SALT, WHISKEY, EARLY MILLS, AND FURNACES - 175 left the furnace, himself a bankrupt, and it has never since been in operation. Mount Hope Furnace was built in 1810 in Donegal township, by Trevor & McClurg. Washington Furnace, near Laughlinstown, was built about 1809 by Johnston, McClurg & Co. It was abandoned in 1826, and rebuilt in 1848 by John Bell & Co. It was in blast as late as 1854, and in 1859 was owned by L. C. Hall. Jonathan Maybury & Co. owned Fountain Furnace before 1812. The firm was dissolved Aug. 19, 1812. Kingston Forge, erected in 1811 on Loyalhanna Creek by Alexander Johnston & Co., went in operation early in 1812. Kingston is about two miles northeast of Youngstown on the turnpike, and about three miles east of Latrobe on the Ligonier Valley Railroad. Ross Furnace, on Tub-Mill Creek, in Fairfield township, was built in 1815 by James Paull, Jr., Col. J. D. Mathiot, and Isaac Meason, Jr., and abandoned about 1850. It made pig-iron stoves, sugar-kettles, pots, ovens, skillets, etc. Another furnace in Fairfield township was built a short distance below Ross Furnace, on Tub-Mill Creek, by John Benninger about 1810. He also built a small forge on the same stream where the borough of Bolivar now stands. Both the furnace and forge ceased to make iron soon after they were built, the forge running until about 1816. When short of pig iron it sometimes made bar iron direct from the ore, which was obtained near by. In 1834 a manufactory of axes and sickles was established at Covodesville, on Tub-Mill Creek, above Bolivar, by William Updegraff. The business was continued for eight years by Mr. Updegraff. Baldwin Furnace, on Laurel Run, near Ross Furnace, is said to have been built by James Stewart about .1810. It ran but a short time. It was named after Henry Baldwin, afterwards a judge of the United States Supreme Court, but then a leading lawyer of Pittsburgh. He may have helped to build the furnace. Goldon, in his " Gazetteer of the State of Pennsylvania," states that in 1832 there were in operation in Westmoreland County one furnace, Ross, operated by Col. Mathiot, and one forge, Kingston, operated by Alexander Johnston, Esq. These early furnaces before named shipped pig iron by boats or arks on the Conemaugh and Allegheny Rivers to Pittsburgh, much of which found its way down the Ohio River to Cincinnati and Louisville. Other furnaces in Westmoreland County were Mount Pleasant, a very early furnace ; California, built by Col. J. D. Mathiot and S. Cummins about 1852, on Furnace Run, a branch of the Loyalhanna, about a mile above the mouth of the run ; Oak Grove, `built in 1854 by Col. John Clifford, near Ligonier, and owned in 1857 by James Tanner, of Pittsburgh ; Valley Furnace, at Hillsview, nine miles south of New Florence and about five miles north of Ligonier, built by L. C. Hall & Co. in 1855; Laurel Hill, about three miles below Baldwin Furnace, on Laurel Run, after its junction with Powder-Mill Run, commenced in 1845 or 1846 by Hezekiah Reed, and finished about 1849 by Judge J. T. Hall, of Centre County, and subsequently owned by various parties ; Conemaugh, on the stream of that name, about eight .miles west of Johnstown, built in 1847 by John C. Magill, Hon. Henry D. Foster, and Hon. Thomas White, and subsequently operated by George Rhey ; Lockport, built in 1844 by William D. and Thomas McKernan, brothers, at the town of that name, twenty miles west of Johnstown, subsequently owned by William McKinney, of Lockport, and finally falling into the hands of Dr. Peter Shoenberger ; Ramsey, built in 1847, on the Kiskiminetas, about four miles west of Saltsburg, Indiana Co., by Frederick Overman, for Dr. J. R. Speer, of Pittsburgh, its owner. These early furnaces made principally all kinds of hollow-ware, such as skillets, pots, kettles, Dutch ovens, stoves, sugar-kettles, as well as grates, andirons, and plow-castings. The high price of iron consequent on the war with Great Britain in 1811 and 1812 led to the erection of those which were put up at that time. The pig from some of these was sent to Pittsburgh to be forged, but others forged their own. The return of peace, and the more advantageous facilities offered by other furnaces near cheap water portage, depressed the industry here. Under more favorable auspices it recovered, but again was the business utterly prostrated, and the first indication of the iron revival within our county was when the Southwest Railway was located and under way of construction. All the above furnaces have been abandoned. There is only one furnace in the county now in operation, Charlotte, built by Everson, Knapp & Co., at Scottdale, in 1873, where the firm of Everson, Macrum & Co. built a rolling-mill in the same year. This subject has been brought down to a later time than we have been treating of, but we thought it better to follow this arrangement and elsewhere treat of the iron industry since its revival in more modern times. 176 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XXXIV. PRIMITIVE ROADS AND METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION. Something on Roads in Great Britain, and of Indian Trails in America—Knowledge displayed by the Indians in their Selection of Routes—Their Manner of Traveling—Of their Trails East and West, North and South—The Routes of the First Whites westward of the Mountains—Indian Remains along these Routes in Westmoreland, and Memorials of their Presence in Names of Streams, Hills, etc.—Nemacolin's Path—The Catawba War Trail—The Kittanning and Juniata Paths—The different Termini of the Aboriginal Paths—Of the Indian Villages and Abiding-Places here—The Ohio Company's Road—Braddock's Road—Burd's Road—The National Road—Forbes' Road—Old State Road—Chartered Turnpike—Old Military Roads—Method of Transportation used in the Armies—Want of Roads to the First Settlers—First Road Petitions, 1773—Difficulty in getting to Mill—Importance of keeping the Public P.oads in Repair—Manner of Travel and Method of transporting Merchandise on these Roads—PackHorses and Pack-Saddles—What a Pack-Saddle is—Rates for carrying —Remarks on one of the "Lost Arts"—How they went to War, to the Assembly, to the East for Goods, and a-Courting. WE know of no better means of getting a correct notion of the different stages or eras into which the history, of our country has been divided from time to time than by having a knowledge of the different roads and highways. In noticing this subject of roads we will be led into the consideration of such other subjects as are connected with it, or are evolved out of it, such as the methods first used in transportation, the facilities for supplying the wants of the carrying trade, the prices of such carrying, and in general the changes which may be attributed to the roads. In a community which is constantly undergoing change we can, careful as we may be, scarcely avoid conflicting ideas and associating times and places with other times and places. But in the history of our county we observe one thing, which is this, that from the first settlements to 1775, the beginning of the Revolution, is a distinctly marked era ; from that time to the destruction of Hannastown is another era; and from that time to the ending of the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794 another ; and so on. And these eras are marked, as it were, by the history of the very roads, and whether we argue that the roads in their changes were but the termination of one stage of improvement or the beginning of another it is but the same. In the early days we have the pack-horse tracks and military roads, coming down to 1784, then the State highways, then the turnpike with its changed travel and traffic, which in turn was followed by the canal and the railroad. The world has been slow to acknowledge the utility of good, safe, and speedy methods of travel, of the advantages in overcoming distance and time, and in thus adding to the wealth of the people, the advancement of civil society and the revenue of the State. When the Highlands of Scotland and Berkshire were a fortnight's journey from Edinburgh and London, a stranger's life was not safe in those regions. Walter Scott relates that in the reign of George III. 1 travelers were waylaid, robbed, and murdered not a hundred miles from the capital of Scotland. True it is in our own country no such acts in a regular and systematic manner were perpetrated. If we have no remains of Gothic and Noric castles overhanging the fastnesses of our mountain parts, so likewise we have no romantic stories of plumed bandits shooting from behind rocks at passers-by, or dancing minuets with fair prisoners on the greensward of the valley. Isolated instances of highway robbery and of murder for money are scarce, and it is notorious that the perpetrators seldom for any long time defied the authorities with impunity, and seldom, indeed, escaped. The causes of this may be satisfactorily explained with various reasons. There was, it is true, no district in Pennsylvania in which there was a surplusage of population, a part of which might have been driven to commit crimes for a livelihood, nor was there such alluring booty as would turn a romantic lad into a freebooter, after the manner of Robin Hood. There might possibly be a Dave Lewis, but there could not be a Claude Duval. But no reason can be advanced with so much force as this, that while the country was increasing in population and in wealth the roads were getting safer, better, and, of need, more constantly occupied. As it is a subject which may interest us and will interest those who follow, it is our province to consider it. The red men, following the instinct of nature and traveling with the sun and the rotary motion of the earth, had marked foot-paths and trails which led from hunting- and fishing-grounds to their more permanent homes, to other tribes, to council-places in the East, to outposts, and to traders' posts. These paths were chosen, when it could be so done, along streams and otherwise along the hillsides or mountain slopes, to keep out of the lowlands. Often, when necessary, an undeviating straight line, which took advantage of the unfrequented localities, and which was directed by the unerring sun or by unchanging landmarks, was picked out and followed ; for in traversing the country they followed each after the other in a row in a way aptly designated " Indian fashion." They had a singular swinging walk ; they did not walk erect as our typical Indian, but with the instinct of the beast predominant, carried their head low, with their shoulders stooped, and their toes turned inward, and when on business, whether in peace or in war, had a peculiar gait, somewhat faster than a walk, but not so rapid as a run, and this gait they tirelessly kept up all day. There were three principal trails east and west; which the Indians, in connection with each other and with the whites, had made, and were, even after the first settlements in Western Pennsylvania, much traveled by them. One of these led from the Alle- 1 Introduction to Rob Roy. PRIMITIVE ROADS AND METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION - 177 gheny River by way of the Kiskiminetas along the Juniata to the Susquehanna ; the second was the path from the Allegheny across Laurel Hill, or at least to the great north-and-south trail along Ligonier Valley. This path. from here eastward was not so much frequented by the traders as the northern trail, but when the army first made a road here it was seen to be a more direct course to the Forks of the Ohio. The third was the one from the Ohio through Southwestern Pennsylvania, called Nemacolin's path. It got this name from the Indian, Nemacolin, who piloted Washington when, at the instance of the Ohio Company, he first went to the forks of the river. Nemacolin was a friendly Delaware ; his cabin was at Dunlap's Creek, Fayette. In 1753 this passage-way was a good pack-horse road. Washington made his road over this path previous to Braddock, who improved it and continued it to the river crossing, making what was called the " Braddock road." On this road was Gist's plantation and settlement, and the other settlements of the Ohio Company's first emigrants. The first or northern route usually went by the name of the Kittanning path, and it led past the Indian towns of Conemaugh, Kittanning, and Shanopin's to Logstown, the town built on the Ohio for the Mingoes by the French. On this route the whites, either Indian agents, commissioners, or traders, as Crogan and Frazer, first penetrated to the West, and following on it, Col. Armstrong, when he dashed up from Fort Shirley to the destruction of Capt. Jacobs, in 1756, led the vanguard of soldiers across the hills west of the mountains. " All the roads lead to Rome," and all the Indian trails of Southwestern Pennsylvania led to the forks of the rivers, whence the western trails diverged in all directions. There were many other east-and-west trails bisecting and intersecting each other or the main trails, some of which were known to the whites, and some were almost obliterated when the whites passed into these parts. On the first of these Post came out on his first mission, and in 1758, passing Forbes, then at Ligonier, he followed partly the track of the second trail. These Indian trails are noticeable for the peculiarity that they were, as it seemed, the great highways of the Indians, and because over these trails were opened the roads which first became the highways of the whites. The paths which extended north and south were not so well known. Emigration and traffic go east and west. The star of empire, in both the political and intellectual horizon, rising in the east, makes its way after the constellation which nightly sinks into the great western ocean. There was one chief trail, however, which passed through Westmoreland, and this was one of the most noted and prominent trails the Indians had in this part of the continent. This path was formed in Fayette County, by our bounds now, where two other trails came together ; one of these branches coming from Florida through the Carolinas and Virginia, and the other through Tennessee and Kentucky, united at the State line, at the mouth of Grassy Run, then northward by a well-defined line past Uniontown, over the Youghiogheny where Braddock crossed at Stewart's Crossing ; thence along the side of Chestnut Ridge, through Ligonier Valley, over the Conemaugh and the head-waters of the Susquehanna to the council-fires of the Six Nations in Western New York. This was the Catawba, or Six Nation trail, and it was used by the Indians down to 1792. By such trails intercommunion and a connection were kept up between the stronger tribes and their remote dependent auxiliaries. Along this trail, during the Revolution and later, detached bodies of Indians belonging to many nations traveled at intervals, visiting and revisiting each other. The many captures in the valley were endured mostly from the Indians on this route, who, after hushing the cries of a stolen child, struck into the deep forests of Northern Pennsylvania, into what was called the Indian country, and there evaded all pursuit. The first settlers frequently saw 'squads of them trotting briskly along over the tops of the hills, darting in and out among the bushes, apparently unconscious of anything when they were going with some object in view. Afterwards, along this route, the ashes of the log cabin and the mutilated remains of the scalped settler marked the direction of this via principia. You can trace its location, too, in some places by the Indian graves and burying-places, and by the marks of more permanent habitations and camping-grounds, which have been found in greater number along it than in any other part of this region between the mountains and the Ohio. The first names used by the whites to distinguish and localize particular places have been preserved to our own time. We have Indian Creek, Indian Fort, Indian Camp Run,' Scalp Rock, Indian Spring, and numerous old Indian burying-grounds. Curious remains of pottery, and implements of stone used in the first stages of agriculture as practiced by this nomadic people, weapons of war and of hunting, such as club-heads, arrow-heads, darts, and spear-headed flints, all evidently of aboriginal invention, manufacture, and use, have been picked up, and are now regarded as curious relics in many houses along the hills. This would all tend to the conclusion that there was an intercourse among the various tribes in an age which, although not so remote, may well be regarded as prehistoric. The Indians inhabiting Westmoreland, including that part north of the Conemaugh and south of the Youghiogheny, were the Delawares and Shawanese. It is supposed that the most of these, especially those of the northern portion, between the Conemaugh and Kittanning, add between the Allegheny River and the Chestnut Ridge, or even to the Susquehanna, settled there after they removed from Standing Stone and from along the Juniata after Forbes' expedition, 1758. Among the principal points east of the hills whither 178 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. the Indians were attracted either in times of war or in times of peace, were the first settlements of the whites or the traders' posts, such as Standing Stone, Frankstown, and Harris' Ferry. The Standing Stone stood in the borough of Huntingdon, and was described by John Harris in 1754 as being fourteen feet high and about six inches square. It was erected by the Indians, a branch of the Six Nations, and was covered with their hieroglyphics. 1 1 The natives, who seem to have regarded this stone with great veneration, after the treaty of 1754, by which their title to the lands of the valley of the Juniata was relinquished, migrated, and, as it is generally supposed, carried this stone with them. Another stone, soon after erected by the whites, was covered with the names of traders, residents, and colonial officials. It was broken by a carelessly thrown "long bullet." Distances on the Paths Westward, According to John Harris. John Harris, who had been westward prior to 1754, notices the following points, with the intermediate distances. " From my ferry (near present site of Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna) to George Croghad's (Grogan), 5 miles; to Kittatinny Mountain, 9 miles; Thomas Mitchell's sleeping-Once, 3 miles; Tuscarora, 14 miles; Cove Spring, 10 miles; Shadow of Death, 8 miles; Black Log, 3 miles; 66 miles to this point, the road forks to Raystown (Bedford); to the Three Springs, 10 miles; Sideling Hill Gap, 8 miles; Juniata Hill, 8 miles; Crossings at Juniata, 8 miles; Snake's Spring, 8 miles; Raystown, 4 miles; Shawano. Cabins, 8 miles ; Allegheny Hill, 6 miles; Edmund's Swamp. 