untitled

wagons with supplies and hospital stores without delay, as has already been noticed. He set out with two private soldiers as an escort, and traveling without halt through the long hours of the dark and rainy night which succeeded the day of the battle, came early in the morning of the 10th to the camp of Col. Dunbar, who, as it appears, was greatly demoralized by the startling intelligence which he brought. At about the middle of the forenoon several of Braddock's Pennsylvania Dutch wagoners (from the eastern counties) arrived at the camp, bringing the dread news from the battlefield, and announcing themselves as the only survivors of the bloody fight on the Monongahela. Nearly at the same time arrived Sir John Sinclair and another wounded officer, brought in by their men in blankets.

Dunbar's camp was then a scene of the wildest panic, as the rattle of the " long roll," beaten by his drummers, reverberated among the crags of the Laurel Hill. Each one, from the commander to the lowest camp-follower, believed that the savages and the scarcely less dreaded French were near at hand and would soon surround the camp.

True to their cowardly instincts, Dunbar's wagoners and pack-horse drivers, like those who were with Braddock on the Monongahela, and like many others of the same base brood on a hundred later battle-fields, were the first to seek safety in flight, mounting the best horses and hurrying away with all speed towards Fort Cumberland,¹ leaving their places on the wagons

¹ A few days after their cowardly flight from Dunbar's camp, several of these panic-stricken wagoners appeared at Carlisle, bringing with them the first news of the disaster to Braddock's army. Thereupon they were examined by the Governor of Pennsylvania at that place, and their depositions taken and subscribed before him are found in the Pennsylvania Archives. Two of these depositions (similar in tenor to all the others) are here given, viz.:

" . . . That this examinant continued with Col. Dunbar. And on the tenth of this instant the regiment being at about seven miles beyond a place called the Great Meadows at eleven o'clock of that day, there was a rumor in the camp that there was bad news, and he was soon after informed by wagoners and pack-horse drivers, who were then returned to Col. Dunbar's camp, but had gone out with the advanced party under Gen. Braddock, that the general with the advanced party was defeated by the French on the ninth instant about five miles from Fort Du Quesne, and about forty miles from where Col. Dunbar then was, at which engagement the wagoners and pack-horse drivers said they were present; that the English were attacked as they were going up a hill by a numerous body of French and Indians, who kept a continual lire during the whole engagement, which lasted nigh three hours; that most of the English were cut off, and the whole train of artillery taken ; that General Braddock was killed, as also Sir Peter Thicket, Capt. Orme, and most of the officers. This examinant further saith he saw a wounded officer brought through the camp on a sheet; that about noon of the same day they beat to arms in Col. Dunbar's camp, upon which the wagoners as well as many common soldiers and others took to flight in spite of the opposition made by the centrys, who forced some to return, but many got away, amongst whom was this examinant."

"This examinant saith that he was in Col. Dunbar's camp the tenth of July instant, and was informed that two officers who had come from Port Cumberland, and had proceeded early in the marling with a party of Indians to join General Braddock, returned to the camp in about three hours after they set out, and a rumor spread that there was bad

and with the pack-horse trains to be filled by brave soldiers from the ranks. Their base example infected the numerous camp-folloWers, who, as well as many of those from whom better things might have been expected, fled towards the Allegheny Mountains, and it was with the greatest difficulty that Dunbar prevented the desertion and flight from becoming general.

At ten o'clock in the evening of the same day (Thursday, July 10th), Gen. Braddock reached Gist's. From the place where he fell he was brought away on a tumbril. Afterwards the attempt was made to move him on horseback, but this he could endure only for a short time, after which he was dismounted and carried all the remaining distance by a few of his men. The weary journey was continued with scarcely a halt during all the night succeeding the battle and all the following day. Through all the sad hours of that long march the gallant Capt. Orme (himself au fering from a painful wound) and the no less bra and steadfast Virginia cavalry captain, Stewart, we constantly by the side of their helpless command never leaving him a moment.

The mortally wounded general must have been suffering intense agony of mind as well as of body, b through it all, like the brave and faithful officer th he was, he never forgot that there were other maim and suffering ones who sorely needed aid. " Despite the intensity of his agonies," says Sargent, " Braddock still persisted in the exercise of his authority and the fulfillment of his duties." On reaching Gist's he found that no provisions, stores, nor surgical aid had arrived on there in obedience to the command sent by Washington to Col. Dunbar, and thereupon he sent still more peremptory orders to that officer to forward them instantly, with the two only remaining companies the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Regiments, to assign in bringing off the wounded. The wagons arrived on the morning of Friday, the 11th, and a party was then immediately sent back towards the Monongahela to rescue such of the wounded as could be found, and with a supply of provisions to he left along the road for the benefit of those who might be missed and come

news, and that the officers could not pass to the general by reason of Indians; that about nine or ten o'clock the same day this exam saw and spoke with several wagoners who were come into Col. Dan camp from Gen. Braddock's, and who informed this examinant Gen. Braddock with his advanced,party of fifteen hundred men had attacked on the ninth instant within five miles of Fort Du Queens great many French and Indians who surrounded them; that the lasted three hours; that the most part of the English were killed; Gen. Braddock was wounded and put into a wagon, and afte killed by the Indians; th .t Sir Peter Hacket and Capt. Orme were killed. And this examinant further saith that he saw some soldi turn into Col. Dunbar's camp, who he was informed bad been of Braddock's advanced party, some of whom were wounded, some not; saw two officers carried on sheets, one of whom was said to be Sir St. Clair, whom the examinant was informed had received two w that about noon of the same day Col. Dunbar's drums beat to and both before and after that many soldiers and wagoners with attendants upon the camp took to flight, and amongst others this inant. And further saith not."

up afterwards. Of the movements of the general mid his party on that day, Capt. Orme's Journal has the following entry :

"Gist's plantation; July 11th.—Some wagons, provisions, and hospital stores arrived. As soon as the wounded were dressed, and the men had refreshed themselves, we retreated to Col. Dunbar's camp, which was near Rock Fort. The general sent a sergeant's party back with provisions to be left on the road, on the other side of the Yoxhio Geni, for the refreshment of any men who might have lost their way in the woods. Upon our arrival at Col. Dun-bar's camp we found it in the greatest confusion. Some of his men had gone off upon hearing of our defeat, and the rest seemed to have forgot all discipline. Several of our detachments had not stopped till they had reached the camp. It was found necessary to clear some of the wagons for the wounded, many of whom were in a desperate situation ; and as it was impossible to remove the stores, the howitzer shells, some twelve-pound shot, powder, and provisions were destroyed or buried."

The terror and consternation at Dunbar's camp had been constantly on the increase from the time when the first of the frightened wagoners had galloped in with the alarming news on the morning of the 10th. Through all that day and the following night terrified fugitives from the field, many of them wounded, were continually pouring in, each telling a fearful tale of rout and massacre, and all uniting in the assertion that the French and savages in overwhelming force were following close in the rear. This latter statement was wholly false, for the enemy had made no attempt at pursuit from the shores of the Monongahela ; but the tale was believed, and its effect was an uncontrollable panic at the camp.

On the arrival of Capt. Stewart with his escort, bearing the wounded general, a decision was at once arrived at to retreat without delay to Fort Cumberland, destroying everything which could not be carried. It was a strange proceeding, and one which must now appear cowardly, for an army of fully a thousand men, many of them veteran soldiers, with sufficient artillery and an abundance of ammunition, to abandon a mountain position which might soon and easily have been rendered impregnable, and to fly before the imaginary pursuit by an enemy which was greatly inferior in numbers, and had already retired in the opposite direction. But if the retreat was to be made, then it was necessary to destroy nearly everything except a meagre supply of provisions, for there was barely transportation enough for the sick and wounded, who numbered more than three hundred. There were more than enough wagons to carry everything, but the number of horses was small, man!vsf the best having been ridden away by the frightened wagoners and other fugitives, and most of those sent forward with the trains of the advance column having been captured by the enemy.

The work of destruction and preparation for retreat were commenced immediately, and completed on the 12th. The howitzers and every other artillery piece except two were burst, as were also a great part of the shells. Some of the shells and nearly all the solid shot were buried. A great number of wagons (having no horses to draw them) were burned. Only a small part of the provisions was saved for the march, most of them being destroyed by burning, or thrown into the little pond of water that had been formed by damming the spring a short distance below the camp. The powder-casks were opened. and their contents—stated at fifty thousand pounds of powder—thrown into the pool. Of all the immense quantity of material and stores which had with such great expense and labor been transported across the Alleghenies, and to the top of Laurel Hill, there was only saved the least amount that could possibly meet the necessities of the retreat to Cumberland.

It has been generally believed that the artillery pieces were not burst, but buried at Dunbar's camp, as well as a great deal of other property. Stories were told, too, that a large amount of money was buried there by Dunbar on the eve of his retreat. As to the statement concerning the burial of the cannon, it was indorsed by and perhaps originated with Col. Burd ; ¹ but it was disproved by a letter dated Aug. 21, 1755, addressed to Governor Shirley by Col. Dunbar, and indorsed by his officers, in which they said, " We must beg leave to undeceive you in what you are pleased to mention of guns being buried at the time Gen. Braddock ordered the stores to be destroyed, for there was not a gun of any kind buried."

The question, who was responsible for the disgraceful retreat from Dunbar's camp, and the destruction of the stores and war material at that place, has generally received an answer laying the blame on Dunbar himself; and this appears to be just, though in his letter, above quoted, he mentions the order for the destruction as having been given by Braddock. It is true that the orders were still issued in his name, but the hand of death was already upon him, and he was irresponsible. The command really lay with Col. Dunbar, had he been disposed to take it, as he undoubtedly would readily have done had it not happened that the so-called orders of Braddock were in this instance (and for the first time in all the campaign) in accordance with his wishes.

In regard to the issuance of these orders by the dying commander, and Dunbar's very ready and willing obedience to them, Sargent—who, however, almost contradicts himself in the first and last parts

¹ On the 11th of September, 1759, Col. Burd visited Dunbar's camp, and concerning this visit his journal says, "From here we marched to Dunbar's camp. . . . Here we saw vast quantities of cannon-ball, musket-bullets, broken shells, and an immense destruction of powder, wagons, etc. Reconnoitered all the camp, and attempted to find the cannon and mortars, but could not discover them, although we dug a great many holes where stores had been burled, and concluded the French had carried them off."

of the extract given below—says, " Braddock's strength was now fast ebbing away. Informed of the disorganized condition of the remaining troops, he abandoned all hope of a prosperous termination to the expedition. He saw that not only death but utter defeat was inevitable. But, conscious of the odium the latter event would excite, he nobly resolved that the sole responsibility of the measure should rest with himself, and consulted with no one upon the steps he pursued. He merely issued his orders, and insisted that they were obeyed. Thus, after destroying the stores to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy (of whose pursuit he did not doubt), the march was to be resumed on Saturday, the 12th of July, towards Wills' Creek. Ill judged as these orders were, they met with too ready acquiescence at the hands of Dunbar, whose advice was neither asked nor tendered on the occasion. . . . For this service—the only instance of alacrity that he displayed in the campaign—Dunbar must not be forgiven. It is not perfectly clear that Braddock intelligently ever gave the orders, but in any case they were not fit for a British officer to give or to obey. Dunbar's duty was to have maintained here his position, or at least not to have contemplated falling back beyond Wills' Creek. That he had not horses to remove his stores was, however, his after-excuse."

The destruction of the guns, ammunition, and stores was finished at Dunbar's camp on the 12th of July, and on the morning of Sunday, the 13th, the retreating troops, composed of Dunbar's command and the remnant of the force that fought on the Monongahela, moved away on the road to Cumberland. They took with them the only artillery pieces that were left (two six-pounders), a small quantity of provisions and hospital stores, and the remaining wagons, nearly all of which were laden with the sick and wounded. The commander-in-chief, now rapidly approaching his end, was borne along with the column. The entry for this day in Capt. Orme's Journal reads: " July 13th.—We marched hence to the camp near the Great Meadows, where the general died."

At the place where Dunbar's troops bivouacked after this day's march, about two miles west of Fort Necessity, at eight o'clock on that midsummer Sunday night, Gen. Braddock breathed his last. He had spoken very little after the time when he was brought from the fatal field. It is related that on the first night he repeated, as if soliloquizing, " Who would have thought it ! who would have thought it !" and after that was silent ¹ until the fourth day, when he said to Capt. Orme. " We shall better know how to deal with them another time." He spoke no more, and soon after expired ; Capt. Stewart, of the light-horse, having never left him from the time he received his wound until after his death. Washington

¹ This conflicts strongly with Sargent's statement that at Dunbar's camp he " issued his orders and insisted that they were obeyed."

and Orme were also with him at the last moment, and it is said (by Sargent) that shortly before his death the general bequeathed to Washington ² his favorite charger and his body-servant, Bishop, so well known in after-years as the faithful attendant of the patriot. chief.

On the morning of the 14th of July the dead general was buried at the camp where he died, and the artillery pieces, the wagon-train, and the soldiers, moving out to take the road to Wills' Creek, pawed over the spot, to obliterate all traces of the new grave,³ and thus to save it from desecration by the savages,

² Notwithstanding the many absurd accounts which have been given of the disagreements which occurred between Braddock and Washington, and of the insolent and contemptuous manner in which the latter was treated by his chief, all evidence that is found tends to show that there existed between the two a friendship such as is very rarely known as between commanding general and a mere youth serving ander him without military rank, for in this campaign Washington held now, and was consequently never admitted to Braddock's councils of war. He was by the British officers below Braddock contemptuously styled "Mr. Washington," for they disliked him, principally because of the consideration shown him by Braddock, and partly because he was merely a " Virginia buckskin," which latter fact made Braddock's friendship for him all the more galling to them. In later years President Washington, in speaking (see titles' Register, xiv. p. 179) of Brad. dock, said, " He was unfortunate, but his character was much too severely treated. He was one of the honeetest and best men of the British officers with whom I was acquainted; even in the manner of fighting he was not more to blame than others, for of all that were consuloed only one person objected to it. . . . Braddock was both my general and my physician," alluding in the latter remark to the time when he (Washington) had been taken sick near the Little Meadows on the outward march, on which occasion Braddock gave his personal attention to the case, leaving Wsshington with a sergeant to take care of him, with medicine and directions (given by himself) of how to take it, also with Instructions to come on and rejoin him (the general) whenever he should find hisser able to do so.

As to the accounts, with which all are familiar, of Washington assuming command after the fall of Braddock, and saving the remnant et the force from destructioo, its utter absurdity Le made apparent by the extracts which have been given from Capt. Orme's Journal. Washington exercised no command in that campaign, and the only circumstance which can give any color to the story is that some of the Virginians, knowing him as an officer in the militia of that colony, were disposed is the confusion of the battle to follow him in preference to the British officers, who despised their method of backwoods fighting.

³ The precise spot where Gen. Braddock was burled has never been certainly known. Col. Burd, who visited it in 1759, when on his way to erect Fort Burd, on the Monongahela, said it was about two miles frees Fort Necessity, and " about twenty yards from a little hollow, in which there was a small stream of water, and over it a bridge." Gen. Washington said that it had been his purpose to return to the spot and erect a monument to his memory, but that be had no opportunity to dem until after the Revolution, and then, after the most diligent search, he found it impossible to recognize the spot where the general was ivied on account of the change in the road and the extension of the chillag.

In 1812 a party of men who were engaged in working on the roaddig out, near the bank of the small stream known as Braddock's Bun, the bones of a human skeleton, and with them some military trappi from which latter circumstance the bones were supposed to be those Braddock, and it is not improbable that they were so, though them is no proof that such was the cue. Some of the larger bones were takes away by the people of the vicinity as relics, but these were afterwards collected, and they ss well as the others were reinterred about 1820, at the spot which has since been known as " Braddock's Grave," and which was so marked by the words cut or painted on a board which was nailed to a tree over the place of reinterment. This tree has since been cut down, the grave inclosed, and evergreen trees planted over it. The spot is a few rods north of the National road, in Wharton township, Fayette County.

who were expected soon to follow in pursuit. The wagons containing the sick and wounded took the lead, then came the others with the hospital stores and the meagre stock of provisions, then the advance of the infantry column, then the ammunition and guns, and finally the two veteran companies of the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth British regular regiments, with Stewart's Virginia light-horse as a guard to the rear and flanks. In the evening of the same day the Youghiogheny River was crossed by the last men of the force, and the rear-guard bivouacked for the night on the eastern side of the stream.

It seems that the progress made on the retreat was very rapid, for, although Braddock's road was rough and in many places barely passable, the head of the wagon-train bearing the wounded and sick arrived at Cumberland on the 17th, and three days later the last of Dunbar's soldiers reached the fort and lighted their bivouac fires within the range of its guns.

The expedition of Braddock, from which such brilliant results had been expected, had proved a dismal and bloody failure. The objective-point (Fort Du Quesne) was still held by the French, who, with their Indian allies, soon extended their domination over the country lying to the southeast. Gaining courage from their victory, they came to Dunbar's camp a week or two after his forces had left it, and there completed the little work of destruction which he had left undone. They held complete possession and sway from the Ohio to the Potomac. There was not left west of the mountains in this region a single settler or trader other than those who were favorable to the French and their interests. And this state of things continued in the country west of the Alleghenies for more than three years from the time of Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela.

INCURSIONS AND RAVAGES DURING THE FRENCH OCCUPATION — CAPTURE OF FORT DU QUESNE AND EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH—EXPEDITIONS UNDER BOUQUET.

SOON after the French had succeeded in expelling the English forces from the region of country west of the Alleghenies, and establishing themselves in the absolute possession of that territory, they reduced their force at Fort Du Quesne, sending a part of it to Venango and other northern posts, and many of their Indian allies scattered and returned to their homes, being in a state of discontent and incipient disaffection, though still holding to their French allegiance. But it soon became apparent that they had no intention to be at peace with the English, for within a little more than two months from the time of Dunbar's retreat the Shawanese, and the Delawares under King Shingiss, had advanced eastward to the Alleghenies, and made incursions beyond that range. About the 25th of September a body of one hundred and sixty Indians (afterwards fbund to be Shawanese and Delawares under command of Shingiss) set out from Fort Du Quesne and its vicinity on an expedition against the English, and a few days later they burst upon the defenseless people of the Maryland and Virginia settlements. On the 4th of October, Capt. William Trent wrote Col. James Burd, at Shippensburg : " Last night came to the Mill at Wolgomoth's an Express going to the Governor of Maryland with an account of the Inhabitants being out on Patterson's Creek ; and about the Fort (Cumberland), the Express says, there is forty killed and taken, and that one whole family was burnt to death in an house. The Indians destroy all before them, firing Houses, Barns, Stack-yards, and everything that will burn." A week later Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, wrote the Governor of Pennsylvania : " Within a few days I have received several Letters by express from Captain Dagworthy, who commands the Garrison consisting of one hundred and thirty-seven men at Fort Cumberland, and from some other people, advising me that the Indians have, since the 1st instant, cut off a great many families who lived near FOrt Cumberland, and on both sides of Powtowmack, some miles eastward of the Fort. It is supposed that near one hundred persons have been murdered or carried away Prisoners by these barbarians, who have burnt the Houses and ravaged all the plantations in that part of the Country. Parties of the enemy appear within sight of Fort Cumberland every day, and frequently in greater numbers than the Garrison consists of as I presume it will not be long before these people pay a visit to your borders, I take this opportunity of intimating what I think may be expected."

The first blow struck by the Indians within the bounds of Pennsylvania was on the 18th of October, when they attacked the settlements on Mahanoy or John Penn's Creek, that flows into the Susquehanna about five miles below the confluence of the North and West Branches. Information of this incursion was sent to Governor Morris on the 22d by Conrad Weiser. "I take this opportunity," he said, "to inform you I received news from Shamokin that six families have been murdered on John Penn's Creek, on the west side of Susquehanna, about four miles from that river; several people have been found scalped, and twenty-eight are missing ; the people are in a great consternation, and are coming down, leaving the Plantations and corn behind them."

On the 23d of October a party of white settlers (forty-six in number) who had been to Shamokin to ascertain if possible where the party came from who did the murderous work on Penn's Creek were on their return fired on from an ambush, and four killed, four drowned in attempting to swim the river, and the rest put to flight. Upon this "all the settlements between Shamokin and Hunter's Mill, for the space

of fifty miles along the River Sasquehannah, were deserted." Adam Terrence, one of the white party who were fired on, said, " As I understood the Delaware tongue, I heard several of the Indians that were engaged against us speak a good many words in that tongue during the action." The savages who attacked were supposed to be a part of a force mentioned by Governor Morris in a letter to the Governor of Virginia, dated October 29th. He said, "I have received Intelligence that a large body of French and Indians were seen to pass the Allegheny Mountains, moving towards the Inhabitants of this Province, and that a party of them have since passed the Susquehannah, and killed all before them, and were within five miles of Harris' Ferry [Harrisburg]. The people are mostly without arms, and struck with such a panick that they flee as fast as they can from their habitations." On the same date, John Harris, of Paxton, said in a letter to Edward Shippen, of Lancaster, "The Indians is cutting us off every day, and I had a certain account [from Andrew Montour] of about fifteen hundred Indians beside French being on their march against us and Virginia, and now close to our borders, their Scouts Scalping our Families on our Frontiers daily. . . . I am informed that a French officer was expected at Shamokin this week with a party of Delawares and Shawanese, no doubt to take possession of our River; and as to the state of the Sasquehannah Indians, a great part of them is actually in the French Interest."

In the morning of Sunday, the 2d of November, the Indian allies of the French attacked the Great Cove settlement, in Cumberland County, killed six persons, and carried away seventeen prisoners. On the same day Benjamin Chambers wrote from Fallow Spring.¹

"To the Inhabitants of the Lower Part of the County of Cumberland. If you intend to go to the assistance of your neighbours, you need not wait any longer for the Certainty of News. The Great Cove is destroyed. James Campbell left this Company last night and went to the Fort at Mr. Steel's Meeting-House, and there saw some of the Inhabitants of the Great Cove, who gave this account, that as they came over the Hill they saw their houses in flames. The messenger says there is but one hundred, and that they divided into two parts, the one part to go against the Cove, and the other against the Conolloways, and that there are no French among them. They are Delawares and Shawanese. The part that came against the Cove are under the command of Shingis, the Delaware King. The people of the Cove that came off saw several men lying dead; they heard the murder shout and the firing of Guns, and saw the Indians going into the Houses that they had come out of before they left sight of the Cove. I have sent express to Marsh Creek at the same time that I send this, so I expect there will be a good Company from there this day, and as there is but one hundred of the

Enemy, I think it is in our power (if God permit) to put them to flight if you turn out well from your parts."

On the day following the massacre and burning at Great Cove the settlements at Little Cove and Conoloways were attacked, all the houses burned, and several persons carried away as prisoners. Mr. Potter, sheriff of Cumberland County, reported " that of ninety-three families which were settled in the two Coves and the Conolloways forty-seven were either killed or taken and the rest deserted."

On Sunday, the 16th of November, the Indians, having penetrated Berks County, attacked the settlements only a few miles from the town of Reading, murdering and burning as before. A letter dated at Reading on that day, written by Edward Biddle to his father in Philadelphia, said, "I am in so much horror and confusion I scarce know what I am writing. The drum is beating to arms, and bells ringing and all the people under arms. Within these two hours we have had different though too uncertain accounts, all corroborating each other, and this moment is an express arrived, dispatch from Michael Reis at Tulpehoccon, eighteen miles above this town, who left about thirty of their people engaged with about an equal number of Indians at the said Reis'. This night we expect an attack, and truly alarming is our situation. . . . I have rather lessened than exaggerated our melancholy account." On the 18th the Governor notified the mayor and corporation of Philadelphia as follows : " I have received intelligence that the Indians have fallen upon the settlements at Tulpehoccon; that they had slaughtered many of the Inhabitants and laid waste the country, and were moving towards the Town of Reading, which is within Sixty Miles of this city ; and though I am in hopes their cruel progress will be stopped long before they can corn% hither, yet as I can get no certain intelligence of their strength, or of the number of Frenchmen that are among them, I think it my duty to take every cautionary measure in my power for the preservation and safety of the people and the province."

Passing on from Berks into Northampton County, the French and Indian force on the 21st of November attacked the Moravian settlement of Gnadenhutten, on the Lehigh. " Six of the Moravians were killed, and their dwelling-houses, meeting-house, and all their outhouses burnt to ashes, with all the Grain, Hay, Horses, and upwards of forty head of fat cattle that were under cover." On the 11th of December the enemy, about twp hundred strong, attacked Brod-head's plantation and other settlements in the vicinity of the Delaware Water Gap, killed several families and laid the country waste. On the 29th the secretary of the Council presented to that body an account of Indian outrages committed since the first outbreak east of the mountains on the 18th of October. In the closing part of this account he said, " During all this Month [December] the Indians have been burn-

ing and destroying all before them in the county of Northampton, and have already burned fifty houses here, murdered above one hundred persons, and are still continuing their 'ravages, murders, and devastations, and have actually overrun and laid waste a great part of that County, even as far as within twenty miles of Easton, its chief town. And a large body of Indians, under French officers, have fixed their headquarters within the borders of that county, for the better security of their prisoners and plunder. . . . All our frontier country, which extends from the River Patowmac to the River Delaware, not less than dne hundred and fifty miles in length and between twenty and thirty in breadth, but not fully settled, has been entirely deserted, the houses and improvements reduced to ashes, the cattle, horses, grain, goods, and effects of the inhabitants either destroyed, burned, or carried off by the Indians.

“All our accounts agree in this, that the French, since the defeat of Gen. Braddock, have gained over to their interest the Delawares, Shawanese, and many other Indian nations formerly in our alliance, and on whom, through fear and their large promises of rewards for scalps, and assurances of reinstating them in the possession of the lands they have sold to the English, they have prevailed to take up arms against us, and to join heartily with them in the execution of the ground they have been long meditating, the possession of all the country between the river Ohio and the river Susquehanna, and to secure that possession by building a strong fort at Shamokin, which, by its so advantageous situation at the conflux of the two main branches of Susquehannah (one whereof interlocks with the waters of the Ohio and the other heads in the centre of the country of the Six Nations) will command, and make the French entire masters of all that extensive, rich, and fertile country, and of all the trade with the Indians, and from whence they can at pleasure enter and annoy our territories, and put an effectual stop to the future extension of our settlement on that quarter, not to mention the many other obvious mischiefs and fatal consequences that must attend their having a fort at Shamokin. Note. Fachines have lately been discovered floating down the river Susquehannah, a little below Shamokin, by which, as the Indians were never known to use Fachines, it is conjectured the French have begun, and are actually building a fort at that most important place."

In the spring of 1756 the enemy continued their depredations. McCord's block-house, on Conococheague, was attacked and burned by savages, and twenty-seven persons killed or captured. The marauding party was pursued and a part of it overtaken at Sideling Hill, where a fight ensued and the whites were repulsed with severe loss. About the 1st of April a party of French and Indians, discovered in the vicinity of Fort Cumberland, were attacked by a party from the fort, and the French commander was killed and scalped. In his pocket were found the following instructions from Monsieur Dumas, who had recently superseded Contrecoeur as commandant at Fort Du Quesne :

"The Sieur Donville, at the head of a detachment of fifty Indians, is ordered to go and observe the motions of the enemy in the neighborhood of Fort Cumberland. He will endeavor to harass their convoys aq burn their magazines at Gonokocheagua (Conococbeagne) should this be practicable. He must use every effort to take prisoners, who may confirm what we already know of the enemy's designs. The Sieur Donvile will employ all his talents and all his credit to prevent the savages from committing cruelties upon those who may fall into their hands. Honor and humanity ought in this respect to serve as our guide. " Dumas."

