HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTMORELAND, PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY—EARLY PROVINCIAL HISTORY. Prefatory—Necessity of Preserving the Facts of Local History—Chief Sources of Local History—Written Accounts and Traditions—Penn's Grant —His Policy—Success of His Colony—Alexander Spottswood, Governor of Virginia, wants the British Government to make a Line of Forts along the Western Rivers—The French in Canada—Their Policy towards the Indians—Alienation of the Indians from the English—Indians of Western Pennsylvania confined to their Reservations on the Ohio—The Ohio Company—Rivalry between the Governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia respecting the Indian Trade. WE propose in the following pages to collect something of the early history of the county of Westmoreland, a county which has aptly been designated as a mother of counties. What, above all other things, has induced us to this attempt is the fact that nothing of the kind has heretofore been attempted. A local history cannot be compared with a general historical narrative, nor has it been the intention of the writer to show his effort in that direction. He has, however, made a reasonable effort to collect all matter relating to our early history from the written and printed documents accessible, but which are scattered far around, like the mystic leaves which, blown by the blast from the hollow earth, were scattered to all the winds in the cave of the Sibyl. To collect and to illustrate what has been written has been our labor, and we have tried from the first to represent to our contemporaries a truthful picture of our ancestors and their times. In the lapse of well-nigh a hundred years nearly all things change,—laws, customs, habits, manners, society, as well as the physical aspect of the very earth. The Westmorelander of 1773 would no more recognize the Westmoreland of to-day than we should recognize the Westmoreland of 1973. By the word " history," which we choose in deference to adopt, we mean not only an account of the civil and military affairs of the people who first came into these woods, but a narrative of such individual acts as have been saved from the all-devouring tooth of Time, a description of their cabins and furniture, of their meeting-houses and graveyards, of their apparel and personal appearance, of their house-warm- - 2 - ings and militia-musters, and a notice of such things generally as, being of local interest, are not usually printed in general collections. We shall, as best we can, arrange our collected material so that the historical matter may be preserved in some chronological order, to the end that a clearer idea may be had of our local affairs as they follow each other. We are conscious that an undertaking of this kind, even in the rudest outline, will be but imperfectly accomplished, and we do not flatter the reader with a prospect fallacious and not to be realized. The history of our county, or indeed that of any single county, of any commonwealth or of any municipality, will, however ably produced, be far short of anything like perfection. This comes from circumstances peculiar to our country in its colonization and development. The student of our history, even as a student, labors under many and great disadvantages. In writing up a general narrative many most interesting particulars must necessarily be omitted, either as irrelevant to the general text, or as possessing merely a local interest; while, on the other hand, one who attempts to clothe an isolated district with something of historical interest finds extraneous and foreign matter continually obtruded on his attention. In other words, the early history of Western Pennsylvania embraces largely the history of our county, while the history of our county itself has a living interest only to ourselves. It is true that the history of Allegheny County, of Washington, and of Fayette is in part the history of Westmoreland County, but the public mind has so long separated these boundaries and has so localized such places as Fort Pitt, and such times as the Whiskey Insurrection, as to make all matter worthy of note centre in the county where such matter rightly belongs. It would be as unreasonable that the history of Virginia, as bounded in the grants of the great Elizabeth to her sailor adventurers, should embrace the history of the proprietary of Penn or the colony of Calvert. We have therefore considered that we do better in confining our remarks to the local history of Westmoreland as we know it, and to touch on the general history of the State and the West only - 13 - 14 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. in so far as it is needed to throw light on the former, or to develop the context. This fact, however, is ap- parent, that all the local history of that part of Westmoreland which, after the erection of the county of Washington in 1781, belongs to that county Was, by the singular troubles which occurred from about the time of the establishment of our county to that date, no more identified with the history of our county, properly considered, than the local history of Augusta County in Virginia is identified with it. We may make the remarks of a very sagacious and elegant writer' our own in observing that indeed the very difficulty at this time encountered in procuring authentic information upon the subject proposed to he treated in this work is strong evidence in itself of the means that exist of redeeming without delay the earlier events, of our history from the grasp of forgetfulness. Every passing day increases the labor of research, and a few years will obliterate and consign to utter oblivion all that we should desire to remember and preserve of our past annals. We work, like the lapidary, to replace the scattered dies of a mosaic. No one can, as we have intimated, be aware of the unseemliness of such a task unless he wanders in the same field. The absolute facts which belong of right to our history are scattered here and there in fragments in books, many of them unworthy indeed, or else they lie in records not yet arranged. . A great and most profitable account of our early affairs—and the remark applies to the unwritten history of any other part of our country—might have been found in the memories of the aged ; but this source is now, indeed, very unclear and deceptive. It would be useless for us to inquire into the causes of this however much we lament the fact, for by far the most interest attaches to what the older people carry in traditions. The verbal testimony of the peasants of Lancashire, carried from father to son, is that part of Macaulay's account of the battle of Sedgemoor and the Bloody Assizes which most excites the attention of the reader. With us suck memorials have been suffered to go in decay. We may remark that great events have often been little regarded by the people who were witnesses to them, and for reasons such as control these, what to us might be a subject of wonder, of admiration, and of pleasure was to even the closest observers of those past times of so trite and trivial a nature. as to be below the dignity of a subject for narration. When a later generation observed that accounts of Indian war-titre, descriptions of border life, the romantic details attached to instances of single adventures were largely and credulously devoured by the readers of their time, they began to misrepresent the truth and to misstate facts. And it is too true that often what purports to be an account of manners and customs, either of the indigens or of the settlers, is far from the truth. White heroines running off with gold-bedecked chieftains 1 David Paul Brown, "The Forum." was as absurd as to represent Ligonier Fort as a Norman castle with drawbridge, turrets, and donjon. Such are the incongruities of circumstances ; while still another disadvantage arises from the bias which our minds are likely to assume in treating of a subject so nearly contemporaneous. We usually run into one of two extremes, and consider that all those. of the generations and the times immediately preceding us and ours were either all great heroes or half-civilized old clowns. All we can do is to contribute our mite to the literary store-house of our noble old county. We shall of necessity have to begin at a time long prior to the formation of our county, as the soil of Westmoreland was dedicated with tears and blood to imperishable renown in the annals of English and American history before her children sat down to the enjoyment of freedom and peace within its borders. All the vast region of this continent on its discovery was, according to the polity of the English government derived from feudal times, the property of the king. With it, as with all the demesne lands of the realm, he might do as he pleased. Accordingly all the lands not colonized by the state were appropriated to favorites or to dependants. To satisfy a debt owing from the crown to Admiral William Penn, a donation of the tract now commonly known as Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, son and heir to the creditor, a Quaker in religious persuasion, and a favorite and courtier at the court of Charles the Second. The nature of the grant was that it was given-after the fashion of feudal grants, with the feudal strictures somewhat restricted, in conformity with the new usage established at the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne. 2 Charles Stuart, the king, claimed a title in these lands, inhabited by savages, from discovery and from conquest, as in 1664 all the settlements and