces were united between them. This last battle is known irn history
as the battle of Molino del Rey, and was perhaps the bloodiest battle of the
Mexican war, but the American troops won a great victory. Our loss was
about seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, of whom fifty-eight were officers.
The Mexican loss was still greater; counting killed, wounded and prisoners
their army was reduced to less than three thousand soldiers. On September I2
the army began firing on Chapultepec. This fort was nearly a thousand feet
long and was greatly strengthened by heavy stone walls. At the foot of the
hill was a high stone wall and behind it were several companies of Mexican
troops. In addition the ground over which our army must pass to approach
the fort was mined and was supposed to be very dangerous. Beyond this was
a strong redoubt heavily guarded. Further on was another wall and outside
of each wall was a deep ditch. In these strongholds were the Mexican soldiers
whom our army must dislodge, and in addition to all this the entire fortification
was protected by eleven heavy guns. In the early forenoon of September 13
the command was given for a general move on the enemy from all sides. By
this time the fortress or the bluff upon which it was located was almost surrounded. They were met by a perfect hail of bullets from the fortress and
by incessant firing from the eleven guns surmounting all. The American soldiers bridged the ditches with fascines and passed over them quickly. Each
company carried ladders and these were placed against the walls so that they
were soon escaladed and regardless of loss of life one thousand soldiers rushed
to the citadel. The South Carolina and the New York volunteers of the Second
Pennsylvania Regiment, in which it will be remembered were many Pittsburg
soldiers, were in the thickest part of the battle at the time of the assault. The
fierce struggle, of course, lasted but a few minutes and then victory came to the
Union army. They took all of the artillery in the fort and a number of prisoners. All these misfortunes had greatly discouraged the Mexican army. ThePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                               37
culties as any troops that can be employed."  This request was granted, and
on November I2th, he began the journey, with about fifteen hundred men.
Colonel Armstrong, the hero of Kittanning, followed him the next day with
about one thousand men, who were mostly Pennsylvania soldiers. Forbes left
Fort Ligonier on November I7th with over four thousand men, having left a
force in the garrison at Ligonier.
These forces opened up the western part of what has since been known as
the Forbes road. Its location in the main is not a matter of conjecture, for a
journal of it was kept and sent to the British war office in London, and which,
under the label of "General Forbes' Marching Journal to the Ohio," is now in
the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. The
map appearing herewith shows by dotted lines the route which Forbes took, if
the journal may be relied upon. In the main the road took the general course
that was afterward taken by the state road built in I79I, and still later by the
turnpike now generally known as the Pittsburg and Philadelphia turnpike,
though it is very rarely that either road was built on the exact line of the
Forbes road. The Forbes road was built for the sole purpose of transporting
an army through a mountainous country, covered with a dense forest, and infested with Indians. It was invariably built on the highest ground, the dividing line or watershed between brooks and creeks being taken, not only because
it was much drier than the low ground, but so that they might avoid the danger
of Indian ambuscades while hemmed in by narrow valleys. The line of the
Forbes road is generally to the right (that is, to the north) of the turnpike as
one journeys from Bedford to Pittsburg, and keeps to the north most of the
way until it crosses the Allegheny mountains and Laurel Hill. At Fort Ligonier it crossed the present line of the turnpike, and crossed the Loyalhanna a
few rods below the fort, passing over Chestnut Ridge at a point about two
miles west of the line of the Ligonier Valley railroad. It came down off the
ridge, passing Youngstown, and thence turned northward and passed through.Murrysville thence into Allegheny county, and a short distance north of Wilkinsburg, and through Shannopinstown, on the Allegheny river, and down that
stream to the fort, the line of it in Pittsburg being m(ost nearly marked by the
present Liberty avenue. Though nearly a century and a half has passed since
that damp, chilly November when the road was made, yet in some places it
can be followed by its original cuts and embankments, and in many places is yet
used as a public road. It was made about twelve feet wide, and for nearly
fifty years was the principal highway between the East and the West.  The
army was twelve days in constructing the road and marching from Ligonier to
Fort Duquesne, a distance by the road of about fifty-six miles. Notwithstanding the rumors about the weakness of Fort Duquesne, the army moved west
with great caution, allowing the enemy no opportunity to repeat the surprises of
Braddock and Grant. There were a few Indians with them, and these and
some of the more daring Americans were used as scouts in all directions.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
City of Mexico, which was originally supposed to be the stronghold of the
nation and a place where our armies would be compelled to unite in order to
conquer it, was taken with much less fighting. It was a walled city and a few
soldiers defended the gates stubbornly. Our army marched toward it at once.
General Quitman forced an entrance through the walls of the city by the
Gartia de Belleu and General Worth's soldiers entered it by the Gartia Sancosme, these being the two main gates, and on the morning of the I4th of September, I847, the army was in full possession of the city and all its castles, and
was dictating terms of peace to the vanquished enemy in the far famed halls
of nMontezuma. General Scott's army had in the meantime marched about
three hundred miles into the interior of Mexico, had captured forts that were
supposed to be impregnable and at best had scarcely twelve thousand troops.
When he entered the valley of Mexico in August his army was in four divisions
commanded by Generals Worth, Quitman, Twiggs and Pillow.' The Mexicans
were moreover fighting in their own country, with which they were perfectly
familiar and where they had selected the strongest points for defensive battle.
In order to appreciate the work done by these soldiers it is necessary to consider these matters. Furthermore, the union soldiers who fought in Mexico
were largely brought up in states south of Pennsylvania, and consequently
were more accustomed to hot weather, such as they found in 1Mexico, than
the Pennsylvania soldiers were. As a result of this they suffered much less
from the blazing sun of the tropics than the northern soldiers did. It must
be remembered also that from Vera Cruz to Mexico the army was marching
through a hostile country and much of the time had a very doubtful base of
supplies with which the rear of the army could communicate. At best they
were compelled on much of this long weary march to subsist entirely on what
they carried with them and on what they could procure from the surrounding
country. They were not familiar with the topography of this unknown land,
while all around them skirted hungry and desperate guerrillas, who required
almost constant vigilance on the part of all who would protect themselves or
their property. There were no railroads or navigable streams upon which they
could transport the army. The route from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico
lay over mountains, through deep valleys and across malarial swamps, all of
which told with peculiar severity on the northern troops. Much of this read
was moreover cut through a wilderness renowned for its density. Notwithstanding all this, General Scott did'nnot lose a battle in all the war.
The army occupied the City-of Mexico for nine months, when the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo and signed. Then they received orders on May 29,
I848, to return home.  iost of them returned by the same route they had gone
out. The regiments containing the Pittsburg soldiers were badly used up.
Many of them had died at Vera, Cruz, Jalapa, Parrote and Pueblo. Colonel
William B. Roberts of the Second Regiment died a few days afte'r the capture
of the City of Mexico and his remains were brought home to Pittsburg by
Lieutenant Kane. More of the Pittsburg soldiers died from sickness than from
456PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
457
the casualties of battle. During the return march from Mexico to Vera Cruz
in June the regiments marched mostly at night and rested by day because of the
excessively hot sun.
It was the highest ambition of the surviving Pittsburg troops to bring
home the bodies of a number of soldiers who had been killed and whose graves
were known. Robert D. Nicholson and Joseph Berk of Company I, Second
Regiment, were sent to Pueblo to secure their bodies. They left the union
camp on June I, 1847, in good spirits, expecting to join the regiment in two
or three days again, but they never returned. The country, as we have said,
was infested with guerrillas who concealed themselves in mountain passes,
and the supposition was that they were murdered. All efforts to find them or
to learn of their fate were in vain. The widowed mother of Berk went down
the Ohio to meet the boat which should have brought her son home and tlhere
learned of his sad fate, which so overpowered her that she lost her mind. On
June 20 the regiment embarked at Vera Cruz on' the steamer "Mary Kingsland" for New Orleans. When they went out it required one steamer for two
companies of Pittsburg soldiers, but on their return one steamer was sufficient
for the entire regiment from Pennsylvania which landed at New Orleans. The
steamer "Taglioni" brought them to Pittsburg, where they landed on July Io,
I848. Company I had left Pittsburg with eighty-six men fit for duty, but
returned with but thirty, and the other companies suffered about the same per
cent. of loss.'The regiments were mustered out of service on July I8, 1848.
There weire many good citizens of Pittsburg who throughout had been
opposed to the Mexican war. They saw in it only an effort on the part of the
slave-holding states to gain more territory south of Mason and Dixon's line
as extended to the Pacific ocean. Pittsburg was strong in its anti-slavery
sentiment, and the men holding these views were not enthus'iastic supporters
of the "War of Conquest," as they called it. Jane Grey Swisshelm employed
her caustic pen in opposing it. When the troops were about ready to leave for
Mexico she wrote: "Those who leave their families to the charity of the
world well know that this winter, or while the war fever lasts, they will be
kept from starving; after that their wives can sew for twelve and a half cents
a day to support themselves and their children. If this country failed to support her old revolutioners and their widows, she will support no others. There
is now an old woman in the upper end of Allegheny City, Mrs. Grove, who
has had a cancer on her face for years. Her husband was in Washington's
army during most of the war. After incredible exertions he secured a pension
of forty-four dollars a year. It was his only dependence. I knew him for
years when he lived here near us in a little house below the mill, and tottered
on his staff, back and forth to Pittsburg, eight miles, with his silver hair hanging on his shoulders, to beg his pension pittance of fat, sleek office-holders."
But when the war was over and the soldiers were about to reach Pittsburg
on their return, there were few who did not turn out to gladly welcome them.
No matter how unjust the war may have been, the soldiers had performedA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
their part bravely and well and were entitled to the highest measure of glory.
Both cities and many hundreds from nearby communities united to give them
an ever memorable welcome such as they deserved. Men, women and children
came for miles to witness the arrival of the gallant band. The "John Hancock" and the "Taglioni" bearing respectively the Maryland and the Second
Pennsylvania regiments, came up the river and were sighted about eleven
o'clock or shortly after. Then the people began to shout and the bells of the
city were rung, and the bands played, and every accessible cannon began to
roar, in welcome greeting, as the boats neared the wharf. These boats bore
but one Pittsburg company, the Irish Greens, but every one was proud of the
gallantry they displayed in Mexico. The river front from above Smithfield
street to the point was filled with men and women, patiently awaiting their
arrival. Every window and every housetop in view of the wharf was filled
with people, and every steamboat lying in the wharf was apparently a living
mass of humanity waving handkerchiefs and cheering as the soldiers disembarked. About five o'clock in the evening rapid artillery firing, steamboat
whistling and church bell ringing announced the arrival of two more boats
bearing soldiers. As they slowly approached the wharf the volunteers began
to cheer. The soldiers of both arrivals were marched to the corner of Wood
and Water streets, where they were addressed by the renowned orator, Judge
William Wilkins. His address to the first arrival of troops was responded to
by Col. Hughes and Col. Geary, and the evening address by Col. Samuel W.
Black. The Duquesne Grays were on a boat, the "Jewess," which had not
arrived yet. All who arrived were'marched through the city amid such acclamations of joy from every side as have but seldom been heard in any land or
in any age. The bodies of ten soldiers who died in Mexico were brought
back and were buried in the Allegheny cemetery on July 2I. A large procession of returned troops and citizens marched to the cemetery and participated in the military funeral accorded them.
458CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Allegheny County Bench.
"The courts are an integral and vital part of our government, and it would
be a sad day for American civilization if their functions were degraded or
weakened. They are the balance wheel and check in our system between contending passions and policies. This is not idle rhetoric. It is the sober truth
that the courts are the guardians of our rights and liberties. It is high time
that the people should remember this and should soberly reflect upon the current heresies. It is high time that public sentiment and conviction should loyally support the judicial power, recognize the patriotism and good faith of the
courts, and maintain their authority and independence."-Philander Chase
Knox, United States Senate, March 28, I9o6.
At the time of the Revolution many of our most distinguished men did not
seek a separation from England, but rather a relief from the unjust burdens
which the Crown was imposing on the Colonies. They did not in reality
regard the colonists as fitted to govern themselves. This want of confidence
in the people for self-government is shown in the early organic laws of the
commonwealth. The constitution of I776 and those of I790 and I838, provided
that all judicial officers should be appointed for life by the governor, and as we
have seen, most other officers were selected practically in the same way instead
of being elected by the people, as they are now. This was a reflection of the
English idea which did not regard the people as safe depositories of political
power. Although the constitution of I776 was formed after the patriots of the
Revolution had thrown off the British yoke, yet it left us under the reign of
the English law, which it modified to but a limited extent. The office of judgeship, we may say here, remained an appointive one until I850, when an amendment to the constitution of I838 was passed, which made the office an elective
one. During all this time it was not infrequent that judges were chosen from
other counties than those in which they were to preside. This power is yet
lodged in the chief magistrate of the commonwealth when an appointment to
the bench becomes necessary, but it is a very rare occurrence that the appointee
does not come from the bar of the county to the bench of which he is appointed.
The same appointive power and the same general custom applied then to the
office of district attorney. A governor from the East could, and frequentlyA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
did, quarter his'personal friends on the western counties by appointing them
to the offices of judge and district attorney. This was done without special
complaint by more than one governor, even in Allegheny county. The amendment to the constitution passed in I85o also limited the term of the judgeship to
ten years for county judges and to fifteen years for supreme court judges. Up
until I790 our judges were not necessarily learned in the law and none of those
who were appointed on April 6, I773, were lawyers. The province of a judge
differed widely in those days from that of our judges of today. Many matters
which are now ruled by the higher courts were then settled by the jury, for
there were few decisions to guide them and the judge did not necessarily need
to know the law as they do today. Binding instructions to a jury were practically unknown then. The judge's charge to a jury set forth his opinion of the
case as he viewed it rather than the law and the decisions of the courts which
governed it. It must not be too rashly presumed therefore that because our
early judges were not learned in the law that our courts were necessarily of
an inferior quality. It will be remembered that Ebenezer Webster, the father
of Daniel Webster, though not a lawyer, sat for many years on the Common
Pleas bench of New Hampshire, and rendered eminent services in that capacity.
These early justices were selected with great care and were well suited and
well equipped to carry on the litigation of the primitive age in which they lived.
They brought order out of chaos and steadily advanced the pioneer standard of
jurisprudence until I790, when the community was intellectually ready for the
more exacting principles of the new constitution. They were men of high
standing in the community, but were little more than justices. This was the
case all over the province at that time and yet a writer of no less distinction
than Henry Cabot Lodge in his "History of the English Colonies of America,"
page 232, speaks of the judicial system of Pennsylvania as "far above the
colonial standard, both as to the bench and the bar." The manner of appointing judges or justices, though referred to elsewhere, may serve here to refresh
the reader's memory of our early courts. The act of September 9, 1759, provided that "five persons of the best discretion, capacity, judgment and integrity," should be commissioned for the common pleas and orphans' courts, any
three of whom were empowered to act. All were appointed for life or good
behavior. By the constitution of 1776 the term was limited to seven years, but
the constitution of 1790 restored the life-tenure. The act of May 22, 1722, had
authorized the appointment of justices for each county and provided that any
three of them had the power to hold the ordinary quarter sessions and common
pleas court. The same act also provided for the appointment of a supreme
court of three judges, afterwards increased to four, before whom the proceedings of the county court could be reviewed. This supreme court had a further
jurisdiction over all capital cases and for this purpose they were compelled to
sit in each county twice a year. The justices or county judges were not enabled
by the act to try a case, the punishment of which might be death. By the act
of May 3T, 1718, the crimes of treason, misprision of treason, murder, man46oPITTSBURG  AND HER PEOPLE
slaughter, mayhem, arson, burglary, witchcraft, etc., were made capital offenses, that is, they were punishable by death. When three or more of these
justices met together they had the power to hold a county court and were
authorized from the beginning to elect their own president judge, and this rule
obtained up until the constitution of 1776, after which the act of January 27,
I777, was passed which authorized the President of the Supreme Executive
Council to appoint and commission one of these justices or judges as president
judge. In the old courts prior to the formation of Allegheny county the custom seemed to be that when they met if the regular president judge was not
present, they selected one of their number to preside in his absence, but he did
not hold this office by any legislative authority prior to the act of January,
I777, which provides as follows: "The President and Council shall appoint
one of the justices in each county to preside in the respective courts and in
his absence the justices who shall attend the court shall choose one of themselves President for the time being." The formation of the county, the selection of a court house and county seat and the earlier cases tried in the Westmoreland courts while Pittsburg was yet in that county, are matters which
have been considered in a former chapter. The first judge who presided in
those courts was William Crawford, a man of high standing and character with
whom the reader is quite familiar, for he figured greatly in the Revolutionary
period, both as a judge and as a soldier. He was born in Virginia in I733 and
came first into Western Pennsylvania with Braddock's army, taking part in
the memorable defeat. In I767 he took up land in the region of Connellsville
and resided there for the remainder of his days. He is described as a gentleman of the Old School, and was certainly a man of superior attainments for
that day. It will be recalled that he was visited by Washington and frequently
made journeys with him. Those who,are familiar with Washington's letters
will remember of him distinctly. In the difficulties in Southwestern Pennsylvania, known and considered under the head of Dunmore's war, Crawford
took sides with Virginia, and this led to his retirement from the bench, he being
removed from the office by the President of the Supreme Executive Council in
I775. The order removing him recognized him as Presiding Justice. But his
memory has not suffered in history because of his leaning toward his native
state. When the war of the Revolution came he raised a regiment in Western
Virginia and in Southwestern Pennsylvania, was made its colonel and with it
performed good services in the Continental army. Toward the close of the
war he was sent to guard the frontier against the Indian incursions and to this
end built Fort Crawford on the Allegheny river near the present town of New
Kensington. In 1782 he was appointed to command an expedition against the
Indians on the Sandusky. It is known as Crawford's expedition, and is the
basis of one of the most heartrending chapters of border history. His army
was outnumbered, and he himself was captured by the Indians under the leadership of the notorious Simon Girty. After much torture he was tied hand and
foot and, amid fiendish yells of joy, the Indians, thinking they were avenging
46iA CENTURY AND. A HALF OF
their race, put the bold and intrepid frontiersman to a most cruel death by
burning him at the stake. Thus died the first of Westmoreland's provincial
judges. Crawford had been retired from the bench prior to the act of I777
authorizing the appointment of a president judge and therefore the judicial
distinction by legislative authority came first in reality to John Moore. At the
commencement of the Revolution he was engaged in clearing out and cultivating a farm of four hundred acres on the Crab Tree Run, a branch of the
Loyalhanna, two miles southeast of New Alexandria, in the present county of
Westmoreland. A comfortable stone dwelling house, still in good condition,
marked the place of his residence and indicated a man in advance of the crude
civilization of his day. His wife was a daughter of Isaac Parr of New Jersey.
He was about thirty-seven years old when he went on the bench. His-first
appearance in public life was as a delegate from the county of Westmoreland
to the convention which met at Philadelphia on July 15, 1776, to form a constitution and frame a government for the state. This body met at Carpenter's
Hall. The people of the state had been invoked "to choose such persons only
to act for them in the ensuing convention as are distinguished for wisdom,
integrity, and a firm attachment to the liberties of this province." In pursuance of this recommendation delegates were chosen on July 5, I776, and John
Moore was one of the eight who represented Westmoreland county. In the
convention he was placed on the committee to draw up a declaration or bill
of rights and also on the committee to report a plan or constitution of government. The convention selected "a council of safety to exercise the whole of
the executive powers of government, so far as relates to the military defense
and safety of the province." This committee was composed of twenty of the
most prominent men in the convention and John Moore was one of them. On
September 30 he returned to Westmoreland. While in session with the council of safety he had procured for the defense of the frontier about four hundred
pounds sterling, half a ton of rifle powder, one ton of lead and four thousand
flints. This doubtless added to his popularity on the frontier. At all events
in I777 he was commissioned a justice of the peace and about the same time
was appointed surveyor of public lands in Westmoreland. In I779 he was
commissioned one of the judges of the several courts of Westmoreland county,
and in 1785 was appointed president judge of the same county. No appointment was made for Westmoreland county until October 24 of that year. (Col.
Rec., Vol. I4, page 5I6.) His commission bore date on the day following and
is recorded in the Register's office in Book A, Page 544. This position of
president judge of the county he filled until the constitution of I790 came into
power, when he was retired because he was not learned in the law. After his
retirement from the bench he was elected two terms to the state senate from
the district composed of Allegheny and Westmoreland. What opportunities
for education he had had in his youth are not known. He wrote a good hand
and the language and orthography of his composition indicated a strong, vigorous and clear intellect. Some time after the death of his father, William
Moore, his mother was married to James Guthrie, by whom she had several
462PITTSBURG, AND HER PEOPLE
463
children, one of whom, James, was afterward sheriff of Westmoreland county.
John B. Guthrie, afterwards a mayor of Pittsburg, was a descendant. One
of Judge Moore's daughters was united in marriage with John M. Snowden, a well-known Pittsburg editor of the early days, and mayor of the city,
and also one of the associate judges of Allegheny county.
On the formation of Allegheny county in I788 new judges and justices
were appointed, who held the first court in Pittsburg on December I6. A
court house had not been built then and the courts were held in a room on the
corner of Second and Market streets. For three years after the formation of
the county, that is, up until the constitution of I790 went into effect, the court
was composed of justices of the county. In Allegheny county the council had
commissioned George Wallace as president judge and he served until I79I,
when he was retired by the workings of the constitution, which implied that
only those who were learned in the law should sit on the bench. He had given
good satisfaction while on the bench, for the position, as we have said, required
a man of good judgment and of integrity rather than one widely learned in the
law. He had been appointed originally a justice in Westmoreland county and
on the formation of Allegheny county was reappointed. He was a large landholder and a good business man and withal gave general satisfaction while he
sat on the bench. At the first session of court nine persons were admitted to
practice law, and these became the first members of the Allegheny county bar,
though but four of them were residents of Pittsburg. The associate judges on
the bench on December I6 were Joseph Scott, John Wilkins and John Johnson.
The judge read a letter from William Bradford, Jr., attorney general of Pennsylvania, appointing Robert Galbraith, Esq., a deputy attorney general of
the county and he was accordingly sworn in. After this the nine members of the
bar, namely, Hugh H. Brackenridge, John Woods, James Ross, George Thompson, Alexander Addison, David Bradford, James Carson, Daniel St. Clair and
Michael Huffnagle, were sworn as members of the new bar. The attention of
the court was directed entirely to matters of that kind and was a court of
quarter sessions only. The first term in the common pleas court was held on
March I4, I789, for which term the appearance docket contained fifty-six cases.
The minutes for that day are very brief and only show that the court was held
before Judge Wallace and his associates, but they are not named. They were
doubtless the same as given above for December I6. All of the members of
the bar who were admitted when the courts of Allegheny were opened had
probably been members of the Washington and Westmoreland bars. Of the
four who lived in Pittsburg, three were Hugh Henry Brackenridge, James
Ross, John Woods and the other is unknown. Among the five from the other
counties were two from Washington, namely, David Bradford and Alexander
Addison. Bradford has been referred to sufficiently in the description given in
these pages of the Whiskey Insurrection. Alexander Addison was a man of
high attainments and will be referred to hereafter.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF,
When the constitution of I776 was formed it was at best an experiment,
for it was formed when the war clouds of the Revolution were gathering and
was in want of many important provisions. Resultant from the dissatisfaction
engendered by these defects, was the convention which formed the constitution of I790. It certainly had its faults, too, but nevertheless was an able product and lasted the state for forty-eight years. Two of the ablest members of
the convention of 1790 were James Ross of Allegheny county and Alexander
Addison of Washington County. The constitution, as we have intimated,
reconstructed the courts-of the state. and practically limited the judicial power
to those who were learned in the law. Agreeable to other provisions regulating the judicial system of the state, the Legislature, on April 13, I79I,
organized the Fifth Judicial District, to be composed of the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington and Allegheny. This, it will be remembered,
included all of Western Pennsylvania save Bedford and Somerset. Greene
county was included in Washington until its formation in 1796. All the territory west of the Allegheny and north of the Ohio was included in Allegheny
county, and with parts of Armstrong and Indiana were included in the Fifth
Judicial District, though in reality there were but four counties in the district.
The constitution itself provided that not more than six nor less than three
counties should be included in one district. By the act of I79i a president of
each judicial district was to be appointed by the governor and he was also to
appoint not less than three nor more than four associate judges; the latter were
rarely ever experienced lawyers.
Of this Fifth Judicial District, Alexander Addison, then practicing law
in Washington county mainly, was appointed president judge by Governor
Thomas Mifflin, when Wallace retired from the bench because of the provisions of the constitution of I790. He was appointed August 22, 179I, and
was therefore the first judge learned in the law who presided over the
Allegheny county courts. Like many prominent men of his day he was born
in a foreign land, at Morayshire, Scotland, in I758. He was educated at the
University of Aberdeen, and received the degree of Master of Arts in I777.
Entering the ministry he was admitted to the Presbytery of Aberlowe in I78I.
In I785 he came to America in company with Dr. Charles Nesbitt, who was
then president of Dickinson College at Carlisle. On December 20 he applied
to the Redstone Presbytery at Brownsville for admission, but for some unknown reason his examination proved unsatisfactory, and, while he was
not admitted  he  was  allowed  to  continue  preaching  for  he  was
already supplying the church at Washington, Pennsylvania. Perhaps because
of the difficulties relating to his examination he became disgruntled and,
abandoning the ministry, took up the study of law with. David Reddick, of
Washington.  He was admitted to the Washington bar in March, I787.
After the custom of the day, Addison practiced law in both Washington
and in Pittsburg. The district was then composed of the four counties mentioned above, and it also included, during his term, the counties of Greene,
464PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Armstrong, Beaver and Butler. These counties furthermore included all of
the territory in western Pennsylvania, though the northern counties were not
yet erected. Crawford, Erie, Alercer and Venango were added to the district
in 1803, and must have produced considerable litigation even before they
became separate counties. The duties which confronted him when he assumed the duties of the judgeship were indeed arduous. To bring order out
of the chaotic conditions of affairs, the result of the justice's court and the
Virginia courts, was perhaps a greater undertaking than that which subsequently fell to any judge of the district, yet he performed the work nobly and
became known as one of the ablest men in Pennsylvania. He was a Federalist
in his opinions and when the Whiskey Insurrection originated in the four
principal counties of his district, he took decidedly a stand in favor of law
and order, as indeed an equitable conservator of the peace was compelled to
do. This made him very unpopular and brought upon him the bitter hostility
of Hugh Henry Brackenridge and many others. On July 17, I8oo, there was
appointed to the position of associate judge a Frenchman named John B.
C. Lucas, who seemed to regard it as his highest duty to annoy and provoke
Judge Addison. Lucas was not a lawyer, yet he frequently differed with the
Judge on points of law and tried to overrule him. The opposition did not result seriously until the Federalists lost their power and the enemies of Judge
Addison were in the ascendency. Lucas then tried to charge the grand jury
contrary to the custom  and set forth views opposite to those expressed by
Judge Addison. Judge John M/IcDowell was then on the bench and he with
Judge Addison constituted a majority of the court. They remonstrated with
Lucas for his conduct, and put a stop to his further haranguing the grand
jury. This gave Lucas a pretext for legal proceedings against the Judge.
He made an application to the Supreme Court to file an information in the form
of an indictment against him for misdemeanor in office. The result of this.
was disappointing to Lucas for the court dismissed it because the paper
did not show  any indictable offense.  The proceedings may be read in 4
Dallas R., 225. Lucas's next step was to have Judge Addison impeached by
the legislature. The predominating element there was anti-Federalist and
they proceeded to try him by impeachment. The articles of impeachment contained but two charges, both relating to Lucas's attempt to charge the juries.
"No person can read the report of the trial," says Judge J. W. F. White,
"without feeling that it was a legal farce; that grosS injustice was done Judge
Addison from the beginning to the end, and that the whole proceeding was a
disgrace to the state. The trial took place at Lancaster, where the legislature
sat. The house and senate refused to give him copies of certain papers or to
give assistance in priocuring witnesses from Pittsburg for his defense. The
addresses of the counsel against him, and the rulings of the senate on all
questions raised in the progress of the trial, were characterized by intense
partisan feeling. It was not a judicial trial, but a partisan scheme to turn out
a political opponent."
30
465A CENTURY ANAD A HALF OF
It may be of interest to the reader to know something of the condition of
the fort just before its capture. Much has since been learned from French
manuscripts and letters, notably those of M. de Vaudreuil, governor general of
Canada. He made an order at that time that all posts convenient to the Ohio
should send French and Indians to Fort Duquesne. It is further learned from
the same source that M. Dumas, the commandant of Fort Duquesne in the early
summer of 1758, did not intend to defend it, but was planning to meet Forbes's
army and surprise it as he did Braddock's. The governor general further said
in a letter that "Fort Duquesne in its present condition could not offer any resistance to the enemy;'tis too small to lodge the garrison necessary on such an
occasion. A single shell would be sufficient to set it on fire, too, that it would
be impossible to extinguish it because the houses are so close."  In the summer
of I758 the number of French and Indians at Fort Duquesne was much larger,
for the French army records show that almost regularly three thousand rations,
and sometimes many more, were daily issued. But in October the number of
daily rations had fallen to Io8o. Christian Frederick Post thought that in
September the garrison consisted of about fourteen hundred, but was of the
6pinion that they would call in French and Indians on short notice and be able
to meet the Forbes army with at least three thousand troops. This was probably very nearly correct, but in November the militia of Louisiana and Illinois
left the fort and went home; the Detroit and Wabash Indians would not remain
longer; and, more than all this, the supplies shipped to Fort Duquesne had
been seized and destroyed or taken by Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac. M. Ligneris was the new commander at Fort Duquesne, and, with starvation staring
his troops in the face, he was compelled to dismiss many of his forces and await
the coming of Forbes's army, almost in despair. There was a custom among
the Indians of going home after a battle or an extended hunting expedition,
whether the result was successful or otherwise. James Smith, whom we have
quoted before, says that after Grant's defeat the general opinion was that
Forbes's army would go home, as the British had done under Dunbar. The
French were anxious to have the Indians stay, or at least all they could support, but they were away from their squaws, and many of them returned to do
their regular fall hunting, as General Forbes had anticipated. This accounted
for the small army at Fort Duquesne. Further, the Indians were of the opinion
that Forbes's American soldiers, and even the redcoats, were learning the Indian or backwoods art of warfare, and were not anxious to meet them in battle.
But all these matters, we need not say, were entirely unknown to the English
when they had about concluded to go into winter quarters at Fort Ligonier, and
it was only an intimation of them that prompted them to change their purpose
and move hurriedly on towards Fort Duquesne. Understanding these matters
the reader will be prepared fo0 the bloodless capture which awaited the army
at Fort Duquesne.
When Forbes left Ligonier, Washington had progressed twenty-six miles,
and was at a point about eight miles northwest of Greensburg. Forbes's af38A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
The result of the trial was that on January 27, I803, Judge Addison was
found guilty, and removed from the bench, yet he was undoubtedly one
of the best and ablest judges who ever graced the bench of Pennsylvania. He
was moreover a scholar and learned writer. He published "Observations on
Gallatin's Speech" in I798; "Analysis of the Report of the Virginia Assembly"
in I8oo, and also the Addison's Pennsylvania Reports in the same year.
A great writer of that day has spoken of him as "An intelligent, learned,
upright and fearless judge; one whose equal was not to be found in Pennsylvania."  His charge to the grand jury during the Whiskey Insurrection is a
monument to his talents and his worth and those who will recall the political
surroundings of that day cannot read it without being impressed with the fact
that Judge Addison was possessed of a high degree of moral courage and a
clear perception of the law."
When Judge Addison was impeached the citizens of Fayette county,
over which he presided, tendered him a public dinner and came in large numbers to show their disapproval of the action of the legislature.
On the removal of Judge Addison the governor appointed Samuel Roberts, of Sunbury, to the position. He had been born in Philadelphia in I763,
and admitted to the bar in I790. He practiced first in Lancaster, then moved
to Sunbury. He was commissioned on April 20, I803, by Governor Thomas
McKean, and sat on the bench in the Fifth District until his death. While
judge of these courts he edited and published a digest of English statutes then
in force in Pennsylvania, and it is yet a standard work though rarely ever referred to. He died in I820.
Judge Roberts was succeeded on the bench by William  Wilkins. His
father, John Wilkins, had come to Pittsburg in I786, and is referred to elsewhere in these pages as an early church worker in Pittsburg. The son was
born in Carlisle on December 20, I779. He was educated in Dickinson
College, and also read law there with Judge David Watt. He was admitted
to the Pittsburg bar December 28, I8oi. In Pittsburg he was president of the
common council in I816-I7-I8, and was a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania in I8I9. On December I8, 1820, he was appointed judge of the Fifth
Judicial District. This position he filled until May 25, 1824, when he resigned to accept the position of judge of the United States courts for the
Western District of Pennsylvania. In I828, while on the bench, he was elected
to Congress, but resigned from the office before taking his seat, giving as a
reason that he could not afford to give up the judgeship and live in Washington
on the salary then paid members of Congress. Two years later he was elected
to the IUnited States senate and took his seat; the higher position perhaps
induced him to resign the judgeship. He remained in the senate until I834,
when he was appointed minister to Russia by President Andrew  Jackson,
though he remained but one year at the court of St. Petersburg. In I842 he
was again sent to Congress as a member of the lower house. The fearful explosion of the gun on the "Princeton" on the Potomac in February, I844,
466PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
killed the Secretary of State Upshur and the Secretary of War Gilmer, and
President John Tyler appointed Judge Wilkins as Secretary of War, which
position he filled from February I5, I844, until March 4, I845. In 1855
he was elected to the state senate of Pennsylvania for one term as a representative from Allegheny county. He was also' the first president of the
Bank of Pittsburg. For him Wilkins township and Wilkinsburg in Allegheny
county were named. He was one of the most distinguished men ever connected with the Pittsburg bar; though elected and appointed to many positions he filled them each and all in a way that reflected great credit upon himself and upon his constituents. His last years were spent in retirement at his
home in Homewood, yet even then he, as chairman of the celebrated Committee
of One Hundred, busied himself in the many war measures taken by the,
patriotic people of Pittsburg to assist in putting down the Rebellion of I86i.
Indeed it is said that in his last hours with waning breath he gloried that he
had lived to see the flag again waving proudly over a union which had passed
through the war and was united in peace and harmony.  He died June
23, I865.
Charles Shaler, whose name will ever be tenderly remembered by Pittsburg people, succeeded Judge Wilkins as president judge of the Fifth District. He was born in Connecticut in 1788, and was graduated from Yale
College. He read law in Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in Ravenna,
coming to Pittsburg for admission in I8I3. After filling one or two minor
positions he was appointed judge of the courts of Allegheny county on June
5, I824. This position he filled with signal ability until May 4, I835. He
then practiced law until I84I, when, on May 6, he was appointed assistant law
judge of the district court of Allegheny county, and filled that position until
May 20, I844. During the administration of President Pierce he was United
States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Judge Shaler was
a man of high standing whether in the bar, on the bench or in the councils
of the church. He was a tall man and had a grace and a personality which
commanded the attention and respect of all with whom he came in contact.
In arguing matters to the court he was unusually clear and brief. Before a
jury he frequently brought to bear a florid eloquence, or a master stroke of
wit, or perhaps a thrust of sarcasm by which in a word he sometimes silenced
his opponent. In the days in which he lived, platform speaking in political
campaigns was almost a duty of the lawyer who had any power of eloquence,
and in this Judge Shaler was scarcely surpassed by the ablest men of his
day. He figured largely in Pittsburg's early history, and has been many times
mentioned in this work. He died at the house of his son-in-law, Mr. D. H.
Hodges, in Newark, New Jersey, on March 5, I869, and was buried in the
Allegheny cemetery of Pittsburg.
On May I5, I835, Trevanion B. Dallas was commissioned to. succeed
Judge Shaler on the Allegheny county bench. He was a son of Alexander
J. Dallas, of the Revolutionary period, and a brother of George M. Dallas, who
467A CENTURY AhND A HALF OF
was afterward vice-president of the United States. He was born in Philadelphia, on February 23, I8oi, and was educated at Princeton. He began
the study of the law with his brother, George M., in Philadelphia, but later
came to Pittsburg to finish his studies with his brother-in-law, Judge W-illiam
Wilkins, who was then on the Allegheny county bench. He was admitted to
practice in the Pittsburg courts on June 29, I820. For a time he was deputy
attorney-general of Allegheny county, and solicitor for the city of Pittsburg.
He served as president judge of the courts from May 15, I835, to June 4,
I839, when he was appointed assistant law judge of the district court of Allegheny county with Judge Greer, who was then judge of that court. This
position he filled until his death on April 7, I84I. He was a man of fine
appearance and affable manners, who had the intellect of his family, but unfortunately died before he reached the place in life which his talent, industry
and knowledge warranted him to attain.
Judge  Dallas  was  succeeded  on  the  bench  by  Benjamin  Patton, who  was  commissioned  July  I,  I839, and  who  sat on  the
bench ten years and six months. Judge Patton was born in Bellefonte, on July
21, I8Io, being the son of Benjamin and Phoebe (Wheeler) Patton. He had
come from an old Revolutionary stock, which had settled among the earliest
in the Juniata valley.  His grandfather was a lieutenant in  Braddock's
army, and was among the Virginia troops furnished through the aid of
Colonel Washington. A grand-uncle of Judge Patton's was Benjamin Patton,
who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Judge Patton was
graduated from Dickinson College in the class of I828, and began to study law
with Andrew Carothers at Carlisle. When admitted to the bar he settled in
Nashville, Tennessee, but shortly afterwards returned to Lewistowni, vhere
Samuel Douglas, who was then attorney-general of the state, appointed him
deputy attorney-general.  In I832 President Jackson appointed him United
States attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and this brought
him to Pittsburg in June, I833. In addition to attending to the duties of the
office of district attorney he practiced law in the courts of Pittsburg.  On
July I, I839, he was commissioned by Governor David R. Porter, as president
judge of the Allegheny county courts, and assumed his duties at once. He
was then less than thirty years old, and the position was growing more and
more arduous with every year.  He, it is said, made some mistakes, due
perhaps to his inexperience, for he was the youngest man who had, up until
that time, occupied this high position in the courts. At all events he was never
charged with being intentionally unfair or dishonest. In addition to his youth
he was not a man of commanding appearance, for he was crippled in one
of his legs and walked with difficulty.  Furthermore, his general physical
appearance was that of a man who, would not long survive, yet he sat on the
bench ten years and a half, and lived nearly fifty years after his retirement.
He was appointed commissioner and clerk of the circuit court of the United
States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by Judge Robert C. Greer,
45t(PITTSBURGi AND HER PEOPLE  
who bv that time, had become one of the justices of the supreme court of the
United States. This necessitated his removal to Philadelphia. After filling
this position for twelve years he purchased a farm and home named "Fontland," near Hicksville, Ohio, and lived there somewhat in retirement.  In
I8o and I88I he was a melember of the Ohio legislature,. This rural life seemed
conducive to his health, for he lived there until February io, I897, when
he died in the eighty-seventh year of his age.  He had been on the bench
in 1842 when the old court house, so called by the present generation, was
first used and dedicated, and he attended the dedicatory services of the
present court house in I888.
WTilliam B. McClure succeeded Judge Patton, and his services dated from
January 3I, i850.  That year came an amendment to the constitution, of
which we have spoken, making the judgeship an elective office. This amendment applied not only to the county judges but to members of the supreme court
as well. All judges in the state were legislated out of office. This seemed
somewhat drastic, yet they were each holding office for a life tenure by virtue
of the constitution of I838, and when it was modified in this particular, it
was but fair that each should secure his position from  the people.  The
election took place in October, I85i. Judge McClure had been on the bench
but little over a year by appointment, but he was now elected for a term
of ten vears from December, I85I. In I86I, he was again elected and commissicned for the full term of ten years, but he died December 27, in the
same year. He was born near Carlisle, on April ii, I807, and was graduated
from Dickinson College in the class of 1827. He was admitted to the Pittsburg bar in 1829, after having read law with John Kennedy, who afterward
went to the supreme bench. His term  on the bench was a very busy one,
for lhe'was the sole judge of the common pleas, orphans', quarter sessions
and oyer and terminer courts, yet Pittsburg  and  its adjoining  boroughs
alone, without counting the remainder of the inhabitants of Allegheny county,
had a population of 79,830 in I85o, and of I24,844 in I86o. There was, it is
true, at the same time a district court at Allegheny county, but even with that
the work must of necessity have been great. The population of the cities is
now scarceiy more than four times what it was in i86o, yet there are fifteen
judges at present, and all are kept busy to transact the business. The inference
is- that litigation has increased more rapidly than the population. The court
business transacted by Judge McClure each year was enormous.  He had
scarcely a day's vacation, and sat on the benclh from eight to ten hours each
day. Nor has the county, in all her history, had a more thoroughly conscientious and earnest judge than he. This close confinement and the impure air
of the quarter sessions court, with perhaps too little exercise, undermined his
constitution which was naturally a strong one. As a result he died wheyn but
fifty-four vears of age. The records of the courts during the years he was on
the bench, show that he tried more criminal cases and more homicide cases
than any other judge in Pennsylvania. The excessive business of these courts
was ldue to the building of the railroads in and about Pittsburg during that
469A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
period. The Judge put forth his best energies to suppress crimes which
were occurring daily around him because of the many foreigners brought in
by railroad building. He made his court a terror to evildoers and gained for
himself almost a national fame as a trial judge, but the hard work practically
cost him his life. Nor was the increase in the litigation, superinduced by railroad building, confined to the criminal courts. All the court business was
correspondingly increased though the civil cases could be postponed with
better grace than cases in the quarter sessions. This increase in business led
to a movemnent on the part of the citizens of Pittsburg to have a law passed
providing for an assistant law judge of the county. This movement resulted
in the Act of May 26, I859. The same act enlarged the jurisdiction of the
court to include all cases wherein the sum in controversy did not exceed three
hundred dollars. This act was followed by the Act of April ii, I862, which
gave the county a second associate law judge, and abolished the office of associate judge. The same law extended the jurisdiction of the common pleas
court, making it equal with that of the district court, regardless of the amount
in controversy. This act of I862 was brought about because the courts were
overcrowded. The office of associate judge, generally called lay judges, which
was abolished by this act, was filled by those who were not learned in the law;
they were generally of but little or no use to the trial judge. We had engrafted
the system on our courts from the English system. They had been placed on
the bench in Great Britain during the reign of the early kings, and were
supposed to be an additional safeguard thrown around the rights of Englishmen. By this arrangement the defendant was tried not only by a jury of his
peers, but before a court composed of judges, one of whom at least was unlearned in the law and belonged to the same grade of life to which he himself belonged. The act of I862 abolished them only in Allegheny county.