In view of the numerous and bloody forays of the Freud) and Indians into the country east of the Alleghenies, and in deference to the demands of the people of that region, the Governor of Pennsylvania, with the advice and consent of the Council, issued on the 14th of April a proclamation, declaring war against the Delaware nation¹ and offering rewards for scalps and prisoners, as follows : " For every male Indian enemy over twelve years of age as prisoner, one hundred and fifty Spanish dollars or Pieces of Eight ; for the Scalp of any such, one hundred and thirty Spanish dollars or Pieces of Eight; for every female Indian prisoner, and for every male Indian prisoner under twelve years, one hundred and thirty Pieces of Eight ; for the scalp of every Indian woman, produced as evidence of being killed, fifty Pieces of Eight ; and for every English subject that has been taken and carried from this Province into captivity, and recovered and brought to Philadelphia to the Governor, one hundred and fifty Pieces of Eight, but nothing for their scalps ;" these rewards to be paid out of the appropriation of sixty thousand pounds then recently granted by the Assembly for the use of His Majesty, and which was placed at the Governor's disposal for that and other purposes of defense.

Soon after the declaration of war against the Delawares, Governor Morris received a letter from Sir. William Johnson, deprecating the action that had been taken, because of the bad effect it might produce among the Indians of the Six Nations, and on that account asking a postponement of hostilities under the declaration. To this communication the Governor made reply by letter dated April 24, 1756,² in which he said,—

"You cannot conceive what Havock has been made by the Enemy in this defenceless Province, nor what Numbers of Murders they have committed, what a vast Tract of Territory they have lain waste, and what a Multitude of Inhabitants, of all ages and both sexes, they have carried into Captivity; by Information of several of the Prisoners who made their Escape from them: I can assure you that there are not less than three hundred of our People in Servitude to them and the French on

¹ The Delawares had long been friends of the English, and continued to be so regarded up to the commencement of the murderous outrages committed by them under lead of their king, Shingiss. The Shawanese were regarded as enemies without any formal declaration to that effect.

the Ohio [meaning, however, more particularly the Allegheny, which was then called Ohio to its head waters], the most of them at Shingas. Town, called Kittaning, about thirty Mils above Fort Duquesne; and Scarryoddy and Montour must have acquainted you that they saw more or less English Prisoners in almost every one of the Delaware towns on the Sasquehannah as high up as Diahoga.

"At first the enemy appeared in small Parties and committed their Outrages where they could do it with most Safety to themselves, but of late they have penetrated to the inhabited Part of the Country in larger Bodies, and have defeated several Detachments of our armed Forces, burned and laid waste whole Countries, and spread a general Terror amongst us, so that I have been constrained oo yield to the importunate Demands of the enraged People (not being able otherwise to afford them a sufficient Protection for want of Arms, Ammunition, and an equal and compulsory Militia Law) to dolare the Delaware Nation Enemies and Rebels to his Majesty, and to offer large Rewards for Prisoners and Scalps, hoping that this would engage such of our Inhabitants as had any Courage left, as well as all others in the neighboring Provinces, to hunt, pursue, and attack them in their own country, and by these means keep them at home for the Defense of their own Towns, and prevent the total Desertion of the Back Counties, which there is good Reason to be apprehensive of. . . . You may be assured, Sir, that a Peace on honourable Terms will be extremely acceptable, as we form this charitable Opinion of the Delawares, that they were hurried into this Measure by the Artifices and Intimidations of the French, and did always believe when they came to open their eyes they would relent and cease injuring their innocent Brethren and allies, who have never hurt them either in Thought or Action. It was this opinion of that good Disposition towards us that influenced us to suffer so long their hostilities without declaring them Enemies, until the Blood streamed in such Quantities down our Mountains and filled the Vallies to such a Degree that we could no longer delay the Publication of their horrid Cruelties.

" I do not perceive that any of the Delawares living on the Ohio came to the Meeting appointed by the Deputies of the Six Nations, or that they have been spoke to; and they are, as you know, the most numerous of all. Indeed, the main body of the Delawares live at Kittaning and the other Delaware towns on and beyond the Ohio, and have been the most mischievous, and do still, even so late as last Week, continue to murder and destroy our Inhabitants, treating them with the most barbarous Inhumanity that can be conceived. . . .

"A Party of Delawares lately done some Mischief in Potomac ; they were headed by a French officer, who was killed, and the Party routed ;¹ and in the Officer's Pocket was found a Paper of Instructions from the French Commandant, Monsieur Dumas, at Fort Du Queens, ordering him to burn and destroy what he could meet with on that River ; from the Ohio therefore we must expect the greatest Mischief, and all means possible should be used to separate the Delawares and Shawanese from the French there, and prevail with them not to join in burning, ravaging, and laying waste our Frontier Counties."

The matter of Sir William Johnson's protest against the declaration of war upon the Delawares was brought to the attention of the Council, whereupon

" It was then considered, as the Delawares on the Ohio were still in open Warr, and a Grand attack might be expected to be made this Month from that Quarter on the Frontier Inhabitants, whether the Cessation should extend to them ; and it was after Long consultation agreed that it should; but an Account coming from the Postmaster at Annapolis that these Indians had penetrated and were eestroying the Inhabitants of Virginia, twelve miles within Winchester and Cnnolloways, and a Great part of Conegocheague, and had very lately Defeated forty Regular Forces of Fort Cumberland, and were Determined to attack that fort, the Matter was reconsidered, and Agreed to advise the Governor to Confine the Cessation of arms to the Sasquehannah Indians."

Intelligence of the above-mentioned foray into Maryland and .Virginia by the French from Fort Du Quesne, with their Delaware and Shawanese allies, was communicated by Governor Dinwiddie, of Vir-

¹ This was the fight at Sldeling Hill with the French and Indians under the Sieur Donville, who was killed, as before mentioned. The instructions found on his person have also already been given.

ginia, to the Governor of Pennsylvania in a letter dated Williamsburg, April 30, 1756, as follows:

"SIR,—This is to Inform you of the miserable Situation of our Affairs on our Frontiers ; the French and Indians have cutt off the communication from Fort Cumberland to Winchester, have Committed many cruel robberies, murders, and devastation among the poor back Settlers, and by the last Let they have invested the Town of Winchester with a great number of their People, and they further report that they have besieged Fort Cumberland with five hundred men, French and Indians.

" This Disagreeable News obliged me to Give Orders for summonsing the Militia of Eleven Contiguous Counties to Winchester, and I hope, when Collected together, they will amount to four thousand men who I have ordered to march directly for Winchester to repel the Fury of the Invaders, and protect our back Settlements, which will answer, I hope, my expectations.

" The Expedition against the Shawanese prov unsuccessful after Six Weeks' march in the W The Rivers they were to Cross were much swelled the fall of Rain and Snow ; they lost several Can with Provisions and Ammunition, on which they w forced to return in a Starving Condition, killing th Horses for food."

In July the Indians in strong force, headed by King Shingiss, appeared at Fort Granville² (near present site of Lewistown), stormed it, killed several whites, and took a number of prisoners, whom they carried to Kittaning, an Indian village on the Allegheny, at or near the site of the present town of same name in Armstrong County. This Indian Kittaning was at that time the residence of King Shingiss, as also of the redoubtable Delaware chief, Captain Jacob, both of whom had been among the most prominent of the Indian leaders of murdering parties in this and the preceding year. To this place French sent ammunition and supplies for their savage allies, and it was a principal rendezvous from which Indian war parties made their bloody forays into the settlements. For these reasons it was decided to send an expedition against the Delaware stronghold to destroy it if possible ; and Lieut.-Col. John Armstrong, who commanded the eight cora. panies of the Second Pennsylvania Battalion tioned west of the Susquehanna, was designated the commander for the campaign.

² To afford some degree of security against the incursions of the French and Indians, the province of Pennsylvania built, at a total expence of £85,000, a chain of forts and block-houses, extending across province from the Delaware to the Maryland line, commanding the principal passes of the mountains. On the east side of the Sasquehenna, and extending to the Delaware, were Forts Depui, Lehigh, Allen, Everitt, Williams, Henry, Swatara, Hunter, Halifax, and Augusta. West of the Susquehanna were Fort Louther, at Carlisle ; Forts Morris and Franklin, at Shippensburg ; Fort Granville; Fort Shirley, on a branch of the Juniata ; Fort Lyttleton ; and Fort Loudoun, on Concoccheague Creek. Lieut.-Col. John Armstrong, with eight companies of Pennsylvania troops, was stationed on the west side of the Susquehannah.

Col. Armstrong accordingly marched from Fort Shirley (in what is now Huntington County) on the 30th of August with a force of about two hundred men, a body of about one hundred having previously been advanced as scouts.¹ On the 3d of September, at the Beaver Dams, they came up with the advance party, who reported fresh Indian tracks found two or three miles from that place, as also the marks of an Indian camp recently vacated. On the 6th the force of Col. Armstrong was within fifty miles of Kittaning, and scouts were sent ahead to reconnoitre the place. The party consisted of an officer, two rangers, and a elide supposed to be acquainted with the country. It appears that they made quick work, for on the following day the advancing column met them returning with the report that the path was clear, " and that they had the greatest reason to believe they were not discovered ; but from the rest of the intelligence they gave it appeared they had not been nigh enough the town, either to perceive the true situation of it, the number of the enemy, or what way it might be most advantageously attacked."² This was on the 7th. After receiving the report of the reconnoitering party the march was continued, and though the route was "rough and incommodious, on account of the stones and fallen timber," a total distance of thirty miles was made on that day, and a " little before the setting of the moon" the front reached the Allegheny about one hundred perches below the main body of the town," where there came to the ears of the wearied troops " the beating of the drum and the whooping of the warriors at their dances."

The attack was made on the following morning, the Indians in the town being apparently wholly unaware of the approach of an enemy. Captain Jacob was present in the town, and at the first alarm of attack gave the war-whoop, and called out in a loud voice that " the white men have come at last, and we will have scalps enough," but at the same time took the precaution to order the squaws and children to take to the woods. The house where this warrior lived was the rallying-point for the Indians, a sort of citadel, from which the fire on the attacking party was constant and severe. Col. Armstrong thereupon caused the neighbor houses to be set on fire, and the flames spread rapidly through the town, finally enveloping the stronghold of the chief Jacob, who "tumbled himself out of the garret or cock-loft window, at which he was shot," or at least was supposed to be, for the white prisoners afterwards liberated in the town were willing "to be qualified to the powder-horn and pouch there taken off him, which they say he had lately got from a French officer in exchange for Lieut. Armstrong's boots, whi+ he carried from Fort Granville, where the lieu-tend was killed," and the same prisoners said they

were " perfectly assured of his scalp, as no other Indians wore their hair in the same manner. They also said they knew his squaw's scalp by a particular bob, and also knew the scalp of a young Indian called the King's Son."

" During the burning of the houses," said Col. Armstrong, " which were nearly thirty in number, we were agreeably entertained with a quick succession of charged guns gradually firing off as they reached the fire, but more so with the explosion of sundry bags and large kegs of gunpowder, wherewith almost every house abounded, the prisoners afterwards informing that the Indians had frequently said they had a sufficient stock of ammunition for ten years to war with the English. . . . There was also a great quantity of goods burnt, which the Indians had received but ten days before from the French."

The attack on "the Kittaning" by Col. Armstrong was evidently either badly planned or badly executed. The town was destroyed by fire it is true, but the greater number of Indians who were in it at the time of the assault escaped, and a considerable body of their warriors attacked Armstrong's forces on their return soon after they left the ruins of the town. The loss of the Indians was unknown. That of the whites was seventeen killed, thirteen wounded,³ and nineteen missing in the assault and subsequent fight. The results of the campaign were the destruction of the Indian rendezvous of Kittaning, with large quantities of ammunition and stores, the release of eleven English prisoners who had been captured east of the mountains by Shingiss' and Captain Jacob's bands. Jacob was supposed to be among the killed at the burning of the town, but this was afterwards found to be a mistake. He was alive in 1764, and present at a conference held by the Indians with Col. Bouquet on the Muskingum in that year. Shingiss was absent at the time of the attack, and, as was said by the prisoners, to have been expected to come down the river that very day with a large party of Delawares and French to Kittaning, where they were to be joined by Captain Jacob and his band, and all were to proceed across the Alleghenies, intending to attack Fort Shirley. A considerable party of Indians from Kittaning had already gone forward for the purpose of scouting and reconnoitring that fort, which accounts for the comparatively small number of Indians in the town when Armstrong attacked it.

The destruction of Kittaning caused great rejoicing in the settlements,4 and corresponding depression

³ Among the wounded was.Capt. (afterwards general) Hugh Mercer, who was killed Jan. 3, 1777, at the battle of Princeton. Cul. Armstrong, the leader of the Kittaning expedition, was also wounded in the assault on the Indian town.

4 The corporation of the city of Philadelphia passed a vote of thanks to Col. Armstrong and the officers engaged with him in the kittaning expedition "for the courage and conduct shown by them on that occasion." The sum of £150 was voted by the corporation, to be applied in part to the purchase of " pieces of plate, swords, or other things suitable for presents to the said officers," and in part to the relief of the widows

and dismay among the hostile Indians. To them it was a severe blow. They were amazed to find that the white settlers, whom they had supposed to be cowering behind their stockades east of the mountains, had suddenly and boldly advanced into the wilderness and destroyed the Indian stronghold, with all its accumulated supplies and munitions of war.

After the destruction of old Kittaning the French used every means in their power to goad the Indians to further bloodshed and hostility against the English, to avenge the destruction of their principal town and the killing of their kindred ; but they did not readily respond to these appeals, and for a long time they refused to go out in parties against the Eastern settlements, fearing that another blow might fall on their villages during their absence. " Such of them as belonged to Kittaning and had escaped the carnage refused to settle again on the east of Fort Du Quesne, and very wisely resolved to place that fortress and the French garrison between them and the English." ¹ They had also begun to show no little dissatisfaction with the French, on account of the meagre return which they were receiving for their services on the war-path, and symptoms of open disaffection were becoming apparent. This is shown in a statement made by one John Cox (an escaped prisoner from Kittaning,) which is found in the minutes of the proceedings of the Council at a meeting of that body on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1756,² as follows :

" Mr. Joseph Armstrong, Member of Assembly, and Mr. Adam Hoops, Commissary of Provisions for the Supply of the Forces in Cumberland County, Attending with a Young Man who was taken Prisoner by the Indians and had made his escape; they were examined as to the Truth of the several matters mentioned in the Petitions, and they conf¹rmed the same, saying further that a Year ago there were three thousand Men fit to bear Arms, livers in that County, and now exclusive of the Provincial Forces they were certain they did not amount to an hundred ; that there never was in the memory of Man a more abundant harvest ; that after the burning of Fort Granville by the Indians (which was done while the country people, guarded by Detachments of the Forces, were employed in reaping) the Farmers abandoned their Plantations, and left what Corn was not then stacked or carried into Barns to perish on the Ground.. . .

" Then the Young Man, one John Cox, a son of the Widow Cox, who had made his escape from Kittanin, gave the following information : That himself, his brother Richard, and John Craig in the beginning of

and children of men who lost their lives in the campaign. To the commanding officer was presented a medal of honor, bearing the legend, " Kittaning destroyed by Colonel Armstrong, September, 1756," and on the reverse another, "The gift of the Corporation of the City of Philadelphia."

February last were taken by nine Delaware Indians from a Plantation two Miles from McDowell's Mill, and carried to the Kittaning Town on the Ohio; that on his way thither he met Shingas [the Delaware king] with a Party of thirty Men, and afterwards with Captain Jacobs and fifteen, who were going on a Design to destroy the Settlements in Conegochege: that when He arrived at Kittanin, he saw there about one hundred fighting Men of the Delaware Tribe, with their Families, and about Fifty English Prisoners, consisting of Men, Women, and children ; that during his stay there, Shingas' and Jacob's Parties returned, the one with nine Scalps and ten Prisoners, the other with several Scalps and five prisoners, and that another Company of eighteen came from Diahogo with seventeen Scalps fixed on a Pole, and carried them to Fort Du Quesne to obtain their reward.

" That they (the Delawares) with the prisoners during the whole summer have been in a starving condition, having very little Venison and corn, and reduced to the necessity of living upon Dog Flesh and the few Roots and Berrys they could collect in the Woods ;³ that several of the Prisoners have dyed for want of Food ; That six Weeks ago about one hundred Indians went off from the Susquehanna to the Ohio for a Supply of Provisions and Ammunition, and were expected back in thirty days ; That while they were in this distressed Situation they talked several times of making Peace with the English, and many of them observed that it was better to do so than starve, for that the Rewards the French gave were not sufficient to support them, not having received from them more than ohe loaf of Bread for each Scalp. But that old Makomesy, his [Cox's] Master and one of their chiefs, endeavored to dissuade them from entering into any peaceable Measures with the English, and had constantly encouraged them to continue the War ; That while these things were in Agitation an Indian chief came among them, and informed them that the Mingoes could live with the English and be furnished with Provisions and every thing they wanted, while the Delawares were starving for carrying on the war against them. That about thirty days ago he saw several of the Indians going away, with an Intention (as he was informed) to know of the Governor of Pennsylvania whether the English would agree to make peace; but that he was told by Makomesy they were only gone to see whether the English were strong, and to get Provisions from them. . . .

This prisoner had escaped from the Indians on the 14th of August, and reached Fort Augusta in safety. " The poor Boy," says the record, " was extremely reduced, had dangerous swellings on his Body, and

³ It does not seem clear how the Indians could have been reduced te this starving condition when the region which they had ravaged, sad from which they had driven away the white settlers, had been blessed (as appears by the preceding statement of Armstrong and Hoops) with the most abundant harvest known in the memory of man.

was in a sickly condition. The Governor therefore ordered him lodging and the attendance of a Doctor."

The account which came to Philadelphia of disaffection among the Indians towards the French, and an apparent inclination to make peace with the English, caused the Governor and Council to declare on the 10th of September a suspension of hostilities against the Delawares and Shawanese, and in January, 1757, this was extended for a further period of fifty days. Finally, on the 4th of August, at a treaty council held at Easton, Pa., with Teedyus-cung, the king of the Eastern Delawares, a peace was concluded, and messengers were at once sent by the king to proclaim it to the Delawares at the head of the Ohio. " Menatochyand and Netowatquelemond, two of the Principal Men of the Ohio Indians," received the news favorably ; they acknowledged that they had been deluded by the French, and they returned this message to Teedyuscung : " We have heard'of the good work of peace you have made with our brethren the English, and that you intend to hold it fast. We will not lift up our hatchet to break that good work you have been transacting." King Shingiss, however, did not return any such assurances, but remained hostile, and held a large body of the Delawares with him. The Shawanese also continued hostile, and acted with the French, though considerably disaffected towards them.

Meanwhile the Governor of Virginia had formed an alliance with the Cherokee Indians of the South, by which the services of a large number of their warriors were secured to act against the French and their savage allies. These Cherokees were sent out in parties under white officers to scout in the vicinity of the French fort and bring intelligence of the movements there. The first of these parties (being also the first force sent by the English to the vicinity of Fort Du Quesne after Braddock's defeat) left Fort Cumberland in the latter part of May, 1757, and returned on the 8th of June. What they did during their expedition is told iu a letter written on the 15th of June by Col. George Washington to Col. Stanwix, at Fort Loudon, as follows :

" I have the pleasure to inform you that a scouting Party consisting of 5 Soldiers and 15 Cherokee Indians that were sent out the 20th ult°, towards the Ohio under Lieut. Baker,¹ returned on the 8th Instant to

¹ An account of another small reconnoitring party that was sent toward Tort Du Quesne a short time afterwards is found in Sparks (ii, 283), in one of Washington's letters, dated May, 1758, as follows: An Indian named Ucahula was sent from Fort Loudon with a party of six soldiers sad thirty Indians, under command of Lieut. Gist. After great fatigues sad suffering, occasioned by the snows on the Allegheny Mountains, they reached the Monongahela River (at the mouth of the Redstone), where Lieut. Gist, by a full from a precipice, was rendered unable to proceed, and the party separated. Ucahula, with two other Indians, descended the Monongahela In a bark canoe till they came near Fort Du Qum. Here they left their canoe, and concealed themselves on the margin of the river till they had an opportunity of attacking two Franchmen, whom they killed and scalped. These scalps were brought to Tort Loudon by Ucahula."

Fort Cumberland with 5 Scalps, and a French Officer Prisoner, having killed two other Officers of the said Party. Mr. Baker met with this Party, viz., Ten French, Three Officers, on the Head of Turtle Creek, 2 Miles front Fort Duquesne (the day after they had parted with 50 Shawanese Indians returning from the War), And would have killed and made Prisoners of them all had it not been for the Death of the Indian chief, who being killed prevented his Men from pursuing them. One other Indian was wounded and brought in upon a Bier near 100 Miles by the Party, who had nothing to live upon for the four last Days but wild Onions. . . . Capt. Spottswood with 10 Soldiers and 20 Indians, who went out at the same Time with but to a different Place from Lt. Baker, is not yet come in, nor any News of him, which makes me Uneasy."

On June 14th another Cherokee party brought to Fort Cumberland the alarming news that a large French force was marching towards that fort from the Ohio.² In a letter written at Winchester, Va., June 16th, by Capt. William Trent to William Cox,³ the writer said,—

" By an Express arrived here last Night from Capt. Dagworthy, at Fort Cumberland, we learn that Six Cherokees were arrived there, who report that they lay about Fort Duquesne some Days, where they saw a large Body of French and Indians and a great Number of Carriages and Horses. That they were obliged to go a Distance from there in order to hunt, as they were afraid to shoot nigh the Fort, and could get nothing to kill with their Bows and Arrows. After they had got some Provisions they returned to the Fort, where they stayed till they see them set off, and dogged them till they crossed the Monongahela at the Place where Gen. Braddock was defeated ; then they sent off these Cherokees with the News, and the rest of the Party followed them in order to send Intelligence from Time to Time of their Motions. The Virginians in these Parts have not above 230 Soldiers. Col. Washington is sending off to raise the Militia. There is about 80 Indians in these Parts. A Party of Cherokees fell in with Ten ffrench Men, killed and took Six, Four of which were Commissioned Officers ; One Officer, the only Prisoner they saved, is expected in Town to-night ; The Swallow Warrior was killed and his Son wounded, which was the rea-

² A letter front Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, to governor Denny, of Pennsylvania, dated the 14th of July (1757), stated "that one Street, who was taken at Fort Granville by the French, and carried to a Place near Fort Duquesne, and was afterivards in the Fort, and had made his Escape from thence with a Negro Man, was examined on Oath, and on Examination declared that about a month before the Garrison in that Place consisted of between three and four hundred French and a few Indians; they were afterwards reinforced with two hundred French from the Mississippi In twelve Boats; that Seven Hundred more were expected from a Fort on the Lake, with a Train of Artillery, and that an Expedition was intended against these Provinces, to be conducted by the Officers from the Mississippi."—Minute' of the PrOVinCial 00/411Ca, Colonial Records, vol. vii. p. 716.

son of their killing the Prisoners. 'Tis said the French Army consists of Two Thousand. . . . This Night I expect the French Army is at the Little Meadows, about 20 miles from [west of ] Fort Cumberland."

his report of the approach of a strong French force created a general alarm. On the 16th, Washington again wrote Col. Stanwix, saying that if the enemy was coming in such numbers, and with a large train of artillery as reported, Fort Cumberland must inevitably fall into their hands, after which they would without doubt march to the investment of Fort Loudon, where there was a very large amount of stores insufficiently guarded, And he plainly intimated his belief that they would have little difficulty in also capturing that work and the magazines. It soon appeared, however, that the first report had been considerably exaggerated. On the 17th, Capt. Dag-worthy, commandant at Fort Cumberland, wrote Col. Stanwix the following further information in the matter,¹ viz.: " Yesterday in the evening Six Indians from Fort Du Quesne, who left that Place last Sunday, and brought with them two Scalps, which they took within a Hundred Yards of the Fort. I learn from them that the ffiring of the Cannon and small Arms which I mentioned in my last was occasioned by a large scouting Party leaving that Place to come this Way. They say the Indians who came in before made a false Report as to their bringing Waggons and Artillery, and account for it by their being Young Warriors and much frightened ; this last Party lay some time in Sight of the Fort, but could not discover either Waggons or Horses, and but few Men."

But it is probable that the reason why the first report was so much exaggerated was not so much because the Cherokees who brought it were young warriors and frightened as because Capt. Dagworthy had no competent interpreter to inform him of what they really said. This, at least, was the view taken of the case by George Croghan, and expressed by him in a letter to Col. Armstrong, dated June 28th, in which he says, " I have seen some of both Parties of Indians that brought the Intelligence of the March of the French Army, and upon examining them I find that Capt. Dagworthy has been at a loss for an interpreter. The Accounts of the Indians are these : The first party say they saw the French at Work before the Fort, mounting their Cannon upon Wheels, and that they saw a large Body of French and Indians march from the Fort with a great many Baggage Horses ; And that when they got to where Gen. Braddock was defeated, They heard the Cannon fired at the Fort. The last Party say they saw about 80 Indians in one Company, and a Body of French, a great number of Baggage Horses, and large Tracks of several Parties of Indians on both Sides the Road, the Number They

think cannot be less than between Five and Seven Hundred ; They took the old Pennsylvania Trading Road, but they saw no Carriages or Tracks of Carriages the Road they went."

On the same day (June 28th) Col. Stanwix said, in a letter to Governor Denny, " Am of Opinion that a large Party of French and Indians did leave Fort Duquesne the 10th Instant, but without Artillery or Waggons; but what is become of them I cannot yet learn. As it was probable they might appear towards Ray's Town [Bedford], I augmented the Garrison at Fort Lyttleton 150 men, And ordered Scouts out to. wards Ray's Town, but no Intelligence of them, tho' now 18 Days since the Enemy was supposed to be in Motion. I have had ffour Spys out over the North Mountains ; Some are returned, but without seeing any Enemy. I march a Captain's Piquet Two or Three Times a Week as scouting Parties, but as yet have found the Coast all clear." The event proved that the French and Indian force was not as large as represented ; that it had no artillery, and that its designs were not against Fort Cumberland nor Fort Loudon, but against the settlements farther to the northward, in the region of the forks of the Susquehanna. This was about the last of the forays in which the Indians were engaged against the English settlements during that year. At its close (in the latter part of December, 1757) seven Indians came to Philadelphia, having been thirty-one days on their journey from the Allegheny towns, and reported that when they left, some of the French officers were in the Indian villages " about twenty miles from the French fort called Onango" [Venango], with presents and wampum belts, endeavoring to again stir up the Indians to go with them on a great expedition against the English; but that the head chief, Casteraqua, had gathered his young men together and told them not to listen to the French, but to remain at home. They remained entirely quiet from that time during the winter and following spring, by which time their disaffection against the French and inclination for peace became assured. On the 25th of March, 1758, Governor Denny, in a letter of that date, addressed to Col. Washington, said, "Several accounts have been brought during the winter, as if there was a disposition in the Western Indians to return to their old friends the English ; and as there has been little or no mischief done on the frontiers of this and the neighboring Provinces of late, it is not unlikely but the Indians are changing every day, in our favour. From the mouth of the messenge who came directly from the Ohio by the way of Dihoga, they expressly declare that since the Pe Belts sent by these Indians, who were formerly o friends, have been so kindly received by this Gove ment they are sure that on their receiving this ne they shall be sent back immediately with an acco of their separating from the French and coming join our friendly Indians."