possessions of the Dutch along the Delaware River were taken from them by the English.. The charter of Penn was signed by the king on. March 4,1681. It was not till a long time after the establishing of the colony that the boundaries as we now have them were definitely fixed. There were conflicting disputes with the colonial authorities of New York, of Connecticut, of New Jersey, of Maryland, and of Virginia. The dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland was satisfactorily adjusted in 1769 by compromising on the famous Mason and Dixon's line, a division line which long divided the slave States from the free States. The dispute with Virginia is the only one which interests us. Virginia, from the time that Washington walked over the land under instruction of Dinwiddie, claimed all Western Pennsylvania. At the peace of 1764 the limits of the Province were not marked, and in 1774-75 a county formed by the burgesses of Virginia, and inhabited mostly by Vir- 2 If the reader has any curiosity in this line be will be further satisfied by referring to Mikes Constitutional History of England. INTRODUCTORY—EARLY PROVINCIAL HISTORY - 15 ginians, was established within the territorial limits of what is now Pennsylvania. Governor Penn; before he made a settlement, proposed to purchase of the Indians their title to the occupancy of the land. He early treated with them and gave them valuable consideration for their hunting-grounds. We will briefly repeat the order of these purchases and concessions, so that we may have an idea of how the bounds were increased. By treaty with the Five Nations in 1736 all land within the boundaries of Penn's territories was claimed to have been purchased from the Indians. But owing to some misunderstanding afterwards the Indians did not acquiesce, and separate treaties were made. It is said with some degree of positive assertion that the misunderstanding of these treaties did much to drive the Indians subsequently to take part with the French. By a treaty at Albany in 1754 the Indian leaders of the Five (later the Six) Nations again conveyed to the Penns all the lands westward to the setting of the sun. The dissatisfaction produced by this treaty on the great body of the natives fully justified them in joining with the French in that long and bloody war known as the French and Indian. war. The Indians claimed that they did not understand the limits of this purchase, and that lands were conveyed which did not belong to the tribes making the conveyance. By the treaty of Easton (1758), to put a stop to in creasing warfare, these lands were surrendered to the Indians on the ground that they had not understood the terms, and the right of the whites to occupancy was confined to the east of the Allegheny Mountains. But by the last great purchase, that of Fort Stanwix in New York, of 1768, all title of the Indians, with a small exception in the northwestern part,of the State, was relinquished and passed to the whites. Westmoreland belongs to this purchase, and it will be noted farther on how this treaty operated on the land titles and on the colonization of our county. By the treaty of 1784, at Fort Stanwix again, all the remainder of the land was finally secured. Thus in 1785 all the right of soil belonged to the Province. Before this right was vested, by an act of 1769, it was made highly penal for any one to settle on lands owned by the Indians, or rather not purchased by the authorities from them. The reason was to prevent the Indians from becoming open enemies. The success of the colony was rapid and great. In one year after the arrival of Penn the number of colonists was estimated as high as four thousand. The Welsh settled along the Schuylkill, and the Germans founded Germantown. The government of Penn had been instituted with one great object. This object was to secure a place where the religious opinions of his sect, the Quakers, might be exemplified ; where no enforcement acts of conformity would be in force; and where religious toleration, civil liberty, and unbiased justice to all men were the worthy, philosophical, and Christian doctrines of a practical government. Hence not only the colonists knew this, but the red Men also understood it; and here for more than two generations, the most precarious time in an infant colony, the whites and the Indians lived in undisturbed harmony. The settlers along the Schuylkill and Delaware when they went to bed did not go in dreaded expectation of the night. Here the children were not in deadly fear at the sight of a painted barbarian. Here the outposts of civilization were not marked with piles of ashes, the only remains of a cabin reared in difficulty and with hope. That feeling of security which comes from habit was a fruit of the treaty under the. great elm at Kensington. Hence settlers came flocking in numbers, not only from the British Isles and the Low Countries, but from other colonial settlements,—from Connecticut, from Maryland, from Virginia, from North Carolina,—and with those who came in with the laudable desire of making a permanent home came others who were bent on the making of money. These were the traders that followed a business scarcely less honorable than the business of Capt. Kidd,—land-sharks and water-sharks.1 They treated with the Indians and they cheated them ; they dealt in contraband goods, and they pursued their calling in contravention of the instructions of Penn and his plan of dealing with the natives. But it must be acknowledged that they were an important element in the grand scheme of colonization, which with us, after all, is more a matter of fact than of theory. Under the wise policy instituted by Penn, and carried out by his successors, the colony grew and flourished unprecedentedly for more than sixty years. But as yet all settlements were confined to the east of the Susquehanna. 2 In the early part of the eighteenth century, Alexander Spottswood, Governor of Virginia, headed an expedition which went out to explore the limits of their own colony. From the summit of the Allegheny Mountains he first looked out upon that vast expanse of territory theretofore unknown to the whites. He proposed a plan to the British government by which they might anticipate the settlement of this portion of country before any other of the European nations. But, owing to the domestic relations of the government and to the ceaseless mar on the continent, the colonies were left to see to their own advancement, and to protect the interests of the mother-country in its most remote boundaries. This politic and farseeing Governor also, in view of the attitude and in view of the intention of the French government in relation to these colonies, advocated the policy of establishing a chain of forts from the lakes to the Mississippi, for the attitude of France and of England was plainly to be observed. The English saw with jealousy the progress of the French on the St. Lawrence and the lakes. The French were active in re- 1 " There be laud rats, and there be water-rats."—Shylock.  2 1745. 16 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. claiming this unoccupied ground which each claimed, the French by occupancy and discovery, the English by original and earlier charters from their own monarchs, which charters were, it is true, boundless, and took in all the land from the Atlantic to the Great South Sea. It is therefore to be noticed that the country west of the Allegheny chain was not absolutely within the prescribed boundaries of either nation. There was, however, a kind of tacit understanding among the individual traders coming into these regions under protection of the colonial authorities directly to the eastward of them. These traders occasionally, as early as 1720, ventured as far west as Carlisle, and a prominent and fearless one, John Frazer, opened a trading-house at Venango, and afterward, about 1752, on the Monongahela at where Turtle Creek empties. Had these early traders been protected by. the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, there is no doubt that the colony would have been greatly benefited by it, and that following dissension, which lasted for many years between the government of Pennsylvania and the government of Virginia, would not have arisen. But the pacific measures which at first were to the advantage of the colony were now working a disadvantage to her own citizens and an advantage to the French, for the colonial system of the French differed greatly from that of the English. The French proceeded on a fixed policy and on instructions sent out from the ministry at Versailles. This policy was enforced by Governors of high rank and executed by willing sub-ordinates. Instead of many colonial establishments, each conflicting with the other on matters arising from misunderstood boundaries and from other matters growing out of deep-seated prejudices, they had one centralized colony, in which all interests were the same, and in which their very missionaries took an active and an effective part in shaping and controlling. The policy of Penn towards the red men was good so long as the red men were left to themselves, for his treatment towards them was eminently just; but the same policy when they were left to the wily influence of the French was certainly not to be admired. The Indians when moved back step by step could not at last understand such justness. And they surely had reason, for in several instances they were unjustly defrauded of their territory or their hunting-grounds ; not, indeed, by the agents of Penn, but by their own race, the Indian Yankees of the Six Nations, who, representing