They were usually prominent men in the county, and after a short term of
service were often of some small value to the president judge in the conduct
of business. Among the more prominent ones of the Allegheny county may be
named George Walls, who after being retired by the constitution of I790 from
the president judgship, was an associate law judge from I79I to I814; John
McDowell served from  179I to I812; Francis McClure from  I812 to I838;
James Riddle from I8I8 to I838. Others of equal note and distinction were
Samuel Jones, Richard Butler, John Wilkins, John Gibson, George Thompson,
Hugh Davis, who had rendered services in our earliest courts.  Still later
came Thomas L. McMillan, Gabriel Adams and John E. Parke. Prior to I85I
they were appointed by the governor and held office for life or during good
behavior. After I851 they were elected each for a term of five years.
Judge McClure was followed on the bench by Judge James P. Sterritt,
who was born in Juniata county on Nov. 7, 1822, and was graduated at
Jefferson College, in Canonsburg, in I84-5. The first year after his graduation was spent as a teacher in the preparatory department of the college
from which he was graduated, after which he studied law in the University
47oPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
of Virginia. In 1848 he was admitted to the bar in Virginia, but in I849
came to Pittsburg, where he was admitted on June 9, 1849. He became a
thorough, painstaking lawyer, devoting himself to a general practice rather
than to a specialty. On the death of Judge McClure he was appointed to
succeed him, the appointment being dated on January 4, I862. During the year
he was nominated and elected by the Republican party for a full term of ten
years, and was re-elected ten years later. In February, 1877, he was appointed
by Governor Hartranft to succeed Judge William W. Williams, who had died
while a justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. Receiving the nomination of his party he had every prospect of being elected, but the state went
Democratic that year, and he was defeated  by their nominee.  Serving
by his appointment till the first Monday of January, I878, he returned to
Pittsburg and resumed the practice of the law. His short term on the supreme bench was entirely satisfactory to his friends, and he was accordingly
placed in nomination again in I878, there being another vacancy that year.
He was elected in the fall of that year for the full term of twenty-one years
from the first Monday of January, I879. On January 20, 1893, he was made
chief justice, Justice Edward M. Paxon having resigned to engage in railroad business.  He was therefore chief justice of Pennsylvania for about
seven years, when he returned at the close of his term. While a member of
the supreme court he removed with his family to Philadelphia, because the
longest sessions were in that city. Justice Sterritt was a large man of strong
build, who, under ordinary circumstances, should have survived his term for
many' years. Unfortunately he came from the bench in poor health, superinduced largely by the hard work which the position had subjected him to.
Though scarcely past sixty-seven years on his retirement to private life, he
survived but one year. He died in Philadelphia on January 22, 1901, and was
buried in Pittsburg. Lafayette College had conferred upon him the degree
of LL. D.
When the bills were passed creating the office of assistant law judge
of the common pleas of Allegheny county, John Wesley Maynard, born in
Vermont, in I8o6, was appointed by Governor William  P. Packer.  His
appointment was dated April I6, I859, and was commissioned until the first
Monday of December following. He had been admitted to the bar in Tioga
county in I83I. In I840 he removed to Williamsport, and resided there
and at Easton until he was appointed to the bench in Allegheny county. He
sat on the bench less than nine months, and in this he demeaned himself as
a lawyer and a judge and won the confidence of both the people and the bar.
In I862 he was elected judge of the WVilliamsport District, but resigned
in I867.
David Ritchie was the associate law judge appointed under the Act of
April I I, I862. He was commissioned by Governor Andrew G. Curtin on
May 22, following the passage of the bill, his commission to expire on the
first Monday of December. He was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylania, on
47IA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
August I9, I812, a son of Craig Ritchie, and was graduated from Jefferson
College in the class of I829. He had read law in Pittsburg with Walter
Forward, and was admitted to the bar June I6, 1835. He was a member of
the lower house of Congress three terms, serving from  1853 until I859.
Though he did not succeed himself on the bench he rendered good service
during his brief term. After retiring from the bench he began practicing law
in Pittsburg and died on January 24, I867.
Several references have been made to the district court of AllegheIly
county and to judges going from the common pleas bench to that court, and
an explanation is probably due at this place. In I833 the legal business of
the county had greatly increased, presumably because of the internal improvements of the state, mainly consisting of the building and operation of
the Pennsylvania canal. The population of the county and city was also. greatly
increased. To meet this the legislature was induced to establish the district
court. of Allegheny county by Act of April 8, I833, which was to have one
judge. It was a higher court than the court of common pleas, for it had
jurisdiction only in cases where the sum in controversy exceeded $Ioo, the
common pleas then having jurisdiction only in sums under that amount.
This court was an experiment and was established for a period of seven years.
By the Act of June I2, I839, the court was made perpetual or continued until
a later act should abolish it. The act of I839 also added to its force another
judge and limited the jurisdiction of the common pleas court to actions wherein
the amount claimed did not exceed one hundred dollars. The court became a
very important one in Allegheny county and because of the higher grade of
cases brought before it and because of the absence of criminal business, the
position of judgeship on the district bench was made more desirable than
that of the other courts. It was continued about forty years when it was
abolished by the constitution of I873, and in its place came the common pleas
court No. 2, of Allegheny county.
The first judge who sat on the district court bench of Allegheny county
was Robert C. Greer, and he was appointed by Governor George Wolf on
May 23, I833. He filled the position with marked ability until I846, when
James K. Polk appointed him associate justice of the United States supreme
court.  He was born in Cumberland county, March 5, I794. After being
graduated from Dickinson College in I8I2, he taught one year in the college
and was then engaged as principal of an academy, of which his father was the
head, for several years. He then read law and was admitted to the bar in
I8I7, practicing in Bloomsburg and Danville, until he was appointed judge of
the district court of Allegheny county. He therefore came to Pittsburg only
with this appointment. {He lived in Allegheny City from  I833 until I848,
when he removed to Philadelphia. In I870 he resigned from the supreme
bench, after a service of twenty-fotur years. He had also served in Pittsburg
thirteen vears. He died in I870.
472PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
473
Hopewell Hepburn succeeded him  as judge of the district court of
Allegheny. He was born in Northumberland county, October 28, 1I799, and
was graduated from  Princeton College.  He read law  with  his brother
Samuel, and was admitted to the bar in Easton in I823. He remained there
until he was appointed to succeed Judge Shaler as associate judge in the
district court on September I7, I844. Two years later he was appointed to
succeed Judge Greer as president judge, when the latter was elevated to the
United States supreme bench. This position he held until November 3, I85I,
when he was defeated by Walter Forward, and on motion of Edwin M.
Stanton was admitted to practice in the Allegheny county courts. After some
years of practice he was made president of the Allegheny Bank. In I863,
while in Philadelphia, he was taken ill and died suddenly.
Walter Forward, who succeeded Judge Hepburn, was the lawyer, statesman, orator ancld judge of the Pittsburg bar. He was born in Hartford', Co.nnecticut, in I786, and came to Pittsburg to read law with Henry Baldwin in
I8o3, and was admitted to the bar on November I2, I8o6. He was a very
successful lawyer, indeed he became the leader of the bar at an early age.
In 1822 he was elected to the lower house of Congress to succeed his preceptor, Baldwin. He served in this position from December I2, 1822, to
March 4, I825. He was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of
1838, and in April, I84I, was made first comptroller of the United States
Treasury. On September I3, I84I, he was made secretary of the treasury
by John Tyler, who had succeeded William Henry Harrison as president of
the United States. Tyler thus found two members of his cabinet, William
Wilkins and Walter Forward, in the Allegheny county bar. He resigned as
secretary of the treasury on February 28, 1843, and returned to Pittsburg
to practice law. In November, I849, President Zachary Taylor appointed him
minister to Denmark, which position he filled until October Io, I85I, when he
resigned and came home to accept the appointment of president judge of
the district court. He was on the bench only one year. He was a very
careful, deliberate judge, and brought to the bench a riper wisdom and a
greater name than any of his predecessors. The last case he tried was the case
of a contested will, which lasted several days. He lived a short distance from
Pittsburg, though now within the limits. On Monday morning he walked
from his home to the court house, and perhaps caught cold, for it was a dismal,
damp day. He took a chill in the court-room, but afterward charged the jury
which retired to deliberate in the afternoon. Before the jury returned their
verdict the judge had expired. Few men have died in Pittsburg in all her
history who were as deeply lamented as Walter Forward. He was not only
admired because of his intellecttual attainments, but because of his moral excellence as well. He was a giant both intellectually and physically. He was
equallv eloquent and -impressive whether before the court, before a jury or on
the political platform. He was better known as a lawyer than as a judge,
because his early death prevented him from serving a long term on the bench.4  CENTURY AND A IIALF OF
As a lawyer he perhaps had no equal in his day in Pittsburg. He tried cases
with but little show of unnecessary bluster or eloquence. He cross-examined
very little, apparently paying no attention to the testimony, unless he thought
the witness was mistaken, or was wilfully perverting or concealing the truth.
Ustially he sat quietly until a vital point or a weak place in his case, which
he saw with unerring certaintv from the beginning, was touched by his opponent. Then it was that his fiery nature was aroused, and the spectatcr saw
him come like a warring eagle to the rescue of his endangered interests.
He was a thorough scholar and student in the law, and in preparing his
cases for trial bestowed on them a pains-taking care and study that was almost
universally crowned with success at the trial. MArs. Ann Royal, who has been
quoted elsewhere, came here in I828, and in her publication refers to Walter
Forward as follows: "Walter Forward is another Yankee, a second, if not
equal to Mr. Baldwin at the bar, and some do say he is superior.  Mr.
Forward is also a man of towering talents and a great pleader.  He is a
brother of Chauncey Forward, of Somerset, member of Congress, and is a
stout, middle-aged man of fine appearance. His face is round and rather
sallow; his eyes are full, dark, keen and intelligent; his countenance open
and pleasing; his manners manly, though mild and alluring, and take hlim all
in all, one of the most high-spirited and noble-looking men in Pittsburg.
This gentleman, as well as Mr. Baldwin, seeins to have lived for the -world
and not for himself, both being men of the first talents, legal knowledge and
extensive practice, but from their excess of good nature and generosity have
been able to lay up but little for themselves."
Peter C. Shannon was appointed to succeed Judge Forward by Governor
William Bigler on November 27, I852, he being commissioned until the first
Monday of December, I853. He was born in New Alexandria, Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, on August 25, 1824. He was educated in the Blairsville and Greensburg Academies and began to read law with John A. Wills
in Pittsburg. Because of failing health he went South and afterward read for
a time with General Henry D. Foster in Greensburg, where he was admitted
to the bar in August, I845.  In December, 1846, he was admitted to the
Pittsburg bar. He took rather an active part in politics, and was defeated
for Congress by David Ritchie in I852. During the term for which
he was appointed judge, he was nominated for the following term, but
being a Democrat was defeated by MIoses Hampton. When war came in I86I
he was commissioned  lieutenant-colonel of the Thirteenth  Pennsylvania
Cavalry. At the same time he was elected to the Legislature, and resigned his
commission in the army to sit in that body during the session of I861-62,
and was re-elected to the Legislature. serving in I862-63. President Grant
offered to appoint him minister to Ecuador, and on his declining this position,
the president appointed him chief justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Dakota, in which position he served from March 2I, I873, to june 2,
1882. President Arthur appointed him one of a commission of three to ne474PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
gotiate with the Sioux Indians relative to lands in Dakota, and this position
engaged his time for three years. He was also appointed by Attorney-General Brewster a commissioner in the Government service in Montana. While
chief justice of Dakota he was president of a commission which codified the
laws, and the report which the commission made was afterward enacted by
the Legislature, thus becoming the code of the territory. He died in California, where he had gone in quest of health, dying from injuries received by
being thrown from a carriage on February I3, I899.
Moses Hampton was elected to the office of president judge of the district
court in October, 1853, succeeding Judge Shannon, whom he defeated. He served
ten years and was re-elected in October, I863, and served a second full term.
He was born in Beaver county on October 28, I803. He was b.rought up in
part in Trumbull county, Ohio, where his father had moved in I812 to engage
in his trade of blacksmithing, which trade he also taught his son. He entered
Burton Academy'in Ohio and was graduated from Washington College in the
class of 1824. After graduating he taught in Lafayette Academy in Uniontown, where he also read law with John M. Austin, and was admitted to the
bar in I829. Moving to Somerset county he was appointed prothonotary of
that county, but resigned after one year's service. In I838 he was admitted to
the Allegheny county bar and in 1839 removed to Pittsburg, where he rapidly
attained a leading position in his profession. He was elected to Congress in
1846 and again in 1848. In I867 the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred
upon him by the Western University of Pennsylvania. After retiring from the
bench in January, 1874, he practiced law to some extent. His hcme was
Hampton Place at Wilkinsburg, where he died January 24, 1878. As a lawyer
and a judge he has had few equals in all the history of the Allegheny county
bar. He was a man of fine presence and of impressive speech. He had all the
necessary elements of a truly eloquent lawyer and added to this was a ready
wit and quickness of repartee and a self-control which never, under any circumstances, deserted him in the trial of a case. These marked qualities rendered him able to cope successfully with his eminent contemporaries at the bar
of Western Pennsylvania. His charges to the jury were characterized by the
plain English and simple terms he used. He was immensely popular as a
campaign speaker and in this had few superiors anywhere in his day. The
older people of the present generation' remember him mostly as a judge. It
is difficult to find another in Allegheny county whose length of term and high
character as a judge equalled those of Judge Hampton. A still older generation remembers him as a lawyer and ascribed to him the first place in the bar
of his day. Though many years younger than Walter Forward, he was contemporaneous with him and they are frequently mentioned as rivals in the wit
and eloquence of the bar. As lawyers they were marvelously alike. In their
day they had no equals, and few if any have appeared since who can fairly
rival their fame.
475PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
fliction was sucll that he could not sleep at night without a chimney and an
open fire, and Washington in his letters makes mention of having built him
chimneys at the places marked out for his army to camp at night. On November 24 the advance army encamped near Turtle creek and by that time
Forbes's army had overtaken it. Provisions were very scanty, and the weather
so rough that many even then advised a retreat to Fort Ligonier. It is perhaps due to the self-willed Scotch commander that this advice was not followed.
The scouts during the night reported a cloud of smoke arising above Fort
Duquesne, and soon after that, others arrived with the information that the'
fort had been burned and abandoned by the French and Indians. Men on
horses were sent rapidly forward to put out the fire. At midnight the sentinels
on guard at Turtle creek heard a dull heavy sound in the direction of the fort.
On the morning of November 25th the march, with a strong advance guard,
was resumed. Forbes was carried in his litter, and the troops moved in three
parallel columns-the Highlanders, under Colonel Montgomery, in the center;
the Royal Americans, under Bouquet, on the right; and the Provincials, under
Washington on the left. By thus contracting their forces and moving in
parallel lines they presented a more formidable body to any ambuscading enemy
that might attack them. By the tap of drum at the head of each column they
marched slowly through the entangled forest all day. About dark they came to
the open plain surrounding the fort, and saw the smoking ruins of Fort Duquesne, with the towering hills beyond the Monongahela as a background.
They found the fort almost entirely destroyed, and around it were the
smouldering embers of over thirty houses, pointed out by their blackened chimneys still standing. To make the fort burn more readily, the French had taken
the roofs of their houses and had laid them around and against it before it was
set on fire. The French had laid two powder mines, one under each magazine.
One of these was sprung which ruined everything near it, but in their haste to
get away they forgot or neglected to blow up the other, and in it the army
found some supplies-about sixteen barrels of ammunition, many guns, irons,
etc., and a cartload, so the account says, of scalping knives. In their haste to
leave the fort they burned five of the prisoners whom they had taken from
Grant's army, and delivered the others over to the Indians, who tomahawked
them at once. The mantle of charity is scarcely broad enough to cover this act
on the part of the French, who were supposed to be fighting under the rules of
civilized warfare, nor could they reasonably blame this inhuman conduct on
the Indians. The army found many dead bodies unburied about the fort.
As the Americans and English approached the fort, upon each side of the path
they found a number of stakes firmly implanted in the ground, each stake having the bark peeled from it so as to show its white surface. Upon each was
the head and kilt of a Highlander who had been killed or wounded at Grant's'defeat. The Provincials were in front, and were the first to behold these horrible scenes, but they passed them in the line of march without any special
manifestations of wrath, but when the Highlanders came in sight of them their
39A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Walter H. Lowrie was born March 31, I807, of Butler county parents,
and was brought up in Pittsburg. He was graduated from the Western University of Pennsylvania in the class of I826 and read law with Charles Shaler
and Walter Forward, being admitted to the bar on August 4, I829. From the
time of his admission he was engaged in the practice of the law in Pittsburg
and was appointed judge of the district court of Allegheny county by Governor Francis R. Shunk in August, I846, taking the position made vacant by the
elevation of Judge Greer to the Supreme bench of the United States. He filled
this position until I85I. That year, it will be remembered, the supreme court
judges had been legislated out of office by the new constitution. The Democratic nominees for justices that year were John Bannister Gibson, Jeremiah
S. Black, Ellis Lewis, Walter H. Lowrie and James Campbell. Richard Coulter and four others were nominated by the Whig party. At the fall election all
of the Whig candidates were defeated except Coulter, who defeated James
Campbell by several thousand votes. Under the constitutional provision lots
were drawn for length of term. Justice Black drew the short term of three
years and thereby became chief justice of Pennsylvania. Lewis drew the six
year term2 Gibson the nine, Lowrie the twelve and Coulter the fifteen year
term. By the retirement of Justice Black and the death of Justice Lewis,
Walter H. Lowrie became chief justice of Pennsylvania on December 7, I857,
and retained the office until the close of the twelve year term which he drew,
namely, December 7, I863. After his retirement from the Supreme bench he
was elected president judge of Crawford county, which had just then been
made a separate judicial district. He presided with great dignity and ability
at Meadville until his death, which came suddenly in March, I876.
Hlenry W. Williams was elected assistant judge of the district court in
October, 185I, over Charles Shaler and was re-elected in I86I without opposition, each time for the regular period of ten years. He served until October
28, I868, when he was elected a justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania.
He was born in Groton, Conn., and was graduated from Amherst College in
I837. He came to Pittsburg in 1838 with Walter H. Lowrie, and was admitted
to the bar on Mlay 24, I84I. In I867 he was nominated Justice of the Supreme
Court as a Republican and was defeated by George W. Sharswood. In
I868, when Justice WVilliam Strong resigned from the supreme bench of
Pennsylvania, Judge Williams was appointed to fill the vacancy. In I869
he was nominated by the Republicans for the position he then held by appointment, and was elected. That year his opponent was Cyrus L. Pershing,
who afterward served many years as president judge of the Schuylkill
county courts. Justice Williams remained on the Supreme bench until his
death, which occurred on February I9, I877. Amherst College had conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws in I866. Fiom I863 until
his death he was Professor of Law in the Western University of Pennsylvania. The announcement of his death was made from the Supreme
476'PITTSBURG -AND HER PEOPLE
477
bench by Chief Justice Daniel Agnew, in a memorial which is found in
Volume 82, Pennsylvania State Reports, page 20.
In the early period of Pittsburg's history all matters within the jurisdiction of the Uniited States courts were necessarily carried to Philadelphia, and
this was one of the great hardships to which the defendants in the Whiskey
Insurrection were subjected. But by the Act of Congress of May 20, I8i8,
the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania was
established. President James Monroe appointed Jonathan H. Walker a judge
of the court, and he assumed the duties of his office at Pittsburg on December
7, I8i8. He was born in Cumberland county in I756 and' was of English
descent. His grandfather, William Walker, was an officer under the Duke of
Marlborough in Queen Anne's wars. He was graduated from Dickinson College in 1787, read law with Stephen Duncan, being admitted to the bar in I790.
In I8o6 he was appointed by Governor Thomas McKean as President Judge
of the Fourth Judicial District, embracing Centre county among others, and
this necessitated his removal to Bellefonte, He filled this position until the
appointment came which brought him to Pittsburg. He remained judge of
the United States District Court until his death in I824. Judge Walker was
the father of Robert J. Walker, who read law and was admitted to the bar in
Pittsburg, after which he removed to Mississippi and became a noted man in
the councils of the nation, having been United States Senator, Secretary of the
Treasury, etc. Judge Walker was succeeded on the United States bench by
Judge William Wilkins, who has been referred to as a judge of the Allegheny
county courts. When Judge Wilkins entered the United States Senate in
I83I he was succeeded by Thomas Irwin, who was appointed by President
Andrew Jackson, and who held the position until I859, when he resigned and
retired to private life. He was born in Philadelphia February 22, I784. His
father was Colonel Matthew Irwin, who gained distinction as an officer in the
Revolutionary service. He was moreover a man of considerable wealth and at
one time gave five thousand dollars toward furnishing provisions for the suffering army at Valley Forge. Matthew Irwin was married to a daughter of
Benjamin Mifflin, a relative of Thomas Mifflin, the first elected Governor of
Pennsylvania, after whom Judge Irwin was named. The Mifflins were early
arrivals in the East and were generally Quakers, though they were active in
the Revolutionary war. Upon the retirement of Judge Irwin, President James
Buchanan appointed Wilson McCandless to the position. He was born in
Pittsburg June I9, I8Io, and was graduated from the Western University of
Pennsylvania in I826. Reading law with George Shelden he was admitted to
the Allegheny county bar June I5, I83I. He was a Democrat and a member
of the Presidential Electoral College of I844, I852 and I856. He was also a
member of -the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in I848. On
February 8, 1859, he was appointed to the judgeship and served until he retired
in 1876, after which he lived in Pittsburg, without being specially engaged in
any business, until his death on June 30, I882. He was a large man of dignityA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
and gracious bearing and one of his chief characteristics was his friendly face
and kindly eye. He had great power before a jury or the court. He began
life as a Whig and went over to the Democratic party in I840. His style of
speech made him popular on the political platform and there were few sections
that were not thrilled by his impassioned eloquence. His law partners in Pittsburg were W. W. Fetterman, and later William B. McClure. The degree of
Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Union College of New York in I862.
Though prominent in politics he laid such matters aside when he tried cases,
either as a lawyer or as a judge on the bench. He was a social leader both in
the functions of the bar and in the city generally. In 1852 there was a long
contest in the Democratic National Convention for the presidential nomination.
Many were voted for, but the strong candidates were James Buchanan, Lewis
Cass and Stephen A. Douglas, none of whom were able to secure the twothirds requisite for a nomination. At last a committee was appointed to present a name on which all should unite and who should therefore be the nominee
of the convention for the presidency. This committee, after a great deal of
deliberation, voted on those whom it favored and Franklin Peirce was selected
by but one vote over Wilson McCandless of Pittsburg. The committee therefore reported the name of Franklin Peirce, who was nominated and elected to
the presidency.
Winthrop W. Ketcham succeeded Judge McCandless on the bench. He
was born in Wilkesbarre on June 29, I820. He began life as a teacher and in
I848 and I849 was engaged as such in Girard College in Philadelphia. After
reading law he was admitted to the Wilkes-Barre bar on January 8, 1850. In
I855 he was elected prothonotary of Luzerne county for three years. In I858
he was sent to the Legislature of Pennsylvania and in I86o to the State Senate
for three years. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in
Chicago in I86o, which selected Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and was
again a member of the Baltimore Convention in I864 and a Presidential Elector in I868. President Lincoln appointed him Solicitor of the United States
Court of Claims, but, tiring of the position, he resigned in I866 and resumed
the practice of law. In I874 he was elected to Congress from the Wilkes-Barre
district and while yet in office was appointed to succeed Judge McCandless in
July, 1876. On Saturday, December 6, I879, he seemed in his usual health and
after holding court went to his rooms in the St. Charles Hotel. Late in the
afternoon he was stricken with apoplexy and died before 12 o'clock that night.
He was a large, portly man, with yellow hair and blue eyes. He did not live
long enough to make a great record on the bench, but the work he did, not only
on the bench but in all positions to which he was called, was eminently successful and satisfactory to all concerned.
Judge Ketcham was succeeded on the bench by Marcus W. Acheson, who
was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as judge of the United States
District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on January I4, 1880,
and filled this position with great ability until February 3, I89I, when he was
478PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
479
appointed Judge of the Third Circuit of the United States Court. This position he filled until his death in 90o6. He was born at Washington, Pa., June
7, I828, and was graduated at Washington College in'the class of I846. He
read law with his brother, Alexander W. Acheson, and was admitted to the
Washington bar May I7, I852. After practicing law ten years at Washington
he moved to Pittsburg in I852. He was succeeded in both positions by Joseph
Buffington, who is yet living and therefore does not come within the purview
of this work. Judge Buffington was moreover succeeded in his first position
by Judge Nathaniel Ewing, the present incumbent, who came to the bench with
a long experience as a judge of'the Fayette and Greene county courts, and with
a most remarkable line of ancestors who had been eminent jurists in Pennsylvania.
Judge J. W. F. White was born January I9, I821. He was born in Washington county and was the son of Rev. John White, a minister of the Miiethodist
church. Educated in Allegheny College at Meadville he began the study of
the law with T. M. T. McKennan in Washington, Pennsylvania, in the early
forties and was admitted to the bar there on July I4, I844. He opened an office
in Washington and though admitted to the Allegheny county bar on December
io following his admission in Washington, he did not permanently locate in
Pittsburg until March, I85I. For more than twenty years he gave his time
entirely to the practice of the law, and won a very enviable standing in the
profession. In 1872 he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, which met the following year to frame the document, known since as
the constitution of I873. While absent from Pittsburg he was nominated for
the office of judge of the district court of Allegheny county, and was elected
in October following. He was, moreover, the last person elected to the bench
of that court for the constitution framed by the convention of which he was a
member, reformed the courts, and the District Court of Allegheny county,
established in 1832, became the Court of Common Pleas No. 2, the judges of
the abolished court being continued as judges of the new. Under the old law
the judicial term began on the first Monday of December. The constitution of
I873 was adopted by a popular vote on December I6, and Judge White accordingly began his work and remained a few days as judge of the district court.
His services on the bench were highly satisfactory and he was re-elected in
I883 and again in I893, though he was then over seventy-two years of age.
Judge Thomas Ewing was president judge of the District Court and of Common Pleas Court No. 2 until his death in I897, when, on May 13, Judge White
was commissioned in his stead.
Before reading law Judge White had contemplated entering the ministry
and had preached more or less, though not in any regular work. All his life,
however, he took an active part in the affairs of the church. He frequently
delivered public addresses and lectures on church work on the stump and was
always listened to with interest, for he was indeed a truly eloquent man. He
was strong before a jury, though his style of address was more suited to platA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
form speaking. His charges to juries, equalling from a legal point of view
those of most judges, were superior in point of clearness, both in language and
in statement, for he had the power in an eminent degree of adapting his language and reasoning to the mind of the hearer. He was something of an
iconoclast, in his administration. of the law, perhaps too much so to attain the
highest success. He had a contempt for dustom or precedent and would throw
them to the Fvinds when they seemed to be in the way of public justice. He was
noted while on the bench for his contempt for expert testimony, and these characteristics sometimes subjected him to severe criticism, notwithstanding his
learning and acknowledged ability. He could not see why, when a defendant
pleaded guilty, he could not sentence him at once without the expense and delay
of sending the matter before a grand jury. In this, as in many other matters,
he did not hesitate to depart from the established custom. Outside of the law
he was no less a student and a scholar. His tastes led him largely into historical
researches and into the study of the sciences, such as botany, astronomy and
chemistry. Allegheny College had conferred upon him the degree of LL. D.,
and his learning outside of his profession warranted this distinction. He reminded the members of the bar of their errors in the use of English nct generally in a severe way but rather in a kindly manner, his purpose being not to
show his learning but to raise'the bar to a higher standard of elegance and
accuracy in expression. For many years before his death he resided at Sewickley and died there on November 5, I900.
Judge John M. Kirkpatrick was born December I, I825, in Northumberland county, but was brought up in Westmoreland county. He was a son
of Rev. David Kirkpatrick and Eliza Moore, his mother having been a daughter of Judge John Moore, of the early bench of Westmoreland. The son
was graduated from Jefferson College in 1846, and at once began the study
of the law' with Judge Shaler in Pittsburg. He was admitted to the Allegheny bar on December I, I848. He was a member of the legislature in
1854-5 and was district attorney of Allegheny county from I862 to I865. On
the appointment of Judge Williams to the Supreme bench in I868, he was appointed by Governor John W. Geary to the vacancy, taking his seat on November 2I, I868. The year following he was elected for the full term of ten
years and in I879 was again elected. Early in the eighties his health failed
him and he was compelled to resign on September 23, I885. After his retirement his health improved and he survived thirteen years, dying at his home on
Stockton avenue on October I6, I898. He was a tall man of fine presence and
was particularly strong before juries or on the rostrum. During his years on
the bench he served mostly in the criminal courts and had a manner of dispatching business that made him valuable to the Courts of the county.
Judge Edwin H. Stowe was born in Beaver on January 22, I826, and
was educated in Washington College, where he was graduated with the class
of I845. He read law with Moses Hampton and was admitted on January
IO, I849. He was a candidate for the nomination in the judicial contest of.48oPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
481
I868, but was defeated by Thomas Mellon. He was elected for the term of
ten years in I862, and was re-elected in 1872, I882 and in I892. It thus fell
his lot to sit forty years consecutively on the Allegheny county bench, a term
of service that has been but seldom equaled in the United States. On March
I5, I877, he became president judge and held the position for nearly twentysix years.
There has always been a strong and' most commendable sentiment in the
Allegheny bar and among the people generally, that a judge should be reelected if his services during his term warranted it. But this feeling is not
strong enough to continue the incumbent for forty years unless his services
were eminently satisfactory. Judge Stowe was a Republican, even at the birth
of the party, and in I9o02, when he was serving his fortieth year on the bench,
there was a unanimity of sentiment in favor of his having a fifth term. He
was accordingly placed in nomination. Unfortunately for him there was a
political upheaval in the city that year. The People's party put a ticket in the
field and in this manner Judge Stowe was defeated by Hon. James R. MacFarlane, a young man of fine ability. There was no special desire on the part of
the people to defeat Judge Stowe; it was in a great measure an accident, a
concurrence of circumstances against the force of which, precedents, long
terms of service or party loyalty had little or no weight. Judge Stowe's work
on the bench was not in any sense an issue. When he was ready to retire
from the bench he administered the oath as president judge to Judge Collier
and then the oath to his successor, Judge MacFarlane. Congratulating them
he left the bench and became a practicing attorney at the bar. Judge Stowe's
exceptionally long service on the bench entitles him to this mention notwithstanding the fact that he is yet living and in active practice.
Judge Jacob F. Slagle was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on April 6,
I830, and was graduated from Washington College in I848. He entered the
office of William McKenna in Washington and was admitted to the Washington bar in I852. He did not attempt to practice law in Washington but came
at once to Pittsburg, where he was admitted on December Io, I852. Always
an inviting field for bright young men from surrounding counties, Pittsburg
seemed unusually so at that time, for a railroad connection with the East had
just been opened up. Several other roads were building or were already completed. The city was filled with business of all kinds. He practiced in all of
the courts, but paid more attention to municipal law than to any branch of
the profession: In I86I he was accordingly made city solicitor for one year
and was again selected for the same position and filled it with marked ability
from I866 till I873. His first term as solicitor was cut short because of the
Civil war which he entered with the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Regiment.
During the service he was appointed judge advocate general with the rank of
major, this being a tribute to his education and standing in the service. At
the close of ~the war he returned to Pittsburg to quietly resume his profession,
which he followed closely for over twenty years. In I887 he was elected judge
31A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
of the Court of Common Pleas No. I for ten years from the first Monday of
January, I888;, and was re-elected ten years later. His services on the bench
were highly satisfactory, both to the people and to the bar of Allegheny county.
In the early fall of I9oo, he was taken suddenly ill and died at his home
on Center avenue on September 6. He had scarcely filled the one-fourth of the
second term to which he had been elected. His public services and character
were such that his death was most deeply lamented by the people of Pittsburg.
Judge John H. Baily was born near Pittsburg in I830 and at nineteen
years of age was graduated from the Western University. He began the study
of the law shortly after being graduated and was admitted to the bar in
Pittsburg on October 9, I852. After practicing a few years Judge Wilson McCandless appointed him clerk of the United States court at Pittsburg. T'his
position he held till I863, after which he devoted his entire time to his practice. In I877 he became a candidate for the office of judge of the Common
Pleas Court No. I of Allegheny county and successfully made the contest
against Judge Fetterman, who was then on the bench by appointment. He
served the full term of ten years from the first Monday of January, I878, to
the first Monday of January, I888. During most of his years on the bench he
was deeply afflicted with a malady which eventually carried him off'before he
had filled out the full measure of life usually allotted to man. He was, at times,
a great sufferer even while sitting on the bench, but was determined not to
give up. He will always be remembered as a man of high character, of clear
perceptive qualities and as a judge who laid down the law as he thought it
should be.
Judge Charles S. Fetterman was born in Beaver on- May I9, I840, but
was brought up largely in Allegheny county. He read law with his father
and was admitted to the bar in I862. When Judge Sterrett resigned. to go
on the Supreme bench in I877, Judge Fetterman was appointed to fill the vacancy. He served from March, I877, till the first Monday of January, I878.
In the meantime, he was defeated by Judge Baily and retired accordingly at
the close of the term for which he was appointed. He resumed the practice
in I878 and continued it with much success till his death, which occurred on
August I7, I900.
Hon. Thomas Ewing was for more than twenty-four years a judge of
the Court of Common Pleas No. 2, in Pittsburg, and was one of the ablest
judges in Pennsylvania. He was a native of the village of Cross Creek,
in Washington county, born July 3, I827, and was the son of Samuel Ewing, a
prosperous farmer of that section. His parents lived there until he was about
five years of age, and then moved to Harrietsville, Allegheny county, in what
is now South Fayette township. The judge's early days were spent on the
farm, assisting his father, and he attended the country schools during the
winter months. In early life he displayed great aptness for learning and outstripped his fellow-classmates. After several terms in the country schools, he
was sent to college at New Concord, Ohio, where he remained two years,
482PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
483
acquitting himself with honors, and from there, he entered Jefferson College,
at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated with high honors
in I853. He was immediately made a tutor of that school and remained one
year, when'he resigned and came to Pittsburg, where he was made principal
of the memorable old Third ward school, which was then the leading school
of the city. Still later, he was employed as instructor in a young ladies'
seminary, at Natchez, Mississippi. While in Pittsburg, he had developed a
great liking for the law, and began its study in the office of Robert Woods,
and was admitted to the bar in I856. He still continued his law studies in
Natchez, and was admitted to the bar there, and subsequently in Memphis,
Tennessee. He returned to Pittsburg, however, in I857, and opened a law
office here. In i859, he was united in marriage with Miss Julia R. Hufnagel,
of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, who had gone South as a teacher and whom
he met there. From his admission until I873, he practiced law in Pittsburg
with unusual success. In 187o, his health failed him, but he regained it by
a short time spent in New Orleans, after which he returned to Pittsburg and
resumed the practice of law, with renewed vigor. He was elected a member of
the Constitutional Convention of I873, serving on many important committees.
While serving in this capacity, he was elected judge of the district court,
taking his seat December I, I873. Under the new constitution, he became
president judge of the Court of Common Pleas, No. 2, beginning his
duties January I, I874.  In the district court he succeeded Judge Moses
Hampton. He presided as judge in Allegheny county courts up to the time
of his death, having been elected three times, to terms of ten years each. He
handled many celebrated cases and rendered many important decisions, and
had the well-earned reputation of being one of the ablest law judges in Western Pennsylvania. In trying cases, he was always very painstaking and conscientious. When the Brooks License Law went into effect, he was the first
judge in Allegheny county to hold License court. His colleague was Judge
White. The number of drinking places in the county was reduced by them to
ninety, in I888.
In his manner he was very retiring and inclined to be lenient, whenever
duty would permit him to do so. It became his painful duty to pass death sentence on Murray and Meyers, who had murdered a Deerstown farmer. He
had never before been called to perform this duty, and it greatly affected him.
As a consequence he was incapacitated for court work for several days afterwards. The two men were later hanged. Another of his homicide cases was
that of Gerade, who had murdered his step-child and was twice tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. A motion was made before Judge Ewing
for a new trial. He held his opinion open for a year, during which time he
took up the study of insanity, and finally concluded that the defendant wa's
only guilty of murder in the second degree, on the ground of temporary insanity; this plea was accepted and he was sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment. He then instructed the prisonkeeper to keep a close watch on the conA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
vict's every act, and it finally developed that each month, regularly, the prisoner had fits of violent insanity, which proved the judge's theory and his
wisdom in not sentencing under the original verdict.
Judge Ewing was an enthusiastic church worker, being a ruling elder of
the Third Presbyterian Church of Sixth avenue. Three times he was made a
delegate to the General Assembly. He took much interest in all kinds of
charitable work, and was for many years a member of the board of trustees
for the Western Pennsylvania Theological Seminary. He was naturally a
great lover of home life and this accounted in a measure for the extent of his
knowledge, for his evenings were spent in research and study. He was possessed of a wonderful memory, and could quote correctly many old supreme
court opinions, as though they were but recent decisions. Politically, he was
a Republican and for many years took an active part in the campaigns of his
party in this section of the state.
No man was better posted on prison topics, than Judge Ewing and he
served for fifteen years on the Allegheny county "Prison Board." He accumulated property to a considerable sum, and had a summer home n,. West
Liberty borough, but resided in Allegheny.
Hundreds of attorneys, and every judge in the county, assembled at the
Bar Association's rooms, to take action over his death, which came suddenly on
May 9, I897, he having held court the day previous. The immediate cause of
his death was pneumonia superinduced, it is said, by over-work. The resolutions and eulogies of the members of the bar, were eloquent in his praise, and
the county officials, among other resolutions, passed the following:
"In all matters of concern to our official duties, he was as courteous and
kind as he was conscientious, ready with advice, quick with sympathy, ready
with assistance, willing at all times to give the help of his clear mind and great
learning to any question affecting public service. We deplore his death as the
loss of a great jurist from the bench and deeply mourn him as a friend."
JUDGE THOMAS MELLON.
Whilst in these pages we have written as little as possible about the living, no explanation is necessary when we depart from that rule to refer at
length to Judge Thomas Mellon. The span of life meted out to him, more
nearly than that of any other, connects the old with the new in Pittsburg.
One can only appreciate the number of his years when he recalls that he was
prominent in the bar before railroads connected the city with the East; that he
was a well-grown lad in the last years of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams,
and that his boyhood carries us back to the pack horse age, when turnpikes
were unknown in this section, and when Pittsburg was little more than a rude
outpost on the western border of civilization.
Born in Ireland, his parents brought him to the new world in a sailing
vessel, and were twelve weeks between England and America. The family
484PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
485
came west from Baltimore in a covered wagon through an almost unbroken
forest. Out of necessity they slept in the wagon all the way, and kindled
fires by the roadside by which to cook their daily meals. They settled first in
the northern part of Westmoreland county, and there the oldest son, Thomas,
grew to manhood. From his youth the boy had a taste for books, and though
his library was limited to a stray copy of Shakespeare and Franklin's Autobiography, a desire for a higher life than that of a farmer was enkindled in his
bosom. In this he was opposed by his father, Andrew Mellon, but encouraged
by a noble mother. As his love for reading increased he received other
books and letters of encouragement from his uncle, Thomas Mellon, who lived
in Philadelphia. Earning money by working on the farm and teaching school,
he passed through an academic course in Greensburg, and entered the Western University, from which he was finally graduated in I837, when he was
past twenty-four years old. Shortly after that he began the study of law
with the renowned Judge Charles Shaler, in Pittsburg. To support himself while a law student he secured employment in the prothonotary's office,
where he worked for over a year as deputy. Finally on December I5, I838,
after the usual examination, he was admitted to the Pittsburg bar. Finishing
up his work in the prothonotary's office, he opened a law office on the corner
of Fifth street, now Fifth avenue, and Market Alley, in June, I839. His own
words may best portray his surroundings in the bar, and the condition of the
city in those days:
"Fifth avenue was not then a business street, and mine was the first law office opened on it. The law offices were chiefly on the west side of the Diamond
behind the court house, as some of the lots fronted on the Diamond and extended back to Fifth avenue in those days. Some few offices were on Fourth
street between Market and Wood. It was before the courts were removed to
Grant's Hill. The location on which the new court house was afterwards
built was yet a part of Lawyer Ross' apple orchard, and rather out of town.
The old court house stood where the Diamond Market House, on the west side
of Market street, now stands. It was an ancient looking square brick structure
with a cupola and bell on top, and a low, one-story building on each side.
That on the north side contained the office of the prothonotary and clerk of
the Orphans' and Criminal Courts, all in one room, which was convenient
enough as these different official functions centered in one individual. The
buildings on the left side contained the register's and recorder's office in one
room, and with one individual officiating for both purposes."
He had been gifted by nature with the intellectual qualities requisite in a
successful lawyer, and those who knew him best, were not surprised therefore
that the profits of his first year's work exceeded his highest expectations.
Even then his judgment was mature, and being naturally cautious, industrious and painstaking, he soon made himself felt in the bar, and was regarded among business men as an unusually able young member of the profession. It was the age of oratory among lawyers. There were abler advoPREFACE
The purpose of this work is to present a history of Pittsburg from its
earliest days down to the present time, when the city is ready to celebrate  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  birth  as  an
English settlement. Though the French from Canada had laid claim to the
Fork of the Ohio, the dominion of the English speaking people began properly
with the successful expedition of General John Forbes to capture Fort Duquesne
from the French in 1758. For a third of a century after that the story of
Pittsburg is made up of a strange mingling of tragedy and romance on the
one hand, and of privations and exertions on the other. Though the reader
of these pages is sometimes taken away from the immediate locality of which
they treat, he will always find that the subject under consideration is one in
which Pittsburg and her people were deeply concerned. The narrative as told
here is made as nearly chronological as is possible with a local history, and
the publishers feel confident that the author, Mr. John Newton Boucher, has
not only laid before the readers in a pleasing and forceful manner the salient
facts of the long and interesting story, but that he has included much of that
purely antiquarian lore which is to many the most instructive and delightful
feature of history.
The associate editors, as named in the prospectus of the work, were Mrs.
James R. Mellon, Judge Samuel A. McClung, Father A. A. Lambing, LL. D.,
and Chancellor Samuel B. McCormick, LL. D. of Pittsburg, and Mr. James
M. Swank and John W. Jordan, LL. D., of Philadelphia, all of whom have
been potent either directly or indirectly in the preparation of the work. The
editor drew largely from Mr. Swank's writings in the chapters on iron, from
Father Lambing's writings in the preparation of the earlier history and of a
part of the church history as here given. Dr. McCormick has contributed the
chapter. on the University, while the material for the chapters on charitable
institutions, the work performed by women and the sketches of the noted
women of the city, has been largely furnished by Mrs. Mellon.  Mr. W. L.
Clark performed most of the search work in the cities, spending many months
in the libraries, newspaper offices, etc., and reporting regularly the result of
his researches to the editor.