8 miles ; Stoney Creek, 6 miles; Kicheney Paulin's house (Indian site of Johnstown), 6 miles; Clearfields (The Wheatflelds, now East Wheatfield township and vicinity, Indiana County), 7 miles; to the other side of Laurel Hill, 5 miles; Loyal Having, 6 miles; Big Bottom, 8 miles; Chestnut Ridge, 8 miles; to the parting of the roads, 4 miles; thence one road leads to Shannopin's Town (near the site of Pittsburgh, on Allegheny River, Thirty-second Street), the other to Kiscomenettas Old Town (not far from the Kiskiminetas at Leechburg), to Big Lick, 3 miles ; to Beaver Darns, 6 miles; James Dunning's sleeping-place, 3 miles; Cockeye's cabin, 8 milea; Four-Mile Run, 11 miles ; Shannopintown, on Allegheny River, 4 miles ; to Logstown, down the river, 18 miles ; distance down the old road, 246 miles." Along the Frankstown Road. "Now beginning at the Black Log,—Frankstown Road to Aughwick; 6; Jack Armstrong's Narrows (so called from his being murdered there, now knows as ' Jack's Narrows'), 8; Standing Stone (about 14 feet high and 6 inches square), 10. At each of the last places we crossed Juniata, the next and last crossing of Juniata, 8; Branch of Juniata, 10; Big Lick, 10; Frank's (Stephen's) Town, 5; Beaver Danis, 10; Allegheny Hill, 4; Clearfields, 6; John Hart's Sleeping-Place, 12; Shawanese Cabins (near Cherrytree, Cause Township, Indiana Co.), 24; Shaver's Sleeping-Place at two large licks (Two Licks, at or near the forks of the Two Licks, in Greene Township, Indiana County), 12; Eighteen-Mile Run, 12; Ten-Mile Lick, 6; to Kiscomenettas (Leechburg, Armstrong Go.) town, on the creek which runs into the Allegheny river nix miles down, almost as large as Schuylkill, 10; Chartiers landing on the Allegheny, 8," etc.—From " History of Cumberland County," Rupp. Hart's Sleeping-Place. "The man Hart, whose name is perpetuated, in connection with his log, by the valley we have spoken of, was an old German, who followed the occupation of trading among the Indians. He was probably the first permanent white settler along the Juniata west of the Standing Stone, and long before he settled he crossed and recrossed the Allegheny Mountains by the old war-path with his pack-horses. "John Hart's Sleeping-Place is mentioned in 1756, by John Harris, in making an estimate of the distance between the rivers Susquehanna and Allegheny. Hart's Sleeping-Place is about twelve miles from the junction of the Burgoon and Kittanning Runs, and still retains its name. When he took up his residence along the river he hewed down an immense tree and turned it into a trough, out of which he fed his horses and cattle, hence the name Hart's Log."—Jones' " History of the Juniata Valley." Most of the old maps, especially those made before the Revolution, are not reliable when it collies to details. From point to point these trails were usually located by hearsay and an imperfect topographical knowledge. They answer the purpose, however, by giving, approxi- Frankstown was on the Juniata River. It was the seat of an Indian town. The common opinion long was that it was named after an old Indian chief called Capt. Frank, but the truth is that it was named after an old German Indian trader named Stephen Franks, whose post was at this town and who lived contemporaneously with old man Hart, who had a lodging-place now within Indiana County. The Indian name was " Assunepachla." As the Indians could not pronounce or articulate the letter "r," no name unless of English origin with that letter in it appears in their vocabulary. Frankstown took in a large district of country of which it was the centre. Hence the prominence of the point and its importance. John Harrises, or Harris' Ferry, is now Harrisburg. One of the principal Indian paths was that one which ran from the Kittanning town across the region now of Indiana County to Cherrytree, and thence to the Juniata. Upon this path John Armstrong led his expedition against Kittanning in 1756. This path was crossed at Indiana town by the trail from Cushcheoting to the East. This Kittanning path, which passed through Indiana town, ran northeastward into the trail which came down from Venango. These two united, now in Greene township, Indiana Co. The continuation of the Venango and Kittanning path then passed a little below Cherrytree. At the forks of this trail Armstrong encamped on the night of Sept. 7, 1756. The trail from Cushcheoting (Coshocton ?) to Ligonier came into Indiana County near the northwest corner, ran through the site of Indiana Town, passed through the township of West Wheatfield, and crossed the Conemaugh between New Florence and Nineveh, and thence up the valley. There were, besides those of which we have memorials, many other trails over the region of our county, but knowledge of these is obscure. Thus one of the chief trails was from Shannopin's Town, on the Allegheny River two miles above the Forks of the Ohio, to Ligonier, where, as we have said, many trails met and crossed. This trail from Ligonier in all probability came westward on the north side of the Loyalhanna through Derry township, until it crossed the creek again a short distance above where the Nine-Mile Run flows into it. It then continued down the west side of the creek, at some distance from the stream, probably trending towards the northwest, for a distance of about five miles, where it forked. One of the branches then went to Shannopin's, and the other to 1 the Kiskiminetas. 2 mately, routes. In this respect the map of the State Historical Society is in some instances notoriously incorrect and needs revision. Of the old maps, both those designed by the French and the English, as well as by our State authorities, scarcely any two of them agree. 2 Extract from Christian Poses Journal, 1758. Nov. 9, 1785. . . . " We waited till almost noon for the writing of the general [ Forbes, at Ligonier Stockade, whither the army then lay, on their way PRIMITIVE ROADS AND METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION - 179 The Indians had various villages and abiding-places throughout this region west of the mountains, but none of them was of any magnitude, and they were of such a character that the inhabitants could remove on short notice and without inconvenience. The natives never occupied their villages after the treaty of 1768, nor after the whites came near them. One of these villages or stopping-places was Kickenapawling's Old Town," two hundred and seventy-six miles from Philadelphia. It was at the junction of Stony Creek with the Conemaugh, and on its site is to-day the city of Johnstown, which took its name from one Joseph Johns, a very early settler there, of German nativity. So was " Punxsutawney," on the Big Mahoning, in Jefferson County, and so also was "Kiskemeneco" (now Kiskiminetas), a Shawanese town near the site of Leechburg, as above mentioned. According to Post there was a "Keckkeknepolin," a village of the Shawanese, along the Kiskiminetas path, east of "Kiskemeneco." The Indian villages west of Laurel Hill, such as they are known to the whites, were situated ong streams, and most of them along the larger tributaries of Allegheny and the Monongahela. Although the archaeologist shall discover vestiges of the presence of these natives in places inland, even in Ligonier Valley, no memorial of them exists. These were the principal Indian trails in our early county, but into them, like cow-paths, others ran for the use of tribes less numerous. The route of the east-and-west trails may at this day be fixed, but it would be almost impossible to trace the north-and-south trail by landmarks other than those which nature has left. 1 It cannot now but be noticed how the great centres of travel were afterwards, by the whites, fixed nearly over these Indian paths, as the first pack-horse roads of the whites, taking immediate advantage of them, marked them out. The road which was cut over the to Fort Duquesne]. We were escorted by an hundred men, rank and file commanded by Capt. Haselet ; we passed through a tract of good land, about six miles on the old trading path, and came to the creek [Loyalhanna] again, where there is a large fine bottom, well timbered; from thence we came upon a hill, to an advanced breastwork, about ten miles from the camp, well situated for strength, etc. [See Note 2, page 28]. Within five miles from the breastwork we departed from Capt. Ilaselet ; be kept the old trading path to the Ohio. . . . We went the path that leads along the Loyal Hanning Creek. . . . 11th.—We started early, and came to the old Shawanese town, called Keckkeknepolin, grown up thick with weeds, briers, and brushes that we could scarcely get through. Piquetomen (an Indian guide) led us upon a steep hill, that our horses could hardly get up; and Thomas Hickman's horse tumbled, and rolled down the hill like a wheel ; on which he (supposed to be Hickman) grew angry, and would go no farther with us, and said he would go by himself. It happened we found a path on the top of the hill. At three o'clock we came to Kiskemeneco, an old Indian town, a rich bottom, well timbered," etc. 1 The number of such paths was greatly increased after Braddock's defeat. Indeed, it is said that the country about us was almost overrun with Indian trails and devious winding paths. From the time of Braddock to Forbes the French and Indians as well as the Americans in scouting parties made many inroads over the western part of the State, extending east as far as Conococheague, Huntingdon Co. path of the friendly Delaware from the Turkey Foot to the Monongahela. quite nearly marked the great international turnpike road from Cumberland to Wheeling, and the road opened by the vanguard of Forbes' army, and known as the Forbes' or Hannas- town road, but called by general historians the Pennsylvania road, to distinguish it from the Virginia or Braddock road, after being long used as the only thoroughfare through the middle of the State, relinquished its monopoly to the Pennsylvania State road, which utilized part of its road-bed, and which in its turn was in many places but the bed of the western end of the famous Philadelphia and-Pittsburgh turnpike. What the Appian Way was to the inhabitants of Central Italy, so was the Braddock road to the people of the southern tier of counties, and so was the Forbes road to our county. 2 No roads could conveniently be made along the path which touched the Conemaugh and Juniata and hugged the steep, overhanging mountains ; but it was the natural route for the canal, and not far from the marks of the feet that now are silent another highway was laid out for men of another race to pass and repass by methods never dreamed of by those. Can you get a more comprehensive idea of what is compressed within a century than from this, that Webster and Dickens followed Weiser and Crogan over the same route that Jacobs and Shingass trotted along with their belts full of bloody scalp-locks? When the military roads were first opened by the army they were cleared wide enough to allow the pas- 2 The Braddock road was first opened by the Ohio Company in their purpose to divert the Indian trade from the West. It was used to travel on as an Indian path in 1748, and before Forbes' time it was preferred by the Pennsylvania traders themselves, who came up the valley to the mouth of the Conocooheague, and thence up the river to Wills Creek (Cumberland). The company opened the road in 1753. Troops under Washington in 1754 repaired it to Gist's ; in 1756 it was opened and widened by Braddock to within eight or ten miles of Port Duquesne. A branch of the road went from Gist's to Brownsville. This was opened by Col. James Burd in 1759. Hence you have Fort Burd, another name for Brownsville, otherwise Redstone. From the close of Pontiac's wt., it became a highway for trade, and nearly all the early settlers in Southern Westmoreland from 176.5 to 1770 came on this road from Maryland and Virginia. Before the Ohio Company adopted this road it was well known by the name of Nemacolin's path, from the fact that the company employed Col. Thomas Cresap, of Old Town, Md., to mark the road, and the colonel hired a well-known Delaware Indian named Nemacolin, who lived at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, to select the beat route. It was known to the Indians many years before that, and was used by the traders as early as 1740. It led from the mouth of Wills Creek to the Forks of the Ohio. The Ohio Company marked it in 1750 by blazing the trees, and clearing away the underbrush, and removing the old dead and fallen timber. In 1753 they improved and enlarged it at a considerable expense. It was improved by Washington, as we said, in 1754, in his campaign, and by Braddock in 1755, who left it in good condition as far as the mouth of Turtle Creek. It should be remembered that Braddock in 1755 did not follow the Indian path or the road cut by Washington on it the whole length of his route. He left it to the right before he crossed Jacobs Creek, although afterwards the whole lower road, both the part Braddock opened to the place of divergence and the road from there on to Redstone, which was, as we said, opened by Col. Burd in 1759, was commonly known as Brad-dock's road. 180 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. sage of the cannon and heavy army-wagons, but the undergrowth of the forest spontaneously springing up, and the wash of the mountains, with their periodical floods, choked the ravines with debris, and left at recurring intervals large bodies of logs and stones in the road-beds. With the exception of these two main roads, the first passage-ways were not made for wheeled vehicles. The first vehicles were those used, at times apart, by the government. The common roads, so called, were single narrow paths under the foliage of the trees, with the heavier and lower limbs lopped off, and the stumps left standing, around which the path turned. For many years the great roads were in a barely passable condition, and all of them so much later than 1775. Bouquet, in 1764, had to leave his wagons and heavy baggage at Ligonier on account of the state of the road, and in 1774 Dunmore's army for the same reason had to transport their war materials to the frontier of Western Virginia on horses and mules. One of the first petitions presented to the court in April, 1773, was from the inhabitants along the Great road, who represented that, from the fallen timber and the deep morasses, the road was almost impassable, and they prayed the court to appoint viewers to report ; and at several successive sessions viewers were appointed and rates laid. Among other petitions in the matter of roads was one by the inhabitants of Springhill township, west of the Monongahela, for a road from opposite the mouth of Fish-Pot Run (half-way between Ten-Mile and Redstone) to the forks of Dunlap's path and Gen. Braddock's road on the top of Laurel Hill. In the next year the inhabitants of Tyrone, Menallen, and Springhill asked for a road from near Redstone Old Fort to Henry Beeson's mill (Uniontown), and thence to intersect Braddock's road near the forks of Dunlap's road and said road on the top of Laurel Hill ; giving as a reason that " We, who at present live on the west side of the Monongahela, are obliged frequently to carry our corn twenty miles to the mill of Henry Beeson, near Laurel Hill, and in all probability at some seasons of the year will ever have to do so." From the difficulty of making roads in a new country, and one whose surface was so unfavorable, and from the few people there were to make them, it was not possible that good roads could be made and kept in repair. The rates and the labor were not adequate to make them anything like passable from early in the fall to late in the spring. There was no ballast in the bottom of the roads, and movable timber washed in the widening ruts. In the winter they were deep with mire. There were no culverts, and nothing like a respectable bridge. A corduroy affair was thrown over marshy and open places, but all the large streams were forded. There were no fences along the road, but the deep forest came up to the very verge, and the traveler not unfrequently saw crossing his path before him a wild cat with her kittens or a bear with her cubs. In the warmth of spring rank vegetation covered the road-bed in the lower bottoms. Before wagoning, and even after wagons were in use on it, the old road was worse than the worst roads in the mountains now which have been temporarily made to get out bark and ties. In this stage of the public roads travel by vehicle was to a great extent, of course, unknown. Vehicles did not come into general use till after the State road was made in 1785, although as early as 1782 there was complaint that the old road was not fit for wagon travel. But you may say that wagons were not used till villages had sprung up all along it, and till the country justified the necessity. All travel for both business and pleasure was on horseback, and this method, for its conveniency and speed, remained a favorite method long after it had ceased to be the only one. As the chief part of the carrying trade was accomplished by the same means, the superintending of such transportation became a business. And making allowance for the limited amount of merchandise which could be so transported, it was, withal, we may judge, a profitable business. We are told that about 1784 the rates for carrying from Philadelphia and Baltimore to Pittsburgh was forty-five shillings per hundredweight. In 1786 the price of carriage to Philadelphia was sixpence per pound. In 1796 it is marked at the same. In the relative value of money we may then say that in round numbers it would cost now at such rates from twelve to fifteen dollars to carry a barrel of flour the length of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 1 These packers went and came in trains. A train consisted of from five to ten, and even more, horses tethered by a hitching-rope one behind the other. Sometimes the horses were so well trained that they followed the leader alone. The master of the train rode before or behind the horses, and directed their movements by his voice. A train could travel fifteen or twenty miles day by day, and each horse could probably carry two hundred-weight. 2 The furniture 1 The charge for hauling when wagons first went over the southern route from Hagerstown to Brownsville was three dollars a hundred weight, or sixty dollars a ton. " The operations on the lakes during the war of 1812 called attention again to the cost of transportation, and in 1818 the House directed the Secretaries of War and of the Treasury to report at the next session a list of the internal improvements in progress, and Plans for aiding them by appropriations. In the discussion upon this motion it was stated that the expense for the transportation of each barrel of flour to Detroit was not less than sixty dollars, while for every pound of ammunition and other material it was not less than fifty cents."—Hazard's Register. 