themselves to be the owners of territory which belonged to other tribes, drove a thrifty bargain in disposing of it to good 'advantage to the peaceable representatives of the proprietary. A sufficient instance is that in which this confederacy—who would have sold their own land as well as the land of their neighbors a dozen times a day—ousted the Delawares from their possessions on the head-waters of the Susquehanna. But thus it was that through many causes the Indians who claimed these parts were, before the middle of the century (1750), confined to their reservation on the Ohio River, a name which embraced the river we now call Allegheny. Here they were more than ever open to the influence of the French, whose base of operations was at Montreal. These, with a diplomatic policy peculiar to themselves, won the good graces of the Indians by representing that they were their only friends, and effected an alliance at the expense of rum and tobacco, arms for their use and trinkets for their amusement. They also succeeded in forming the various tribes, each with a local enmity towards the other, into one confederacy as against the whites of English birth and against their own natural enemies. No sooner did an English trader open a cabin to deal with the natives than he was peremptorily commanded by the authority of the King of France to leave. Some were treated in a hostile and barbarous manner, although there was no open war. The French, descending the head-waters of the Ohio, at various places put up marks to indicate that the country was of the dominion of the Christian king. In the mean time the English settlements in Pennsylvania were extending westward. The traders, who to an extent were the pioneers of civilization, preceded them, and wherever they could opened a paying trade. The proprietary government made no effort to effect settlements west of the Susquehanna ; and even the method of traffic, pursued by these traders was not, as we have said, countenanced. put in spite of the strongest prohibitory enactments and the immediate exertions of the Governors themselves, there were always many ready to risk life and property in pursuit of this lucrative calling. In time the succeeding proprietaries and executives winked at this breach of faith with the Indians. And thus, between the English under shadow of the colonial government of this province and the French, all the Indian trade was monopolized, and at this juncture (1748) the Ohio Company was organized. Thomas Lee, one of the Council of Virginia, with twelve others of Virginia and Maryland and a few merchants of London, formed a company with the design of effecting settlements in the wild lands west of the Alleghenies, and under this ostensible project of securing part of the Indian trade. Their grant embraced a portion of five hundred thousand acres lying on the south side of the Ohio between the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers. The privilege was reserved to the company of embracing a portion of the lands on the north side of the river if deemed expedient. The company had several further beneficiary exemptions, in the nature of freedom from taxation, on condition of their seating settlers on the land within a limited time, and of their building a fort and sustaining a garrison to protect the settlement. As nothing could be done without the assent of the Indians, the government of Virginia was petitioned to invite them to a treaty. The company further THE FRENCH OCCUPANCY OF FORT DUQUESNE - 17 resolved to make roads from the head-waters of the Potomac to sonic point on the Monongahela, to erect houses, and to locate settlements: And now commenced a rivalry between the government of Pennsylvania and the government of Virginia. Andrew Palmer, president of the Council of the proprietary government, on June 23, 1748, gave instructions under his hand and seal to Conrad Weiser, in which he was to use his utmost diligence to acquire a perfect knowledge of the number, situation, disposition, and strength of all the Indians about the Ohio, whether friends, neutrals, or enemies. Weiser, from his knowledge of the language and dispositions of the Indians, was eminently fit to treat with them on the most favorable terms. CHAPTER II. THE FRENCH OCCUPANCY OF FORT DUQUESNE. Conrad Weiser and George Crogan—Weiser's Report on the Tribes about the Ohio—Their Numbers and their Disposition—King Shingass and Queen Alliquippi—Gist's Settlement —George Washington sent by the Governor of Virginia to the Indian Tribes—His First Journey, and the Information he Acquired—The Ohio Company cuts Roads, makes Settlements, erects a Store-House and Fort at Redstone, and takes possession of the Forks of the Ohio River—Its Soldiers and Men are driven away by the French, who erect Fort Duquesne—The Governor of Virginia reinforces Washington, who retires to the Great Meadows, and Fights his First Battle at Fort Necessity Braddock's Campaign projected. WEISER, setting out from Berks County, crossed the Kiskiminetas and came to the Ohio Aug. 25, 1748. He was rendered valuable assistance by George Crogan, a trader and agent in the interest of the Council, 1 who was settled on Beaver Creek, a few miles from where it empties into the Ohio. The number of their men and the various tribes of which they were composed were learned from themselves, who gave Weiser the count in little bundles of twigs or sticks tied to represent the several tribes. They had in all seven hundred and twenty-nine warriors. The Senecas, Wyandots, Delawares, and Shawnees had the most. These were chiefly ruled by the Five Nations. This celebrated confederation, which had brought under their domination all the other Indian tribes in the middle part of the continent, when they were first known to the whites had their council-fires about the lakes in New York. Having conceded their lands to the whites, they now still held northwestern Pennsylvania. These five nations were the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, and the Senecas. They were sometimes called the 1 The executive department of Pennsylvania was composed of the Governor and his Council. These were simply advisory. The entire legislative body consisted of a single body of delegates chosen by the people. The Council is not to be understood as an Upper House of the Legislature. Six Nations after they had admitted into their family the Tuscaroras, a tribe which was expelled from Carolina in 1712. They, were called by the French the Iropois; they called themselves the Mingoes. They had been engaged in war from times long before they were known to the whites, and such was the force of their combination and their love for war that all native opposition gave way before them. They had, since the Province was in possession of the whites, brought under their control the strongest tribe known to the early settlers. This was the tribe of the Lenni Lenapes, as they called themselves, but who are known in history as the Delawares, a name they received in honor of Lord de In Warr, for whom also the colony of Delaware and the river on which they lived when first known were named. The king of the Delawares, Shingass, lived, at Washington's first visit, 1753, not far from the Allegheny River. The tribe was divided, and some of them always remained friendly. to. the English.. The confederation commanded the Shawanese also, a tribe powerful in war, and which produced many able warriors, of whom Tecumseh and Cornstalk are ranked among the highest. Part of the Shawanese and part of the Delawares early came to the Ohio for the convenience of game. Of all single tribes the Shawanese was the strongest, and when on the war-path the most savage. There were other tribes which had dwindled down to insignificant numbers. They all lived within neighboring distance of each other, but each tribe claimed a distinct hunting ground. One tribe which lived between the Turtle Creek and the Youghiogheny was under the sway of a woman. She was known to the English by the name of Queen Alliquippi, and is the same mentioned by Washington in his journal of 1753. She appears to have been the friend of the English. She had a son who claimed the distinguished title of Prophet, and who professed to see in the future the realization of the most romantic dreams of the red men. Weiser found that although a few were favorable to the English, and especially to the colonists of Pennsylvania, yet the majority were completely under the influence of the French. But neither the now active attempts of the government of Pennsylvania nor the attempts of the Ohio Company under the patronage of the government of Virginia effected anything either in conciliating the disaffected Indians or in thwarting the encroachment of the French. The latter still persisted in their scheme of erecting fortifications in a proposed line from their settlements in Canada to their settlements at New Orleans. They had erected forts at Presque Isle, 2 in Lake Erie, at Le Boeuf, at Venango. These active determinations so quickened the latent spirit of the English that Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia 2 Presque Isle is near Erie; Le Bova, now Waterford, in Crawford County ; Venango, near Franklin; Venango River, now French Creek ; Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. 