In preparing the work the author has consulted the writings of all who
have, to any considerable degree, contributed to Pittsburg's history.  He0A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fury knew no bounds. They were maddened, not only by the barbarous outrages upon the bodies of their unfortunate comrades who had been so recently
sacrificed, but they were further exasperated by the exhibition of their kilts,
for they knew they had been called "petticoat warriors" by the Indians, in derision of their peculiar style of dress. The infuriated Scots broke from their
places in the march, threw away their guns, drew their swords, and rushed by
the Provincials in foaming rage, determined to wreak their vengeance upon the
Indians in the fort, or on the French troops who had permitted this outrage and
insult. But all the French and Indians had fled, and their wrath subsided into
a solemn and relentless vow for revenge upon their allied enemies.
Fort Duquesne stood close to the banks, on the immediate point of land
formed by the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was a
square structure in its main part, and at each corner was a diamond shaped
projection, or bastion, upon which were mounted the large guns, while the projections beyond the main walls enabled a guinner or rifleman to command the
approaches. The main structure was made of square logs which formed the
outer and inner surfaces of the walls, while the space between the logs was filled
with earth, thus presenting to an approaching enemy a wall of logs and earth
from eight to ten feet in thickness. The sides facing the river were protected
from attack only by.the water and a high bank. The sides facing the land were
surrounded by a deep ditch, or moat, crossed by a drawbridge for those entering
the fort. Inside the structure were the barracks of the soldiers, officers' quarters,
guard house, store house, etc., all built of logs and boards. It had about it very
little if any masonry or stone work. Close to the ditch on the outside were the
cabins and huts for the Canadian and Indian troops, made of boards and bark.
For a distance greater.than the firearms of those days were effective, the forest
was entirely cleared from the land surrounding the fort, and the stumps had
been cut off level with the ground. On this cleared land, outside of the space
occupied by the cabins, were the corn fields and gardens planted by those in the
fort.
Bancroft attributes the success of this campaign largely to Washington, but
again we doubt that, but for his eminence in after life he would not have been so
glorified by the great historian.  Parkman, who investigated the history of the
expedition more thoroughly, and wrote glowing descriptions of it in his matchless style, gives to Forbes, notwithstanding his long continued illness, the highest
meed of praise for its successful termination.  But perhaps still more importance should be attached to the words of Bouquet, who in a letter to Chief Justice
Allen says that "after God, the success of the expedition is entirely due to the
general. He has shown the greatest prudence, firmness and ability. No one
is better informed than I am, who had an opportunity to see every step that has
been taken from the beginning, and every obstacle that was thrown in his
way."  To Forbes, therefore, we  believe is due the great credit of its
success.
Bancroft says that Armstrong's own hand raised the British flag over the
40A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
cates in Pittsburg than he, but so' concise and convincing was his style of address, that there were few who were really more potent before juries than
Thomas Mellon. There was nothing showy about his address, nor the manner he adopted in the trial of cases. His strength lay rather in the fact that
by close application he made himself in all cases, complete master of the
situation.
In August, I843, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Jane Negley,
a member of one of the oldest and best known families in Western Pennsylvania. To them eight children were born, three of whom are yet living, and
are well known as leading bankers and business men of Western Pennsylvania. Andrew William Mellon is president, and Richard Beatty Mellon is
vice-president of the Mellon National Bank, which is the center of their activities; James Ross Mellon is president of the City Deposit Bank, president
of West Penn Hospital and the Ligonier Valley railroad. William L. Mellon, Thomas A. and Edward P. and Thomas Mellon, are grandsons of Judge
Mellon and are among the leading young men in the business interests of
Pittsburg.
Without interruption in his professional life, he continued in practice for
twenty years after his admission to the bar, and earned for himself a place
that was equaled by but few lawyers in Pittsburg. In the meantime court
business of all kinds had so greatly increased in Allegheny county that an
additional judge was necessary. This was granted by a special act of the
legislature, passed in I859.  Mr. John Wesley Maynard was appointed by
Governor William F. Packer to fill the position until one could be selected at
the ensuing election. About this time, a committee of the bar called on Mr.
Mellon and asked him to become a candidate for the judgeship. Politics and
office-holding had always been entirely foreign to his nature and he at once
declined the proposition. But on further reflection, and on being urged by
his friends, he consented to the use of his name. Two strong candidates
opposed him for the nomination, but his high standing as a lawyer, and his
well-earned reputation for integrity, easily won the nomination for him. The
county being strongly Republican, he had but little difficulty in the October
election, and accordingly assumed the duties of the office on the first Monday
of December, I859. On the bench with him was Judge William B. MlcClure,
a hard working, pure minded man of high culture and great legal attainments. Judge McClure died shortly,after this and was succeeded by Judge
James P. Sterritt, and before the close of Judge Mellon's term a third judge,
in the person of Hon. Edwin H. Stowe, was added to the bench in Allegheny
county. Judge Mellon's term of ten years covered over the period of the
Civil war, which was a very busy one in Pittsburg, and which added greatly_
to the cares and duties of men in his station in life.
At the close of his term, thirty years had elapsed since he began business
and in this time he had accumulated a large estate, as estates were rated in
those days. Another term, or perhaps a life service on the bench was easily
486PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
within his grasp. Urged by his friends to again be a candidate, with the
office practically tendered him, he deliberately laid down the ermine, which
he had so worthily worn for ten years and returned to private life. The bar
of Pittsburg at the close of his term, tendered him a complimentary banquet
as an evidence of their appreciation of his services while on the bench. Years
afterwards in writing of this testimonial of regard, Judge Mellon said:
"Their kind appreciation was gratifying and the request of course complied with, and at the Monongahela House on the evening designated, my
relation to the bar as a judge was concluded in one of the most agreeable festivities of my life, constituting one of those bright spots by the way which afford pleasant memories to revert to."
In the meantime he had invested money in real estate and buildings in
Pittsburg, in coal lands in Western Pennsylvania, and in the iron business in
West Virginia, etc. His sons were ready to begin business, and in a great
measure to start them properly he concluded to found a banking house in
Pittsburg, rather than to resume the practice of the law. He therefore procured a suitable situation on Smithfield street, and on January I, I870, the
bank of T. Mellon  Sons was first opened for business. The manner in which
this project prospered and became a great power in the up-building of Pittsburg's industries, and one of the greatest banking institutions in the United
States, need not be noted here.
For nearly twenty years following Judge Mellon was one of the leading
and most active business men of Pittsburg. During this time he but seldom
appeared in court, rarely ever indeed unless his interests were deeply concerned. Gradually, as the years advanced, he turned his business interests and
property over to his sons and finally, on February 3, I893, on his eightieth
birthday he retired entirely from all cares and'duties. All of his life he has
been a man of regular and abstemious habits, avoiding late hours and excesses
of all kinds. In business he studiously shunned hazardous speculations, and
has therefore been subjected to the least possible worry incident to an active
business life. He was always willing to lend financial assistance to those who
stood in need, and this even without security when they had proved themselves
worthy of it. He may now, therefore, as he nears its close, look back over a
life that is filled with good deeds and its record marred by no single action
he could wish to erase or forget. Old age. has touched him lightly, though
nearing ninety-five years he has always been free from the aches and pains
which usually come in the decline of life. He is comforted by the wife whom
he married more than sixty-four years ago, who, though now past four score
and ten years, is yet in the possession of all her faculties. She has not even
thought of giving up home duties and benevolent work, but still hold the
office of president of "Home for Aged Protestants," also vice-president of the
"Home for Aged Protestant Women" and to these homes, and to other charities, she has contributed thousands of dollars.
4307488               A  CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Judge Mellon is apparently in splendid health, though he has long since
turned his face toward another world and now awaits the transition with that
calmness and fortitude which have characterized every action of his long and
busy life. (Since writing the above, Judge Mellon passed quietly away on
the morning of February 3rd, 90o8, thus dying on the ninety-fifth anniversary
of his birth).CHAPTER XXXVI I.
The Bar.
The practice of the average old-time lawyer was not confined to the county
in which he resided. Most of the early lawyers of Pittsburg were well known
in all of the adjoining counties and were regularly employed to conduct business in them. This was particularly true in the counties composing the Fifth
Judicial District. There was but one judge over all the counties and consequently no two of them could have sessions of court at the same time. The
judge rode on horseback from one county to another and many of the more
prominent lawyers who had'business there or who hoped to secure new clients
in them, mounted their horses and rode with him. This custom was similar to
that of the English barristers and was brought about by the same circumstances
which necessitated it there. The greater part of the lawyer's work was then transacted during the sessions of court and consisted very largely in the preparation
and trial of cases. As a result a large majority of the early lawyers were jury
lawyers, and the office lawyer so prominent now who makes no pretensions as
an advocate, was almost unknown in that day. Addresses to the jury were
longer then than now, for the questions in controversy were largely questions
of fact which must be argued to and determined by the jury and there were
but few questions of law, and even these were not ruled by previous decisions
of higher courts as they are today. The day upon which the session of the
court began was a great one in all of the rural county seats. It was the universal custom in those days for the sheriff of the county, after the ancient
English custom, to collect a body of mounted men and ride out to meet the
coming judge and escort him into the village and to the court house or to his
tavern. This custom was kept up until the forties and passed away finally only
with railroad building, after which the judges no longer arrived on horseback.
The judge and the lawyers usually put up at the principal tavern at the county
seat. They were'mostly bright and intelligent men, fond of amusement and
anecdotes who had a lively and enjoyable time while the session lasted. The
litigants also came to the county town to consult with their attorneys and
brought their witnesses with them. Indeed the witnesses for an entire week's
trial were brought to the court on the first day of the session, for the cases ofA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the whole week were set for trial, and any one of them might be called on the
first day of the court. In many instances the defendant in a suit employed his
leading attorney only when he appeared at the county seat for trial. Frequently a lawyer who made an eloquent appeal, or by a happy hit won a case
over his adversary, was called into other cases, perhaps to be taken up and
tried immediately and of which he had not previously had any knowledge.
Many younger members of the bar who did not expect to have cases to try,
rode the circuit also with the judge and older lawyers, their object being to
learn how to conduct trials and to extend their general acquaintance. This
method of travel from one bar to another was only abandoned entirely when
the business of the several counties had increased so as to warrant a separate
judge for each county.  It was common many years later in the western,
courts and has been described frequently in their annals, and particularly by
writers who have portrayed the life of Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer in the
early courts of Illinois.
There were no specialists in the early bar; there was scarcely a prominent
member of the Allegheny county bar even up to the forties who might not be
engaged in a murder case one week and take up an ejectment case, involving
the abstruse questions of title to real estate, the day following. When litigation increased lawyers began to devote their time and attention particularly to
one branch of the profession, so that there are now corporation lawyers, banking lawyers, insurance lawyers, criminal lawyers, office lawyers, etc.  The
modern lawyer, devoting his time entirely to a specialty in she profession, has
probably surpassed in proficiency in the one line the ablest men of the past.
As advocates before juries the members of the bar of the first half of last
century achieved a proficiency which our ablest lawyers of the present day
cannot approximate. They presented their cases to juries -,ith a force, a
beauty of speech and an impassioned eloquence that passed away with them
and their times, and in this alone they have had no equal since their day. Addresses to the court were fewer then than now for the reason, as we have
stated, that there were fewer questions of law to be passed on by the court
and more questions of fact to be determined by juries. And inasmuch as the
trial depended largely upon the witnesses, there were many more examined
in those days, and this also gave rise to longer and more important addresses to
juries. In fact in a case of average importance,' the lawyer was unlimited by
the court as to the time he should consume in presenting his side of his case to
the jury. A few years ago an old gentleman who is now dead, told the writer
that when a boy in the thirties he saw a celebrated lawyer whose name need
not be repeated, take a drink in a tavern which those who were with him said
was to stimulate him for an address that he was to deliver that afternoon in
a very important trial. Holding up the glass, showing the liquor, scarcely
concealed by his hand, he said: "Four fingers, gentlemen, and for every finger
the old judge gets an hour this afternoon." Shortly before that when WTebster
was about to reply to Hayne, as he was passing down the senate chamber,
490PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            491
Clayton said to him: "Are you loaded, Mr. Webster?" Glancing angrily at
Vice-President Calhoun and holding up his hand, he said: "Four fingers." It
was a pioneer hunter's expression, meaning originally the depth of a heavy
charge of powder, a load for big game.
When the courts were first opened in Pittsburg in I788, there were but
three or four resident lawyers in the town. Those known of now were: John
Woods, Hugh Henry Brackenridge and Alexander Addison. Even with this
monopoly of the business, it is not presumed that their receipts were very large,
for Pittsburg had then less than five hundred people, and the county was but
sparsely populated. John Woods was what they called a scrivener, for he did
little else than draw legal papers. He was a son of George Woods, of Bedford, who came to Pittsburg as a surveyor in 1784 to lay out the first permanent
plan of lots, doing the work in company with Thomas Vicroy. For him
Wood street was named. The son was admitted to the Westmoreland bar in
I784, but resided in Pittsburg. He filled some important offices early last
century, but there is no record of his having been a member of Congress,
though that honor is usually attributed to him. He died in I8I7.
Brackenridge was one of the brightest lawyers in the history of the bar.
He had been a resident of Pittsburg seven years and could have taken a leading place in any court. He was thoroughly educated, both in law and in
literature, and was not only fluent in speech, but wielded a most facile pen.
His work on "Modern Chivalry" is an amusing novel filled with wit; sarcasm
and adventure. No one can look into it even now without being entertained
and instructed. From  it we have quoted often in these pages and cannot
but regret that the book is now out of print. He was the author of much
other less pretentious material, but always wrote in a most interesting style.
He wrote "Incidents of the Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania," a "Eulogium of the Brave Who Fell in the War with Great Britain." Later he wrote
a composition in verse which, though it has not lived, shows a marked degree
of poetic temperament. In the profession he wrote "Law Miscellanies" with
other less important matter.
These were avocations purely which did not draw him from his professienal studies, for as a lawyer he always stood at the head and must have
earned large fees for that day. He had been born in Scotland in I748 and
came to America with his parents in I753. He was graduated from Princeton in I77I, and was teaching in an academy in Maryland at the beginning
of the Revolution. At that time he was a student of theology and was appointed a chaplain in the Colonial army. During the Revolution he abandoned theology as a life work, read law and was admitted to practice in
Philadelphia. In I78I he was admitted to the Westmoreland bar and located
in Pittsburg. He at once took a high standing as a lawyer, an orator, a writer
and a politician, as the reader of these pages has seen. There was scarcely
ever a public assemblage that did not call on Brackenridge for an address.
It was the age of oratory when people were reached and sentiment moldedA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
largely by platform speeches. It was he who first effectually advocated the
formation of Allegheny county. For this purpose he was elected to the legislature in I786, and it was mainly through his efforts that the bill was passed
in I788. All his life he was a very resourceful political leader, as we have
seen, and some of his methods appear quite as modern as those of our age.
He has been called a demagogue because of his course in the Whiskey Insurrection. He was too well trained as a lawyer and too much of a reasoner'to be
openly for the insurrection or to believe that it could in any event succeed
by force, but he was too much of a politician and perhaps too much a
demagogue to openly oppose it when all of his followers were rushing headlong
into it. But when its weakness was manifest to the whole community and the
government under Washington asserted itself, he at once came out on the side
of law and order. Though he had a great personal following, easily more than
any other man of the county, Albert Gallatin, though not a resident of the
district, defeated him overwhelmingly for Congress for the reason that the
people were suspicious of the integrity of his attitude and were not therefore
willing to trust him. Gallatin sympathized deeply and truly with all who
were burdened by the federal system of taxation, but he was outspoken from
the first against any forcible: resistance of the measure. Brackenridge, however, never lost the respect and confidence of the people generally. He held
his place as the leader of the bar and as the head of the political organization of
the West, until December I7, I799, when he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. For this position he was well fitted, better than
any other man west of the mountains. He filled it with great honor to himself and to the Commonwealth until his death. He died at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, June 25, I8i6.
Many-of the early lawyers were, like Brackenridge, men of fine education,
particularly in the classics, and of highly cultivated tastes generally. Education was much more confined to the professions in those days than now. There
were fewer books then, but they were of a high order of literary merit and otherwise were not in general circulation. The classics'of the language were read and
studied and had their effect in lending a beauty of diction and a strength of
speech to the student. They knew more about history, poetry and philosophy
than the modern lawyers of equal standing in the profession. They had but
few law books but studied the principles of the law as laid down by Blackstone,
Coke and others, and in these the ablest exponents of the early bar were thoroughly grounded. They were the leaders of thought and of the social life
of the city in their day, much more than modern lawyers are. There was an
aristocracy of intellect in the early days which is almost unknown to our generation. The old-time lawyer was not brighter nor more entertaining than the
modern. one of equal application, but the general diffusion of education, the
commonness of what men call culture, renders the lawyer of our day less distinguished among the people because of his intellectual attainments, and consequently less a leader of thought and action in his generation.
492PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             493
James Ross was one of the ablest of Pittsburg's early lawyers. He was
born in York county, July I2, I762, and came west first, perhaps, to finish his
early education in Canonsburg. In 1784 he was admitted to the Washington
county bar and to the Pittsburg bar in 1788. In I79o he was a member of
the Constitutional Convention and in 1794, when but thirty-two years old, was
elected to the United States Senate instead of Albert Gallatin, who had been
elected, but was declared ineligible. Three years later he was re-elected for the
full term of six years.- Ross was a Federalist and strongly discouraged all
unlawful proceedings on the part of the citizens during the Whiskey Insurrection. In the Senate he was twice elected president pro tempore. In I799 while
a member of the Senate he was nominated for the governorship by the Federalists and was defeated by Thomas McKean. In I802 he was again pitted
against McKean, with the same result. In I8o8 he was a candidate against
Simon Snyder, but was defeated by the latter, receiving but 39,575 to 69,975
for Snyder. The defeat each time was attributed, not to Ross, but to the
fact that the state was overwhelmingly anti-Federalist. When he retired from
the United States Senate he returned to Pittsburg and devoted himself to
practicing law. In this he was very successful. Early in his professional life
he won a leading place at the bar and retained it until he retired in his de-i
clining years. He became a large land owner in and about Pittsburg. While
a candidate for governor he was greatly maligned, the opposition representing
him as being mercenary and avaricious in his dealings. It has long since
been proven that this charge was entirely unfounded. He, it is true, had a
great deal of money to put out and did not lend it without the hope of its return. Yet when money during the embargo was readily loaned at ten, fifteen
and even twenty per centum per year, he refused to lend at more than six
per centum, the lawful interest. When General James O'Hara was in danger
of bankruptcy because his landed possessions were unproductive for the time
being, Ross came to his rescue and purchased much of his lands lying up the
Allegheny river, and it is said, in that way, saved the General from financial
ruin. He owned and resided on Grant's Hill. The place was called "Oregon."
Part of it lying between Diamond Alley and Fifth street he sold to the county
commissioners in I837 for $75,0ooo0. Upon this a court house was erected and
it is yet used for the same purpose. As a lawyer he was best seen in the trials
which involved the title to real estate, known in their day as land cases. He
was a solid rather than a brilliant lawyer, and in his knowledge of the law and
its precedents he surpassed most men of his day. He was a very tall, broadshouldered man and was not given to intemperance in any direction. He died
in I847 in the eighty-sixth year of his age.
To Henry Baldwin we have referred many times. Aside from being
closely connected in a business way with Pittsburg, he was one of its greatest
lawyers. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and was graduated from
Yale College in I797. He came to Pittsburg in I799, and soon became a
leader in every line of thought. We have touched on his being engaged inA CENTURY ANVD A HALF OF
the iron industry and on his influence in Congress. He was first elected to
Congress in I8i6 and served till I822, when he resigned. A strong quality in
his make-up was his affability. Ann Royal, in her sketches of travels, refers
to him in the following extravagant language:
"Mr. Henry Baldwin is the darling of Pennsylvania and the pride of
Pittsburg. He is about thirty-five years of age, a thin, light figure, of good
height, round, delicate face and sallow complexion; his eye is keen or rather
sparkling, deep hazel, or what some would call black. His countenance would
not indicate talents of the first rate, although he certainly does very justly
rank among the first men of the state. But of all men he has the most pleasing countenance and the most fascinating manners. He appears to most advantage when pleading. It is impossible to portray the winning smile which
plays upon his countenance, while his head is elevated and his figure erect and
manly. His voice is harmonious and his actions pertinent and graceful. He
is said to be an able statesman, and of unshaken integrity. Well may Pittsburg be proud of him. His talents are devoted to it, and have been for some
years, while his generosity and goodness of heart keep him in the background.,
On my way to iittsburg the people would say,'You will see our idol, Mr.
Baldwin.'?
After retiring  from  Congress he devoted his time almost entirely
to the practice of the law, paying but little more than a general attention to
the iron business in which his money only was invested. In I830 he was
appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by President
Jackson, and this ended his work in Pittsburg. He was a few years older
than Walter Forward, but otherwise they were very much alike. Forward
had read law with Baldwin and they were partners for a time, but were afterwards often against each other in the trial of great causes. They were undoubtedly the ablest lawyers in Pittsburg in the first half of the nineteenth
century. Baldwin's elevation to the Supreme bench of the United States was
a high tribute to the Pittsburg bar. Whfle on the bench he wrote "A General
View of the Origin and Nature of the Constitution and Government of the
United States." He remained on the bench till his death, in I844.
Harmar Denny was born in Pittsburg on May I3, I794. He was the son
of Ebenezer Denny, who is mentioned many times in these pages and who
came first to Pittsburg as a dispatch bearer from the Cumberland valley. The
father was an officer in the army raised by General Harmar in I790, to march
against the Indians in Ohio. Being also connected with the army a year
later under General St. Clair he named his sons Harmar and St. Clair, after
his commanders. Harmar was graduated from Dickinson CoIlege in the class
of 1813, and was admitted to the bar of Allegheny county on motion of Henry
Baldwin on November I3, I8I6. His first appearance in public life was his
election to the Lower House of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Otherwise than
this he devoted his time studiously to the practice of the law and laid the
foundation for an eminence in the profession which he afterwards achieved.
He first became prominent in Pittsburg in the late twenties, when the
fight against the Free Masons was beginning. He was an anti-Mason and as
494PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
4I
ruined bastions of the fortress. "As the banner of England floated over the
waters, the place, at the suggestion of Forbes, was with one voice called Pittsburg. It is the most enduring monument to William Pitt. *  * *     Long
as the Monongahela and Allegheny shall flow to form the Ohio, long as the
English tongue shall be the language of Freedom in the boundless valley which
their waters traverse, his name shall stand inscribed on the Gateway of the
West."
An important incident in the life of Washington resulted directly from
this campaign, and may well be related here. The Virginia forces, which were
assembled at Winchester preparatory to marching against Fort Duquesne, were
sadly in need of arms, tents, etc. Washington was finally ordered to Williamsburg to lay their condition before the House of Burgesses, with the hope of securing further aid. He set off promptly on horseback. in crossing the
Pamunky river on a ferry, he fell in with a Virginia planter by the name of
Chamberlain, who lived near by, and who, with the oldtime Virginia hospitality,
claimed Washington as his guest. Washington pleaded the urgency of his
journey to Williamsburg in declining Chamberlain's invitation, but finally, being
further importuned, consented to remain for dinner, which was an earlier meal
in those days than now. Among the guests at Chamberlain's was a charming
young widow, Mrs. Martha Custis, a daughter of John Dandridge, a gentleman
of Virginia, of patrician birth. Her husband had been dead about three years,
and had left her a large fortune, as fortunes were at that early time. She
was of fine form, dark hair and eyes, with frank and engaging manners. It is
believed that Washington had never met her before, for it must be remembered that he was absent on the frontier most of the time for several years.
Washington had ordered his servant, Bishop, to have his horses ready to
resume their journey promptly after dinner. The horses were at the door, but
for once their master loitered in the path of duty, and remained with his host
until the following morning. Though his stay was brief, his time with the
widow was well improved, for before he had traveled west with his troops they
had mutually plighted their faith, and they were married on January 6, I759,
immediately after the close of the campaign.
General John Forbes was born in Scotland, in I7IO. He was educated for
the medical profession, but when quite young abandoned it-for the military, entered the English army, and became a lieutenant in the Scots Dragoons. He
won the highest praise from his general, Lord Ligonier, and from other superior officers, and was quartermaster-general in the army of the Duke of Bedford. He was about forty-eight years old when he reached America. Few
men have left their names so indissolubly associated with the early history of
Western Pennsylvania as John Forbes. Though a man of gentle birth, he was
of simple tastes. He detested ceremony, and dealt fairly with the colonists,
who formed a great admiration for him. It is said that when the tide of affairs was against him on this campaign, he swore most violently, but he may be
pardoned for this in some degree because of his illness, and, furthermore, proHARMAR DENNYPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
495
such was nominated and elected to Congress in I828. Two years later he was
elected as a Whig and was re-elected in.1834 and again in I836. He was
therefore in Congress from March 4, I829, to March 4, 1837. During this
period came President Jackson's ever memorable war against the United
States Bank. In all the bitter contest Denny Qpposed the President and was
heartily sustained by a majority of the Pittsburg people. He was the sole
representative from Allegheny county, for though Pennsylvania in his last
term was entitled to thirty members in Congress, but one was allotted to the
Pittsburg district. When he retired from Congress he returned to Pittsburg
and divided his time between his profession and business matters generally
till his death. Early in life he was married to a daughter of General
James O'Hara. This brought him a large amount of property, consisting
mainly of real estate, and much of his time was spent in looking after
it, that it might pass with increased value to her descendants.  It has
been said that almost every important movement for the material improvement of the city was submitted to him and that great respect was paid'to his advice. This was equally true in church work and in philanthropies
of all kinds, and in charities. In the latter he had the heartiest support and
sympathy of his wife whose charities in Pittsburg are remembered even to
this day.
Harmar Denny was a man of fine personal appearance, a most excellent
lawyer and a high minded gentleman of the old school, whose polished manners, with his other qualities, made him many friends in Pittsburg. Except
that he was president of the common council in 1849, we believe that he
never sought office after his retirement from congress in I837. He died on
January 29, I852.
Samuel Kingston has been mentioned as an early day school teacher.'He
was born in Ireland and was a man of fine education. He read law while
teaching in'Pittsburg and was admitted to the bar August io, 1813. Like
Baldwin and Forward he was a man of highly polished manners. He was a
well read lawyer and a safe counselor, who cared but little for court work,
but was one of the first lawyers in Pittsburg to devote his time almost exclusively to conveyancing. His office was on the corner of Fourth and Smithfield streets and was therefore destroyed by the great fire in I845. Seeing it
sweeping over Smithfield street in dense clouds of smoke and flame, he entered
his office to remove some papers that were valuable to him, and was probably
overcome before he could find his way out. His charred body was found
in the cellar a day or so after the fire had subsided.
Another great lawyer of that day was Richard Biddle, who following a
very common custom in the early years of the century, had come from the East
and settled in Pittsburg as one of the promising cities of the West. He had
been born reared and educated in Philadelphia and was related to Nicholas
Biddle,,resident of the United States Bank. He was a man of decided
genius and was particularly noted as a public speaker. His oratory was clearA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
cut, convincing and polished in the highest degree. He was elected to Congress in I836 and I838 but becoming tired of congressional life he did not
served out his last term. He was a scholarly man naturally and kept up his
studies all his life. Before coming to Pittsburg he had served in the War of
I812. After this he read law with his brother William, in Philadelphia, and after
a short practice there was admitted to the Pittsburg bar in I8I7. From I827
to I832 he spent most of his time traveling in Europe making many historical
investigations. Then he returned to Pittsburg and resumed the practice with
great success. In 183I he published a Life of Sebastion Cabot. He was born
March 25, I796 and died at Pittsburg July 7, I847.
Alexander W. Foster was born in Chester county in I77I. Receiving a
classical education he read law with Edward Bird and was admitted to the
Philadelphia and also to Chester county bar in I793. His father was Rev.
William Foster and his mother was a daughter of Rev. Samuel Blair, D. D.
In I796 the Foster family moved to Meadville. The son practiced law there
but on December 7, 1798, was admitted to the Allegheny county bar, though
he remained in Meadville for some years after that and earned a very high
standing in the bar, particularly for a young man. From Meadville he removed to Greensburg where he remained some years and ranked with the
ablest men of the bar. At that tilte he came to Pittsburg more or less to
try cases and finally settled here permanently, becoming one of the prominent
ment of the city and one of the leaders of the bar. He did not possess the
impassioned and florid eloquence of some of the men with whom he came in
contact nor had he the legal erudition of Walter Forward, but as a trial lawyer
and particularly in the cross examination of witnesses, he easily surpassed
most members of the bar of his day. It is said that he could, better than any
other lawyer in Pittsburg, expose the falsehood or fraud of an evilly disposed
witness and that he could do it in a mild, genteel way that won him the sympathy of the jurors. There were few who could more ably present a case to a
jury than he. He was of a kind genial disposition and this precluded the
possibility of his being genuinely sarcastic, yet whlen necessary, he could be
extremely severe. He excelled in the marshalling of his ideas and also in his
command of language. He could most suitably express his thoughts without
halting, without error and apparently with but. little effort. He illustrated his
arguments copiously with amusing anecdotes, some of which, like Lincoln,
he seemed to invent for the occasion. He excelled in conversation and was
always a social leader who enjoyed company. In person he, was of medium
size and weight and of the nervo-bilious temperament. He delighted in agriculture and wrote articles and delivered addresses on the practical application
of chemistry to farming. Being almost a constant smoker he had hot-houses
built in which to grow Spanish tobacco for his own use. In I802 he was
united in marriage with Jane Heron, of Franklin, Pennsylvania, who was a
daughter of Captain J. G. Heron of the Revolutionary army. Their son was J.
Heron Foster who was afterward a member of the Allegheny county bar, and a
496EDWIN M. STANTONPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             497
very prominent man in Pittsburg. Alexander W. Foster had also a brother who
became an eminent member of the Mercer county bar and whose son, Henry
D. Foster, of Westmoreland county, was one of the strongest lawyers in Pennsylvania. In his latter years Alexander W. Foster removed again, leaving
Pittsburg to pass the remainder of his days in Mercer, where he died on March
3, 1843.
Edwin M. Stanton achieved more national fame during the Civil war period
than any other member of the Allegheny county bar. In one way he belongs
to the nation rather than to any particular locality. Nevertheless he
practiced. law here and left Pittsburg when he first entered public life in Washington. Stanton was born at Steubenville, Ohio, on December I9, I814. His
education was somewhat limited. Aside from a preliminary training which
he received in the indifferent Steubenville schools of that day, and from a
few months attendance in Kenyon College, his early education did not amount
to much. He was a clerk in a book store in Columbus and while there improved his mind by general reading and afterward read law during leisure
moments and was admitted to the bar in I836. He began practicing in Cadiz
and was district attorney of the county.  Three years after his admission he
was elected reporter of the supreme court, the selection being made by the
state legislature. In the meantime he removed to Steubenville, selecting it
as a more progressive place than Cadiz. He was court reporter for three
years and they were very advantageous ones to him in his law studies. On
October 20, I847, he was admitted to the Pittsburg bar and located here early
in I848, when he was thirty-four years old and had been twelve years in the
profession. He rapidly became a very strong lawyer, though he did not, by
reputation at least, surpass the ablest men of the city. He had about him a
naturally imperious manner that did not add to his popularity. In i858 he
was associated with Abraham Lincoln in the trial of a very important'patent
right case in the West, and Mr. Lincoln thought him a very able man. In the
entire trial Stanton ignored Lincoln treating him as an unknown back-woods
lawyer and imperiously excluding him from the final argument of the case.
This was particularly disappointing to Lincoln who had prepared himself to
make an address. It may be of interest to note here that Lincoln's biographers
agree that with the fee earned in this case he made his campaign against Stephen A. Douglas and thus paved the way for his final elevation to the presidency. It is probably fair to say therefore that in I858 he was' one of the
ablest lawyers in Pennsylvania. He was a civil lawyer and paid but little
attention to criminal business, yet his versatility in his profession was sho'wn in
his conduct of the defense of General Daniel E. Sickles when tried for his
life for killing James Barton Key. The eyes of a nation were turned on him
then and he bore the burden of the trial in a manner that brought the highest
plaudits from the American bar.
Jeremiah S. Black, who had been chief justice of Pennsylvania, was made
attorney general in President Buchanan's cabinet.  In the general political
32A4 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
breaking up which followed the election in the fall of I86o, Black became
secretary of state and the President called Stanton from the Pittsburg bar to
become attorney general of the United States. This position he filled with
fine ability from December 20 till the inauguration of President Lincoln when
he was succeeded by Edward Bates of Missouri. During this time he was
a Democrat and during the entire year of I86I he was very bitter in his denunciations of Lincoln's conduct of the war. Nevertheless he had an aggressive power, an ability and a courage which Lincoln appreciated. Accordingly,
when Simon Cameron retired from the cabinet, the President, who was too
great to care for Stanton's churlish criticism, appointed the latter to'the office
of attorney general. He entered the cabinet as a Democrat and it undoubtedly
brought great strength to the Northern cause. He had moreover, many sterling qualities which Lincoln needed in his cabinet, and the latter found no
difficulty whatever in sinking his own personality, if by so doing he could
strengthen the cause of the Union. Stanton's loyalty to the Union and his
services as a war minister are a part, and indeed a very important part, of the
history of the Civil war. Writers of great eminence, high in authority on Civil
War history, have differed widely on his real character and the effects of his
ministry.  He has been called the ablest war minister in American history
and has on the other hand been written of as prejudiced, unreasonable, inhuman, brutal and even as insane.  The truth is probably between these
extremes. That he did' not have the charity, the kindness and leniency of the
President, is undoubted, but it may be that by his opposite qualities he supplied in that important period, a necessary balance in the cabinet. It is known
that by his imperious will he dominated the administration in many unimportant matters, but that when his views conflicted with those of the President
on matters of great import, he was disciplined and set aside as though he had
been a child in the hands of a giant. No one has doubted Stanton's integrity
nor his executive ability, nor his loyalty to the cause of the Union. He remained as secretary of war in President Johnson's administration until May
28, I868, when his health, which had been undermined by hard work during
the war, impelled him to retire. On December 20, I869, he was appointed a
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a position which his
attainments as a lawyer eminently qualified him to fill. But four days after his
appointment, and before he had assumed its duties, his remarkable career
was ended by death. Pittsburg may well be proud that it was her privilege
to furnish a man so eminent and useful in a period which was by far the most
trying and important in our national history.
Cornelius Darragh, prominent as a lawyer and as a citizen in his day, was
born in Pittsburg in I809.  Being graduated from the Western Universitv
in I826, he read law with James Ross and was admitted to the bar on November, 3, I829. In the years 1836-37-38 and'39 he represented the city in the
state senate and succeeded William Wilkins in Congress in 1844, by a special
election held in February. He was re-elected in the fall of I844 serving till
A98PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                             499
March 4, I847. Otherwise he devoted most of his years to the practice of the
law. On January 4, I849, he was appointed attorney general of the commonwealth by William F. Johnston and filled the position with credit to himself and to the bar till April, I851.
He was a man of small build and had more than the usual wit and eloquence of the Irishman. He was, however, a splendid lawyer, being not only
strong, exceedingly so, before a jury, but was well grounded in the principles
of the law. He has left a name now remembered only among the older people
Pittsburg as one whose wit and eloquence livened up many a weary case. On
the stump he was excelled by few in Western Pennsylvania. He died in Pittsburg December 22, I854.
Robert M. Gibson was another very eloquent member of the Pittsburg bar
and belonged to a comparatively modern age, for he did not come to Pittsburg
until I869.. He was born in Washington county on October 27, I828, and read
law in Washington with the celebrated William Montgomery. From his admission in I853 till I869 he practiced in Washington. He had not been ex-i
tensively educated but nature had given him all the requisites of a finished
orator. Many who yet remember him distinctly speak of him as the most truly
eloquent member of the Allegheny county bar in his day. He spoke with the
precision of an actor reproducing the thoughts of Shakespeare. He had an
epigrammatic style of speech that impressed his thoughts upon his hearers, so
that they remembered them and could reproduce them long afterwards. There
was nothing bombastic about his address, such as we are too likely to ascribe
to the eloquence of the past. Were he yet living his eloquent tongue would
stir his hearers just as it did in his day. He was a well trained lawyer and
weighed well his words. There is a tribute paid to him in the minutes adopted by
the bar when he died, that is said to most truly describe his style of eloquence.
It is as follows: "Passages of such exquisite beauty, of such incision, of such
overflowing humor, of such moving pathos and of such true grandeur and
sublimity of manner, with such originality of manner, with such simplicity
and apparent unconciousness of their magnificence, it has rarely been given
man to utter. Before the court and jury alike he was for the time resistless,
and swept away all obstruction as a mountain torrent in its rush to the meadow
and the sea." He died November 27, I882, at his home in Allegheny and was
buried in Washington, Pennsylvania.
One of the most widely known members of the bar in the latter half of
the century that has just passed was Thomas M. Marshall. He was born in Newton, County Derry, Ireland, on November 20, I8I9. His family came to America when he was a child, arriving in Pittsburg in I82i and three years later removing to Butler county. He was brouLght up mainly by the brother who lived
in Pittsburg. He learned but little else in the limited private schools of that
dav tI-an the rudiments of an education and at a very early age became a bookkeeper in a small mercantile establishment conducted by his brother, who madeA CENTURY ANVD A HALF OF
him a partner in the business before he reached his majority. When twentythree years old he began to read law with Judge Shaler. He was admitted to
the bar on December 8, 1846, when twenty-seven years old. Though at that
time he had scarcely any education whatever, he was able, because of his.
natural ability, to take a leading place at the bar, even in the first years of his
practice. He was richly dowered by nature. He was of medium build and
of athletic mold, and his every feature and every movement indicated strength,
courage, will-power and determination. His voice was strong, deep and musical and there was about him and in his speech a personal magnetism which
charmed his hearers and held them spell bound while he spoke. Kingly-looking at all times, he was seen at his best only when wrought up in addressing
a jury, or when fired by the excitement of the forum. To form any conception
of his strength one had to sit under his magic spell, to see him as with the boldness and carriage of a lion, he pressed his points upon his hearers. Perhaps
not a little of his well known power over juries and popular assemblies depended on his positive manner. He is remembered mostly because of his addresses in defending homicides.  For forty years in Pittsburg there was
scarcely an important murder -trial in which Mr. Marshall did not conduct the
defense. He was wont to begin his address by a few plainly stated principles,.
that even a juror most hostile to his cause, could not but admit in his own
mind. In doing so he spoke his short sentences in a low clear tone of voice
that at least riveted the attention of every hearer. Gradually he warmed up, or
perhaps it was more the hearer that warmed up, as he led him step by step
into new and delightful fields of thought, which perhaps a few minutes before,
he had determined not to enter. Then the advocate grew more impressive and
emphatic. Presently it was apparent that a storm was brewing, and the juror
heard its approaching rumblings, then the lightnings flashed and rolling thunder filled the air, and "Glorious Old Tom," as he was called, was in complete
action and was thoroughly a master. The air seemed to be filled with something indescribably grand and magnetic that caught and overpowered the
hearer, and controlled his every impulse, yet nothing about Marshall's manner
indicated that it was manufactured for the occasion. Every gesture, every
tone, every impassioned appeal and above all his very look indicated that all
this was but the tempestuous outbreak of his pent up feeling, the outward expression of his deep earnestness and his determination to impress it upon his
hearers and win their approval or die in the attempt. His oratory particularly
in presenting a defense to a jury, was superb in its grandeur and was enjoyable alike to the cultured scholar or the unlearned laborer, to the busy man of'
affairs or to the court room idler, all were delighted and carried away with it,
and while it lasted no one took his leave.
It was claimed by some, in the exaggerated expression of the day that Marshall had but one address which he used on all occasions, yet be that true or false
in the idea it was meant to convey, it still remains an undisputable fact, that
500PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
501
from youth to age he exercised a marvelous power over juries and won more
verdicts of "not guilty" than any other man in the history of the Allegheny
county bar. He had also a most retentive memory. He rarely ever took notes
of the testimony, yet he could conduct a case from day to day and sometimes
for weeks and in the end sum up the strong points in the testimony and quote
them even more accurately than those who had taken copious notes. Those
who are quite competent to judge, claim that he was also a strong civil lawyer,
a good lawyer wherever you took him," said a prominent attorney to the
writer. Yet it cannot be denied that his fame rests most on his work in the criminal courts, and that it far overshadows his achievements in all other bran'ches of
the profession. There is no doubt but that he was a tower of strength in any
trial, though it would be unfair to write of him as a strong lawyer where equity
or corporate rights were concerned for to such matters he had: given but little
attention. General Archibald Blakely, in his most exhaustive History of the Bar
of Allegheny County, refers to a many-sided civil action which he once heard
presented to the Supreme Court. Several lawyers had made elaborate arguments when Marshall concluded' the case on his side by stating a principle of
law in a few words, after which he added. "That principle governs this case
and the authorities I have cited in my paper-book establish that principle, and
that is all I have to say." With this he took his hat and left the room. The
manner of the man was so tragic that the general followed the case and found
that the Supreme Court had affirmed Marshall's point'and thus the case was
won. Such a man as Marshall could not otherwise than be a power on the
stump, particularly when he lived through the age in which that style of
oratory was at its height. He was a Whig and began to make addresses in
I840, years before he began the study of the law. Indeed it was likely that
power which induced him to enter the profession. Whether it was a public
reception of some dignitary, an anti-slavery meeting, a war meeting or a political convention, he was always in demand and could stir and excite an audience at his will. His arraignment of his opponents, and particularly of the
slave trade was "terrible as an army with banners." He had the proverbial wit
of the Irish race and could, when argument failed, entertain his hearers by the
hour with story, joke, ridicule and bitter sarcasm. Though not thoroughly
educated in his youth, he was widely read, and with his retentive memory,
lacked little. in his mature years, of being a complete scholar. Prominent all
his days among the leaders in political life, and often urged to become a candidate, he always declined. In I882 the Republican state convention nominated
him without his consent for the office of Congress at Large. A few weeks
later the convention was called together again to fill the vacancy on the same
ticket, for Marshall had positively declined to enter the race.
He was a lover of nature, of the trees, of the singing birds, and of the
country generally, while he was passionately fond of horses, dogs and the pet
animals. By birth he was a commoner and in his law practice his natural
predilections prompted him to favor the weak rather than the strong, and this42                 XA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
fanity was a very common vice among the English officers of his day. All
through the American campaign just described he suffered intensely from a
general breaking down of his system. From Fort Duquesne he was carried all
the way to Philadelphia in a litter borne generally by horses, but part of the
way by men. He reached Philadelphia on January I8th. There he remained
during the winter, and died March 13, I759, in the forty-ninth year of his age.
His body was buried in the chancel of Christ Church, in Philadelphia.502                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
feeling bound him indissolubly to any one who was in trouble or in need
whether arraigned in court or not. His purse was never closed to the poor, and
particularly to the less fortunate members of the profession. The same spirit
prompted him to assist' the young lawyer in his trials and perplexities. He
cared nothing for wealth or for the prominence which it brought. The strongest of all his characteristics was his affection for his immediate family. This
was well known to be phenomenal with him. The news of the sudden death
of his wife reached the Supreme Court when it was in the midst of its daily
session. The court knowing how deeply he was stricken adjourned immediately and taking carriages the justices all drove out at once to his residence
to comfort and console him in his great sorrow as best they could. It is said
that this was a compliment which the court had never before paid to the family
of any, save its own members.