In 1758 the English ministry planned and sent forward an expedition much more formidable than that placed under Braddock, three years before, for the capture of Fort Quesne. Gen. Abercrombie, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in North America, assigned the command of this new expedition to Brig.-Gen. John Forbes. His force (of which the rendezvous was appointed at Raystown, now Bedford, Pa.) was composed of three hundred and fifty Royal American troops, twelve hundred Scotch Highlanders, sixteen hundred Virginians, and two thousand seven hundred Pennsylvania provincials, two hundred and fifty men from Maryland, one hundred and fifty from North Carolina, and one hundred from " the lower counties on Delaware," a total of six thousand three hundred and, fifty effective men, besides one thousand wagoners and laborers. The Virginia troops were comprised in two regiments, commanded respectively by Col. George Washington and Col. James Burd, but both under the superior command of Washington as acting brigadier. Gen. Forbes arrived at Raystown about the 10th of September,¹ but Col. Henry Bouquet had previously in August) been ordered forward with an advanced column of two thousand men to the Loyal-hanna to cut out roads. The main body, with Washington in advance, moved forward from Raystown in October. In the mean time Bouquet (perhaps thinking he could capture the fort with his advance division, before the arrival of the main body, and thus secure the principal honor) sent forward a reconnaissance in force, consisting of eight hundred men (mostly Highlanders) under Maj. William Grant. This force reached a point in the vicinity of the fort,² where, on the 14th of September, it was attacked on both flanks and in the rear by a body of about seven hundred French and a large number of savages, under command of a French officer named Aubry. Here Grant was defeated with much slaughter, the Indians committing terrible atrocities on the dead and wounded Highlanders. The losses of Grant's force were two hundred and seventy killed, forty-two wounded, and a number of prisoners, among whom was Maj. Grant himself. The French and Indians then advanced against Bouquet and attacked his intrenched position at Fort Ligonier, but were finally (though with great difficulty) repulsed on the 12th of October, and forced to retreat to their fort.

¹ On the 9th of September, Gen. Forbes wrote from Fort Loudon to Governor Denny, of Pennsylvania: "Everything is ready for the Army's advancing; but that I cannot do unless I have a sufficient quantity of provisions in the magazine at Raystown. The road that leads from the advanced poets to the French fort may be opened as fast as a convoy can march it. Therefore my movements depend on his Majesty's subjects entering cheerfully in carrying up the necessary provisions. The new road has been finished without the enemies knowing it. The troops have not suffered the least insult in the cutting of it." He also stated that the road was then open to within forty miles of Fort Du Queens.

² This fight took place at "Grant's Hill," in the present city of Pittsburgh. The commander and Maj. Lewis were taken prisoners by the Trench and Indians.

Gen. Forbes with the main body of his army arrived at Loyalhanna early in November. A council of war was held, at which it was decided that on account of the lateness of the season and approach of winter (the ground being already covered with snow) it was " unadvisable, if not impracticable, to prosecute the campaign any further till the next season, and that a winter encampment among the mountains or a retreat to the frontier settlements was the only alternative that remained." But immediately afterwards a scouting party brought in some prisoners, from whom it was learned that the garrison of Fort Du Quesne was weak, and the Indian allies of the French considerably disaffected. Thereupon the decision of the council of war was reversed, and orders at once issued to move on to the assault of the fort.

The march was commenced immediately, the troops taking with them no tents or heavy baggage, and only a few pieces of light artillery. Washington with his command led the advance. When within about twelve miles of the fort word was brought to Forbes that it was being evacuated by the French, but he remembered the lesson taught by Braddock's rashness, and treated the report with suspicion, continuing the march with the greatest caution, and withholding from the troops the intelligence he had received. On the 25th of November, when they were marching with the provincials in front, they drew near the fort and came to a place where a great number of stakes had been planted, and on these were hanging the kilts of the Highlanders slain on that spot in Grant's defeat two months before. When Forbes' Highlanders saw this they became infuriated with rage and rushed on, reckless of consequences and regardless of discipline in their eagerness to take bloody vengeance on the slayers of their countrymen. They were bent on the extermination of their foes and swore to give no quarter, but soon after, on arriving within sight of the fort, it was found to be indeed evacuated and in flames, and the last of the boats in which its garrison had embarked were seen in the distance passing Smoky Island on their way down the Ohio.

The fort was found to have been mined, but either the enemy had left in too much haste to fire the train or the fuse had become extinguished. All the guns had been burst or sunk in the river. The troops at once marched up to take possession, Washington with his command being the first ou the ground. On the following day he wrote to the Governor of Virginia a report of the evacuation and capture of the post as follows:

"SIR,- I have the pleasure to inform you that Fort Duquesne, or the ground rather on which it stood, was possessed by his Majesty's troops on the 25th instant. The enemy, after letting us get within a day's march of the place, burned the fort and ran away by the light of it, at night going down the Ohio by water to the number of about five hnn-dred men, according to our best information. This possession of the

fort has been matter of surprise to the whole army, and we cannot attribute it to more probable causes than the weakness of the enemy, want of provisions, and the defection of the Indians. Of these circumstances we were luckily informed by three prisoners who providentislly fell into our hands st Loyal Hsnna, when we despaired of proceeding farther. A council of war had determined that it was nut advisable to advance this season beyond that place : but the above information caused us to march on without tents or baggage, and with only a light train of artillery. We have thus happily succeeded. It would be tedious and I think unnecessary to relate every trivial circumstance that has happened since my last. . . . This fortunate and indeed unexpected success of our arms will be attended with happy effects. The Delawares are seeing for peace, and I doubt not that other tribes on the Ohio are following their example. A trade free. open, and on equitable terms is what they seem much to desire, and I do not know so effectual a way of riveting them to our interest as by sending out goods immediately to this place for that purpose . . ."

Thus, after repeated attempts, each ending in blood and disaster, the English standard was firmly planted at the head of the Ohio, and the French power here overthrown forever.

The Indians had become greatly dissatisfied with the French, and had entirely ceased acting with them against the English. Gen. Forbes, in his report to Governor Denny, dated November 26th, after announcing the capture of the fort, said that the French were " abandoned, ors at least not seconded, by their friends the Indians, whom we had previously engaged to act a neutral part, and who now seem all willing to embrace His Majesty's most gracious protection." On the capture of the fort the Delaware-3 sued for peace, which was granted to them at a treaty conference held with them at the fort immediately after it came into possession of the English forces.

On the ruins of Fort Du Quesne another work was constructed—a weak and hastily-built stockade with a shallow ditch—and named " Fort Pitt," in honor of William Pitt, Earl Chatham. Two hundred and eighty men of Washington's command were left to garrison it, under command of Col. (afterwards general) Hugh Mercer. and the main army marched east. Gen. Forbes returned to Philadelphia, and died there in March, 1759. The new Fort Pitt was commenced in August, 1759, and completed during the fall of that year by a force under command of Gen. Stanwix. In the same autumn Col. James Burd was sent from Carlisle to open a road from Braddock's road on Laurel Hill to the Monongahela, and at the latter point to build a fort, the object being the establishment of a route for transportation from the East to Fort Pitt, with defensive works and bases of supply at intermediate points. The fort was built by Col. Burd's detachment, on the present site of the town of Brownsville, on the Monongahela, and a road was opened from it to Braddock's road on the summit of Laurel Hill. The work on the road was commenced on the 13th of September, and on the fort on the 24th of October. On Sunday, the 4th of November, a sermon was preached in the fort by his chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Allison. who on the same day left for Philadelphia. The fort was completed a few days later, and named Fort Burd." A garrison of twenty-five men remained in it, and Col. Burd, with the Test of his detachment, marched to Fort Pitt..

Gen. Stanwix remained at Fort Pitt until the following year, and during his stay was very successful in cultivating the friendship of the Indians. A treaty council was held with them at the old fort on the 4th of July, 1759, and another at the new Fort Pitt in the following October, on which latter occasion Gen. Stanwix announced to the Indians the fall of the French fortress at Quebec,¹ which had been taken by the forces of Gen. Wolfe in September, and which event, as he told them, was virtually an ending of the war. The Indians then formally buried the hatchet, and declared themselves the fast friends of the English for all time. On the 25th of March, 1760, Gen. Stanwix set out for Philadelphia with a military escort and thirty-five chiefs of the Ohio Indians, leaving the fort garrisoned by seven hundred men. In September of that year the French post of Montreal surrendered, and this, with the fall of Detroit and other French posts, closed the " French and Indian War."

When the " Pontiac war" broke out in 1763 the Indians in this region, like those in all parts of the West, became actively hostile. They made their first demonstrations about the let of June in that year, in the neighborhood of Fort Pitt, then moved across the Alleghenies, and again committed fearful havoc in the settlements of the same region which they had ravaged from the fall of 1755 to 1757. A large body of savages also besieged Fort Pitt, cutting of all supplies and communication. No information could be obtained as to the situation at the fort, and great alarm was felt for the safety of the garrison. At this crisis Col. Bouquet was ordered forward to its relief with a force composed of a body of colonial troop and the remnants of the Forty-second and Seventy-seventh Royal Regiments (Highlanders), who had then just returned from the siege of Havana, in the island of Cuba. Gen. Bouquet arrived at Fort Bedford July 25, 1763, and three days later commenced his march across the mountains, having with him a train of wagons loaded with provisions, stores, and munitions of war for Fort Pitt. At Fort Ligonier he left his wagons, and pushed on with his forces towards Fort Pitt. On the second day out from Ligonier the troops had marched seventeen miles, and had come within half a mile of Bushy Run (in the present county of Westmoreland), where they were expecting to halt and refresh themselves at a large. spring, preparatory to a. night march through the dangerous Turtle Creek ravines, when the war-whoop resounded on every side, and the advance-guard of

¹ The French Fort Niagara had previously been taken by the English Aug. 5, 1759. A few days later the French abandoned their posts at Venango and Le Boeuf, but left the Indians in good humor " by distributing Laced Coats, Hats, and other Clothing among them." They the Indians they were obliged to leave them for a time, but would return and take possession of the whole river.

eighteen men were fired upon from ambush. Twelve of the eighteen fell dead at the first fire. The remaining six ran back to the main body of troops, and then began, at one o'clock P.M., August 5th, the battle of Bushy Run, one of the most desperate conflicts in which the red men and pale-face ever engaged.

In their first assault the Indians were repulsed and pursued a considerable distance, but they immediately returned and again attacked with renewed vigor. Again and again they were repulsed, but as often returned to the attack. The fight continued without intermission through the long hours of that blazing August afternoon, but Bouquet stubbornly held his ground against great odds.

Darkness closed the conflict, but the hungry, weary troops, almost famished and suffering greatly from thirst, were obliged to keep vigilant watch all night long to guard against surprise. They had lost nearly one-fourth their number, and the Indians had been largely reinforced. With the dawn came repeated and persistent assaults. The enemy grew bolder as their numbers increased, and the fatigue and distress of the soldiers became more and more apparent. It was comparatively easy for the brave Highlanders to put the savages to rout, charging on them with the bayonet, for no Indian has ever stood up before a well-directed bayonet charge. But the moment the Scotchmen returned to the inner circle of defense the wily and dextrous savages, leaping from tree to tree, returned to the conflict with terrific yells. They pressed close enough to wound the frightened pack-horses, two hundred and fifty of which, laden with provisions and ammunition for the relief of Fort Pitt, were crowded together in the centre. The terrified drivers hid among the bushes regardless of commands from the officers. Matters were becoming desperate. The whites were rapidly falling, and their relentless foes were growing stronger and bolder. It was a crisis requiring the highest kind of military genius and indomitable resolution, but Bouquet was equal to the occasion, and from the very jaws of defeat, disaster, and death he snatched one of the most brilliant victories ever won over the Indians.

Taking advantage of the lay of the ground within the circle of fire with which they were encompassed, Bouquet formed an ambuscade with as large a body of Highlanders as could be spared for a brief space from the outer line of defense. The Indians were led to believe that the army was about to retreat to Fort Ligonier, and they massed their warriors for a charge where the line of defense was made to appear weakest. This was what Bouquet expected and desired in order that the cold steel of the Highlanders might tell effectually. Part of the line gave way before the onset of the savages, and retreated in good order towards the centre of the camp, closely followed by the whooping and exultant warriors; but when fully inside the ambuscade the savages were astonished to see the retreating Scots suddenly wheel and dash at them with fixed bayonets. Confident of victory with their superior numbers, and eager for the spoils of the camp, they met the assault of the Highlanders with great impetuosity, and even broke the line of steel. But nerved to desperation by the horrors of the fate that awaited them in the case of defeat, encouraged by the knowledge of the strategic movement hastening to a climax, and inspired by the presence and example of the heroic Bouquet, the broken line of Highlanders rallied, reformed, and bore down with dauntless courage on the ferocious savages. The Indians slowly began to yield before the sturdy Scotchmen, when they were startled by volleys from the men in ambush, and perceiving the trap in which they had been caught they gave a despairing whoop and fled in wild disorder. Through the woods and over the hills Bouquet's men pursued the flying savages, who never stopped until they were across the Allegheny. The defeat and rout were complete and final. Fort Pitt was relieved, and its garrison was not again disturbed by Indians. In the battle of Bushy Run, Bouquet lost fifty killed and sixty wounded. The loss of the Indians was not known, but sixty of their warriors lay dead on the field after the fight was over.

The savages retreated to the wilderness, thoroughly humbled and cowed for the time, but they were not yet sufficiently punished to insure peace to the settlements. In the following year (1764) Bouquet was sent out with another expedition, composed of the same Highland regiments who fought at Bushy Run, with Pennsylvania and Virginia provincial troops, amounting in all to nearly two thousand men. They assembled at Carlisle on the 5th of August, and immediately marched thence over the mountains, arriving at Fort Pitt on the 15th of September. Bouquet left Fort Pitt October 3d with his force, and marched down the Ohio, his objective-point being the Tusca-rawas. October 13th he arrived near the forks of the Muskingum, having met no enemy. On the 17th the Indian chiefs met him in council, asking for peace, but nothing was done there. Again they met on the 20th, and promised to bring their white prisoners to Bouquet at a place about one mile from the forks of the river. Bouquet on the 22d marched his force to the appointed place, where he took the precaution to intrench, to guard against perfidy, and built a house in which to receive the Indians. They came at the time agreed on, and were loud in their professions of a desire for peace. With them was Guyasutha, a Seneca chief, who was once a friend to the whites, but afterwards their most implacable foe. Bouquet treated the Indians sthrnly, telling them he would yield nothing to them and distrusted their protestations. Whichever they wanted, peace or war, he was prepared to give them. If it was peace, then they must deliver up all their white prisoners, and each tribe give hostages to vouch for their good faith.

The savages could do nothing but accede to the terms offered them, though they did so with a bad grace. The treaty was concluded with King Beaver and other Delaware chiefs on the 7th of November, and with the Shawanese on the 12th of the same month. In a letter written by Bouquet to the Governor of Pennsylvania, dated " Camp at the Forks of Muskingum, 15th November, 1764," the general said, " I have the pleasure to inform you that the Mingoes, the Delawares, and the Shawanese after a long struggle have at last submitted to the terms prescribed for them, viz.: First, to deliver all the prisoners without exception. Second, to give fourteen hostages, to remain in our hands as a security for the performance of the first article, and that they shall commit no hostilities against his Majesty's subjects."

Of the hostages, the Mingoes gave two, the Delawares six, and the Shawanese six. Two hundred white captives had already been delivered, " and many of them," said Bouquet, " have remained so many years amongst them [the Indians] that they part from them with the greatest reluctance." But it was a part of the terms granted by Bouquet that all captives should be given up and forced to leave the savages, whether willing to do so or not. " I give you," said Bouquet, on the 6th of November, " twelve days from this date to deliver into my hands at Wakatamake all the prisoners in your possession, without any exception, Englishmen, Frenchmen, women, children, whether adopted in your tribes, married or living amongst you under any denomination and pretense whatsoever, together with all negroes. And you are to furnish the said prisoners with clothing, provisions, and horses to carry them to Fort Pitt. When you have fully complied with these conditions you shall then know on what terms you may obtain the peace you sue for."

Two hundred and six prisoners were given up by the Indians, but there were still nearly one hundred more held by the Shawanese at distant points. These they promised to bring in in the following spring, and did bring nearly all of them. On the 18th of November the troops set out on their return to Fort Pitt, and arrived there on the 28th. A few days afterwards Bouquet left the fort and returned to Philadelphia.

It had been made a part of Bouquet's agreement with the Indians on the Muskinguin that they should go to Sir William Johnson on the Mohawk to subscribe to a formal treaty of peace. This they did according to agreement, and a treaty was concluded May 8, 1765.

IN the year 1774 occurred a series of Indian incursions and butcheries (chiefly by the Shawanese) in the white settlements of the western frontier, and a retaliatory and entirely successful campaign carried on against the savages by white troops under command of Lord Dunmore, then Governor of Virginia, and his lieutenants, which operations, extending through the summer and part of the autumn of the year named, have usually been known as " Dunmore's war." In that conflict the territory which is now Washington County saw but little of actual bloodshed and Indian atrocity, yet in the universal terror and consternation caused by the savage inroads and massacres, most of which occurred farther to the west and south, this region came near being as completely depopulated as all the territory west of the Laurel Hill range had been twenty years before by the panic which succeeded the French victory over Washington at Fort Necessity.

¹ In reference to the causes which led to the Indian hostilities of 1774, an extract is given below from a letter written upon that subject, dated at Redstone Old Fort, on the Monongahela, in October, 1774, immediately after the close of Lord Dunmore's successful campaign against the Shawanese. It is not known who was the writer, but he was evidently a person of position under Lord Dunmore, and had been present with the Governor in the campaign and at the treaty which followed it. The letter is found in American Archives, vol. i. p. 1016, viz.:

" It will not be improper to investigate the cause of the Indian war which broke out in the spring, before I give you a sketch of the history of the expedition which his Excellency Lord Dunmore has carried on so successfully against the Shawanese, one of the richest, proudest, and bravest of the Indian nations. In order to do this it is necessary to look back as far as the year 1764, when Col. Bouquet made peace with that nation. The Shawanese never complied with the terms of that peace. They did not deliver up the white prisoners, there was no lasting impression made upon them by a stroke from the troops employed against them in that campaign, and they barely acquiesced in some articles of the treaty by command of the Six Nations. The Red Hawk, a Shawanese chief, insulted Col. Bouquet with impunity, and an Indian killed colonel's footman the day after the peace was made. This murder not being taken notice of gave rise to several daring outrages committed immediately after.

"In the year following several murders were committed by the Indians on New River, and soon after several men employed in the service of Wharton and Company were killed on their passage to Illinois, and the goods belonging to the company carried off. Some time after this outrage a number of men employed to kill meat for the garrison of Fort Chartres were killed, and their rifles, blankets, &., carried to the Indian towns. These repeated hostilities and outrages being committed with impunity made the Indians bold and daring. Although it was not the Shawanese alone that committed all these hostilities, yet letting one nation pass with impunity when mischief is done inspires the rest of the tribes with courage, so that the officers commanding his Majesty's troop on the Ohio at that time, not having power or spirit to pursue the Indians nor address to reclaim them, mischief became familiar to them; they were stare to kill and plunder whenever it was in their power, and indeed they panted for an opportunity. It is probable you will see Lord Dunmore's speech to some chiefs of the Six Nations who waited on hY Lordship; it mentions the particular murders and outrages committed by them every year successively since they pretended to make palm with Col. Bouquet.

"The most recent murders committed by the Indians before the white people began to retaliate were that of Capt. Russell's son, three mon white men,and two of his negroes, on the 16th of October, 1773; that of a Dutch family on ,the Kanawha in June of the same year, and one Richard in the July following; and that of Mr. Hogg and three white men on the Great Kanawha early in April, 1774. Things being in this situation, a message was sent to the Shawanese, inviting them to a cos. ference in order to bury the tomahawk and brighten the chain of friend. ship. They fired upon the messengers, and it was with difficulty they escaped with their lives. Immediately on their return letters wen written by some gentlemen at Fort Pitt, and dispersed among the in

which took place in the spring of 1774, on the Ohio River above the mouth of the Little Kanawha, between Indians and parties of white men, some of whom had rendezvoused in that region for the purpose of making explorations in the country farther to the southwest, and others who had gone there to clear lands and make preparations for settlement. Of the latter class was Capt. Michael Cresap, who was the owner of a store or trading-post at Redstone Old Fort (now Brownsville), on the Monongahela, which was his base of operations, but who had taken up (under authority of the colonial government of Virginia) extensive tracts of land at and below the mouth of Middle Island Creek (now Sistersville, W. Va.), and had gone there in the early spring of the year named with a party of men to make clearings and build houses upon his lands there. Ebenezer Zane, afterwards a famed Indian fighter and guide, was engaged at the same time and in the same way with a small party of men on lands which he had taken up at or near the mouth of Sandy Creek. Another and larger party had gathered at the mouth of the Little Kanawha (the present site of Parkersburg, W. Va.), and were waiting there for the arrival of other Virginians who were expected to join them at that point, from whence they were to proceed down the river to the then scarcely known region of Kentucky, there to explore with a view to the planting of settlements. A leading spirit in this party (though not, strictly speaking, the leader of it) was George Rogers Clarke, who a few years later became widely famed as the general who led a body of Virginia troops on an expedition (which proved entirely successful) against Vincennes and other British posts in and west of the valley of the Wabash. Many years afterwards Gen. Clarke wrote an account (dated June 17, 1798) of the circumstances attending the commencement of hostilities in the spring of 1774, and of the movements of his party of Virginians and the other parties with Cresap and Zane along the Ohio at that time. His account, which was written at Louisville, Ky., is as follows :

"This Country [Kentucky] was explored in 1773. A resolution was formed to make a settlement in the spring following, and the mouth of the Little Kana-

habitants of the Ohio, assuring them that a war with the Shawanese was issvoldable, and desiring them to be on their guard, as it was uncertain ilem thelndians would strike first. In the mean time two men of the names of Greathouse and Baker sold some rum near the mouth of Tellaw Creek, and with them some Indians got drunk and were killed. Lord Dunmore has ordered that the manner of their being killed be inquired into. Many officers and other adventurers who were down the Ohio in order to explore the country and have lands surveyed, upon remising the above intelligence and seeing the letters from the gentlemen at Fort Pitt, thought proper to return. Capt. Michael Cresap was one of these gentlemen. On their return to the river they fell in with a party of Indians, and being apprehensive that the Indians were preparing to attack them, as appeared by their manoeuvres, the white people, being the smallest number, thought it advisable to have the advantage of the first fire, whereupon they engaged, and after exchanging a few shots killed two or three Indians and dispersed the rest; hostilities being then commenced on both sides, the matter became serious."

wha appointed the place of general rendezvous, in order to descend the Ohio from thence in a body. Early in the spring the Indians had done some mischief. Reports from their towns were alarming, which deterred many. About eighty or ninety men only arrived at the appointed rendezvous, where we lay some days. A small party of hunters that lay about ten miles below us were fired upon by the Indians, whom the hunters beat back and returned to camp. This and many other circumstances led us to believe that the Indians were determined on war. The whole party was enrolled, and determined to execute their project of forming a settlement in Kentucky, as we had every necessary store that could be thought of. An Indian town called the Horsehead Bottom, on the Scioto, and near its mouth, lay nearly in our way. The determination was to cross the country and surprise it. Who was to command was the question. There were but few among us who had experience in Indian warfare, and they were such as we did not choose to be commanded by. We knew of Capt. Cresap being on the river, about fifteen miles above us, with some hands settling a plantation, and that he had concluded to follow us to Kentucky as soon as he had fixed there his people. We also knew that he had been experienced in a former war. He was proposed, and it was unanimously agreed to sends for him to command the party. Messengers were dispatched, and in half an hour returned with Cresap. He had heard of our resolution by some of his hunters that had fallen in with ours, and had set out to come to us.

" We thought our army, as we called it, complete, and the destruction of the Indians sure. A council was called, and to our astonishment our intended commander-in-chief was the person that dissuaded us from the enterprise. He said that appearances were very suspicious, but there was no certainty of a war ; that if we made the attempt proposed he had no doubt of our success, but a war would at any rate be the result, and that we should be blamed for it, and perhaps justly. But if we were determined to proceed he would lay aside all considerations, send to his camp for his people, and share our fortunes. He was then asked what he would advise. His answer was that we should return to Wheeling as a convenient spot to hear what was going forward ; that a few weeks would determine. As it was early in the spring, if we found the Indians were not disposed for war, we should have full time to return and make our establishment in Kentucky. This was adopted, and in two hours the whole were under way. . . .

"On our arrival at Wheeling (the whole country being pretty well settled thereabouts) the whole of the inhabitants appeared to be alarmed. They flocked to our camp from every direction, and all we could say we could not keep them from under our wings. We offered to cover their neighborhood with scouts until further information if they would return to

their plantations, but nothing would prevail. By this time we had got to be a formidable party. All the hunters, men without families, etc., in that quarter had joined our.party. Our arrival at Wheeling was soon known at Pittsburgh. The whole of that country at that time being under the jurisdiction of Virginia,¹ Dr. Connolly² had been appointed by Dunmore captain-commandant of the district, which was called West Augusta.³ He, learning of us, sent a message addressed to the party, letting us know that a war was to be apprehended, and requesting that we would keep our position for a few days, as messages had been sent to the Indians, and a few days would determine the doubt. The answer he got was, that we had no inclination to quit our quarters for sonic time, that during our stay we should be careful that the enemy did not harass the neighborhood that we lay in. But before this answer could reach Pittsburgh he sent a second express, addressed to Capt. Cresap, as the most influential man amongst us, informing him that the messengers had returned from the Indians, that war was inevitable, and begging him to use his influence with the party to get them to cover the country by scouts until the inhabitants could fortify themselves. The reception of this letter was the epoch of open hostilities with the Indians. A new post was planted, a council was called, and the letter read by Cresap, all the Indian traders being summoned on so important an occasion. Action was had, and war declared in the most solemn manner; and the same evening (April 26th) two scalps were brought into camp. The next day some canoes of Indians were discovered on the river, keeping the advantage of an island to cover themselves from our view. They were chased fifteen miles and driven ashore at Pipe Creek. A battle ensued; a few were wounded on both sides, one Indian only taken prisoner. On examining their canoes we found a considerable quantity of ammunition and other warlike stores. On our return to camp a resolution was adopted to march the next day and attack Logan's 4 camp on the Ohio, about thirty miles above us. We did march about five miles, and then halted to take some refreshments. Here the impropriety of executing the projected enterprise was argued. The conversation was brought forward by Cresap himself. It was generally agreed that those Indians had no hostile intentions, as they were hunting, and their party was composed of men, women, and children, with all their stuff with them. This we knew, as I myself and

¹ The country around Pittsburgh was then claimed by both Virginia and Pennsylvania, but Clarke, being a Virginian, viewed the matter entirely from the Virginian stand-point.

² Dr. John Connolly. a nephew of George Croghan, the deputy superintendent of Indian affairs.

³ All this region was at that time claimed by Virginia to be within its "West Augusta" District.

4 The Mingo chief Logan, the murder of whose family in this war was charged on Capt. Cresap; but the whole tenor of this letter of Gen. Clarke gees to prove the injustice of the charge.

others present had been in their camp about four weeks past on our descending the river from Pittsburgh. In short, every person seemed to detest the resolution we had set out with. We returned in the evening, decamped, and took the road to Redstone."

From this account it appears that Clarke's party well knowing that an Indian war must follow the events here narrated, abandoned the original idea of: proceeding to Kentucky, and marched with Cresap's men to his headquarters at Redstone Old Fort, on the Monongahela. They carried with them on a litter one man who had been mortally wounded in the fight with the Indians on the 27th of April. Two others had been wounded but not seriously. The party, in marching from Wheeling to Redstone, proceeded by way of Catfish Camp (now Washington borough), and in the evening of the 29th stopped there at the house of William Huston, who was then the only white resident at that place. A certificate setting forth the circumstances of this occurrence was made in 1798 by Huston, subscribed before David Redick then prothonotary of Washington County, and placed in his hands. A copy of it is here given, viz.:

"I, William Huston, of Washington County, in the State of Pennsylvania, do hereby certify to whom it may concern : That in the year 1774 resided at Catfish's Camp, on the main path from Wheeling to Redstone; that Michael Cresap, who resided on or near the Potomac River, on his way up from the river Ohio, at the head of a party of armed men, lay some time at my cabin. I had previously heard the report of Mr. Cresap having killed some Indians said to be the relations of Logan, an Indian Chief. In a variety of conversations with several of Creasp’s party they boasted of the deed, and that in the presence of their chief. They acknowledged that they had fired first on the Indians. They had with them one man on a litter who was in the skirmish.