18 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. sent a young man of the name of George Washington to ask an explanation of their designs. Washington came out on this expedition, and on the 22c1 of November, 1753, stopped at Frazer's, at the mouth of Turtle Creek. We should note this incident, that Washington was one of the first to tread the wilderness where now is Westmoreland. He came on his route by way of Wills Creek to where Gist was settled as agent of the Ohio Company, 1 and thence northwest to Shannopin's, the name of an old Indian town on the Allegheny, about two miles above the Ohio. From here he examined the location at the junction of the river, and reported its situation as favorable for a fortification. He proceeded to Logstown, 2 where he had called a conference of Indians. In all his efforts and in his object he was thwarted by the influence of the French ; but he acquired a great deal of information', learned the number of forts erected and projected, with the number of their garrisons and their equipments. On proceeding to Venango he there, under the French flag, had an interview with the French commander. They there openly disclosed to him their design of holding by force against all intruders the land which they claimed from the discovery of La Salle. The council was peremptorily brought to a close. On his return he narrowly escaped with his life ; once an Indian shot at him from 1 CHRISTOPHER GIST.—The name of Christopher Gist. a model American pioneer, is inseparably connected with the early settlement of Western Pennsylvania. We shall frequently allude to him and to his services hereafter. Ile was a native of Maryland, and, like his father, Richard, was a surveyor. He was "a man of excellent characterr energetic, fearless, and a thorough woodsman." He was intimate with the foremost men of Maryland and Virginia, and when the Ohio Company, was organized they emPloyed Gist as their surveyor and agent. In 1750 lie was sent out by them to explore and examine the country bordering on the Ohio and its branches. At the time lie received the appointment he was residing at Yadkin, N. C. He immediately set out on his object. With a boy and two horses he arrived at Shannopin's Town, one of the principal Indian towns in this region, to which traders resorted or at which they had store-houses. It was situated on the bank of the Allegheny River, now in the Twelfth Ward in the city of Pittsburgh, between Penn Avenue, Thirtieth Street and Two-Mile Run. About twenty Delaware families occupied the place, under their chief, Shannopin. Although it was a small place, it was one of much importance. From there Ile went down the Ohio to Beaver Creek, and thence to the eastern parts of Ohio Territory. After exploring the Miami Valleyr lie returned to North Carolina by way of Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia. In the winter of 1751-52 he was employed by the company in exploring the country bordering on the Youghiogheny and Monongahela and the south side of the Ohio. In the latter part of the slimmer or fall of 1753 he commenced a settlement for the company at the place since known tie Mount Braddock, in Fayette County. Eleven other families settled with him here. This settlement, before Braddock's campaign, was the first settlement of the English-American colonists in Western Pennsylvania. From Wills Creek (Cumberland, Md.) Gist accompanied Washington as his guide to Venango. 2 Logstown was a cluster of log houses built by the French for the Indians. They had a trading-house here, and here many conferences were held. There has great dispute arisen lately as to the exact location of the place, some contending that it was situated on the north side and some nu the south side of the Ohio. Both sides produce good authorities for their position. The feet appears to be that there were two Logstowns directly opposite each other, one on either side of the river, and one older than the other. The older Logstown appeals from good authority to have been situated on the north side of the river, and whether there was or was not another Logstown is not material. the distance of fifteen paces ; and again in attempting to cross the Allegheny, then floating with ice. He relates in his journal an amusing incident of his return. He stopped to see Queen Alliquippi. She had expressed concern at their passing her by and not calling. To ease her lacerated feelings he presented her with a watchcoat and a bottle of ruin, and he states that the latter was the more acceptable present, and that it entirely mollified her indignation. But nevertheless the Ohio Company still continued their movements in the West. They had built a block-house at Redstone, now Brownsville, and in the spring of 1754 made arrangements to take permanent possession of the country about the forks of the Ohio. About the middle of February, Trent, Gist, and several others arrived at this point, and there waited on more, to the number of seventy or eighty, to come down the river, the Monongahela, on which Redstone Old Fort was built. They began the formation of a redoubt. Before their work was finished a French officer, Contrecoeur, with a thousand French and Indians and eighteen pieces of cannon, arrived from Venango. They compelled Ensign Ward, commandant in the absence of Trent, to surrender. This was the first open act of a war which desolated the colonies for nine years, and which agitated both continents, but which in the end resulted in favor of the English, and so shaped the destinies of these colonies that they in time equaled in dominion and in power either the empire of King George or the empire of King Louis. The French, taking possession of this disputed point, built a fort, which they called Fort Duquesne, after the Governor of Canada. They expended much labor upon it and made it a strong fortification ; but it was never submitted to the ordeal of a siege. They made to themselves a stronger defense by the alliance of the natives, whom they drew to their interest by favorable treaties. They summoned all the neighboring tribes together and loaded them with presents, guns and ammunition, blankets and beads. And now occurring the treaty of 1754, the alienation of the Indians was made complete. This treaty was held at Albany by order of the king. This had been recommended by the Lords of Trade and Plantations, that all the provinces might be comprised in one treaty. Thus we see how that the interests of all the provinces were affected, and how the subsequent war became one common to all. The action of the Ohio Company in attempting to build a fort at the Forks of the Ohio River was under authority and assistance of the Virginia government. Governor Dinwiddie, representing the necessity of this procedure, issued a proclamation for. recruits. To such as entered the service he gave a bounty of land, appropriating for this purpose two hundred thousand acres on the east side of the Ohio. Under these claims lands were held in the southwestern part of the State ; but not all, for some were held by mili- THE FRENCH OCCUPANCY OF FORT DUQUESNE - 19 tary permit, and some under the land titles of the colony of Virginia, but all under the belief that the jurisdiction of that colony covered this debatable ground. But it was not in the nature of those English-American colonists to so easily give in to the demands of an enemy, howsoever well or ill those demands might be founded. And the Governor of Virginia, determining on securing the site so advantageously pointed out by Washington, had in the mean time sent out two companies subject to Washington's orders. Capt. Trent, with one company, had preceded Washington, who was at Wills Creek' when he got information of the surrender of Ensign Ward. Washington knew that it was impossible that lie could take the position lost, but he resolved to proceed to Redstone, and there fortify himself till the arrival of reinforcements. He hewed a road through the wilderness and over the mountains on an old Indian trail which crossed to the Potomac, and which was pointed out by a friendly Indian in his service called Nemacolin. At the Youghiogheny he was stopped for want of a bridge. This was about half the distance to the Redstone, He here found that the French were advancing to meet him. He therefore hastened on with the purpose of intercepting them at a place called the Great Meadows, which location he knew to be a favorable one for his security. 1 At the dawning of the day on the 28th of May, 1754, they saw the French erecting their tents in a retired valley. A detachment was ordered to surround them ; both then fired upon the enemy at the same instant. Their leader was killed, and all, with the exception of one that escaped, were captured. A stockade was here erected, the reinforcements came in in due time, and Washington, by the death of Col. Fry, the commander of the expedition, was left in sole command. Washington was at this time but twenty-two years of age, but his nature was of a calm, calculating, and heroic kind. He learned from his Indian spies that reinforcements had arrived at Fort Duquesne. It was therefore impossible for him to take it. He retired to his stockade now called Fort Necessity, and there awaited the approach of the enemy. They had scarcely secured themselves when they were attacked by fifteen hundred French and Indians. Nearly all day in the heart of the wilderness the battle raged. So well did Washington defend his handful of men that they were accorded unwonted terms by a capitulation, and allowed to return to their homes, marching off in military order with their baggage. England and France were now enemies, and the British government resolved on opposing the French in America by aggressive movements. Reinforcements of royal regulars were sent to the colonies. A plan of campaign was adopted, and in this cam- 1 See Note 2, page 21. paign three expeditions were organized. The