He never grew old in spirit. There was never a time when he was too old
to be companionable and on intimate terms with young men.
SamuelW. Black was born in Pittsburg, September 3, I8I6. He was the
son of Rev. John Black, D. D., and had good educational advantages from his
youth. In 1834 he was graduated from the Western University and at once
began to read law with Richard Biddle. He was a man of fine presence and
had the gift of eloquence in a high degree. In April, I857, he was appointed
associate justice of the territory of Nebraska, serving in that capacity faithfully.
He was appointed governor of the territory in February, I859, both appointments coming from President James Buchanan. He had prior to these appointments, been through the Mexican war with the Second Regiment of
Pennsylvania Infantry. He was not deeply learned in the law and confined'his practice almost entirely to the criminal courts, where he could offset the
thorough knowledge of his opponent with his really brilliant oratory. He had
all the gifts necessary in an advocate and in addition had a very ready wit
which always stood him in good stead.   There is little doubt but that in
controlling the feelings of the jury and in extracting from them a verdict,
regardless of the law and the facts, he was excelled by few if any lawyers
in Pittsburg in his day. Gifted as he was, it was but natural that he should
make a name on the stump. This he did at a very early age. It was this quality which made him known in all parts of the Union, that led to his appointments mentioned above. Few audiences could resist his transcendent power over
them. His Union speeches in the spring of I86I, were beyond all doubt the most
inspiring that were delivered in Pittsburg. His efforts did not consist in idle
declamation. Every thrilling sentence came from his soul and this was one of
the secrets of the power of his oratory. He had instincts which prompted him
to perform brave and daring acts.   No one could have led a dangerous
charge in battle with less fear than he. He left Pittsburg in the early months
of I86I at the head of one of the city's best regiments, the Sixty-second Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He led it with his intrepid spirit for a 3year andPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
fell at its head at the battle of Gaines' Mill on June 27, I862. No officer in the
Civil war was more deeply lamented in Pittsburg than he.
The Montooth brothers, Edward Alexander and Charles Carroll, were
prominent members of the bar in the last years of the last century. Edward,
the elder was born in Pittsburg, September I8, I837, and was admitted to the
bar on December 7, I86I. Almost at once he entered the Union army as
a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth regiment of Pennsylvania
Volunteer Infantry. He was breveted major for gallant and meritorious
services performed on the field of Gettysburg. After the war he was engaged in the practice of the law continuously till his death. In I874 he
was elected district attorney of Allegheny county.  This brought him  into
practice in the Criminal Courts and his work ever after that, was laregly
in that direction. A noted writer on the Pittsburg bar has said of him:
"His jury addresses were earnest, clear, persuasive, impassioned and strong.
When it came to a sentence his great heart often impelled him to plead with the
court of mercy." Charles C. Montooth was graduated from the Western University of Pennsylvania in I867, and was admitted to the bar May I2, I870.
From the beginning of his practice he devoted himself almost entirely to the
civil side of their practice, while his brother and senior partner looked after the
criminal business. Both were strong lawyers in their respective parts. Both
were men of the highest ideals of professional life, and in all instances they
not only lived up to them but tried to inspire others to do the same. Both
were, moreover, highly successful as practitioners. Though Charles attained
a very high standing as a civil lawyer, there were abler men at the bar than
either of them, but there were none who are remembered more kindly by those
who came in daily contact with them. Both were men of fine personal appearance, exceedingly so, and were moreover men of highly-polished manner,
not such manners as might be assumed by unworthy men, but such as could
emanate only from admirable traits of character, from men who were gentlemen indeed in the truest sense. Charles was born December 26, I846, and
died died July 4, I893.
A very noted lawyer during the latter half of the last century was M1Iarshall Swartzwilder, who was born in Carlisle, March 13, I8I9. He was educated at Princeton and read law in Hagerstown. In I840 he located
in Pittsburg and was admitted to the bar on May 3I, I84I. He was almost
entirely a criminal lawyer, but in that line was fully competent to hold his own
with the ablest lawyers in Pennsylvania. He was sent to the legislature in I848
and I849, and while there is credited with having introduced the measure providing for an amendment to the constitution of 1838, which changed the judgeship from an appointive to an elective one. It is said, too, that in riper years he
regretted having done this, for he regarded the change which it brought about
as a serious mistake on the part of the state. He died on October I, I884, and
was buried in Laurel Hill cemetery in Philadelphia.
503A CENTURY AND -A- HALF OF
Another criminal lawyer of great eloquence was William D. Moore. He
was born at Harpers Ferry, on January I5, 1824, and was graduated from the
Western University of Pennsylvania in I84I. After a theological course he
entered  the  ministry  of the  Presbyterian  church  and  preached  with
much success until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he was made
chaplain of the Sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Artillery. He served in this
capacity until the close of the war. After the war he abandoned the ministry
and read law in Greensburg with Edgar Cowan, who was then representing
Pennsylvania in the United States Senate. On his admission to the Westmoreland bar he removed to Pittsburg, where he was admitted on November 27,
I866. He was a man of fine scholarship and of burning eloquence, but began
the study of the law too late in life to master its intricacies. Further than the
limited knowledge -necessary to practice in the criminal courts, he was not by
any means a thorough lawyer, though he had such talent, that had they been
devoted to the law during his earlier years, would have enabled him to excell
in any branch of the profession. As.it was, he was a scholar, a thinker and a
reasoner and above all a man of transcending eloquence. His mind had
naturally led him in earlier years into scientific investigations. In botany,
chemistry, anatomy and indeed in any science, he was able to hold his. own,
even among experts, and this power stood him in great stead' in many of the
trials in which he was engaged.
Perhaps there was no field of eloquence in which he was so potent as in
presenting resolutions on the death of members of the bar. Had those he
delivered in Pittsburg been taken down and printed they would form a most
valuable volume and would indeed be classics in their line. In vituperative
language, in depicting the evil character of the defendant and in portraying
the villainy and barbarity of bloody life, he undoubtedly surpassed all men of
his day in Pittsburg. He died on November 2, I896.
John H. Hampton was brought up in the profession, for he was a son of
Moses Hampton, eminent alike as a lawyer and a judge. Growing up in
Pittsburg he was sent to the Western University, but was afterward graduated
at Washington College in the class of I847. He began reading law with
James Todd of the Philadelphia bar, but afterwards finished under Edwin H.
Stowe, of Pittsburg, and was admitted to practice on December 23, I850.
From his youth he manifested strong intellectual and quick perceptive
qualities, but his mind was not supported by a vigorous body. The fact that he
achieved a high degree of success is all the more to his honor when it is
remembered that throughout his life he was in poor health. Two years after
his admission, the bar began to hear of railroad lawyers, for railroads had
just reached Western Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania railroad employed
him as its counsel and later he appeared for other roads, so that it may be said
that he devoted his life largely to railroad and corporation law. It is even now
an intricate subject, always demanding the ablest t,alent of the bar, but the
administration of it was still more difficult in Hampton's early days. for the
5o4PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
505
subject was entirely a new one then. He had also inherited the honor and
integrity of his father. Rights which the state reserved and delegated to corporations were almost a new feature in Pittsburg a half century ago, and the
railroads found in him a man of the highest character who could stand between
them and the people and protect the latter in the enjoyment of their rights,
no less than the former, whom he directly represented. Such a man was greatly
needed then. It is said to his credit that he never willingly permitted his clients,
though strongly entrenched in the law, to infringe on the rights of the people.
Nature not only gave him a strong.mind but gave him complete mastery over
himself so that he never lost his temper or his self control. His manners and
deportment were those of a complete gentleman in every sense, and won him
the friendship even of those whom he generally appeared against in court.
For many years after he began practicing his father was on the bench and his
sense of honor was such that he never voluntarily appeared in a trial in that court
or to make any important motion. He was not only great as a lawyer but was
great. in any branch of the civil practice, and particularly was this manifest
in long and hotly contested trials. In his power to stand up under damaging
testimony, to meet unforseen and unlooked for turns in trial of cases, and
in the end to answer every phase of argument that could possibly be brought
to bear against his case, he had perhaps no superior in Pittsburg in his day.
He livenedi a long wearisome trial with an inexhaustible fund of wit and
humor, and this perhaps often won for him when a prosy argument would
have been fruitless. He was engaged in the practice of the law continuously
for over forty years and died April I, I89I.CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Cotton Manufacture-Lost Industries-Cotton, Oil Refining.
The manufacture of cotton and woolen goods was formerly a very
important one in Pittsburg. Small factories had sprung up in many parts of
Western Pennsylvania, invariably located on a small stream where the spindles
and looms could be propelled by water power. Their work was almost exclusively in woolen goods. With the Ohio river passing by and through
several cotton states Pittsburg seemed an inviting field for cotton factories,
for it was easy to ship the raw material up the river, and return the manufactured product by the same route, or dispose of it in nearer markets. The
cotton producers of the South had learned to ship their raw material to England and to repurchase it in manufactured fabrics. During the War of I812 all
commerce between the United States and England was suspended. As a result
cotton goods became very high. This probably induced Hugh and James
Jelly to build a cotton factory in Pittsburg.  It was located in Northern
Liberties, now the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburg.  About the time it
was completed, the war closed. They had, in fact, scarcely started their mills
when peace was effected in I8I5. There was at that time no duty to materially
interfere with the importation of textile fabrics. English factories had been
filling up with goods which they were unable to dispose of duiring the war,
perhaps in anticipation of a ready market in America when the war would
terminate. At all events the markets of the United States were flooded with
all kinds of imported fabrics in the early months of I8I5. Pittsburg was an
easy market to reach from  any English port, for boats not infrequently
passed down the Ohio, and thence by the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic
ocean, carried Pittsburg products to the seacoast cities of Europe and returned
laden with the exports of the Old World. The result was that almost as soon
as Hugh and James Jelly were ready to start their spindles in their new factory,
Pittsburg received untold quantities of imported fabrics, and at much lower
rates than they could spin and weave them. Their factory was therefore closed
and stood idle for years. In I822 two commission merchants, Allen  Grant,
united with James Adams and James S. Craft and rebuilt the factory and began to make machinery for the manufacture of cotton. They also embarked
in the cotton business and brought to Pittsburg many skilled workmen whoPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
carded, spun and wove successfully for the first time in Pittsburg in 1824.
Their factory was called the Phoenix Steam Cotton Factory. It employed
nearly two hundred hands and produced seven hundred pounds of yarn and
four hundred and fifty yards of cotton cloth daily in 1825.
Their success prompted others.to engage in the same business.   The
Fleecedale Woolen Factory was built on Chartiers creek by A.  J. Murphy
in the same year. Their output in cassinets and broadcloth alone was nearly
$20o,oo000, the first year. They furthermore did a large business in wool carding.
The same year bought John McIlroy who made plaids, fancy stripes and plain
cotton goods of various grades. His factory was on Front and Second streets
and increased rapidly so that he soon employed from eighty to one hundred
hands. Another large factory was owned by James Shaw on Wood street,
above Liberty. Thomas Graham had built a large mill and still another was
owned by Tilford  Sons and there were several smaller ones. In all it is
well known that there were over five hundred hands constantly employed in
this class of manufacturing.in Pittsburg in i825 and that they produced more
than a million yards of goods valued at over $200,000. These industries all
sprang up under the protection afforded them by the tariff bill of I824. The
duty on cotton and woolen goods by this act was thirty per cent.
The raw material for the early cotton factories was brought to Pittsburg from the cotton producing states by the Ohio river. Each manufacturer
was compeled to go south to lay in a stock of material and he was furthermore
compelled to purchase a stock sufficient to last him at least six months, for
otherwise in the winter his Pittsburg factory might have been closed because
of the freezing over of the Ohio river. The manufacturer found himself in
the same predicament in the summer months when the river was too low to
afford transportation. Tke factories used at best about I3,ooo bales per year,
which was not sufficient to warrant commission merchants in establishing a
constant cotton market in Pittsburg, though the importance of such a market
was patent to the board of trade and the producers of cotton textile fabrics.
These necessarily long investments in raw material before any money could
possibly be realized from the product, greatly hindered the Pittsburg factories.
Another ill which befell them was the tariff laws of I832 and I833. These
acts reduced the tariff generally but made a heavy reduction on cotton goods.
Nevertheless, by industry and economy the business not only survived but increased until in I847 there were seven large factories in Pittsburg, the size
and product of which may be seen by the following table.
Name                   Bales of Cotton.  Product   Men Employed
Hope Factory................ 3,100           $216,0oo        375
Eagle Factory................ 3,000           205,200        250
Union Factory............. i,6oo              I6,500oo       200
Pittsburg Factory............ i,600           138,000        200
Penn Factory.............    2,400            207,000        260
Star Factory.................  800              2,00          80
Allegheny Factory............ 400              27,000         40
Totals................. I2,900        $4,759,000        1,405
507A CENTURY AND A HALF OFIn I848 a difficulty occurred which illustrates the difference in the employment of labor then and now. The majority, if not all of the workmen, were employed then by the day, and a day's work was twelve hours. The legislature
of that year passed a law limiting a day's work to ten hours, and it went into
effect on July 4, I848. A great deal of cotton was then being spun and woven
in Lowell, Massachusetts, and at other points in the East and all were working on the twelve hour a day plan. The Pittsburg manufacturers claimed
that they were already laboring under difficulties that the eastern factories
knew nothing of and that they could not afford to pay the same wages for ten
hour's work that they had formerly paid for twelve. They therefore proposed
to reduce the wages correspondingly, but the laboring men who had clamored
for the ten-hour law refused to stand the reduction and refused thereafter to
work more than ten hours per day, although the law provided for a special
contract between the operators and the employes, by which they should still
continue to work twelve hours per day. The result was a general strike
among the employes and a close down among the factories. The strike
was attended with all the features of a modern conflict between labor and capital..
Men who were thus thrown out of employment became violent. Even the
women, wives and daughters of the strikers stoned the manufacturers and threw
eggs at them as they passed through the byways of Pittsburg. The manufacturers refused to communicate with the agents of the strikers, but offered to
hold conferences with the men themselves. This aggravated them more than
ever, for they seemed to be under the power of the delegates. Much damage was
done by the leaders of the strikers. The difficulty became more serious and
riots ensued. They were known as the factory riots. Many of them were
indicted by the grand jury. Among those against whom true bills were found
were five women. As the fall progressed the conflict became more bitter. The
newspapers took sides, and although nearly three score years have passed away,
many of the comments and editorials are couched in- terms that are quite familiar
to the modern reader. By the papers which catered to the laboring man the
manufacturers were denounced as tyrants, robbers and oppressors, and one
would conclude that the money invested in manufacturing was a curse.to the
community. They were charged with making immense profits and concealing
them for the purpose of still further grinding down the employes. The contest
became so bitter late in 1848 that a number of manufacturers visited other cities
in quest of new locations, with the purpose of removing their factories from
Pittsburg. Pittsburg had long before this been noted for its advocacy of the
American system, as it was first called, which afterwards assumed its true
name of a protective tariff. Newspapers throughout the country took up and
magnified the "Pittsburg Riots," and made it a political measure. Gold had
but recently been discovered in California. The usual overland trip began by
going down the Ohio river and Pittsburg, being at the head of navigation, got
credit of furnishing more than her share of those who sought the precious metal
on the Pacific coast. A Pittsburg paper dealt with the question as follows:
508PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
509
"And what is Pittsburg? Ask the hundreds and thousands of her citizens who
are flocking off to California, where there are no factories, no improvements.
They will answer,'We are going to a place where we hope capital cannot oppress
us. At the risk of our lives, we will not be enslaved by the money power.'
This is their significant and  withering' reply. Now, what do we propose?
Simply and undeniably this: To introduce such reforms here as will prevent
the necessity which drives away to distant lands our very best, most useful and
industrious citizens. We appeal to every honest thinking man if it is fair that
we should be hunted down, as we have been, by any class of people for this?"
A Philadelphia paper was still more severe.
"Pittsburg can lay claim to a complete savageism, a stultified barbarity
which the red cutthroats of Fort Duquesne never knew. Pittsburg of the
ptresent hour, of the year of grace I849, stands out in bold relief from the
annals of barbarism. She is no longer the Smoky City, but will henceforth be
known as the Blot' City, the Blot of Pennsylvania. But we call upon the
man who keeps a slave pen in Baltimore to go to church next Sunday and
publicly thank God that he is not a Pittsburg factory-owner.  Hereafter
we shall look upon shambles, red with blood of the negro, as something better,
more Christian, than the law of Pennsylvania as'dug up' in Pittsburg, and
hailed with steam-engine hosannas by Pittsburg slave-holders. Let no congressman from Pittsburg ever dare to talk in Washington about the evils
of black slavery or the blessings of free soil. Your Pittsburg law, gentlemen,
can give the shambles of Jeffreys nine points of the game and beat them, too,
in every detail of absurd barbarity."
The strike ended with the usual result, the factory employes were at
length forced to resume labor at a reduction of sixteen per cent. on the
wages paid for twelve hours' labor, and the day's work was thereafter ten hours.
In a few instances by virtue of the special contract clause, the employes
worked twelve hours per day and did not suffer a reduction of wages. The
ten-hour law was practically disobeyed by both the employer and the employe, but it was in the end fraught with good results, for it was a step in the
movement which has since brought about legislation which has been of great
advantage to the laborer.
It is not a fact, however, that the severe words of the Eastern newspapers
were in any special degree deserved by the Pittsburg manufacturers. They
simply held to their rights to pay the increased wages or allow their factories
to stand idle, and did but little in the way of bringing in new workmen.
The cotton industry has long since passed almost entirely from Pittsburg,
and its loss in this direction was suffered in common with many northern cities.
Prior to the abolition of slavery the southern states were engaged largely in
producing cotton, but scarcely pretended to manufacture it into textile fabrics.
This was done almost entirely in England and in the northern states. But after
the close of the Civil war manufacturers saw that it would be more profitable
to locate their factories in the cotton belt, thus saving the transportation of the
raw material, which because of its great bulk was extremely expensive to move.
Labor was also cheaper in the Southern states than in the North, and for theseA CENTURY AND A HALF OF~
reasons the manufacture of cotton was removed largely from the northern to
the southern states.
In all these years Pittsburg has lost many other industries. In all manufacturing cities factories spring up and flourish for a time when suddenly the
march of improvement brings new products or better methods of making them
to the' front and the old ones are abandoned.   The factories which made
wrought iron nails passed away with the introduction of cut nails. Ship building, once the leading industry of the city and one which gave rise to the making of many kindred products, passed away when steam was thoroughly applied to navigation and when railroads began to compete in earnest with the
river as a common carrier.  Mostly such industries are replaced by larger
ones. Pittsburg, however, lost oil refining industries and apparently secured
nothing which resulted from it in its stead. The city owes a great deal of its
prominence to the discovery and production of oil in Western Pennsylvania,
for it was the nearest city to the field, and aside from the refineries which
sprung up here, a great part of the wealth that the discovery of oil produced
found its way and its ultimate investment in Pittsburg. To this is attributed
its rapid increase in population and wealth between I86o and I870. To Colonel E. L. Drake is due the credit of boring the first oil well in Western Pennsylvania for he sunk his well in I859. Oil had been u~sed as a medicine for
external application by those suffering from rheumatism for many years. It
was probably used first by the Seneca Indians who were much subjected to
this ailment. At all times it found its way in small quantities to the surface
and could be seen floating on the water. The Indians spread blankets on the
surface of the water and they could thus wring small quantities of oil, which
had been absorbed, from these blankets. Colonel Drake thought that the
greasy, bad smelling fluid which oozed from crevices in the rocks and floated
on the water's surface, could be found in greater quantities by boring for it.
The Seneca Oil Company advertised its many curative virtues and did not
have a sufficient quantity to supply the demand for it. It was the patent medicine company which furnished Drake with sufficient money to bore for it, and
their chief motive was to secure a larger and more reliable supply to sell as a
rheumatic medicine. No one then dreamed that the immense quantities of
this medicine, hidden in the bowels of the earth, would in a few years, become
a cheap and popular light for almost the whole civilized, world. Yet it had
been used for illuminating purposes long before this. In the American Joiurnal of Sciences for I826, there is a letter from Dr. S. P. Hildreth which refers
to the discovery of petroleum on the Muskingum river near Marietta, Ohio,
by a man who. was boring for salt water. This well was bored four hundred
feet deep and instead of salt water it "discharged vast quantities of Petroleum
or, as it was vulgarly called, Seneca Oil."  Dr. Hildreth also speaks of the
powerful explosions of gas from the well and says that "the petroleum affords
a considerable profit, and is beginning to be in demand for lamps in workshops
and factories." and that it "gave a clear, brisk light and will be a valuable
g IoPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
article for lighting the street lamps in the future cities of Ohio." Drake bored
the well in I859 on the Drake farm on Oil creek, in Venango county, and "struck
oil" on August 3oth of that year. It was a small well, producing in I859 about
two thousand barrels. The oil at once found a market for illuminating purposes. In I86o many new wells were sunk and the product of these reached
the total of five hundred thousand gallons for that year. In I86I the yield was
over two millions of gallons, in I862 over three millions, in I874 the product
was nearly eleven millions, and in I88o about twenty-six millions of barrels.
New lamps were invented early in the sixties and a method of refining it was
also invented which took from the oil the impure substances which not only
clogged the lamp wicks but also produced an offensive smoke. It was then
called coal oil, a name which was then applied to kerosene as distilled from
coal. Oil has since had a great power in the advancements of civilization, for
it invited study and reading and social intercourse at night and permitted all
kinds of games, music and conversation that were well nigh impossible with
the tallow candles, which preceded it. Yet it is rarely considered by social
scientists in enumerating the adjuncts of the world's progress.' Most of this
oil was found in the upper Allegheny river and the natural outlet of it was
Pittsburg. Refining oil was almost from the beginning, an extensive business
and particularly in Pittsburg. As early as I86o there were seven refineries
in the city. In I86I they had increased to seventeen and in I862 to twenty-six.
In I863 there were forty-one, in I864 there were forty-six and in I867 Pittsburg was supporting fifty-seven refineries which, we believe, was the city's
highest point as an oil refining centre. Transportation was a great difficulty
in the oil trade. It was difficult to store millions of gallons and the Allegheny
river was not a navigable stream during the greater part of the year. Railroads
soon penetrated every section of the oil field and these with tanks built on their
cars, afforded for a time the only means of removing it from the oil fields to
the market. Soon after its discovery the Standard Oil Company was formed,
*a corporation which rapidly became powerful and had its headquarters in
Cleveland, Ohio. This city was about as near the oil region as Pittsburg.
Pipe lines by which the oil could be pumped from the wells to the refineries
were introduced and these were laid from the oil fields to Cleveland. The
Standard Oil Company gradually secured possession of these lines and: by
special contracts with the railroads leading westward from the field, the
trade was soon concentrated in Cleveland, Ohio. The refineries were therefore removed from Pittsburg to Cleveland, so that in I876 there were b.ut
twenty-nine in Pittsburg, and within the next few years all were removed from
the city. The refining industry came, flourished and passed away in less than
a score of years. It was not so desirable a business as many others for a city,
for it carried with it a great deal of nauseating and bad smelling material.
Yet there was money in it, and in that way its removal from Pittsburg was a
heavy loss.
5I ICHAPTER XXXIX.
Stephen C. Foster-Richard Realf.
Stephen Collins Foster, the noted song writer and poet, was in every
sense a Pittsburger. Here he was born and brought up, here his melodies
that will live longest were written, and here, with his kindred, rest his ashes.
His father was William Barclay Foster, a merchant of Pittsburg, who, with
Major Ebenezer Denny, was engaged largely in the early flat-boat trade down
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. He had been reared in
Canonsburg, where his parents had settled in the days of the Revolution. In
I807 he journed eastward, and was married in Chambersburg to Eliza Clayland Tomlinson, who originally came from the shore district of Maryland.
On horse-back over the old State road he brought his bride several hundred
miles to Pittsburg. Not long after this he purchased a tract of land then outside of the city but now an important part of it. This land and the little town
founded on it, he named Lawrenceville, in memory of Captain James Lawrence, whose dying words, "Don't give up the ship," as they carried him below on his vessel, had thrilled all of our people with additional enthusiasm
for the American cause. Foster was indeed a truly patriotic man. His loyalty
took a more substantial form then naming his place after a hero of the War
of I812, for shortly after this, when the British burned the capitol at Washington, NeAw  Orleans was threatened by General Packenham, and urgent
orders were sent to Pittsburg for supplies for General Jackson's army.
Though the General was unable to send any money with the orders to pay for
the goods, nevertheless Foster shipped them promptly, and it is said that they
reached Jackson when his army was suffering for the want of them, and that
they assisted him in winning the battle of New Orleans. Foster was never
paid for these goods, the claim in the United States court being yet unsatisfied.
Even though the government appeared to be ungrateful to him he was still
loyal to its soldiers, for he donated a piece of ground for a soldiers' burying
place, and a monument marks its site to this day. The ground which Fosterowned is historic ground, for it included Bullits Hill, and o.n it Washington
and Gist had landed from Wainrights Island, when almost frozen in December,.
1753, as they were returning from  their historic trip to Fort Le BoeufPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
513
Thirty acres of this land were afterwards sold to the government for an
arsenal, which has recently been abandoned, and the land is now used by the
city as a public park.
The children of William B. Foster had inherited from their parents
qualities which enabled each of them to achieve more or less renown. Morrison Foster was a prominent business man and state senator of Pittsburg,
and lived until I904. Another son, William, was first vice-president of the
Pennsylvania railroad, while a daughter was married to Rev. Edward Y.
Buchanan, a brother of President James Buchanan. The mother of Henrietta Crosman, the actress, whose name is Henrietta Foster Crosman, was a
niece of the poet songster, and it was she, the mother, who, as a Pittsburg
girl in the 40's and 5o's, first sang many of his sweetest melodies. This gentle
birth perhaps accounts for the delicacy and refinement which gave an undying
charm to all his music.
Stephen C. Foster was born on July 4, I826, when all America was celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Independence, and when the air was filled
with the music of the "Star Spangled Banner." He was undoubtedly a very
erratic child, but he was unusually precocious in any line of intellectual pursuits, and in grasping a knowledge of music, or in drawing it even from new
and untried instruments, he was indeed a prodigy. Several pieces of his music
of a high order of merit were written in his boyhood days, and his first published song, "Open Thy Lattice, Love," was written when but sixteen years old.
At nineteen he formed a singing club, which he conducted and which frequently met at his father's house. He began to compose songs for this club,
the first one being "The Louisiana Belle." All were delighted with it, but
a few days later he still further surprised and pleased them  by producing
"Uncle Ned," which remains today as one of his best melodies. He wrote
the words and adapted them to nearly all of his music. Although a poetic
temperament was shown in all of his works, he has produced but little that
would entitle him to true greatness were it not for his music. Though the
words fit the melodies "excellently well," they do not reveal a high order of
the poet's talent. The sentiments of the songs are beautiful, dealing with
the love of home, with the love of mother, the sweetest of all words;
with the love of wife and sweetheart, touching each of them, the tenderest
impulses of intellectual culture and refinement. In most of his music there is
a tender memoried pathos, a,mystic sweetness, which makes them truly melodious, and the words written by him are always charming and easy
flowing. As the poet Shelley says:
"Our sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought."
Early in life he wrote only for pastime or to entertain his friends,
without thinking of adopting song-writing as a profession, or of making money
from his music. While a clerk in a store he wrote "Oh! Susanna," and
gave it and "Uncle Ned" to a friend of the family, Mr. W. C. Peters, of
33A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Cincinnati, who had them  published and is said to have made ten thousand dollars in clear profits from their sale. With this money Paters opened
up a music store, and it is now one of the largest in the West. Foster
wrote in all about one hundred and sixty songs, many of which have become classics in the musical world.  A few  of them  stand first among
the melodies of the American people, and though they have been already
sung for three score years, they have not in the least diminished in their
popularity. "The Old Folks at Home," "Old Black Joe," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming," and many others,
have been translated into nearly all of the European and Asiatic languages,
and have therefore veritably been sung around the world.
Shortly after Herr Wilhelmj, the eminent violinist, came from Germany
to enchant America with his music, not speaking our language, he went into
a New York music store asking for the music of an American song which
he said he thought was called "Black Jack." It was, of course, not to be
found, but the persistent German was sure of its existence, and with his lips
began to whistle the air. The melody was understood even if his language
could not be, for the salesman at once exclaimed "he wants Old Black Joe,"
and much to the virtuoso's delight it was handed to him promptly. It was the
refinement and tenderness of the song which was implanted indelibly in his
memory when its English name had almost escaped him.
Foster was a man of small build, being but five feet seven inches high,
but of great physical courage, of quick temper, and of great kindness of heart.
Presenting a bouquet to a young woman, who was engaged to be married, her
fiance assailed him in violent language, whereupon Foster promptly knocked
him down and the unhappy event terminated the engagement. Seeing two
quarrelsome ruffians imposing on a helpless man as he was returning home one
night, he interfered, and in the scuffle received a knife wound on his cheek
which marked him for life. At another time when he witnessed the killing
of a young girl in Pittsburg by a team of fractious horses as they tore down
the street, he followed the dead body of the child to its home, and learning
there that her parents were poor working people, he supplied them with all
he had and remained all night with them, comforting them as best he could.
Yet with all this kindness of heart, he was proud and sensitive in the highest
degree to the least slight. When quite young he was known as a splendid
performer on any instrument, so a woman in Pittsburg, who knew him well
and who was issuing verbal invitations to a company she meant to entertain that night, said to a friend, "Tell Stephen Foster to come and to be
sure to bring his flute." The boy sent the flute but staid at home himself.
NMorrison Foster, his brother, often told the story of his writing "The
Old Folks at Home."  It was written in 185I, when the author was twentyfive vears old. Going into his brother's office in Pittsburg hurriedly one
day he said, "Morrison, I have written a new song, ancd I want the name of
5 14   "PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                            515
some southern river with two syllables in it."  The brother, who had been
much in the South, suggested "Yazoo," "Pedee" and others, but none of them
suited the fancy of the composer. Morrison then took down an atlas and
opened it at a map of the Southern States. Together they examined it,.when
at last i\lorrison's finger stopped at a little unknown river in Florida flowing
into the Gulf of Mexico, called the Suawanee. "That's the one," exclaimed
the delighted composer, and, writing the name on a piece of paper, he went
away rejoiced beyond measure.  Suawanee has a flowing melodius sound,
which the poetic temperament of the composer demanded, and the beauty of
its selection is all the more manifest when Yazoo or Pedee are substituted in
its stead. This song has since lived in undiminished admiration, and has
moreover redeemed the river from obscurity by throwing a halo of sentiment
around it that is as lasting as the melody itself. Most people who see the
unimportant Florida stream, as it creeps slowly towards the Gulf, are sadly disappointed, for its main beauties are imaginary and were evoked from the ideal
world by the genius of the composer. They exist only in the song, which
shows them through the mystic chord of melody.
About the time Foster wrote and composed "The Old Folks at Home,"
he received! an urgent request from Christy, the famous minstrel, then playing
in New York, for a new song, and for the right to sing it on the stage first
before it was published. The purchaser also exacted the right to print the
first edition of the song showing himself, and not Foster, as the author and
composer. An agreement of this kind was drawn up by Morrison Foster,
and the song, "The Old Folks at Home," with the desired privileges as to
its publication, was sold to Christy for five hundred dollars. For this reason
the name of Christy, and not Foster, appears on the title page of the first
edition of this beautiful melody.
It is said that "The Old Folks at Home" and "Home Sweet Home,"
by John Howard Payne, are more widely known than any other songs in the
English language. Both of them bring up the tenderest memories of the
human mind. During the Civil war a northern regiment, which had suffered
severely in the South, was on the verge of rebellion because of its hardships
and because its monthly pay had necessarily been long delayed in reaching
them. One night they broke through the sentry lines and raided a town near
the camp, many of them coming back more unruly than ever because of the
liquor which they had obtained. The officers tried in every way to subdue
them' and to restore order, but all was in vain for the tumnult only grew. At
last the colonel of the regiment ordered the band to play "The Old Folks
at Home."  As the beautiful strains of this "song of the homesick" were
caught by the riotous soldiery, its melody went to the heart of each man
who had left a home in the far distant North. Their refractory spirits were
subdued, and in a few minutes all had lain down and many had wept themselves to sleep.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Foster was the i-utoi of the family, and the special pride of a most cultured
and devoted mother. Being of a highly keyed nervous organization, he possibly worked best under a stimulant; at all events, in early life he became
addic.ted to drink, and notwithstanding his bright prospects, this misfortune
rendered his life an extremely gloomy and unfortunate one. In I850 he was
married to Mliss Jane Denny McDowell, a daughter of a prominent physician
in Pittsburg. About that time he removed to New York, seeking a wider field
for his work. For perhaps a year he was reasonably successful, but intemperance rapidly worked his downfall. Growing homesick he disposed of his
entire possessions in an afternoon, and returned to his parents in Pittsburg.
Every effort was made by his friends to induce him to remain sober, but all
was in vain. He remained in Pittsburg until I86o, when his mother having
passed away and having been separated from his wife, because of his intemperance, he returned to New York under a flattering offer from  Firth, Pond
 Company. There his unfortunate desire for stimulants increased, and- in a
short time he was living in almost abject poverty. Often, it is said, that he
walked up Broadway clad like a beggar, rather than like the composer of
symphonles which were being sung by the refined people throughout all tilhe
world. Frequently he wrote and composed a song in thle morning, sold it in
the afternoon, and squandered its proceeds in the bar room in the evening
before retiring. His music was sung by thousands all around him, but those
who sang them passed the uncouth author by unknown and unnoticed. It was
said that during this sad period of his wretched life, the most familiar soundis
that came to his ears were the melodies inspired by his genius, and the sound
and the sight least familiar to him  was a kind word or a friendly face.
Though sung very widely during his life, his songs did not reach their highest
point of fame until years afterwards, the world awakening to their melocdious
beauties too late to manifest to him  their high appreciation of his work.
Many of his songs have become so familiar that the popular nmind scarcely
associate them  with him as the author.  Many of them  are genuine fo.lksongs, and nearly all of them  are so simple that they can be produced on
three chords of the key. His songs were largely the result of the sorrows
which surrounlded him. Deeply grieved with sadness and loneliness occasioned
by the death of his father, he wrote the negro melody "Massa's in the Cold,
Cold Ground." "Old Dog Tray" was written on the death of a beautiful
setter he o.wned and to which, in his lonely and pathetic life, he was greatly
attached. A relative of his family was John Rowan, who sat on the bench
and represented Kentucky in congress and in the United States senate from
1825 to 183I. He lived at Bardstown in an old-styled colonial house. "iMy Old
Kentucky Home" was written in memory of a visit to this delightful place.
Foster wrote nothing else which particularly related to Kentucky, yet that
state, a few years ago, erected a monument to his memory because of this
song, and unveiled it with great demonstration.
5i6PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
517
One summer's afternoon in his brother's house in Pittsburg he sat carefully whistling an apparently new tune. Shortly afterward he began to write
hurriedly both in words and in music. Then he called his niece, afterwards
Mrs. Crosman, to the piano and together they played what he had at first
whistled and written. Later in the same day he arranged it also for a quartet,
and that night it was sung in both forms at a friend's house as it has since
been sung by untold millions of admirers in all parts of the world. It is
claimed by many that it is his best, and it is undoubtedly his most pretentious
composition, and is known as "Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming."
In I864, while afflicted with fever in a cheap hotel in New York, he
arose in the night in search of water. Being very weak, he fell while groping
in the dark, and cut his neck on the sharp corner of a broken pitcher. He
lay on the cold, damp floor until discovered the next morning by a servant.
He recovered slightly, and he asked to be taken to Bellevue Hospital, where
he died from  fever and from loss of blood on January I3. No one present
knew the unfortunate stranger, and they were about to bury him as a pauper,
when some acquaintance chanced to recognize his body-in the morgue. When
it was known that the dead man was the great composer, the remains were prepared for a more respectable interment, and at once sent to Pittsburg. Both
the express and railroad companies refused payment for its transportation.
In Pittsburg he was buried by the side of his parents, and on the afternoon
of his funeral the best musicians of the city formed an impromptu band,
which played "The Old Folks at Home" and "Come Where My Love Lies
Dreaming," as his body found its last resting place among those who knew
and loved him best.
Among the few monuments one sees in visiting Pittsburg is a bronze
statute of the great musician, erected in Highland Park. It was erected by
his admiring friends in I89o0, and consists of a plain granite pedestal, surmounted by a bronze statue of heroic size in a standing posture, with a pen
in hand, writing the title "Old Uncle Ned."  At his right hand sits a negro
playing a banjo, with a harp lying at his feet. On the face of the granite
base is the inscription:
Stephen Collins Foster,
Born I826--Died I864.
RICHARD REALF.
A true poet of Pittsburg, whose writings entitle him to a high place in
American letters, was Richard Realf.'Though an Englishman by birth, he
was a Pittsburger by adoption, and was identified with the interests of the
city. It was here moreover, that the most prolific years of his literary life
*were spent. He was born in Farmfield, England, on June 14, 1834. He was
a most precocious youth, and literally "lisped in numbers for the numbers
came" almost in boyhood.  His parents were of the lower middle class of
English people, but MIrs. Parnell Stafford, a woman of wealth and position,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
recognized the unusual talent of the boy, and gave him a thorough education.
Early in life he was employed in the studio of the sculptor Gibson, and but
for the failure of his; eyes, a weakness which troubled him most of his life, his
poetic temperament might have found a life employment in shaping marble and
bronze statues. John C. Burrows also befriended the gifted boy, and he,
with Miss de Gardiner, a prominent woman of Brighton, was mainly instrumental in helping him to come to America and to the career which he carved
out for himself in the New World. Arriving in New York in I855, he bore
letters from them which secured him a position as assistant superintendent
of the Five Points House of Industry. He had a thorough knowledge of
Latin, knew considerable French and was very widely read in classic and
English literature. These attainments were combined with a naturally severe,
keen and critical literary taste. His deportment through life was that of one
who had been "to the manner born" in the most cultured homes and schools
of his native land, being indeed a gentleman by birth in the broadest sense of
the term. Nature had been kind to him in other ways than by giving him a
poet's mind and style. Though short of stature, he had a handsome face
and a well-shaped head like a noble Greek, whose features Phidias might have
selected for preservation in chiseled marble. His hands and feet were small
and perfectly formed, and every movement of his body was graceful. He had
an abundance of brown, afterward gray, wavy hair, brown eyes, and is said
to have even looked like the traditional poet. Soon after reaching America
he became interested in the slavery question as it was being agitated by John
Brown and others, centralizing at that time in the effort to make Kansas a
free state. He was naturally an erratic man of roving disposition; otherwise
his genius might have found its widest and best field in New York. He
decided to go to Kansas to take part in the struggle to exclude slavery
from the territory, reaching Iowa at almost the last moment possible to join
a delegation that was starting west for that purpose. One of the leaders
of the company has written that they were all "suspicious of spies and traitors
in camp, yet Realf's splendid face, soulful earnestness and devotion, won all
hearts to him, and he needed no further endorsement." They reached Kansas
in the middle of October, I856, and there the young poet lived and labored
and fought, being most of the time at Lawrence, until January, I857, when
he came east. In the company which he so unceremoniously joined were many
who became eminent in after life and who remained strongly attached to him,
even until his death. Among these were S. C. Pomeroy, James Ridpath, S.
F. Tappan, Preston B. Plumb, Edward Daniels, Oscar La Grange, Thaddeus
Hyatt, Horace White and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. In April, I857,
he returned to Kansas, and remained there until he left to join John Brown in
Iowa in August. It was in Kansas that his literary career properly beoan.
He kept up a ceaseless agitation of the slavery question, and also wrote about
twenty-five poems, many of which bore on it, and all of which display a sweetP88PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
ness of tone and a rythmic beauty seldom surpassed among the lyrics of the
English language.
Richard Realf has written of the personal influence of John Brown in these
words: "He possessed that strange power which enables one man to impress
many with his views, and he so psychologized his associates that, seeing only
through his medium of vision, they were unable to controvert his theories;
therefore the movement went blindly on. For myself, too, it is certain that
had I not been in New York, where, out of the reach of his great mesmeric
power, I could in some sort master the questions involved, I should have
been with the enterprise to the bitter end." Realf was selected by Brown
as secretary of state in the new government he purposed to form. He had in
the meantime developed the powers of public speech as well as those of his pen,
and was sent to New York and thence to England to lay the matter before
the freedom-loving people and obtain means to aid the enterprise. VW~hile in
England Realf changed his views, not on the evils of slavery, but on the
"rightfulness" of Brown's proposed methods of assaulting the institution. On
returning to the United States he came to New Orleans that he might see
slavery and learn to fight the monster in its lair. He was not with Brown
at Harper's Ferry in I859, but was arrested and was examined by Jefferson
Davis. In his testimony he did: not betray any secrets of the Brown raid,
for it related solely to the Kansas trouble, and he was accordingly released.
Going at once to Cleveland he met Coppoc and Anderson, who had been in
the ill-fated attack at Harper's Ferry and had escaped. Realf had six hundred
dollars with him which he divided with them, and thus enabled them to reach
their homes in safety. After this he spent some time in the Shaker settlement in Warren county, Ohio, and later entered the lecture field, which he continued with many interruptions until his death.
There is little doubt but that he was visionary in the extreme and that he
believed the slaves could actually be freed by the methods of John Brown.
His consuming desire to see them free induced him to believe their freedom
could be readily accomplished, and in his impetuosity he did not stop to consider the means necessary to gain this end.
In I862 he drifted to Chicago, where he enlisted in a company then being
formed, commanded by Captain Charles Rowland.  The captain noticed
Realf's charming personality, and took him to his home. He was soon transferred to the Eighty-eighth Illinois Regiment, of which he was made sergeantmajor, and a year was commissioned adjutant. The regiment was ordered
south, and he served with it in the Fourth Army Corps throughout tlhe war,
his brigade and division commanders being Schofield, Sheridan and others
under Rosecrans, Thomas, Sherman and Grant. He was in the battles of
Murfreesboro, Stony River, Nashville, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Lookout
Mountain, Mission Ridge and in the great Atlanta compaign under General
Sherman. He was on the staff of Brigadier-General John F. Miller, who
afterward befriended him when he was thrown a homeless waif on the Pa5I95A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
cific coast, and who, at the poet's dying request, became his literary executor.
He was a brave soldier, brave even to rashness, and won high honors, being
twice named in general orders for personal gallantry; once at Mission Ridge,
where the color bearer being shot down, he carried the colors forward under
a heavy fire and thus united the line in a successful advance on the rifle pits,
and again at Franklin, where his regiment bore the hardest part in resisting
the enemy. He is spoken of in Eddy's "Patrotism of Illinois," page 2IO, as
"one of the bravest of the brave who was on horseback, not having time to
dismount, in a hand to hand fight."