2 Hear what Pistol shoots off: "Shall pack-horses, And hollow pampered jades of Asia, Which cannot go but thirty miles a day, Compare with Callers, and with Cannibals, And Trojan Greeks?" King Henry IV., Second Part, Act II., Scene 4. (The thirty mites were the roods of England.) At June sessions, 1785, appears the following record : " May 30, 1785, Received of George Hixon & Philip Brainy six pounds for Breaking Sunday by following their ordinary employment of driving TURNPIKES—CONESTOGA WAGONS—PIONEER INNS - 181 of the horse was a pack-saddle and a halter ; and the lead horse had in addition a circling band of iron over his withers from the sides of the saddle, to which were hung the jingling bells, whose interminable tinkling relieved in a kind of way the monotony of the long journeys and kept the other horses from going astray, and called the young tow-heads with their mother to the door of the cabin when they came within hearing. The pack-saddle then in use was such a piece of workmanship as any man used to handling ordinary tools could with a little ingenuity and application make. To describe it minutely in the interest of those who have never seen one of those caparisons of a past age : it was made of four pieces of wood, two of these being notched limbs ; the crotches fit along the horse's back, the front part resting upon the horse's withers ; the other two were flat pieces, about the length and breadth of a lap-shingle, say eighteen inches by five, and were to extend along the sides fastened to the ends of the notched pieces. It thus bore some resemblance to a cavalry saddle. The making of pack-saddles was a regular business, and very early there was a saddle-tree maker in Pittsburgh and one at Greensburg. A veritable pack-saddle is now almost as great a curiosity as Mambrino's helmet would be. When these saddles were used for riding, stirrups were fastened to the sides, and the saddle was held to the horse by a rope, or girth, extending clean around. Pieces of cloth and worn-out blankets were habitually put under the saddle to keep it from chafing the skin. Upon these saddles were packed in divers shapes by curious arrangement all kinds of general merchandise: Bars of iron bent in the middle were hung across, large creels of wicker-work contained babies, bed-clothes, and farming tools ; and kegs of powder, caddies of domestic spice, bags of salt, rolls of calico, sacks charcoal, and boxes of glass were thus fetched across the mountains for the use of the settlers, and pelts and roots and whiskey, when whiskey was manufactured, were sent in return. Shop-keepers from the West went down to Philadelphia and Baltimore in pack-horses through Hannas Town on Sunday loaded, for the use of the poor. " £6. 0. 0.  " MIC'H HUFFNAGLE." (N. B. The presumption is violent, that it was the fine that was for the " use of the poor," not the load upon the pack-horses.) We cannot resist the opportunity to recall the quaint words of Smollett, who has better preserved the customs of Great Britain in his novels than in his history: "There is no such convenience as a waggon in this countrey, and my finances were too weak to support the expense of hireing a horse; I determined, therefore, to set out with the carriers, who transport goods from one place to another on horseback, and this scheme I accordingly put in execution on the first day of September, 1739, sitting upon a packsaddle between two baskets, one of which contained my goods in a knapsack. But by the time we arrived at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I was so fatigued with the tediousness of the carriage, and benumbed with the coldness of the weather, that I resolved to travel the rest of the journey on foot rather that, proceed in such a disagreeable manner."—The Adventures of Roderick Random, chap. viii. squads of six, ten, or a dozen to lay in their yearly stock of goods. Members of the Assembly and members of Congress, agents, and militia officers thus traveled to the seat of government. Young men went a-courting on expeditions as dangerous as young Lochinvar's, and on such a saddle as graced the back of Petruchio's steed when he went to wed with the Shrew, or with accoutrements similar to those of Sancho Panza's placid and meek Dapple. Ordinarily riding-saddles were but pack-saddles covered with a leather covering. William Findley, our member of Congress from 1791, with sonic intermission, down to 1817, performed his journey to the seat of government on a horse which he used for the greater part of his long term. For a couple of weeks before his departure his family were busy preparing his wardrobe and arranging his outfit. Lawyers and judges passed from one county-seat to another on such saddles covered with a tow or worn-out blanket decoration, which answered for housing, cushion, and flap. The change of apparel and the money in silver specie were stowed in the ends of the saddle-bags, or rolled into a wallet and tied behind the furniture of the horse. This mode of travel continued until the State, taking the management of public roads in hand, completely revolutionized travel and traffic. For it was only when the roads, then bad in comparison with what they are now, but good as to what they had been before, it was only in their improved condition that wagon and stage conveyance completely altered the facilities for transportation, and made intercourse between the East and West safer and easier, and better adapted to the growing needs. CHAPTER XXXV. TURNPIKES—CONESTOGA WAGONS—PIONEER INNS. The State assists in making Roads—The Old Pennsylvania State Road—Its Course through the County—The Villages built along it—Conestoga Wagons and Hacks—First Load of Merchandise hauled across the Mountains—How long they were in bringing it—Cost of carrying —First Mails from Pittsburgh Eaat and West—How Papers and the Mails were delivered—First Carriages and Carioles—The Pleasure of Traveling in these Contrivances—The Felgar Road—The Jones' Mill Road—The Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike Company incorporated—The Northern Turnpike—The State appropriates Money to the Southern Route—Progress of the Undertaking—Its completion Public-Houses—Their Great Number along the Turnpikes and in the Villages—They become Famous in their way—The Old Class of Innkeepers—The Good Cheer and the Solid Comforts they offered Travelers—Homer gives some Hints as to their Signs—The Sceptre de. parted from Israel—Regrets of a Certain Class that Railroads have ever been built. UP to the time of the burning of Hannastown, 1782, many roads had been made through Westmoreland. At almost every Quarter Sessions petitions for new roads were presented and others passed on. A 182 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. list of these is inserted in the notes. 1 These roads were, of course, for the convenience of different neighborhoods, and one or two influential men could have a road from their plantation or ferry to run to some mill, to the Bounty town, or to one of the rivers. Some two prominent points were made the termini, and one of these points was usually Col. So-and-so's house. Perhaps of all the most needful requirements in this line was the necessity of getting a shorter route to a mill when those were few, and when to go and return was the journey of a day. But outside of these local roads there were some roads supported by the county rates which were used for general traffic. We think that the road which in part became the old State road was in some places used previous to its authorization by the act of Assembly, and is the road mentioned in old papers as the road " south of the Main Road." The Forbes road .was, however, still the chief road, and remained so for some years later. There were some houses in what was afterwards Greensburg before the State road was located. 1 Petitions for roads and returns, etc., commencing at January term, 1789, and ending at September sessions, 1795, taken from the Minute Book, Common Pleas, from 1775 to 1804 : Index for Return of Roads. Return of a roan from Patrick Cowan's past Hughes' old place,* March 7, 1789. Return from Greensburg to the north of Puckety. " Kelly's Fording to Greensburg. " J. Miller's to Sloan's Mill, thence to Greensburg. " A. Sharp's to the Frankstown Road. " Owens' Mill to James Stewart's. " Peterson's to Castner's Ferry. " Greensburg to Simerel's Ferry (West Newton). " Gallagher's Ford to Greensburg. " Laurel Hill to Lovinguire's Mill. " Elder's to Crooked Creek. " Saw-Mill Run to John Wright's (private). " C. Hauk's to J. Silvace's. " Iron-Works t to Pittsburgh road. " J. Macklin's to intercept Archibald road. " Roaring Run to Denniston's Mill. " Greensburg to Jacobs Creek, opposite J. Mason's. " Hays' Ferry to Budd's road. " Middle Gap to George Arnfredt's. " Campbell's Mill to intersect " Elder's road at Thomas Anderson's. " Craig's Mill to Greensburg. " Denniston's road to Shoemaker's Mill. " From Greensburg to the Broad Fording. " William Todd's to Denniston's Mill. " Lochrey's to Asa Cook's. " Newport to Philip Freeman's. " Miracle's Mill to intersect the road to Washington. " Old Place to Old Pennsylvania Road. " Congruity Meeting-House to Poke Run Meeting-House. " Light's Lane to Hays' Ferry. " Greensburg to Old Town on the Kiskiminetas River. The return of a road from Crooked Creek to Col. Charles Campbell's mill on Blacklick was headed " To the Worshipful Bench at Greensburg." June 20, 1789. Another Petition is for a road " beginning at ‘May-pole,' in the centre of Greensburg." April Session, 1789. In another petition Greensburg is styled the " Metropolis." * This road began at Cowan's house, on Budd road, and passed Nehemiah Stokely's. Width of all these roads to be twenty-five feet. † Turnbull & Marmie's works on Jacobs Creek. On the 25th of September, 1785, the Assembly passed the act which made the old State road, the road which so long monopolized the through travel, and which in its turn gave way to the chartered turnpike. This act appropriated two thousand dollars of the public money to lay. out and make a highway from the western part of Cumberland County to Pittsburgh, and authorized the president in Council to appoint commissioners to lay it out. The road was to be made in as straight and direct a manner as the circumstances would admit, to be of the breadth of sixty feet, and was to remain, for all intents and purposes, the State highway between these designated points. 2 The Council had the power to direct reviews and to finally determine the course and direction of the road. This road being surveyed and partly laid out, was confirmed in Council on the 24th of November, 1787. The part so confirmed was from the Widow Miller's spring, in Cumberland County, through Shippensburg to Bedford, but a review was ordered of that part from Bedford to Pittsburgh. By a resolution of the General Assembly of the 21st November, 1788, the executive was authorized to draw the amount of the expenses to be incurred in making the review, and by an order of the Council of the 14th March, 1789, the surveyors were appointed, who, on the 26th of May, 1790, presented their report. The wants or the West demanded the road, and where it curie along the current of the new emigration from the Eastern and Middle States to the new territories drifted along its sides. Most of the villages which became business towns of the turnpike were started at a tavern stand along the old road. The most noticeable change, however, as the effect of new emigration, was that after the settlement of the troubles arising from the Whiskey Insurrection. As cities are usually built on large rivers, so towns and villages naturally spring up along highways, whether turnpike roads, canals, or railroads. The courses of this road being very nearly identical with the turnpike, it is known with tolerable precision to most. It entered the county on the east over Laurel Hill beyond the village of Laughlinstown, and passing through the villages, as we have them now, of Ligonier, Youngstown, Greensburg, Adamsburg, and south of Irwin, passed out of the county at Turtle Creek. None of these places of the old road age had any pretension to the name of town except Greensburg. The rest were collections of from half a dozen to a score of log-cabin houses. It was on this road that pack-horses, strong wagons, and mail-hacks first ran with anything like regularity. We cannot note the change as we would desire, but, thanks to some one who anticipated the curiosity of the coming race, there has been preserved some information which, although not expressly throwing 2 The old Forbes road was sometimes called the King's highway. TURNPIKES—CONESTOGA WAGONS—PIONEER INNS - 183 light upon our road, will partly explain the state of travel. Such an innovation was considered worthy to be remembered. For although there were in 1785 five stores in Pittsburgh, and a couple in Brownsville, yet the merchandise was still brought from the East in the usual way by packers. The first load of merchandise unloaded at Brownsville from a wagon which had been loaded beyond the mountains was the event which, with good judgment, has been thought worthy of historical notice ; an event, by the way, more worthy to be commemorated than hundreds of other events which go to make up the early histories. John Hayden, the wagoner, brought out a load of about two thousand pounds' weight, with four horses from Hagerstown, for Jacob Bowman, merchant. The distance was one hundred and forty miles, and the teamster was nearly a month on the way. The route was the Braddock road. This was in 1789. At this time the Northern or Forbes road was described as being in some places so steep that great boughs of trees had to be tied as drags to the wagons, which acted on the principle of the rudder to a ship. Until some time after the Revolution all correspondence was carried on by express-riders or by casual travelers. About 1786, Mr. James Brison was ordered by the authorities at New York to establish a post from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and from Winchester to Bedford. In July, 1784, a project had been started by private subscription for a post-rider, but the project fell through. The next mail spoken of from Pittsburgh was from there to Fort Limestone and Fort Washington, Cincinnati. This was in July, 1794, when a line of steamboats was established to run from Limestone to Wheeling and back once every three weeks. From Wheeling to Pittsburgh it was to be carried on horseback. The men on the boats were armed with muskets. In the Greensburg and Indiana Register of Nov. 12, 1812, the information is given that a post-route had lately been established from Bedford to Greensburg. The post left Greensburg every Saturday morning, passed through Youngstown, Laughlinstown, and Stoystown, and arrived at Bedford on Sunday evening. Subscribers on that route then were first served with their papers by mail. To that time and much later the paper off the authorized mail-route was carried to designated points at the expense of the subscribers, and from these points distributed around. It is said that the first of the old-fashioned carriages used on our side of the mountains was one belonging to Col. Morgan, the agent appointed by Congress for Indian affairs. This must have been in the early part of the Revolution. He brought his family out in it, and for years the remembrance of it was vivid among the members of the Chartiers congregation. The honor of having first crossed the mountains in a carriage is, however, contested by Dr. Schoepf in the memorandum be has left of a visit to Pittsburgh. This Dr. Schoepf was a physician and naturalist, and having been employed as surgeon to the German troops in America, he remained in the country some two years after the war was over. He has left an interesting account of this visit in his travels, published at Erlangen in 1788, and since translated into English. He came to Pittsburgh in 1783, and on arriving in the town his vehicle was the chief object of interest to the " many well-dressed gentlemen and highly-adorned ladies" whom he encountered at the tavern.1 He says that as his " karriol" drove past lonely houses in the wilderness, its appearance created intense excitement, mothers showing their children something they had never seen before. And ask any of your oldest citizens who is native to the county, and he will tell that he recollects when there were only two or three carriages to be seen at the largest congregations at church, and when a dead body was carried to the burying-ground in a four-horse wagon, not for ceremony, but of necessity, which became formal. The wagons and hacks, called mail-wagons, used on these roads were clumsy structures to those used on the later turnpike. Every part of it had to be built on the principle of the wonderful "one-hoss shay," each part the strongest. The tires on the wheels were at first put on in pieces of about the length of a felloe, and the bed rested on huge square bolsters. Indeed, nothing else could have stood the roughness and the jolting. The old road in the valleys ran over swamps and marshes ; in the mountains over logs, stumps, and rocks, along the sides of the hills, and up and down the walls of precipitous ravines. Sometimes the wheels would fall perpendicularly two to three feet over a rock ; again they would swing sideways over the washed-out shale more than fifty yards down a precipitous hill. From the fall to the spring the roads did not have any bottom. In some of the cuts there was not room enough for two wagons to pass each other, then sometimes there was a fight. At other places the driver or the wagoner had to walk on the bank above his team, so narrow was the passage.-way. Sticking in the mud was a common amusement. A wagoner had often to spend three nights, one after the other, at the same house, being no nearer it after a day's drive than he was to the next house towards which he journeyed. So bad were the roads frequently that old persons recollect of teams having to be stabled while making the ascent of the " hogback," upon which Greensburg is built, then a miry, narrow way, now known as West Ottoman Street, but which in the first days of the town was far worse than most of the township roads now. On this road from Philadelphia and the East came those trains of emigrants who proceeded westward to the newly-opened Territories in their own convey- 1 Suppose it was Ormsby's tavern. 