first, under command of Gen. Edward Braddock, commander-in-chief, was to operate against Fort Duquesne ; the second, under Gen. Shirley, against Fort Niagara and Frontenac ; the third, under Gen. Johnson, against Crown Point. The campaign of Gen. Braddock, and the particulars connected with it, are perhaps better known to us than any other incident in our historical annals. This local interest has been heightened by the national interest attached to it. In this campaign Washington first served with something more than ordinary distinction. The magnificent inception of this expedition, the first extensive campaign of regular troops with modern artillery for a battle with the aborigines and their allies ; the great expectations formed upon its success; the bloody conflict; the lamentable death of the veteran general flushed with military enthusiasm ; the mild, gentlemanly, and heroic behavior of the young Virginia colonel ; the rout and retreat; the burying of the body of their commander at midnight, when, as some will romantically have it, the slender Washington, by the uncertain light of torches, read the office of the dead ; .the care taken by the army to hide his resting-place from the savages by making his grave in the road, that the army wagons driven over it would make it imperceptible, with many more incidents, have been often dwelt upon, and have become to us quite familiar. We will .not, therefore, impose upon good nature by being tediously prolix, for we are unable at this day to develop any new facts worthy of notice. The Province of Pennsylvania was blamed for not taking a more active part in Braddock's campaign. 2 As the contingent of forces from the Province was not authorized to assist in this expedition, the blame seemed more reprehensible or more apparent. The troops from Pennsylvania were sent to Gen. Shirley, and nearly one whole regiment was recruited, mostly from the western counties. The colony raised a number of horses and wagons, and opened a road from Fort Louden through Bedford to Fort Cumberland. This was the most westerly road in the Province. Three hundred men were ordered to be employed on this road. The Assembly also gave a full share of funds. The lack of more active measures was not so much due to the spirit of the colonists as to the unwillingness of the hereditary Governors. 2 Much undeserved opprobrium has been cast upon Pennsylvania for her backwardness in offering assistance to Braddock. The Governors, under instruction of the proprietaries, would not sanction or approve of any law to raise revenue which would tax the estates of the proprietaries. Hence the Assembly refused to appropriate funds or Mite and equip troops so long as these unjust exceptions were insisted upon. Common danger one the wild cries of the people after the defeat of Braddock, under the administration of a new Governor, harmonized there interests. Although this is a matter not of local interest, it is well to be known and not forgotten. 20 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER III. BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION. Braddock's Forces at Fort Cumberland—He comes up the Ohio Company's Road, piloted by Washington—Opens the Road to the Youghiogheny, and through our part of Westmoreland to the Monongahela ; after crossing which River the Army, in a Defile on the South Bank above Turtle Creek, is Surprised by the French Canadians and Indians from the Fort—The Number of the Enemy and their Leaders—The Virginians cover the Retreat of the British—Washington carries off the Army—The Route, Courses, and Distances of the March—How the Trail may be found at this Day—Effect of Braddock's Defeat on the Pennsylvania Colonists—The Battle Ground visited by Soldiers under Forbes Three Yeats after the Battle—The Appearance of the Field. This campaign may be briefly summed up. 1 Braddock, on the 20th of April, 1755, left his camp at Alexandria, on the Potomac, in Virginia, and took up his march towards Fort Duquesne. After stopping some days at Fredericktown, Md., he marched by way of Winchester, Va., to Fort Cumberland, on Wills Creek, where he arrived on the 10th of May. He was here delayed by reason of the neglect of the Pennsylvania authorities in furnishing him the necessary wagons and horses needful for the transportation of his stores and munitions of war. 2 On the day of their arrival, in general orders the appointment of Washington as aide-de-camp to the general was proclaimed to the army. 3 He here reviewed his army, and expressed confidence and pride in the scarlet coats, the bright buttons, the brilliant musket-barrels, 1 Orders were issued from the British ministry in 1754, to the Governors of the provinces, directing them to resort to force to drive the French intruders from their station on the Ohio. On the 14th of January, 1755, Maj.-Gen. Sir Edward Braddock, who had won great distinction as an able and brave officer and a strict its iplinarian, mid who had been appointed commander-in-chief of all the king's forces in America, sailed from Cork, Ireland, with two regiments of royal troops. Each regiment numbered five hundred men. One, the Forty. fourth, was under Col. Dunbar ; the other, the Forty-eighth, was under Sir Peter Halket. They arrived at Alexandria, Va., on the 20th of February, 1755. At a council held at the camp at Alexandria, which was attended by the Governors of the middle and northern colonies, three expeditions were agreed upon,—the first against Fort Deqnesue, under command of Braddock in person; the second against Niagara and Frontenac, under Gen. Shirley (Governor of Massachusetts); the third against Crown Feint, under Gen. William Johnson. 2 The whole campaign was planned with want of foresight, net to say in ignorance. Of all places for a base of supplies for an aggressive campaign. Alexandria was the last to be considered. The country through which the army passed could furnish neither provisions nor carriage. In Pennsylvania the conflict between the Executive and the Assembly was of such a nature and had reached such a height that the confidence of the inhabitants sea so shaken as to overlook any inducements held out by the Governors for them to contribute in the absence of legislature enactment; for, as we have said, the Governors were instructed by the proprietaries not to sanction any bill for raising revenue or supplies unless their estates were exonerated. It is well known that Benjamin Franklin, on his individual responsibility, secured a supply of wagons and horses from York and Lancaster Counties, and the necessary drivers to move the army and the supplies. There were no PennsyIvania troops with Braddock; most of those from this Province in that war were with Gen. Shirley. 3 Braddock had orders from the king, dated at St. James, Nov. 12, 1754, respecting the rank of the colonial officers, by which he was to suffer no American field-officer to take command of even a battalion of colonial troops. Washington had resigned in consequence of this order. —works, vol. ii. p 68. the red cross of St. George, and the blare of the trumpets that echoed through the woods. He had with him about a thousand regulars,—royal troops, whose perfect movements had helped to make the reputation of that wonderful machine which' had marched across the Peninsula,—thirty sailors from the fleet of Admiral Kepple, whose squadron had transported the royalists, and about twelve hundred provincials, mostly from Virginia and New York. In addition to these he was joined by about a hundred and fifty Indians and frontiersmen from the back regions of Pennsylvania, who were dressed like Indians, and who fought after the Indian fashion. These had been encouraged by the colonists to come, and had they been accepted would have been of good service as scouts. Of these forty to fifty were friendly Delawares from under the famous Sca-roo-ya-da, a steadfast friend of Washington and the Americans. Crogan, the interpreter, and "Captain Jack," 4 with his bordermen, were also of them ; but the offer of their services was rejected with indignation, and they were rather despised than appreciated. Some of these, for the mere lave of war or bound by promise, and full of hatred towards the French and their allies, remained in the skirts of the army, and later on that day of disaster did service never to be forgotten, while the rest, with a mutual disgust at the regular gentry, retired to their mountain fastnesses, and remained inactive during the campaign .5 4 This "Captain Jack" was one of the most peculiar outgrowths of border times. There is a romantic interest attached to his name, especially in the Cumberland district of this State, where his name is localized. What follows here is on the authority of that eminent antiquary and most reliable local historian, Mr. I. D. Rupp, whiten reputation for acccmacy is of the highest. [History of Cumberland County.] " Between 1750 and 1755 there figured a character of some note in Cumberland County. Captain Jack, the Black Hunter,' the 'Black Rifle,' the ` Wild Hunter of the Juniata,' the Black Hunter of the Forest,' was a white titan. He entered the woods With a few enterprising companions, built his cabin, cleared a little land and amused himself with the pleasures of fishing and hunting. He felt happy, for he had not a cars. But one evening, when he returned from a day of sport, he found his cabin burnt, and his wife and children murdered. From that moment he forsook civilized man, lived in caves, protected the frontier inhabitants front the Indians, and seized every opportunity for revenge that offered. Ile was a terror to the Indians, a protector to the whites. On one occasionr near Juniata, iin the middle of a dark night, a family was suddenly awakened by the report of a gun. They jumped from their lints, and by the glimmering light front their chimney saw an Indian fall to rise no more. The Open door exposed to view the 'Wild Hunter.' I saved your lives,' he cried, then turned and was buried in the gloom. He never shot without good cause. His look wages unerring as his aim. lie formed an association to defend the settlers against savage aggression. On a given signal they would unite. Their exploits were heard of in 1756 on the Conococheague and Juniata. Ile was sometimes called the Half-Indian ; and Col. Armstrong in a letter to the Governor, says, The conpany tinder the command of the Half-Indian having left the Great Cove, the Indians took advantage and murdered many.' He also, through Col. Crogan, proffered his aid to Braddock. Its will march with his hunters,' says the colonel ; they are dressed in hunting-shirts, moccasins, etc., are well armed, and. are equally regardless of heat and add. They require no shelter for the night ; they ask no pay.' What was the real name of this mysterious personage has never been ascertained. It is supposed that he gave the name to 'Jack's Mountain,'—an enduring and appropriate monument." 