In answer to a letter written by a woman who had wondered at Realf,
an Englishman, being in the American army, he replied: "I hold that he
alone is an American who is true to the idea of the American Republic.
There are many alien natures born on these shores; and many American
hearts that draw breath beyond the seas." Such was the devotion and courage
which won for him the highest encomiums of his associates and superiors.
When the war was closed he was again adrift, and the period shortly following
that, is not an attractive one to contemplate. His first misfortune was to
become intemperate, and drifting into New York, he contemplated joining
the Oneida Community. Later he was at Rochester, New York, and everywhere he went he made himself felt either as a public speaker or as a pleasing and forceful writer of prose,or of poetry, and drew around him hosts
of friends. He had been married on June IO, I865, to Miss Sophie E.
Graves, a woman of most excellent character, of northern Indiana.
Shortly after his marriage he was sent South, and his wife was taken severely
ill with brain fever. Thinking he had deserted her, she left Indiana and
changed the spelling of her name. There is little doubt but that he thought
her dead, and overwhelmed with sorrows, sought relief in the flowing bowl.
To use his own language in a very pathetic letter, he says, that in this period,
"during a prolonged debauch," and in a "fit of mental aberration," he contracted a second marriage with a woman without character, who proved
to be an adventuress of the worst type, and who became from that day
forth, his nemesis, following him and darkening his life, and even hounding
him into the grave. He had taken himself up in the meantime, and was for
a time confidential secretary to General Ingalls, assistant quartermaster-general of the United States army. He had after this been appointed assistant
assessor of internal revenue at Grantsville, South Carolina, but the Rochester
woman even followed him there, and forced him to flee to the North to escape
her. This much must be said of him, that each time he began life anew he
worked diligently, not only in the position he secured, but with his gifted pen
as well. This woman drove him also from Augusta, Georgia, and from Indianapolis in the same way. One misfortune after another assailed him until
finally the woe-driven son of genius reached Pittsburg in December, I869.
Arriving here in a destitute condition, Mr. Brigham, who was then editor
of the Pittsburg Conmmtercial, wyas perhaps the first one who extended' him a
520PITTSBURG  AND  HER PEOPLE                          521
helping hand. Hearing Realf deliver a public address one evening, he was
greatly pleased with him. The kind-hearted and cool-headed editor on being
introduced to Realf, asked him to call at his office the following morning.
The poet lecturer was promptly on hand, and when Mr. Brigham asked him
if the wanted work on the paper, the outcast looked at him in dazed confusion, and then burst into tears. He was immediately employed at a regular
salary, which was soon increased. The editor was greatly pleased with him
in every way, trusting him and honoring him almost like a son. He opened
the doors of his house to his brilliant associate through he and his family
were most exclusive people.  The address which practically brought them
together, was a temperance address in conjunction with the noted Pittsburg
Apostle, Francis Murphy, who regarded the poet as one of his most illustrious
converts. The horrors of Realf's vagrant and hounded life in the last four
years were then followed by eight more successful ones in Pittsburg.  The
Rochester woman, however, had in the meantime come here, and remained to
annoy him, but by this time he had gained strength and friends, who stood
by him in his affliction. In 1872 he applied for a divorce and the case was
heard in common plecas court on February 14, I873; It was tried by a jury,
which decided it in his favor. He rejoiced greatly over his freedom, and
for a time worked in splendid spirit, and in good health,. In the summer of
I873, he celebrated his emancipation by a visit to his aged parents in England; but an appeal had been taken in his case and shortly after his return
to Pittsburg, the supreme court handed down a decision reversing the case
on a technicality, and allowed the matter to be re-opened. This news unmanned him. The case was tried again and the verdict reversed. When
the news reached him at his editorial desk, he fell to the floor as though he
had been shot. He was so broken by this misfortune, that he could not bring
a new suit, though the attorneys assure(l him that it could be easily won on
a second and amended application. He paid alimony until 1877, when broken
in spirit, he was unable to further comply with the order of court. This divorce case is reported as Realf vs. Realf, in No. 77 Pennsylvania States Reports, page 3I.
While in Pittsburg he wrote many of his poems, among them  being
"Liberty and Charity," "Introspection," "The Song of Pittsburg," "Retrospective' and Introspective," the latter being written for the Centennial of
1776. Most of his noblest and most beautiful sonnets, such as "Christendom,"
"Svmbolism," "Little Children" and "My Slain," were also written while
living here, and while almost overwhelmed with a mountain of grief. In
1877 he again entered the lecture field, lecturing on "Temperance," "Battle
Flashes," "John Brown," "Shakespeare," etc., but it was a time of great business depression, and his lectures brought him little else than disappointment
and bad health.'He had several old Kansas friends in San Francisco, and by
their aid reached that city in July, 1878. Henry Villard, the great GermanA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
American railroad magnate, Colonel Alexander F. Haws, General John F.
Miller, Senator John P. Jones, and others were willing to help him in every way.
Before going to San Francisco, he had been a frequent contributor to the
Atlantic, Harper's and Scribner's Monthly, the New York Evening Post, the
Independent, etc. At that time the Argonaout was edited by Frank M. Pixley,
the ablest journalist and editor the Pacific coast has yet produced. Pixley
was not slow to, secure for publication in his paper the writings of a man
like Realf. Many of his poems were re-published in the Argonaut, but only
after a thorough revision, and after the poet had exquisitely beautified and
finished them. He also wrote for the Argonaut "My Lady at the Window,"
and one or two others. In San Francisco he was surrounded by friends,
several of whom offered him a home until his health was recuperated, but
these kindnesses he declined, preferring to fill a minor position, which he
secured in the United States mint of that city. Many of his poems were also
published in the San Francisco Evening1 Post, and with this encouragement
and his returning health, he and his friends had' brightest hopes of future prosperity. But in the fall of I878, his nemesis, the Rochester woman, came again
to annoy him, this time for the last time. Gaining access to his room, she
proceeded at once to steal and destroy his papers and poems, and was thus
engaged when the care-worn and distracted poet returned to his lodgings.
This proved' too much for his exhausted strength and energies. Later he purchased with his last dollar some chloral hydrate and laudanum. Going to
the Windsor House he inquired for his friend Colonel S. F. Tappan, who
was unfortunately in Nevada at that time. Had he been able to find him, the
consolation and moral support necessary to tide the poet over the gloomy
outlook would have been kindly furnished. Repairing more despondent than
ever to his room, he drank the drugs which he had prepared, and sat down to
write his last and perhaps his grandest song. In a letter to Colonel Tappan
he stated that he had "deliberately accepted suicide as the only final relief from
the incessant persecution" of his divorced wife. In a testamentary document
written at the same time, he directed that his writings, poems, etc., which were
"scattered promiscuously in his room," should be given to General Miller, "who,
at his discretion will or will not give them to Colonel Richard J. Hinton of
the Post."  He also directed that the amount due him from the mint should
be applied to the payment of a few small debts owed by him. The following
morning he was found dead in his room by Colonel Tappan.
The sonnet which he had written in his dying moments, when the
poisonous drug was rapidly working his destruction, is one of great beauty
and strength, and is by many considered his masterpiece. It has been published throughout the English-speaking world, and we give it in full as a fitting close to this brief tribute to the author's poetic genius. His poetical writings were afterwards collected mainly by General Miller, Frank M. Pixley
and Richard J. Hinton, and with an able sketch of his brilliant but erratic life
by the latter, were published by the Funk  Wagnalls Company, of New York.
522PITTSB URG AND HER PEOPLE
Hi-s prose writings are marked by the highest grade of rhetorical power and
classic finish. He wzs highly endowed with the gift of oratory, and all his
writings evince the easy flowing affluence of his fervid speech. Yet in his
editorials he was everywhere accredited with the mastery of a terse, direct
style, a power of statement bordering closely on the epigramniatic, and a sharp
logical grip on all matters of fact and statements which he put forth. His
poems are one and all replete with classic beauty and melody, and evince
a deep insight into the realms of the ideal. Most of them have a spiritual
grandeur seldom shown in the writings of American men of letters. But above
all, his writings of both prose and poetry are noted for their purity. Go
through them as you may, and not a word will be found that does not tend to
inspire the reader to a higher life and purer thought.
"He loved his fellows and their love was sweet;
Plant daisies at his head and at his feet."
HYMN TO PITTSBURG.
My father was a mighty Vulcan;
I am Smith of the land and sea;
The cunning spirit of Tubal-Cain
Came with my marrow to me.
I think great thoughts, strong-winged with steel,
I coin vast iron acts,
And orb the impalpable dreams of seers
Into comely, lyric facts.
I am Monarch of all the Forges,
I have solved the riddle of fire,
The Amen of Nature to cry of Man,
Answers at my desire.
I search with the subtle soul of flame,
The heart of the rocky Earth,
And hot from my anvils the prophecies
Of the miracle-years leap f.orth.
I am swart with the soots of my furnace,
I drip with the sweats of toil;
My fingers throttle the savage wastes,
I tear the curse from the soil.
I fling the bridges across the gulfs
That hold us from the To-Be,
And build the roads for the bannered march
Of crowned humanity.
5234A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
WRITTEN ON THE NIGHT OF HIS SUICIDE.
"De mortuis nil nisi bonum," When
For me this end has come and I am dead,
And the little voluble, chattering daws of men
Peck at me curiously, let it then be said
By some one brave enough to speak the truth:
Here lies a great soul killed by cruel wrong.
Down all the balmy days of his fresh youth
To his bleak, desolate noon, with sword and song,
And speech that rushed up hotly from the heart,
He wrought for liberty, till his own wound
(He had been stabbed), concealed with painful art
Through wasting years, mastered him, and: he swooned,
And sank there where you see him lying now
With the word "Failure" written on his brow.
But say that he succeeded. If he missed
World's honors, and world's plaudits, and the wage
Of the world's deft lacqueys, still his lips were kissed
Daily by those high angels who assuage
The thirstings of the poets-for he was
Born unto singing-and a burthen lay
Mightily on him, arxl he moaned because
He could not rightly utter to the day
What'God taught in the night. Sometimes, nathless,
Pow.er fell upon him, and bright tongues of flame,
And blessings reached him from poor souls in stress;
And benedictions froni black pits of shame,
And little children's love, and old men's prayers,
And a Great Hand that led him unawares.
So he died rich. And if his eyes were blurred
With big films--silence! he is in his grave.
Greatly he suffered; greatly, too, he erred;
Yet broke his heart in trying to be brave.
Nor did he wait till Freedom had become
The popular shibboleth of courtiers' lips;
He smote for her when God Himself seemed dumb
And all His arching skies were in eclipse.
He was a-weary, but he fought his fight,
And stood for simple manhood; and was joyed
To see the august broadening of the light
And new earths heaving heavenward from the void.
He loved his fellows, and their love was sweet
Plant daisies at his head and at his feet.
524CHAPTER XL.
Temperance Movements in Pittsburg.
As we have said elsewhere, the use of liquor by men of good standing in
the community was more general in the early years of last century than it is at
present. There was but little done to stay the drinking habit in Pittsburg prior
to I830. There was a temperance society formed at Lawrenceville by a union
of the citizens and a goodly number of the workmen in the arsenal. This was
effected on March 15, I830, and later a constitution was adopted which indicated
that the society had connected with it a savings society. The purpose, it would
seem, was to make safe investments, from time to time, of'the money which its
members would otherwise have spent for liquor. The savings-fund adjunct of
the society was under the state law governing such associations. Edward
Harding, a lieutenant of the arsenal, was president; George Hurst, Sr., vice
president, and Benjamin Moore, Sr., treasurer of this financial adjunct. This
society began business at once with twenty-five members, who seem to have
been ardent workers in the temperance cause.
Rev. Dr. Francis Herron of the Presbyterian Church presided at a general
meeting of the friends of temperance held on March 26, I830. A society had
been formed before this and its numbers were increased at this meeting. There
had been granted in I829, I29 tavern licenses in Pittsburg and I62 in all other
parts of the county. This, it was claimed, was one licensed house for every I23
people in the county. In I829 a petition had been presented to the grand jury
of the mayor's court, signed by I,II6 names, asking that the saloon licenses in
the city be decreased. In I830 they were cut down to I23 instead of I29, but
there were nearly one hundred saloons in the suburbs of the city. There were
addresses made and papers read showing the evils of intemperance and urging
men to join the temperance society. The increased number of saloons was due,
in a great measure, to the increased foreign element brought here to build and
work on the Pennsylvania canal, and a.redoubled energy on the part of the
friends of temperance was the result. Good men were interested in the temperance cause. Walter Forward was president of the Pittsburg Temperance
Society, which was organized on April 26, I832. A county meeting of theA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
friends of temperance was held here in I832 and Judge Charles Shaler presided, while other men scarcely less prominent than they filled minor positions
in these societies. The city was thoroughly aroused by this unprecedented number of saloons. The most ardent temperance workers did not favor total abstinence nor a total abolition of licensed houses. The first total abstinence society
was formed in one of the Presbyterian churches in July, I833. In May, I834,
a convention of the temperance societies of Western Pennsylvania was held in
Pittsburg, which was very successful in adding to their strength. It shows
also that the movement was not confined to Pittsburg. Notwithstanding the
opposition, the saloons increased in numbers till there were I73 in Pittsburg in
March, I834. On July 4, I835, the temperance societies held a celebration at
Pittsburg. Thaddeus Stevens came from Lancaster to deliver an address that
day in Pittsburg. He was noted as an advocate of temperance though not of
total abstinence. In I835 he was somewhat famous because of his advocacy of
the common school system. Gradually the friends of temperance became organized throughout the county and in I836 a second county convention was held
in Pittsburg. The adoption of total abstinence on the part of all societies was
urged upon this convention. They were opposed to buying, selling or manufacturing any ardent spirits, and resolved to petition the state legislature to pass
a law prohibiting its manufacture and sale in the state. They also recommended
that a temperance almanac be put in every house. This convention was too
large to meet in one hall; indeed there were thousands in attendance, many of
whom were from other counties. At a convention in May, I837, the total abstinence plank was adopted. In January, I838, a petition signed by large numbers
was presented to the councils of Pittsburg asking that fewer taverns be licensed
and that more stringent measures for their control be adopted. It was urged
that saloon men were in the habit of selling even one cent's worth of liquor to
small boys. The liquor dealers denied this, and it was probably sold in that
way by but few dealers. They were determined that their business should not
be interfered with and put forth every effort to sustain it.
A great wave of temperance swept across the country in I841. It began
in Baltimore and came westward. Men who had formerly been drinking men,
indeed drunkards, traveled through the country addressing the people in
churches and forming organizations. The people attended these meetings in
such vast numbers that the churches would not hold them. The reformers
carried with them a pledge which they asked all to sign. Pittsburg was most
thoroughly aroused. Most of the leading business men of both cities were enlisted and gave the cause their heartiest support. This movement has since
been known as the Washingtonian Society, and it grew out of the efforts of the
Baltimore reformers. In two weeks in July, I84I, 3,600 people signed the
pledge in Pittsburg and Allegheny, and a report made several weeks afterward
claimed that only two of them had failed to keep it. Previous to this the strength
of the temperance societies of Pittsburg was estimated at I,500. Societies were
also formed in the Roman Catholic Church and these, it was claimed, had a
526PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
membership of 2,500. This would indicate that there were 7,600 people here
who were members of the various temperance societies. The first Washingtonian Society was formed in Baltimore and from it all others took their names
and their rules were generally about the same as those of the first or parent
society. There was usually a large Washingtonian Society in a city and smaller
ones, auxiliary to it, were organized in adjoining boroughs and suburbs. On
July 27, I84I, the Gazette estimated that in the two cities and their suburbs
within a circle of five miles, there were ten thousand Washingtonians. Its
estimate accredited the Roman Catholic Church with 2,500, and all others were
estimated at 7,500. The movement perhaps reached its highest point of enthusiasm in October, I84I, when a convention was held in Pittsburg, the
largest ever held up to that time. They marched through the streets with flags,
streamers and banners flying, and for two days, October 2I-22, the Washingtonians indeed had seemingly complete charge of the city. In Allegheny they
built a hall and used it for their public meetings. It was afterwards used as a
school building. The movement cooled down considerably in the few following
years, but was revived in I846 by Mrs. Abigail Kelly Foster, who came as a
lecturer. She was a very able woman on the platform and drew immense audiences. She was an Abolitionist as well as an advocate of temperance reform.
She pleased and edified her hearers and paved the way for a revival on the
temperance question, which came immediately following her lectures in February, 1846. A business man of Pittsburg named Isaac Harris had become an
enthusiast on the temperance question during the first Washingtonian movement. He devoted much time and money to the cause. His work lay mostly
in the distribution of books, pamphlets, journals, song-books, etc., and these
he sent broadcast by the thousand, sending out, it is said, over one hundred
thousand copies of "Youth's Temperance Advocate." His philanthropy and
temperance enthusiasm had an unhappy termination, for in a short time he
wrecked his business and dissipated his estate.
The Washingtonian societies were meant to, be permanent organizations,
and were unusually enthusiastic for a short period after their organization or
re-organization. Then, when the revival spirit had passed, their ardor cooled
down and most of the societies were abandoned. There were also the "Sons
of Temperance," a secret organization which enlisted large numbers and helped
to keep alive the spirit of opposition to the saloon. They held a public installation of officers and a general convention in Pittsburg in September, I848. There
were 3,273 members in the line of the parade, all wearing the bright colored
regalia of the order. They were led by bands of music and carried banners oR
which were temperance mottoes. They were not all from Allegheny county,
for the prize was awarded to Indiana county because it had the largest and
most orderly delegation in line. By an act of the legislature passed in I846,
the granting of licenses was submitted to a vote of the people in I847. Pittsburg and Allegheny gave a majority of over 2,000 votes against its sale. Allegheny gave a vote of 6I9 against license to Io05 for it. This law was declared
527528                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF  
unconstitutional by the supreme court after the vote was taken but before the
result of the election was made effectual.
In I85I, John B. Gough, the greatest temperance lecturer of the world,
came to Pittsburg and conducted a series of meetings in the two cities. His
meetings were held in the churches and his method was to talk on the importance of a temperate life and then urge his hearers to sign the pledge. By his
efforts he secured about 1,200 signers. He pleased the friends of temperance very much and in May, I852, they secured his services for two weeks,
during which about 3,000 signed the pledge. He was a man of deep convictions and of great eloquence when talking on his favorite theme. There was
no church nor hall in the city that was large enough to hold all who flocked
to hear him.
Shortly after Gough's first visit to Pittsburg, the liquor men met and
adopted a series of resolutions setting forth that a man should be his own
guardian as to the use of drinks as well as of food and raiment. They pledged
themselves to a united effort to cast off the "insolent spirit of proscription that
has obtruded itself into the court of quarter sessions and has dared to dictate
the course to be pursued herein by the'judges." They resolved not to support
any candidate for the legislature who would not give a written pledge to use
his best efforts to repeal the license laws and'make the business of selling liquor
free to everyone. They believed that a "miserable minority called temperance
men" should be shorn of their power. They expressed their willingness that
every human being should quit drinking liquor or even water, if desired, provided they be let alone in their business as other citizens were, etc. These
resolutions, as may be supposed, only served to urge the temperance men to
greater efforts in their cause.
Many of the liquor dealers of that day openly defied the law which prohibited them from selling under certain circumstances. The temperance men
sought to enforce its observance by prosecuting those who had violated it, and
as a result representatives of both parties were in court constantly and the
business of both was neglected to an alarming extent. Both sides sought to
influence the court by petitions and remonstrances. Judge McClure was then
on the bench and his decision that under the law as it then existed licenses
should be granted only to houses which were prepared to entertain guests, and
not to restaurants, coffee houses, etc., was severely criticised by the liquor element. The churches were hostile to the liquor business and in most of them
large meetings were held and resolutions were passed pledging the voters to
support no one for an office who was not in favor of the cause. The temperance
people advocated the passage of a prohibition law. To this' end they petitioned
the legislature in great numbers. They did not succeed in securing the law
they desired, but the act passed in 1855 restrained the traffic. Great attempts
were made to have both the law of I847 and 1855 repealed, the liquor men
claiming they were unjust and unfair in every particular. Violations of the
most flagrant character were numerous and after a year or so were constantlyPITTSBURG,4ND HER PEOPLE,
529
increasing, so that the courts were again crowded with.prosecutors and defendants, and their many witnesses.
The situation did not change much during the Civil war, when all seemed
to unite in a more important matter. The temperance movement was kept up
in a way by lecturers, but it is probable that the liquor men were more nearly
allowed to ply their business undisturbed during that period than either before
or since. This lethargy on the part of the temperance people lasted with but
few interruptions till I874, when the crusade came. It originated in a country
village named Hillsboro in Ohio, and, spreading rapidly to larger places, it soon
reached Pittsburg. It was carried on mostly by women who were largely
church members, and who held public prayer meetings in the streets in front of
saloons and in the saloons as well, the crusaders kneeling on the pavements,
in the streets, or in the saloons. The first meeting of the crusaders in Pittsburg
was held on March 2, 1874, in the Third Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Samuel
Collins, wife of a minister, was elected president, while Mrs. L. H. Eaton, Mrs.
Dr. Sterrett, Mrs. Finley Torrens, Mrs. A. M. Milligan, Mrs. H. D. McGaw,
Mrs. W. W. Grier, Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Woods, Mrs. J. K. Smiley, Mrs. Cranage, Mrs. Livingstone, Miss Lizzie Cook, Mrs. George Finley, Miss Beeson,
Mrs. A. W. Herron, Mrs. Linford and Miss Haller were elected vice presidents. Many others were afterwards added to the list of vice presidents. The
crusade meetings were held daily and sometimes twice a day, the women visiting
the vicinity of the saloons both in the morning and in the afternoon. The
interest increased daily and spread rapidly to all parts of the cities and their
suburbs. Their method presumed the right to kneel in prayer on the pavement in front of a saloon without permission from any one, but they asked the
proprietor's permission before they entered his house to conduct their services
in the saloon. They also appointed committees from their members, who cailed
on the mayors of the cities asking them to enforce the law prohibiting the sale
or giving away of liquor on Sunday. Otherwise the women called at places
where many laborers were employed and tried to induce them to pledge themselves to lead temperate lives. Their first visit to a saloon was made on April
8, I874. They selected one on Ross street and Fourth avenue. They were
perfectly orderly, but were attended by a motley crowd of men and boys to
whom such a proceeding was a great novelty. The crowd did not behave well.
The proprietor refused to grant them permission to enter his saloon, so they
lined themselves in front of it and sang hymns and prayed. They called also
at the Monongahela House and at another nearby and were kindly received by
the proprietors. The idle spectators, men and boys, jeered them and made it
as unpleasant for them as possible. They thus visited several saloons and
finally, when at a wholesale house, they were all arrested by an officer and
taken before Acting Mayor McMasters, where they were charged with disorderly conduct. Their meetings interfered with the business of the liquor men,
but that was their object, and they had not been disorderly in any sense. The
mayor admonished them not to repeat these visits and discharged them from
34A CENTURY AND A, HALF OFfurther custody. This only determined them in their work, and they were out
in more forceful numbers than ever the day following. They were finally
arrested and taken to a lock-up on Diamond alley. They were charged with
"singing and praying on the street and obstructing the sidewalk." Mr. Watt
Black was with them, and a fine of one hundred dollars was imposed on him.
Mrs. A. W. Black and Mrs. Van Horn were each fined twenty-five dollars.
Protests against the fines were made by the women and their friends, but they
were held under guard. Finally Mr. W. D. Moore came to their rescue and
paid the fine for them. This was contrary to their desire, for they were willing
to test the matter and to bear the penalty of their refusal to pay. Two days
after that they were again arrested and taken under guard to the lock-up. They
were granted a hearing on Monday, May 25, and they were released on the
payment of ten dollars each. Dr. Collins paid over the necessary amount. On
the day set thirty-three of them were up for a hearing. The charge was, "Disturbing the city by holding religious meetings on the streets." The acting
mayor withheld his decision, for the former cases had been appealed and a
decision was expected in a few days, after which he could deal with them accordingly. The appeal was heard on May 28, before Judges Stowe, Sterrett
and  Collier. Attorneys Marshall Swartzwelder and Thomas M. Marshall
appeared for the crusaders, and Mr. Coyle for the prosecution. Both sides
were heard by these most experienced judges. Swartzwelder and Marshall
were among the eminent lawyers of the state. Judge Stowe gave the decision,
holding that singing and praying on the streets was not disorderly conduct, for
it had been done in all ages. He ordered that the decision of the acting mayor
be set aside, that the fines, costs, etc., be returned, and that the city should pay
the costs, and further ordered that the crusaders be set free. The crusader
were the heroines of the day after the judges decided in their favor. They carried
on their work with energy for a while and enlisted the sympathy of the more
thoughtful men. The movement undoubtedly injured the liquor traffic a great
deal, for while it lasted, many saloons were closed by the proprietors in part
for want of customers. It is doubtful if the movement added any permanent
strength to the cause of temperance. It had in it too much of the sensational
to be lasting. The crusading was finally abandoned and the crusaders united
with other temperance organizations.
The next temperance movement in Pittsburg was the one known even to
this day as the Murphy movement. It began in I876, and Francis Murphy,
who died but recently in California, was the man who gave it most of its inspiration and its name. A society had been formed in November, 1876, the leading
spirit being Chancellor Woods of the University. With him were associated
a number of prominent men who procured the services of Mr. Murphy to conduct a series of meetings. He came late in the fall and began by an address in
the Pittsburg Opera House. He was a man of fine presence and of great
power on the platform. His method was purely one of moral suasion, by which
he induced during a life work millions of men and women to sign the pledge.
530PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
53  
In Pittsburg even from the first he was sustained by the leading men of the
city and to name them would require pages of this work. The churches soon
opened their doors to his meetings. He did not talk a great deal himself after
the first few meetings, but urged others, many of whom had but recently signed
the pledge, to make short addresses. In a short time no building in the city
could seat the people who came to hear him and enjoy the meetings. By the
end of the fourth week five thousand had signed the pledge, which was considered marvelous, but in ten weeks more, thirty-five thousand new names were
added to the list. The movement was the most potent ever known in Pittsburg.
When he began there were about one thousand saloons in Pittsburg, but they
were gradually reduced until in a short time there were less than one hundred.
Many of the leading liquor men signed the pledge. Mr. Murphy remained in
Pittsburg nearly a year, though he visited and lectured in many other sections
of Western Pennsylvania in the meantime. During the year about eighty
thousand signed the pledge. One who signed the pledge through the influence
of Francis Murphy was Richard Realf, the poet, referred to elsewhere. His
talents were made use of at once by' the temperance people and many sections
of Western Pennsylvania and Ohio-felt the potency of his fervid oratory.CHAPTER III.
The Bouquet Campaign.
The writings of I758 indicate that the winter of that year set in very early.
WVe have seen that the mountains were white with snow  before Forbes's
troops left Fort Ligonier early in November. The cold, chilly weather annoyed the soldiers in their passage to Fort Duquesne, and their first night there
was one of great hardship and discomfiture.  The army had been lightly
equipped for rapid traveling, and each man carried little else than a blanket and
light arms. All shelter at the abandoned fort had been destroyed, a blinding
snow storm came from the West, and the cold continued all night and for several days. Fires were kindled and rations were eaten under such shelter as the
meagerly equipped army could extemporize. The usual sentinels were posted
every direction from the abandoned fort. Thus was passed the first dreary
night of the English at Pittsburg. The following morning work was begun
on a place of shelter for the troops which were there, and for those who must
remain to guard the ground which had been captured after the long contest
and by the loss of so much life and property. The fort built was but a temporary one to house them over the winter and until a better one could be provided.
It is generally understood that the name Pittsburg was taken from the fort,
but the writings of that age do not bear out this supposition. The temporary
structure was not called Fort Pitt, indeed there was no special name given to it
at all. Griffs, in his "Life of Sir William Johnson," published in "Makers of
America," says that the place was named Pittsburg by Washington.  General
Forbes, in a letter, says that he (Forbes) named the place for the great commoner, William Pitt. Many writers have attributed the honor to Washington,
but we believe that, but for his great achievements in after life Forbes'
name would never have been mentioned in that connection at all.
There was, it is true, nothing  around  the  fort but ruins, no  town,
no name, no place of habitation except the tramped war-marked
ground, yet General Forbes on the next day after the arrival of his
troops wrote a letter and dated it from Fort Duquesne, "or now Pitts-Bourg."
This letter is published in the Colonial Records, vol. 8, page 332. It is dated
November 26th, and is the first use of the name which with a slight change ofCHAPTER XLI.
The Anti-Slavery Movements in Pittsburg.
We are so far removed from slavery that we are liable to forget that it
ever existed in Pittsburg or even in Pennsylvania. Its existence, together with
the abolition act of I780, were treated of in a former chapter. For a fact it
never did exist here in its worst forms, though tlhere was no legal reason, prior
to act of I780, why Pennsylvanians might not have engaged as extensively
in the slave business as did the citizens of the southern states. The files of the
newspapers bring vividly to the mind of the modern reader the condition of
Pittsburg in earlier days. To illustrate, the Gazette, in iMlay, I787, published
the following: "To Be Sold to Any Person Residing in the Country: A Negro
Wench-She is an excellent cook and can do any kind of work in or out of
doors. She has been registered in Westmoreland county. Produce will be
taken, or cattle of any kind. Enquire of Col. John Gibson, Fort Pitt."  On
M/lay I, I789, the following notice appeared: "By virtue of a writ of fieti facias
to me directed, will be exposed to public sale in Pittsburg, on Tuesday, -the I6th
day of June next, horses, cows, sheep, stills, negroes and household furniture,
taken in execution as the property of John McKee, and to be sold by me. \Villiam Perry, Sheriff." On August 2I, I789, there appeared the following notice:
"Run away on the Igth instant, from the subscriber, living on Plumb creek,
Allegheny county, a negro man named Jack; he is about forty years of age,
and his hair is not so curly nor so much like wool as the most of negroes. It
is supposed he is lurking about Pittsburg. Whoever will take up said negro
and. deliver him to his master shall receive two dollars reward, paid by Thomas
Girty." On September 24, I80I, the following "The time of a smart and very
active mulatto girl, one-and-twenty years old, and who has about seven years
to serve, for sale. Apply to James Berthoud, merchant, Water street, near
Henderson's Ferry."  On May 5, I804, James Robinson advertised as follows:
"I will sell a likely negro man. He is about twenty-seven years of age and a
slave for life, and has been brought up a farmer. For terms apply to the subscriber, living on the bank of the Allegheny river, opposite Pittsburg." OnPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
533
November I3, I813, George Evans advertised as follows: "A Mulatto: The
subscriber will sell the unexpired time of a mulatto boy."
Pittsburg was even then a town of considerable wealth for that day and
most of its citizens who were well to do were slave-holders. Slavery was not
looked upon with the discredit that it afterwards engendered in the North.
The Nevilles, John Gibson, James O'Hara, Alexander Fowler, Adamson
Tannehill, the Kirkpatricks and many other leading men, bought and sold
negroes, and some of them continued to keep them as long as gradual abolition
law permitted them to do so. The records in Greensburg show that Devereux
Smith, Edward Cook, Arthur O'Hara, David Sample, Aeneas McKay, Andrew
McFarland and many others whose claims to good citizenship are equally authentic, each filed the statements required by the law of I780. The files of the
newspapers, even down to 1820, show that fugitive slaves were still sought by
their masters. The Missouri Compromise law, passed in I820; which provided
practically that Mason's and Dixon's line should be extended to the Pacific
ocean and that slavery should be forever prohibited north of it, made involuntary servitude impossible in Pittsburg, under ordinary circumstances. Immediately after its passage, anti-slavery societies were formed and for forty years
they were supported by the ablest and best citizens of Pittsburg. In I793 Hugh
Henry Brackenridge was put in charge of the case of a free colored woman
who had been captured. here and returned to slavery in Kentucky. He triumphed in the matter by having her brought back to Pittsburg a free woman.
Such matters often occurred here, but on the other hand many runaway slaves
were captured here by their owners, and the laws sanctioned their being taken
back to slavery. It seemed that Pittsburg, at the head of a navigable. stream
whose waters flowed by at least seven slave-holding states, was a natural point
towards which the escaping black man bent his steps. Here he had been taught
to hope for safety, but sometimes, despite of the assistance he received from
the various organizations, he was doomed to disappointment.
In I787 a society called "The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the
Abolition o'f Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage,
and for Improving the Condition of the African Race," was organized in Philadelphia, and gradually spread its influences throughout the state. Of this society
Benjamin Franklin was president and Dr. Rush was secretary.
It is not believed that the Constitution of the United States could have been
adopted without certain concessions concerning slavery made to the southern
states, and which became a part of the- organic law of the nation. Nevertheless,
the northern states were never satisfied with the condition of affairs in the
South. Pennsylvania was applauded when she passed the gradual abolition law
of I780. Men of prominence began to speak against the institution even late
in the eighteenth century, while early in the nineteenth century anti-slavery
societies were formed, preachers began here and there to war against it, and
it was often mentioned by the Fourth of July orators as the one dark cloud in
our nation's horizon. A newspaper discussion on the subject began when theA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Missouri Compromise measure was passed, between James Wilson of the
Steubenville Gazette and John M. Snowden of the Mercury. Wilson took the
side against slavery, while Snowden upheld it. Both were able men and men
of honest expression and their articles ran through many issues of both papers.
Others who read them took up the cry and published their best thoughts on the
question, so that a great deal was done in that way in keeping it before the
people. Finally the churches, or at all events the more advanced of them, came
gradually into a realization of their duties to humanity in this direction. In
1826 a meeting the purpose of which was the organization of an anti-slavery
society, was held in the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg. Henry Baldwin was president and Walter Forward was secretary. Such leaders could
scarcely otherwise than make a movement popular. After the fashion of the
day, a resolution was adopted setting forth the object of the meeting, which,
in this case, was to endorse the object of the American Colonization Society,
and to form an organization in Pittsburg that should be auxiliary to it. They
formed a constitution and on the 27th met again and completed the organization by electing the following officers: President, Henrys Baldwin; vice presidents, Francis Herron, D. D., Robert Bruce, D. D., Rev. Elisha P. Swift, John
Black, D. D., Father C. B. Maguire, Rev. John H. Hopkins, Rev. Charles
Avery, Rev. Joseph Kerr, Rev. Joseph Stockton and Walter Forward; managers, William McCandless, Neville B. Craig, Richard Biddle, Harmar Denny,
Thomas Enoch, W. W. Fetterman, John McKee, Charles L. Volz, Samuel
Thompson, John D. Davis; secretary, Charles H. Israel; treasurer, Matthew
B. Lowry. The original purpose of these societies was to colonize the negroes
in the United States on the coast of Africa.
In I826 our legislature passed a law imposing a fine of from $500 to $2,00o
on any,one who took a colored person from this state to another for the purpose
of enslaving him. It also passed'a resolution endorsing the object of the American Colonization Society, and asking the members of Congress from this state
to aid the organization in every way they could. On January 23, I829, the
legislature asked our members of Congress to favor a law abolishing slavery in
the District of Columbia.
There were scarcely more than ten or twelve slaves left in Allegheny
county in I820 owing to the workings of the gradual abolition act of I780, yet
the anti-slavery organizations were kept up and new ones were formed from
year to year. On July 4, I832, the County Colonization Society was reorganized at a meeting held in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. In M'ay, I835,
an auxiliary society of the Young Men's State Colonization Society was formed
here. These are mentioned to show the trend of opinion on this question. They
were kept up and though their object, viz., the removal of the colored race to
the west coast of Africa, was probably an impossibility, yet they kept the ques*tion alive, and in the end did great service for the cause of abolition by developing a strong anti-slavery element in Pittsburg and elsewhere through the
Union. There was, of course, a difference of opinion, indeed a radical differ-5j4PZITTSB:URG.AND HER PEOPLE
535
ence between the colonization societies and the abolition societies. This conflict
of opinion as to the means to be adopted was also extensively discussed and
served to keep alive the interest in the colored race. In 1835 several meetings
were held by both parties and the difference became a very bitter subject of
discussion. Each passed resolutions denouncing the other.
It was popular in those days to present petitions to Congress asking that
body to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. A resolution to that effect
was introduced in I836; the abolition element was in the minority, for the vote
stood 74 for abolition and I29 against it, but the member from Allegheny
county, Harmar Denny, voted for it, and for this received the highest praise of
his constituents in Pittsburg. The Colonization Society was kept up in a more
substantial way than in name, for at a meeting held in May, I836, ten men and
firms pledged one hundred dollars each per year for five years, for its support.
These ten were Neville B. Craig, S. Caldwell, W. Palmer, William Bell, Jr.,
B. F. and J. Bakewell, Baird, Leavitt  Co., Jacob Forsyth, C. Brewer, Mrs.
C. Brewer, and John Kratzer.  In I836 there came a pamphlet distributed
broadcast, which was a.reprint of an article in the Biblical Repertory which
defended slavery from a Biblical standpoint. It was said that the "religious
lovers of slavery chuckled with inexpressible delight over the article as an
unanswerable proof that the Bible sanctioned slavery."  The pamphlet was
answered, however, by a very satisfactory argument.
The Gazette, in January, 1837, refused to publish an advertisement for a
runaway slave, at the request of a Tennessee slave-holder, and said editorially:
"We have reflected carefully upon the subject, and have arrived at the deliberate conclusion not to publish such advertisements." This conclusion was
sustained by the people. The abolitionists were increasing rapidly in umbers
and in general strength, and in I837 they purchased the Christian Witless to
be used in their interests. The colonization idea grew correspondingly, for
it had an element of popularity which the other had not; it had a tendency to
quiet the South, who were long before this talking of a dissolution of the Union.
The South was anxious that the North should spend its strength on colonization, but it could not endure'the abolitionists. A vigilance committee in Louisiana about this time offered fifty thousand dollars for the capture of the famous
abolitionist, Arthur Tappan of New York, while an abolitionist from Ohio
named Dresser had been publicly whipped at Nashville, Tennessee.  These
matters strengthened the abolitionists and, of course, weakened the colonization
societies. Many of the latter were strongly in favor of the total extinction of
slavery in the United States, but they did not believe in the violent methods of
the abolitionists, nor did they believe that abolition was possible under the constitution. The Colonization Society raised and spent in Pittsburg $3,300 in
1836. They assessed their membership each year in I838-39 and'40 to an
amount verging on a thousand dollars and collected and disbursed large sums
in addition to this.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
The Pittsburg Anti-Slavery Society was formed on October 4, I833. Its
purpose is best set forth in the prolegomena of its constitution, which is as
follows:
Whereas, we believe that no man can hold another as property without violating the plain principles of justice and humanity, as expressed by
natural conscience and declared in the Word of God. And whereas, there are
in these United States more than two millions of human beings, constituting
one-sixth part of our population, held as property liable to be bought and sold
like beasts of burden and exposed to the caprice of their respective masters;
and, whereas, there are nearly half a million of persons in these United States
who, though nominally free, are by public sentiment excluded from equal rights
on account of their color; and, whereas, we believe that sound policy as well
as justice requires that the government of equitable law should be immediately
substituted for that of despotic will, and that all men withoutrt respect to any
physical distinctions should be admitted to the rights, privileges and immunities of free citizens, according to the same equitable rule of qualifications; therefore we do agree to form ourselves into a society to be governed by the following constitution.
The articles of the constitution set forth that the object of the society
should be to secure the abolition of laws and customs which deprive men of
their liberty, and that this should be accomplished, not by exciting slaves to
vindicate their rights by physical force, but by appealing to the consciences and
interests of the masters, by correcting public opinion in regard to the justice
and safety of immediate emancipation, and by educating the free people of
color, so that they might rise above the prejudices which would otherwise keep
them in disgrace in this free republic. They further provided that any one
should become a member who subscribed to the constitution; that upon the
payment of twenty dollars a member should be entitled during life to a copy of
all the societies' publications, and that the payment of two dollars should entitle
him or her to one year's publication. They also provided for officers, board of
managers, etc., and that their annual meetings should be held on National Independence Day.  Rev. Robert Bruce was elected president; Dr. J. P. Gazzam,
vice president; Rev. S. Williams, corresponding secretary; Lewis Woodson,
recording secretary, and Samuel Church, treasurer.
The society passed resolutions at once to establish a manual labor school
for the benefit of the colored people of Pittsburg and vicinity; a board was
appointed to secure a site and raise funds to found the institution. The society
also appointed a committee to prepare a petition asking Congress to abolish
slavery in the District of Columbia, and appointed Rev. I. Williams as a delegate to the national anti-slavery convention in Philadelphia, and James Langhead was appointed as alternate delegate. They appointed Langhead as agent
for the society and provided for his salary and expenses. The board also provided for a course of lectures on slavery to be delivered by Mr. Theodore D.
Wild, beginning on Monday evening, December 28, I834, at half past six
o'clock.
536PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
537
The minutes from which we quote are incomplete, but show that on August
I, I840, the president was Samuel Williams, vice president, John Marshall, Sr.;
Dr. J. P. Gazzam and John Dickson were secretaries, and William Allinder
was treasurer. The board of managers in I840 was Thomas Sproul, A. D.
Lewis, Joseph Trevor, John White, George Albree, Samuel Bruce, WV. A. Adair,
John Lowrie, James Wiley, iMartin Delany and David Bowen.
The abolitionists grew more in earnest from year to year. When Lovejoy
was murdered in Illinois, they held meetings at which the institution of slavery
and all its supporters was bitterly denounced. The Witness, then their organ
in the city, put out many manifestations of mourning and suggested that members of the society wear crape as evidence of their sorrow over the lamentable
"murder of a beloved brother."  Some people in Pittsburg and one paper, the
lManufacturer, denounced the intemperate language of both the abolitionists and
their organ, and, in a surprising degree, upheld the mob, though all deplored
the killing of Lovejoy. His death, however, made the abolitionists stronger in
Pittsburg as elsewnere throughout the North. In December a large meeting
was held in Pittsburg to commemorate his martyrdom, and by that time there
had been formed other anti-slavery societies in addition to the one in Pittsburg,
one of Allegheny county, one of Allegheny and quite a number in the boroughs
and townships of the county. Still the colonization society believed that abolition and loyalty to the Union could not go hand in hand and reiterated this
doctrine at their Pittsburg convention in May, I837. They had been growing
in this impression since the nullification in South Carolina, a difficulty which
indirectly grew out of the slavery question. The resolution which set forth that
friends of the Union could not be abolitionists, and which was introduced later
in I837, was opposed by many colonizationists. In its stead they passed a resolution denying that abolition meant dissolution and sustaining the right of free
speech and free press. The lecture platform was a much more popular method
of reaching the people then than now. Many lectures on the evils of slavery
were delivered in Pittsburg and in Allegheny. The lecturers were almost of
necessity fearless men and were men of power who sometimes dealt in violent
languafge.