184 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, 'PENNSYLVANIA. ances, and with their arrangements previously made to establish little colonies. Land speculators and business men also made an important element in the travel at this time. About 1804 a through line of coaches from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, by way of Lancaster, Harrisburg, Carlisle, Shippensburg, Bedford, Somerset, and Greensburg was established, and the time occupied in going the entire distance, when it was in successful operation, was about seven days not counting the nights. In the beginning of May, 1805, the first stage-coach started from Pittsburgh for Chambersburg. Quite a crowd of curiously-inclined idlers had collected to see it roll out from the front of the tavern stand, and under the crack of the whip swing, like a miniature ship, for the East. After the turnpike was made, and in good condition, the time was wonderfully shortened. Within one generation as much progress was made in the expeditiousness of travel as was made in the next generation which saw the railroad. For some time before 1830 the time occupied by the coach lines in going from one of those cities to the other at either end of the road was from three and a half to four days and nights. The times had brought the necessity for the innovation, and enterprise had made travel by night safe and feasible. There were relays of horses and drivers at convenient distances, mostly not farther apart than about ten miles. About this time the price of passage in one of these coaches from one end of the road to the other was from eighteen and twenty dollars to twenty-two and twenty-three dollars. The freight charges in Conestoga wagons for the full length of 'the line were from three to five cents per pound. Then came a new want. The increasing numbers engaged in the carrying business and the augmenting squads of travelers must have frequent places to stop. Hence the wayside inns which were so prominent, not only in the villages, which were usually started by a public-house, but in the favoring points between. On' the old State road did St. Clair, an old man, broken with the storms of state, and suffering from the unkindness of his fellow-men, to supply the few wants of age for a few more short years, open a tavern on the most desolate part of Chestnut Ridge, between Youngstown and Ligonier, where he lodged teamsters and travelers. These public-houses did not, as a rule, however, bear any similarity to the spacious and well-attended taverns which a generation later were the boast of Western Pennsylvania. From the accelerated progress of settlement, especially after the domestic troubles of 1794, when the people, in consequence of the new invasion, were spreading out on all sides, the State was called upon to further assist by appropriating money and locating other roads. In 1805, on the representation that a road was needed from Somerset to Greensburg, and that, owing to the mountainous route, and to the sparsity of people in the region through which the road must pass, the road could not be opened by the usual way, an act was passed appropriating eight hundred dollars, and authorizing the Governor to appoint three persons to locate the road in the most practicable route between. these points.' This road when finished was largely traveled. From the top of Laurel Bill to Greensburg it was known as the Felgar road, taking this name from a family who kept public-house on the summit of the Hill. Another well-traveled road from 1809 was the Jones' Mill road, which led from Somerset to Mount Pleasant and Connellsville. About 1811 fifteen hundred dollars was appropriated for the road from the White House tavern, Somerset County, to the " Federal or National road" by way of Connellsville. But the great road of modern times in Westmoreland was the turnpike which runs through it along the line of the old villages, nearly through the middle of the county east and west. This is the road known latterly as the Greensburg and Stoystown turnpike from Greensburg eastward, and the Pittsburgh and Greensburg turnpike from Greensburg westward. Much as we would now depreciate such works of internal improvement or talk slightingly of them when placed in comparison with the magnificent railways, suspension bridges, and viaducts, we underrate them as works of utility. The turnpike, in a mechanical view, was as far from the old military road as the Pennsylvania Railroad is from the turnpike. The construction of the turnpike was, in its day, as great and as successful an undertaking as was the railroad in the middle of this century. For we must bring into account the notions then existing in reference to works of public advantage, the knowledge of engineering skill to devise, the mechanical force to execute, and the capital necessary to carry it on. Through the mountains it had deep cuts and sideings, exten- sive fills across ravines, arched culverts over the wild 1 A committee appointed by the Legislature at their session of 1790 made a long and valuable report on 19th of February, 1791, and additional reports later in the session, in which the resolutions of prior examinations and reports were embodied. The members were of opinion, among other things, that a great and general system of internal improvement should be begun and carried on by the State, and, among others, that a turnpike should be made from Philadelphia through Lancaster to the Susquehanna, as well as other roads and canals throughout the State then and there mentioned. This system of internal improvement began under the administration of Governor Mifflin, the first Governor elected by the people, and it held the State in debt for a long time. From a petition at the April sessions, 1782, for viewers to locate a road from the summit of Laurel Hill (which road had been partly open and in use at that time), "Beginning at Lanes Road, thence extending down the west side of the Laurel Hill to Captain Richard Williams' [near Donegal), thence over the Chestnut Ridge to intersect the Great Road leading from Hannastown to Broadford on the Youghiogheny, at or near Mach lin's Mill," that the road was " then already opened to the west side of the Chestnut Ridge, and had been found by experience to be of great utility not only to the Petitioners, but to those persons who had occasion to travel on the Communication from Philadelphia to Fort Pitt, either with wagons or single horses, and was calculated to be of great advantage to the inhabitants of Bedford and Westmoreland Ccunties." TURNPIKES—CONESTOGA WAGONS - PIONEER INNS - 185 streams, and wooden bridges over all the creeks and runs. The body of the road was macadamized with hard stone, and there were water tables along the sides. The history of the road begins on the 24th of February, 1806, when the Assembly authorized the Governor to incorporate a company for making an artificial road from the bank of the river Susquehanna, opposite Harrisburg, to Pittsburgh. The style of the company was to be " The President and Managers of the Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike Company." By a supplement to this act passed the 31st of March, 1807, a number of separate companies were to be incorporated in the several counties through which the road was to pass, and the route was fixed through Carlisle, Shippensburg, Chambers-burg, McConnellstown, Bedford, Somerset, Greensburg, to Pittsburgh. When the road should be completed the separate charters were to be surrendered and the companies to be consolidated into one, agreeable to the first act. Another road of much importance was the old Frankstown road, which extended from Frankstown, on the North Branch of the Juniata, to Pittsburgh. By act of Assembly 20th of March, 1787, " to establish a road between the navigable waters of the Frankstown branch of the river Juniata and the river Conemaugh," commissioners were appointed to lay out a State highway between those two points, and the route was surveyed. It ran from Armagh to New Port, west of Blairsville, on the Indiana County side, and then it crossed the river into the Westmoreland side. The road was entered and confirmed by Council 18th December, 1787.1 Early in 1800 the road was somewhat changed in its courses, after a turnpike company had been chartered, called the Harrisburg, Lewistown, Huntingdon, and Pittsburgh Turnpike Company. This was more familiarly known as the " Northern Turnpike," in distinction from the Greensburg turnpike. Its course was nearly over the old Frankstown road. In Westmoreland it ran from the Conemaugh through New Alexandria, New Salem, Newlansburg, and Murraysville. But the successful completion of both of these roads was impossible by an act of the Assembly which brought them in contact with each other. This act,2 " for the construction of certain great and leading roads," authorized the Governor, as soon as one hundred and fifty thousand dollars should be subscribed to the route which should be determined on, to subscribe three hundred thousand dollars in the stock of the company. Four commissioners appointed by the Governor, of whom Wilson McCandless and Adamson Tannehill, of Pittsburgh, were two, were to go over the route and make their report in favor of either the northern or southern route. The commis- 1 For all these authorities see acts of Assembly and minutes of Council. 2 Act of April 2, 1811. sioners reported in favor of the southern route, and the time for commencing the construction of the road was extended to three years from the 2d of April, 1811. An advertisement appeared in the Greensburg Register May 20, 1812, signed by commissioners appointed for that purpose, giving notice that the books for subscription to the stock would be opened at the house of Simon Drum, Sr., on Monday, June 3d, at ten o'clock. In March, 1816, an additional advertisement appeared, signed by the manager of the Greensburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike Company, offering contracts of some of the sections. The installments subscribed were then being paid in. This great work, which promised so much to those who subscribed to the capital stock, never paid them any dividend. It was ultimately put in sequestration, and since that time has been managed and controlled by a few who in each division hold the balance of power by having a majority of shares gathered together at a nominal valuation. The road never filled its original corporate destiny. Having said so much on the subject of roads, we shall touch upon one in every respect more agreeable, namely (as the scholastic would say), inns or taverns. The public-houses on the old Pennsylvania road, as adverted to, could lay no claim to superior comfort, nor could they offer extra inducements beyond what might be offered in many private houses. But as the roads became more and more traveled, and as the population along them increased, the public-houses became continually better. In all the bigger towns large hostelries were opened, and wherever it might be profitable commodious houses were built. The reason of this is apparent. There was a class of men who lived the better part of their time at public-houses, and this class was mostly made up of those engaged in the carrying business. The number of these was, in the winter season, augmented by the sons of the farmers, who, rigging out a team of horses, themselves took to the road. These usually at home loaded with flour or whiskey, and returned from Philadelphia or Baltimore with merchandise. They, as a set, were jovial fellows, and being free born demanded good victual for their money. But it was of necessity that the tavern should be the home for at least six days in the week of that class which was made up of professional wagoners and Coach-drivers. And it was from this that they enjoyed here as much convenience and every comfort that any house could at that day afford. Nor was there much distinction then as to the parties served. The distinction often spoken of originated between the teamsters and the coach-drivers. The coaches got to stopping at houses which were furnished in better style and which charged higher prices. The wagon-houses adhered to the old homely style, in which abundance made up for delicacy, and common manners for conventional urbanity. This greatest distinction was observed, perhaps, from 1825 to 1845, and during this time everything per- 186 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. taining to roads and houses had undergone great changes for the better. The low two-storied cabin-house with its four rooms and thatched sheds had given place to the large, rough stone, brick, or frame tavern, each with its suite of eight or a dozen rooms, its bar-room, sitting-room, dining-room, and large stables, barns, and wagon-yards attached. The scene then of a summer evening was like a picture, and truly American. The big Conestoga wagons on coming in took their places along the village street and in the yards. The long troughs which through the day hung at the end of the bed were then placed on the pole of the wagon for the horses to eat their feed from. The wagoners themselves were busied ungearing, currying the horses, carrying bundles of hay or armfuls of straw, while the dogs chased the cattle from the purlieus of the wagons. The scene was not unusually enlivened by a rough-and-tumble, heelsover-head fight at fisticuffs, in which the whole community would abet. In the noise of the feeding horses, and in the long summer twilight, on benches outside sat the resting teamsters, while the scratching fiddle in the dining-room or bar-room was the prelude to the evening's fun. There were places which had become famous as stopping-places, and where one could have plenty to eat and lots of amusement and enjoyment all night if wanted Such a place, and one of the most conspicuous, was Youngstown in its pristine days, where the situation of the village made it a natural stopping-place, and the hospitality of its inhabitants an agreeable one. Its good cheer has been made famous by pens that glided more smoothly than our own blunt quill. Our marginal reference is to Bishop Hopkins, D.C.L., Oxon., and to the historiographer of Prof. Donaldson. But it is a fact that wagoners would drive after-night to reach their old stand, and if a wheel was lost it was not considered inconvenient to trudge a mile or so to one of its first-rate inns. The improvements which have been noticed were, as all improvements are, gradual, 2 but at all times, dating back to the beginning of the century, the reputation of the public-houses was good. The farmers found a ready sale for their fruits, vegetables, and fowls to the tavern-keeper, who usually paid for them in ready cash. In some districts the bulk of the money in circulation went through the hands of 1 We refer to the "Biography of Right Rev. John Hopkins," and to the newspaper accounts of the "balloon excursion" from Pittsburgh by Prof. Donaldson in the interest of Barnum's Hippodrome exhibition. 2 The remarks of Hon. Alexander Ogle are so applicable here as reflecting popular sentiment at that day in the matter of public improvement that we give them in part. They are from Alexander Ogle's 4th of July speech. 1854, at Somerset, Pa., as reported by Dr. Elder in a little work named " Periscopics," published in Philadelphia in 1854: "Your grandmothers can tell you what a rumpus the same ninnies raised around the first wagon-road made over the mountains to Pittsburgh. It would break up the pack-horse men forsooth, and the tavern-keepers and horse-breeders would be ruined when one wagon could carry as much salt, bar iron, and brandy from Baltimore as a whole caravan of half-starved mountain ponies. But I told them then that of all people in the world fools have the least sense." the landlord. As the product was abundant the table depended on the enterprise of the host. A good table was, therefore, the best thing to advertise by. Here roasted the ham and smoked the biscuit, and waffles in the morning swam in maple syrup. Here the wayfarer got a big glass of old Monongahela or applejack for three cents ; or if he took a meal for a levy, he got a dram to wash it down and a toby cigar. Here were fiddlers always ready to play for a cornrow, and servant-girls ready to dance in a French four ; here were large bar-rooms with big grate-fires, such as Johnson and Dryden loved; long low kitchens, with its ten-plated stoves, smoky rafters, as one sees in old German pictures, and small parlors, with th black-framed pictures decorated with ferns, and the fireplace in summer filled with evergreens and furze, in the fashion of the England of the early Georges, celebrated in the verse of Oliver Goldsmith and in the prose of Joseph Addison. These taverns were known by some peculiar sign which designated them, sometimes by the name of the landlord himself, who gave reputation to the house. These signs which once graced the waysides of the public roads were peculiarities truly in themselves. You may count on your fingers all the old-fashioned signs now in the county. These were of wood, and in size about four feet by six, and hung in a stout frame, and swung in every wind. On a weather-beaten one you might make out a daub once intended for a bear, a bull, a white horse, or a black ox. Like the signs of London made classic in the Spectator, there were green cows and blue stars, red lions couchant and yellow lions rampant, all the signs of the zodiac,— "The he-goat, And the man with the watering-pot." There were animals not classified by Buffon, and owls and fowls whose species would have puzzled. Audubon. There was the black duck, the golden swan, the spread eagle, the cross-keys. There the painter had painted all the constellations which the sooty Vulcan had moulded in the forges of the immortals for the shield of Thetis' son, godlike Achilles,— "There he wrought Earth, Sea, and Heaven, There he set the unwearying Sun, And the waxing Moon, and stars that Crown the blue vault every one,— Pleiads, Hyades, strong Orion, Arctos, high to boot the Wain; He upon Orion waiting, Only he of all the train, Shunning still the bathe of Ocean, Wheels and wheels his round again. There were Washington and Lafayette, Greene and Putnam, Indian chiefs and shaggy buffaloes. Some taverns were known by the name of the town, some by the name of the county, and many by the name of the host. If the host was a professional landlord and had a good reputation, he found this a capital advertisement and a good way of drawing custom. It was THE LAST OF THE BORDER COMMOTIONS - 187 money in a man's pocket to have a name that sounded well on a sign-board. Frederick Rhorer, Sr., innkeeper from Hagerstown, was the first of a reputable family whose praises have been told by many, and the Drums, the Markers, and the Lamars had names which were as well adapted to designate a house as that of Willard or Leland, being, as it were, like Governor Panza to the island, born to it. 1 Around these wayside taverns of the old turnpike centred the interest and the excitement of the community. Here daily either some of the coaches or some of the teams stopped for a meal or to change horses, and about the yards at night were the high white-canvassed wagons filled with merchandise. The wagoners were a class by themselves distinct, and had several marked characteristics. In winter the rooms of the inns were warmed by coal-fire in large open grates, and the kitchen by either open fireplaces or those huge stoves which burnt wood by the cord. Sometimes the kitchen and dining-room were in one. If this was so the room was spacious, and was the room of the most attraction. For the tired traveler, the coachman, or the teamster, exposed from four o'clock in the morning to ten o'clock at night to the biting cold, the mud and snow of our wintry hills; nothing could equal the comfort of this room. The fires leaped gayly and cheerily up the broad chimney ; the stout cooks, the landlord's daughters, and the hearty daughters of the small farmers round were busied in every preparation that could increase the inclination or satisfy the taste of the hungry. A poor tavern it was in which food was not furnished in abundance, and where the landlord and the landlady did not show an obliging disposition. The house soon fell in repute and was deserted, and the more enterprising landlord carried business away. While the domestic arrangements were directly under the management of the women, the landlord himself was either enthroned in glory in the tap-room or carrying his portly body about the wagon-yard. From night to morn, from morn to dewy eve, was the door of the tap-room open. The common custom of drinking and the habit of association always drew a share of people to this part of the house with ever-increasing desires. Here collected songsters, and even 1 The following opinion of this worthy class of citizens was passed by a contemporary. It is from H. M. Brackenridge's "Recollections of the West:" "I should be guilty of a glaring omission, even in this unshaded outline of by-gone days, if I were to pass in silence that portion of my townsmen who possess so much influence in a land of equality and freedom. I allude to that class who furnish us with militia colonels and generals, and members of Congress, or who contribute most to make them, who do the honors of the town and keep up its reputation for hospitality, although not quite disinterested. I allude to the publicans and sinners. The landlords or tavern-keepers are, in reality, the only lords we have in Pennsylvania; they possess a degree of intelligence and respectability of character which justly gives them an influence dans la chose publique, which very little corresponds with that of mine host in the country of John Bull, which may account for the good jokes of British travelers on our keepers of public-houses, in respect to their political and military importance" poetasters, braggarts, bullies, and loafers. How potent the effect of these places and their influence we have abundance of testimony. The epigrams, the flashes of wit and merriment that were wont to set the table- in a roar, the jests, the songs of the hard cider and coon campaigns, the tales of the wayside inn are all now things of the past, and are a part and parcel of Vanity Fair. Before the advent of railroads and speedy travel, which knelled out the old inn system, taverns were recognized as being the most desirable place to while away idle time and enjoy comfort. "Can I not take mine ease in my inn ?" was the indignant question not admitting of answer of the ingenuous old boy Falstaff, and no less were the ponderous Samuel and the dainty Pope frequenters of the London coffee-rooms. And to those old persons who constantly take advantage of the present by comparing it with the past, and who will never be happy till the old-fashioned stagecoach be again on the road and the cars are entirely done away with, to those it is a source of the utmost satisfaction to recall the times when these villages of the old turnpike were in their early glory ; when, as they declare, labor and pleasure went hand in hand ; when every town had one place of amusement for both the stranger and the countryman ; when fiddling was an accomplishment ; when everybody danced ; where the story-teller had the best seat nearest the fire ; where even the scullions and stable-boys came in for a share of the fun, and were bountifully fed and well clothed ; when, in short, in the language of a great historian, the rich did not grind the faces of the poor, and when the poor did not envy the splendor of the rich. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE LAST OF THE BORDER COMMOTIONS. New Boundaries of the Purchase of 1784—Emigration of Westmorelanders—Harmar's Campaign—His Defeat—St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory—His Campaign and Defeat—Indians attack Frontier Settlers of Pennsylvania—Condition and Extent of the Frontier of Westmoreland and Allegheny—Unprepared state of the Inhabitants—Westmoreland Militia—The Prominent Men of that Period—The State organizes Rifle Ranges—Appropriations for the Western Counties by Act of Assembly—Government of the United States called on for help—It responds and enlists Men—Correspondence from and between Officers and Military Men relative to the state of Affairs, and giving Statements at length of Indian Depredations—Particular Incidents—Capture of Charles Mitchell, murder of his Mother, and an account of his Captivity with the Cornplanters—The Episode of Capt. Sloan, Wallace. Hunt, and Knott, in their Tour of Observation in the Western County—Sloan in command of Fort Hamilton—His able and successful Defense of that Post—Presque Isle—The laying out of the Town and of the Road along the Allegheny River resisted by the Indians at the instance of the British in Canada—The State takes Active Measures to enforce the Laws—Militia called out from Westmoreland and the other Counties for this Service—Last of the Indian Troubles in Westmoreland. SINCE the treaty of 1768 the boundary line of the Indian purchases in the western part of Pennsyl- 188 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. vania ran from the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to its source, thence in a straight line to Kittanning, thence down the Ohio to the limits of the State. The last treaty held with the Indians at Fort Stanwix took place in October, 1784. The commissioners at this treaty purchased the residue of the Indian lands within the limits of the State, and the deed signed by the chiefs of the Six Nations is dated Oct. 23,1784. Thus was the whole right of the Indians to the soil of Pennsylvania extinguished. This last accession of land, as we reminded you, was called by the whites the " New Purchase." When the land office was opened in 1785 settlers rapidly flocked up the West Branch. On the 8th of April, 1785, the previous boundary line between Westmoreland and Northumberland was definitely ascertained, which until that time had been uncertain, owing to a misconstruction of the Indian names mentioned as points in the description of the ceded lands in the former purchase. The emigration, which had begun towards the close of the Revolutionary war, was now onward accelerated. One cause of the great migration which took place during the closing years of the war, and for some years succeeding, was, first, the obvious intention of those who were tired of war to escape from military service, and, second, to be exempt from the payment of taxes, which were now becoming a burden, and for the payment of which money was uncertain and dear. In these times many families left Western Pennsylvania for the new territory opening up along the Ohio. Others, who had borne the brunt of the frontier. times here, headed the colonies or belonged to them which went up the rivers in the region of the " New Purchase" and there settled. Thus in that section are sometimes to be found descendants of men whose names are frequently met with in our early history, but whose connection with our history entirely ceased with that era. In Eastern Ohio especially are the descendants and the connections of many Westmorelanders. From the very nature of the early American settlements and colonies, the foremost of these settlers were in continual contact with the savages. The line of the frontier likewise from time to time became thus changed, for as these settlers were now collecting along the rivers of the new territory in the contiguous west, that part of Pennsylvania which lies north and west of the Allegheny and the Ohio had very few occupants prior to 1792 or 1793. It was somewhat different on the eastern side of the Allegheny, but at the date designated the settlements even there did not extend far back into the wilderness, and not far north of the Kiskiminetas. The cracking of the rifle of the pioneer was therefore heard in the far West, but our own frontier north and west of the Kiskiminetas was in 1791 and 1792 (the time of Harmar and St. Clair), almost as much of a hostile frontier as it was at any time during the border wars of the Revolution. We would not be justified in taking notice of these border wars (as they are seemingly local) but for the fact that our own people were at that time forming colonies and making settlements to the northwest of our county limits like bees building to the hive. Indeed, our county did directly feel the misery of that time as well, as we shall see. To have a conception of the sufferings of these people, not only during the Revolutionary war but later, and to understand how these affairs culminated in their final deliverance, one must study local events and the general history together. To preserve anything like a consistent narrative we mug constantly follow up the course of public affairs, and in doing so advert to the share Westmoreland had in them, reading as we would a text-book, with constant reference to marginal notes. For instance, the troubles of 1774 would be uninteresting to us if we were in ignorance of the battle of Point Pleasant; Connolly would not be a noteworthy personage had it not been for his connection with Dunmore ; Clarke's expedition would have no relation to our history only in this, that Lochry and his men died in the far West trying to join him to protect the lonesome women and their crying children along the Sewickley and the Loyalhanna ; nor would we be justified in dwelling upon the horrid murder of the Moravian Indians but that the sequel of that slaughter is to be seen in the burnt houses, the waste fields, and the weeping captives that went out at the burning of Hannastown. Soon after the close of the Revolution a number of circumstances combined to largely augment the settlement of the western parts of Virginia and Kentucky, as well as those adjoining the Ohio River. But notwithstanding this the depredations of the Indians continued. They failed to obey treaties made with them, particularly the treaties of 1786 and 1787, and they made incessant attacks upon the emigrants into those regions. In 1787 the Secretary of War ordered detachments of troops to be stationed at different points for the protection of the people within that region, which was now governed directly as a Territory of the United States. In 1789 a block-house called Fort Washington was erected and garrisoned by United States troops on the site of Cincinnati, where a few settlers had erected cabins in the year previous. It seemed to be an important point, and towards the close of the year Got Harmar, of the regular army, arrived with 300 more regulars, and with them occupied the post. This was the point at which the Indians from the Northwest crossed the Ohio to ascend the Licking River, whence they made their attacks upon the outskirts of Kentucky. " The old war path" from the British garrison at Detroit along the Maumee and the Miamis to the Indians in the south passed here, THE LAST OF THE BORDER COMMOTIONS - 189 and into this Indian highway other paths entered from all directions. Harmar established forts in various directions through the territory of Ohio, and with his small force, frequently reinforced by the militia of the frontier, carried on an ineffectual war. But the depredations of these continuing, the government determined to trifle no longer, but to put such a force under Harmar and give him such authority in the premises, that by one effective campaign the power of the Indians should be broken and the tribes scattered. In 1790 a call from Harmar brought to his standard 1133 militia with competent officers from Kentucky, —that is, from the western territory below the Ohio River. His force in all amounted to 1443 men. His campaign was directed towards the Indian villages about the head-waters of the Little Miami. From the towns there he struck across the woods for the Great Miami, where Piqua now stands, and marching forward came to where Fort Laramie was afterwards erected, a location about seventy miles southeast of Fort Wayne. At this point many Indians were discovered early in the morning viewing his camp. They did not attack, but it was evident they were on the watch for a favorable opportunity of doing so. Among his effective forces there was a battalion of militia from Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania, and Virginia, under command of Col. Hardin and Maj. James Paul. From here Hardin and Paul with six hundred volunteers preceded Harmar and the rest of the army to some Indian villages a distance ahead. They arrived here on the second day out, and found the town deserted, and the traders' houses and the wigwams in ashes. Four days afterwards Harmar came up. As it was apparent that the Indians had but recently left, Hardin with two hundred and ten men was sent out to overtake them. At a distance of six miles the Indians lay in ambush along a defile. When the whites had well entered this defile, the Indians rose up and so successfully made their attack that the troops who remained to fight were completely surrounded, effectually cut off, and either killed or captured. That night the savages held a war-dance of exultation over the glory and success of the day, and rejoiced greatly in the misery and sufferings of their prisoners. Harmar had concluded to return to Fort Washington, and had actually begun his march, but on receiving word that the Indians had again taken possession of the town, he ordered a halt, and directed Hardin and Maj. Wylls with three hundred a ad sixty men to find out the enemy and fight them. They returned to the site of the principal town, and expecting to fight them openly, regarded their forces as sufficient. Soon a small body of Indians appeared, and the volunteers by alert motions fired upon them, when they broke into smaller parties and scattered in differ- - 13 - ent directions. They were pursued by the volunteers, who also broke into small parties. By this stratagem, a large part of the volunteers were delayed in a vain pursuit, and the regulars were left alone. At this point the Indians, the main body of whom were concealed in a favorable position, rose from their hiding-place and with their hand-weapons fell upon the regulars. These fought well and met death bravely, but in the end the Indians were masters of the field. Nor could they be attacked after with any advantage, which Harmar knowing, marched the army back to Fort Washington. He had left the fort on the 30th of September, and arrived there on the 3d of November, 1790. He had lost nearly two hundred men and half his horses. The army was disconcerted, and the people were dissatisfied, and although as a matter of history there has been no reprehensible blame attached to the commander, who deserved a more fortunate fame, yet his disastrous expedition has since that time to this day been known as " Harmar's Defeat." Among those who were with Harmar in 1790 with the Pennsylvania Volunteers, and who is favorably mentioned by Harmar in his official report, was Col. Christopher Truby, who was in command of the Pennsylvania militia. He owned a portion of the land upon which Greensburg was laid out. He lived long after this campaign to take an active part in civil concerns. His body lies in the old German burying-ground at Greensburg. But the unfortunate defeat of Harmar was followed by the more unfortunate one of St. Clair, on a tributary of the Wabash, whither .he had led a large force with the expectation of utterly destroying the savages. This defeat was suffered on the 4th of November, 1791. For a more extended account of the history of the Northwestern Territory during the time it was governed by Arthur St. Clair, which time embraces the history of his expedition against the Miami Indians, we shall, for the present, refer to our sketch of the life and services of that personage, wherein, as more proper, we shall recall some mention of those Westmorelanders who there fell. From the time of Harmar's defeat till the hostiles were finally silenced by Gen. Anthony Wayne in 1794, our northern frontier was exposed to frequent incursions, and was the scene of repeated raids and of some bloody massacres. Wayne's victory led to the Greenville treaty of 1795, when the Indians removed farther to the West, As to our own county proper, there did, prior to this, not appear to be anything in the public state of the frontier to create alarm or apprehension. Six or seven years of peace, such as the people of the interior portion of our county experienced from 1783 to 1789, had dispelled all thought of extra precaution for defense, as it had taken away all, the visible necessity for it. So when the outbreak of the savages oc- 190 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. curred as the natural result of their successful battles over greatly superior forces, and the result as well of an active combination and a new confederation of tribes, our settlers north of the Kiskiminetas and northwest of the ,'Allegheny were left without a regular body of organized militia, and without any places of refuge or defense worth mentioning. When the result of Harmar's campaign became known, some of the most observant of our leaders gave warning; but the people had got used to alarms and rested in apathy. The State government was even appealed to, but the men like Campbell and Guthrie, who continually spoke out, were called bawlers, such as yell loudly at fires and do not help to put them out. Campbell was our county lieutenant at that time, and in 1791 he had called out a company of militia for the defense, which company was taken along with St. Clair. Findley complains that the people were convinced they had nothing to expect from him, either by way of his industry or attention, but Findley and Campbell were not on the best of terms. John Irwin, acting for the county lieutenant of Allegheny, who at that time was in the East, says 1 that the gentlemen of Westmoreland were unnecessarily alarmed, as that up to the middle of 1791 only three murders had been committed within our borders, although fourteen persons had certainly been killed in Allegheny. But it was not long till Findley himself was alarmed as well as the gentlemen from about Pittsburgh. The truth is that those from that post made application to the Secretary of War for extra arms and ammunition, and they had less thought about the unprotected settlers up in the Armstrong region than about themselves. But it was considered unsafe to attempt an immediate settlement beyond the Allegheny, in a country exposed to the inroads of a subtle and vindictive enemy, whose mode of warfare was peculiar, and whose approach was often in secret and could not be guarded against by common precautions. In the year 1792 only two persons, Charles Phillips and Neal McGlaughlin, are known to have resided on the northeast side of the Ohio with the intention of making settlements.2 In 1794 no settlements were made across the Ohio and Allegheny. Early in March, 1795, a few individuals removed with their families to the vicinity of Fort Franklin, Cussewago, and Craig's Station, but none settled at a distance or detached from the garrison. It was totally unsafe to remove families into the interior of the country till 1796, when settlements in general took place. 3 By an act of the Assembly of March 17, 1791, the sum of four thousand pounds was appropriated for the defense of the western frontiers of the commonwealth. In 1792 the government was empowered to 1 Penn. Archives, Second Series, vol. iv., 668. 2 Reports Supreme Court, Fourth Dallas, 221. 3 Ibid., 209. engage three companies of riflemen for the protection of the posts, and a further appropriation was made for that purpose. Some time later three more infantry companies were authorized to be raised and stationed for the protection of Westmoreland, Washington, and Allegheny. In 1796 it was unsafe for families to cross the rivers into the lands purchased by the State in 1784. 4 4 FROM "PAPERS RELATING TO THE DEFENSE OF THE FRONTIERS" FROM 1790 TO 1791 (PENN. ARCHIVES). From Col. John Wilkins to Governor Mifflin. "PITTSBURGH, 31 March, 1791. " . . . The Indians have committed considerable depredations on the people living on the west side of the Allegheney River, which has caused our frontier people, for an extent of fifty miles, to fly. They have abandoned their farms, their stock, and their furniture, and fled with the utmost precipitation. The Indians have killed one man and carried off three people prisoners within five miles of this town, and they have killed nine persons within twelve miles... ."—Penn. Arch., Seed. Series, vi. 665. Lieut. Ernest, of the Federal Artillery, to the Secretary of War. "FORT PITT, 10th April, 1791. " . . . Mr. Jeffries informed me . . . the contractor's boat having been stopped on its passage to Fort Franklin by the militia of Westmoreland County, on account of there being friendly Indians on board who assisted in navigating her up the Allegheny. These Indians were part of Cornplanter's party who had with them the presents they received from Congress and State of Pennsylvania, which was taken from them and exposed at public sale. The party that did this mischief was under the command of Maj. Guthrie, of Westmoreland."—Penn. Arch., Seed. Series, vi. 659. [All of which gives rise to the observation that the militia of Westmoreland might have been better employed at that particular time.] From William Findley to Secretary Dallas. "APRIL 29, 1791. " DEAR SIR. - I have just time to inform you by post that yesterday morning the Indians attacked the house of James Kilpatrick, on Crooked Creek, and killed two men and broke a child's leg, etc.; the people, how- ever, supported the house. There were six militiamen stationed at the house, and nine, I understand, at a house in the neighborhood."