" I do further certify that, from what I learned from the party themselves,I then formed the opinion, and have not had any reason to change that opinion since, that the killing, on the part of the whites, was what I deem the grossest murder. I further certify that some of the party who afterwards killed some women and other Indians at Baker's Bottom also lay at my cabin on their march to the interior part of them country, they had with them a little girl, whose life had been spared by the interference of some more humane than the rest. If necessary, I will make affidavit to the above to be true. Certified at Washington, this 18th of April, A.D. 1798.

Immediately after the occurrence of the events narrated as above by Clarke came the killing of the Indians at Captina Creek and the murder of the relatives of the Mingo chief Logan at Baker's Bottom, on the Ohio, the date of the last-named event being April 30th. The so-called speech of Logan fastened the odium of killing his people in cold blood on Capt. Michael Cresap, of Redstone Old Fort. That the charge was false and wholly unjust is now known by all people well informed on the subject. Cresap did however, engage in the killing of other Indians, being no doubt incited thereto by the deceitful tenor of Dr. Connolly's letters, which were evidently written for the express purpose of inflaming the minds of the frontiersmen by false information, and so bringing about a general Indian war.

The chief Logan, with a hunting party of his Indians, and having with them their women and child-

dren, had pitched his hunting-camp at the mouth of Yellow Creek, about thirty miles above Wheeling, on the west side of the Ohio, and opposite Baker's Bottom on the Virginia side, where lived Joshua Baker, whose chief occupation was selling liquor to the Indians. From the time when Logan had first pitched his camp at Yellow Creek it had been the determination of some of the whites to attack it and kill the Indian party, but in their first attempt to do this they had been overruled in their purpose, chiefly by the influence of Capt. Cresap, as is shown in Clarke's account before quoted. But after Cresap and Clarke had departed with their men for Redstone, and while they were making their way from Catfish Camp to the Monongahela, on the day succeeding the night which they spent at William Huston's cabin, the plan to kill the Indians of Logan's party was put in execution (during the absence of the chief) by enticing a part of them across the river to Baker's cabin, where a party of white men lay concealed. There liquor was given them, and then when they or some of them were in a state of partial intoxication. the bloody work was done, all the Indians at the house being killed except an infant child. The party who did the perfidious and cold-blooded deed were under the leadership of Daniel Greathouse, a settler on King's Creek near its mouth. Several accounts of the affair have been given, generally agreeing as to the main facts, but disagreeing to some extent as to the minor details. One account has it that in the evening preceding the tragedy a friendly squaw came across the river from Logan's camp and told Baker's wife with many tears that the lives of herself (Mrs. Baker) and her family were in danger, as the Indians were planning to come across and murder them. She wished well to Mrs. Baker, and thus risked her own life to serve her by bringing the information so as to allow the family time to escape. Upon receipt of this warning Greathouse's party was collected in haste at the cabin. No Indians appeared during the night, and on the following morning Greathouse and two or three others crossed to Logan's camp, and in an apparently friendly manner invited the Indians to come across to Baker's and get some rum. A party of them accepted the invitation and came. Mostof Greathouse's men lay concealed in the back part of the cabin. Baker was to deal out rum freely to the Indians, and did so. When they became intoxicated the concealed men rushed out and killed them. In Mayer's " Logan and Cresap" the following account is given of the massacre :

"Early in the morning a party of eight Indians, composed of three squaws, a child, and four unarmed men, one of whom was Logan's brother, crossed the river to Baker's cabin, where all but Logan's brother obtsdned liquor and became excessively drunk. No whites except Baker and two of his companions appeared in the cabin. After some time Logan's relative took down a coat and hat belonging to Baker's brother-in-law, and putting them on, set his arms akimbo, strutted about the apartment, and at length coining up to one of the men addressed him with the most offensive epithets and attempted to strike him. The white man--Sappington—who was thus assailed by language and gesture for some time kept out of his way, but becoming irritated, seized his gun and shot the Indian as he was rushing to the door, still clad in the coat and hat. The men, who during the whole of this scene had remained hidden, now poured forth, and without parley slaughtered the whole Indian party except the child. Before this tragic event occurred two canoes, one with two and the other with five Indians, all naked, painted, and completely armed for war, were descried stealing from the opposite shore, where Logan's camp was situated. This was considered as confirmation of what the squaw had said the night before, and was afterwards alleged in justification of the murder of the unarmed party which had first arrived.

" No sooner were the unresisting drunkards dead than the infuriated whites rushed to the river-bank, and ranging themselves along the concealing fringe of underwood prepared to receive the canoes. The first that arrived was the one containing two warriors, who were fired upon and killed. The other canoe immediately turned and fled ; but after this two others, containing eighteen warriors, painted and prepared for conflict as the first had been, started to assail the Americans. Advancing more cautiously than the former party, they endeavored to land below Baker's cabin, but being met by the rapid movements of the rangers before they could effect their purpose they were put to flight, with the loss of one man, although they returned the fire of the pioneers."

Another account of the Baker's Bottom massacre was given more than half a century afterwards by Judge Jolley, who for many years was a resident of Washington County, Ohio, and who at the time of the occurrence was a youth living on the frontier. His account, as given below, was published in the year 1836 in "Silliman's Journal," viz.:

" I was about sixteen years of age, but I very well recollect what I then saw, and the information that I have since obtained was derived from (I believe) good authority. In the spring of the year 1774 a party of Indians encamped on the northwest of the Ohio, near the mouth of the Yellow Creek. A party of whites, called Greathouse's party, lay on the opposite side of the river. The Indians came over to the white party, consisting, I think, of five men and one woman with an infant. The whites gave them rum, which three of them drank, and in a short time became very drunk. The other two men and the woman refused to drink. The sober Indians were challenged to shoot at a mark, to which they agreed ; and as soon as they emptied their guns the whites shot them down. The woman attempted to escape by flight, but was also shot down ; she lived long

enough, however, to beg mercy for her babe, telling them that it was akin to themselves. The whites had a man in the cabin prepared with a tomahawk for the purpose of killing the three drunken Indians, which was immediately done. The party of men then moved off for the interior settlements, and came to Catfish Camp (Washington) on the evening of the next day, where they tarried until the day following. I very well remember my mother feeding and dressing the babe, chirruping to the little innocent, and its smiling. However, they took it away, and talked of sending it to its supposed father, Col. John Gibson, of Carlisle, Pa., who had been for some years a trader among the Indians.

" The remainder of the (Indian) party at the mouth of Yellow Creek, finding that their friends on the opposite side of the river were massacred, attempted to escape by descending the Ohio, and in order to prevent being discovered by the whites passed on the west side of Wheeling Island, and landed at Pipe Creek, a small stream that empties into the Ohio a few miles below Grave Creek, where they were overtaken by Cresap with a party of men from Wheeling. They took one Indian scalp, and had one white man (Big Tarrener) badly wounded. They, I believe, carried him in a litter from Wheeling to Redstone. I saw the party on their return from their victorious campaign. . . . It was well known that Michael Cre-sap had no hand in the massacre at Yellow Creek."

The concluding sentence in Judge Jolley's statement was written in refutation of the calumny which was circulated and for many years believed by a majority of the people of the country, that the murder of Logan's men and relatives was done by Capt. Michael Cresap or by his orders. Such an inference might be drawn from the first part of the statement of William Huston, already given, viz., where he says, " I had previously heard the report of Mr. Cresap having killed some Indians, said to be the relations of Logan, an Indian chief." But his memory was evidently at fault. He could not have previously heard of the killing at Yellow Creek, as it did not occur until after the time to which he refers in the certificate. And in the latter part of the same document he disproves his previous statement by saying, "1 further certify that some of the party who afterwards killed some women and other Indians at Baker's Bottom also lay at my cabin on their march to the interior." Another statement that seems to be conclusive proof of Capt. Cresap's innocence of any participation in the atrocity at Baker's Bottom is found in an affidavit of the man who shot Logan's brother on that occasion, viz.: " I, John Sappington, declare myself to be intimately acquainted with all the circumstances respecting the destruction of Logan's family, and do give the following narrative, a true statement of that affair : Logan's family (if it was his family) was not killed by Cresap, nor with his knowledge, nor by his consent, but by the Greathouses and their associates. They were killed thirty miles above Wheeling, near the mouth of Yellow Creek. Logan's camp was on one side of the river Ohio, and the house where the murder was committed was opposite to it on the other side. They had encamped there only four or five days, and during that time had lived peaceably with the whites on the opposite side until the very day the affair happened."

The killing of the Indians at Baker's was on the 30th of April, as before mentioned. Several accounts of the affair, however, have mentioned different dates. Sappington stated many years afterwards that, according to his memory, it happened on the 24th of May; Benjamin Tomlinson placed it on the 3d or 4th of May; but Col. Ebenezer Zane gave the date as the last day of April, which is undoubtedly correct. It seems to be verified by a letter addressed to Col. George Washington by his agent, Valentine Crawford, who then lived on Jacob's Creek, near the Youghiogheny River, in Westmoreland County. In that letter (dated Jacob's Creek, May 6, 1774) he says,—

" I am sorry to inform you the Indians have stopped all the gentlemen from going down the river. In the first place they killed one Murphy, a trader, and wounded another, then robbed their canoes. This alarmed the gentlemen very much, and Maj. Cresap took a party of men and waylaid some Indians in their canoes that were going down the river and shot two of them and scalped them. He also raised a party, took canoes and followed some Indians from Wheeling down to the Little Kanawha, when, coming up with them, he killed three and wounded several. The Indians wounded three of his men, only one of whom is dead ; he was shot through, while the other two were but slightly wounded. On Saturday last, about twelve o'clock, one Greathouse and about twenty men fell on a party of Indians at the mouth of Yellow Creek and killed ten of them. They brought away one child a prisoner, which is now at my brother, William Crawford's. . . ."

On the 8th of May. Capt. William Crawford (who lived on the Youghiogheny River nearly opposite the site of the borough of Connellsville) said, in a letter addressed by him to Col. George Washington,—

" The surveyors that went down the Kanawha,¹ as report goes, were stopped by the Shawanese Indians, upon which some of the white people attacked some Indians, and killed several, took thirty horse-loads of skins near the mouth of Scioto; on which news, and expecting an Indian war, Mr. Cresap and some other people fell on some other Indians at the mouth of Pipe Creek, killed three, and scalped them. Daniel Greathouse and some others fell on some at the mouth

¹ A number of surveyors who rendezvoused at the mouth of New River, on the Kanawha, Thursday, April 14, 1774, to go down the latter river to the Ohio, there to locate and survey lands warranted to certain offices and soldiers in the Old French war under proclamation of the kings of England, dated Oct. 7, 1763. The claimants to those, lands were notified to meet the surveyors at the place and time mentioned. The intentios was to locate the lands on the bottoms of the Ohio River.

of Yellow Creek, and killed and scalped ten, and took one child about two months old, which is now at my house. I have taken the child from a woman that it had been given to. Our inhabitants are much alarmed, Many hundreds having gone over the mountain, and the whole country evacuated as far as the Monongahela, and many on this side of the river are gone over the mountain. In short, a war is every moment expected. We have a council now with the Indians. What the event will be I do not know. I am now setting out for Fort Pitt at the head of one hundred amen. Many others are to meet me there and at Wheeling, where we shall wait the motions of the Indians and act accordingly. . . ."

The settlers along the frontiers, and in all the territory that now forms the counties of Washington and Green, were in a state of the wildest alarm, well knowing that the Indians would surely make war in revenge for the killing of their people at Captina and Yellow Creek, and most of them immediately sought safety, either in block-houses or by abandoning their settlements and flying eastward across the Monongahela, snd many across the Allegheny Mountains.¹ Valentine Crawford, in his letter of May 6th to Col. Washington (before quoted from), said, " This alarm has caused the people to move from over the Monongahela, off Chartiers and Raccoon [Creeks], as fast as you ever saw them in the year 1756 or 1757 down in Frederick County, Virginia. There were more than one thousand people crossed the Monongahela in one day at three ferries that arenot one mile apart."

The general alarm among the inhabitants was well founded. The Indians, burning to revenge the killing of their people on the Ohio, particularly at Captina and Yellow Creek, at once took the war-path and ranged eastward to and across the Monongahela, burning, plundering, and killing. On the 8th of June Valentine Crawford said in a letter to Col. Washington, " Since I just wrote you an account of several parties of Indians being among the inhabitants has reached us. Yesterday they killed and scalped one man in sight of the fort [Fort Burd, at Brownsville] on the Monongahela,—one of the inmates . . . There have been several parties of savages seen within these two or three days, and all ages seem to be making towards the Laurel Hill or mountain. For that reason the people are afraid to travel the road by Gist's, but go a nigh way by Indian Creek, or ride in the night. . . . On Sunday evening, about four miles over Monongahela, the Indians murdered one family, consisting of six, and took two boys pris-

¹ Some of them, however, stood their ground and remained at their cabins, braving the danger rather than abandon their homes. James Chambers, in a deposition made at Washington, Pa., April 20, 1798, before Samuel Shannon, Esq., said that after the massacre at Baker's in 1774 all the settlements broke up along the Ohio River, and that (Being then settled on that river) fled with the rest, but stopped at Catfish Camp, where he remained for some time at the cabin of William Huston. Not a few of the settlers in what is now Greene County lost their baby attempting to hold their homes.

oners. At another place they killed three, which makes in the whole nine and two prisoners. If we had not had forts built there would not have been ten families left this side of the mountains besides what are at Fort Pitt. We have sent out scouts after the murderers, but we have not heard that they have fallen in with them yet. We have at this time at least three hundred men out after the Indians, some of whom have gone down to Wheeling, and I believe some have gone down as low as the Little Kanawha. I am in hopes they will give the savages a storm, for some of the scouting company say they will go to their towns but they will get scalps." On the same day William Crawford said in a letter to Washington, " Saturday last we had six persons killed on Dunkard's Creek, about ten miles from the mouth of Cheat River, on the west side of the Monongahela, and there are three missing. On Sunday a man who left the party is supposed to be killed, as he went off to hunt horses, and five guns were heard to go off. The horse he rode away returned to the house where the party then was. They set out in search of enemies; found the man's coat and saw a number of tracks, but could not find the man."

It was the Indian chief Logan, he whose former friendship for the whites had been turned into bitterest hatred by the killing of his people, who came in with his band to ravage the settlements on the west side of the Monongahela, throwing all that country into a state of the wildest alarm. The present counties of Washington and Greene were almost entirely deserted by their people. Dr. Joseph Doddridge, in his " Notes," says, "The massacres of the Indians at Captina and Yellow Creek comprehended the whole of the family of the famous but unfortunate Logan, who before these events had been a lover of the whites and a strenuous advocate for peace ;² but in

² Judge Jolley, who lived on the frontier at the timo of the killing of the Indians at Captina Creek and Baker's Bottom, says in his statement (before extracted from) in reference to those occurrences and their results,—

" The Indians had for some time before these events thought themselves intruded upon by the' Long Knives' (as they at that time called the Virginians) and many of them were for war. However, they called a council, in which the chief Logan acted a. conspicuous part. He admitted their grounds of complaint, but at the same time reminded them of sonic aggressions on the part of the Indians, and that by a war they would but harass and distress the frontier settlements for a short time; that the Long Knives' would come like the trees in the woods, and that ultimately they should be driven from the good lands which they now possessed. He therefore strongly recommended peace. To him they all agreed, grounded the hatchet, and everything wore a tranquil appearance, when, behold ! the fugitives arrived from Yellow Creek and reported that Logan's mother, brother, and sister were murdered. Three of the nearest and dearest relations of Logan had been massacred by white men. The consequence was that this same Logan, who a few days before was so pacific, raised the hatchet with a declaration that he would not ground it until he had taken ten for one, which I believe he completely fulfilled by taking thirty scalps and prisoners in the summer of 1774. The above has often been related to me by several persons who were at the Indian towns at the time of the council alluded to, and also when the remains of the party came in from Yellow Creek Thomas Nicholson in particular has told me the above, and much more. Another person, whose name I cannot recollect, informed me that he was at the

the conflict which followed them, by way of revenge for the death of his people, he became a brave and sanguinary chief among the warriors."

In the mean time, Capt. Cresap and George Rogers Clarke, upon their retirement from Wheeling by way of Catfish Camp to Redstone Old Fort, had proceeded from the latter place eastward, Clarke going to Winchester, Va., and Cresap to Old Town, Md., where he had left his family, and where his father lived. There he at once commenced raising a company of men for the purpose of taking part in the Indian hostilities which he knew must follow the occurrences on the Ohio. They sent a messenger to Lord Dunmore at Williamsburg, Va., notifying him of the situation of affairs ; and an express was also sent to the Governor by Connolly from Pittsburgh, informing him of the events which had occurred upon the frontier, and the necessity of immediate preparations for an Indian war, among which necessary preparations he suggested the propriety of sending a force to Wheeling to erect a fort there. Upon receipt of this communication Dunmore sent messengers to the settlers who had already gone forward to Kentucky, notifying them to return at once for their own safety, and on the 20th of June he wrote Connolly at Pittsburgh, approving his plan of building a fort at Wheeling, and of carrying war into the Indian country ; also directing him to keep in communication with Col. Andrew Lewis, who was then in command of Virginia troops on the Kanawha and New Rivers ; also advising him to send Capt. William Crawford with what men could be spared to co-operate with Col. Lewis, "or to strike a stroke himself; if he thinks he can do it with safety." "I know him," said Dunmore, "to be prudent, active, and resolute, and therefore very fit to go on such an Expedition ; and if anything of that kind can be effected, the sooner 'tis done the better. . . . I would recommend it to all Officers going out on Parties to make as many Prisoners as they can of Women and Children, and should you be so fortunate as to reduce those Savages to sue for Peace, I would not grant it to them on any Terms till they were effectually chastised for their Insolence, and then on no Terms without bringing in six of Their Heads as Hostages for their future good behavior, and these to be relieved

towns when the Yellow Creek Indians came in, and that there were great lamentations by all the Indians of that place. Some friendly Indians advised him to leave the Indian settlements, which he did.

"Could any rational person believe for a moment that the Indians came to Yellow Creek with hostile intentions, or that they bad any suspicion of similar intentions on the part of the whites against them? Would five men have crossed the river, three of them in a short time become dead drunk, while the other two discharged their guns, and thus put themselves entirely at the mercy of the whites, or would they have brought over a squaw with an infant pappoose, if they had not reposed the utmost confidence in the friendship of the whites? Every person who is at all acquainted with Indians knows better, and it was the belief of the inhabitants who were capable of reasoning on the subject that all the depredations committed on the frontiers by Logan and his, party in 1774 were as retallatton for the murder of Logan's friends at Yellow Creek."

But before receiving this authority from the Governor, Connolly had already put some of the militia in the field, with orders to march to Wheeling and commence the construction of the proposed fort. On the 11th of June a party of militia from the Monongahela, moving up the valley of Ten-Mile Creek on their way to Wheeling to join Connolly's other forces there, and also being in pursuit of Logan and his band, who were burning and murdering in that section, were attacked by the Indians, and their captain and lieutenant wounded, the former mortally. Governor Penn was informed of this occurrence, and of the outrages which had been committed in this region by Logan's marauders, in a letter¹ written at Pittsburgh on the 14th of June by Eneas Mackay (afterwards colonel of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment in the Revolutionary army), in, which letter, after detailing some civil troubles between the Virginia and Pennsylvania partisans at that place, he thus proceeds, in reference to Indian outrages and alarms:

" On the other hand, we don't know what day or hour we will be attacked by our savage and provoked Enemy the Indians, who have already massacred sixteen persons to our Certain knowledge. About and in the neighborhood of Ten-Mile Creek last Saturday, a party of the militia, consisting of one Captain one Lieu and forty privates, were on their march to join Connelly at the mouth of Whaling [Wheeling], where he intended to Erect a stockade Fort, when on a sudden they were attacked by only four Indians, who killed the Capt on the spot & wounded the Lieut and made their Escape without being hurt, and the Party, after Burrying their Capt Returned with their wound Lieut, so that Connelly's intended Expedition is knocked in the head at this time."

The captain who was mortally wounded by Logan’s party on this occasion (and who died almost immediately) was Francis McClure. The lieutenant, who was severely wounded, was Samuel Kincaid, who had them recently been commissioned justice of the peace in Westmoreland County. They were both considerably in advance of the main body of their company, and were not taking proper precautions against surprise when they were fired upon. Arthur St. Clair, of Westmoreland, in a letter of June 16th to Governor Penn, informed the latter of the occurrence, stating that captain and lieutenant were killed, but afterwards, in the same letter, said, " I was mistaken in saying two people were killed on Ten-Mile Creek. McClure was killed and Kincaid wounded ; however, it would have been no great Matter if he had been killed, as he had accepted a Commission in the Service of Virginia so soon after the Notice you had been pleased to take of him at the request of his Father-in-law, Col. Wilson . . . Before this Accident Mr. Connolly had deter-

mined to to March from Ft. Pitt (which lie now calls Fort Dunmore) with three or four hundred men he had embodied for the purpose of chastising the Shaw-anese, to erect Forts..at Wheeling and Hockhockon to overawe the Indians, and from thence to carry the War into their own Country ; of this he was pleased to inform me by letter, and to desire I would act in concert with him."

The general tone of the above letter seems to show that (on the part of the Pennsylvania adherents at least) even the imminent danger which threatened all the inhabitants west of the Laurel Hill could not make the partisans of. the two colonies forget their animosities and act in concert for the general welfare. In a letter dated Ligonier, June 16, 1774,¹ St. Clair informed Governor Penn that a very large party of Indians had been discovered crossing the Ohio below Wheeling and moving eastward. He added, " 'Tis some satisfaction the Indians seem to discriminate between us and those who attacked them, and their Revenge has fallen hitherto on that side of the Monongahela which they consider as Virginia, but least that should not continue, We are taking all possible care to prevent a heavy stroke falling on the few people that are left in this country." Thus the people east of the Monongahela were congratulating themselves that it was not on them, but on the more exposed (but then almost entirely deserted) settlements west of the Monongahela that the savages were wreaking their vengeance. " It is said," wrote William Thompson, in a letter to Governor Penn, dated June 19th, " that the Indians have fixed a boundary [the Monongahela River] betwixt the Virginians and us, and say they will not kill or touch a Pennsylvanian. But it is not best to trust them, and I am doubtful a short time will show the contrary."

But notwithstanding the supposed immunity of the people east of the Monongahela from Indian inroads, the panic there was nearly as great and as general as on the west side of the river. " Nothing can be more surprising," said St. Clair, in a letter written on the 12th of June² to Governor Penn, " than the dread the people are under, and it is truly shameful that so great a Body of People should have been driven from their Possessions without even the appearance of an Enemy, for certain it is as yet no attempt has been made on what is understood to be Pennsylvania, nor any other mischief done than the killing the family on White Lick Creek, which I informed you of before, and which from every circumstance appears rather to have been private revenge than a national stroke. A fresh report of Indians being seen near Hanna's Town, and another party on Braddock's road, Set the People agoin again Yesterday. I immediately took horse and rose up to inquire into, and found it, if not totally groundless, at least very improbable, but it was im-

possible to persuade the People so, and I am certain I did not meet less than a hundred Familia and I think two Thousand head ql cattle in twenty miles riding. The People in this Valley will make a stand, but yesterday they all moved into this place [Ligonier], and I perceive are much in doubt what to do. Nothing in my Power to prevent their leaving the Country shall be omitted, but if they will go I suppose I must go with the stream. It is the strangest infatuation ever seized upon men, and if they go off now, as Harvest will soon be on, they must undoubtedly perish by Famine, for spring crop there will be little or none."

When Lord Dunmore, early in May, received intelligence of the hostilities which had been commenced at Yellow Creek and other points on the Ohio, he took measures without delay to carry on a vigorous aggressive campaign against the Indians. It has been mentioned that He sent to Connolly, of Pittsburgh, his approval of the plan of building a fort at Wheeling, and that Connolly gave orders to that effect to the militia. Soon afterwards Col. McDonald was ordered to uhjhmove west on Braddock's road, with a force of about five hundred men, to proceed from Laurel Hill to Fort Burd, thence across the Monongahela and the present county of Washington to Wheeling, to complete the fort, and afterwards to cross the Ohio and attack the Indians on the Muskingum. Capt. Michael Cresap had raised a company of volunteers in Maryland, and marched them west across the mountains to the Monongahela, which he reached about the 10th of July. On the 13th of that month, while nine men were at work in a cornfield on Dunkard Creek, they were suddenly attacked by a party of Indians, who killed six of them, the three others making their escape. Whether the Indian party was composed of Logan's Mingoes or not is not certainly known. Connolly reported that they were Shawanese, thirty-five in number. Cresap, being in the vicinity with his company, pursued the savages, but they had nearly a day the start of him, and made good their escape. Under these circumstances lie gave up the pursuit, and marched with his company to Catfish Camp, where " his advance was stopped by a peremptory and insulting letter from Connolly, in which he was ordered to dismiss his men."³ Thereupon he turned back, marched to the Monongahela, and thence across the mountains to Maryland, where he met Lord Dunmore, who gave him a commission as captain of Hampshire County, Virginia, militia ; and in this capacity he served during the later operations of the campaign. The reason why Connolly had treated Cresap so cavalierly and refused the services of his company is not apparent, as in the preceding April, when George .Rogers Clarke and Cresap were encamped with their followers at Wheeling, the latter had received proofs of high con-

sideration from Connolly. That he was regarded with disfavor by the Pennsylvania partisans is shown in a letter from St. Clair to Governor Penn, dated July 4th, in which the former says, " With such officers as Cresap no good can be expected ; so that it is very doubtful all attempts to preserve the tranquillity or the country will be fruitless."

It has been already mentioned that Col. McDonald was ordered to march with a force of about five hundred men to Wheeling, and thence into the Indian country west of the Ohio. Under these orders he marched to the Muskingum, where he surprised the Indians and punished them sufficiently to induce them to sue for peace, though it was believed that their request was but a treacherous one, designed only to gain time for the collection of a larger body of warriors to renew the hostilities.

But the main forces mustered by Dunmore for the invasion of the Indian country were a detachment to move down the Ohio from Pittsburgh, under the Governor in person, and another body of troops under Gen. Andrew Lewis,¹ which was rendezvoused at Camp Union, now Lewisburg, Greenbrier Co., Va. These two columns were to meet for co-operation at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River. Under this general plan Governor Dunmore moved from Williamsburg to Winchester and to Fort Cumberland, thence over the Braddock road to Fort Pitt, which in the mean time had been named by his partisans, in his honor, Fort Dunmore. From there he proceeded with his forces down the Ohio River, and arrived at Fort Fincastle (the stockade work which had then recently been built according to his directions at Wheeling) on the 30th of September. Maj. (afterwards colonel) William Crawford, of Stewart's Crossings on the Youghiogheny, was one of Dunmore's principal officers, and stood high in the favor of his lordship.²

The force under Gen. Andrew Lewis, eleven hundred strong, proceeded from Camp Union to the headwaters of the Kanawha, and thence down the valley of that river to the appointed rendezvous at its mouth, which was reached on the 6th of October. Gen. Lewis, being disappointed in his expectation of finding Lord Dunmore already there, sent messengers up the Ohio to meet his lordship and inform him of the

¹ who had been a captain under Washington in the Fort Necessity campaign of 1754.

