50 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. see a red-faced, sandy-haired hunter, under the influence of spirits, quote Scripture, and be ready the next minute to defend his argument with his fists, or, as we would conventionally say, "put a head upon" his neighbor.: Such a One Would, when later the missionary supplies came round, once or twice in the year, take up his position under a tree in the woods, and sit for three hours without moving a muscle, listening to long prayers, prosy psalms, and endless sermons. In these remarks we do not, we are sure, paint highly, but rather with a sparing hand show faintly what we believe the truth, with due regard to them, to our neighbor, and to ourselves. Such were the great majority of the early settlers of our county, such their characteristics, and such is a shadowy outline of the moral and social standing in the time immediately preceding and embracing the formation of our county. But in 1769 and 1770 not only were the settlements of Gist, Crawford, and Stewart, south of the Youghiogheny, augmented in numbers, but the settlements along the Cheat River and about Wheeling, which had been begun before Braddock's campaign, were again renewed. A fort was erected at the present site of Wheeling, which through the subsequent troubles became a centre for that portion of the country. The early tide of emigration, before the opening of the Pennsylvania office, was directed, as we have said, to what is now Washington, Fayette, and Greene, and to the adjacent regions southward. These emigrants all came out on the Braddock and Burd roads, and carried their goods and movables on the backs of packhorses. One great inducement was the nearness of Fort Redstone and Pittsburgh, but a more accountable and still stronger reason that this region was settled yore our county proper was the ease and the facility with which the title to land could be acquired from Virginia. The desire for land was all-prevailing, and that colony passed no further restriction to the settlement of her new territory than was necessary to avoid the confusion of claims. The fee in land could be gotten for a mere trifle ; indeed, it came to be that the mere occupancy, with insignificant improvements, was recognized as a right. And a right sanctioned by usage and recognized by that colony was the tomahawk right, which right, it is true, conferred or passed no legal title in the first instance, but was acknowledged, for the benefit of squatters, as a kind of right de facto, and came to be—so strong is custom—recognized as valid, and so decided by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The Penns sold for five pounds per hundred acres ; Virginia at ten shillings per hundred acres, and that without the present payment of the money. Each colony allowed a pre-emption right by improvement and cultivation and actual residence where and when there was no interference with a prior claim, official grant, or survey, and the settler could postpone the payment until he had perfected his claim. But thes privileges were confined to Southwestern Pennsylvania, and while the majority of those settlers in th Forks of the Yough held under Virginia, yet on th opening of the land office in 1769 rights were granted in this triangle and along Chartiers Creek by th Penns. Thus, under the impression that they were settling in Virginia territory, this region began to be filth, up before there were many settlers north of the Forbes road or the Conemaugh. It is true that the! early were some squatters in Derry township, an even, somewhat later, a few along the Indian pat from Ligonier to Kittanning, as far up as Black Lick in Indiana County. In 1769 the first settlement be been made at the forks of the Conemaugh and Black Lick, and probably near the same time Moorhead and Kelly commenced improvements near the present town of Indiana, and these are considered among the first settlements in that county. 1 The tide coming out on the Forbes road and the Braddock road still kept along the rivers. From Pitt burgh it crept along the Allegheny northward, and no long time nearly all the lands in what is now t southern part of Armstrong County were own( Pittsburgh was slowly improving. Some houses h been built outside the fort after the peace of 1763. At that time it comprised about a score of log cabins down next the river. In 1765 it was laid out in streets. In 1770 it is described by Washington as a town of about twenty houses. As late as 1784, Arthur Lee, giving an account of the small town at the Forks of the Ohio, states that the inhabitants were mostly Scotch and Irish ; that they lived in paltry log houses; that they were as dirty as those in the north of Ireland, or even Scotland ; but that there was a great deal of trade carried on, they taking in their shops money, wheat, flour, and skins. Within a few years after this part of the State was opened the English authorities concluded that the people must take care of the selves. The old Fort Pitt, which had been erected 1759 by Gen. Stanwix, had been, up to this time garrisoned by Royal Americans, and held under the military regulations of the British army. In October 1772, orders were received by the commandant at Fort Pitt, Maj. Edmondson, from Gen. Gage, commander- in-chief, to abandon the fort and dispose of the material. This was done accordingly, and the post was not held by a military force thereafter until taken possession of by Connolly in 1774. Gage will be remembered as the officer who led the advance against the Fort Duquesne under Braddock. But no sooner were those settlers fixed securely, no sooner were they brought in contact with each other than they felt those wants which are called the blessings of civilization, and which civilization only brings in its train. The series of counties ending with Bed- 1 See history of Derry township, infra. WESTMORELAND COUNTY ORGAN1ZED—COURTS ESTABLISHED, ETC. - 51 ford had been of slow growth, many years having elapsed between the selection of each one. It is alleged that the secret of this slowness was the wish to retain political power in the three old Quaker counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester, which aggregately had a preponderating influence in the Assembly. But, on the other hand, it would appear to have been of the policy of the proprietaries to establish a county government west of the Laurel Hill over their new purchase as soon as convenient, for the advantage of both the Province and the settlers. As early, therefore, as 1770 efforts were made to organize a new county out of the western part of Cumberland. Petitions being presented to this effect, the county of Bedford, with