In October, 1838, it was claimed that there were twenty colonization societies in Western Pennsylvania. A convention of the anti-slavery societies of
every description was held in Pittsburg in October, I838. Before it appeared
many able speakers, and most of the prominent men of Pittsburg and Allegheny attended it and took part in its proceedings. The convention lasted several days and each evening the platform was occupied by a prominent antislavery advocate. The convention which formed the state constitution of Pennsylvania known as the constitution of I838 limited the right of suffrage to
white men, but three representatives from Pittsburg voted against the measure.
They were Walter Forward, Harmar Denny and M/Ir. Hays, while Rodgers and
Purviance voted for it.A CENTURY, AND A HALF'OF
So rapidly was the abolition sentiment growing in the United States that in
I839 the American Anti-Slavery Society had I,350 auxiliary organizations,
thirty-eight traveling agents, seventy-five lecturers and were distributing each
year over 600,000 books, pamphlets and circulars. This year also brought the
Union Anti-Slavery Society of Pittsburg and Allegheny. It was in fact a union
of all of the smaller societies of the two cities. It opened its doors to women
as members and the strength which the union manifested made it very popular.
There were, we think, no religious papers in Pittsburg which did not advocate
abolition.
In I840 the abolitionists nominated a na:tional ticket, but the vote did not
show their strength, for the majority of them thought at that time that the
question was not a fit one to be handled by politicians. It was with them a moral
question and in their opinion was -very closely related to the work of the
churches; yet it must always be remembered that many of its strongest supporters were not in any way connected with any church. Lecturers who spoke
in Pittsburg in the early forties, notably C. C. Burleigh of Philadelphia and
Rev. Edward Smith of Ohio, were greeted with large audiences composed of
the best people of the cities. - James G. Birney, the candidate for president in
1840, received but 343 votes, but-a year later, when Dr. Le Moyne of Washington, Pennsylvania, ran for governor, he received 793 votes in Allegheny
county, and it was openly charged that many abolition votes were not so tabulated.
About that time came the now almost forgotten "Underground Railroad:"
An elderly and accomplished woman, who lived through that period, told the
writer that when she made mention of it to a company of young folks recently,
they with one accord thought she was referring to the proposed subway for
Pittsburg. The underground railroad was the name given to the secret methods
by which the friends of abolition assisted runaway slaves in crossing free states
to Canada. Many devices were resorted to. The fugitive slave law, passed by
Congress in I850, made it a crime for a citizen of a free state to conceal a slave
who was attempting to gain his freedom. Yet there were plenty of brave men
and women who. in the face of the law did not hesitate to assist these refugees
in every possible way. When it is remembered that an average slave would
readily sell for from one to two thousand dollars and that the free states, particularly Pennsylvania and Ohio, were continuously overrun with slave-catchers
who sought the escaping negroes in every possible hiding place, and offered
large premiums for their capture, the reader can form some idea of the danger
encountered both on the part of the slaves and -on the part of those who dared
to assist them. The states bordering the slave states on the north were those
which had the most need of an underground railroad. There were about 2,000
negroes in Allegheny county in I840. Many of them were fugitives, but hoped
to conceal themselves from their masters. But many of those who were really
free were not safe, for at any time they might be taken by the slave hunters,
and with but little false swearing might be remanded to servitude on the plan538PITTSBURG, AND, HER PEOPLE
539
tations of the South. Pittsburg was justly renowned both in the North and the
South for the care it took of the slaves who were trying to effect their own freedom. Various devices were resorted to by the abolitionists to conceal him from
the vigilant eye of his enemies. There were immense hpllows and ravines with
steep banks overgrown with underbrush and vines and the surrounding hills
covered with tall trees, some of which may yet be seen in Schenley Park. Many
a slave was concealed in these ravines, and with meals carried to him by members of the societies, he was thus enabled to evade the watchful eye of the
slave catcher till pursuit was abandoned. They were often driven through the
city or country in a carriage with a double bottom, or a false bottom as it was
called, under which the slave lay on his back, and to all appearances the carriage was empty, save for the driver. Then there were secret recesses built in
houses, with the entrance so thoroughly concealed that after forty years it
required an acute eye indeed to discover them. Into these the slave was thrust
in an emergency, and kept there until the vigilance of the pursuer was relaxed.
These and many others were the ingenious devices resorted to by the friends
of freedom to defeat the slave hunter, and, after its passage, the fugitive slave
law. These places of concealment were called stations on the underground
railroad, and were well known to those who were friendly to the cause, and who
gladly conducted the slave to them. These were often called directors of the
road. Pittsburg, because of the strong abolition sentiment, was the one place
that a slave catcher feared to enter, and the fleeing negro felt that the moment
he entered the city on his way towards the north star he was practically safe.
After the passage of the fugitive slave law, which practically "made every
northern man a slave catcher," an official position on the underground railroad
was a very dangerous one, as we shall see later on. A description of how the
railroad was operated, given by William Stewart, a prominent business man
of Pittsburg of fifty years ago, has been preserved to us. "The bridge at Niagara Falls," said he, "is the haven to which we send all hunted slaves. On a
Sunday morning I was just starting for church when a well known knock
touched my door. I knew at once that church for me was in another direction.
I opened my door, leisurely went out and turned to the right towards the east.
About a block away there was a little covered carriage that was very much in
use in Pittsburg at that time. They were called dearborns. When I left my
own house there was a gentleman walking between the carriage and me. We
did not speak to each other, but he turned down the first street. The curtains
of the dearborn were all rolled up and no person but the driver could be seen.
I was in charge of the dearborn. It was made with a double bottom and the
slave was lying flat between the upper and lower bottoms. The driver kept
going on very leisurely. There was a ferry about where the Fortieth street
-bridge is. We both got on the same ferry, but the driver never changed words
with us. He was one of our wealthiest citizens and was wearing a fine pair oqf
false whiskers. After we crossed the river the driver drove on the tow path
of the canal. Finally the dearborn and the man in sight turned on a roadA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
running across Pine creek below Sharpsburg. There another man came out of
a house. The new man took his place, while the first took another direction,
no one having spoken a word since we started. The dearborn was then driven
into a lonely place in the woods, where there was a "station" provided with all
manner of disguises. Provided with these the slave was started on his way to
Niagara. After leaving P'ittsburg they were scarcely ever captured."
Even before the passage of the fugitive slave law, the punishment for
harboring -or assisting slaves in their attempts at freedom was severe. A case
was tried in November, I847, in the United States Circuit Court, with Judges
Grier and Irwin on the bench. Garrett Vanmetre, a Virginia planter, brought
an action against Dr. Robert Mitchell of Indiana, Pennsylvania. It was
claimed that by the act of I793, the defendant was liable to a penalty of five
hundred dollars for concealing a slave belonging to the plaintiff. The ownership of the slave was proved by the Virginian and that the defendant had employed and even concealed him was scarcely denied. There were eminent lawyers employed on both sides, Walter Forward making one of his strongest
arguments for the defendant. After the judge's charge, the jury returned a
verdict against the defendant for five hundred dollars. The anti-slavery people
were greatly dissatisfied with the judge's construction of the law. They held
an indignation meeting on November 30 and there were many very severe
addresses made against the judge. The meeting appointed a committee to investigate the case and also proposed to raise funds sufficient to try the case in the
Supreme Court of the United States. A new trial was granted and in November, I85I, it was heard again in the United States court and a verdict of fifty
dollars and costs was awarded the plaintiff. The payment of this, we believe,
ended the case.
It not infrequently happened that when slave-holders brought their slaves
here for a sojourn of a few days at a hotel, the members of the societies or the
colored employes at the hotel would assist the servant to make an escape. This
occasioned great excitement, for the Southerner was loath to lose his "property,"
but it was very rarely that he ever saw the servant again. When the fugitive
slave law was passed many negroes were afraid to remain longer in the city
lest they be apprehended and sent back south. They accordingly left rapidly
in small companies for Canada. At one time thirty-five left Allegheny in one
group. They were not all fugitives, but were so related by birth and marriage,
and many who were free were forced to accompany those who could not remain
here except with great danger. Even at best, families were separated, and in
their condition there was but little hope of ever uniting again. This served to
emphasize the' horrors of the institution and to make stronger still the abolition
cause. When the fugitive slave law was passed mass meetings were at once
held in Pittsburg and in all sections for two purposes, first to express a disapproval of the law and to demand its repeal, and second to nerve the people to
render it inoperative by defying it. Said one: "If the people of Pennsylvania
say that their state shall not be made a field for kidnapers, it will be as they
0-40PITTSBURG. AND HER PEOPLE
54I
wish, and no act of Congress can make it otherwise." An immense meeting
was held in the Allegheny market-house on September 30, I850. Hugh Flemming, mayor of Allegheny, presided, and strong addresses were made by General William Larimer, Jr., and others, declaring that its repeal meant the freedom of the whites as well as of the blacks.
In January, 185I, a man named Rose came to Pittsburg from Wellsburg,
Virginia, and recognized a mulatto boy named George White as one of his
escaped slaves. The boy was working in a barber shop belonging to J. B.
Vashon. The evidence must have been conclusive, for the boy was about to be
taken back when the barber with contributions which were readily secured in
Pittsburg purchased him from the owner and set him free. The newspapers
had a great deal to say about the matter, for it was the first case that came under
the w.orkings of the obnoxious law. Afterwards when cases like this became
more common, though some of them were of much greater magnitude, they
were passed with less comment. The workings of the law were more explicitly
brought before the Pittsburg people in a case tried in Pittsburg in March, I85 I.
There was in the city at that time a colored man named Woodson, who was
claimed as the slave of a Mrs. Byers of Kentucky, and who had escaped two
years before. Woodson at the trial testified that his name was Gardner and
that he' had come to Pittsburg in 1848. The case was tried: before Judge
Irwin, and was decided against the defendant. He was thereupon ordered to
be kept in irons lest with all the excitement which his trial had occasioned in
Pittsburg a rescue might be made before he could be delivered to his ownet.
The owner was represented by an agent named Rust, who handed the slave
over to the United States commissioner under the fugitive slave law. It is
quite probable that the commissioner did no more than his duty under the law
governing his appointment, but the anti-slavery papers took occasion to belittle
and abuse him by likening him and his office to that of a "headsman," in the
days of tyranny in England and France. Woodson had been living at Beaver,
where he had purchased a lot and built a house, for he was a mechanic of considerable ability. He had, moreover, been preaching to the colored people for
two years and had earned a good reputation in the community. By some means
his captors induced him to go to the wharf, where he was seized and taken in a
small canoe to a passing steamer. After his trial he was taken from his wife
and children. Be it said to the credit of Beaver and Pittsburg abolitionists that
they as soon as possible raised money enough to purchase him and that he was
finally restored to his wife and family a free man.
The introduction and final passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill by Congress called forth the bitterest expressions from  Pittsburg people. They held
a mass meeting in the court house while the bill was pending in January, I854.
Cornelius Darragh in his fiery style denounced Stephen A. Douglas. Dr. Edward
D. Gazzam, George W. Jackson, Thomas Bakewell, D. N. White and Aaron
Floyd reported resolutions denouncing the proposed bill as an outrage upon
public faith and honor. They denounced also the northern politicians whoA CENTURY AND A4 HALF OF
orthography the place has borne ever since. Somne one in the same army had
given English names to Fort Bedford and Fort Ligonier. This could scarcely
have been Washington, who was but little more prominent in the army than
Armstrong, and not so much so as Bouquet, nor was he supposed to either
admire or be so familiar with the English names. It is much more reasonable
to suppose that Forbes suggested the first name because the Duke of Bedford
had been greatly interested in the campaign, and was Forbes's special patron,
and that he suggested the second name because he had served under Lord
Ligonier in the English army, he being one of the most noted generals of his
day. It was the custom, also, and is yet, for the commander to name the fort
erected by him. Now the capture of Fort Duquesne was the main object of
the expedition. For this the English armies had twice crossed the Atlantic
ocean, and when the long dreamed of possession was an actual reality, it is
quite likely that the general in conmmand named this most important post in rememberance of the man who, far above all others, had been instrumental in
sending the army to America-the great war minister, William Pitt. This is
entirely reasonable, without the fact that Forbes had dated and written the
letter above referred to, in which for the first time the name of the city is
written. To Washington must always be given the credit of selecting and
naming the "Fork of the Ohio" as a suitable -place to build a fort, but to, Forbes
the people of Pittsburg are indebted for the name under which their city has
grown to be one of the wealthiest and most productive in the new world.
Nor was Fort Pitt mentioned in the writings of the day even by the military inhabitants sof the place, for more than a year after the name Pittsburg
was used regularly. Colonel Hugh Mercer, who remained there all year even as
late as July and September, I759, cXated his correspondence from Pittsburg and
does not mention Fort Pitt at all, though he had charge of the tempoirary fortress in which the troops were kept. General Stanwix who, December 8, I759,
dated a letter from "Camp at Pittsburg," and speaks of the military works at the
place, does not name Fort Pitt. Finally, however, Stanwix wrote a letter on
December 24, I759, and made mention of Fort Pitt, but only incidentally, in the
body of the letter. This letter, which is the first mention of Fort Pitt of which
we have any record, is found in Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 3, page 696. So it
appears that more than a year elapsed after the capture of Fort Duquesne before
we have any mention of Fort Pitt, and that the temporary fort was never called
Fort Pitt. It will appear later on also, that by that time the real Fort Pitt
was then well-nigh completed. From the foregoing we take it as an indisputable fact that the name Pittsburg is older than Fort Pitt, and that the
place bound in by the mighty arms of the Ohio, covered as it was by the spoils of
victory and defeat, was, almost from the moment of its dominion by the English, known and called by the great name it still bears.
The chaplain of Colonel Claphans' regiment of Pennsylvania soldiers was
Rev. Charles Beatty, of the Presbyterian faith. To him  came the duty of
preaching to the army standing on ruins of the dismantled fort, the first
44A. CENTURY::AND A.HALF; OF
brought it forward and advocated it. Even some abolitionists thought the resolutions were too severe, but they were sustained very forcefully and eloquently
by Dr. Gazzam and were passed with but two negative votes. Still later the
Germans of the city held indignation meetings. Then the clergymen of Pittsburg and vicinity met and "in the name of God and religion, in the name of
humanity and liberty, for the honor of the country and its influence over the
world," protested against the passage of the bill. Similar meetings were held
all over Western Pennsylvania, and the people were still more aroused by the
final passage of the bill. The Commercial Journal of May 30, I854, voiced the
sentiments of a majority of the Pittsburg people when it said: "The
south have had their triumph, now comes ours. They have repealed our compromise of I820, we now repeal their compromise of I85o. No more slaves go
back to bondage from the free states. There we stand, and so help us God
there we will stand." Several other papers followed in the same style, and the
Gazette characterized the northern members of Congress who had favored the
bill as "forty-four traitors to the rights, interests and honor of the North."
When theWhigs of Allegheny county met in convention in June, I854,
they elected Thomas M. Marshall, then an eloquent young lawyer, as chairman.
He appointed a committee which drafted resolutions asserting that no law which
sustained slavery should be recognized; that no more compromises witli slavery
should be made, and no more slave states should be admitted, and that the introduction of slavery into Nebraska should be obstructed. "We pledge ourselves as
soldiers for the whole war with'free men, free labor and free lands' on our
banner." Another clause resolved "that for the future the South must take care
of itself-take care of its peculiar property; supply its own bloodhounds and
slave-catchers; the free men of the North design and will crush and exterminate the breeds."
From I855 to I86o the lecture platform was a prominent feature in the
abolition movement of Pittsburg. In March came Cassius M. Clay, and his
address awakened the cities to the highest point of enthusiasm. He had the
largest possible room in Pittsburg and it was crowded to overflowing with the
cultured men and women of both cities. The climax of the address was probably reached when he quoted a then recent saying of Theodore Parker of Boston,
"When we want a president the South takes a piece of dough and makes one."
Wendell Phillips was then in the vigor of manhood and lectured on "The Philosophy of Reform in Slavery." He was undoubtedly the great platform speaker
of his day, particularly when talking of the evils of the slave trade.
John A. Bingham came to Pittsburg in September to attend the Whig
state convention, which met in the city hall on the 5th. While the committees
were at work on matters assigned to them, Mr. Bingham delivered- a regularly
prepared address of nearly two hours in length, dwelling mostly on the slavery
question and kindred subjects of national interest. Joshua R. Giddings, the most
fearless and able anti-slavery agitator of his day in Congress, attended the same
convention and was called on for an address when Mr. Bingham had finished,
542PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
543
but he declined for the time being, saying it was arranged that he should address
the convention that evening. A prominent writer, Mr. Erasmus Wilson, in
describing these and other addresses, has said: "Mr. Bingham's speech particularly was one of great strength reviewing as it does the entire history of
slavery on the American continent. But the speech which was received with
the greatest approval was the one delivered by Mr. Giddings in the evening.
It was replete with wit, epigrams, pathos, logic and abrupt and brilliant rhetorical colorings, and elicited from the great audience the most unbounded
applause. It was particularly noteworthy in its exposition of the miseries entailed by the institution of slavery."
A great power in creating abolition sentiment in Pittsburg prior to this
was iMrs. Jane Grey Swisshelm. She had used her extremely caustic and able
pen for many years in the interests of the slave. She could not but see that a
new national party was being organized, and was perfectly willing to join hands
with and trust the cause of the negro to a political organization which was ultra
enough on the slave question to enlist the support of men like Phillips, Bingham and Giddings. About this time the?efore she began to write articles in
the interest of the new organization which already existed in some of the states,
which was even then known as the Republican party. Prior to this she had
leaned strongly toward the Know-Nothing party, which with the remnant of
the Whig party and the Abolition party united to form the Republican party
as a national organization in I856.
An important convention, as it afterwards proved, was held in Pittsburg
in August, I852. It was the National Free Soil convention, and practically
represented the abolitionist sentiment of the country. The great men of the
party were present, among whom were Salmon P. Chase, Mr. Finney, Judge
Spalding and Mr. Giddings of Ohio; Garrett Smith, Mr. Tappan and others
of New York; Payne and Booth of Wisconsin,. Wiley of Maine, Frederick
Douglass and Charles Francis Adams of Massachusetts. Addresses full of fire
and eloquence were made by many of the delegates. One of the strongest
addresses came from Garrett Smith. Both he and Payne feared that the Union
might be dissolved over the slavery question, which was then steadily advancing
its right on the free territory of the North. All urged that heroic measures
should be taken to stay the further spread of slavery and to eventually banish
the "monster from the nation." Mr. Giddings had no fear of a dissolution of
the Union. He said, as the reporter has it, that he "stood by and advised a
fleeing slave, in the presence of his pursuers, to shoot them if they attempted
to retake him." The slave-catcher had asked Mr. Giddings what he should do
and the advice was to go on after the slave if he thought proper. In answer to
the inquiry as to what the slave would do if pursued, Mr. Giddings said he
supposed if the slave was any part of a man he would shoot him. "The slavecatcher went home and I have not seen him since," said Mr. Giddings. The
convention placed John P. Hale on the Free Soil ticket for president and George
W. Julian for vice president. The vote in November for Hale and Julian in544                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
Allegheny county was 965, while Scott, the WVhig candidate, received 9,6I5,
and Pierce, the Democratic candidate, received 7,226 votes. This vote did not
represent the sentiment of Pittsburg and Allegheny on the slavery question.
It proved, rather, that the people did not yet believe that the abolition of African
slavery was a fit one for political parties to take up. Yet in the end this was
proved to be the only solution of the question, and the work of Pittsburg in that
direction is told in the chapter on the Civil war.PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                              45
Protestant sermon preached west of the Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania.
The day, November 26, I759, had been set apart by special orders as "a day of
public Thanksgiving." On Tuesday following a large detachment of Pennsylvania soldiers under Captain West was detailed to bury the dead in Braddock's army, and to perform a like service to the dead of their own army on
Grant's Hill. With Captain West and his troops went Sir Peter Halket, the
son and heir of Sir Peter Halket, who so bravely fell while guarding the baggage
in Braddock's army. The son had made a journey to America with Forbes's
army mainly for the purpose of finding his father's body, and also that of his
brother, who perished in the same battle.
After reaching the field, the guide conducted them to the location of the
baggage in the battle, and after some search two skeletons were found, one of
which was identified by Sir Peter Halket as that of his father, because of an
artificial tooth which was yet remaining in the jaw, and which he knew his
father had worn. A grave was dlug, a Highland plaid was spread over them,
and both skeletons were interred with usual military ceremony. This incident
would.probably have been lost to us but for the fact that Captain West was a
full brother of the renowned painter, Benjamin West, whose biographer (Galt)
has preserved it. Over all the skeletons had drifted the dead leaves of four
successive seasofis, and upon their removal they found evidence that the bodies
of many who perished there had been devoured by wild animals, and that
others who were wounded but unable to leave the field, had crawled to places of
seclusion and perished of starvation. Their bones were collected and buried in
a trench dug in the frozen ground.
While this was being done, and indeed at once upon the accession of the
army, General Forbes began the erection of a temporary fort, and pushed the
work with all possible speed, for there was no telling how near to the dismantled fort the stealthy enemy was lurking. In reality, the greater part of the
enemy had gone up the Allegheny river to Fort Machault (Venango). Many
of them had gone down the Ohio and were yet at Logstown, twelve miles from
Fort Duquesne. Still others had gone to the Illinois regions, but the vigilant
Scotchman knew that his army was daily watched by spies. The main part of
Forbes's army left the Ohio again on December 3rd, and slowly proceeded to
Philadelphia, leaving Colonel Mercer in charge of the camp, with over two
hundred men, and with him were left instructions concerning the completion of
the temporary barracks, or fort. It was located on the banks of the Monongahela, about two huntldred yards from Fort Duquesne. It was probably completed early in January, 1759. On January 8th, Mercer reported a force of two
hundred and eighty men, and that the "works," as he styled the temporary fort,
though put together in a very hasty manner because of the extremely cold
weather, was capable of some considerable defense. On March 17, I759, the
report of the garrison showed that twelve of the force had died since January
Ist. Those remaining were ten commissioned officers, eighteen non-commissioned officers, three drummers, three hundred and forty-six rank and file fit forA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
duty, seventy-nine sick and three unaccounted for, making in all a total of four
hundred and fifty-six. Of the rank and file, twenty were Royal Americans,
eighty were Highlanders, ninety-nine were Virginians, and one hundred and
thirty-six were of the First and eighty-five of the Second Battalion of Pennsylvania. The names of the offices are not given, but on July. gth they were as
follows: Colonel Hugh Mercer; Captains Waggoner, Woodward, Ward, Clayton, Morgan, Smallman, and Prentice; Lieutenants Matthews, Hydler, Biddle,
Conrad, Kennedy, Sumner, Anderson, Hutchins, Dangerfield and Wright;
Ensigns Crawford, Morgan and Crawford.
On the death of General Forbes, as noticed in the previous chapter, General John Stanwix was made commander of His Majesty's troops and of those
to be raised in the province for the Southern department. This announcement
and that of the death of General Forbes was made on March I 5th by General
Jeffrey Amherst, who was commander-in-chief of all the English armies in
America.
On January 23rd, only two months after the fort had been captured by the
English, William Pitt wrote a letter to the general showing that his keen intellect was alive to the importance of retaining the posse sion of the Ohio
Valley, and that as war minister of England he thoroughly comprehended the
situation in America. After expressing for King George II -his great delight
over the success of the loyal soldiers on the Ohio, the letter bore express orders
to restore the dismantled fort as speedily as possible, or erect another in place
of it, which should be of sufficient strength in every way to maintain the
possession of the Ohio, and to cut off all trade between the west and southwest
Indians, and protect the British colonies from the incursions to which they had
been subjected ever since the French had built the fort, and furthermore to
make themselves masters of the navigation of the Ohio. He also instructed
them to secure an alliance again with the several Indian nations, and to so treat
them that they would be dependent upon His Majesty's government. But the
French were equally alive to the situation. The Indians had left the fort and
gone to Fort Machault or Venango, collecting at that place and at Presq' Isle a
large fo,rce of Indians and French with the evident intention of descending the
river and retaking the fort which they had been forced to abandon. These
forces were under Captains Aubry and Ligneris, but in June, General Prideaux
and Sir William Johnson with their forces had moved against the French of
Niagara, and these forces in Northern Pennsylvania were forthwith marched to
Niagara to defend that position. The temporary fort on the Ohio would have
offered but little resistance had the French collected in the North attacked it.
John Ormsby wrote a letter, which is published in Craig's "History of Pittsburgh,"'' in which he said that the little force on the Ohio knelt behind their
weak fortress and prayed for deliverance in the hout of danger. The success
of the English arms at Niagara undoubtedly saved the camp on the Ohio, for
had the French succeeded they would evidently have moved at once on the
works at old Fort Duquesne.
46PITTSBURG AN,D HER PEOPLE
Shortly after General Stanwix was appointed, he arranged to go to the
Ohio with his forces to begin the erection of a permanent fortification suggested
by Pitt-one that would do honor to the English army, and insure a permanent
possession of the Ohio Valley. But he, like Braddock and Forbes, had great
trouble with the Pennsylvania authorities to secure the full share of supplies
and men that were due from the province. He had marched as far as Bedford,
and with the summer advancing rapidly, on August I3, I759, wrote to Governor
Denny as follows: "It is with reluctance that I must trouble you to again open
this subject, but being stopped in my march for want of sufficient and certain
succession of carriages I am obliged to have recourse to you to extricate me
out of this difficulty." In another letter he said, "All our delays are owing to
want of carriage. The troops are impatient to dislodge and drive the enemy
from their posts on this side of the lake, and, by building a respectable fort on
the Ohio, secure to his Majesty the just possession of that rich country."
By this time there were many Indians around the camp at the Fork, who
pretended great. friendship to the English. They came there as they had been
accustomed to come from time immemorial, to attend conferences and councils.
A treaty had been held there in July, I759, and was attended by great numbers.
In order to keep their good will, they had to be fed by the garrison, which was
not overstocked with provisions, and the Indians showed no signs of leaving the
place as long as the rations held out. Most of the provisions of the garrison
hhd to be brought out on pack horses from the East, and on August 6th, Colonel
Mercer wrote that on account of the Indian drain on his supplies he was unable
to save out an ounce of provisions between convoys from the East, and had been
compelled to reduce his force to three hundred and fifty. On the same day
Captain Gordon, the chief engineer, had arrived with a number of artificers to
build the fort. Under Mercer's instructions they began at once to prepare
building material for the fort, but Mercer delayed the selection of a location
until Gen. Stanwix's arrival. General Stanwix reached the place late in August, and on September 3, I759, with additional skilled workmen and laborers
brought for that purpose, began the erection of the fortifications known ever
afterwards as Fort Pitt. On September I5th, Mercer wrote of the peace and
tranquility at the place since Stanwix had atrived, and of the rapid work on the
fort. Though no enemy appeared, Stanwix had many difficulties to contend
with. To insure the safe transportation of supplies, he had to keep soldiers
scattered all over Western Pennsylvania. Many were at Fort Ligonier and at
Fort Bedford, while Colonel Burd was forming a post at Redstone Creek, and
the greater part of Mercer's battalion had to be scattered along Forbes' road
between the Ohio and Carlisle. In the letter before referred to, dated at "Camp
at Pittsburgh," December 8, 1759, General Stanwix reported to Governor Hamilton that the building of the proposed "works" was being carried on, and that
he was now forming a winter garrison of three hundred Provincials, one-half
to be of Pennsylvania and the other half of Virginia soldiers, and four hundred
of the First Battalion of the Royal American Regiment to be left under the com47'PREFA CE
wishes us to particularly express the indebtedness of this work to the Standard
History of Pittsburg, by Mr. Erasmus Wilson. From  it he has, by special
permission fronm its author, drawn copiously in the preparation of the chapters
on banking, the early political history, slavery, etc.  It is to be regretted,
writes he, "that the Standard History is now out of print and that the publishers of a work so replete in most interesting material concerning the city,
should have given it to the world without a suitable index."
Mr. Boucher desires us to state further that he has been untrannmmelled
in the preparation of the work, freely treating of events and mnen as he thought
they (leserved. If he has given too great a prominence to any subject, or has
withheld from some true hero an encomium justly due him, it is a mistake in
the judgment of the author, and is not due to any obligation on his part to
eulogize or censure any person or event treated in these pages.
In view of the foregoing the publishers with great confidence submit
A CENTURY AND A HALF OF PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
to the intelligent and public spirited citizens of the Iron Citv and of Western
Pennsylvania, asking in return a careful consideration of the work.
THE PUBLISHERS.
New York, I908.8A CENTURY 4AND A HALF OF
mland of Major Tulikins. These, he said, he hoped to cover well under goo(l
barracks, and to supply them with provisions for six months from January Ist.
He spoke also of the provision necessary for the Indians who lounged around
the place. They were undoubtedly a constant drain on the garrison, and they
seemed to have no idea of helping themselves or of leaving the place so long as
the larder of the garrison was full.  Nor did they ever fail to attend a conference when they wanted something to eat or drink, or when their supply of ammunition and blankets needed replenishing.
In the fall of I759, General Stanwix held a conference with the Indians
which was very fruitful of good results. It was the policy of the English government as well as of the province of Pennsylvania and Virginia, that all military authorities should put forth every effort within reason to conciliate the Indians and keep on good terms with them. General Stanwix was an officer of
great efficiency and remained in the new fort until the spring of I760. On
March I7th he wrote to Governor Hamilton  that he would leave for Philadelphia as soon as the waters subsided, for he had practically finished the works
in a defensible manner, and would leave the garrison in good health, in excellent
barracks, and with seven months wholesome provisions after April Ist. The
inside finishing of the works, he said, could be prosecuted under cover, and
the men be asked to work only in good weather. The winter had been a very
hard one for fort building, and the spring so far had been but little suited to
outdoor work. He wrote also that the works would "'give a strong security to
all the southern provinces, and answer every end proposed for his Majesty's
service."  Although it was used as a fort in I76o, it was not really finished
until the summer of I76I, when it was completed by Colonel Henry Bouquet.
It occupied the ground between Third street, West street and Liberty street,
the present Penn,avenue passing almost through the centre of its site, with one
of its points extending up to and across Liberty street and almost reaching the
Monongahela. It was between the site of Fort Duquesne and the temporary
structure built by Mercer. The old block house, which is still standing on its
original location, was close to the side of the fort wall next to the Allegheny
river. It was not on the bank of either river but was nearer the Monongahela.
It was a five-sided structure, though the sides were not equal, as has been
erroneously stated, and had a large bastion at each of the five corners. The
earth  around  the  fort  was  dug  out  and  thrown  up  so  as  to
enclose it with a rampart. On the sides of the fort away from the river, facing
the present city, this ralmpart was reinforced by a revetment of brick work,
which was built nearly  perpenclicular, thus presenting an additional obstacle to an approaching enemy. On the other sides of the fort-that is, next
to the rivers-the rampart was made of earth, but was not covered with brick
work, and its surface, as presented to an approaching enemy, was not so
perpendicular nor so formidable. To remedy this a line of pickets was emplanted at the foot of the slooping ramparts. Around the rampart was a wide
ditch which could be filled with water when the river was moderately high. In
48PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE                               49
the summer time, when the river was low, the ditch was dry, and the officers
and men frequently played alley ball in the ditch, knocking the balls against the
brick rampart.  The ditch extended from the most northern point, that is, the
sharp angle of the bastion of the extreme corner near Marbury street down to
where the street strikes the Allegheny. The ditch was still visible in the boyhood days of Mr. Craig, perhaps in the early thirties, for he wrote in 1848 and
1850. Another part of the ditch, he says, extended to the Monongahela river,
and a third end or debouche from it reached the river about the end of Penn
avenue.
General Stanwix left Fort Pitt on March 21, 1760. A communication from
Pittsburg of that date, and published in the Pennsylvania Gazette, notices that
he was escorted east by thirty-five chiefs of Ohio Indians and fifty Royal American soldiers. It speaks very flatteringly of his work during the past winter,
not only in building the fort, but in cultivating the friendship of the Indians as
well. The works, it says, are quite perfect between the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, and that eighteen pieces of artillery were mounted on the bastions.
The casements, barracks and store houses were sufficient for a garrison of a
thousand men and officers, and the article further glories that the British domain
is established on the Ohio.
General Stanwix left in Fort Pitt about seven hundred men, of whom one
hundred and fifty were Virginians, one hundred and fifty Pennsylvanians, and
four hundred from the First Battalion of the Royal American Regiment. The
termination of the war between England and France by the fall of Quebec and
the surrender of Montreal, on September, 1759, was of great advantage generally to the colonies, and to Fort Pitt in particular, for thereafter the French
were less hostile and the French posts being now in possession of the English,
all were in harmony with the Colonial troops and with the force at the Fork of
the Ohio.  General Monckton was made commander of the department, and
reached Fort Pitt on June 29, 1760. It was his purpose and that of the
colonial authorities to perfect the line of forts from Montreal to Fort Pitt. To
accomplish this he marched four companies of the Royal Americans, and also
one company commanded by Colonel McNeil, all under command of Colonel
Henry Bouquet, to take charge of Presq' Isle.  Shortly after these, Colonel
Hugh Mercer followed with three companies of the Pennsylvania Regiment
under Captains Biddle, Claphan and Anderson, and still later two other companies under Captains Atlee and Miles followed.
Many statements have been made as to the cost of Fort Pitt.  Some of
them place it as high as sixty thousand pounds. Arthur Lee, of Virginia, who
visited it in 1784, and who seems to have investigated its cost, says that it cost
the English government about six hundred pounds. Either estimate may be
correct, for the first may include the entire outlay for materials and also the
wages of the soldiers and skilled workmen who erected it. The second estimate
may not include the cost of labor performed by the soldiers who were stationed
at the fort and who undoubtedly dug the entrenchments, prepared the lumber,A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
50
burnt the brick, etc., and performed the greater part of the labor of constructing the fort. It was proved afterwards, as we shall see, that it was strong
enough to withstand any attack made by the Indians, but it could not long have
endured an attack of the artillery, even of that day of small guns. The location of Fort Pitt would not be selected by modern military experts if the intention was to protect the city, since it was in full view, and entirely commanded
by the high hills beyond the Monongahela, whose summits were scarcely a
quarter of a mile by air line from the fort, but for its day and purpose it was
indeed an ideal location. Almost at once, when occupied by the English, a
village sprung up around its walls. With the rude log huts of the fur traders
came a mixed population of camp followers and settlers, some of whom were
soon in a primitive way engaged as merchants.  Access to the place was
easily gained by canoes, rafts, and other light crafts, from every direction by
the three rivers. It had been moreover a favorite place of meeting for the Indians for perhaps untold ages, and hither came the red man, now that a market
was open, laden with the results of his season's trapping; coming by water in
his frail bark, or mayhap by the same Indian paths which were trodden by his
dusky ancestors centuries before. The two great roads, Braddock's and
Forbes' terminated here, and, on these came many who there embarked on the
Ohio for the Great West. While it was mentioned as a name repeatedly in
1758-59, the first real mention o!f Pittsburg as a town was by Colonel James
Burd in I760. He was in command of the Augusta Regiment, as his Pennsvlvania troops were called, and reached Pittsburg on Sunday, July 6, I760, and
remained on duty until November. In his journal is the following, which may
be called the first census of Pittsburg-"2Ist Monday. (July, I760). Today
numbered the houses at Pittsburgh and made return of the number of people;
men, women  children, that did not belong to the army. Number of houses,
I46. Number of unfinished houses, 19. Number of Hutts, 36. Total, 20I.
Number of men, 88. Number of W\omen, 29. Number of male children, I4.
Number of female children, I8. Total I49. N. B.-The above houses exclusive of those in the fort." But in April, I76I, Colonel Claphan took a census,
and gave the number of houses as I04 with a population, counting all, of 332.
In the winter of 176o-6I, Colonel Vaughn, with a regiment known as his
Majesty's Regiment of Royal Welsh Volunteers, was garrisoning a number of
posts communicating with Fort Pitt. General Amherst wanted these troops
for service elsewhere, and he requested the governor to call for troops to
volunteer to take their places. The request met with the usual refusal on the
part of the Supreme Executive Council. General Monckton, of Fort Pitt, urged
the project in a letter to Governor Hamilton and insisted on at least four hundred Pennsylvania troops. The matter was laid before the Council, but its consideration was deferred. When brought before them again, they refused, and
gave as a reason that since the reduction of Canada and the withdrawal of the
French, there remained nothing for the regular troops, fed by the "Nation" but
to guard these posts, and for that reason it was not necessary to enlist addition-plPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
men. Monckton then applied to General Amherst, the commander-in-chief, who
on February 27, I76i, further urged the governor and assured him that
Vaughn's regiment must and would be removed. He requested that three hundred troops be raised in Pennsylvania, and on March I3th in pursuance of this
more urgent appeal from a higher authority the required bill was passed.
This tardiness on the part of the Pennsylvania authorities to assist in the
defence of the western border was encountered by all military expeditions, and
lasted up until the Revolution. There were several causes which produced it.
The Quakers of Philadelphia and the Quaker counties near by, were the
thriftiest people of the province, and were not only religiously opposed to war,
but had become somewhat intolerant of all other religions. They were also
hostile to the sons of William Penn, who had with one exception become Tories,
and were regarded as renegades from the religion of their revered father. The
Quakers talked of the sinfulness of war, wore broad-brimmed hats, defied
Lindly Murray, and devoted themselves to the acquisition of wealth and to the
enjoyments of the comforts it brought. The middle counties had been settled
largely by German peasants, who having known only servitude in Europe, were
delighted with the enjoyment of the liberty of the province. They hated the
idea of military service, for it but reminded them of the oppressive army of
Germany from which they had fled. Speaking only a German tongue, they
knew little of the operations of the French and English on the Ohio, and cared
still less whether they lived under English or French dominion, so long as they
could increase their herds and widen their productive acres.
The Penns, moreover, had large tracts of unsettled and unproductive land
in the West which the eastern people thought should be taxed, and particularly did they think this if they were to turn out to defend it from French
encroachment. But the Penns had had laws passed which precluded the possibility of taxing it. Benjamin Franklin was without doubt the intellectual
and political leader of the province and of the Supreme Executive Council.
The feudalism of the Penns was extremely obnoxious to him, yet with his great
foresight he saw all the dangers of the French operations on the Ohio, and
while he was opposed to any administration measure in the Council which
would add material strength to the Penns, he was willing to put forth his best
efforts not only to repel the French, as he did in the Braddock campaign, but to
protect the settlers afterwards or to work by any other means to that end that
would not strengthen the feudal tenure of the Proprietaries. This left the defence of the West largely to the pioneers west of the Allegheny mountains.
They were mainly composed of German Lutherans, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians
and Irish Catholics, all of whom were so equally intolerant of each other that a
united effort on their part was scarcely possible. Upon their heads fell the
burdens of border warfare in its severest forms.
Governor Hamilton seems to have left little undone to appease the wrath
of the Indians. A store or trading house was set up by him at Pittsburg near
Fort Pitt, and the Indians traded with this house and were furnished with all
5.A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
kinds of goods and supplies at low rates. But the efforts of these in authority
in the province at best but temporarily allayed the wrath of the Indians. With
the great victory of General James Wolfe at Quebec, in September, I759, the
French do-nain in the St. Lawrence region was practically ended. As we have
seen, the habits of the Indian peculiarly suited himn for an alliance with the
French. They were greatly attached to the French, and were extremely displeased with the termination of the French and Indian war, resulting as it did
so adversely to their friends. The region around Fort Pitt was one of perfect
peace so far as the French were concerned, and the effects of the strong fortification and military provisions generally in Western Pennsylvania deterred the
Indians from passing them in their incursions. The effect was felt all over
Western Pennsylvania, Maryland and VWestern Virginia, but a still greater
effect was to draw the settler to these regions and to open up territory further
west. Many settlers who had been driven from their frontier homes, with the
protection now offered them by the western military operations, felt safe upon
their lands again and these were yearly increasing in numbers and rapidly
hewing, out homes for themselves in the wilderness. No one noticed these encroachmnents upon the Indian domain, his birthright, as he thought, morereadily than the Indian himself. In silence he nursed his wrath, which grewgradually. In I762, however, they repeatedly attended treaties with the English,.
most likely actuated by purely sinister motives. On November 3, I762, the pre--
liminary treaty between Great Britain and France was arranged, and this culnminated in the signing of a definite treaty between these two powers, on February Io, I763. By this treaty all of the territory between the Allegheny riverand the Mississippi, with Canada as well, was ceded by the French government.
to the English. This was apparently more than the Indian in his wrath, aggravated by constant English encroachments, could endure. The result was
that a great uprising, by far the greatest in Indian history, was set on foot by
Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas. He had been steadfast in his friendship with theFrench, actuated both by natural inclination and by self interest. He had
fought the English side by side with the French, and as a young warriorhe had led his tribe with Charles Langdale at the unfortunate defeat of Braddock. The English supremacy, to his mind, meant the loss of the hunting
grounds of his fathers and the oradual extinction of his entire race.  He
thought that he and his friends could unite all western tribes between Mackina-wand Fort Pitt, and by one blow exterminate the English forts, kill and drivethe settlers back across the mountains or into the Atlantic ocean, and restore.
to the Indian his just heritage of hunting- ground. He wvas an Indian of
marvelous resources. All writers have rated him as pre-eminently endowed with_
courage, resolution and eloquence, and as the ablest leader the Americanl Indian
race ever produced. Parkman says that "He could govern with alnost (icspotic
sway a race unruly as the winds, and his authority was derived cl-liefly from
the force of his own individual mind."  He was born in the Catawba Indian
tribe, but was captured when a child by the Ottawas whose chief civil ruler or5PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
53
sachem he became by sheer force of his superior ability and courage.  At
Braddock's defeat he formed a supreme contempt for the English soldiers and
doubtless at that time the seed of the great conspiracy was sown in his fertile
mind.
Late in I762 this mighty leader sent representatives to all the northwestern
tribes of Indians. They visited all the tribes between the Upper Lakes, the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and journeyinlg from camp to camp, bearing the
war belt of wampum and a tomahawk stained red as a symbol of blood, and to
each they bore the same message from Pontiac. The Indians almost universally approved the plan. The blow all along the line of the English civilization
was to be struck at the same time, the time to be indicated later on. Each tribe
was to destroy its nearest English garrison, and then all were to unite and exterminate the frontier settlements. Except a few small tribes, the whole of the
Algonquin race of Indians were thus united with the Wyandottes and Senecas,
and other small tribes from south of the Ohio. Except the Senecas, the entire
Iroquois race were kept out of the conspiracy by the efforts of Sir William
Johnson. His power among the Indians' of New York surpassed that of any
men of his time, but with all this he was forced to exert his utmost strength to
quiet their feelings and prevent their union with Pontiac in his confederation.
Of  the  twelve  English  forts  west  of  Fort  Pitt  thus  assaulted,
nine of them fell. Those which were closest to Pittsburg which were overpowered, were Presq' Isle, Le Boeuf and Venango. The only ones of those
assaulted which withstood the attack were Forts Detroit, Niagara and Pitt.