² Valentine Crawford, brother of William, and agent of Col. George Washington, wrote the latter from Fort Fincastle under date of Oct. 1, 1774, in which letter he said, " His Lordship arrived here yesterday with about twelve hundred men, seven hundred of whom came by water with his L'd'p,and five hundred came with my brother William by land with the bullocks. His L'd'p has sent him with five hundred men, fifty packhorses, and two hundred bullocks to meet Col. Lewis at the mouth of Hockhocking, below the month of Little Kanawha. His Lordship is to go by water with the rest of the troops in a few days." In accordance with the plan mentioned in this letter, Maj. William Crawford proceeded to Hocking, on the Ohio side of the river, and there erected a stockade which was named Fort Gower, Dunmore arriving with the main force iu time to assist in the construction of the work.

arrival of the column at the mouth of the Kanawha. On the 9th of October a dispatch was received from Dunmore saying that he (Dunmore) was at the mouth of the Hocking, and that he would proceed thence directly to the Shawanese towns on the Scioto, instead of coming down the Ohio to the mouth of the Kanawha as at first agreed on. At the same time he ordered Lewis to cross the Ohio and march to meet him (Dunmore) before the Indian towns.

But on the following day (October 10th), before Gen. Lewis had commenced his movement across the Ohio, he was attacked by a heavy body of Shawanese warriors under the chief Cornstalk. The fight (known as the battle of Point Pleasant) raged nearly all day, and resulted in the complete rout of the Indians, who sustained a very heavy (though not definitely ascertained) loss, and retreated in disorder across the Ohio. The loss of the Virginians under Lewis was seventy-five killed and one hundred and forty wounded. Dunmore and Lewis advanced from their respective points into Ohio to " Can¹p Charlotte," on Sippo Creek, where they met Cornstalk and the other Shawanese chiefs, but as the men of Lewis' command were inclined to show great vindictiveness towards the Indians, Dunmore, fearing an outbreak from them, which would defeat the object he had in view (the making of a treaty of peace with the chiefs), ordered Lewis to return immediately with his force to Point Pleasant. After their departure a treaty was finally concluded with the principal chiefs ; but as some of the Indians were defiant and disinclined for peace, Maj. William Crawford was sent against one of their villages, called Seekunk, or Salt Lick Town. His force consisted of two hundred and forty men, with which l¹e destroyed the village, killed six Indians, and took fourteen prisoners.

These operations and the submission of the Indians at Camp Charlotte virtually closed the war. Governor Dunmore immediately set out on his return, and proceeded by way of Redstone and the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny to Fort Cumberland, an thence to the Virginia capital. Maj. William Craw ford also returned immediately to his home on Youghiogheny, where, on the day after his arrival, he wrote Col. George Washington, the friend of boyhood, as follows:

" SIR,—I yesterday returned from our late exp tion against the Shawanese, and I think we with propriety say we have had great success, as made them sensible of their villany and weakn and I hope made peace with them on such a foo as will be lasting, if we can make them adhere to terms of agreement, which are as follows : First, have to give up all the prisoners taken ever by in war with white people, also negroes, and all ho stolen or taken by them since the last war. And, ther, no Indian for the future is to hunt on the side of the Ohio, nor any white man on the westside;

seems to have been the cause of some of the disturbance between our people and them. As a guarantee that they will perform their part of the agreement, they have given up four chief men, to be kept as hostages, who are to be relieved yearly, or as they choose. The Shawanese have complied with the terms, but the Mingoes did not like the conditions, and had a mind to deceive us ; but Lord Dunmore discovered their intentions, which were to slip off while we were settling matters with the Shawanese. The Mingoes intended to go to the Lakes, and take their prisoners with them, and their horses which They had stolen.

"Lord Dunmore ordered myself with two hundred and forty men to set out in the night. We were to march to a town about forty miles distant from our camp up the Scioto, where we understood the whole of the Mingoes were to rendezvous upon the following day, in order to pursue their journey. This intelligence came by John Montour, son of Capt. Montou whom you formerly knew.

“Because of the number of Indians in our camp, we marched out of it under pretense of going to

Hockhocking for more provisions. Few knew of our setting off, anyhow, and none knew where we were going to until the next day. Our march was performed with as much speed as possible. We arrived at a town called the Salt Lick Town the ensuing night, and at daybreak we got around it with one-half our force, and the remainder were sent to a small village half a mile distant. Unfortunately one of our men was discovered by an Indian who lay out from the town some distance by a log which the man was creeping up to. This obliged the man to kill the Indian.

This happened before daylight, which did us much damage, as the chief part of the Indians made their escape in the dark, but we got fourteen prisoners and killed six of the enemy, wounding several more. We got all their baggage and horses, ten of their guns, and two white prisoners. The plunder sold for four hundred pounds sterling, besides what was returned to a Mohawk Indian who was there. The whole of the Mingoes were ready were to start, and to have set out the morning we attacked them." This assault on the Mingo town by Maj. Crawford was the last act of hostility in the Dunmore war.

The "'settlers' forts" and block-houses, of which there were many in the territory that is now Washington County, and which by affording shelter and protection to the inhabitants prevented an entire meat of this section of the country in Dunmore’s war, were nearly all erected during the terror and panic of the spring and summer of the year 1774. These forts were erected by the associated efforts of settlers in particular neighborhoods upon the land of some one, whose name was thereupon given to the fort, as Vance's fort, Beelor's fort, etc. They consisted of a greater or less space of land, inclosed on all sides by high log parapets or stockades, with cabins adapted to the abode of families. The only external openings were a large puncheon gate and small port-holes among the logs, through which the rifle of the settler could be pointed against the assailants. Sometimes, as at Lindley's, and many of the other forts in the adjacent country west of the Monongahela, additional cabins were erected outside of the fort for temporary abode in times of danger, from which the sojourners could in case of attack retreat within the fort.

Doddridge, in his " Notes on the Early Settlements and Indian Wars," says the " settlers' fort" of those days was " not only a place of defense but the residence of a small number of families belonging to the same neighborhood. As the Indian mode of warfare was an indiscriminate slaughter of all ages and both sexes, it was as requisite to provide for the safety of the women and children as for that of the men. The fort consisted of cabins, block-houses, and stockades. A range of cabins commonly formed one side at least of the fort. Divisions or partitions of logs separated the cabins from each other. The walls on the outside were ten or twelve feet high, the slope of the roof being turned wholly inward. A very few of these cabins had puncheon floors, the greater part were earthen. The block-houses were built at the angles of the fort. They projected about two --feet beyond the outer walls of the cabins and stockades. Their upper stories were about eighteen inches every way larger in dimension than the under one, leaving an opening at the commencement of the second story to prevent the enemy from making a lodgment under the walls. In some forts the angles of the fort were furnished with bastions instead of block-houses. A large folding gate, made of thick slabs, nearest the spring, closed the fort. The stockades, bastions, cabins, and block-house walls were furnished with port-holes at proper heights and distances. The whole of the outside was made completely bulletproof. It may be truly said that necessity is the mother of invention, for the whole of this work was made without the aid of a single nail or spike of iron, and for the reason that such things were not to be had. In some places less exposed a single blockhouse, with a cabin or two, constituted the whole fort. Such places of refuge may appear very trifling to those who have been in the habit of seeing the formidable military garrisons of Europe and America, but they answered the purpose, as the Indians had no artillery. They seldom attacked, and scarcely ever took one of them."

Among the number of forts of this kind that were erected in what is now Washington County were Vance's fort, on Cross Creek ; Lindley's fort, in Morris township ; Wells' fort, at Wells' Mills, on Cross Creek ; Wolfe's fort, in Buffalo township ; Froman's fort, on Chartiers Creek ; Beelor's fort, on Raccoon Creek, near the site of the village of Candor; Dillow's fort,

on Dillow's Run, in now Hanover township; Cherry's fort, in Mount Pleasant township ; Beeman's blockhouse or fort, on the north fork of Wheeling Creek ; Doddridge's fort, in what is now Independence township ; Rice's fort, on the Dutch Fork of Buffalo, in Donegal ; Miller's fort or block-house, also on the waters of Dutch Fork, in the same township; and there were a number of others of the same class in other parts of the county. Nearly all these were built, as has been mentioned, during the panic of 1774 ; but they continued to be used as places of security for settlers' families through a long series of Indian wars and alarms, that were most frequent and serious from 1778 to 1783, but which continued to some extent until 1794, when a lasting peace with the savages in the Ohio Valley was gained by Wayne's victory on the Maumee.

Patriotic Meetings—Troops sent to the Field—Military Operations under Gene. Hand and McIntosh and Col. Brodhead—Expeditions under Gen. George Rogers Clarke—Fate of Col. Lochry's Command—The Moravian Expeditions and Massacre.

WASHINGTON COUNTY had no separate and independent organization or existence during the period of the Revolution until near the close of the great struggle for independence; and as for this very good reason the Revolutionary muster-rolls embrace no military organizations distinctively from this county, and no full regiments or companies are known to have been raised here for regular service in the Continental or Pennsylvania line, it might be inferred that the people then living within the territory that is now the county of Washington took very little, if' Any, part in the patriotic conflict. But such an inference would be wholly erroneous ; for, besides the men who went from the then sparsely populated country west of the Monongahela to join the regiments and companies that were raised on the other side of that river, in Westmoreland County, soon after the opening of hostilities, there were also furnished from the settlements of Washington County, both before and immediately after its erection as such, many hundreds of volunteers and militiamen, who took gallant part, and did good service in the numerous expeditions that were sent from the valleys of the Monongahela and Ohio against the Indian tribes in the Northwest. These campaigns and expeditions were necessary for the protection of the frontiers against incursions and massacre by savages, incited by white renegades and the British, and sometimes led by officers of the royal army. They were as much a part of the Revolutionary conflict as were the battles of Trenton and Monmouth ; and the men who took part in them were as much entitled to credit for their bravery and patriotism as were those who fought in the army of Washington on the Delaware and Brandywine.

Early in May. 1775, the tidings came across the Alleghenies that on the 19th of the preceding month a detachment of royal troops from Gen. Gage's force at Boston had fired on the Massachusetts provincials Lexington Common ; that the yeomanry had returned the fire and harassed the retreating regulars faro their way towards the city. Thus was announced the opening of the first. act in the great drama of the Revolution, and the response which it brought forth from the people west of the mountains was prompt and unmistakably patriotic.

The dispute and feud between Virginia and Pennsylvania was then at its height in this region, b States claiming and both attempting to exercise jun diction over the country between Laurel Hill and the Ohio ; but the partisans of both provinces unhesitatingly laid aside their animosities, or held them abeyance, and both, on the same day, held large a patriotic meetings, pledging themselves to aid to extent of their ability the cause of the colonies agai the encroachments of Britain. Prominent in the proceedings of both meetings were men from the sect of country of which six years later became the county Washington, then embraced, according to the Virginia claim, in the county of Augusta of that colony and partly, according to Pennsylvania's claim, in her county of Westmoreland, though there was little attempt on the part of the latter at that time to exercise jurisdiction west of the Monongahela. The meeting called and held under Virginia auspices was reported as follows :

" At a meeting of the inhabitants of that part of Augusta County that lies on the west side of the Laurel Hill, at Pittsburgh, the 16th day of May, 1775, the following gentlemen were chosen a committee for the said district, viz. : George Croghan, John Campbell, Edward Ward, Thomas Smallman, John Canon, John McCullough, William Goe, George Vallandigham, John Gibson, Dorsey Pentecost, Edward Cook, William Crawford, Devereux Smith, John Anderson, David Rogers, Jacob Van M Henry Enoch, James Ennis, George Wilson, William Vance, David Shepherd, William Elliott, Richmond Willis, Samuel Sample, John Ormsby, Richard McMaher, John Nevill, and John Swearingen."

A standing committee was appointed, to have “full power to meet at such times as they shall judge necessary, and in case of any emergency to call the committee of this district together, and shall be vested with the same power and authority as the other standing committee and committees of correspondence are in the other counties within this colony,”

It was by the meeting " Resolved, unanimously. That this committee have the highest sense spirited behavior of their brethren in New England,

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." The objects of which Association were declared to be :

" First. To arm and form ourselves into a regiment, or regiments, and choose officers to command us, in such proportions as shall be thought necessary.

" Second. We will with alacrity endeavor to make ourselves masters of the manual, exercise, 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.

"Third. 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 may be formed for the defense of America in general or Pennsylvania in particular." And the meeting further resolved that when the Parliament should show a willingness to do justice to the colonies, then, and not till then, should the Association of Westmoreland County be dissolved.

About a month after the events above narrated, a small body of men who had volunteered from the frontier settlements crossed the Monongahela River and marched eastward over the mountains to join a Maryland company which was being formed under Capt. Michael Cresap for service in the provincial army. The nominal home of Capt. Cresap was at Old Town, Md.., but his base of operations at that time, and for a few previous years, was at Redstone Old Fort, now Brownsville, on the Monongahela, opposite the eastern border of Washington County. Here he had a good house¹ and a store, from which he traded at points below on the river. He had been engaged, and somewhat prominent, in the Indian fighting of 1774, known as Dunmore's war, being the same Capt. Cresap to whom was (wrongfully, it now seems almost certain) charged the crime of killing the family of the Indian chief Logan. The men who now marched to join his company in Maryland are mentioned as " his old companions in arms," and although none of their names have been preserved, there is little doubt that most, if not all of them, were from the settlements on the Monongahela, and between that river and the Ohio.

Cresap had been in Kentucky in the spring of 1775, but being taken ill there had set out by way of the Ohio and across the mountains for his home in Maryland, where he hoped to recover his health. " On

¹ The first house having "a shingle roof nailed on" that was ever built west of the mountains.

his way across the Allegheny Mountains² he was met by a faithful friend with a message stating that he had been appointed by the Committee of Safety at Frederick a captain to command one of the two rifle companies required from Maryland by a resolution of Congress. Experienced officers and the very best men that could be procured were demanded. ' When I communicated my business,' says the messenger in his artless narrative, ' and announced his appointment, instead of becoming elated he became pensive and solemn, as if his spirits were really depressed, or as if he had a presentiment that this was his death-warrant. He said he was in bad health, and his affairs in a deranged state, but that nevertheless, as the committee had selected him, and as he understood from me his father had pledged himself that he should accept of this appointment, he would go, let the consequences be what they might. He then directed me to proceed to the west side of the mountains and publish to his old companions in arms this his intention ; this I did, and in a very short time collected and brought to him at his residence in Old Town [Maryland] about twenty-two as fine fellows as ever handled rifle, and most, if not all of them, completely equipped.' "

It was in June that these men were raised and moved across the mountains to Frederick, Md., to join Cresap's company. A letter written from that place on the 1st of the following August to a gentleman in Philadelphia said, " Notwithstanding the

urgency of my business, have been detained three days in this place by an occurrence truly agreeable. I have had the happiness of seeing Capt. Michael Cresap marching at the head of a formidable company of upwards of one hundred and thirty men from the mountains and backwoods, painted like Indians, armed with tomahawks and rifles, dressed in I hunting-shirts and moccasins, and though some of them had traveled near eight hundred [?] miles from the banks of the Ohio, they seemed to walk light and easy, and not with less spirit than on the first hoar of their march." . . . They marched in August, and joined Washington's army near Boston, where and in later campaigns they did good service. Their captain's health growing worse he resigned and started for Maryland, but died on his way in New York in the following October. The names of the men who were recruited west of the mountains for Cresap's company cannot be given, but there can be little doubt that most of them were his old comrades of the Dunmore war, and from the settlements between the Dlonon-gahela and Ohio Rivers.

In the fall of 1775 the Seventh Virginia Regiment was recruited and organized by Col. William Crawford. This was the first considerable body of men raised in the Monongahela country for the Revolutionary service. Col. Crawford's home was on

Youghiogheny at Stewart's Crossings (now the borough of New Haven, Fayette Co.), but being an active Virginia partisan, and very popular among the Virginians west of the Monongahela,¹ many of his men were recruited in what afterwards became Washington County, the remainder being largely obtained in that part of Westmoreland County which became Fayette. Crawford did not at once receive the colonelcy of the Seventh, but became its commanding officer in 1776. It was afterwards commanded by Col. John Gibson. The regiment entered the service with the Continental army in the East, and remained there for some time, but during the later years of the war served in the Western Department, with headquarters at Fort Pitt.

The Thirteenth Virginia (known as the " West Augusta Regiment") was afterwards raised, chiefly by Crawford's efforts, in the same region of country in which the Seventh had been recruited. The Thirteenth (of which Crawford was made colonel) performed its service in the West, being stationed in detachments at Fort Pitt and other points on the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. An extract from a letter written by Crawford to Gen. Washington,² dated "Fredericktown, Md., February 12, 1777," is given below because of its reference to the two regiments raised in the Monongahela country, viz. :

"Many reasons have we to expect a war [with the Indians] this spring. The chief of the lower settlements upon the Ohio has moved off; and should both the regiments be moved away, it will greatly distress the people, as the last raised by myself [the West Augusta Regiment] was expected to be a guard for them if there was an Indian war. By the Governor of Virginia I was appointed to command that regiment at the request of the people. The conditions were that the soldiers were enlisted during the war, and if an Indian war should come on this spring they were to be continued there, as their interest was on the spot; but if there should be no Indian war in that quarter, then they were to go wherever called. On these conditions many cheerfully enlisted. The regiment, I believe, by this time is nearly made up, as five hundred and odd were made up before I came away, and the officers were recruiting very fast; but should they be ordered away before they get blankets and other necessaries, I do not see how they are to be moved; besides, the inhabitants will be in great fear under the present circumstances. Many men have already been taken from that region, so that if that regiment should march away, it will leave few or none to defend the country. There are no arms, as the chief part of the first men were armed there, which has left the place very bare ; but let me be ordered anywhere, and

¹ It was the almost universal opinion among the people west of the Monongahela at that time that they were within the jurisdiction of Augusta Co., Va.

It seems remarkable that the sparsely-settled country west of Laurel Hill (and principally the Monongahela Valley) should have been able to furnish two full regiments³ (furnishing almost all the arms for one regiment) and put them into the field by the spring of 1777. But there had also been raised under Pennsylvania authority in what was then Westmoreland County (then including the present county of Washington) a company under Capt. Joseph Erwin. It marched to Marcus Hook, where it was incorporated with Col. Samuel Miles' " Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment." It was subsequently included in the Thirteenth Pennsylvania, then in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, and was finally discharged from service at Valley Forge Jan. 1, 1778, by reason of expiration of its term of enlistment. During its period of service the company fought at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Quibbletown (N. J.), Brandywine, and Germantown. On the roll of this company are found the names of Joseph Brownlee, John Brownlee, Andrew Bryson, Robert Heslet, Leech, Orr, and others, who either were then or afterwards became residents of Washington County.

Under authority of a resolution of Congress dated July 15, 1776, 4 was raised the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania line, for the defense of the western frontier, to garrison the posts of Presque Isle, Le Weld, and Kittaning. One company of this regiment was raised in Bedford County, and all the remaining seven companies were recruited in the territory then comprised in Westmoreland County. On the 29th of July, 1776, Congress appointed as field-officers of this regiment Col. Eneas McKay, Lieut.-Col. George Wilson, and Maj. Richard Butler. September 22d, David McClure was elected chaplain, and Ephraim Douglass, quartermaster. Among the names of company commanders are found those of Capt. Van Swearingen and Capt. Samuel Brady, both of Washington County. Among the private soldiers Washington County family names are numerous.

On the 23d of November Congress directed the Board of War to order the regiment to march with all possible expedition by the nearest route " to Brunswick, N. J., or to join Gen. Washington wherever he may be." On the 4th of November the regiment received orders to march to Amboy, N. J., whereupon Lieut.-Col. George Wilson wrote from the regimental rendezvous to Col. James Wilson as follows :

" Dr Colonall : Last Evening We Recd Marching orders, Which I must say is not Disagreeable to me under yee Sircumstances of ye times, for when I entr'd into ye Service I Judged that if a necessity appeared

³ In February, 1777, Congress appropriated the sum of $20,000, "to be paid to Col. William Crawford for raising and equiping his regiment, which is a part of the Virginia new levies." It is not certain as to which of the regiments raised by Crawford this had reference, but it appears to , have been the last one, the " West Augusta Regiment."

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 Ware Raised for ye Defence of ye Western Frontiers, and their fameleys and substance to be Left in so Defenceless a situation in their abstence, seems to Give Sensable trouble, alth° I Hope We Will Get over it, By Leving sum of ower trifeling Officers Behind who Pirtend to Have More Wit then seven men that can Rendar a Reason. We are 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 Kitties, tents, arms, Regimentals, &c., that we may not Cut a Dispisable Figure, But may be Enabled to answer ye expectation of ower Countre.

" I Have Warmly Recommended 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 of their countrie, and I hope it Will have a Good Efect at this time. We Have ishued ye Neceserey orders, and appointed ye owt Parties to Randevous at Hanows Town, ye 150h instant, and to March Emeditly from there. We have Recomended it to ye Militia to Station One Hundred Men at this post until further orders. I Hope to have ye Pleasure of Seeing you Soon, as we mean to take Philadelphia in ower Rout. In ye mean time, I am, With Esteem, your Harty Wellwisher and Hh¹• St,

Until the 5th of December, 1776, the regiment was styled in the quartermaster's receipts " the Battalion commanded by Col. Eneas Mackay," but at that date it is first styled " The Eighth Battalion of Penn'a troops in the Continental service," showing that it had then been assigned to duty in the Continental line. The regiment marched from Kittaning on the 6th of January, 1777, and it and the Twelfth Pennsylvania were the first regiments of the line in the field. The next notice of it is found in the " Life of Timothy Pickering" (volume i., page 122), in the following reference to the Eighth Pennsylvania :

" ' DEAR SIR : Our Battalion is so unfortunate as not to have a Doctor, and, in my opinion, dying for want of medicine. 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

" I desired the Dr. by all means to visit them. They were raised about the Ohio, and had traveled 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 he found them quartered in cold shattered houses."

Cols. Mackay and Wilson having died, Daniel Brodhead became colonel, Richard Butler lieutenant,. colonel, and Stephen Bayard major. When Morgan's rifle command was organized, Lieut.-Col. Butler was made lieutenant-colonel of it, and Maj. James Roo, of the First Pennsylvania, became lieutenant-colonel. According to a return signed by the latter, dated " Mount Pleasant, June 9, 1777," the number of men enlisted between the 9th of August and the 16th of December,.1776, was six hundred and thirty; enlisted since the 16th of December, thirty-four; making a total of six hundred and eighty-four. The strength of the respective companies was :

Sergeants.

Bank and File

Capt. David Kilgore's Company

Capt. Samuel Miller's "

Capt. Van Swearingen's “

Capt. James Pigott's “

Capt. Wendel Ourry's “

Capt. Andrew Mann's “

Capt. James Montgomery's Company

Capt. Michael Huffnagle's “

Capt. Lieut. John Finley's “

Capt. Lieut. Basil Prather's “

From the total thirty-six were deducted as prisoners of war, fourteen missing, fifty-one dead, fifteen discharged, one hundred and twenty-six deserted. Lieut. Matthew Jack, absent from April 13^th, wounded. Ensign Gabriel Peterson, absent from April 17th, wounded. Capt. Moses Carson, deserted April 21st. First Lieut. Richard Carson, deserted, Aquila White, ensign, deserted February 23d. Joseph McDolo, first lieutenant, deserted. Thomas Forthay, ensign, deserted. Alexander Simrall, second lieutenant, cashiered. David McKee, ensign, dismissed the service. Ephraim Douglass, quartermaster, taken by the enemy, March 13th.

Capt. Van Swearingen, First Lieut. Basil Prather, and Second Lieut. John Hardin with their commands were detailed on duty with Col. Morgan, and greatly distinguished themselves in the series of actions that resulted in the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne at Saratoga. These commands consisted of picked rifleman out of all of the companies of the Eighth Pennsylvania.

A return dated Nov. 1, 1777, shows the strength of the regiment present : colonel, major, two captains six lieutenants, adjutant, paymaster and surgeon, sergeant-major, quartermaster-sergeant and drum-major,

twenty-nine sergeants, nine drums and fifes, one hundred and twelve rank and file fit for duty ; twenty-eight sick present, seventy-seven sick absent, one hundred and thirty-nine on command ; total, three hundred and fifty-one... Prisoners of war, one sergeant and fifty-eight privates. Capt. Van Swearingen, Lieut. Basil Prather, and Lieut. John Hardin on command with Col. Morgan. Vacant offices: lieutenant-colonel, four captains, three lieutenants, eight ensigns, chaplain, and surgeon's mate. Lieut.-Col. Ross resigned after the battles of Brandywine and Germantown.

On the 5th of March, 1777, the regiment was ordered to Pittsburgh for the defense of the western frontiers, and by direction of Gen. McIntosh, Col. Brodhead made, about the 12th of July, a detour up the West Branch to check the savages who were ravaging Wyoming and the West Branch Valley. He was at Muncy on the 24th of July, and had ordered Capt. Finley's company into Penn's Valley, where two of the latter's soldiers, Thomas Van Doren and Jacob Shed-acre, who had participated in the campaign against Burgoyne, were killed on the 24th, in sight of Potter's fort, by the Indians. (Pennsylvania Archives, 0. S., vol. vi. page 666.) Soon after, Col. Hartley with his regiment relieved Col. Brodhead, and he proceeded with the Eighth to Pittsburgh.

A monthly return of the troops commanded by Col. Brodhead in the Western Department, dated July 80,1780, hives the strength of the Eighth Pennsylvania: colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, two captains, three lieutenants, four ensigns, adjutant, paymaster, quartermaster, surgeon, surgeon's mate, sergeant-major, quartermaster-sergeant, one drum and fife major, ten sergeants, ten drums and fifes, one hundred and twenty rank and file fit for duty, four sick, two furloughed, eight on command, three deserted, six joined the Invalid Company.

In a letter from Gen. William Irvine to Gen. Washington, soon after he took command at Fort Pitt, dated Dec. 2, 1781, he says, " I have reformed the remains of the late Eighth Pennsylvania into two companies, and call them a detachment from the Pennsylvania line, to be commanded by Lieut.-Col. Bayard." [The first company, Capt. Clark, Lieuts. Peterson and Reed; second company, Capt. Brady, Lieu's. Ward and Morrison.]

Capt. Matthew Jack, in a statement on file, says, "In the year 1778 the Eighth was sent to Pittsburgh to guard the frontier, and placed under the command of Gen. McIntosh ; that they went down to the mouth of the Beaver, and there built Fort McIntosh, and from that went, upon McIntosh's command, to the head of the Muskingum, and there built Fort Laurens. In the year 1779 went up the Allegheny, on Gen. Brodhead's expedition, attacked the Indians and defeated them, and burned their towns. On the return of the regiment, its time having expired, it was discharged at Pittsburgh." For a full account of the services of this regiment in the West the reader is referred to "Brodhead's Letter-Book," published in the twelfth volume, first series, of Pennsylvania Archives.

Van Swearingen was probably the most noted captain in the Eighth Pennsylvania. On the 19th of September he and a lieutenant and twenty privates were captured in a sudden dash that scattered Morgan's men. He fell into the hands of the Indians, but was rescued by Gen. Fraser's batman (one who takes care of his officer's horse), who took him before the general. The latter interrogated him concerning the number of the American army, but got no answer, except that it was commanded by Gens. Gates and Arnold. He then threatened to hang him. " You may, if you please," said Van Swearingen. Fraser then rode off, leaving him in care of Sergt. Dunbar, who consigned him to Lieut. Auburey, who ordered him to be placed among the other prisoners, with directions not to be ill treated. Swearingen, after Burgoyne's army was removed to Virginia, made especial exertions to have Dunbar and Auburey exchanged. Swearingen was the first sheriff of Washington County in 1781. His daughter became the wife of the celebrated Capt. Samuel Brady (also of the Eighth Pennsylvania), so conspicuous in the annals of Western Pennsylvania.

Mackay, Eneas, of Westmoreland County, July 20,1776 ; died in service, Feb. 14, 1777.

Brodhead, Daniel, from lieutenant-colonel Fourth Pennsylvania, March 12, 1777; joined April, 1777 ; transferred to First Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Butler, Richard.; from major, March 12, 1777, ranking from Aug. 28, 1776; transferred to lieutenant-colonel of Morgan's rifle command, June 9, 1777; promoted colonel of Ninth Pennsylvania, ranking from June 7, 1777; by an alteration subsequent to March 12, 1777,

Richard Butler was placed in the First Pennsylvania, and James Ross in Eighth Pennsylvania.