5 There appears to be a slight variation in the statements of various writers respecting tile number of Indians engaged on Braddock's side BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION - 21 From here on the 27th of May were sent out five hundred men under. Sir John St. Clair' and Maj. Chapman to open. the road to the. Little Meadows, which road had previously been marked out by Washington and his friendly Indian, Nemacolin, and afterwards used by the Ohio Company. The army was divided into two brigades ; Halket commanded one, Dunbar the other. On the 8th of June the first brigade under Halket took up its. march, and two days after the main body under Braddock followed. On the seventh day after he had started thence be reached the Little Meadows, at the foot of the Allegheny Mountains, on the western side, whither St. Clair had arrived. A small fort erected here was to be a new base of operations and a new station for supplies.' Here was held a council ; and here for the first time was the advice of the " Young Buckskin," as Braddock called Washington, listened to. He had advised that the army dispense with the cumbrous wagons, which undoubtedly would retard their march, and proceed from Cumberland with pack-horses, as the route was mountainous and the way difficult. The march hither had shown the correctness of his observations. They had found it difficult to get the wagons along at all, and the train being from three to four miles long took too many men to guard them, who in so doing were so separated that an attack at any one point would be dangerous to the entire army. He here renewed the advice that the heavy artillery and baggage remain with a portion of the army and follow with easy marches, but that the portion of the army effective for fighting, lightly equipped, with a few pieces of light cannon and such stores as were necessary, should press forward to the. enemy's fort. The advice was agreed with, and the army was again divided for safety and efficiency. Twelve hundred men with twelve pieces of artillery, selected from the different corps, under Braddock himself, With Halket and his veterans, preceded Dunbar and Chapman, who were to follow by slower and more easy marches with the residue of the two regiments, some independent companies, the heavy artillery and baggage. Braddock then set forward from the Little Meadows on the 19th of June, taking with him their thirty carriages, including those which were used for the ammunition, and a train of pack-horses, upon whose during the war. There were without doubt some who Ind effective service, which is attested by Washington [see Sparks], and by the records of a council held at Philadelphia, Aug. 15, 1755, whereat Governor Morris said, "Brethren of the Six Nations, you that are now here, viz.: Scarrooyady [and five other chiefs named], fought wider Gen. Braddock,' and behaved with spirit and valor during the engagement." 1 Sir John St. Clair was quartermaster-general of the army. 2 The Little Meadows were at the foot of Meadow Mountain. The Great Meadows were about thirty-one miles farther west, and near the eastern list of Laurel Hill. The Great Meadows mark the site of Fort Necessity, the early scene of Washington's youthful glory. This is the Fayette County region. By "Little Crossings" is meant the ford at Casselman's River, one of the three streams which form the Turkey Foot, now Confluence; Somerset Co. The " Great Crossings" was the passage of the Youghiogheny itself. The Little Crossings were two miles west of the Little Meadows, and the Great Crossings seventeen miles farther west. backs were borne the baggage and provisions. But they proceeded slowly. On the 23d, their fourth day out, they reached the Youghiogheny at the Great Crossings, only nineteen miles' distance. The route from here to the Great Meadows, or Fort Necessity, was not difficult: On the 30th of June they crossed the Youghiogheny the second time at about a mile or so below where Connellsville now stands. Now in the wilderness, and no road to go by, they appear to have lost their bearings. 3 On the 3d of July a council was 3 The tortuous course of Braddock through Westmoreland cannot be accounted for. He seems to have wandered around like a lost man. For the cause of this we venture an explanation. Washington, more than any other man, was the pilot of that expedition: He knew the topography of this section of country better than any man of his day. For his pre-eminent fitness and special knowledge Braddock was induced to give him the appointment he did. Now at the Little Meadows Washington was taken down with a fever, and was left at Col. Dunbar's camp unable to proceed farther. lie, led by the destiny that leads such men through the world, rejoined Braddock the day before the battle, in time only to save the army from total destruction. He says in a letter (Sparks, vol. ii. p. 85), " On the 8th of July I rejoined in a covered wagon the advance division of the army, under the immediate command of the General: On the 9th I attended him on horseback, though very low and weak." As the route of Braddock's army is a matter of such local interest, we are able at this day to follow him over the wheat-fields and among the orchards of Westmoreland. The army first kept on the dividing ridge between the Tough and Cheat Rivers. About a mile west of the Great Meadows, and near the spot of Braddock's grave, the road diverged to the northeast to strike the pass through the Laurel Hill, and to cross the Youghiogheny at a crossing known afterward as Stewart's Crossing, about a mile below Connellsville. They were now off their direct route, which evidently lay along the river, and were in a wilderness. The road next crossed Jacobs Creek at the place known as Welshhanse's Mill (later Timstman's Mill), about a mile and a half below Mount Pleasant, in East Huntingdon township; crossed over the Mount Pleasant and West Newton turnpike below Mount Pleasant, leaving it on the right ; thence in a direction a little more westerly it crossed the Big Sewickley near Painter's Salt-Works, now marked by the line of the Southwest Railway, and the point probably between Painterville and Ruffsdale Stations ; thence nearly due north, crossing and recrossing the Pittsburgh and Greensburg turnpike between Greensburg and Irwin, leaving Madison and Jacksonville on the north and east till it reaches the Brush Creek fork of Turtle Creek. It appears by tracing the route on the map that the course from Connellsville to a distance beyond Mount Pleasant is entirely out of the direction of Fort Duquesne from there. This became apparent to Braddock on the 7th of July, when he had doubts, and when, as before stated, after reflection and examination, he turned into the Long Run Valley near Stewartsville, passing by a mill-seat on that run known since that time as Sampson's Mill. From the manuscript journal of a soldier who accompanied Braddock, which has been exhumed from the King's Library, London, where it was deposited, we quote the following, recorded while the army was within the Iimits of our county. The diary for a few days before and after the battle may be found at length in Craig's " Pittsburgh :" "On July 4th they marched six miles to Thicketty Run. On the 6th they marched six miles to Monakatnca Camp,' called thus from the death of Monakatuca's son, who was shot and killed by a party of Indians. The line of Carrying horses extended a great length, and it was almost impossible to keep them from insults,' so that the teamsters carried fire-locks. The disposition or arrangement of these horses varied almost every day, but the most common practice was to let them remain on the ground an hour after the march began under a guard of one hundred men. By tints doing there was no confusion. When the roads permitted they were allowed to march on the flanks, between the pickets and a line of soldiers ; but when it was rocky, and they were close together, they were made to fall in the rear. There were parties on the flanks at all times and a guard behind. On the 7th they tried to pass Turtle Creek about twelve miles from its mouth to avoid ' The Narrows ;' but 22 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. held at Jacobs Creek to consider the propriety of bringing forward Col. Dunbar with the reserves. Sir John St. Clair urged this, but it was rejected on what was regarded sufficient grounds. On the 7th of July Braddock was in doubt as to the proper way of proceeding. The crossing of Brush Creek, which he had now reached, appeared to be attended with so much hazard that reconnoitring-parties were sent forward. 