The first fort east of Fort Pitt, fifty miles distant, was Fort Ligonier, commanded by Captain Archibald Blane. East of that, fifty miles further, was
Fort Bedford, commanded by Captain Lewis Ourry. The country west of
Bedford was but sparsely settled. Both Forts Ligonier and Bedford were built
in almost unbroken forests, with here and there a log cabin and a clearing near
them. Both were on the Forbes' road, and along it were scattered the log
cabins of a few adventurous pioneers. The great object of Pontiac's War in
our section was to capture Fort Pitt. It was then under the command of Captain Simon Ecuyer, a bold and daring officer who came to America from
Switzerland. On May 4, I763, he wrote to Colonel Bouquet expressing his
fears that trouble with the Indians was iminent. His suspicions were excited
by the actions of the Delawares and Shawnees which he thought betokened mischief. Pontiac showed great cunning in planning his conspiracy. He selected
a season when the Indians could conceal themselves readily in the leafy groves.
and when the settlers were likely to be busily engaged with their growing
crops. It was well for the pioneers that the lieutenants of Pontiac were not
able to execute his plans with the shrewdness and diplomacy which he manifested in laying them for otherwise they might have indeed been almost exterminated, driven east of the Allegheny mountains' or even into the sea as he
had prophesied. A leading feature of his plans was that the attack should be
made on all forts, block houses, settlements and individuals at one and the sameA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
time. A grand council of the Indian tribes was held which fixed the time for
the attack, designating it by giving a bundle of rods to each tribe. Each bundle
contained as many rods as there were days intervening between the day of the
council and the day fixed upon which the general attack was to be made. One
rod was to be taken from the bundle every morning and when but a single rod
remained the outbreak was to begin. But a squaw of the De'laware tribe had
secretly extracted three rods from the bundle in the hands of her tribe and it
thus happened that the attack on Fort Pitt was precipitated though it was
made simultaneously at the time fixed by the council on all other posts and
settlements. The squaw may have done this to hasten the destructive wrath of
the Indians on Fort Pitt, though it is generally supposed that her purpose was to
frustrate the plans of the conspiracy.
The first appearance of the enemy around Fort Pitt was a party of Indians coming down to the banks of the Allegheny river, driving a number of
pack horses laden with skins and furs. They built fires and encamped there all
night, and in the morning crossed the river to the fort. Their furs were of
great value, and in exchange for them they wanted little else of the traders than
bullets, hatchets and gunpowder. The authorities at the fort by their actions
thought they were spies, or at all events were there with some sinister designs.
They had scarcely left the place when the news came that Colonel Claphan and
one of his men, two women and a child had been murdered by a party of In-'dians led by a Delaware Indian named Wolf. This was followed by the news
that the Indians of a small town up the Allegheny river had left their wigwams
as though they had gone on the war path. The day following two soldiers were
shot within a mile of the fort, though before that they had gone about over the
hills without danger. A messenger was sent to warn the forces at Fort
Venango, but he was soon driven back, having been fired at and wounded.
Then came a trader named Calhoun, with the news that at I I:oo o'clock on the
night of May 27th Chief Shingas and several warriors had come to his cabin
and warned and begged him to leave the country, for they did not wish to see
him killed in cold blood. They assured him that the Ottawas and Ojibwas had
begun a war of extermination, and had captured Detroit, Sandusky and all other
interior forts. They said, too, that the Delawares and Ottawas were following
their example and were murdering all traders and settlers whom they could
apprehend. Calhoun was the employer of thirteen men, and they left their
cabins at once, but Shingas and his warriors forced them to leave their guns behind, and in return gave them three warriors to direct them to Fort Pitt, and
therein lay the treacherous designs so characteristic of the race. The three
guides led them to the mouth of Beaver creek, where other Indians were in
ambush, and where a volley of shots were fired into them, killing eleven, while
Calhoun and two others ran for their lives and escaped to Fort Pitt. This
convinced the commander of the fort that the uprising was a general one, and
that his post was surrounded by hostile Indians. He determined to defend the
fort as best he could, and accordingly made every preparation for an attack.
54PITTSB,URG AND HER PEOPLE
55
At this time two groups of cabins, one called Lowertown and the other
Uppertown, were built around the fort. The cabins of Lowertown were close
to the fort while those of Uppertown were on higher ground up the Monongahela a short distance. Near by lived a man named Thompson, while George
Croghan, the celebrated Indian agent, explorer and scout, lived a few miles up
the Allegheny river. Ecuyer's first movement was to tear down the houses
and cabins near the fort and burn them, so that the Indians could not fire them
and thus drive the soldiers from the fort. The strictest discipline, which in
times of peace had not been rigid by any means, was enforced. Because of the
false economy of the province the garrison was very weak, for all that the
captain could muster, counting soldiers, traders and backwoodsmen, was three
hundred and thirty men. Then there were in the fort about a hundred women
and more than that many children. Most of the women and children belonged
to settlers'who were temporarily at the fort while they were building or preparing to build cabins near by. The fort was, therefore, greatly crowded antd
hard to keep clean, and in spite of every precaution on the part of Captain
Ecuyer, disease broke out, and he was compelled to provide a small-pox hospital, which was located under the drawbridge. The outrages upon the community, continued. Death was almost certain to any one who verntured outside of
the fort walls. The Indians, moreover, fired all night at the sentinels, thus making the siege almost a perpetual one. The woods near the fort were filled with
prowling warriors, and as the days advanced their numbers increased. From
Alexander McKee, the commander learned that the Mingoes and Delawares
had recently sold skins and furs worth three hundred pounds, and invested it
all in powder and lead. One day Sergeant Miller and two others ventured
up to Grant's Hill, contrary to orders, whereupon Miller was killed and the
others escaped by running for their lives. At the fall of Venango not a man escaped to tell the tale. At the fall of Presq' Isle two men escaped into the
forest, and one of them, Benjamin Gray, a Scotchman, reached Fort Pitt, haggard and half starved, ten days afterwards. At the fall of Fort LeBoeuf on June
I8th, Ensign Price was commander and escaped into the woods with a small
force of men. On June 25th two of them reached Fort Pitt, and the next day
the ensign and five others reached there. On the 27th four men and a
woman from the fallen fort came in and with them came Benjamin Gray,
above mentioned. As it happened they reached the vicinity of the fort when the
Indian vigilance was somewhat relaxed, but there is no account of the number
who were killed in their attempts to reach this place of safety. On June 22nd, a
party of these Indians drove away the horses and killed the c'attle that were
grazing near the edge of the woods. Immediately, when these were out of
the way, an attack was made on all sides of the fort, but the assailants
were so far away that only two of the soldiers were killed. The garrison
discharged their heavy guns, and the bursting shells among the Indians
frightened them and for a time drove them away in confusion. With nightfallA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the firing slackened somewhat, though the entire night was made hideous
by the war whoops of the foe, and by the occasional flashes from their guns.
At nine o'clock the following day several warriors approached the fort,
apparently with no fear, and stood on the edge of the ditch while one of them
named Turtle Heart, addressed the garrison. His story was that they came in
great friendship to warn the English that six great nations of Indians had
banded together, that Sandusky, Detroit and other forts had fallen, and that the
Indians were on their way to Fort Pitt and would soon arrive. They advised
the garrison to go at once, with their women and children, to the eastern settlements, which, Turtle Heart said, was their only safety. These friendly Indians would protect them from the few bad ones who were already around the
fort, but this they could not hope to do when the western bands arrived. Captain Ecuyer told them that they must be mistaken about the western forts being captured, and that the garrison had plenty of provisions and ammunition,
and was able to contend with all the nations of Indians who might try to attack
them. He also told them that they were satisfied, and meant to remain where
they were. Then he told them that in return for their kind feelings in telling
him of these matters, he was bound to tell them of an army of six thousand
English which would soon arrive at the fort, and that another oif three
thousand had gone up the lakes to punish the Ottawas and the Ojibwas, and a
third. had gone to Virginia where the Cherokees and Catawbas had united
with them, and these were also coming to Fort Pitt. He advised them to go
to their homes and their squaws and children at once, but told them not to tell
the other Indians, lest they too, escape the vengeance that was soon to overtake them. In a letter written at that time, the captain says that he further
gave "Turtle Heart, out of regard to him, two blankets and a handkerchief
from the small pox hospital," and adds, "I hope the present will have its desired
effect."  The captain's advice undoubtedly alarmed the visiting Indians, for
the day following most of them withdrew towards the West, from whence they
expected their allies.
A part of the ramparts of Fort Pitt had been damaged by the floods in the
spring, and as soon as thlie Indians temporarily withdrew this was repaired and
a line of palisades was set up at the foot of the rampart. The barracks were
strengthened so as to be entirely bullet proof, and to the strongest part the
women and children were assigned. The entire inside of the fort was of wood,
and a fire engine from which water could be thrown was improvised, so that if
the Indians should use burning arrows the flames could be put out from the
inside. But several weeks passed with but little trouble, the enemy being again
engaged in exterminating smaller settlements in the immediate vicinity of forts
that had already fallen.
During July but little was done to annoy the garrison except by a few
small bands of Indians who hung around the fort, but these on all occasions
manifested the inherent malice of the race, and were sufficiently strong to cut
off all possible communication with the eastern settlements. No letters werePITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
written during this time, and resultant upon this the most effectual means of
preserving the story of their trials is lost to us. On July 26th a small body of
Indians appeared at the gate, bearing a flag which.had been presented to one of
them by an English officer. They were admitted and were found to be chiefs
high in standing in their tribes. Among them were Shingas and Turtle Heart,
and others who had called before. They made a long, and, from the Indian standpoint, particularly, not an unreasonable plea. They admitted all the depredations the race had committed, but claimed that the English had brought it all on
themselves. It was their country, which had been given them by their fathers,
and into this the English had marched armies, built forts, cleared lands, though
time and again the Indians had warned them to remove. "This land," said they,
is ours, not yours."  They said they had a message from the Ottawas at Detroit
which informed them that a great body of Indians would soon join them and
strike at the English at the Fork of the Ohio. They assured the garrison that
no harm would be done them if they peaceably left the fort and went east to
their wives and children. "But if you stay," said they, "you must blame yourselves for what may happen." This statement was, of course, not a reasonable
one to Captain Ecuyer, who wasted words on them by telling them that the forts
were built to supply the Indians with clothes and ammunition. He then refused
to abandon the fort and said "I have warriors, provisions and ammunition to defend it three years against all the Indians in the woods, and I shall never
abandon it as long as a white man lives in America. -I despise the Ottawas,
and am much surprised at you the friendly Delawares, proposing to us to leave
these places and go home. This is our home. You have attacked us without
reason or provocation. You have murdered and plundered our settlers and
traders, you have taken our horses and cattle."  With a few others words of
admonition, he threatened to blow them up if they appeared again, and advised
them to go home at once, and the emissaries departed. No one can blame the
captain for meeting them in the way he thought his straitened circumstances
demanded, yet all must have a feeling of sympathy because of the hardships
which the progress of civilization had inflicted on these unfortunate tenants of
the wilderness, and this feeling goes far to extenuate the bad faith and cruelty
which marked their conduct during the whole uprising.
When the Indians could not thus gain the fort by flimsy pretext of friendship, they began a general attack. The first night after the conference the fort
was surrounded by great numbers of them. They crawled under the banks of
the rivers and dug holes with their knives, and in these burrows they were well
concealed from the fort. The whole bank was lined with them, and from each
burrow there sped a bullet or an arrow whenever a soldier's head was exposed.
The day following, the attack on all sides was opened at sunrise and kept up
without a moment's cessation until dark, and the same was repeated for five
succeeding days. The soldiers were strictly ordered to lay close behind their
parapets of logs. Thus for days they watched the stealthy enemy, and in reality
more than paid back each shot from them. Side by side were lying behind these
57CONTENTS
VOLUME I.
PAGE
CHAPTER 1.
The Braddock  Campaign.......................................................               1
CHAPTER I1.
The  Forbes  Campaign.........................................................  27
CHAPTER III.
The  Bouquet Campaign.........................................................  43
CHAPTER IV.
Titles to Lands In and Around Pittsburg........................................  73
CHAPTER V.
Formation  of Westmoreland  County.............................................  85
CHAPTER VI.
Dunmore's War.-Disputed  Boundary  Between  Virginia and  Pennsylvania.........  94
CHAPTER VII.
Early  Courts of the County.-Severe Sentences.-Species of Slavery............... 110
CHAPTER VIII.
The Indians of Southwestern  Pennsylvania...................................... 119
CHAPTER IX.
The  Beginning  of the  Revolution.-The  Hannastown  Resolutions.-The  New   Constitution................................................................... 130
CHAPTER X.
The  Revolution  Continued.-The  Various Regiments, Companies, etc.-Their Work,
Privations,   etc............................................................ 145
CHAPTER XI.
The Revolution  Continued.-Morgan's Rifles.-Difficulties Around- Fort Pitt.......  163
CHAPTER XII.
The Close of the Revolution.................................................... 182
CHAPTER XIII.
Major-General Arthur St. Clair................................................. 202
CHAPTER XIV.
Tories.-Early  Forts and  Block  Houses.......................................   215
CHAPTER XV.
Permanent Location of County Seat.-Attempts to Form a New County with
Pittsburg as Its Seat of Justice........................... 224A CENTURY AN.D A1 HAdLF OF
parapets the soldiers in the red uniform of the Royal Americans, and the border
riflemen clad,in homespun garments, or in the fringed hunting shirt so common
on the frontier. Many of these had learned in the school of experience to fight
with a skill which even surpassed that of the Indian warriors themselves. The
soldiers within the fort enjoyed it, and were-only prevented by the stern rules
of the captain, from charging on their assailants and fighting them at close
quarters. In broken English, Ecuyer directed, encouraged and applauded them
for their bravery. The Indians shot fire arrows from their burrows, but none
of them took effect. The war whoop of the enemy was terrible, and the women
and children in the barracks clung to each other in agonizing fear from day to
day. The attack was thus carried on for five days and five nights, yet so thoroughly bullet-proof was the fort, that no one was killed, and only seven were
wounded. The captain reported that they were certain of having killed and
wounded twenty warriors, without counting those they could not see. "Not an
Indian," said he, "could show his nose without being pricked with a bullet,
for I have some good shots here. Our men were doing admirably-regulars
and the rest. All they ask is to go out and fight. I am proud to have the
honor of commanding such brave men. I only wish the Indians had ventured
an assault."  The captain himself was one of the wounded and he reported the
casualities in the following words: "Only two arrows came into the fort, one
of which had the insolence to make free with my left leg."
While this method of warfare with its adverse results may seem like leading a forlorn hope on the part of the Indians, yet on the contrary, it could not
otherwise than have succeeded, had they been permitted to keep it up, as was
evidently their intention, for it must be remembered that all supplies and all
communication were cut off from the fort. Nor could the fort have held out
much longer, for notwithstanding Captain Ecuyer's boasts to the Indians, they
had but a small supply to begin with, so small, indeed, that from the beginning
of the siege those in the fort were put on half rations of bread and meat. The
only possible result, therefore, would have been that the garrison would finally
be forced to surrender, because of starvation. The force within the fort was
outnumbered by the Indian besiegers, so that the prospect of victory by boldly
leaving the fort and battling in the open, was almost equally remote.
But the Indians around the fort had spies out, and when, on August ISt,
the rumor of an approaching army reached them, at once the force was moved
away to another field. They knew they would be powerless as against one
army within the fort and another marching on them from the East, hence
they marched out to surprise the advancing army on the way, hoping to deal
with them as Beaujeu had dealt with Braddock's army. How worthy this
scheme was of the great leaders, Pontiac and Guyasuta, and how nearly it
came to succeeding, will be more readily appreciated if the reader will begin
with the march of the approaching army and follow it to the decisive battle
which followed the removal of the Indians from the forests around Fort Pitt
and from the burrows in the banks of the river.
gE8PITTSB'URG AND HER PEOPLE
The reader will understand that while the object of Pontiac in Pennsylvania was first to capture Fort, Pitt, he did not confine his hostilities to this
region.   Pontiac's  forces  extended  as  far  east  as  Bedford  and
Carlisle,  and  even  reached  and  overran  the  frontiers  of  M\aryland  and  Virginia.  Settlers in  all these  regions were  driven  from
their  homes  and  took  refuge  in  forts  and  block  houses,  while
scalping parties covered the community with devastation and blood. Fort Pitt
had to be supplied mostly by pack horse trains under a military guard, and by
way of the Forbes road. If, then, Fort Bedford and Fort Ligonier fell before
the Indians, the soldiers in Fort Pitt would soon be forced to surrender or
starve. Ligonier had been surrounded, and, failing to take it, the Indians tried
to burn it by shooting arrows with inflammable substance attached over the
stockade to the combustible buildings inside. Fires kindled this way were
many times extinguished. Captain Ourry, knowing that Bedford was in less
danger than Ligonier, it being nearer the eastern supplies arid troops, weakened
his own garrison to send support to Fort Ligonier. He selected twenty riflemen, all strong young men accustomed to the hardships incident to a life in the
wilderness, and directed them to make their way as rapidly as possible over the
mountains to Fort Ligonier. The Forbes road was closely watched by the
Indians, so these young men struck out through the trackless mountains, and
soon appeared on the hillside east of Fort Ligonier. Being unheralded they
dare not approach the fort lest they be mistaken for the enemy and fired on by
those whom they sought to relieve. But fortunately they were discovered and
fired on by the Indians surrounding the fort, and with this certificate of good
faith, they were recognized by the watchful soldiers in the garrison, who opened
its gates to welcome them, and, moreover, fired on their pursuers. The relief
thus sent came none too soon, for the force was nearly exhausted, though they
had plenty of provisions, ammunition and water. No one dared to leave the
stockade for weeks. Domestic animals wandering outside were killed at once
by the besieging Indians. The enemy doubtless knew of the military stores in
Fort Ligonier ready for Fort Pitt, and that to secure these would force the
stronghold on the Ohio to surrender, and that the devastation of the western
settlements would follow..Rumors of all these matters were carried from Fort
Pitt and from Fort Ligonier and Bedford to Carlisle. All united in asking that
an army march at once to their relief. This army, it is true, must come from
Philadelphia, and would require weeks of marching over the entire intervening
Appalachian system of mountains, but it was the nearest assistance the besieged
garrison could call on.
The French and Indian War had been a long one, and with the treaty of
February Io, I763, the army had been largely disbanded, so that when Pontiac's
War came it found the resources of the country well nigh exhausted. Therefore, when the appeal of Fort Pitt for assistance was made to the commanderin-chief, General Amherst, it found him almost powerless to render any material aid. Nor could he in his northern post, appreciate the magnitude of the
59A4 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
*  prisings on the part of Pontiac's Indians. He regarded it as an uprising such as
had often been threatened, and as often met bravely when it came, by the sturdy
pioneers. He accordingly wrote to Colonel Bouquet saying, "Fort Pitt, or any
others commanded by officers, could certainly never be in danger froln such
wretched enemies."  In the same letter he asked for further informlation concerning the progress the savages were making, and upon receipt of this,
promised to execute certain measures which he had in mind for the defence of
the frontiers. His purpose was in reality to march an army from tlle North.
and going down by the lakes, relieve Presq' Isle and Fort Le Boeuf, and then
proceed to Fort Pitt. Like Braddock, he undoubtedly underestimated the
power of the enemy, regarding them as undrilled savages and, -therefore, not
equal to meet the "King's Regulars."  The appeals for assistance were sent
largely to Colonel Bouquet, and came not alone from Fort Pitt but from Forts
Ligonier and Bedford as well. With each advancing week the news grew
worse and worse, and Bouquet was all this time communicating regularly with
Amherst. Finally the latter, with considerable inconvenience to his plans,
placed the Forty-second and Seventy-fifth Regiments, which were then at
Philadelphia, under Bouquet's command, and directed him "if he thought neces-'sary, to proceed to Fort Pitt."  On July 3, I763; Bouquet was at Carlisle when
an express rider sent by Colonel Ourry, commanding at Fort Bedford,
broug,ht the news of the fall of Presq' Isle, Le Boeuf and Venango. This
added to the already great excitement and unrest among the people in the
Carlisle region. The regiments intended for Fort Pitt had in the meantime
moved to Carlisle, and were there preparing for their long westward march
under Bouquet. The commander, with his usual expedition, was trying to recruit and build them up, but it must be remembered that the community surrounding Carlisle was already overrun with Pontiac's Indians. Almost every
house, stable and Shop in Carlisle and the military barracks at that place were
filled to overflowing, and even the woods and fields around the town abounded
with settlers and their families, many of whom were on their way to Philadelphia and were abandoning their homes, perhaps forever. This excited condition of the community prevented Bouquet from securing the proper transportation and from adding any material strength to his forces. Indeed, such was
their great need and fear that he was compelled to share his own scanty provisions with them. The savages overran the. country, far east of the Allegheny
mountains and carried death and desolation everywhere they went. Hundreds
of farmers were murdered and their wives and children if not murdered were
carried off as captives. -The property destroyed and stolen has been estimated
at five hundred thousand pounds. On July 3rd the courier from Fort Bedford
rode into Carlisle. He was at once surrounded by an anxious crowd and his
tale of woe struck horror to the bravest pioneers. "The Indians," said he, "will
soon be here." Bouquet spread the alarm by messengers sent in every diirection; the messengers were met by fugitives on every highway or by-path,
all fleeing to Carlisle for refuge. Armed men were sent out to warn the living
6oPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
and bury the dead. They found only (leath and desolation and were sickened
by the horrible spectacle of gioups of hogs tearing and devouring the dead
bodies of men, women and children. In addition to the troops sent him by General Amherst, Bouquet had two companies of his own regiment, the German
Swiss and the Royal American. But of the Seventy-seventh Regiment he received only a part and even these were so debilitated by long service and sickness
in the South, that Amherst assigned them to Boquet's command with great reluctance, regarding them as only fit to recuperate in hospitals. With as much
expedition as possible, Bouquet prepared his little band for the westward march.
His mission was not by any means an inviting one. Except for the narrow
road which Forbes, Washington, Bouquet and Burd had cut five years before,
his way for the main part lay through an almost unbroken forest. Near Fort
Pitt, in the gloomy wilderness before him, lay the bleaching bones of Braddock's army, and these dead in numbers far exceed all the soldiers of his army.
-To march west with such an army, only one-fifth of Braddock's army and
scarcely the one-fifteenth of the army of Forbes, and at such a time, seemed
almost foolhardy to the military men of that day. Nor did his soldiers know
anything about Indian warfare save what he taught them as they marched
west, for they had been but recently in the West Indies, where they were engaged in fighting the Spaniards. But the brave Swiss colonel was a most excellent teacher, for he was able at all times to match in shrewdness with the
most wary Indian warriors. Washington prophesied that his force would
never reach Fort Pitt. Indeed, all things being considered, we believe Bouquet's march to the relief of Fort Pitt must ever rank as the most stupendous
undertaking of our colonial history. Finally on the I7th day of July he set
out with a force of about five hundred men, of whom the most effective were the
Highlanders from the Forty-second Regiment. As the heavy wagons of the
convoy moved slowly westward through the streets of Carlisle, guarded by the
barelegged Highlanders in kilts and plaids, the excited crowd gazed upon them
with silence, for they knew that their only hope of relief centered around this
doubtful enterprise. The haggard looks and thin, wan frames of the wornout
soldiers, at least sixty of whom were unable to march at all and were carried in
wagons, added to their doubts. Bouquet hoped that these would recuperate' as
he marched westward, and would be able to reinforce the small garrisons which
he passed along the route. He reached Shippensburg, at the base of the eastern slope of the Allegheny mountains on July 20th. There his army found
a starving, frightened, griefstricken multitude. According to his report there
were I384 inhabitants gathered there, consisting of men, women and children,
many of whom were obliged to sleep in barns, stables, cellars and sheds, and all
of whom had been frightened from their houses by the depredations committed
by Pontiac's Indians.
Not knowing that Ourry had relieved Fort Ligonier from Bedford, Bouquet
sent thirty of his best men on a rapid and most dangerous march to relieve the
little garrison under Colonel Blane, Bouquet having previously sent two small
6iA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
companies of advance troops to relieve Fort Bedford. The troops to relieve
Fort Ligonier made the march and entered the fort much as Ourry's men had
done, under the fire of the besieging Indians. All the way west, Bouquet saw
the country devastated, met thousands of settlers fleeing from their homes in
quest of safety, but saw no Indians. Whole families were murdered and scalped
within a few miles of his army, but so wary was the enemy that never in a single
instance did Bouquet's army come across them. Word had reached him that
Bedford and the surrounding community was filled with savages. He, theiefore,
meant to give battle to the enemy at Bedford, for in that vicinity their depredations indicated their presence in great numbers, though they had not attacked
the fort because his advanced companies had added to its well known strength.
But when his army arrived, no enemy was to be seen nor fought. He reached
Bedford on July 25th, where he recruited his forces by inducing thirty backwoodsmen to accompany his army west. He remained at Bedford three days to
rest his men and animals. He had great difficulty in securing frontiersmen, for
most of them had ties which bound them to remain at home to defend their
neighbors or those of still closer kindred. Until he reached Bedford his lack of
pioneers was one of the weak points of his army, for the Highlanders, though
brave and daring as the knights of old, were almost useless as scouts or flankers
necessary to protect the line of march and to prevent surprises, for in that capacity they invariably lost themselves in the woods. Leaving Bedford on July
28th, they reached Ligonier on August 2nd, having now marched one hundred
and fifty miles from Carlisle. His arrival brightened up the drooping spirits in
the fortress. All Indians about the fort vanished at once as his army approached. The fort had been completely blockaded, and, like Bedford, had received no word from the outside for weeks. One of Bouquet's strong points in
this march was the vigilance with which he guarded against surprises. Riflemen from the frontier scoured the woods in front of the advancing army. Backwoodsmen marched in the front, and were closely followed by the pioneers, pack
horses, wagons and teams of oxen; then came the.cattle necessary to subsist the
army, and these were followed and guarded by the regulars, with a rear guard
of backxvoodsmen. The march was necessarily very slow, and the stifling heat
of July and August in the dense forest added still more suffering and toil to
the army.  Yet in less than four days, under all these difficulties, the train
wound its zigzag way up and down the Allegheny mountains and across Laurel
Hill from Bedford to Ligonier, a distance of fifty miles. From Ligonier west
the road, which the reader will remember was opened hurriedly by Washington
five years before, was reported to be very bad. Furthermore, from certain unmistakable signs, Bouquet knew that the Indians had spies watching every
movement of his army and that his train might be attacked at any time by the
ambuscading foe. He therefore determined to leave his oxen, heavy artillery,
wagons and knapsacks at Ligonier, and to move more rapidly with pack horses
and a few necessary cattle. On August 4th the army, thus lightened, resumed
the march from Ligonier with three hundred and forty pack horses laden with
62supplies for the immediate relief of Fort Pitt, and with the soldiers each carrying
only his blanket and light arms. Blane had added to Bouquet's army at Ligonier
such forces as he could spare from the fort, and it was strengthened there by
some settlers who were in the fort for safety. Starting late on August 4th, the
army marched but nine miles that day, and encamped west of Chestnut Ridge,
perhaps about three miles southeast of Latrobe. On August 5th they struck their
tents shortly after daylight and began their march, hoping to reach Bushy Run,
about eighteen miles northwest, where they meant to rest during the heated part
of the day, and then push on thirteen miles further, and thus pass certain dangerous ravines at Turtle creek by night time, for the commander feared an atThe barrel of this gun was plowed up about 1828, by a man named Moore, on the Bushy Run
battlefield, (August 5, 1763). It remained in the Moore family until 1888, when it
came into the possession of J. Howard Patton, who had it remounted.
It shows the flint lock very well.
tack should he pass them by day. To this end he had timed his march in leaving
Ligonier. The country through which they were marching was hilly, apparently
intended for the lurking Indians, whose strength lay in ambuscades and surprises.
A tall dense forest, spreading for countless miles around, covered hill and dale.
By one o'clock the tired and thirsty army was nearing Bushy Run, having traveled rapidly for about seventeen miles. Among the troops added at Ligonier
was Andrew Byerly and several of his neighbors. Byerly lived near Bushy
Run, at a place called Byerly's Station, and when Pontiac's Indians overran the
community, with his wife and family he had taken refuge in Fort Ligonier.
Byerly and about eighteen Highlanders were in front, when suddenly the sharp
rattle of musketry, mingled with terrific war whoops from the Indians sounded
through the woods. Twelve of the eighteen men fell almost instantly. The
rear of the army rushed up to support the advance, but the firing only increased.
The fire was returned, for a few Indians could be seen, and on these a general
charge with fixed bayonets was ordered. This charge very soon cleared the
ground of Indians, but only temporarily, for the assault almost instantly burst
out in the rear, which showed Bouquet that his convoy of supplies was attacked. The troops at once fell back and drove the Indians away from the supplies, and formed a circle around the terrified pack horses. The attack was ledA CENTURY AND 4 H.4LF OF
by. Guyasuta, heading a band of Indian warriors that had been collected from
as far east as Ligonier, and included the besieging Indians around Fort Pitt, who
it will be remembered, had left that place on August Ist. They knew the ground
well, and fought fromn every possible place of concealment. The regular soldiers
and Scotch Highlanders, though not accustomed to such warfare, inspired by
their skillful commander, stood up bravely and resisted them in splendid shape.
Bouquet, it will be remembered, had been instructin.g them daily during their
march in the Indian mode of fighting. Again and again bands of Indians, now
on one side, then on the other, would rush toward the circle, trying to break in.
They were fired at and regularly chased back by bayonets, but escaping behind
trees with great activity, very few of them were killed. The British suffered
more than the Indians, for they were less accustomed to bush fighting, and necessarily had to remain at one place to defend the convoy. Thus the fighting
was carried on for seven hours without intermission, and only ceased when the
forest was darkened by tlie approaching night. The soldiers encamped for the
night in the same position they had occupied all afternoon, each soldier resting
on his arms, and with sentinels posted in every direction. Thirst had quickened
their march at one o'clock, when word was passel along that theA were nearing
Bushy Run, for it must be remnembered that all day they were mnarchilg on a
dividing ridge and had passed but little water. But now the surrounding
enemy forbade their removing fromn the higher ground, and not a drop of
water was within the enclosure. Bouquet wrote that night that their thirst was
more intolerable than the enemy's fire. It is well authenticated that at great
risk a few hat fulls of water for the wounded, were brought from a spring near
by, though it was closely guarded by the Indians. The night was perhaps more
horrible than the day. Bouquet himself was doubtful whether his army could
survive the contest which he knew the rising sun would bring him. He,
therefore, wrote an account of the day's fighting to, Sir Jeffery Amherst, andclosed it with these words: "Whatever our fate may be, I thought it necessary
to give your Excellency this early information that you may, at all events, take
such measures as you think proper with the provinces for their own safety and
the effectual relief of Fort Pitt; as in case of another engagement I fear unsurmountable difficulties in protecting and transporting our provision, being
very mnuch weakened by the losses of this day, in men and horses, besides the
additional necessity of carrying the wounded, whose situation is truly deplorable."
Well might the brave commander say that the condition of the wounded
was truly deplorable. About sixty soldiers and a number of officers had been
killed and wounded by the first day's battle. The wounded were placed in the
center of the camp, and the space occupied by them was surrounded by a wall
of flour bags taken from the packhorses. They were thus protected in some
degree against the bullets which whistled around the camp all night. In addition to their wounds and the agony of thirst, was the suspense of awaiting the
issue of the battle which they knew would come with the morning light, without
64PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
being able to take any part in it. Defeat stared the whole army in the face, and
the wounded in particular knew that their only mercy in that event would be
the tomahawk and the scalping knife. Nor would victory insure the safety of
the wounded, for but little increase in their numbers would render it impossible
for the army to transport them to a place of safety. The camp, moreover, remained in darkness all night, for lights or fires would but have directed the aim
of the Indians.
With the earliest dawn of morning the battle was renewed from all sides at
once, and except that it was more furious, and that the Indians were seemingly
more positive of victory, and, therefore, more venturesome, it was fought very
much like that of the day before. The interior of the camp was one of great
confusion during both battles. The horses were secured near the wall of flour
bags, which during the night and in the second battle screened the wounded
soldiers. Many of the horses were hit by bullets. This would greatly frighten
them, and sometimes eight or ten would break away and dash through the circle
of troops and tear madly through the wilderness. Thus the battle was kept up
until about ten o'clock, when the fertile mind of the commander conceived a
masterly stratagem. He knew if the fiery circle of whooping demons could
be brought and held together, he could easily overpower them. He knew, too,
from their increased audacity the enemy thought his army was about to surrender. So he ordered two companies under the command of Major Campbell
(which formed a part of the circle) to fall back to the central part of the camp,
while those remaining in the circle were spread out to fill up the gaps'made by
the apparent retreat of the two companies and to cover their movement. The
line forming the outer circle was also drawn in because of their fewer numbers
remaining. The Indians, as was intended, mistook this for a retreat and, bloodthirsty for the numerous scalps and abundant provisions which apparently awaited them, with furious yells rushed headlong toward the circle. But below the
circle there was a depression in the ground covered with a thick growth of trees,
which concealed it from the Indians, who were swarming about it. Through
this depression Campbell's two companies ran rapidly, and very soon came
around behind the furious assailants and opened fire on them. The Indians
were thus surprised, and though many of them were killed at the first fire, they
stood their ground till the Highlanders, with yells as wild and furious as their
own, fell on them with bayonets. As was expected, they could not withstand a
charge of bayonets, and they accordingly lost ground. But, while the charge
was in progress Bouquet, with the eye of a true soldier, seeing the direction
the Indians must flee when overcome with bayonets, had concealed in the bushes
two other companies under the command of Captain Bassett, taken from other
parts of the circle, with orders to await quietly the approach of the enemy.
Pressed by the terrific Highlanders, now maddened with hunger and thirst, the
Indians passed directly in front of these two ambushing companies. At the proper moment Bassett's companies arose and fired squarely into them, and then
charged them with bayonets. This completed the rout and the four companies
5A CENTURY AND A HALF OF}
drove them fleeing down the hill, firing as rapidly as possible, but giving the Indians no time to load their guns. Many of them were killed, and the remainder
of this division were scattered in hopeless confusion. While this took place a
smaller body of Indians had maintained a steady contest and about an equal one,
with those who still guarded the other side of the circle, but, when they saw,
their comrades fleeing in disorder through the woods and saw the victorious
troops advancing to attack them with bayonets, they, too, lost courage and ran'
for shelter. In a few minutes all was quiet, and not a living Indian was left on
the ground. There were about sixty of them dead, however, and among them
several prominent chiefs and warriors. All through the woods the bloodstained
leaves showed that many more of those who fled were badly wounded. Bouquet's army took one Indian prisoner, whom most accounts say they killed as
though he had been a wolf. Tradition, which is well founded, says he was cap-'
tured by a Highlander who was very proudly taking him to Bouquet, when an
overzealous and indiscreet officer shot him through the head, and was severely
rebuked by Bouquet for doing so. Bouquet's loss was eight officers and one
hundred and fifteen.men, undoubtedly greater than that of the enemy. The
first battle lasted about seven hours, and the second about- six. Bouquet, with
his army standing on the threshold of defeat and disaster, by this masterly stratagem, grasped from the very jaws of death, the greatest victory all things being
considered, that was ever won over the Indians in America.
When the battle was ended the first duty of the army was to make litters on
which to transport the wounded soldiers. They were also compelled to destroy
many provisions and stores valuable though they were, after transporting them
so far, which the loss of many of his horses made it impossible for them to transport farther. Then the army moved to Bushy Run, where it encamped for the
night, on the banks of the cool shaded stream. They had scarcely formed their
camp when they were fired on by a small party of Indians, who, however, were
soon driven away. Fort Pitt was yet about twenty-five miles distant, and though
the weakened and overburdened army marched as rapidly as possible, yet it
dlid not reach the fort until the morning of the Ioth of August. All the way
the soldiers were annoyed by attacking parties of Indians, but these were
minor matters to an army which had survived such a march and such
a battle.  The garrison had neither seen nor heard anything of the
Indians since they had abandoned the siege on August ist.  On the
morning of the Ioth the Indians passed the fort in a body, and, as
they  saluted it by a scalp yell, they displayed these'barbarous trophies,
for they had scalped all they could find of the soldiers killed at Bushy
Run. The inmates of the fort were, however, soon delighted to see Bouquet's
army marching down, bringing food and soldiers to their relief. It came none
too soon, for famine was close at hand. In a letter written to Bouquet on August 2d, by Captain Ecuyer, he says, "I have four legs of beef and no flour." This
was indeed a limited commissary upon which to subsist nearly six hundred men,
women and children. Had the siege been kept up by the Indians a day or two
66PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
longer, which would have been the case but for the rumored approach of Bouquet's army, Ecuyer would have been compelled to surrender, which, meant
the murder of most of those in the fort. But during the summer the gardens
around the fort were cultivated and, strange to say, they were not destroyed by
the Indians. Doubtless they were so sure of capturing it that they preserved
them for their own use. So the people had access to these when the Indians
left on August Ist. Spelt, called also German wheat, was ripe, and moreover,
the rivers abounded with fish, and the garrison was therefore reasonably well
subsisted until Bouquet's army, with its relief, arrived. Bouquet had been ordered to march from Fort Pitt to relieve Forts Venango, Le Boeuf and Presq'
Isle, but these forts had fallen, and his army was in such condition that a further march was out of the question. Shortly after his arrival at Fort Pitt he
sent to Fort Ligonier for the stores and heavier guns left there. What he had
already done excited great joy throughout the country, particularly among those
who realized the incalculable difficulties of a campaign against the Indians.
After the conspiracy had spent its forces, Pontiac went to Illinois, and for
a short time remained with a tribe of Indians near Joliet. He was killed by being stabbed in the back by an Indian who had been instigated to commit the deed
by an English trader, who feared that Pontiac was about to arouse the Illinois
Indians against the English. The Illinois Indians were held accountable for
his death and the tribes which had long followed his matchless leadership
united to chastise them for his death, so loyal were these red men of the forest to
their great but misguided chief ruler.
The Indian, Guyasuta, who commanded the forces at Bushy Run, was a
chief of the Senecas, and with him were many warriors of the Ohio tribes. He
too, was a strong warrior, and in his savage way made a lasting impression on
the times in which he lived. Though not by any means so powerful a character
as Pontiac, he dominated the Western Pennsylvania division of Pontiac's War,
and indeed in that day it was sometimes, and not without reason, called Guyasuta's War. He was a real savage, without the "quality of mercy" in his
makeup, and never made peace save when compelled so to do. When Washington made his remarkable trip to Fort Le Boeuf in I753, Guyasuta accompanied him as guide, and in the notes of that trip is spoken of as "the hunter."
Washington thought well of him, and paid him a visit at his house in I770, at
which time he says the Chief treated him with great kindness. His home was
on the Allegheny river, now the Darlington estate, near Sharpsburg, where he
-died, and was buried on the tract of land which still bears his name.
The Indians around Fort Pitt were undoubtedly greatly disappointed with
their defeat in I763. Bouquet's army, as we have said, was unable to go north
to retake the fallen forts, nor could he at this time press them beyond the Ohio.
As soon after his arrival at Fort Pitt as his troops were rested, they were
divided up and distributed among the frontier- posts to remain in that service
during the fall and winter. Early with the opening of spring, preparations
were under way to send an army among the Indians to chastise them for the
67CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER XVI.
The Burning of Hannastown........................                                        230
CHAPTER XVII.
Formation of Allegheny County.-Copy of Old Petition Urging Passage of the Bill
Erecting It..........                                                  239
CHAPTER XVIII.
Pioneers of Pittsburg.-Their Habits, Customs and Hardships..................... 252
CHAPTER XIX.
The Beginning of the Town of Pittsburg, Its Streets, etc.-Washington's Last
Visit.-The Founding of Alleghenytown.................................... 269
CHAPTER XX.
The Early Thrift in Pittsburg.-Sale of Fort Pitt.-Ordinance of 1787.-Indian
Troubles.-Fort Lafayette.-Wayne's Victory............................... 279
CHAPTER XXI.
Early Census and Description of Pittsburg.-Predominating Nationality.......... 292
CHAPTER XXII.
Whiskey  Insurrection......................................................... 298
CHAPTER XXIII.
Manufacturing.-Early Industries in Pittsburg.................................. 319
CHAPTER XXIV.
The State Road.-The Philadelphia and Pittsburg Turnpike.-Plank Roads.-The
National Road............................................................. 329
CHAPTER XXV.
Early Descriptions of Pittsburg.-Brackenridge, Royal, Cumming, Pope, etc.......344
CHAPTER XXVI.
The War of 1812.............                                              360
CHAPTER XXVII.
Navigation on the Ohio River.-Early Boat Building.-The First Steamboat; Slackwater Improvements on the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers........... 370
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Constitution.-Hamilton's American System.- Henry Baldwin.-Henry Clay... 376
CHAPTER XXIX.
Politics of Early Pittsburg.................................................... 383
CHAPTER XXX.
Canals; Their Effect on the Commerce of Pittsburg..............................  394
CHAPTER XXXI.
Pittsburg's Prominent Visitors:  LaFayette, Dickens, Kossuth, The  Prince  of
Wales, Lincoln, Grant.404
CHAPTER XXXII.
Pittsburg Politics 1832-1856.-Formation of the Republican Party......... 422A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
mischief they had done in Pontiac's War. The forces for this purpose were
recruited by Colonel Bouquet and concentrated at Fort Louden, Pennsylvania,
but the usual delay was encountered, and it was August before the army thus
recruited reached Carlisle. The Quakers would not go to war readily and were
therefore slow to assist him. Bouquet wrote toi Amherst, saying: "I find myself utterly abandoned by the people I am ordered to protect. I have borne
very patiently the ill usage of this Province, having still hopes that they would
do something for us and therefore have avoided a quarrel with them."  Nearly
two hundred of his men deserted before they reached Fort Pitt, but here by
Bouquet's request he was joined by two hundred Virginians under Colonel
Lewis. The army numbered about six hundred and were Pennsylvania
and Virginia volunteers.  They came west by the same route Bouquet's
army had taken a year before, and reached Fort Pitt on September I7th. The
intended field of his operations was west of Pittsburg. Its bearing on Pittsburg and the salutary effects of his campaign on the prosperity and peace of
the western border were so direct that a brief account of it is in place.
He left Fort Pitt early in October, and by slow marches in less than a
fortnight pitched his camp in the midst of the Indian dominion. The Indians
had not forgotten the battle of Bushy Run. They knew of Bouquet's determined
nature, and of his ability, even with a weaker army, to outwit and overthrow
them in a contest. He repeatedly baffled them in their attempts to ambuscade
him, and made them in the end glad indeed to sue for peace.  They were
scarcely allowed to molest his march farther than by these attempts to surprise
him. His army with the usual train of pack-horses, cattle and sheep had encamped on the banks of the Muskingum river, in Ohio. From his camp he sent
out invitations to all the neighboring tribes to meet him in council. Nearly
every tribe was represented by its chief. Bouquet asked them that they enter
into a treaty with him, that thereafter they should live at peace with the border
settlements, and that they should within twelve days, deliver up all prisoners
whom they had captured among the settlers and whom they yet held in bondage.