Ross, James, from lieutenant-colonel First Pennsylvania; resigned Sept. 22, 1777.

Bayard, Stephen, from major, ranking Sept. 23, 1777 ; transferred to Sixth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Bayard, Stephen, March 12, 1777. ranking from Oct. 4, 1776; promoted lieutenant-colonel, to rank from Sept. 23, 1777.

Vernon, Frederick, from captain Fifth Pennsylvania, ranking from June 7, 1777; transferred to Fourth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Kilgore, David, died July 11,1814, aged sixty-nine years four months and twelve days; buried in the Presbyterian graveyard of Mount Pleasant (Middle Church), Westmoreland County.—Letter of Nanxis H. Kilgore, Greensburg, Ju/p23, 1878.

Miller, Samuel, died in service, Jan. 10, 1778; left a widow, Jane Crnik-shank, who resided in Westmoreland County in 1784.

¹ The names of the captains appear, on the first return found, in the order indicated above, but date of commissions cannot be ascertained. Probably they were all dated Aug. 9, 1776, as Van Swearingen's.

of an independent company, in the pay of the State from February to Aug. 11, 1776, in defense of the frontiers in Westmoreland County.

Piggott, James; on return June 9, 1777. he is marked sick in camp. Ourry, Wendel.

Mann, Andrew ; on return of June 9, 1777, he is marked sick in quarters since May 2d.

[The foregoing captains were recommended by the committees of Westmoreland and Bedford Counties, and directed to be commissioned by resolution of Congress Sept. 14, 1776.]

Montgomery, James, died Aug. 26, 1777; his widow, Martha, resided in Westmoreland County in 1824.

Jack, Matthew, from first lieutenant; became supernumerary Jan. 31, 1779; resided in Westmoreland County in 1835, aged eighty-two.

Stokely, Nehemiah, Oct. 16,1777; became supernumerary Jan. 31, 1779; died in Westmoreland County in 1811.

Cooke, Thomas, from first lieutenant; became supernumerary Jan. 31, 1779; died in Guernsey County, Ohio, Nov. 5, 1835.

Dawson, Samuel, from Eleventh Pennsylvania, July 1, 1778; died at Fort Pitt, Sept. 6, 1779 ; buried in First Presbyterian churchyard in Pittsburgh.

Clark, John, from Thirteenth Pennsylvania, July 1, 1778 ; transferred to First Pennsylvania, July 17, 1781.

Carnahan, James, from Thirteenth Pennsylvania, July 1, 1778; transferred to Fourth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Finley, Joseph L., from Thirteenth Pennsylvania, July 1,1778; brigade-major, July 30, 1780; transferred to Second Pennsylvania Jan. 17, 1781.

Finley, John, from first lieutenant, Oct. 22, 1777; transferred to Fifth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Crawford, John, from first lieutenant, Aug. 10,1779 ; transferred to Sixth Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Brady, Samuel, from captain lieutenant, Aug. 2, 1779; transferred to Third Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Brady, Samuel, commission dated July 17, 1776; from Sixth Pennsylvania; promoted captain Aug. 2, 1779.

Moseley, Robert (written Moody in the return), resigned May 16, 1777; resided in Ohio County, Ky., in 1820, aged sixty-nine.

Jack, Matthew, lost hie left hand by the bursting of his gun at Bound Brook, N. J.; promoted captain April 13, 1777.

[The foregoing first lieutenants were commissioned under the resolution of Congress of Sept. 16, 1776.]

Prather, Basil, returned Nov. 1, 1777, as on command with Col. Morgan from June 9th ; resigned April 1, 1779.

Hughes, John, Aug. 9, 1776 ; resigned Nov. 23, 1778 ; resided in Washington County in 1813.

Crawford, John, from second lieutenant April 18, 1777; promoted captain Aug. 10. 1779; promoted to Second Pennsylvania, with rank of captain, from April 18, 1777.

Hardin, John, July 13, 1777; Nov. 1, 1777, returned as on command with Col. Morgan ; resigned in 1779 ; afterwards Gen. John Hardin, of Kentucky ; murdered by the Indians near Sandusky, Ohio, in 1791.— Wilkinson's Memoirs.

Stotesbury, John, from old Eleventh Pennsylvania, commission dated April 9, 1777 ; he was a prisoner in New York for some time ; transferred to the Second Pennsylvania, Jan. 17, 1781.

Finley, Andrew, on return of Nov. 1, 1777; marked sick since October 16th; retired in 1778; resided in Westmoreland County, 1813.

Amberson, William, in 1779 lie was deputy master-master-general; sided in Mercer County In 1835.

Read, Archibald, vice Joseph Brownlee, Dec. 13,1778; died in Allegheny County in 1823.

Simrall, Alexander, Aug. 9, 1776 ; left the army in 1777; resided in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1834, aged eighty-eight.

[The foregoing second lieutenants were commissioned under resole. Hon of Congress, Sept. 14,1776, dating as above.]

White, Aquila, left the army Feb. 23, 1777; resided in Montgomery County, Ky., in 1834.

[The foregoing ensigns were commissioned under a resolution of Congress of Sept. 14, 1776.]

Peterson, Gabriel, on a return of June 9, 1777, he is marked absent, wounded, from April 17, 1777; promoted to first lieutenant, July 26, 1777.

Wyatt, Thomas, appointed Dec. 21, 1778 ; resided at St. Louis, Mo., in 1834, aged eighty.

Davidson, Joshua, appointed April 19, 1779; resided in Brown. County, Ohio, in 1833, aged eighty-one.

Douglass, Ephraim, Sept. 12, 1776 ; taken prisoner while acting as aide-camp to Gen. Lincoln, March 13, 1777; exchanged Nov. 27,1780; prothonotary of Fayette County in 1783 ; died in 1833. Neilly, Benjamin, appointed in 1778.

Muster-roll of Capt. Nehemiah Stokely's company, in the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment of Fool ,in the service of the United States of America commanded by Col. Daniel Brodhead, taken for the months of October, November, and Deeember, 1778, and January, 1779.

Sommerville, William, three years, on command ; enlisted Aug. 8, 1776, under Capt. Ourry ; October, 1778, appointed conductor of artillery; see letters to Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. iii., p. 245, etc . ; he was appointed by President Jefferson postmaster at Martinsburg, Va., and died there, March 18, 1826, aged seventy.

I certify that the within muster-roll is a true state of th company, without fraud to these United States, or to any individual, to the best of my knowledge.

I do certify that there is no commissioned officer present belonging to the company.

This may certify that the above and foregoing is a true copy of the muster-roll of Capt. Stokely's company, the original of which is filed in this office.

NON-COMMISSIONED: OFFICERS AND PRIVATES OF THE EIGHTH PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT, CONTINENTAL LINE.¹

[Those marked (e) are taken from a list in the secretary's office of soldiers whose depreciated pay escheated to the State.]

Bess, Edward, Van Swearingen's company, 1776-79; also in Crawford's campaign; died in Washington County, July 17, 1822, aged seventy-seven.

¹ "This roll of the Pennsylvania line of course falls far short of doing justice to the patriotism of Pennsylvania. It is in fact a mere roll of the line as discharged in January, 1781. The hundreds who fell in all the battles of the Revolution, from Quebec to Charleston, are not here; the wounded who dragged their torn limbs home to die in their native valleys are not here. The heaths of New Jersey, from Paramus to Freehold, by a line encircling Morristown and Bound Brook, were, in the summer of 1777, dotted with the graves of the Eighth and Twelfth Pennsylvania. These regiments from the frontier countieewf She State —Westmoreland and Northumberland—were the first of the line in the field, though they had come from the banks of the Monongahela and the head-waters of the Susquehanna. At Brandywine the Pennsylvania troops lost heavily, the Eighth and Twelfth and Col. Hartley's additional regiment in particular, in officers and men ; and Col. Patton's additional regiment, after the battle of Germantown, could not maintain its regimental organization."— The Pennsylvania Line, from July 1, 1776, to Nov. 3, 1783.

Boveard, James, Kilgore's company, 1776-79; died in 1808, in East Buffalo township, Union County.

Burbridge, Thomas, Kilgore'a company; taken December, 1780; in captivity three years; resided in Westmoreland County, 1806.

Byan, David, August, 1777-79 ; Capt. Piggott's company ; served at Saratoga under Van Swearingen; went West with regiment, 1778; at the building of Fort McIntosh and Fort Laurens.; Pennsylvania pensioner, 1813.

Crawford, Robert, Aug. 20, 1776-Sept. 15, 1779; resided in Venango County, 1825.

Cavenaugh, Patrick, enlisted at Carlisle in Capt. Huffnagle's company; he saved Gen. Lincoln from capture by the British in New Jersey; afterwards express-rider for Gen. Greene; died in Washington County, April 5, 1823, aged eighty-three.

Churchfield, John, enlisted July, 1776; wounded in the leg in battle of Germantown; resided in Westmoreland County, 1835, aged eighty-six.

Clark, Benjamin, Kilgore's company; wounded at Bound Brook, 1777; also, in 1778, on march to Fort McIntosh; resided in Steubenville, Ohio, 1815.

Cooper, Joseph,1 deserted August, 1778; died Jan. 16, 1823, in Bedford County, aged sixty-eight,

Cooper, William, Aug. 17, 1776-September, 1779; resided in Venango County, 1810.

Critchlow, James, enlisted August, 1776, in Capt. Moses Carson's company; served in all the Saratoga engagements under Lieut.-Col. Butler; resided in Butler County, 1835, aged seventy-eight.

¹ The fact of a soldier being marked on one roll deserted amounted to nothing, because they usually returned after a few months' absence.

Cruikshank, Andrew, Miller's company, Aug. 17, 1776-September, 1779; resided in Butler County, 1810.

Dickerson, Henry, enlisted 1776 in Van Swearingen's company; at Saratoga, etc.; resided in Washington County in 1813.

Dougherty, James, alias Capt. Fitzpatrick, deserted August, 1778, and executed for robbery.

Faith, Abraham, Capt. Mann's company, Aug. 15, 1776-Nov.19,1779; resided in Somerset County in 1825, aged seventy-four.

Fossbrooke, or Frostbrook, John, resided in Bath Co., Ky., in 1834,aged one hundred and four.

Gwyne, Joseph, June 7, 1776; served three years; resided in Greene County in 1808.

Hancock, Joseph (e), Capt. Mann's company, 1777; resided in Wayne County, Ind., in 1834, aged seventy-seven.

Harman, Conrad, died in Muskingum County, Ohio, June 9, 1822, aged seventy-five.

Hockley, Richard, Capt. Clark's company; resided in Westmoreland County in 1813.

Hotten, John, Aug. 2, 1776-Sept. 17, 1779; resided in Westmoreland County in 1812.

Hunter, Robert, John Finley's company ; wounded at Bound Brook and Paoli; resided in Westmoreland County in 1808.

Jamison, John, Capt. Miller's company ; enlisted in 1776, at Kittaning ; served three years ; resided in Butler County in 1835, aged eighty-four.

Jennings, Benjamin, Sept. 9, 1776-Sept. 9, 1779, in Kilgore's company; drafted into rifle command; resided in Somerset County in 1807.

McKinney, or Kenney, Peter, Capt. Clark's company, 1776-79; resided in Butler County in 1835, aged seventy.

Kean, Thomas, Aug. 23, 1776, Capt. Montgomery's company; he was an indentured servant of William Rankin.

Kerr, William, Capt. Miller's company, Aug. 1776-Sept.9, 1779 ; resided in Westmoreland County in 1823.

Lee, William, died in Columbiana County, Ohio, Jan. 6, 1828, aged eighty-five. teamster to Eighth Pennsylvania; discharged at Valley Forge; resided in Fayette County, 1822, aged sixty-eight.

McConnell, John, of Huffnagle's company, Aug. 28, 1776-August, 1779 ; died in Westmoreland County, Dec. 14, 1834, aged seventy-eight.

McGowen, Mark, enlisted in 1775, in Capt. Van Swearingen's company for two years ; Aug. 9,1776, this company was broken up, and he re-enlisted under the same captain in Eighth Pennsylvania, and served three years; resided in Mercer County, Ky., in 1830.

Maxwell, James, 1776-79, Capt. Montgomery's company ; resided in Butler County in 1822.

Murray, Neal, August, 1776, Miller's company; taken at Bound Brook, April 17, 1777; released, and rejoined at Germantown, where he was again taken and made his escape.

Pegg, Benjamin, Piggott's company, Aug. 13, 1776-September, 177 resided in Miami County, Ohio, in 1834, aged eighty-two.

Shedacre, Jacob, Finley's company; killed by the Indians near Potter's fort, Centre County, July 24, 1778; had served under Morgan at Saratoga.

Smith, John, 3d, from Mifflin County; in Ourry's company, October, 1777; re-enlisted from Third Pennsylvania, Capt. Cook's; taken and scalped at Tuscarawas.

Turner, William, in Stokely's company, Sept. 17, 1776-79; resided at Connellsville, Fayette Co., in 1835, aged eighty-one.

Van Doren, Thomas, Finley'? company; served at Saratoga; killed by the Indians near Potter's fort, Centre County, July 24, 1778.

Vaughan, Joseph, enlisted in Capt. Samuel Moorehead's company, April 24, 1776, served two years and six months; then drafted into Capt. Miller's, and served six months; resided in Half-Moon township, Centre County, in 1822, aged sixty-two.

Wyatt, Thomas, promoted ensign, Dec. 21, 1778; shoulder-bone broken at Brandywine.

Weaver, Adam, 1776-79, Kilgore's company; resided in Westmoreland County in 1821.

“Now Captain John Finley's Company, of the Detachm, from the Penn. Line in the Service of the United States of America, commanded by Lt Col. Stephn Bayard, for the months of Feb., March, and April, 1783."

Immediately after the departure of the Eighth Pennsylvania from Kittaning to join the army in the East, a detachment of Westmoreland militia marched from that county for Philadelphia, as appears from the following letter,¹ addressed by John Proctor to the Council of Safety :

" Dear Sir,—I am on my Martch with a party of Melisha from the county of Westmoreland, of the first Batallion of about 240 ; we are like to be Scarse of Cash, and will not be able to Retch Philadelphia with a Suplay, and hauve Dispatched the Bairor Led' Coll' Archibald Lochry to your Honourabble Bord, and 'I hope you will Send by Him the Sum whitch you may think Nesery. Vitlin is very high and Hard to be got.

No roll of this detachment has been found, nor g further ascertained with regard to its movements or services.

Other than the military organizations which have already been mentioned, viz.: the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, the company which joined Miles' Rifles, the Seventh and Thirteenth Virginia Battalions, and the detachment of Westmoreland militia, no other troops were raised in the Monongahela country for regular service in the Revolutionary armies, though many were afterwards raised for the various Indian campaigns and expeditions. From that time forward to the close of the war the able-bodied men west of the Monongahela were kept constantly on guard, if not on actual duty, against Indian incursions and massacre along the frontier ; and it could not be expected that they would leave their families and homes defenseless to serve in the armies operating hundreds of miles away across the mountains.

At the beginning of the war Col. John Neville had taken possession of Fort Pitt with a body of Virginia militia from the Monongahela and Ohio River settlements, and held the old and dilapidated work until superseded in the command by Brig.-Gen. Edward Hand, an officer in the Continental establishment in 1777. During Neville's occupancy he pursued a peaceful policy towards the Indians, and in this course he was supported and aided by Col. George Morgan, congressional agent of Indian affairs in the West, who soon afterwards became a resident on Chartiers Creek at the place now known as Morganza, in Washington County. By their combined efforts, however, they failed to repress the hostility of the tribes, except the Delawares, who then, and for a considerable time afterwards, remained peaceable.

In 1777 several incursions were made by the Indians, among which was an attack at Wheeling Creek near Fort Henry (Wheeling), which is mentioned in the following letter from Capt. Samuel Meason to Gen. Edward Hand,² viz. :

" SIR,—Yesterday, between the hours of five and six o'clock, as a few of Capt. Van Meter's Company were fishing about half a mile from this fort up Wheeling Creek, a certain Thomas McCleary and one Lanimore, being some distance from the others, were fired on by a party of Indians to the number of six, seven, or eight guns, of which the several persons near do not agree, as some say eight or upwards. Lanimore and others gave the alarm. I went to the place and found Tracks, but difficult to ascertain the number of Indians. McCleary's shoe being found which he wore when he received the wound, we presently found him killed and scalped. He had run about three hundred yards from the creek. Night coming on by the time that we were satisfied of its being Indians, I proposed to set out this morning by daylight in pursuit, and have drawn out of Capt. Virgin's company eight men, so that we amount to thirty men

well equipt, and do cross the river at this place, as they seemed by their Tracks to bend their direction down the river, and purpose to pursue them to the last extremity and hazard. I sett off at eight this morning, and flatter myself that you will not disapprove our Proceeding but call on me if any occasion should require, and as I may not return to the ensuing council at Catfish, I take this opportunity to return your Honour the strength of my company, which consists of fifty men, of which forty-five are in good order and furnished for going on any emergency and expedition that may be necessary."

From this letter it appears probable that at that time the fort was garrisoned by men from the vicinity of the Monongahela,—the company of Capt. Brice Virgin, who resided near the present borough of Washington, and that of Capt. Van Meter, from what is now Greene County. At about the same time that the above-mentioned attack was made at Wheeling Creek, a small party of Indians was prowling on the head-waters of Buffalo Creek, but they committed no murders in the vicinity at that time.

On the 1st of September a force of two hundred and ten Indians laid siege to Fort Henry, but failed to capture the place. They withdrew across the Ohio with but trifling loss to themselves, after having killed fifteen, and wounded five more of the whites. On the 27th of the same month a Wyandot party of forty warriors attacked a body of forty-six white men eight miles below Wheeling on the Virginia side of the Ohio. In this action twenty-one of the white men were killed, a considerable number wounded, and one taken prisoner by the savages. This last-named attack had the effect to create a general panic through all the country from the Ohio to the Monongahela.

In the spring of 1778 the hostility of the Indians became far more active, the result of the instigations of the British on the lake frontier, and still more by Simon Girty and other white renegades who had deserted from Fort Pitt and gone to the Indians to incite them on in their work of massacre and devastation. In January of that year Gen. George Rogers Clarke, a Virginia officer, whose career in the Dunmore war of 1774 has already been noticed, raised about one hundred and fifty Virginians, chiefly on the upper Monongahela, for a campaign against the British posts in the far West. He embarked this force in boats built and launched on the Monongahela at and near the site of West Brownsville.¹ Passing down

¹ Another expedition that started from the same vicinity in that year was that of David Rogers, who had been authorized by the Virginia government to purchase supplies in New Orleans. He, like Clarke, built keel-boats, and in these, with about thirty men, went down the Monogahela

in June. On arriving at New Orleans he found that he must go up the river to St. Louis to receive his goods. This he did, but more than a year was consumed in the voyage, and when on his way back, up the Ohio, in October, 1779, the Indians attacked his party, killed nearly all (including Rogers), took the rest prisoners, and captured the entire cargoes of goods, consisting of provisions, clothing, rum, and other articles, besides a considerable amount of silver money.

the Monongahela and Ohio in May, he received reinforcements at points below on the Ohio, proceeded to the lower river, disembarked his forces, and marching thence through a wilderness country partly submerged in many places, effected the reduction and capture of Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and other British posts west of the Wabash, achieving a success that at once made his name famous.

In February, 1778, Gen. Hand made an expedition into the Indian country west of the Ohio, the first which entered that region in any considerable force in the Revolution. About five hundred men marched from Fort Pitt and proceeded to the Cuyahoga River for the purpose of destroying some British stores reported to be there. The result of this movement was one Indian warrior and one squaw killed, and one squaw taken prisoner; and of the white troops, one captain wounded and one man drowned. From the insignificance of its achievements this was called in derision the " Squaw Campaign."

In May, 1778, Gen. Hand was succeeded in the command of the Western Department by another Continental officer, Brig.-Gen. Lachlin McIntosh, who brought with him a small force from the regular Continental line. In the mean time Pennsylvania and Virginia had become aroused to the danger menacing their western frontiers, and had taken measures to raise a force for their protection. The Congress too had become aware of the increased hostility of the Indians and its cause, and had awakened to the pressing necessity of more active measures for the protection of the almost defenseless borders. This resulted in the determination to send an expedition for the reduction of the British post of Detroit, as the surest means of overawing the savages and so insuring the safety of the frontier.

Orders were therefore issued to Gen. McIntosh to organize the proposed expedition and march against Detroit. In obedience to these orders he moved down the Ohio River with his little force of Continentals, a battalion of Virginians, and several companies of Pennsylvanians (raised by the State for emergency as before mentioned), and halting at the mouth of Beaver, the site of the present town of that name, erected there a small fort, which was named Fort McIntosh. This, the first military work ever erected by the United States on the Indian side of the Ohio, was a stockade, but bastioned, and on each bastion was mounted a six-pounder gun. It was scarcely more than worthless as against even light artillery, but for the purpose for which it was built was considered formidable.

By the time Fort McIntosh was completed it was found that the proposed expedition against Detroit would be too expensive an undertaking for the slender resources of the Congress. It was therefore abandoned. Gen. McIntosh, having received orders to proceed instead at his discretion against some of the Indian settlements, and having decided on an expedi-

tion against the Wyandot towns on the upper waters of the Sandusky, leaving a garrison at the fort, marched with about one thousand men into the western wilderness towards his objective-point. But for some cause which is not perfectly clear, on reaching the Muskingum River he decided to proceed no farther until spring, and therefore halted there and erected defensive work, which he named, in honor of the president of the Continental Congress, Fort Laurens. It was a weak stockade, located on the west bank of the river, near the site of the present town of Bolivar, Tuscarawas Co., Ohio. Having decided on a suspension of operations for the season, he left in the fort a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, under command of Col. John Gibson, and returned with the main body of his force to Fort Pitt.

In January following Gen. McIntosh's return to Fort Pitt, Col. Gibson at Fort Laurens suddenly found himself besieged by a body of about eight hundred and fifty Indians, who reached the vicinity of the fort in the evening after dark. During the first night of the presence of the savages they caught the horses which were outside the fort, took off their bells, and led them some distance into the woods, then concealing themselves in the grass that bordered the path to the woods, and at about daybreak a party of them commenced rattling the bells at a point beyond the ambush. The people in the fort supposed the horses were there, and sixteen men were sent to bring them in. When they had been drawn sufficiently into the ambushment the concealed Indians fired on them in front and rear, killing all but two, 'who were taken prisoners. In the afternoon of the same day the whole Indian force marched within full view of the garrison to an elevated piece of ground on the opposite side of the river, where they made their encampment. The siege of the fort continued for six weeks, at the end of which time the garrison became greatly straitened for provisions, but it proved that the savages were still more so. During the time of their stay frequent conversations were held between the besiegers and besieged, the former telling Col. Gibson that they did not want war, but they were determined that the white man should not come and occupy their country and build forts within it. With Col. Gibson's garrison there was a Delaware Indian called John Thompson, who during the investment had been permitted by both parties to go to and fro between the Indian camp and the fort at will. Finally the savages sent word by this Thompson to the white commandant that they wanted peace, and would make a treaty and leave the place if he would send them a barrel of flour and some tobacco. The garrison were terribly reduced for provisions, but Col. Gibson acceded to the request of the Indians, and sent them the articles demanded, whereupon the savages raised the siege and marched away through the woods, but did not keep their promise to make a treaty of peace.

Col. Gibson had a large number of sick men in his garrison, and soon after the Indians had apparently left the vicinity, he detached Col. Clarke with fifteen men to escort these invalids to Fort McIntosh, but they had not proceeded far from the fort when they fell into an ambush of the treacherous Indians, and all were killed or taken prisoners except Col. Clarke and three others who succeeded in making their escape to the fort. This act of perfidy so incensed Col. Gibson that he at once sallied out with the main part of his force, determined to attack and punish the Indians for their treachery, but the savage forces had disappeared and were not again seen.

During the continuance of the siege, Col. Gibson had managed to send a friendly Delaware with a message to Gen. McIntosh at Fort Pitt, notifying him that unless men and provisions were promptly sent him he would be compelled to surrender. The general sent messengers in haste to the settlers up the Monongahela, acquainting them of the situation of affairs at Fort Laurens, and asking instant aid in men and provisions. The settlers promptly responded, many volunteering for the expedition of relief, and others furnishing pack-horses, with an abundant supply of provisions. With these and a part of the garrison of Fort Pitt (making an entire force of about seven hundred men), Gen. McIntosh set, out without delay, and marched rapidly to Fort Laurens, which was reached a few days after the departure of the besieging force of Indians. When the relief force appeared in sight at the fort the joy of the garrison was great, and found expression in the firing of a salute of musketry, which, however, cost them dear, for it frightened the pack-horses Sand caused them to break loose and run into the woods with their loads, by which accident a great part of the flour was lost, the sacks being broken open, and their contents scattered among the trees and bushes so that it could not be recovered. The meats of course were not injured.

A new garrison under Maj. Frederick Vernon was left at Fort Laurens, and Gibson's command, with the main force under Gen. McIntosh, returned to Fort Pitt. During the stay of Maj. Vernon at Fort Laurens the garrison under his command was reduced to the verge of starvation, and finally, in the spring of 1779, the fort was evacuated and abandoned. The evacuation of Fort McIntosh followed soon afterwards. The withdrawal of the troops from these forts was the final abandonment of the proposed expeditions of Gen. McIntosh against the British post of Detroit and the Wyandot towns on the Sandusky. The troops with which he had prosecuted his operations at Forts McIntosh and Laurens in 1778 and the early part of 1779 were, with the exception of the small Continental force which he brought with him from the East, made up almost exclusively of men from the country between the Laurel Hill and the Ohio River, the territory which P P-prwards became Washington County furnishing its full share.

Through all the Monongahela country and westward to the Ohio River there was great consternation and alarm and no little indignation at the withdrawal of the garrison of the frontier forts, McIntosh and Laurens, and public meetings were held to memorialize Congress and pray for the re-occupation of the posts. But Congress could do nothing, for the operations of the armies in the East called for all, and more than all, the men and means at command. So the borders were of necessity left for the time to take care of themselves and protect their exposed frontiers from savages, white outlaws, and the British.

Gen. McIntosh had retired from the command of the Western Department in 1779, and was succeeded by Col. Daniel Brodhead, who, as it appears, was invested with power to order out the militia of the western counties through the several county lieutenants. Early in 1780 the Indians commenced their work of devastation in the frontier settlements. On the 18th of March, Col. Brodhead, in a communication to the president of the Council,¹ said, " I am sorry to inform you that the Savages have already begun their hostilities. Last Sunday morning at a Sugar Camp upon Raccoon Creek five Men were killed & three lads & three girls taken prisoners. It is generally conjecture that the Delawares ² have struck this blow, and it is probable enough, but it is possible it may have been done by other Indians. If the Delawares are set against us, with their numerous. alliances, they will greatly distress the frontier, as my Force is quite too small to repell their invasions.

I have wrote to the Commander-in-Chief for a reinforcement from the main army, but I fear it will not be in his power to detach any of the troops. . . You may rely on my giving every possible protection & countenance to our settlements, but I have very little in my power without calling out the Militia, and for them I have no provisions. What Col. Geo. Morgan [congressional Indian agent] has been doing this two years past I know not, but I conceive that if he had been where his employment required we should have been much better provided."