1 After an examination of the ground he diverged to the left, passed down the valley of Long Run, and after one of the best marches of the campaign camped for the night in a favorable depression between that stream and Crooked Run, about two miles from the Monongahela: This was about four miles from the battle-ground. Their camp-fires were here watched all night by their enemies hid in the bushes. In the morning they approached the Monongahela down the valley of the Crooked Run, and forded the river below the junction of the Youghiogheny, where now is McKeesport. The advance, under Lieut.-Col. Gage, passed over the ford about eight o'clock on the morning of the 9th of July, and continued along by the foot of the hills bordering the broad river-bottom to the second fording of the Monongahela, which when crossed again to the north side left a direct route to :the fort. Gage passed over this second ford at about the same time the rear of the main division had come out safely from the first. Many had given up all expectation of meeting the enemy until they came to the fort, and they had some reason to feel elated in spirit. The most exact discipline was rigidly maintained. Washington said afterward that the army marching along this bottom was one of the finest sights lie ever saw: The soldiers were neatly dressed,' they marched in columns, the musket-barrels reflected the summer morning's sun, the broad tranquil river on their right hand, the high hills, with green foliage to their tops, on their left hand. here they came to a precipice which it was impossible to descend. Sir John St. Clair, with a captain and one hundred men, some Indian guides, and some light-horse; reconnoitered." The Narrows were described by the guides to be a narrow pass of about two miles in length, with the river on the left and high mountains on the right. With hard labor it could have been made but barely possible fur carriages. St. Clair, upon returning, informed the general that lie had found a ridge which led the whole way to Duquesne, and which avoided the Narrows and Frazer's, but that some work to be done yet made it impossible to more that day. They then encamped there, and the next morning marched about eight miles to the camp at the Monongahela. The following orders are preserved in this diary: "ORDERS AT MONAKATUCA CAMP. "If it should be ordered to advance the van or send back the rearguard, the advanced parties detached from them are to remain at their posts facing outwards. "Whenever there is a general halt, half of each of the subaltern's advanced parties are to remain under arms with fixed bayonets facing outwards, and the other half may sit down by their arms." "ORDERS AT THE CAMP NEAR MONONGAHELA. " All the men are to draw and clean their pieces. and the whole are to load to-morrow on the beating of the general' with fresh cartridges. "No tents or baggage are to be taken with Lieut.-Col. Gage's party." 1 Some of these advanced so far us to kill a French officer within half a male of Fort Duquesne. It was about noon when the second or main division began to cross after Gage. They were now about only ten miles from the fort, and the spirit of the men was at the highest. The trail which they followed coming out of the river led through a gradually rising plain to the hills beyond. This plain, or bottom, some four to six feet above the water of the river, extended from the river about half a mile. Where the route crossing this entered the hills a deep ravine ran along each side, which ravines, running from either side of the rising ground, came nearly together near the top of the hill like the two sides of a letter " A." The surface beyond the plain was rocky, and upon all sides except that next the river was covered with high grass, bushes, and large forest-trees. In these ravines and along the banks rising irregularly from them the enemy were lying in wait and quietly watching them. At that crossing on the north side was Frazer's trading-house, near the mouth of Turtle Creek, where. Washington had stopped on his first journey. Here the troops under Gage who were not employed in making the banks on their side of the river passable for the artillery and beasts, drawn, up in order, were Waiting for Braddock to come up. As the main body arrived they drew up the artillery and baggage and huddled the cattle and pack-horses along the beach until the opposite bank was cut down. The advance-guard in this way covered the passages of all the streams. About one o'clock the first detachment of the Forty-fourth Regiment, with their pickets, passed over; the artillery-wagons and carrying-horses followed, then the detachment of the Forty-eighth, with their pickets, who had guarded the heights back of the beach. At one o'clock all had crossed and the line of march had been arranged again. The advance-guard of some three hundred under Gage took up their march, then followed a column of workmen, two hundred and fifty, under Sir John St. Clair. They were to march on till three o'clock, the general following with the main body, the artillery, and the light baggage: The line began to thread out. Pickets were ordered on either side. While the rear-guard were yet shaking the water from their clothes, the advance-guard under Gage had entered the rising hills beyond the plain. Both the advance-guard, under Gage, and the next division, under Halket, were within the inclosure represented by the two sides of the letter " A,"—that is to say, the two ravines rising with the ground and approaching together at the top. On a sudden, a rattling volley of musketry, seemingly out of the earth, as no enemy was to be seen, was poured into the faces of those who were in the lead. The next instant into their right flank came another volley. The firing in the front continued excessive, quick, and heavy. The line was ordered to halt, and Lieut: Col. Burton was ordered forward with the vanguard of the main division. Thus eight hundred men were detached from the line, and four hundred were left BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION - 23 for defense of the artillery and baggage. The firing continuing, Braddock moved forward, leaving Halket in care of the reserves. The fire was returned by those in front, but with no effect, yet the enemy sustained a continuous and murderous discharge. The British could see nothing to shoot at, while their men were falling all round. The advance in great confusion fell back. Braddock and his officers hastened forward, but they were met by the broken ranks fleeing bleeding towards them. The attack was so sudden and so destructive, and the panic that seized upon these was so terrible, that before they knew it all —artillery, infantry, pioneers, baggage—were in an inextricable mass. As the advance column were driven back the force guarding the baggage in the clearing was attacked. These seeing the rest of the army driven back in terror scattered. Many of the wagon-drivers and teamsters were killed, many others cutting loose their horses fled on their backs across the river. The cannon did little execution, for the enemy availed themselves of the cover of the heavy woods, in which they were screened and protected. As the British and Americans were on the open place, and the French and Indians in the woods, every good position was speedily taken up by these, not only in the front, but on the sides of the army, and from these positions they fired upon every part, for every part of the army was exposed. But as yet the enemy were not to be seen, nor did they show themselves until the retreat began. The general was a soldier who did not know fear, and his officers, although not so rash as he, were equally as brave. Once Burton headed, by command of his general, about one hundred royalists of the Forty-eighth, whom he prevailed with to follow him towards a rising ground on the right ; but after they had reached the place, he, disabled by wounds, and his men seeing nothing but the prospect of death, turned about and fled. No words, no promises, no threats could now avail along the -line. The noise of the army in that slaughter-pen was so horrific that those who escaped never had the recollection of it driven away. The cries of anguish of the men mingled with the shouts and entreaties of the officers. The shouts and ravings of terror, pain, despair, fear, chagrin, madness, ascended within the circle of red fire, with the howls of the Indians, the clashing of arms, the irregular rattling and thudding of musketry and cannon. Thus they stood, the survivors said, for three hours, —but long enough,—huddled together like sheep, sometimes in a mass, sometimes in separate bodies, all the time receiving the fire from the rocks and the trees. In such confusion many were killed by their own men, more indeed than by the enemy. Thus it happened to the provincials whom Washington ordered to fight after the manner of the border warfare. A brave Virginian, Capt. Waggoner, seeing that if he could secure a certain spot on a rising ground where lay a fallen tree of great thickness, his command might possibly turn the fortune of the day, with eighty provincials .he clambered up to it with the loss of only three, and when by a well-directed fire from such a secure' position he was dislodging a body of Indians in the bottom beyond, the British, taking the smoke of his guns for the sign of an enemy, fired upon his company by platoons, and they were compelled to fall back, leaving him and fifty of his eighty men on the ground. When it was seen to be impossible to make his men advance, Braddock endeavored to get them to retreat in good order, for they now, wild, bewildered, and dazed, were firing their ammunition in the air and turning upon their officers. Two-thirds of the killed and wounded in this fatal action received their shots from the cowardly and panic-stricken royalists. 