They finally complied with these terms and entered into this agreement, which
is known as the "Bouquet Treaty," and, in Ohio particularly, is indeed quite a.
noted one. The delivery of the prisoners had to be managed with great diplomacy on his part, lest the Indians fall on the prisoners and kill them. To prevent
this he held some of the chiefs of each tribe as hostages for the safe deliveranceof the prisoners. Thus it was that peace was againi restored to the border settlements and without bloodshed. The army at length, on November I8, started
back to Fort Pitt with several hundred men, women and children, made happyby thus being freed from captivity among the savages and restored to their
homes from which they had been stolen. They reached Fort Pitt in ten days,
just in time to escape the approaching winter.
Another work of Bouquet's which grew out of this campaign is still preserved and serves to make the expedition an ever memorable one to the people of
Pittsburg. We refer to the old block house. When his army reached the68fort in August, 1763, he was not satisfied with it as a place of defence against
an attacking body of Indians. The ditch or moat around the fort enabled the
Indians to come within a few feet of it in dry weather and at the same time be
protected against the guns by the banks of the moat. It is probable that he began the erection of a block house, or redoubt, that year, shortly after the battle
Block House at the Fork of the Ohio, built
1764, by Henry Bouquet. Still standing,
now the property of the Daughters of
tlhe American Revolution of
Allegheny County.
of Bushy Run. It is certain that he finished it in I764, but the time of year in
which it was finished is not known. It is situated about four hundred and'fifty
feet from the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers unite to
form the Ohio, and it is about equally distant from each of these streams. The
structure is of red brick, which the forces at the fort made and burned on the
ground. Its slanting, five-sided roof was of old fashioned clapboards made
from trees near by, and doubtless very much like those of a more recent make,
which now protect the old structure from the rain. Near the center and also
near the top of its walls are oak logs embedded in the brick and extending
around the entire building and in these logs were cut thirty-three port-holes,
fifteen below and eighteen above, through which the soldiers could fire on a besieging enemy. These portholes were in two rows, one above the other;
one row for the upper and one for the lower story, for more effective action
and by more soldiers in times of necessity. The structure is in the main part
twenty-two and a half by sixteen feet, and has five sides, three of which areA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
rectangular, the other two sides being each fifteen feet long, and closing up the
twenty-two and a half foot side' next to the Allegheny river. For this reason
pictures of it taken from one side show apparently a four-square structure, while
those taken from another point show a five-sided one. It is twenty-two feet
high from the floor to the eaves of the roof. The inside of the building was
and is yet provided with a stairway which wound up the two short fifteen-foot
sides next to the Allegheny, going up to a gallery extending around the building.
On this galley the riflemen stood when firing through the upper tier of portholes mentioned. It was entered by one small door, and had no other means of
receiving the sunlight except through the portholes. Above the door was a
stone tablet, set into the wall, with the inscription, "A. D. I764," and below is
the name, "Coll. Bouquet." The carving is rudely done on a plain piece of
sandstone, such as might have been found anywhere around the fort, but both
the stone and its inscription are almost as perfect as though the workmen had
but recently finished them. When the City Hall of Pittsburgh was built, the
stone tablet was taken from the wall of the block house, which was not valued
so highly then, and placed in the inside of the new building, at the head of the
first landing of the stairway. On December I5, I894, it was, by permission of
the City Councils, and at the request of the Daughters of the American Revolution, taken from the City Hall and firmly cemented into its original position,
where it is now and perhaps will ever remain. The block house is the sole
existing monument of British dominion at Pittsburg, and is and perhaps will
ever remain by far the most precious historic structure in the city. It is the
oldest and first brick house built in Pittsburg. Further of its more recent
history and the record title of the land upon which it stands, may interest the
reader, and will be found elsewhere in this work.
Henry Bouquet was born on the northern shores of Lake Geneva, in the
canton of Berne, Switzerland, about I7I9. When seventeen years old he became a cadet in the regiment of Constance and later entered the service of the
King of Sardinia, in whose wars'he advanced rapidly in position, and was soon
raised to the rank of lieutenant and later to that of adjutant. He entered the
Swiss Guards as lieutenant-colonel in I748. In I754, when the war between
England and France broke out, he came to America in the English service.
He was an officer of high native ability, and soon won the confidence of the
people of Virginia and Pennsylvania. He distinguished himself under Forbes
in 1758, and was one of his chief advisers. More readily than any foreign
officer of his day, he learned the best methods of fighting the American Indian.
Few if any soldiers in our history have equalled him in this method of warfare.
The crowning event of his military life must ever be his march to the relief of
Fort Pitt, and the battle of Bushy Run. The Assembly of Pennsylvania and
the House of Burgesses of Virginia adopted addresses of gratitude, tendered
him their thanks, and recommended him for promotion in His Majesty's service.
When peace with the Indians indicated that his services would no longer be
needed, in this section, the king appointed him a brigadier-general and com70mandant in the Southern Colonies. He died in Pensacola, Florida, September
2, 1765. His will is on record in Philadelphia. His grave is unmarked and
unknown. About a quarter of a century ago efforts were put forth by Adjutant
General Richard C. Drum to locate his grave, through military authorities in the'land in which he died. All
efforts proved fruitless.  He
was probably buried in Pensacola, and the old'cemetery
of that place, which most likely held his remains, was destroyed by the Spaniards under General Galvez, in I781.
Pittsburg is without monuments  to  five  men  whosenlames should be forever revered by her people. George
Washington  discovered  and
recommended the "F! ork of
the Ohio" as the best place to
build a fort, and his suggestion  was carried  out.  He
afterward gave years of military service to wrest this community from the French, and
to implant here the English
speaking race which has since
built up the busiest and one
of the most powerful cities of
the world. IHis achievements
in life were all for the benefit
of the human family, and were
such as to rank him  as the
greatest man who has yet
sprung from the English speaking people. A monument to him may be therefore erected with propriety anywhere in the United States, but there is no
comnunity save one, whose right to call him her special benefactor, and to
preserve and revere his name for all time is equal to that of Pittsburg. Yet
the stranger within her gates sees no monument, no tablet in bronze, and
scarcely an inscription to emphasize his early connection with this locality.
The city itself, as the great American historian has beautifully said, is an
enduring monument to William  Pitt.  Greatly, indeed, is the city indebted
to him. It was his genius and foresight which sent armies across the ocean to
assist us when we were weak; it was his enthusiasm and energy which inspired
HENRY BOUQUET.72                 A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
the English soldier to heroic efforts in the American wilderness; it was his
integrity and sense of justice which nerved him to stand almost alone in the
British Parliament in advocating the rights of the struggling colonies, by which
advocacy he brought upon his hoary head the wrath of the English government.
But the people whose greatest pride is the city which bears his name, have failed
to rear to this forerunner of American liberty a special monument commemorating the interest which the great Englishman took in our cause, and particularly the efforts he put forth to secure possession of Fort Duquesne and
the Ohio Valley for the Anglo-Saxon race forever.
Edward Braddock died bravely in the cause, and while his expedition
did not accomplish the object for which he made the long, tedious journey, his
defeat and death opened the eyes of the English and American people to the
grave situation before them, so that they girt on their armor and renewed
their attack with a zeal, a force and a caution equal to the demands of the
occasion. In all our wars men have been sacrified before the people sustaining them realized the needs of the hour. The army which followed Braddock wisely profited by his bitter experience, but he who taught this lesson by
laying down his life, should be none the less glorified because of "a memory
clouded by misfortune and a name foreverever coupled with defeat."
John Forbes, by sheer power of his iron will, forced his army through the
gloomy wilderness and, though debilitated by disease, succeeded on the way in
bringing about a treaty with the Indians by reason of which the French were
largely compelled to surrender Fort Duquesne without a contest. His victory
opened the great'West, which has since been filled with America's most
thrifty people. His campaign broke up the long standing alliance between the
French and the Indians, and did much to relieve Western Pennsylvania from
the horror of the tomahawk and the scalping knife. He opened the first road
into Pittsburg from the well settled East and there is no doubt but that he
gave it the name of wvhich all of its busy citizens are yet so justly proud.
Last but not least, a monument should be erected to Henry Bouquet. Aside
from sharing with Forbes and Washington in the glory of taking Fort Duquesne and opening up the West, his march to the relief of the starving Fortress
in I763, must always be considered as one of the most marvellous in our history. The battle of Bushy Run, incidental to the march, brought a measure of
peace and safety to the western frontier, and is without a parallel in the annals
of our usually unfortunate warfare with the American Indians. These efforts
were put forth by one born in a foreign land who sleeps perhaps in our
territory, in an unknown grave. He dared to perform these services for
the benefit of Fort Pitt and the surrounding community. Monuments to all
these great names, even though in tardy recognition of their services, would
show that the people appreciate the hardships endured and the heroic efforts put
forth to found and nurture the civilization, the industry and the culture at the
Fork of the Ohio which today constitutes their chief pride. They would bear
down to future generations of unborn Pittsburgers, and to all the world, an enduring evidence of the patriotic spirit of the Iron City in the twentieth century.CHAPTE'R IV.
Titles to Lands In and Around Pittsburg
In order to understand thoroughly the difficulties by which Pittsburg was
founded, and the methods by which titles to land purchased by the first settlers
were granted, the reader must glance at our early history and its effects upon
primitive settlements in Western Pennsylvania.
All of the present state of Pennsylvania was granted on March 4, I68I,
by Charles II, king of England, to William Penn for marine services, which his
father, Admiral Penn, had rendered the English government in European wars.
This debt was about Io,ooo pounds and the grant in payment was made directly
to the son, William Penn, so that Pennsylvania was granted solely to an individual and not to a company or colony. William Penn began a settlement at
Philadelphia in I682. It was never called a colony as other settlements were,
but a province, indicating in some degree, that its government was under the
direction of one man. The heirs and descendants of Penn were called proprietaries and their civil government was called a proprietary government.
From William Penn's first settlement in the province his policy was primarily
one of peace with the Indians. Though his title to the land was pre-eminent, yet
he purchased these lands from the Indians; these lands which were already his
by a royal grant. In this way the province was saved much bloodshed and only
when the spirit of his pacific principles in dealing with the Indians was forgotten or disregarded, or but nominally adhered to, were the settlements deluged
in blood. His grant began at the Delaware river near the 40th degree of North
latitude and extended west in a straight line a distance of five degrees of longitude, and thence in a straight line north to Lake Erie. When it was finally surveyed there was no room for doubt about its boundaries, but at the time of the
first settlement of Pittsburg the boundary of Virginia conflicted, as it was then
believed, with our territory. In I609 the Virginia Company had been chartered
by James I. By their charter, thoutgh it had been revoked in I624, they laid
claim to Southwestern Pennsylvania and Ohio and practically to all of the territory westward to the Pacific Ocean. The Virginia authorities, however, never
disputed Penn's right to the land for five degrees west from the Delaware, but
they claimed that by measurement this land would not reach beyond the AlleA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
gheny mountains, or at all events not west of the Monongahela river. This river
flowing nearly north and the Allegheny river flowing nearly south would make,
as it seemed to them, a natural and a reasonable boundary for Western Pennsylvania. The Virginians claimed further that they had fought for this territory around the Fork of the Ohio to wrest it from the French and Indians in the
armies of Washington, Braddock and Forbes, and that the territory had been
already settled to a considerable extent by people from their colony who had
been guarded and protected in every way by Virginia. These claims were
somewhat arrogant and in the main, as we shall see, were ill founded.The southern boundary had also been in dispute and in 1767 Lord Baltimore, governor of Maryland, arranged with the Penns that two engineers
should survey the land and forever determine the boundaries between Maryland
and Pennsylvania. The surveyors chosen were Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon, who came from England to do this work. Their autlhority extenJed
west only as far as Western Maryland. The line they located has since been
known as the Mason and Dixon's Line, and has perpetuated their names in history for all time. But the survey did not settle the line west of Maryland,
though Governor Farquier and many other prominent men of Virginia never
seriously doubted its western location after that survey. The survey, moreover,
settled nothing as to the western boundary (running north and south) of
Pennsylvania, and the Virginia authorities continued to claim the land between
the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers. They sold lands in that region at lower
rates than the Pennsylvania authorities were selling them in any section, and
the latter discouraged all settlements in the disputed territory until the boundaries could be determined. The reasoning on the part of both colony and
province was obvious. To Virginia it was a clear gain to sell this land at any
price, for the authorities scarcely hoped to hold all of it under the ultimate decision, but Pennsylvania had plenty of land to sell in undisputed territory and
why, therefore, sell and improve lands which some day might in part at leas-c
fall within the limits of Virginia, or which by their improvements, would but
quicken the zeal of Virginia in claiming them. Then it was the policy of the
proprietary government to settle lands gradually as they came west so that the
frontier settlers might unitedly protect themselves against the Indians.
But there was another reason far above all these why, so far as possible,
they not only discouraged but prohibited all settlements in this section. William Penn, not only purchased or re-purchased his lands from the Indians, but
he so thoroughly emplanted this principle in the minds of his sons and representatives that though he had been dead nearly fifty years, when Pittsburg was
settled they were still at least pretending to follow his precepts in this matter.
The proprietary government never willingly permitted any one to settle on
land in a district which had not been purchased by them from the Indians. The
Indians, it is true, were gradually receding before the white race, and were
perhaps forced to sell their lands or be driven. from them without remuneration.
They were by nature a wandering people and the white race as a whole were
74PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
naturally progressive and aggressive. These purchases from the Indians were
made at treaties held between them and the white men. Both races were in all
cases represented, but no territory was supposed to be ceded by the Indians to
the white race, that is purchased from them, except for a valuable consideration on the part of the whites and especially upon a mutual agreement entered
into between the representatives of both races in a treaty. These treaties from
time to time secured the Indians in their possession of certain districts over
which they were to have dominion, and this security was in return for lands
which the Indians for other valuable considerations, sold to the white race.
The districts thus ceded to the white race were called "purchases" because they
were supposed to be purchased from the Indian. It is true that some times
with but slight provocation the Indians broke their treaties, but it is doubtful
whether they as a race flagrantly broke a regularly authorized treaty without
some considerable and unnecessary provocation or reason given them by the
white settlers.
At the treaty of Albany in I754 all lands practically lying Mwest of the Susquehanna river were supposed to be ceded to the white race by the Indians, but
the latter very soon discovered that their representatives in the treaty did not
understand the location of this western country and its boundaries, nor did they
understand the points of the compass as well as the white representatives; for
by this treaty they had parted with all their rights to lands as far west as Ohio.
Much of this land they in reality meant to retain and it had been virtually secured to them by former treaties between the white race and the Six Nations, a
confederacy formed of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Senecas,
and Tuscaroras tribes. To say the least, the purchases at the Albany treaty
were irregularly if not fraudulently gained from the Indians. So flagrant was
this treaty deception perpetrated on them that Governor Morris in I755 issued a
proclamation in which he denounced the Albany Purchase as little less than
criminal and as an affront to the whole world. It took from the natives, he said,
that which had been virtually ceded to them, and that which they had not
knowingly parted with, and was, moreover, so sweeping in its dimensions that it
left the Indians no country east of the Ohio to roam over and call their own.
The white representatives of the Albany Treaty defended their actions by giving
out that they,' too, were ignorant of the geography of Western Pennsylvania,
and by the terms of the purchase had received a much wider territory than they
expected or intended to gain. This may have been true, at least in part. The
hardship of this treaty on the Indians aggravated them and was an additional
incentive which prompted them to unite with the French in opposing Braddock and which spurred them on to the violences and bloodshed which followed in the next three years after his defeat. The white race had paid dearly
for the actions of their incompetent if not dishonest representatives in the Albany Treaty.
This was the great reason which induced the proprietaries to oppose and
forbid the settlement of the Pittsburg territory. They had no right to grant
75A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
lands in this section, if they kept their faith with the Indians, except by right
of the Albany purchase, which they admitted was fraudulently obtained. To
grant them, therefore, would have been a violation of good faith. There were
several of these treaties by which the lands of Indians were purchased from
them, but the treaties of I682, I718, I736, I754, I758, I768 and I784 were the
principal ones.
But far above and paramount to the rights of the proprietaries were the
reserved privileges of the English crown.,At will His Majesty had a right to
send armies anywhere in America, to make conquests, to open and keep up highways, to establish military posts and to support a standing army in our midst if
he thought fit or if his policy demanded it. When the Crown secured the
Canadas, as well as the boundless west by the termination of the French and
Indian War, the military posts built by the French fell into the possession of the
English. These had to be kept up and for the purpose of supplying them
alone, if for no other purposes, a communication had to be kept open between
them and with the eastern settlements which served as a base of supplies for the
garrisons. Most of the forts, whether built by the French or English, were
regularly garrisoned. Generally the commandant was an English officer. To
these commandants were delegated the nower under certain restrictions to
grant military permits to any one to settle on, cultivate and improve lands near
the forts or on the military roads leading from one fort to another. This was
necessary for the sustenance of the garrison. These settlers, particularly after
the first year, were able to raise farm products in abundance and were glad to
sell a sufficient amount of them to supply the garrison. In this way alone perhaps the garrison could be supported. It was a scheme of the great war minister, William Pitt, and was worthy of him, the shrewdest intellectual force of
his century in England. The commandants did not grant absolute titles, but
titles which might be perfected afterwards by complying with such regulations
as the Proprietaries might require. The English government never even recognized the Indian's claim to the land, and of course never questioned Penn or
his successors' title to it.
In the meantime hundreds of settlers, fur traders, farmers and merchants
located in this region, some of them with military permits and others in direct
disobedience of the mandate of the Proprietaries. To restrain these illegal settlements George the Third, king of England, as early as I763 issued a proclamation to the effect that a line was drawn around the head waters of all rivers in
the colonies which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean, and all emigrants were forbidden to settle west of that line. All of the territory west of the line was reserved for the Indians as far west as the Spanish territory west of the Mississippi river. Pittsburg was, of course, within the Indian territory.   If the
anxious-to-go-west people ever heard of the king's proclamation they paid no
attention whatever to it. One writer says--"the hardy pioneer cared no more
for the king's proclamation than he did for the bark of a wolf at his cabin door.
The ink with which the document was written had not dried before emigrantsPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
77
from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania were hurrying into the Valley of the
Monongahela."  They squatted on land which they thought desirable and
hoped finally to become its owners. It was wisdom on the part of the Proprietaries to keep these settlers out of this forbidden territory for their presence
was a constant menace to the Indians, who did not and could not know,.and
would not believe that they were not there by sanction of the Penns, and, therefore, in violation of their treaty. The Indians laid in many complaints because
of these encroachments, for they saw the inevitable result to their race. General Gage was then commander-in-chief of the armies of the colonies and put
forth every effort to stop it, but all was in vain. Finally on February 13, I768,
an Act of Parliament was passed which provided that any one having settled
here without permission and who should fail to move after a legal notice was
served on him to do so should, after being convicted of such neglect, "be punished with death without the benefit of the clergy." There was also a severe
penalty, imprisonment and a fine, imposed on those who even hunted deer or
other wild animals in the prohibited district. Of course these drastic measures
did not apply to those who had long before carved out homes in the woods of
this district, nor to those who settled by military permits. Many adventurous
pioneers who were determined to come here evaded the law in a measure by securing military permits, and these were granted right readily by accommodating
commandants. The permit gave the settler permission to live on and cultivate
a certain tract of land which was fairly well described and bounded, and in return the settler was to submit to all orders of the commander-in-chief, the commanding officer of the district and of the garrison. Finally General Gage with
his troops began to remove settlers by force, and a great many of them were so
ejected from this section, but as soon as the soldiers returned to the garrison the
hardy pioneers moved again on to their farms or clearings. It was impossible
to enforce the law, for the penalty of death could not be inflicted on a whole
community; so the settlers came and the murmurings of the Indians became
louder each month. The fear of an Indian uprising was, of'course, the great
reason why the Proprietaries were so determined to enforce the law prohibiting
settlers from this district. Had there been nothing to prevent its settlement but
the Indians all of these valleys would have been filled up almost in one season
with an aggressive pioneer element who would have made short work of the
Indian race. Settlers came west by both the Forbes and Braddock roads, the
only ones open at that time, and both of them terminating at Pittsburg, made
this a stopping place for all westward bound pioneers.
The Indians were always at war with themselves and no doubt often killed
each other, but when a dead Indian was found the killing was invariably attributed to white settlers. In this connection Col. George Croghan, a brave, loyal
and most capable diplomat, then living at Redstone, reported that many Indians
had been killed by white settlers in times of peace around Fort Pitt, and insisted
on the Proprietaries devising some means of stopping it. The settlers, it may
be inferred, were an aggressive people, accustomed to rough usages, andCONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Turnpike.-Stage Coach Days.--Taverns, etc............................... 435
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Fire of 1845..............                                       446
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Mexican War.........................                             450
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Allegheny County Bench............................................. 459
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The Bar....... 489
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Cotton Manufacture.-Lost Industries.-Cotton, Oil Refining.506
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Stephen C. Foster.-Richard Realf.                                    512
CHAPTER XL.
Temperance Movements in Pittsburg.                                   525
CHAPTER XLI.
The Anti-Slavery Movements in Pittsburg.                                            532Croghan's representations have never beeln disbelieved. The leaders in this
community saw in this situation only one result, namely an Indian uprisin:g
Accordingly in April, I768, a preliminary treaty was held at Fort Pitt.  Col.
Croghan was the leader among the white representatives and there were from
1,700 to 2,oo000o Indians pi esent, among whom were the chiefs of the Six Nations
and also representatives from the Delawares, Shawtnees and Muncys. Many
presents were given to the Indians but no agreement or settlement of the difficulties could be arrived at. It was, however, a friendly meeting and the uprising among the Indians was somewhat allaved. During the summer the settlers
came continually and those who were here would not remove. By the close of
the summtner the authorities knew that unless something was done to prevent it, a
general Indian war might break out at any time. At the Fort Pitt meeting it
was clear that the only safety wxas to purchase this territory from the Indians.
One of the most proininent mnen then in America iwas General Sir William Johnston. He lived near the present city of Johnstown, New York, and
was, all things being considered, the ablest diplomat in Indian affairs in this
country. He had managed many treaties, was thoroughly honest and was
trusted implicitly by both races. HIe had, at the age of nineteen, come to
America in 1734 because oi a disappointment inilove in Ireland, it is said, and
had settled in the Mohawk Valley in New York, where he gradually acquired
n I"  4_1  - -  1-1 1 4-  +4
and managed large tracts
of land and traded continually with tlhe Indians.
He becarlme very wealthy
and built a stately mansion of stone which is vet
standing.  On its mahogany  staircase  are to  be
seen the marks of the tornahawk made by the Indian
chiefs who were friendlv
to him, as a sign to all Indians that this house was
to  be  spared  from  the
torch. He was married to
a German woman, and upon her death married  a
handsome Indian girl, and
this was perhaps the secret of much of his power
with the race.  He was
clearly a leader, whether
among the well-bred citizens of his native land or
SIR WILILIAM JOHNSONPITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
79
among the savages of America, adapting himself readily to the customs and
habits of either. He had been a major-general in the French and Indian War
and for these services was knighted by George I, and was afterward known
as Sir William Johnson. The Crown also gave him large tracts of land and
these with those he purchased, made him the largest land owner in America
excepting the Penns. He had a marvelous power in harmonizing discordant
elements among the Indians and white race and in leading or preventing Indian outbreaks.
The time had now arrived when the Indians of New York, Pennslyvania,
Virginia and Ohio were rapidly putting on their war paint. The trembling wife
and mother scarcely knew when she parted with her hubsand and child in the
morning whether she would ever see them again or not. Under these circumstances all parties turned to Sir William Johnston as the chief arbitrator of the
differences between the white and the Indian races. He suggested and called a
convention at Fort Stanwix in New York in the fall of 1768. His chief assistant here was Col. George Croghin. It was largely attended by Indian chiefs and
other representatives of the Indian race and by white represe-itatives. By his
great power over the red men most of the Indian grievances were, redressed,
tomahawks were buried, arrows were broken and peace and harmony secured.
The final treaty was reached November 5, I768, and by its terms the lands east
of the Allegheny river as far north as Kittanning and southward and eastward
of the Ohio down to the mouth of the Tennessee river "and extending eastward
from every part of the said line as far as the lands between the said line and the
purchased lands or settlements," were purchased from the Indians and conveyed
to the Proprietaries. This treaty was held at Fort Stanwix near where Rome,
New York, is now built. The district is yet called the "New Purchase" and embraced the land upon which Pittsburg was built but did not cross the Allegheny
river or include the land on which Allegheny City was located. It was the last
purchase made by the Penns from the Indians. The consideration paid them is
said to have been equal to about $Io,ooo in provisions and money, and an
unlimited supply of rum.
This of course opened up the territory in southwestern Pennsylvania so that
the Proprietaries could in good faith grant lands in this section south of the Ohio
and east of the Allegheny rivers, if they saw fit. There was accordingly a great
rush for lands all around the head waters of the Ohio. Perhaps the very fact of
settlements in this section having been so long prohibited, made the pioneer all
the more anxious to locate here. The East, they said, was overpopulated and
their anxious young men who wanted more land could not be provided for. We
were not then very far removed from England with its large landed estates. The
use of coal had not been discovered and every land owner thought he should
have enough timber to furnish fuel for him and his descendants forever. While
they were necessarily wasteful of timber in clearing land they, nevertheless, reserved an abundance. Our people were almost purely an agricultural people
and nothing so pleased them as unnumbered acres of land. Particularly wasA CENTURY AND A HALF OF
this burning desire for large land possessions true of those who had recently
come from Europe.
It was the custom of William Penn and his successors to reserve for themselves surveys of land in each section of the country opened up for general sale
and settlement. Their purpose in thus reserving land was to hold it until the
improvements of lands around it would make the reserved surveys more valuable. They generally reserved about one acre for every ten they sold. This
custom was begun about I700 and kept up constantly as they came westward
for three quarters of a century. There was a very important reservation here
called the "Manor of Pittsburg."  The reader must now look into this matter
and also into the manner adopted by the Assembly of divesting the title of the
Penns to all other parts of the" state.
The reader has had some intimation that a hostile feeling had gradually
grown up between the Penns and the majority of the people of the province. The
people were opposed to large estates like those reserved by the Penns, and to
their holding unbounded acres under.their original charter. Benjamin Franklin
was a leader in this line of thought and for many years held that the entire system savored of the feudalism of England. Nevertheless the power of the Penns
and the title to the lands was not seriously disputed prior to the Revolutionary
War. Since the settling of the province the political authority of the Penns
as granted to William Penn and his successors in the original charter by Charles
II had been exercised by them or those whom they appointed. When the Revolution began John Penn, the grandson of William Penn, was at the head of the
provincial government. The political power of the province was mainly vested
in him or in him conjointly with his uncle, Thomas Penn, who was a son of William Penn and was then a resident of England. In the fall of I779 Richard
Penn, the son of Richard and grandson of William Penn, in company with Arthur Lee of Virginia was sent to England by the American congress bearing the
last petition of that body to the Crown. Richard Penn was there subjected to a
very severe examination by the House of Lords. His testimony was so much
in favor of the provincialists in their rising dispute with the crown that he incurred the wrath of the peers. He said: "When I left Pennsylvania they had
20.000 men in arms," and he said further that there were 60,ooo men in the provinces able'to bear arms. Lord Littleton said: "With all the caution with which
Mr. Penn guarded his expressions he, nevertheless, betrayed through the whole
of his examination the strongest indication of the strongest prejudice." Richard
Penn was in reality the only one of the Penns who was loyal to the American
cause and who remained so during the Revolution. Had all the members of the
Penn family been as loyal as he they would doubtless have fared better with the
law-making body of the state of Pennsylvania.
The impression rapidly grew upon the people that the proprietary tenure of
the land within the limits of Pennsylvania and the rights which the Penns had
reserved in the form of quit rents payable from year to year should not be allowed to continue. Particularly did this sentiment grow when the state was
8o-'IlTTSBURG AATD HER PEOPLE
thinking of its ultimate freedom and when the Penns were apparently opposed
to the liberty of the people. The reserved powers of the Crown could not be interfered with at that time. This hostile feeling toward the Proprietaries grew
very rapidly after the Declaration of Independence in I776. It did not seem even
reasonable thereafter that vast domains of unimproved lands should remain the
property of the Penns who in the very titles they granted recognized and acknowledged their allegiance to Great Britain. This land was moreover unproductive so far as contributing its share of the expense of the war then coming on
was concerned. Controversy had often arisen even in the days of William Penn,
who died in I718, over the quit rents which patented land was subject to from
year to year. The grievance of the citizens was, therefore, not new but it was
year by year growing more violent. The time had arrived when a remedy in the
shape of a divesting act which would take from the Penns their original rights
must be applied. It is to the credit of the men of that day that though in the
midst of the Revolution when precipitate measures might have been overlooked
they met the question with firmness and dignity and without any unnecesary
violation of the rights of others.
President Reed in a message to the Assembly in February, 1778, called attention to the character and effect of the claims of the Proprietaries, saying that
"to reconcile the rights and demands of the state with those of private justice
and equity in this case will be worthy of your most serious attention." The
Assembly took up the matter by giving due notice to John Penn of what it had
in mind. He requested time to more thoroughly examine into the rights of the
proprietaries of whom he was the acknowledged head. On March I8th, his
counsel asked for a further delay, which was readily granted by the assembly.
After this five days were given over to the argument of the question in the
assembly. On March 2Ist, it asked for the opinion of Chief Justice McKean on
the legal points of the controversy. The questions asked him were relative to the
authority of the Crown to grant the original charter, the nature of the grant,
the extent of the concessions of the first purchase with the rights of the Proprietaries to reserve quit rents, etc. These questions were answered by the
chief justice. At that time a great many men denied the right of the Crown
to grant to Penn and consequently denied the validity of the Penn's claim.
They strenuously argued that the quit rents were reserved to the Penns for the
purposes of supporting the government and should not be paid to them but to the
new government which was formed shortly after the Declaration of Independence. The chief justice denied these favorite propositions, taking decidedly
the unpopular side of the controversy. The committee appointed by the Assembly
was not guided by his opinion. They did not ponder long over the abstruse
questions of the law but adhered firmly to the political question which confronted them and which controled the situation. No one who looks at the
question with the light of the present day will doubt for a moment that the
continuance of the Penns' rights including their preemptions and quit rents, was
entirely incongruous and inconsistent with the republican institutions which
6A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
came with the Revolution of I776. The opinion of the chief justice and the
report of the committee were ordered to be printed on April 5, I779, and the
legislature adjourned soon after that and before any action was taken. The
new legislature met in October and at once took up the subject and prepared a
bill which was referred to the chief justice and to the chief legal adviser of the
assembly, now called the attorney-general. The bill, called the "Divesting Act,"
was finally passed on November 24, I779, by a vote of forty to seven. The
minority vote entered a protest, and John Penn wrote an able but short remonstrance against the proceeding and sent it to the assembly. This remonstrance was printed in the Journal. The Act, as its name indicates, divested
the Penns of all their proprietary interests in the public lands and of all quit rents
reserved from lands which had already been sold, but it carefully protected their
rights in all private property, and regarded the various reservations in the state,
among which was the Manor of Pittsburg as private property. The Assembly
did not take these immense possessions from the Penns without compensation,
but allowed them I3o,ooo pounds sterling money of Great Britain, amounting
then to about $600,000, for the rights of which they were divested by the bill.
This money, with interest, was paid to them in full within eight years following
the passage of the act. The law and its compensatory clause probably did justice to both parties, for after the first irritation' which the controversy had
brought about had passed away, there was very little complaint on either side.
The Penns moreover claimed, and not without reason, that the Divestin- Act had'
been brought about by the action of Great Britian toward the colonies, and
whereas the Crown had assured to William Penn'and his successors forever,
these lands in Pennsylvania, they set up a claim against Great Britian for their
loss which they estimated at one half million sterling. Recognizing the Penns
as loyal subjects -who had suffered because of their loyality to the English government, the Crown agreed to pay them the additional annuity of 4,000 pounds.
The Manor of Pittsburg was surveyed on March 27, I769, on a warrant
which had been dated on January 5th. On May I9th the survey was returned
to the land office. It called for 5766 acres and an allowance of 6 per cent for
roads, etc. The metes and bounds of the original survey was as follows:
"Beginning at a spanish oak on the southern bank of the Monongahela; thence
South 800 perches to a hickory; thence West I50 perches to a white oak;
thence North 35 degrees West I44 perches to a- white oak; thence West 518
perches to a white oak; thence North 758 perches to a post; thence East 60o
perches to a post; thence North 14 degrees East 208 perches to a white walnut on the banks of the Ohio; thence up the said river 202 perches to a white
walnut; thence across the river obliquely and up the south side of the Allegheny 762 perches to a spanish oak, at the corner of Crogan's claim; thence
South 60 degrees East 249 perches to a sugar tree; thence South 85 degrees
East I92 perches to a sugar tree; thence by vacant lands South I8 degrees
East 23 perches to a white oak; thence South 40 degrees West I50 perches
to a white oak; thence West to claim of Samuel Semple I92 perches to a hickory; thence'South 65 degrees West 74 perches to a red oak on the bank of the
82PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
Monongahela and thence obliquely across the river South 78 degrees West 308
perches to the place of beginning at the spanish oak."
This was the most valuable of all the Penns' reservation in Pennsylvania.
It did not require great foresight in the Penns to fortell that this land between
the two rivers at the head of the Ohio navigation would one day be of great
value, and hence the reservation. They reserved the lands south of the Ohio because the hills were even then known to be full of coal. But the reader cannot
but readily see that by the Stanwix purchase the land west of the Allegheny and
north of the Ohio was not passed from the Indians. Since this is the land upon
which Allegheny City is now built, it becomes very important. It was claimed
by the Indians, that is, by the Six Nations, up to and including the years of the
Revolution. It included all lands west of the line of the Stanwix purchase of
I768, within the charter limits of the state. Accordingly a second treaty was.
held with the Indians of the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix on the 24th of October,
I784. In this treaty an agreement was made between the commissioners who
represented Pennsylvania and the Indians, whereby their title to all land within
the boundaries of the State that remained in them after the treaty of I768, was
passed to the white race or extinguished. The consideration was $5,000, and
$9,ooo additional, which was expended in purchasing presents for the Indians.
But after this was concluded and the lands passed, the Delawares set up a claim
and with them were united the Wyandots, all claiming an interest in this same
land. The same commissioners who had represented the State at Fort Stanwix
were then sent to Fort McIntosh, where in January, I785, they succeeded in
making a final agreement by which they purchased the same land from the Delawares and the Wyandots. The deed, signed by both tribes, is dated January
2I, I785, and is the same in words, boundaries, etc. as the Stanwix (leed except
that the consideration of the latter was $2,000. It was thus that the land north
of the Allegheny river could not be legally settled till after the above dates, and
as we shall see, it was very rapidly taken up.
The land office was opened for warrants for land in the Stanwix purchase
on April 3, I769. The method of selling land adopted by the Proprietaries has
been practicaly unchanged even to this day.
From the foregoing it will be learned that no warrant for land in Allegheny
county ante-dated April 3, I769, though even the Pittsburg settlement is
older than this date. Those who had settled on unimproved lands were now allowed to prove their titles by securing warrants and patents. A preference of
location was shown to those who had served in the army and likewise to those
who had settled by military permits, but warrants were not issued until I772 to
those who had settled on and improved lands without some right to do so. After
that, as far as it was possible, without imposing upon the rights of others, the
land office authorities when it came to granting titles recognized the claims
of the enthusiastic pioneer who had the hardihood to settle here in defiance of
law and authority. But there were many titles in this section which were in8384                A CENTURY AND A HALF OF
volved in almost endless litigation. In some instances these lands were sold
often more than once, before a title from the Proprietaries of the commonwealth was possible. From these and kindred complications arose long litigations which for almost a century perplexed the minds of the ablest lawyers
and jucdges we have yet produced. They were known as land lawyers, a title
which is almost unknown to our generation.CHAPTER V.
Formation of Westmoreland County.
As early as I770 efforts were made in southwestern Pennsylvania to organize a new county for it must not be forgotten that Pittsburg through all
these years was in Cumberland county. Petitions were then presented to the
council, and in I77I the county of Bedford was organized, with Bedford as its
county seat. Cumberland county assumed civil authority in this community,
for as early as May, I770, Thomas Gist, Dorsey Pentecoast, Arthur St. Clair,
and William Crawford were appointed justices of the peace for that part of
Cumberland county which lay west of Laurel Hill, though we can find no
authority for saying that they exercised their official functions in this immediate locality. The reader may wonder why, when the settlers lived so remote
from their county seat, they were so slow in securing the erection of new
counties. The length of time intervening between the formation of counties
coming westward is indeed remarkable. Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester
counties were formed by William Penn when the Province was founded in
I682, and these three have always been known as the Quaker counties. Next
coming westward was Lancaster in I729, while twenty years afterward came
York in I749, with Cumberland in I750. Twenty years then elapsed before
another county was formed onl the Southern border. The explanation is simple: A new county had to be erected by an Act of Assembly, and the old counties had a preponderating influence in that body. The Quaker counties particularly were strong and desired to retain their majority in the Assembly, or
council. Had it not been for the desire of Proprietaries to sell lands in newly
acquired districts, it is doubtful whether they would have followed each other
as rapidly in their formation as they did. On the formation of Bedford county
justices were appoin'ted for the region of Bedford county lying west of Laurel
Hill. The entire territory to the Ohio was divided into townships. Taxes
were assessed and roads were laid out, but all accounts show that for the
preservation of peace the justices were almost powerless. A turbulent element
composed largely of fur traders, had grown up here and had organized theirselves into a body to resist the power of the justices, and one or two deputy
sheriffs who came out here from Bedford to arrest them were severely- beaten-,6 CENTURY AND A HALF OF
and sent home. Some indictments were preferred against members of this
unruly element, but the authority was too feeble; they were too far removed
froth the seat of justice for the county justices to be in any way efficacious.
Bedford was Ioo miles east of Pittsburg and the only communication was by
the Forbes road, which was at best but a crude military way, winding over
three ranges of mountains and by this time badly neglected. This road was at
that time, fitted for little else than pack horse trains, but there came a constant
stream of immigration to' this section. There was, moreover, a growing desire
to settle on the Ohio or on the banks of these navigable rivers. Pittsburg became an important point;. not only was it the metropolis of this immediate section, but from here supplies were sent down the river to the southwest, for
even then Western Virginia and Kentucky were filling up with pioneers from
the East. Pittsburg in I772 had the aspect of a town, and was the only one west
of the Allegheny mountains. All legal business had to be transacted in Bedford. Arthur St. Clair at this time was living at Ligonier, where he had
formerly been in command,of the fort. He had come, to America with the
army of General James Wolfe and had fought with him at Quebec. He had
later married a wealthy young woman, Phoebe Bayard, of Boston, and had
finally become chief agent for the Penns in southwestern Pennsylvania. In
Scotland he had received a superior education and, being of a noble family,
had all his life moved in the best society. He had taken up his residence near
Fort Ligonier, where he acted as an arbiter between the authorities and the
Indian tribes, and had great influence with the Indians, for he always
treated, them  fairly.  His  relations with' the  Penns, the  glamour of
his military record under the romantic General Wolfe, his education,
his manners and wealth gave him a high standing all over this community. In 1772 petitions were circulated in the settlements between Laurel
Hill and the Ohio, praying for the erection of a new county. These petitions
set forth in good form the disadvantages under which the citizens labored and
asked that a county be formed, with its county seat west of Laurel Hill. This
movement was headed by St. Clair, and all the' settlers apparently looked to
him to manage the matter before the Council and before the Penns. In I773
the Assembly took the matter under consideration and in due time passed the
organizing Act, which was dated February 26, I773.   The governor who
signed the bill was Richard Penn, and he named its officers, as was his duty, to
serve until their successors could be elected. At that time, in selecting names
for new counties, the council or those introducing the bills, had not gotten away
from the time-honored English names, for we were yet under the dominion of
Great Britain. The new county was therefore named Westmoreland after a
county of the same name in England. Since it included the most western part
of the province its name was peculiarly appropriate. The first section of the
act creating Westmoreland county sets forth that the formation of a new
county was represented to be necessary by petition signed by the inhabitants of
that part of Bedford lying west of Laurel Hill, and that a new county was
86PITTSBURG AND HER PEOPLE
therefore formed called Westmoreland. This section also gives the boundary
which began at a point where the most western tributary of the Youghiogheny
river crossed the boundary line of the province; thence down the eastern bank
of the river till it crossed Laurel Hill, which it followed northeastward till it
ran into the Allegheny mountains; thence following those mountains along the
ridge dividing the Susquehanna from the Allegheny river to the purchase line
at the head of the Susquehanna river and from there due west to the limits of
the province, and by that line to the place of beginning.
The second section of the Act secured to the inhabitants all the rights and
privileges then enjoyed by the inhabitants of other counties. It provided also
for the election of a representative in the assembly defining the place of holding
the election as at the house of Robert Hanna until a court house should be
built. The next section declared the authority of the justices of the supreme
court to be the same in the new county as it was in other counties, and authorized them to deliver the jails from capital and other offenders. The last section
indicated that there should be a competent number of justices authorized by
the governor to hold courts of general quarter sessions of the peace and of general jail delivery and courts for holding pleas. It also designated the time for
holding the courts, fixing this time on the Tuesday before the Bedford term of
courts in the months of January, July and October. It further directed that
the place for holding courts should be at the house of Robert Hanna till a
court house should be built. The Act also provided for the collection of taxes
which had been assessed in Bedford county, for the continuance of suits previously brought in Bedford county, and appointed trustees for building a court
house and prison, and directed that the sheriff of Bedford county should superintend the first election. Thus it was that Pittsburg as a part, and indeed a
very important part of Westmoreland county, really began its civil existence.
It was the eleventh of the original provincial counties and was the last one
erected under the Hereditary Proprietaries and under the reign of the English
law. The territory included in Westmoreland, as indicated by the boundary
given above, embraced all of the western part of Pennsylvania. For reasons
explained in the previous chapter, the authorities did not feel safe in taking
in any territory west oi the Fork of the Ohio river, nor did they feel safe about
the southern boundary, for Mason and Dixon's line had not yet been completed farther west than the western part of Maryland. They left the southwestern region beyond the most westerly branch of the Youghiogheny to
Virginia, but claimed all the territory as far west as the Ohio.
At this time Virginia claimed practically all territory in Pennsylvania west
of the mountains and the formatio.n of Westmoreland was readily secured, for
by this means the Penns hoped to assert their claims as against those of Virginia. The Virginia claims will be considered in a following chapter.
On February 27th, the day after the Erecting Act was passed, the governor sent to the Assembly a list of names of persons he had chosen as justices
in the county court and as ju'stices of the peace. These names were: James
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