On the 27th of April the commandant said, in a letter to the piesident of the Council, " I am glad to hear of the four Companies voted to be raised by the authority of the State for the Defense of the frontier, and as I flatter myself the Eastern parts of the State are at present freed from apprehensions of Danger. so I hope these Companies, when raised, will be ordered to this District, where the Enemy are remarkably hostile. Between forty and fifty men, women, & Children have been killed & taken from what are now called the Counties of Yoghogania, Monongalia, & Ohio since the first of March [meaning the country west of the Monongahela River], but no damage has

² It was afterwards proved that the Delawares had no hand in or knowledge of this bloody business, and it was so announced by Col. Brodhead.

yet been done in the County of Westmoreland. It is to be lamented that our treasury is low, but as I always avoid an anticipation of evil, so I hope for better accounts from thence." On the 13th of May he again wrote the president,³ saying, " The Mingoes are again prevailed on by English Goods & address to disturb our repose. They have lately killed and wounded several people in Westmoreland County, & the Tracks of four parties have been discovered on that frontier within the last four Days, and two parties of Indians have crossed the Ohio between Logs-town and this place [Fort Pitt] since Morning. I have only the Cullings of the last year's men left, and can do but very little to prevent their incursions, but do all I can.

" The Delaware Indians continue their professions of Friendship, and some of them are now with my Scouts ; but having nothing but fair words to give them, I expect they will soon be tired of this Service. For heaven's sake hurry up the Companies voted by the Hon'ble Assembly, or Westmoreland County will soon be a wilderness."

In view of this alarming situation of affairs, Col. Brodhead conceived that offensive operations against the Indians west of the Ohio would be the surest means of securing peace and safety for the frontier settlements, and accordingly he at once commenced the fitting out and organizing of such an expedition, to be composed chiefly of troops drafted from the militia of the western counties. Reference to this proposed expedition is made in the following letter, addressed by Brodhead to Col. Joseph Beelor,4 county lieutenant of Yohogania County, Va., it being a circular letter addressed also to the lieutenants of the Virginia counties of Monongalia and Ohio, viz.:

" DEAR SIR,—I find it will not be in my power to provide for the number of men I have ordered to be called into service so soon as I expected. Besides, I have heard that a number of Artillery and Stores and two Regiments of Infantry are now on their march to reinforce my command. The account of Artillery and Stores I have received officially, and I believe the other may be credited.

" It will be essentially necessary for the leading officers of your County to excite the greatest industry in planting and sowing the Summer crop, and to have your troops at Fort Henry (Wheeling, Va.) by the 4tn day of next month. The Militia should be drafted for two months, although the expedition will probably end in one, and let them be well armed and accoutred as circumstances will admit. Encourage them to bring two weeks' allowance of provisions lest there should be a deficiency.

4 Col. Beelor was a resident on Chartiers Creek, in what is now Peters township, Washington Co. Therefore the letter has reference to the drafting of troops from the militia in the region now Washington County.

" I have no doubt but you and all the good People of your County are convinced of the necessity there is for prosecuting some offensive operations against the Savages, and I tgust that by a well-timed movement from the new settlements down the river to favour our Expedition we shall be enabled to strike a general panic amongst the hostile tribes. I am averse to putting too much to hazard, as a defeat would prove fatal to the settlements, and therefore I expect the full quota of men will be furnished, which with the blessing of Divine Providence will insure success. Indeed, I expect besides the Militia many will turn out volunteers to •secure to themselves the blessings of peace.

In reference to the same matter the following circular letters were addressed to Cols. Joseph Beelor, lieutenant of Yohogania, John Evans, of Monongalia, Archibald Lochry, of Westmoreland, and David Shepherd, of Ohio County, Va., viz. :

"DEAR SIR,—I find it impossible to procure a sufficient quantity of provisions to subsist the Troops which were intended to be employed on an expedition against the Indians in alliance with Great Britain; therefore you will be pleased to give immediate notice to such as are warned not to march until you receive further notice from me. In the mean time I shall endeavor to give every possible protection to the settlements and amuse the Indians by speeches. I am sorry for having given you the trouble of drafting the militia, but the disappointments with regard to the means of getting supplies are very embarrassing, and must apologize for the alteration in our measures." Another addressed by Col. Brodhead to the county lieutenants was as follows :

"DEAR SIR,—I am informed by Can' Beeler that he has had a meeting of his Officers, and that it is the general opinion fifteen days' allowance of salt provisions cannot be furnished by the Volunteers who were expected to aid the Regular Troops in the proposed Expedition against the hostile Indians, and that fresh provisions cannot be preserved for so many days at this warm season of the year. I believe the generality of the inhabitants in these new settlements lave not meat of their own at this season of the year efficient to spare for their subsistence on the expedition. And I have the mortification to assure you that the public magazines are quite empty, and that I cannot yet see a prospect of obtaining a sufficient supply for the sustenance of the Troops already in service. Under these circumstances I find it indispensably necessary to postpone the rendezvousing the troops untit our affairs wear a more favorable aspect. And as I wish, in matters of such great Publick weight and concern, to have the advice and concurrence of the principal Officers, I must request you to meet your Brother Lieutenants of the other Counties at my quarters on the 16th day of next month, in order that measures to be adopted for the annoyance of the enemy and the defense of the Frontier Settlements may be well weighed and understood ; at which time, too, it will be in my power to inform you what Publick Supplies can be procured for the numbers that may. be deemed necessary to employ."

These letters from the commandant at Fort Pitt show the principal cause (lack of supplies) that compelled him to postpone from time to time his proposed expedition into the Indian country, a cause which, more than any other, delayed the execution of the project until the following year. At the time in question the officers commanding the few American troops west of the Alleghenies had great difficulty in obtaining the supplies necessary for the subsistence of their men. On the 7th of December, 1780, Gen. Brodhead said in a letter of that date addressed to Richard Peters,¹ " For a long time past I have had two parties, commanded by field-officers, in the country to impress cattle, but their success has been so small that the troops have frequently been without meat for several days together, and as those commands are very expensive, I have now ordered them in." He also said that the inhabitants on the west side of the mountains could not furnish one-half enough meat to supply the troops, and that he had sent a party of hunters to the Little Kanawha River to kill buffaloes, " and to lay in the meat until I can detach a party to bring it in, which cannot be done before spring."

The two parties mentioned by Col. Brodhead as having been sent out by him, and kept for a long time in the country for the purpose of impressing cattle, were undoubtedly the commands of Capts. Samuel Brady² and Uriah Springer, of Westmore-

¹ In the same letter to Peters, Brodhead made allusion to the furnish. ing of spirits for the use of the troops, and indicated pretty plainly his preference for imported liquor over the whiskey of Monongahela, viz.: " In one of your former letters you did me the honor to inform nie that his Excellency the commander-in-chief had demanded of our State seven thousand gallons of rum, and now the commissioner of Westmoreland informs me that he has verbal instructions to purchase that quantity of whiskey on this side of the mountains. I hope we shall be furnished with a few hundred gallons of liquor fit to be drank."

² Capt. Brady had then recently returned from an expedition to the Indian towns in the Northwest. In a letter written by Col. Brodhead, at Fort Pitt, to President Reed, in the first part of the preceding June, he said, "Capt. Brady, with five men & two Delaware Indians, set out for Sandusky, with a view to bring off a british Prisoner or some Indian Scalps. One of his Indians left him and returned to this place, sick or cowardly. He has been out ten days, and in as many more I expect him back again, if he is fortunate. I beg leave to recommend Caps Brady to the notice of the Hon'ble Executive Council as an excellent officer, and I sincerely wish he may not leave the service for want of the promotion lie has merited and is justly entitled to, ever since the resignation of Captain Moore."

Capt. Lieut. Brady's return from his expedition was noticed by Col. Brodhead in a letter addressed to President Reed, dated Fort Pitt, June

land. the former a resident of that part which afterwards became Washington County, and the latter of that which became Fayette. Brady's party was sent up the west side of the .Monongahela, and Springer's to the cast side of that river and up the valley of the Redstone. The following letters, addressed by the commandant to those officers, show something of the nature of the service in which they were engaged, and the difficulties they encountered in performing it, viz.:¹

" Sir—As Money is not vet sent to this Department to pay for the Provisions necessary to subsist the Troops, & they have already suffered ; And as our endeavors to obtain a temporary supply from the Inhabitants upon the credit of the United States have not proved effectual, I am Instructed by the hon'ble Board of War prudently to avail myself of a license given by the hon'ble Executive Council of the State of Pena in the words following, viz. : [words not given] in the mean time we can have no objection to the using necessary Compulsion, rather than the Troops should suffer; I sincerely lament the necessity. of using this mode of supplying the Troops under my command, & wish it could be avoided, but I hope the virtuous Inhabitants will judge rightly of the measure and chearfully submit to a temporary compulsion, for to gain an everlasting Right to dispose of their property, not only by their own consent in the Legislature, but by Inclination as Individuals. And I desire you will assure them that I have just reason to expect they will be generously & speedily paid the full value of such articles of Provisions as may be taken for supplying the Troops.

" An As't Purchasing Commissary is to attend you, and previous to your making use of Compulsory means you are to make the Inhabitants acquainted with your Instructions; after which, if they are of ability to spare Cattle or sheep to the Commissary upon public Credit, agreeable to the terms mentioned in his Instructions, Sr. shall refuse to do so, then, & not otherwise, you will proceed to take from such of them refusing as aforesaid as many Cattle & sheep as they can spare without Injury to their Families & further encrease ; and all such Cattle & Sheep are to be immediately marked for the Public & drove to some Field, to be taken in

30,1780, as follows: " . . . Captain Brady is just returned from Sandusky. He took Prisoners two young Squaws within a mile of their principal Village; one of them effected her escape after six Days' march, the other he brought to Cuskusky, where he met seven warriors who had taken a woman & Child off Chartiers Creek. He fired at the Captain and killed him, and have brought in the woman & the Indian's Scalp, but the Squaw made her escape at the same time. When Captain Brady fired at the Indians, he had only three men with hint S. but two rounds of powder. He was out thirty-two Days, six of which he was quite des• titute of Provision& of any kind, but he has brought his party safe to this place. Capt. Lieut. Brady's zeal, perseverance, & good Conduct certainly entitles him to promotion; there has been a vacancy for him since the Death of Captain Dawson, which happened in last September, and I must beg leave to recommend hint to the Hunlile Executive Council as an officer of merit."—Pa. Arch., 1779-81, pp. 378, 379.

a convenient part of the Settlement for Collecting & herding them until a sufficient number be collected for the present exigency. For ail which you are to pass Receipts agreeable to the valuation or appraise-ment of the Commissary & one reputable Inhabitant,• which you will cause to be made. You are to acquaint me frequently by letter of your success, inclosing returns of the Cattle and Sheep taken and procured by consent.

" You are upon no pretence to take Cattle or Sheep from the poorer sort of Inhabitants, or from such as have been great sufferers by the Enemy ; but you are to take them from such as have lived more secure. The good Inhabitants are to be treated with the utmost Civility, & you shall inflict immediate punishment on Soldiers guilty of Marauding or insulting the Inhabitants who conduct themselves inoffensively towards them.

"You are to consider these Instructions as confined to those Inhabitants only who have uniformly considered themselves as Cityzens of Pena, as the license of the Hon'ble Executive Council cannot at present be understood to extend to such as in the unsettled state of the boundaries have acknowledged another jurisdiction.

" I wish you great success and hope you will be enabled to obtain the necessary supplies for immediate Consumption by agreement & Consent.

" DEAR SIR,—I am favored with yours of the 9th inst., and am much distressed on account of the 'apparent aversion of the people to afford us supplies, and the more so as I see no alternative between using force and suffering. . . . Under our present circumstances, we cannot admit a modest thought about using force as the ultimate expedient; and in case you are likely to meet with opposition, you must send notice to Captain Springer, near Little Redstone, who will doubtless detach a party to your assistance. The commander-in-chief's thanks to you are now in my pocket, and will publish them when you raturn. At present it will not suit to relieve you

"DEAR SIR,—I have this moment received you. favor of yesterday, and am sorry to find the people above Redstone [vicinity of Brownsville, Fayette County] have intentions to raise in arms against you. I believe with you that there are amongst them many Disaffected, and conceive that their past and present conduct will justify you in defending yourself by every means in your power. It may yet be doubtful

whether these Fellows attempt anything against you ; but if you find they are Determined, you will avoid, as much as your safety will admit, in coming to action until you give me a further account, and you may depend upon your receiving succour of Infantry and Artillery. I have signed your order for ammunition and have the honor to be, &c.

The tenor of these instructions to his subordinate officers clearly indicates that in the opinion of Col. Brodhead at least the sentiment of patriotism, which at the commencement of the war was almost universal among the people west of the Laurel Hill, had now become greatly diminished if not extinct with regard to a large proportion of the inhabitants of this frontier region. This belief on his part was emphasized by him in a letter written at Fort Pitt on the 7th of December following, in which he said, "Hearn more and more of the disaffection of the inhabitants on this side of the mountains. The king of England's health is often drank in company." And he gave as his opinion, gathered from the observation of many of his officers, including Col. John Gibson, that " Should the enemy approach this frontier and offer protection, half the inhabitants would join them." Afterwards Gen. Irvine (who succeeded Brodhead as commandant at the fort) wrote, " I am confident that if this post was evacuated the bounds of Canada would be extended to the Laurel Hill in a few weeks."

Col. Brodhead, although l¹e did not abandon the project of an expedition against the Indian towns west of the Ohio, found it impossible to carry it out during the year 1780, not only for lack of provisions but from the difficulty (particularly in the latter part of the year) of procuring men from the settlements willing to volunteer for the campaign. This unwillingness was, perhaps, caused by the fact that the Indians had made several incursions into the Monongahela country, which alarmed the inhabitants and made them particularly unwilling to absent themselves, leaving their homes unprotected. One of these incursions was announced by Brodhead to President Reed in a letter of September 16th, in which he said, " Intelligence is just received of Seven persons being killed and taken on Ten-Mile Creek by the Savages ; but under our present circumstances I have not provisions to furnish a party for pursuit." Afterwards the Indians made another attack on the Ten-Mile settlers, but with less bloody results.

On the 17th of October, Col. Brodhead wrote the president of the Council,¹ narrating the obstacles which he had encountered in his attempts to organize and carry out the Indian campaign, as follows :

Provisions would sooner or later be furnished for the Troops in this District, as well as fbr such number of Militia as policy or the exigencies of affairs might render it necessary to call into action, I, with view to cut off the Wyandotts, and other Indian Towns that were very troublesome to our Settlements, called for a Draught from the Militia at three different times, and was as often disappointed in obtaining Provisions, which, with the unsettled state of the boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia, has greatly discouraged the Inhabitants, and I apprehend given a handle to the disaffected. I take the liberty to inclose copies of letters lately received from Cols. Beeler ² and McCleery, purporting some of the above facts.

² The letter here referred to was from Col. Joseph Beeler, lieutenant of Yohogania County, Va. (resident on Chartiers Creek, in what is now Washington County), and ran as follows:

" DEAR SIR,-I received yours of the 7th Inst. this morning, but it is not in my power to give you a just return, as you request, until the last of this week, for I have been obliged to issue orders to press horses and draught men, as I could not get Volunteers enough, of which I have not got a return as yet. I am sorry to inform you that I am afraid we shall come but little speed; I find that the Government of Virga will, not protect me in any thing I do by vertue of tho laws of Vire since their last Resolution & the laws of Pentil. have not as yet taken us under their protection; all this the Country Is acquainted with, so that every thing I do is at the Risque of my Fortune, unless protected by the States. If it had not beep to forward sn Expedition, I should have declined acoing a good while ago; as no man ever had a more disagreeable time of it than I have at present, having no law to defend me. We are assured of your good intentions for the safety of the Con ntrey, and are very sorry that we cannot act with that spirit that we ought to. But hope the laws of Penn will either be extended in a few Days from this time, or the laws of Virg' be kept in force. It is very unhappy for this Countrey that the two contending States has not provided a better way fur the defence of this Countrey than to let it fall between them both until matters are settled between them.

The letter which Col. Brodhead refers to ss from William McCleery was written by that gentleman as acting in place of Col. John Evans, lieutenant of Munongalia County, Va., and a resident in what is now Greene County. After soating that he writes for Cul. Evans, who was absent, McCleery continues: "I went to the Officers of the Second Battalion of our County Militia, who happened to be then assembled in General Muster, & made the matter known to them, at the same time call'd upon them for a Copy of their Returns made to Col. Evans, that I might as near as possible comply with your request, & they (after some consultation held on the matter) gave it me for answer, That as they found all their hopes of Relief from a Campaign being this fall carried out against their Indian Enemies abortive, and knowing that their frontiers were at 80 to 70 Mile in Length, were infested with the savages killing their People, have at last obliged them to say they can't spareanyma further adding that they are heartily sorry that there

should be the least seeming Jarr or descenting Voice from the orders of Col. Brodhead as a Commanding Officer for the defence of this Country; but from his never having it in his power for want (as we conceive) of the necessary Supplies to put his Schemes in execution dining the whole course of last Summer & Fall, & our unhappy People daily falling an easy pray to the Enemy, obliges them to throw off all dependence on any natural aid on this side of the Mountains this Fall but that of themselves for their relief, and therefore they mean to embody and take the most plausible methods for their defense, and under these circumstances they think their number is already too small without any division. Notwithstanding they were ready twice last summer, both with Meu, Horses, and Provisoes, to have comply'd with your requisition fully had you put your plan

"The Troops are again without Provisions; my parties in the Country [meaning his foraging parties under Capts. Brady and Springer] are as Industrious as Circumstances will admit, but the Inhabitants disappoint them by driving their Cattle into the Mountains ; and they now threaten to rise in arms against them whilst others threaten with Writs and Passes, I do not however despair of obtaining a quantity of Flour; But conceive it will be next to an impossibility to procure any considerable quantity of Beef or Pork on this side the mountains to lay up for the Winter Season, and it is but too likely that the prosecution of compulsory mean's will be productive of Bloodshed amongst our own citizens.

" The Delaware chiefs with upwards of thirty warriors are come to aid me upon an Expedition, but as I have neither Bread nor Meat to give them, they will discover that it is not in my power to act offensively. They appear much dejected on account of the total want of goods, which they were promised in exchange for their peltry."

Each one of the commandants at Fort Pitt from the time of the commencement of the war—Neville, Hand, McIntosh, and Brodhead—had been especially desirous of retaining for the American cause the friendship of the Delaware tribe of Indians, and had used all available means to accomplish that end. The reason for these efforts to conciliate the Delawares in particular was thus explained by Col. Brodhead :¹ " I am not ignorant," he said, in a letter to President Reed, " of the influence of the Delaware Councils over near twenty different Nations, and it is for that reason only why so much notice has been taken of them. There are villains amongst them as well as other People, but it must be confect that their Councils have been steady, and their young men serviceable." He was very desirous, and often urged upon the Supreme Executive Council, that the principal Delaware chiefs should receive commissions in the American forces, just as it was reported the higher chiefs of the Wyandots and other hostile tribes had been commissioned to grades below field-officers in the British army. He also recommended, frequently and earnestly, that liberal amounts of Indian goods, trinkets,

in execution. I have (as I look upon it my duty, lest any deception should take place) stated the matter truly as I took it from the Officers' Mouths. And now permit me to observe to you that the state of our frontiers is really deplorable, to see helpless Women and Children flying before the ravages of the Savage, and that even while part of us is engaged in burying of our Neighbors [referring to the then recent Indian massacre on Ten-Mile Creek] that have been butchered by them. Others of us falling a sacrifice to their Hellish inventions, those and many other matters that have come under your Cognizance, I hope you will (as a Friend to human nature) state in a proper light to the Board, from the which proper relief can be had. I have the honor to be, with due respect,

paints, strouds, gay blankets, and watch-coats be promptly sent out to be distributed as presents among the Delawares as the surest way of retaining their friendship and alliance." ²

Col. Brodhead was (as is made apparent by his letter of October 17th, already quoted) much encouraged by the accession of the Delaware war party, embracing nearly forty chiefs and warriors, to his forces, believing that it only needed the distribution of presents among them to insure a continuance of their friendliness to the Americans. But the desired goods were not forthcoming, and this fact had a very depressing influence on the enthusiasm of the Delaware chiefs and warriors. Still worse than this was the effect produced by a base attempt on the part of some of the officers and men of the Westmoreland County militia to murder these same Delawares, an outrage which Brodhead reported to President Reed in a letter dated Nov. 2, 1780, as follows:

" In my last I informed you that near forty of the friendly Delaware Indians had come to aid me against the Hostile Tribes. Their number has since exceeded forty, and I believe I could have called out near an hundred. But as upwards of forty men from the neighborhood of Hannah's Town have attempted to destroy them whilst they consider themselves under our Protection, it may not be an easy matter to call them out again, notwithstanding they were prevented from executing their unmanly intention by a guard of regular Soldiers posted for the Indians' protection. I was not a little surprised to find the late Captains Irwin & Jack, Lieut Brownlee & Ensign Guthrey concerned in this base attempt. I suppose the women & children were to suffer an equal Carnage with the men." In other communications Brodhead intimated that a proclamation which had been issued by the authorities offering a reward or bounty on Indian scalps ³ and prisoners had much to do with the barbarous attempt against the lives of the friendly Delawares, though he had himself advocated the adoption of this measure of retaliation as against the hostile Indians.

Soon after the occurrences above narrated the Delawares began to give evidence of decided disaffection, a symptom that was more especially manifest when

² "The Indian captains appointed by the British commandant at Detroit," said Brodhead, in a letter to the Council, "are clothed in the mod elegant manner, and have many valuable presents made to them. Captains 1 have Commissioned by authority of Congress are naked, receive nothing but a little whiskey, for which they are reviled by ths Indians in general. So that, unless a change of System is introduced,' must expect to see all Indians in favor of Britain, in spite of every address in nay power."

³ The president of the Supremo Execuoive Council, in a letter to Brodhead, dated Philadelphia, Apri1,29, 1780, says,—

"After many Consultations & much Deliberation we have concluded to offer a Reward for Scalps, & hope it will serve as an Inducement to the young Fellows of the County & others to turn out against the Indian's. I herewith send you several of them. We arc sensible it may be attended with Inconveniences, but it occurred to us as a Measured Necessity & the only effectual Weapon against the Savages; we hope it is so guarded that many abuses will not happen."—Penn. Archives, 1779-81, p. 218.

they were under the influence of the liquor which was dealt out to them at the fort. " Two Delaware Indians who in their cups spoke contemptuously of our service," said Brodhead in a letter to Gen. Washington, "I have them confined in irons, but am at a loss what further to do with them until I see what number join us, and hear what their general conduct has been." His allusion to the number of Delawares who might join him had reference to an order which had been sent to their towns west of the Ohio requiring all Delawares disposed to continue friendly to remove without loss of time to the vicinity of Fort Pitt, where they could be kept. under the eye of the commandant.¹ This order brought the matter to a conclusion, and, together with the other causes which have been noticed, resulted soon after in an open espousal of the British cause by the Delawares, though a few of them still continued friendly to the Americans.

On learning of the final defection of the Delawares, Col. Brodhead determined to push forward his expedition into the Indian country immediately and at all hazards. Being unable to obtain any troops by draft from the militia of Westmoreland County; ² he called for volunteers, and the call was responded to, principally by men from the territory of the newly-erected (though not organized) county of Washington. The force amounted to a little over three hundred men, of whom about one-half were volunteers. From the place of rendezvous at Wheeling (Fort Henry) they

¹ A number of Delaware Indians from Coochocking have been here duce my last, and appear to be as friendly as ever. I am persuaded that a few are well affected,but they nre now put to the trial by being ordered to remove hither without loss of time and remain under our protection, where their daily transactions will be seen and known."—Letter of Col. Brodhead to Gen. Washington, dated Fort Pitt, March 27, 1781 ; Pa. Arch., 1781, Pa. Arch., 1781-83 p. 39.

² The county lieutenant of Westmoreland, Col. Archibald Lochry, in a letter to Col. Brodhead, dated Twelve-Mile Run, April 2, 1781, said, "I collected the principal officers of the county together to send the answer you requested of me. I was not able to attend their meeting, but requested Col. Cook to send an express to you, with what encouragement you might depend on, which I hope you have received by this time. I am just returned from burying a man killed and scalped by the Indians at Col. Pomeroy's house; one other man is missing and all Pomeroy's elects carried off. I have been attempting to get some Militia to cover our Frontier until some other succour arrives, which I hope will be soon. I mu afraid from the Disposition of the people you have little to expect from us. If the Cumberland Militia arrive in time for our intended Expedition they shall go with yon, and your humble servant to Boot."

On the same date James Perry, sub-lieutenant of Westmoreland, wrote to Brodhead, saying, "We sent instructions to the Second a,nd Third Battalions of Westmoreland Militia, agreeable to your orders, to raise volunteers for the Expedition. The Major of the Third Battalion came to me on Saturday last and informed me that he could not raise one vol-Weer for the Expedition. The Second has made no return yet, but I so doubtful they have done nothing.

"I have not yet heard what Col. Lochry has done in the First Battal-leo; but, upon the whole, I believe you need not depend on any men from this county, as the people in the interior part of the county live in estate of indifferent security, and the frontiers dare not well leave their families.”—Pa. Arch., 1781, pp. 51-52.

The failure of Brodhead to obtain any troops from the militia of Westmoreland County appears to have been the result of ill feeling (amounting to a quarrel) between hint and County Lieutenant Lochry, as is evident from an examination of the correspondence between them, and fatten each and the president of the Council, in 1780-81.

crossed the Ohio, and marched as rapidly as possible and by the most direct route to the principal village of the hostile Delawares, which was located on the Muskingum River, on the lower part of the site of the present town of Coshocton, Ohio.

When the expedition reached a point near to Salem, which was one of the three principal villages of the peaceful Moravian Indians, some of the undiscriminating volunteers manifested the same murderous spirit which afterwards accomplished its bloody purpose in the campaign of Col. Williamson. They seemed determined to move upon the town and destroy it, but were finally prevented from doing so by the etlbrts of the officers, chiefly by Col. Brodhead. The commander sent forward a message to the Rev. John Heckewelder (a Moravian missionary who resided with the Indians in the town), informing him of the object of the expedition, and requesting him to send a small supply of provisions, and also to accompany the messenger on his return to the camp. The old missionary complied with the request, sent the provisions, and reported in person to Col. Brodhead at the camp. The colonel inquired of him if any of his Christian Indians were away from the village, engaged in hunting or other business in the country lying on his line of march, as in that case the troops might do them injury, not being able to distinguish between them and hostile Indians, a result which he was most anxious to prevent. Heckewelder assured him that none of his people were out, and thereupon the force was again put in motion, and the missionary returned to his village after receiving the thanks of the commander.

Brodhead's expedition reached. its first objective point, the Delaware village of " Coochocking," in the evening of the 19th of April, and effected a complete surprise of the place, as the Indians had not. heard of the march of any white force against them. The town was destroyed, fifteen warriors killed, about twenty prisoners taken, and all the crops planted by the Indians in the vicinity devastated. Another town, called Indaochaie, was also destroyed, its site being about two and a half miles below that of the other villages and on the east bank of the Muskingum River. After accomplishing these results the expeditionary force marched up the valley to a half-deserted village called Newcomerstown (at or near the site of the present village of that name in Ohio), where there were a few Delawares who still remained friendly. These placed themselves under protection of Col. Brodhead, and the force then took up its line of march on the return to Fort Pitt. The official report of the campaign, made by Col. Brodhead in a communication to the president of the Council, was as follows:³

"SIR,—In the last letter I had the Honor to address to your Excellency I mentioned my intention

to carry an expedition against the revolted Delaware Towns. I have now the pleasure to inform you that with about three hundred men (nearly half the number Volunteers from the country) I surprised the Towns of Cooshasking and Indaochaie, killed fifteen Warriors, and took upwards of twenty old men, women, and children. About four miles above the Town I detached a party to cross the river Muskingum and destroy a party cf about forty warriors who had just before (as I learnt by an Indian whom the advanced Guard took prisoner) crossed over with some prisoners and Scalps and were drunk, but excessive hard rains having swelrd the river bank high it was found impracticable. After destroying the Towns with great quantities of poultry and other stores, and killing about forty head of Cattle, I marched up the River about seven miles with a view to send for some craft from the Moravian Towns and cross the river to pursue the Indians. But when I proposed my plan to the Volunteers I found they conceived they had done enough, and were determined to return, wherefore I marched to Newcomers' Town, where a few Indians who remained in our Interest had withdrawn themselves not exceeding thirty men. The Troops experienced great kindness from the Moravian Indians and those at Newcomers' Town, and obtained a sufficient supply of meat and Corn to subsist the men and Horses to the Ohio River. Captain Killbuck and Captain Luzerne, upon hearing of our Troops being on the Muskingum, immediately pursued the Warriors, killed one of the greatest Villains and brought his scalp to me. The plunder brought in by the Troops sold for about eighty Thousand pounds ¹ at Fort Henry. I had upon this Expedition Captains Mantour [Montour] and Wilson and three other faithful Indians, who contributed greatly to the success. The troops behaved with great Spirit, and although there was considerable firing between them and the Indians, I had not a man killed or wounded, and only one horse shot." ²

¹ Of course Col. Brodhead here has reference to Continental money, which at that time was nearly at its lowest point of depreciation.