1 It was no longer a battle, it was a butchery. By this time half the army that had crossed the river were killed or wounded, many. of the best officers had been cut down, and the general, after having five horses shot under him, received, whether at the hands of friend or foe never to be known, a mortal wound. 2 No panic was more complete. The desolate cries of the wounded, exposed to the fire of their own brethren, were as terrible as the unearthly yells of the unleashed savages. The royal regulars, when they had shot away their ammunition, were the first to run. All orders henceforth were either not minded or were disobeyed. All by one consent left the field; many threw away their guns, and disencumbered themselves of their habiliments. Some of the soldiers followed the example of the wagoners, and loosing the horses galloped off on their backs. . They, intent on saving their own lives, deserted their comrades, and left all their artillery, stores, and the ammunition in their carriages. With difficulty Washington, his coat full of bullet-holes, covered the retreating army with his provincials. With the utmost difficulty, too, it was that the wounded general and his wounded officers were carried off the field by the few who had not forsaken them. Braddock was carried in his scarf. The road to Col. Dunbar's camp on the top of Laurel Hill, 1 Washington's letter to Governor Dinwiddie.—Sparks, vol. ii. p. 88. 2 The stories of particular persons having shot Braddock are not of late origin. We do not credit the Fayette County " Faucet" story. The same kind of a story was related by a Mr. Daniel Adams, of Newbury, who was regarded as a good authority, and who in the Newburyport Herald of 1843 told what he had heard from a Capt. Illsbury, who was with Sir William Johnson. This captain had become acquainted with a man who had served under Braddock, who had told him that a captain in that expedition, after many others had done the same thing, appealed to Braddock advising him to retreat, and that Braddock immediately shot him down. This captain had a brother who was a lieutenant, and who was near at the time, and who saw his brother fall; that this lieutenant raised his carbine and shot Braddock; this occurrence several kw, but none told ; that Braddock wore a coat of mail in front, and on y a ball from behind could have killed him. This narrative was believed and credited as authentic for a long time, and even inserted into creditable histories; this, too, in the face of the inharmonious narrative, egregiously lame, to wit, that the same French officer (Dreskau) who commanded against Johnson had the year previous defeated Braddock. We place the Stewart-Faucet story in the same category. This narrative I have taken from an old paper into which the original was copied. 24 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. thirty-six miles away, was strewn with accoutrements. The dead and the dying, all baggage, the money chest, the cattle, and the small-arms were left to the enemy, who,: emerging from their hiding-places, took possession of the field. A small body of Indians dogged the rear of the retreating army down to the riverbank, and killed and wounded some as they were in the water, but further they did not pursue or harass the terrified fugitives on the road. Nevertheless their victory was complete. An attempt was made on the south side of the river to stop the disordered men and form some of the soldiers into a force to cover the retreat. Braddock and some other wounded officers remained there a considerable time, indeed until the rest had all gone by. He still gave his orders from his litter, and directed Washington to speed to Dunbar with orders to send aid for the wounded, and with a small force to meet him on the way. At this side of the first crossing of the Monongahela he was joined by Gage, who had rallied a company. This was all of the army left; the rest were lying on the battle-field, or were along the road. These marched all night and the next day, and on the following night at about ten o'clock came to Gist's, where they halted to dress the wounded and refresh the men. When the army was collected at the station of Col. Dunbar it was in numbers still formidable ; but its spirit was broken, and no attempt was again made to march into the enemy's country or to retrieve their lost. fortunes. The panic was infectious, and all discipline was forgotten among even those who had not been engaged in the battle. They hid their heavy cannon in holes in the ground, and made no effort to' maintain that post. They did not rest easily till they got back to Fort Cumberland. The ball that met Braddock penetrated through his arm 'and lung. He lived four days after he was wounded. During this time when he was talked to he gave orders, but he rapidly sank into a stupor, and his thoughts and expressions were mostly wandering. In the night-time, after a long silence, he said, audible to those around, although in a meditating manner and as speaking with himself, " Who would have thought it! Who would have thought it !" He remained silent again, or at most talked incoherently. On the fourth day, immediately before he died, he said, " We shall better know how to deal with them another time." On the next day, the 14th of July, the second day after the army had left Dunbar's, he was buried in the middle of the road, and they marched and drove their wagons over his grave to make it indistinguishable. Some say that be was-buried in the darkness of the early morning. 1 1 In 1802 the remains were reinterred at the foot of a white oak-tree, and the place suitably marked. This is at Mount Braddock, Fayette Co., some of Braddock's bones, however, passed into the possession of Peale, the great showman, in whose museum in Philadelphia they were exhibited as relics until the destruction of the building by fire. The enemy that emerged from Fort Duquesne were French, Canadians, and Indians, under command of Capt. Beaujen. 2 It appears that the commander of the French was kept well informed by his Indian spies of all the movements of the British, and that it was his intention to await them at the fort. But this Capt. Beaujeu, the commandant of Duquesne, begged permission to march out and surprise his enemy when they were not expecting it. He was seconded by the entreaties of Capt. Dumas and Capt. Lignery and about a dozen subalterns. His force was about six hundred Indians and several detached companies of French and Canadians, in numbers above two hundred. They had great trouble to get the Indians to accompany them, and to doso had to give them much strong drink and offer many promises. They marched out of the fort in the early morning of the 9th of July, and intended to resist Braddock while he was crossing the river. They did not arrive in time for this, for the army was preparing to cross when they came to the hills. They there lay in ambush. At the first regular fire of the British the commander, Beaujeu, was killed. His followers showed signs of fear and confusion. This occasioned the first and only lull in the firing of the French which was noticed by the British. This was the moment, the Americans say, that Braddock or Gage should d have taken to push onward to the enemy. But the opportune moment was lost ; hence some said Braddock acted as one who had lost his reason. Dumas, however, took the command in place of Beaujeu, and showed the coolness and the skill of a veteran officer. His orders were obeyed, and while he remained with his regular French in the front, his officers deployed the Indians on either flank of the British. Dunbar conducted the army to Philadelphia, but Washington was the good genius of the retreat. It may be doubted that Washington ever, in defeat or victory, was more impassably himself than in this campaign. What might not be expected from so young a man, who, not expecting anything but victory, should appear to greater advantage when he marched from defeat? In such a school was the man taught who bore the weight of a country for seven restless years. The completeness of this. victory and defeat, although felt, was not fully seen till the detachment 2 "The name in full of Beaujeu was Daniel Hyacinthe Marie Lienard de Beaujeu. He was the second son of Louis Lienard Sieur de Beanjeu and Therese Mijean de Braussac, his wire, born in Montreal, Aug. 17, 1711. The .family was originally from Dauphine, France. Beaujeu had  commanded at Detroit and Niagara." (William M. Darlington, Esq , in Centenary Memorial," p. 263.) See record of his death and burial in the chapter on the religious history in this book. Mr. Darlington says that " Beaujeu seems to have succeeded Contrecoeur at Fort Duquesne," and in this statement he follows various other authors. But Sparks, citing the best author ities (the French "Archives"), says that Contrecoenr was commander of Fort Duquesne, and Bancroft (" History of the United States") follows hint. Contrecoeur was "commander" of all the French in those parts, and all orders came from him. Beaujeu was " commandant" at the fort.