—Idem, 660. [See elsewhere this matter recounted at length, and prominence given it for the zeal of Mr. Kilpatrick in scalping the dead Indian for the bounty, the same that was at the killing of the child (for it died). Crooked Creek is near Kittanning]. John Scull to Governor Mifflin. "PITTSBURGH, May 12, 1791. . . . I take the liberty of inclosing you a Pittsburgh Gazette, which contains some account of the depredations of the Indians, and since publishing which I have received an authentic account that two men were taken on Sunday last about six miles from the Allegheny, in Westmoreland County, and about twenty miles from this place."—Idem, 663. From Maj. John Irwin to Col. Clement Biddle. " PITTSBURGH, May 12, 1791. . . . Your letter of the 8th April, by Mr. Dunwoodie, with an inclosed Invoice of Military Stores. A certain Mr. William Todd, of Westmoreland County, ten miles from Greens. burg, has taken the liberty in the name of the County Lieutenant to take possession of the whole; how he is to account to Government for his conduct the Governor may judge. . . . [This William Todd was colleague of Findley in the Constitutional Convention of 1790-91, and was his neighbor. . . ] We have got perfectly easy on the subject of Tomahawking and Scalping, as it happens every two or three days."—Idem, 663. Estimate for Defense of Frontiers. " AUG. 6, 1791. "Estimate of expenditures for defense under act of Assembly &c., 1791, April. Sent to Westmoreland, Allegheny, and Washington, 40 quarter-casks powder, bags, etc. ; 88 muskets and accoutrements, flints, &c.; 42 rifles; 5 cwt. lead." THE LAST OF THE BORDER COMMOTIONS -191 The active forces of Westmoreland during this frontier trouble were embodied in militia companies at first, and subsequently in rifle rangers, which were stationed most of the time at the, forts and blockhouses along the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas. The officers mentioned are John Guthrie, William Cooper, Samuel Murphy, John Sloan, William Jack, George Smith, Alexander Craig, and William McDowell. The assaults of the Indians were, however, not carried on in bodies, but they made innumerable incursions from many directions. Many were murdered and many taken captive. The inhabitants finally were compelled to resort to the old method of Indian fighting, and these, forming themselves in companies under the command of their most noted scouts, made themselves feared by their enemies. Hence it is that we cannot convey much of an, idea of the state of the county at this conjuncture, only by taking it in detail. We preserve a few of the most noteworthy instances of captivity and of bravery, upon which the opinion of the reader can be formed, after having seen the extracts which we give from the correspondence of the day. But, as we said, we should not be misled in anticipating the settlements which were afterwards of Westmoreland to the north. With the exception of the few families that were within sight of the blockhouses along the Armstrong side of the Allegheny, there were very few north of the Kiskiminetas. The best authority for this is the opinion of the justices of the Supreme Court in their adjudication of complex land claims. Capt. Torrence to Governor Mifflin. "FAYETTE COuNTY, Aug. 10, 1791. . . . Since my last General Rich. ard Butler called the County Lieutenants of Ohio, Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette to a consultation for the protection of the frontiers in the absence of the Federal troops, which was to be drawn off the 5th instant. We agreed that 300 militia should be kept up. . . ." Col. Campbell to Governor Mifflin. " GREENSBURG, August 13, 1791. In Consequence of your Letter to me directed, of the Nineteenth of May, 1791, I Ordered, by Draught, a full Company of Militia of this County to guard the froonteers untill such Time as the General Government would Grant them Protection, and as soon as a part of Coll. Gibson's New Levies was sent on our Froonteers, I went to Major John Clark of the New Levies, who Had the command of the Troops in our County, and Wished to have the whole of the Militia of the County discharged. But as the men under His Command was not sufficient to guard Butch an Extensive Froonteer, He Wished Me to Continuo fifty of the men. . . . I then Agreed with the Lieutenants of Washington, Fayette, and Alegany Counties to furnish for my Quota to guard the Froonteers seventy-five men to give Protection To the froonteers of Westmoreland county, whitch I expected would have been Sufficient, But upon finding the Enemy to be so Hutch On Our froonteers, and so Constantly a stealing of Horses, But Bath not yet Done Other Damage, But often seen ; and as I found one Company of Men was not Sufficient to give Protection to so Extensive a froonteer, I Ordered to their Assistance one L't and twenty-five men, and with The Whole of them it is as match as I can Get the froonteers Inhabitants Not to Break up. I will .do Everything in My Power to give Sattisfaction to the froonteers and Not to let them Move from their Stattions. I Have appointed John Deniston Contractor for the Westmoreland County Millitia, and is to see him Paid Eight Pence Pr Ration on the account of the Stations being so small. I expect you will order the Expenses to be Paid to William Findley, Esq'r, as my Charecter Is At Stake for the Punctual Payment of the men and provisions. . . ." But not only was the government of Pennsylvania appealed to for assistance by the foremost men of the western counties of the State, but the government of the United States as well. On the 10th of March, 1791, the Secretary of War, Gen. Knox, inclosed a letter from his department to the lieutenants of Washington, Allegheny, and Westmoreland Counties, in which he informed them that the President of the United States authorized them to embody, at the expense of the United States, as many of the militia as was necessary for the defensive protection of the respective counties. The rangers to be called into service in pursuance of that authority were to be upon the same establishment of pay and rations as the troops of the United States. In December of 1791 the inhabitants of Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, and Allegheny Counties, through their regularly appointed committees, presented a memorial to the Governor of the State, Col. Charles Campbell, and John Young, Esq., signing on behalf of the county of Westmoreland. In this paper they laid before the Governor an extended statement of the condition of these frontiers, and stated what occurred to them to be the most speedy and effectual mode of preparation for any emergency. They conceived that eight hundred efficient men, under experienced officers, good partisans, and armed with rifles, were not too many when the extent of the frontier was considered. They also asked for a quantity of arms and ammunition to be distributed among the county lieutenants.' As it was not possible to get enough men to volunteer, either in the service of the State or of the United States, to go beyond the confines of their own immediate settlement, the draft was enforced under the act of Assembly, and those drafted during the summer and fall of 1791 were put to garrison duty in the block-houses and stations along the Allegheny River. The rangers, or the militia of the State in service and under pay, were changed from time to time, but these for the most part were inside the lines of the more remote frontier, which was guarded, as we said, by the drafted militia. The outpost duty forced upon the Westmorelanders was not at all attractive, and their officers found many reasons to offer the authorities of the State on the side of the county as against those who thought the frontier of the State able to take care of itself. Col. Charles Campbell, in his uncouth manner of expression, spoke out in language which, although not classically elegant, or even strictly grammatical, was filled with good common sense. In a letter to Governor Mifflin, in January, 1792, he says,— " So I have still to Keep out some men to Guard, Whitch is Very Distressing to Our County to Guard It self and Stand As a Barrier for the Interior Parts of the State, when we Were Always Willing to give Our Assistance when required. In the time of the Late War With England our Militia Starched into the State of the Jersey to Assist Our fellow 1 Pa. Arch., Second Series, iv. 672 192 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Citizens when In distress, And I would be Of the Opinion We have the Same Undoubted Right from those of Our Own State At least."1 Under the act to provide for the immediate defense of the frontier, the general militia law in some respects was suspended, and instead of drafting in classes from the militia, experienced and active riflemen, wherever they could be obtained, were enlisted, and the officers to command them were appointed immediately by the Governor. They were enlisted for six months instead of two, and the pay was liberally estimated by the price of labor, and not by the military allowance established for the troops of the Federal government as theretofore. The time of this service began on the 1st of March, 1772. Three companies of these ranging riflemen were engaged, each company consisting of seventy-six men. Of these the third company was stationed at Kittanning, and was under the inspection and management of Col. Clement Biddle. John Guthrie was captain, William Cooper, lieutenant, Samuel Murphy, ensign, all of Westmoreland. Maj. George McCully, in a letter to Col. Biddle, dated at Greensburg, 31st of March, 1792, says,— " Capt. Paul, with a beautiful company, marched from Pittsburgh on Wednesday, the 28th, to cover the southwest frontier of Washington County. "Capt. Smith with his company (wanting six privates) are over the Alleganey, scouting with as many as are armed. I cannot send them to their stations until the camp equipage arrives. Ensign Murphy marched on Thursday, 29th, with twenty-eight men of Capt. Guthrie's company, completely armed, to join some who had been sent out before to cover the frontiers of Westmoreland County. "I am now at Greensburg, on my way to the frontiers of Westmoreland, and shall hurry Capt. Guthrie out with the remainder of his company, with all possible haste." In the summer of 1792 these troops, regularly officered and under the appointment of the State, were divided into eight parties or stations, and placed at proper distances on the frontier. A garrison was kept up at Fort Crawford, at the mouth of Puckety Creek, and part of Capt. Guthrie's men were there. In May a party of Indians, about forty in number, attacked Reed's Station, on the Allegheny River, about four miles below the Kiskiminetas. They killed one man and a child, wounded a soldier of McCully's corps, and took a woman and some children prisoners. Ensign Murphy was stationed near that spot.2 On the 22d of May a party came upon William Cooper's station, near the mouth of the Kiskiminetas, and attacked it. They killed one man and wounded one. They did not stay any longer than to take or murder a family within about three hundred yards of the block-house. They then penetrated into the settlement about fifteen miles and killed, wounded, and took prisoners about eleven persons, took about thirty horses, and burned a number of houses. They stayed in the settlement five or six days. 3 1 Penn. Arch., Second Series, iv. 689. 2 Presley Neville to Governor Mifflin.—Archives, iv. 720. 3 Col. Campbell to Governor Mifflin. It was in this raid that the Harbison family were taken. These Indians kept the course of the Kiskiminetas, separating into small squads of five and seven. Many narrow escapes were made from them. At one plantation as far up as above the mouth of the Loyalhanna, they went boldly to the stable and fields and took out horses, killing one which proved unruly, and took off the rest without disturbing the family, who were trembling within. 4 William Findley, in a letter to Secretary Dallas at that time, says,- " Hannastown is now the frontier, and they have erected block-houses at Greensburg. Denison's (New Alexandria) is the frontier. You will perceive by the map that Westmoreland is now desolate to near the centre, and the rest much disturbed." In a letter of a few days later date, he says that "Col. Pomeroy, one of the beet and trustiest officers on this side of the mountain, is now out with six companies of militia. The Indians have improved in the art of eluding pursuit; they always separate after doing mischief, and go two-and-two in every direction, keeping generally to the dry ridges, and at this season the woods are very close, and the country is very broken. A few mornings since the beds of two were found in a meadow near Loyalhanna, the dew not being off; they were trailed to a dry ridge. I am just now informed that a child is found scalped and a number of horses missing six or eight miles within the settlement, north of Conemaugh." Enough has been produced from the records and from responsible individuals to make a presentation of the times to the reader. These things occurred between the time of St. Clair's defeat and the successful expedition of Gen. Wayne. The government of the United States, with the co-operation and assistance of the militia forces of Kentucky and the Northwestern Territory, were busily arranging for this campaign, and when Wayne -began his operations the Indians, partly through necessity and partly by the concentrated and well-organized force which danger had succeeded in establishing and made effectual, were compelled to desert the borders of Pennsylvania, and gather to the villages of the confederate tribes in Northern Ohio. After Wayne's victory they were heard of no more in Westmoreland. Here belongs a few narratives, the last of the " adventurous age" of American history, with which we close the individual incidents of Indian warfare with our settlers of Westmoreland. About the year 1792 a party of Cornplanters which had penetrated into the settlement past the outposts while most of the frontiersmen were out and had left their homes unguarded, came down as far as the lower part of Derry township next to the Loyalhanna. It was long currently reported in that neighborhood among the descendants of the old settlers that this party first came to a man by the name of Cleckhorn; that Cleckhorn, in order to save his own life, told them of the defenseless family of Mitchell ; that he saved his life by so doing ; and that afterwards, when this thing came to be known to the others, he lived a miserable life amongst them, and finally was com- 4 William Findley to Secretary Dallis, June 1, 1792. THE LAST OF THE BORDER COMMOTIONS - 193 pelled to sell his place and remove from there to the West, where he died. We pass over this charge and will relate what is known as a matter of fact concerning the escape of ,Susan Mitchell, the captivity of Charles, and the death of their mother. The Mitchell family lived on the bank of the Loyalhanna, neighbors to Capt. John Sloan and the Allisons. Their clearing was about two miles east of now Latrobe, and on the Ligonier Valley Railroad. The family were among the first settlers, having taken up their land before 1773. The father of the house was dead, and the mother with her two children still .lived on the farm. On the morning the party of Indians came in the boy and girl were in the stable-loft together. The Indians were attracted to them, but the young ones somehow had knowledge of their coming soon, after they were in sight, for the boy attempted to escape. He ran from the stable towards the creek in order to cross it. The lad was about seventeen years of age. The Indians, of whom there were possibly three or four, all ran after him and caught him. While they were in pursuit of him Susan, the sister, who remained in the stable, came down out of the loft, got into the horse-stall, and hid herself by crawling under a large trough used for feeding the horses in. She lay very still, and although the Indians searched for her they did not find her. They went to the house where Mrs. Mitchell was and took her along. t They began their journey back, such being their way when a party like this one had secured a couple of prisoners or scalps at a dash. They had not traveled any great distance and before night set in until they found that Mrs. Mitchell was unable to keep up with them, and scarcely fit to travel in ,their way at all over the rough ground. They could not leave her alive, that was plain ; so a couple of them fell back with her, and the rest went on with Charles. The party ahead soon after this stopped for the evening and kindled a fire. While they were here the others who had loitered behind came up, and one of them had with him the scalp of the murdered woman. He proceeded to stretch it out on a bow made for the purpose, and to dry it over the fire in the presence of the boy, but without discovering any sign of concern. The party together proceeded northward, and ing worthy of notice occurred till they came to the Mahoning Creek in Armstrong County, where they struck the tracks of two white men at where their course led across a low, wet swampy piece of ground. The tracks of the men before them led off to one side on a ridge. Charles Mitchell and the Indian who was with him saw the two men at a distance, and the boy recognized them. The one was Capt. John Sloan, and the other was Harry Hill, both of them from the same neighborhood he was from. There was at the time light, sticky snow on the ground, and Capt. Sloan, who was a large man, left a big track with his moccasins. It was, indeed, so big that it was a matter of astonishment for the natives. One of them pulled out his ramrod and measured it in length and in width, and when he had done so he exclaimed, with a broad grin on his heroic countenance, "Great sawarick ! great sawarick !" by which we suppose he meant something like " great warrior." " Yes," said Mitchell, " that is the big Capt. Sloan, the great Indian-fighter." The crafty and cowardly wretches were by this prevented from making an attempt to capture these or to fight with them, for they avoided the tracks and did not follow them along the hillside. When Sloan and Hill themselves came down off the ridge to the river, they in their turn came upon the tracks of the party which preceded them, and saw among them the tracks of the white boy, their prisoner. They talked over the prospect of success if they should get to the front of the gang and waylay them, as they were unsuspected. They would have attempted this had it been only a matter of safety to themselves, but they were apprehensive of the fate of the captive should their attack be unsuccessful. Mitchell was taken to the town of the Cornplanters, and was adopted among them by a squaw, who took him in place of her son lost in the war. This woman he called mother, and following their customs from necessity, he obeyed her. He remained with them and subject to her order for some three years. He helped the squaws to do their work, which specially was to hoe the corn and gather it in. He afterwards complained that they sometimes worked too late, frequently after nightfall ; and although they all did so, his adopted mother always made him hoe one more row before he quit. At the end of his three years' apprenticeship he was either exchanged or liberated, when he returned to his home, settled on the old farm, married, and raised a respectable family. Although he endured great hardships and saw many horrid things among them, and especially the dreadful death of his mother, which never possibly could have passed from his mind, yet he, like Harman, could never be prevailed upon to speak ill-favoredly of them, nor could he tolerate any one else in so doing. 