² Withers, in his "Chronicles of Border Warfare," pp. 220-21, relates ss follows in reference to the alleged slaughter of prisoners by Brod-head's men after the destruction of the town. In his narrative (which by comparison with Col. Brodhead s report seems to be purely a fabrication) he says, "It remained then to dispose of the prisoners. Sixteen warriors particularly obnoxious for their diabolical deeds were pointed out by Pekillon :a friendly Delaware chief wimo accompanied Col. Brodhead: as fit subjects of retributive justice and taken into close custody. A council of war was then held to determine their fate, and which doomed ohem to death. They were taken some distance front town, dispatched with tomahawks and spears and then scalped. The other captives were committed to the care of time militia to be conducted to Fort Pitt.

"On the morning after the taking of Coshocton, an Indian making his appearance on the opposite bank of the river called out fur the ' Big Captain.' Cul. Brodhead demanded what he wished. ' I want peace,' replied the savage. ' Then send over some of your chiefs,' said the colonel. Nay be you kill,' responded the Indian. No.' said Brodhead ; they shall not be killed.' one of the chiefs a fine-looking fellow, then came over, and while he and Col. Brodhead were engaged in conversation

While Brodhead's campaign against the Delaware towns on the Muskingum was in progress, another and a more formidable expedition was being raised and organized, having for its object the capture of the British post of Detroit and the destruction of the Wyandot towns on the Sandusky River. The expedition was to be composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and to be led by Gen. George Rogers Clarke, who had achieved considerable renown by his successful campaign against the British posts in the Illinois country in 1778, as has been mentioned. The

expedition which he was now to command against Detroit was to be organized principally at Fort Pitt, to rendezvous at Fort Henry (Wheeling), and to proceed thence down the Ohio River to the Great Falls (at Louisville, Ky.), and from there to march north-wardly through the wilderness to its objective-points.

The project seems to have been originated by the government of Virginia, although it afterwards received the sanction of Gen. Washington for the United States, and was also promoted by the Executive Council of Pennsylvania. As early as Jan. 22, 1781, Col. Brodhead, in a letter written at Fort Pitt and addressed to President Reed, of the Pennsylvania Council,³ said, " I sincerely wish there was no occasion to trouble you with a further tale of misfortune. But as the United States in general, and our State in particular, are immediately interested in retaining in this District all the Grain that has been raised in it, it might appear criminal in me were I to remain silent respecting certain instructions lately sent by Governor Jefferson (of Virginia) for the purchase of 200,000 Rations on this side the mountains, for the use of the Troops under Col. Clark ; for which purpose he has already advanced 300,000 pounds, and promises to furnish, upon the first notice, any further Sum that may be necessary to compleat the payment of that purchase. Because this contract, together with the Consumption of multitudes of emigrants arrived and expected in this District (chiefly to avoid militia Duty and Taxes), will scarcely leave a pound of flour for the Regular or other Troops which it may be necessary to employ, either offensively or defensively, against the Enemy for the Defence of this part of the Frontier Settlements.

" It seems the State of Virginia is now preparing to acquire more extensive territory by sending a great body of men under Col. (whom they intend to raise to the rank of Brigadier) Clark to ate tempt the reduction of Detroit I have hitherto been encouraged to flatter myself that I should sooner or

Col. Brodhead, although he did not abandon the project of an expedition against the Indian towns west of the Ohio, found it impossible to carry it out during the year 1780, not only for lack of provisions but from the difficulty (particularly in the latter part of the year) of procuring men from the settlements willing to volunteer for the campaign. This unwillingness was, perhaps, caused by the fact that the Indians had made several incursions into the Monongahela country, which alarmed the inhabitants and made them particularly unwilling to absent themselves, leaving their homes unprotected. One of these incursions was announced by Brodhead to President Reed in a letter of September 16th, in which he said, " Intelligence is just received of Seven persons being killed and taken on Ten-Mile Creek by the Savages ; but under our present circumstances I have not provisions to furnish a party for pursuit." Afterwards the Indians made another attack on the Ten-Mile settlers, but with less bloody results.

a militiaman came up, and with a tomahawk which he had concealed in the bosom of his hunting-shirt struck him a severe blow on the hinder part of his head. The poor Indian fell and immediately expired.

" This savage deed wits the precursor of other and equally atrocious enormities. The army on its return had not proceeded more than a mile from Coshocton when the militia guarding the prisoners commenced murdering them. In a short space of time a few women-children alone remained alive. These were taken to Fort Pitt, sad awhile exchanged for an equal number of white Captives."

later be enabled to reduce that place. But it seems the United States cannot furnish either Troops or resources for the purpose, but the State of Virginia can."

In February following, Gen. Washington issued orders to Gen. Clarke to proceed in the raising and organizing of his force for the purpose mentioned ; and on the 25th of that month Gen. Brodhead reported to President Reed :¹ " I have just received instructions from his Excellency the commander-in-chief directing me to detach all the field-pieces, Howitzers, and train, also a part of my small force under Col. Clark, who I am told is to drive all before him by a supposed unbounded influence he has amongst the inhabitants of the Western country. I sincerely wish his Excellency's expectations may be fully answered . . . ." Again, on the 10th of March, he wrote the president of the Council :² "I have likewise received instructions from his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief to order the Maryland Corft to Richmond in Virginia, and to detach with the artillery and field-pieces under Brig.-Gen. Clark a major or Capt's Command from my small remaining number of Troops. . . . Gen¹. Clark is come over the mountain, and his commissaries are purchasing great quantities of flour and Indian corn; but he appears to be doubtful of carrying his grand object, and I shall not be surprised to see his Expedition fall through, for it is clear to me that wise men at a great distance view things in the Western country very differently from those who are more immediately acquainted with circumstances and situations."

Although Clarke was a Virginian officer and had entirely favored the claims of that State in its territorial controversy with Pennsylvania, he was not averse to enlisting men from the latter State to make up the force necessary for his expedition, and accordingly he at once entered into correspondence with the Executive Council to obtain its consent to the project. The letter which he addressed to President Reed ³ on the subject was as follows:

"D. SIR,—Though unacquainted, I take the liberty of writing to your Excellency on a subject I hope will Consern you so much as to Honour my proposition. I make no doubt but that you are fully acquainted with the design of the enterprise. I am order'd to Com" of the greatest consequence to the Frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, if our Resources should not be such as to Inable us to Remain in the Indian Country during the fair season, I am in hopes they will be sufficient to Visit the Shawnees, Delawares, and Sandusky Town, defeating the Enemy and laying those Cuntrees waste, would give great Base to the Frontiers of both States, whom I think equally Interested. But Sir nothing great can be expected without the assistance of numbers of

men from the Country on this side of the Lawrell Hill, many living within the boundary of Pennsylvania are willing to go on the Expedition, many more would go if it was not for a timid, simple disposition, fearing it would disoblige yr Excellency & Councill, at least they make use of such arguments as an Excuse, others alternately shifting from one state to the other, to screen themselves from any Military Duty that might be Required of them, but as I am Confident from the nature of the intended Expedition you would wish to give it every aid in your power, I hope sir that you will inform the Inhabitants on this side of the Mt that such is your sentiments. They are fully able to spare five hund men, I don't think they could be better imployed to the advantage of themselves or Country, I should have solicited y governor of Virga to have made this Request of you, but the want of time for it to go through that Channel, and Confident of its meeting with your approbation Induced me to do it myself. I hope Sr that you will Honour me with an immediate answer Pr Express, as it is of the greatest Consequence to us & that the fate of the Indians at present appears to depend on the Resolutions you may take.

To this communication of Gen. Clarke President Reed replied under date of May 15th as follows: 4

" SIR,—I received your Letter of the 23d March a considerable Time after its Date. The Enterprise you nefer to has never been officially communicated to us, but from common Report we learn that an Expedition under your Command is destined agt Detroit. We are very sensible of its Importance to this State as well as Virginia, & there is no Gentleman in whose Abilities & good Conduct we have more Confidence on such an occasion. After this it seems unnecessary to add that it will give us great Satisfaction if the Inhabitants of this State cheerfully concur in it; & we authorize you to declare that so far from giving Offence to their Government, we shall consider their Service with you as highly meritorious. At the same Time we must add that from the exhausted State of our Treasury—from the great Demands made upon us by the Congress & Gen. Washington and other Contingencies, we are in no condition to answer any Demands of a pecuniary kind, and therefore do not mean, by any Thing we have said, to raise an Expectation. which we cannot answer. We have above two Months ago wrote to Col. Brodhead, most earnestly requesting him to forward your Views, informing him that they are highly approved by us—we shall be most concerned if we should be disappointed in this respect. We have had a correspondence with Gov' Jefferson on the Subject & explained our Sentiments to him very fully. We have also sent for-

The member of the Council front Westmoreland referred to in the above communication was Christopher Hays, and it was understood to have been largely through his influence that the Council decided favorably to Clarke's views. Under the authority conferred by the President's communication, Gen. Clarke, on the 3d of June, addressed the " Council of Officers" of Westmoreland to secure their concurrence and assistance. The result was that the matter was laid before the people of that County at a public meeting held fir that purpose on the 18th of June, at which meeting it was :

" 2d. Resolved, That Genl Clark be furnished with 300 men out of Pomroy's, Beard's, and Davises Battalion.

" 3dly. Resolved, That Coll. Archd Lochry gives orders to gd Colls. to raise their quota by Volunteers or Draught.

" 4thly, Resolved, That £6 be advanced to every volunteer that marches under the command of Genl Clark on the proposed Campaign.

" 5th. And for the further Incouragement of Voluntiers, that grain be raised by subscription by the Different Companies.

" 6thly. That Coll. Lochry coucil with the Officers of Virginia respecting the manner of Draughting those that associate in that State and others.

" 7th. Resolved, That Coll. Lochry meet Genl Clark and other officers and Coll. Crawford on the 23d Inst., to confer with them the day of Rendezvouse.

It was not Clarke's purpose or desire to recognize the Pennsylvania county of Washington (which had then recently been erected but not organized) or its officers, so he applied to the officers in command of the militia of the so-called Virginia counties of Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio to aid him in securing men for the expedition. The result in Yohogania was a meeting of the officers¹ of that county, June 5th, at the old court-house, near Andrew Heath's, on the west side of the Monongahela, above and in sight of the present town of Elizabeth, at which meeting a draft of one-fifth of the militia of said county (which, according to the Virginia claim, included the north half of Washington County, Pa., and all of Westmoreland as far south as the centre of the present county of Fayette) was made for the expedition. The people, however, believing that the territory claimed by Virginia

¹ This meeting and its proceedings were mentioned in a letter from James Marshel (county lieutenant of Washington) to President Reed, as follows:

"Sr,—Since I had the honour of Addressing your Excellency last, the old Enemies of this government and their adherents have exerted themselves to the Utmost to prevent this County being organized. On the 56 Inst. a Council of the Militia officers of Yohagena County was held at their Court-house, and in Consequence of Eld Council, the fifth part of the Militia of sd County was drafted for General Clark's Expedition, but the people did not Conceive they were Under the Jurisdiction of Virginia, therefore they denied their Authority, and almost Universally Refused doing duty under any government whatever unoill the line between the States is actually run."—Ps. Arch., 1781-83, p. 233.

Yohogania County was really in the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, denied the authority of' the Virginia officers, and refused to submit to the draft until the question of jurisdiction was definitely settled. But the public notice given by Christopher Hays to the people of Westmoreland and Washington that he held in his hands money from the Executive Council to be expended fin. the protection of the frontier had the effort to quiet to a great extent, though not entirely to allay, the dissatisfaction, anti the work of raising men ill the two Pennsylvania counties (or, as Gen. Clarke expressed it, in Yohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio Counties, Va.) was allowed to proceed, though not without strong and bitter protest.

The main part of the fierce destined for Gen. Clarke's expedition (that is to say, nearly all except shout one hundred and fifty men furnished by Westmoreland, under Col. Lochry and Capt. Benjamin Whaley, as will be mentioned hereafter) was raised in Washington County, but it appears evident from certain correspondence of Mat time that this was accomplished, not by the action of the Washington County military authorities, but by the officers of the so-called Virginia counties which covered the territory of Washington. That there was a bitter quarrel at that time between James Marshel, lieutenant of the newly-erected (but unorganized) county of Washing. ton, and Dorsey Pentecost (successor of Col. Joseph Beeler in the office of county lieutenant of Yohoga-nia, Va.) is evident from the recriminating letters written by both these gentlemen to the president of the Supreme Executive Council. Pentecost declared (and no denial of the assertion is found in Marshes correspondence) that it was chiefly through his energy and efforts that Gen. Clarke's main force was raised. And that the fierce was raised by some means, and placed in camp in a short space of time after the meeting of officers at the Yohogania court-house and subsequent refusal of the people to submit to the draft there ordered, is made apparent in a letter written by Col. Pentecost to President Reed, dated " Washington County, July 27, 1781."² In that letter he says,—

" While Mr. Marshel was at Philadelphia, Gen'l Clark came here with an Intent to carry an Expedition against the Savages, which was principally intended to have been aided by Volunteers from this County. He consulted myself with many others on the most probable Plan for Success. Every effort was tried, but to no effect; the Frontiers were murdered every Day & the Militia could not be got out. The Field Officers for.Yohogania County called on me & requested that I would take the Command of the same, & endeavor to save it from utter Destruction. I accordingly swore into a Commission for that Purpose which had been in the County upwards of a Year, & which I had neglected to qualify to, on as-

count of the apparent Probability there was for a Change of Government. Soon after this, Gen'l Clark had a meeting of the Principal People to consult on the most Plausible Plan to raise the Militia for his Expedition. They, after long Deliberation, Resolved that nothing could effect so desirable a Plan save my Exertions as County Lieu' of Yohogania, and in the most pointed Terms (in an address to me) requested that I would put my Command in Force, and use every Exertion to facilitate the Expedition. The Day following, I was furnished with a Demand from Gen'l Clark for the Quota of the County. I went into the Business with Resolution, Conducted myself with a steady Firmness, and with a great Deal of Fatigue, Trouble, & Perplexity, have accomplished that Business, and the Militia are now encampt." In another part of the same communication he says, "I am now in General Clarke's Camp, about three miles below Fort Pitt, and am about to leave this Country on the Expedition under that Gentleman's Command." And he further says, with regard to the course which had been, pursued by Coi. Marshel with reference to the raising of men for Clarke's expedition : "And he ac, cordingly did all he could to perplex the People, and advised them to pay•no obedience to Draughts that I had ordered for Gen'l Clark's assistance, & has actually offered Protection to some of 'em, though he before, on a Request of Gen'l Clark's, declared he could do nothing as an officer, wish'd well to the Expedition, & as a Private Person would give every assistance to promote it."

There is no doubt that in the enforcement of the draft ordered from the militia by the lieutenants of Yohogania and Monongalia Counties Gen. Clarke pursued the business with great vigor, and showed very little leniency toward those (and they were many) who were inclined to deny the jurisdiction of Virginia.¹ Many bitter complaints were made against him for his stern methods of enforcing the draft, among which complaints in that particular are the charges made against him (as also against Dorsey Pentecost) in the following letter, addressed by Col. James Marshel to the president of the Council,² viz.:

"Sir,—When I began to organize the Militia of this County, I expected the line between the States would have been run (at least by the Commissioners of this State) in May last; but Finding they did not arrive at neither of the periods given us to expect them, I thought it my duty to take the most favourable Opportunity that would Offer to form the Militia. About the fifteenth of June last, I apprehended Appearances favourable and accordingly advertised

¹ Many of those people who had been willing and anxious for the establishment of Virginia's claim, so that they might purchase their lands frota her at one tenth part of the price demanded by the Pennsylvania and Office, were now quite as ready to deny her right to demand military service from them.

two Battalion Elections, but soon found that General Clark's preparations for his Expedition and the Extraordinary Freedom with which he and his party of the old Virginia Officers used with the people of this County stood greatly in the way ; they were Indefatigable in propagating reports of the General being a Continental Officer, having extraordinary Countenance and Authority from the State of Pennsylvania, in pulling down my Advertisements, dissuading the people from attending the Elections, crying out that I was everything that was bad, and was doing all this to hurt the Expedition, &c.; all which, however false, produced a Visible Indisposition in the people towards attending the Elections; and altho' I was not attempting anything with design to Injure his Expedition, I could not do anything to fill up the General's troops out of the Militia of this frontier County, not having Council's orders for that purpose. . . . I can only say at present I have acted such a part as I thought a faithful Officer ought to do in similar cases ; and that I Ever Conceived I had no right so much as to say any of the people of this County had a right to go with general Clark without your Excellency's Orders for that purpose ; much less that I should ly still on purpose that the Virginia Officers should draft the Militia of this County for that service. If any complaint of what kind so-ever should be lodged against me, I hope your Excellency will favour me with a Coppy thereof, that I may have an Opportunity of doing myself Justice; and as the Manner in which the Genl and his Underlings have treated the people of this and Westmoreland Counties has been so. arbitrary and unprecedented, I think it my duty to inform your Excellency the particulars of a few facts. The first instance Was with one John Harden, in Westmoreland, who, with a number of others, refused to be drafted under the government of Virginia, alleging they were undoubtedly in Pennsylvania, and declared if that government ordered a draft they would obey cheerfully, and accordingly elected their officers and made returns thereof to Col. Cook. After this the general, with a party of forty or fifty horsemen, came to Harden's in quest of him to hang him, as the general himself declared ; but not finding the old gentleman took and tied his son, broke open his mill, fed away and destroyed upwards of one hundred and fifty bushels of wheat, rye, and corn, killed his sheep and hogs, and lived away at Mr. Harden's expense in that manner for two or three days ; declared his estate forfeited, but graciously gave it to his wife; formed an article in which he bound all the inhabitants he could lay hands on or by any means prevail upon to come in to him ; under the penalty of ten months in the regular army, not to oppose the draft. Another man in Westmoreland, being in Company with Clark's troops, happened to say the draft was Illegal, upon which he was Immediately Confined, and Ordered to be hanged by the General. Col. Penticost, being willing to assist

the General, Issued Orders to the Commanding officers of the old Militia Com panys, to Raise an armed force and Collect the Delimits ; and altho these orders were Chiefly disobeyed, yet there has been several armed Banditties in this County under command of a certain Col. Cox and others, who have acted nearly in the same manner as the general himself has done.

"They being in Quest of John Douglas (a Gent. Elected one of our Justices for this County) and not finding him the first attempt, broke open his house in the night time, Fed away and destroyed such a part of Rye and Corn (his property) as they thought proper; Drew their swords upon his wife and Children in order to make them Discover where he was ; the said Cox and his party have taken and confined a Considerable number of the Inhabitants of this County, amongst which were Hugh Scott (one of the acting trustees of the County), altho' he was not drafted ; in a word the Instances of high treason against the State are too many to be Enumerated, therefore shall not trouble your Excellency any more on the subject at present."

President Reed, in his reply¹ (dated Aug. 25, 1781) to Col. Marshel's letter, said, " . . . As General Clark's proceedings have been the Occasion of so much Dissatisfaction in the Country, & it is given out that he has extraordinary Countenance from us, we think it necessary to state our Sentiments & the Facts respecting his Command. We were informed early last Spring that a Plan of an Expedition under Gen. Clark against the Western Indians was approved by Gen. Washington. Our Opinion of the Gentleman, from his former Successes and acknowledged Abilities, as well as our Belief that his Expedition would be beneficial to our Frontier, led us to give it our Countenance so far as to write to the Gentlemen of Westmoreland County, with a View that it should be communicated to you, that it was our Wish that Gen. Clark might be assisted so far as to encourage Volunteers to go with him & to supply him with Provisions, if he should have Occasion to apply for them, he paying their Value. We also wrote to Gen. Clark himself, a Copy whereof is inclosed, by which you will see the Extent of the Countenance & Support he has derived from us. But while we utterly disprove the irregularities and hardships which have been exercised by him [Gen. Clarke] towards the inhabitants, we cannot help fearing that too many, in consequence of the unsettled state of boundaries, avail themselves of a pretense to withhold their services from the pub-lick at a time when they are most wanted, and when an exertion would not only serve the country, but promote their own security. We cannot help also observing that, by letters received from the principal gentlemen in Westmoreland, it seems evident they approve of Gen. Clark's expedition, and that the lieutenants of both States united in the plan of raising

three hundred men for that service. As the state of publick affairs had not admitted your forming the militia sufficiently to concur in these measures, we concluded that these resolutions would also include your county, and even now are at a loss to account for the different opinions entertained on the point by the people of Westmoreland and Washington Counties."

In a letter by Christopher Hays, of Westmoreland, and Thomas Scott, of Washington County, to President Reed, dated " Westmoreland, August 15, 1781," they said, " . . . The truth of the matter is, the General's Expedition has been wished well, and volunteers to the service have been Incouraged by all with whom we corispond; but we have heartily reprobated the General's Standing over these two counties with armed force, in order to dragoon the Inhabitants into obedience to a draft under the laws of Virginia, or rather under the arbitrary orders of the officers of that Government, without any orders from Virginia for that purpose, and this is really the part the General hath acted, or rather the use which has been made of him in this country."

" With respect to Gen. Clarke's Proceedings," said President Reed, in his reply to the above, " we can only say that he has no authority from us to draft Militia, much less to exercise those acts of Distress which you have hinted at, and which other letters more particularly enumerate. His Expedition appears to us favorable for the Frontiers, as carrying Hostilities into the Indian Country, rather than resting totally on the defensive. We find the Gentlemen of Westmoreland, however different in other Things, to have agreed in Opinion that his Expedition deserved encouragement. . . ."

Gen. Clarke on his part accused several officials of Washington and Westmoreland Counties of using every means in their power, fair and unfair, to prevent the raising of men for the expedition and ruin its chances of success. In a communication dated at Wheeling, August 4th,² and addressed to the president of the Council, he said, " I thank you for the favorable sentiments and the Requisition to this country to give all possible aid to the Enterprise I am ordered

on. Had they have done so, as their Interest loudly call'd for, I believe there would have been no Reason to doubt but our most Sanguine Expectations would have been answered. But so far from compleating your wishes, that part of them have taken every in their power to frustrate the design (at a time whe their neighbours were daily massacred) by confusing the Inhabitants and every other device their abilities would admit of, though small, are too apt to effect the minds of such persons as Inhabit this frontier. What put it more in their power was the unsettled Territory, and no orders of yours appearing you mention you had sent by one of your members (meaning Chris-

topher Hays, of Westmoreland) with Encouragement for the people to co-operate with me in all respects. But he appears to have taken every step to disappoint the good Intentions of Col. Lochry¹ and many other Gentlemen of Westmoreland County who have used every Effort to Raise men. But disappointed by those alluded to, I have Endeavored to make myself acquainted with the different persons who appeared to be busy in Ruining the sentiments of the Inhabitants and think it my duty as a citizen and officer to acquaint you with the principals, Believing that you are Imposed on as those bodies gain their Influence by opposing Every measure proposed for the publick good in the Military Department, strange that such Conduct should have those Effects among any class of People in This Dept. Every commanding officer has Experienced, and I think I can Venture to say you never will be able to have anything of Importance done in this Quarter until many of them are removed from their respective offices. The Inhabitants on my arrival was so Buoyed up at the thought of my tarrying out an Expedition that promised them peace that it has Required all their little artifices to disappoint, which is too' likely to be the case at present. Mr. M. [Col. Marshel], of Washington County, Lt.-Colos. C and D, I believe to be the perpetrators of these Evils. I fear this country will feel, after giving you my honor that I am not influenced by prejudice to point out those Gentlemen. I can assure you they are persona that will for Ever disgrace this part of the country while in power. As for Mr. M., he has, I learn, lived in Obscurity until lately ; his promotion has so confused him that his Conduct is Contradictory in his own publick writing, and as wavering as the minds of that class of mortals he has had the Honour to Influence . . I learn that it is generally believed that the Inhabitants of the western country are disaffected. I do not think it to be the case, and was the line between the two states Established, and the whole well officered, they might in a short time be made Valuable Citizens, and any necessary force call'd to the field on the shortest notice. But at present scarcely a week passes but you hear of some massacre. Sufficient stores of necessaries provided to Enable them to Reduce the Indians, and yet those Inducements are not sufficient to draw them to action, owing to those principles before Recited."

The troops of Gen. Clarke's expedition, embracing infantry, mounter men, and several pieces of light artillery (but not including the Westmoreland County men under Col. Lochry, who were not ready to move with the main force), were gathered in camp on the Ohio River, most of them at Fort Henry (Wheeling), but a part encamped about three miles below Fort

¹ It is a fact beyond dispute that Hays, who was at first extremely favorable to the furnishing of men for the expedition, afterwards turned bitterly against it, the reason for this change being that he came to believe (as did also Col. Marshel and others) that it was a project for the eivancement of Virginia interests ind the extension of the territory of ad State In the West. (See his letter to President Reed, Ibid., p. 340.)

Pitt, where they lay on the 27th of July, as is shown by the letter of Col. Dorsey Pentecost of that date, before quoted. From that point they moved down the river and joined the main body at the rendezvous at Fort Henry, where they were in camp on the 4th of August. It was the purpose of the commander to remain at that point until t)ae arrival of the Westmoreland detachment, but this was found to be impracticable on account Of the desertion of his men. Accordingly he broke camp at Fort Henry and proceeded down the river about the 10th of August.

At the mouth of the Kanawha River the forces were landed, with the intention, on the part of Gen. Clarke, to wait there for the arrival of the rear detachment. But here, although so far away from their homes, the men evinced even more determination to desert than they had at Fort Henry, having begun to realize more fully than before the dangerous nature of the service in which they were engaged. Thereupon Gen. Clarke, finding that if he should remain there any considerable time he would find himself without a following, ordered an immediate re-embarkation of the troops, and went on down the river, but even while on the passage the desertions continued, though they were of course less numerous than from the encampments.

The passage from Fort Henry to the point of destination consumed about three weeks. The banks of the river down which the expedition passed were oceupied at various points by hostile Indians, but these dared not offer any attack on the forces because of the cannon which Clarke had with him, artillery being always greatly dreaded by savages of all tribes. After a journey which was especially tedious on account of the low water in the river, the troops reached their destination at the Falls of the Ohio about the end of the month of August. There they waited for reinforcements from Kentucky, which never came, and for the arrival of ,the detachment under Col Lochry, but the waiting was in vain (for reasons hereafter given), and the commander, having now no hope of reinforcement, and finding his force so much weakened by desertion that it would be madness for him to march with it in any expectation of being able to reduce the post of Detroit, or even of the Indian towns on the Sandusky, he reluctantly abandoned the enterprise. This disastrous ending of the expedition was the result of the desertion of the men, not only by reducing the strength of the main force, but by compelling the commander to move on from Fort Henry, and again from the mouth of the Kanawha, without waiting, as he wished and intended to do, for the arrival of the detachment under Col. Lochry, thereby leaving that brave officer and his command to proceed on their way alone and unsupported to meet the terrible fate which overtook them, and which is now to be narrated.