1 The captivity and the incidental sufferings of Massy Harbison, who was taken prisoner after St. Clair's defeat, and who resided at that time within the county, was so popular with those who danced our infancy upon their knees that almost every one versed in the Indian lore of the West recollects something of it. Some information regarding the condition of the outer settlers, the location and the instincts of the Indians who infested our northern woods at that time, may be gotten from her account, which we have elsewhere given. 1 Mitchell used to relate among other things, of the novel manner the Indians had of crossing the Susquehanna when they came to it and found it uncomfortably or dangerously high. They got a long pole or sapling, and this they rested upon their shoulders and held to it with their hands. Two of their strongest, and presumably their surest-footed, were at the two ends; and it is readily seen that the common safety would thus be reasonably assured. 194 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. To this time, too, are referable some instances of murders and captivities in Ligonier Valley, and in the region of the Black Lick, in Indiana County, preserved among their tares and penates. As applicable at this place we may bring in the adventures of some Westmorelanders in the far West. Both instances show of what mettle the men were of and both instances are as fully authentic as the best attested ones of their class. In the fall of 1795, Capt. John Sloan, his nephew, John Wallace, and two others, named Hunt and Knott, all hardy young men and fond of adventure, formed themselves into a company to explore part of the western country, and tb make a tour of observation. They were neighbors, as it went then, and lived near the Loyalhanna, in Derry township. They set out after some preparation, taking with them two horses and some provisions ; and when their store of provisions became lighter, they walked and rode time about. They had a strong desire to see the Miami country, of which there was so much talk, and went direct for Fort Washington, the site of Cincinnati. That region from this point was a journey of some days farther to the northwest. They proceeded, however, and encamped at night on the banks of the Big Maumee. The next morning they continued on. As they took their turn at riding, it was now Knott and Sloan's time to ride. These were upon the horses when they were fired upon by a large party of Indians who were hid in the path. Knott fell from his horse dead. Sloan was shot through the left side, a ball also going through his shot-pouch. Hunt and Wallace ran for their lives, but Hunt was taken by them without getting off. Wallace was pursued by the pack, but he kept ahead of them till, running at full speed, he tripped on a root and fell headlong, when his gun slipped from his grasp. Sloan had secured the horse from which Knott fell, and notwithstanding his severe wound, still kept upon his own. When Wallace regained his feet he called to his uncle not to leave him. Sloan waited on him. When he came up he tried to get up on the horse's back, but was so exhausted that he fell back. His uncle, Sloan, then took his gun, and holding it and the horse's head, waited till Wallace climbed up. By this the Indians were close upon them. The horses under the excitement galloped off on the trail, and soon left the Indians behind. Then, after they were on their way, Sloan, " like another Lancelot," noticed the blood trickling from his wound down his horse's side. They headed for Fort Washington, which they wished by all means to reach, but they knew of Fort Hamilton, which was somewhat off their way, but between them and the former. Besides this, Sloan said they felt in duty bound to stop there and warn the garrison. They directed their way thither, and in no long time entered this fort. There they stayed that night and related their adventure. But they were especially anxious to get to Fort Washington, where medical assistance could be obtained for Sloan. The next morning they were to start, but on opening the gates they saw. that the fort was surrounded by Indians. There were said to be many hundreds of them there. At that time there was but a very small and inefficient garrison at this post, there being in all only twenty men, women, and children, while their commandant was a young and inexperienced officer. The Indians, knowing the feeble state of the garrison, and presuming that no defense could be successfully made, demanded their surrender. The officer in command said to Sloan that he could not hold the fort, and told Sloan that if he thought he could make a defense to take command and do what he thought best. Sloan then, having thus been empowered to talk on the subject, went up to the top of the fort and engaged in a conversation with their leader. He talked by the medium of an interpreter. Close beside the interpreter stood-Hunt, the companion of Sloan, who had been taken the day before, and he, too, pleaded with Sloan to give up the fort, for the reason understood that if the Indians did not accomplish their object their prisoner would be tortured. But Sloan told them a nice story of how they had plenty of provisions and ammunition, and how they would soon have a reinforcement to join them, assuring them at the end that they did not propose to surrender at all, but to fight. Then he stepped down. The next moment they all fired, and the Indians set up their war-whoop, a sign of no quarter. The firing continued all day, but without any effect, for the Indians kept at a good distance, and the whites were well protected. At night an attempt was made to fire the fort, but it was not successful. There was a stable at some distance, where the horses were kept and near which the cattle were fed. During the siege an Indian took Sloan's horse from here, and putting on his head the cocked hat which Sloan had lost the day before he rode in a circle around the fort far enough away to be out of danger, and when the Indians went off they took all the horses with them, and what cattle they had not killed and eaten they shot and left lying. During the fight an Indian got pretty close to the fort by keeping under the shelter of a corn-crib, where, remaining under cover, he kept up a vigorous fire whenever he saw anything to shoot at. Sloan watched this one attentively. He himself had taken a position near a port-hole, and as his side was troublesome he had a man to load the gun and pass it to him as he needed it. It was at length apparent that the Indian wanted to retire. To accomplish this he pushed betimes the muzzle of his gun beyond the covering, that some one expecting him to show himself would fire at him. Sloan fired ; the Indian, as it was expected he would, jumped out, but by this time Sloan had his other gun ready which he also fired, when the Indian fell over dead. This one was too close to the fort to be taken away by the rest, and he was left THE LAST OF THE BORDER COMMOTIONS -195 lying there. All the hostiles finally withdrew, either fearful of reinforcements coming up from the other posts or led away with some other object in view. When they had gone Capt. Sloan went to the Indian whom he had shot, and finding in his belt a scalping-knife he lifted the Indian's scalp. His hair was strung full of beads. Hunt, their companion, was never heard of. Sloan and Wallace, after remaining at Fort Washington, whither they went, for a time, returned home.' PRESQUE ISLE. On the 28th of February, 1794, the Legislature passed an act for raising soldiers for the defense of the river Delaware and of the western frontiers. At the same time efforts were made towards the laying out of a town at Presque Isle, in order to facilitate and promote the settlement with the commonwealth, and to afford additional security to the frontiers. Prior to this Governor Mifflin had sent to Capt. Ebenezer Denny a commission, giving him the command of the Allegheny company ordered to protect William Irvine, Andrew Ellicott, and Albert Gallatin, who had been appointed commissioners to lay out the town ; for the same object a post had been established at Le Boeuf. But the English were fixed in their opposition to the opening of the road to Presque Isle, and instigated the Indians to resist the attempt. On the 24th of May, Governor Mifflin applied to the President to order out one thousand militia from the western brigades, raised for the frontier defense, to support the commissioners who were authorized to lay out the towns. The brigade inspectors of Westmoreland, Washington, Allegheny, and Fayette accordingly made a draft for that number to co-operate with Capt. Denny's detachment under command of Gen. Wilkins. Although active preparations were made for carrying out the intentions of the Legislature, an act was subsequently passed to suspend the laying out of a town at Presque Isle, and it was not until the 18th of April, 1795, that all difficulties removed, the same body authorized the laying out of the towns at Le Bceuf, at the month of the Conewago Creek, at the mouth of the French Creek, and at Presque Isle. The Indians having taken up the hatchet again, made some dashes upon the exposed settlers along the rivers. We have in the notes attached given sufficient data for this matter, and need not further advert to the subject here. 2 1 This is from the account given by Capt. Sloan's son, John Win, Jr., to Rev. Sharrad, of Steubenville, Ohio, in 1871. Capt. Sloan did not remain in the West, but came back, and was subsequently elected sheriff of this county. He suffered from his wound till he died. lie produced this scalp on many public occasions, and I have seen persons who saw it on such occasions. (See local history of Derry township.) 2 Charles Campbell to Governor Mifflin. "GREENSBURG, June 5, 1794. "SIR,—I Received your Letter of the 24th of May, in Regards of stopping of the draught for the Support of Presqu'Isle Station, whitch These Indian troubles were the last in which the frontier settlers of our county were engaged ; and these were borne mostly by those along our northern line, or of that part which is of Armstrong and Northern Indiana. Along the Ohio below Pittsburgh, and along the Allegheny County line, the people in this seemeth mulch to alarm the froonteers of our county, as it discovers to the Indians that we are not able to Maintain that Post. The thirtieth of May the Indians tired on A Cannoe in the Allegany River between the Mouth of Kiscumenitus River and the Cattanian : Killed one man and wounded Two. The evening of the same day, they fired on A Boat that Left my Place to go to Keaintuckey, about Two Miles Below the falls of the Kiscumenitus, Killed three Persons and wounded one, whitch was all the met, that was in the Boat. The Boat then Drifted Down the River till About Twelve Miles above Pittsburgh with the wounded man and the women and Children, when they were seen By some Persons who went to their assistance, and Took the Boat to Pittsburgh. The froonteers seemed to he Mutch Allarmed at Sutch unexpected News and the Signs of Indians seen on the froonteers. I Consulted with General Jack, and we Agreed to Order Captain Elliot, of the Rifle Company, on the froonteers, until Sutch Times as I could get An Account from you, to Know if would meet with your aprebation, as it will Be Impossible to keep the froonteers from Breaking unless Being well imported; and if once the one that now makes the Stand Breakes, I Believe it will be Hard to get Any other to stand as well, as it will give so much Encouragement to the enemy, ast it Cannot Be Expected that the friendship of the Six Nations will now be Confided in. I Could wish to do Everything in my power for the Benefit of the Publick and the safety of the froonteers. I Remain your Obedient Humble Serv't, "CHAS. CAMPBELL." Gen. William Jack to Governor Mifflin. " GREENSBURG, June 11, 1794. "SIR, - I beg leave to lay before you a statement of the information I nave received of the hostile disposition manifested by the Indians on our Frontiers. " On Friday last, in the morning of the same day, a canoe was fired on above the mouth of Kiskiminetas, in the Allegheny River, by which one man was killed and two wounded. On the same day, in the evening, Capt. Sharp's Boat was attacked in the Kiskeminetas River, near to Chamber's Station (having just set off for Kentucky), by a party of Indians, supposed to be twelve in number. There was but three men and one boy with the boat when Attacked, and the savages kept up a constant fire on the boat while she kept drifting down the river. It appears that one man and a boy was killed, one made his escape, Capt. Sharp supposed to be mortally wounded. The boat, with some women and a number of children, miraculously got to Pittsburgh. By a letter just received from Colonel Charles Campbell, he informs me that the Spies had made a discovery of a large trail of Indians on Pine Creek, above the Kittanning, who appear'd by the track to be making for the settlement. By another discovery of the Spies, it appears that three Canoes, with six or seven Indians in each, has crossed the Allegheny River at the mouth of Puckety, in consequence of which, the settlement of Pine Run is broken up, And a very general alarm excited on the frontiers. " Several parties have turned out voluntarily to intercept the enemy if possible, and fur the security of the frontiers, bust as these are not regular Drafts, it is not to be expected they will remain out more than a few days. There is great reason to believe the Indians are of the Six Nations, and that the frontiers will of course continue to be constantly harrassed. By the best information, it appears that many, even of the frontier Inhabitants are destitute both of Arms and Ammunition, and that a supply at this place would prove extremely useful for the use of such as turn out on occasional Scouts. "Waiting your pleasure and Direction in the premises, I remain your Excellency's " Very Humble Servt. " WM. JACK. " HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS MIFFLIN, ESQUIRE." For the Westmoreland Company to operate with Capt. Denny, John Sloan was captain, John Craig lieutenant, and James McComb ensign, by commission from the Governor. James McComb resigned, and Stephen Mehaffy was commissioned in his stead, on the recommendation of Charles Campbell, then brigade inspector of Westmoreland. 196 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. latter disturbance as in the former war were in great affliction and dread. There were some reprisals made, prisoners were taken, and children kidnapped even in the extreme lower end of Ligonier Valley, but such things were only possible at a time when they were not looked for. The inhabitants of Central and Southern Westmoreland were comparatively safe, and were at peace sufficiently to countenance those who in Washington and Fayette about this time were evading the payment of the excise on whiskey, and banding together to tar and feather the collectors of the revenue. This civil commotion will be the subject of some succeeding remarks. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. Excise—Hatred of the Scotch and Irish for the Law—Inequality of the Tax—Effort made by ths State to Collect the State Excise in 1785— " The Devil" comes for Collector Graham at Greensburg—Act of Congrsss levying a Tax on Distilled Spirits—Regulations made for its Collection—First Meeting in Opposition to the Law—Johnson, ths Collector for Allegheny and Washington, tarred and feathered—No Place for Officers to be had in Westmoreland snd Washington in 1792 —Office opened at Greensburg and abandoned—Meeting held at Pittsburgh in 1792—President Washington issues a Proclamation—Wells, Collector for Fayette and Westmoreland, attacked in his House—He opens an Office in Philip Reagan's House in 1794—His Son and Reagan fortify the Premises—They are besieged by a Large Party—They capitulate—Capt. Webster, Excise Officer for Somerset, taken and compelled to give up his Commission— Government Metre serve Process upon Delinquent Distillers— Neville and the Marshal driven away after serving the Writ on one Miller, near Peters Creek—A Party demand the surrender of Neville's Papers—Neville's House defended by a Party of United States Soldiers, who Fire upon the Mob—Their Commander, Macfarlane, is killed—The Excitement increases—Gathering of the Rabble and Militia at Braddock's Field—They want to attack and burn out the Government Officers and the Friends pf Law—Brackenridge prevails upon them to cross the River—The next Day they disperse—Volunteers and Regulars called out by the President—Commissioners appointed to go to the Scene of the Trouble—The Army at Carlisle—Commissioners appointed by the Delegates at Parkinson's Ferry confer with the President—Commissioners on both sides hold a Confersnce—Committees meet at Redstone—The Committee pass a resolve to take the sense of the People on the question of submission to the Laws upon the Terms proposed by the United States Commissioners—The Returns Unsatisfactory—The President orders the Army over ths Mountains—Change in the Sentiments of the People—Meetings held all over the Country—Report of the Meeting held at Greensburg—Resolutions—The People subscribe anew to the Tests—The Army withdrawn—Trial of the Offenders—Effects of the Insurrection on Westmoreland— Biographical Sketches of Participants and Documents bearing on the Insurrection.   THE sedition known in history as the Whiskey Insurrection in the four western counties is of such a universal character as to be precluded, in itself, from a local history, and the only business we have in considering it is to localize it, touching upon the connection the people of Westmoreland had therewith. In attempting, however, to do so we must outline it, and notice its origin, its character, and its termination. Of the four counties in which this sedition held its sway, the one which was the last in it, and was perhaps ultimately benefited the most, was ours.   Excise, so odious to the English people both on the islands and in America, differs from any other species of raising tax-money or revenue in this, that while direct tax is upon land and landed property, and tariff is an import duty exacted on foreign importations, the excise is a specific form of taxation levied upon the products of domestic manufacture, and collected either at the place where the product is produced or where it is first exposed on sale. Thus from necessity its collection demands a system of surveillance and of espionage on the labor and industries of the people, and it was considered among the peasantry of Scotland, long before the time of Burns, that to kill an exciseman was such a noble deed as would. cover a multitude of sins.'   If the Scotch and Irish brought anything with them to this country, it was a hatred of the excise system of England. Brackenridge, under the guise of satire, has pointedly presented the cause of some of the political troubles which, towards the close of the last century, agitated Western Pennsylvania. He has summarized many instances where the antipathy against institutions of the mother-country are to be traced to their source in Britain herself. Thus the prejudice against the excise tax was a prejudice which had been engendered in Ireland and in Scotland, and which, through many causes, not only from oppression, but from bigotry, ignorance, and obstinacy, drew the people along openly to resist the collection of the revenue.   This region, as we have noted, was specially adapted to the production of grain, and there was at that time nothing produced which was marketable but ginseng, beeswax, snake-root, and whiskey. It is true that some trappers on the Laurel Hill could, by living on mush and -milk and bear-meat, get something of a revenue from wolf-scalps, but what was marketable had to be taken over the mountains or two thousand miles down the rivers. The inequality of this excise tax was apparent. Judge Veech puts it thus : that while improved land in Westmoreland could be assessed at five dollars per acre, and in Lancaster at fifty dollars per acre, a percentage of taxation might be fair, but a tax of seven cents per gallon on whiskey made on Chartiers was one-fourth its value, while if made on the banks of the Brandywine it was perhaps less than one-eighth its value. William Findley, a man of eminent sagacity, in a letter to Governor Mifflin in November, 1792, says plainly that the injustice of being obliged to pay as much excise out of two shillings, with difficulty procured, as other citizens better situated have to pay out of perhaps three times that sum, much easier obtained, comes home to the understanding of those who cannot comprehend theories.   Under the confederation the appropriation of Pennsylvania for the allowance to the army, under an act   1 See Burns' poem, "The dell danced away 'wi' the Exciseman."   THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION - 197   of Congress of 1780, remaining unpaid, an effort was made about 1785 to collect some of the fund still remaining unpaid out of her excise law of 1772. The execution of such laws had met with violent combinations among the inhabitants of neighboring States, and the Pennsylvania law met with great opposition, especially west of the Alleghenies, and there is no evidence that the excise law was ever paid in that section. The excise tax not being collected, gave occasion to the eastern part to grumble, for in June, 1785, a collector by the name of Graham was sent out. With much trouble he collected some in Fayette County, and a little in Westmoreland. But when he was in his hotel at Greensburg, in the darkness of the night, he was called to the door by a man in disguise, who stated to him that he was " Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils," and that he had called for him to hand him over to a legion of lesser devils who were outside awaiting. With some assistance he managed to escape their clutches. He tried to prosecute a man of the town, in whom he thought he recognized the "devil," but the man proved an alibi. Thence he passed over into Washington County, where he fared worse. His pistols were taken and broken in pieces before his face, his commission and papers were thrown in the mud and trampled upon, and he himself forced to tread upon them. They clipped off the hair from the one side of his head, cut off the cockade of his hat, reversed it, shaved his horse's tail, and thus, in the midst of an increasing crowd, started him towards the county line. As they proceeded they called on all the still-houses by the way and treated him gratis. On the border of Westmoreland he was allowed to go free, with many threats if he returned.   This State law was repealed, and the people scarcely looked for it again, but in 1791., Congress passed a law levying a tax of four pence per gallon on all distilled spirits. The members from Western Pennsylvania—Smiley, from Fayette, and Findley, from Westmoreland—stoutly opposed it. They knew the feelings of their constituents in this matter. With them they had consulted, and they but expressed the unanimous sentiments of their people, and upon their return were heartily indorsed. Albert Gallatin, who was evidently impressed with the grievance, also opposed it with all his influence. After the law was passed it was with some difficulty that any one could be found willing to accept the office of inspector in the western district, the measure was so unpopular. 1     But suitable regulations were made to secure the collection of the revenue. The districts were apportioned, and inspectors appointed for each. The distiller was to furnish at the nearest office a description of his buildings, which were always subject to examination for the. purpose of official visitation.   The first public meeting in opposition to the en-   1 Act 3d March, 1791. The tax was reduced, and the terms considerably modified by the law to take effect with the fiscal year of 1794.   forcement of the excise law was held at Redstone, July 27, 1791. Then and there it was agreed that county committees should meet at the county-seats of the four counties of Fayette, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Washington. On the 23d of August the committee of Washington County passed some resolutions and published them in the Pittsburgh Gazette to the effect that   "Any person who had accepted or might accept an office under Congress, in order to carry the law into effect, should be considered inimical to the interests of the country."   It also recommended to the citizens of Washington County to treat every person accepting such office with contempt, and absolutely to refuge all kind of communication or intercourse with him, and to withhold from hint all aid, support, or comfort.   Delegates from the four counties met at Pittsburgh on the 7th of September, 1791, and passed severe resolutions against the law. The character of the men who countenanced these measures and who were at the head encouraged the rest, and from this mutual co-operation the uprising was spontaneous and general.   Benjamin Wells, of Fayette County, was the collector for the counties of Westmoreland and Fayette, and Robert Johnson, of Allegheny, for Washington and Allegheny. There was no inspector for either Westmoreland or Washington. Wells, according to the character given him by Addison, was a contemptible and unworthy man, whom the people of the county would not wish to see in any office of trust. Johnson was said to be an honest man, of inoffensive manner and good nature. Johnson's office was about nine miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Wells' office was at his residence, nearly opposite Connellsville, on the southern bank of the Youghiogheny. These were the only two offices prior to June, 1792.   On the 6th of September, 1791, a party armed and disguised waylaid Johnson near Pigeon Creek, in Washington County, tarred and feathered him, cut off his hair, and took away his horse, leaving him to travel on foot in that condition. The man sent by the marshal with process against the presumed offenders was seized, whipped, tarred, and feathered, his money and horse were taken from him, and he was blindfolded and tied in the woods, where he remained five hours.   In May, 1792, some material modification was made in the law. The rates were lowered a little, and distillers were allowed to take and pay for monthly instead of yearly licenses, but the penalty for non-entry was raised from one hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars.   All efforts to get places for offices during the year 1792 in. Westmoreland and Washington were unsuccessful. Wells undertook, in June, 1792, to have an office at Greensburg, and another at Uniontown. The one at Greensburg was soon abandoned, without much business having been done at it. Neither did   198 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.   he attend at Uniontown, so the distillers, presuming that lie did not mean business, after waiting for him, went home. For a while all was quiet in the " survey," the name by which the district was known to the internal revenue department. Some distillers near the designated places for entering had of their own free will entered their stills, and some quit the business. But there being no offices in two of the largest counties of the survey, perhaps two-thirds of the distilleries were exempt from taxation. The people of the Washington County region who chose not to return their stills shipped their product off by way of the Ohio, but the Youghiogheny and Monongahela borders were under surveillance.1   On the 21st of August, 1792, a meeting composed of some of the most influential men of that day in all Western Pennsylvania was held at Pittsburgh, in which were passed resolutions in which they expressed it to be their duty to persist in their remonstrance to Congress, and in any other legal measure to obstruct the operation of the law, and a committee of correspondence was appointed to correspond with other committees all through the different counties. On Sept. 15, 1792, President Washington issued his proclamation exhorting and admonishing all to desist and refrain from all unlawful combinations and proceedings tending to obstruct the laws.   The time for entering the stills was fixed for the month of June of each year. The month of entry for 1793 was approaching, and the question was to get offices and officers. The inspector gave notice on the 1st of June in the Gazette that offices for entries were opened at his own house; at the house of Johnson, in Allegheny ; at Benjamin Wells' house, in. Fayette ; and at Philip Reagan's house, in Westmoreland. Secretary Hamilton, in his report, which has been the text for many historians, says that he was unable up to 1794 to establish any office in Westmoreland and Washington, and it is to be inferred that Philip Reagan's house was not used till the time the officer sat there to enter the stills in the following year, 1794.   This man Wells stuck to his collectorship with as much pertinacity as the gentleman of the same name stuck to the destiny of the returning board down in Louisiana. He was publicly insulted and abused whenever he made his appearance, and even at times, while he was away from home, his family were annoyed and exposed to bodily fear. In April, 1792, a party in disguise attacked his house in the night, he being away, and threatened, terrified, and abused his family. On the 22d of November they again attacked his house in the night, compelled him to surrender his commission and books, and required him to publish 'a resignation of his office in the papers within two weeks, under penalty of having his house burned.   1 Veech, See. History.     In June, 1794, John Wells, a son of Benjamin Wells, and deputy collector for Westmoreland, opened an office at a private house which he bad secured previously. This office was in the half-part of a double log house owned by Philip Reagan near the Big Sewickley. Wells put this branch office under the care of this son, John Wells, and Philip Reagan himself. These men appear to have been of some courage, and they knew full well the feeling of the community, and what might be expected. They therefore converted the house into an old-time block-house, with port-holes and door and windows which could be closed. They also secured a number of men and a supply of arms. During the month of June they withstood several night attacks, one from a very numerous body of armed people. The party outside fired upon the house for some time, and the firing was vigorously returned from those inside- It is not known that any injury was done on either side. The besieging party then set fire to Reagan's barn, which they burned, and then they withdrew. In the course of a day or two one hundred and fifty men returned to renew the attack. The two parties parleyed for a while, when Reagan proposed to capitulate provided they gave him honorable terms and assurances that they would not molest his person or destroy his property. He promised to give up his commission and never again to act as exciseman. These stipulations were agreed to and put in writing. Reagan then came omit and treated them with a keg of whiskey. After some of them had got drunk they said that he had got off too easily, and that he should be set up as a target and shot at. Others were for giving him a coat of tar and feathers ; but others saying that he should be allowed to go unmolested because he had behaved as a man, gave occasion for a fight which took place among themselves. After this it was proposed and carried that Reagan should be court-martialed, and that they should go right away to Benjamin Wells' office, in Fayette County, and catch him and try him and Reagan together. They then set out to accomplish what had been proposed, but when they arrived at Wells' house he was not there. They set fire to it and burned it to the ground with all its contents. They left a party to watch in ambush till Wells returned, and then to capture him. During the night Reagan escaped, and Wells being very submissive and the potent effects of their debauch having passed away, they let him off.   The next attack was made on Capt. Webster, the excise officer for Somerset County, by a company of about one hundred and fifty men from Westmoreland. They took his commission from him, and made him promise never to act again as collector of excise. Taking him with them for a few miles, during which time he was submissive in the extreme, they made him, before releasing him, mount a stump and hurrah three times for " Tom the Tinker." This term, Tom the Tinker, had come into popular use to desig-   THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION - 199   nate opposition to the excise, and it was assumed by the insurgents themselves. Brackenridge traces its origin to a certain John Holcroft, who made the first application of it at, the attack on William Coughran, whose still was ea to pieces. This was called mending the still; the menders were tinkers, and the name in a collective sense became Tom the Tinker. Advertisements threatening prominent individuals, admonishing or commanding them, and signed by Tom the Tinker, were put upon trees and in conspicuous places, and menacing letters were sent over the same signature to the Gazette, with threats against the person of the editors if they dared refuse to publish them. At Braddock's Field the exclamations were, "Are you a Tom the Tinker's man ?" and " Hurrah for Tom the Tinker."   The flame of this uprising spread with an infatuation almost incredible. For a time the voice of reason could not be heard, nor dared scarce be uttered. 1 The minister was only orthodox who took the side of the people, the lawyer was only popular who defended the rabble when accused, and no man of property felt himself safe if he knew of the least suspicion against him. The populace at first were instigated by such men as Gallatin, Findley, Smiley, Bracken-. ridge, Cook, Young, Cannon, and Ross, and then led by such as Bradford and Holcroft.   In June, 1794, the excise law was amended by Congress. The people, however, desired its absolute repeal, and indeed demanded nothing short of it. It was therefore high time that the government should meet the sedition with some opposition. Indictments were found against a few as rioters, but they had the ablest lawyers at the bar of the Western circuit to defend them, and a jury who could not agree. At the same time process issued against a number of noncomplying distillers in Fayette and Allegheny. The processes requiring the delinquent distillers to appear in court arrived in the West in mid-harvest. The District Court was held at Philadelphia. The marshal executed his process in Fayette, and in Allegheny he had served all but the last. In the company of Gen. Neville he went, on the 15th of July, 1794, to serve this writ on a distiller named Miller, near Peters Creek. This gave occasion for the first general outbreak. The appearance of Neville, whose official position had made him particularly obnoxious, incensed the men about the fields to such a degree that they, with arms in their hands, pursued the two men for a distance. One gun was fired, but with what intent is not known.   On the day when this occurred there was a military meeting at Mingo Creek for the purpose of drafting men to go against the Indians. This place was seven miles froth the inspector's house. The report of the attack on the marshal and the inspector was carried to this meeting, and on the following day about thirty   1 Findley's letter to Secretary Dallas.   men appeared before the marshal's house and demanded the surrender of his papers. This was refused, and firing commenced. On a general discharge of guns from the negro quarters about the house, for they were all armed, some five or six of the insurgents were wounded, one of them mortally. Upon this the news spread that the blood of a citizen had been shed in the cause of the people, and a call was made on all who valued their lives or their liberty to assemble at the Mingo Creek meeting-house. Thereupon a large number assembled there. Three men among them were appointed to direct the expedition, and Maj. Macfarlane, an old Revolutionary officer, was chosen to command the armed force. A squad of United States soldiers had been sent out to protect Neville's house. The insurgents surrounded the house. Then a parley took place. They again demanded the surrender of Neville and his commissions. But Neville was not there. The women and children were allowed to withdraw from the house, and when this was done. the firing began on both sides. When they had fired promiscuously for some time, Macfarlane, the commander of the insurgents, stepped out from behind a tree to confer with Maj. Kirkpatrick, who was in command of the regulars. He had no sooner done so than a ball struck him. He died immediately. The barn and the outhouses were set on fire, and Kirkpatrick and his men were allowed to retire.   The death of Macfarlane increased the excitement. The rabble could not go backward. The post-boy, carrying the United States mail, was waylaid by two men within a mile of Greensburg. The mail-bag was broken open and rifled of its contents. From the headquarters of the insurgents Bradford and others issued circular letters to the colonels of the several regiments, requesting them to assemble their commands at their place of rendezvous, fully equipped with arms, accoutrements, and provisions for four days. From here they were to march to Braddock's Field, so as to arrive there on Friday, the 1st of August. In many instances the order was promptly obeyed. Within three days a vast and excited crowd, numbering not far, as it is well reported, from sixteen thousand, was brought together. Many of the companies had arms. Some were there through inclination, some through fear and from necessity, some from curiosity. Bradford was chosen commander-in-chief, Edward Cook was one of the generals, and Col. Blakenay officer of the day. Bradford proposed to march for Pittsburgh, to take possession of the town, and wreak their vengeance upon such of their enemies as Neville, Gibson, Brison. and Kirkpatrick. When it was seen that it would be useless to oppose such leadership, Cook and Brackenridge (who was along) assented, and urged them to go there by all means. The rabble could not well resist the directions of Brackenridge ; he was possessed of wonderful tact and volubility, was one of the first lawyers in the State, and had defended