Bedford Town as the county-seat, was organized in 1771. CHAPTER X. WESTMORELAND COUNTY ORGANIZED—COURTS ESTABLISHED, ETC. Justices for Bedford County exercise jurisdiction over the Westmoreland part of the County—Great Distance to the County-Seat—St. Clair as Penn's Agent—Petitions-for a New County—Westmoreland County erected by Act of Assembly and organized—Courts authorized and Officers named—List of the County Justices in the first Commission —The first Court—County divided into Townships—The first Grand Jury—Constables and Supervisors appointed and Inn-keepers licensed—The County Offices and Officers—St. Clair the first Prothonotary, etc., and James Brison his Clerk—Huffnagle, St. Clair's Successor, secretes the Records of the County—John Proctor the first Sheriff—Officers returned—Election Districts. IN May, 1770, Arthur St. Clair, William Crawford, Thomas Gist, and Dorsey Pentecost were among the justices of the peace appointed for that portion of Cumberland County west of Laurel Hill ; but it would appear that these justices left no trace of the exercise of their official functions. When, on the 9th of March, 1771, Bedford was erected over Southwestern Pennsylvania, Mason and Dixon's line was recognized as the southern boundary, but no attempt was made to reach beyond the Monongahela. There were some resident justices appointed, the region west of the Laurel Hill was subdivided into townships, taxes were assessed, and roads were laid out. But all accounts go to show that among the disorderly and turbulent regular combinations were entered into to resist the laws, that the justices of the peace were openly contemned, and that deputy sheriffs were beaten off. Although some roads were made and some indictments preferred against offenders, the authority of the justices was too feeble, and it was too far from the seat of power to make the county jurisdiction efficacious. Bedford Town was a hundred miles front Pittsburgh. The stream of emigration still continued unabated. At this time there was a growing desire to settle along the Ohio southward, and under the patronage of Virginia Boone and Harrod were threading the wilderness of Kentucky. Pittsburgh became a point from which supplies from the East were sent by river to the Southwest. Many emigrants stopped here, so that it now bore the aspect of a town, and was indeed the first place west of the Alleghenies where civilization and the arts sat enthroned. And besides the filet that all the inhabitants, both those about Pittsburgh and of our own county proper from beyond the Youghiogheny, were compelled to go to Bedford to transact business of law, and to have such affairs settled as fall within the purlieus of legal arbitration, there was a question in dispute which was not settled till long after, and which now impelled the Penns to have a watchful eye on the boundaries of their Province. The influx of emigrants from the Virginia side and the attitude of her Governor no doubt hastened what otherwise might have been delayed! We mean the erection of our county, for we have reached the date when, circumstances concurring, its construction was deemed a necessity. Preparatory to this many of the special friends of the Governors were especially favored, and, judging as directly as we can from presumptive evidences, we are assured they were sent out to manipulate in the interest of the proprietaries. Arthur St. Clair, who had served in the French and Indian war under Gen. Wolfe in Canada, marrying in Boston, and leaving the British service, on coming to Philadelphia got in the good favor of John Penn. He was a magistrate of Cumberland County, and when Bedford County was organized was appointed the first prothonotary to their courts. He acted likewise as mediator between the authorities and the restless tribes, and had much influence over these; they not imputing anything dishonorable to He was indefatigable in his services to the Governors, and kept them informed in the affairs of the western portion of the Province. So in 1772, only three years after the opening of the land office, when one would suppose the first settlers scarce had their houses warmed, petitions were in circulation all over the country west of the Laurel Hill praying for the erection of a new county, telling the wants and disadvantages they labored under, and clamoring that justice be brought to their own doors. In the beginning of 1773 the Assembly took the matter into consideration, and in due time, all arrangements having been perfected, it passed the organizing act, and the Governor proceeded to name its officers, which was his right, ex officio. The time, therefore, had now arrived, and the act by which the county of Westmoreland was legislatively established was passed the 26th of February, 1773. The first section of the act set forth that as it was represented to be necessary by the petition of the signers, inhabitants of that part of Bedford County lying west of the Laurel Hill, a new county be established, the county was thereby created and named Westmoreland, the bounds of which began at where the most westerly boundary line of the Youghiogheny 52 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Myer crossed the boundary line of the Province; thence down the eastern bank of the river till it crossed Laurel Hill, which it followed northeastward till it runs into the Allegheny Mountains ; and these it followed along the ridge dividing the Susquehanna from the Allegheny River to the purchase line at the head of the Susquehanna River ; from the same due west to the limits of the Province; and by the same to the place of beginning. The second section of the act enjoined on the inhabitants all the rights and privileges whatsoever enjoyed by the inhabitants of any other county, provided for the election of a representative in the Assembly, and defined the place for holding the election, which was to be at the house of Robert Hanna till a court-house should be built. The next section declared the authority of the justices of the Supreme Court to be the same in this county as in other counties, and authorized them to deliver the jails of capital and other offenders from time to time as in other counties. By the last section it was enacted that there should be a competent number of justices authorized by the Governor to hold courts of general Quarter Sessions of the Peace and of Jail Delivery, and courts for holding of Pleas, designated the time for holding said courts, which was to be the Tuesday before the Bedford courts in January, July, and October, and directed that the place for holding said courts should be at the house of Robert Hanna till a court-house should be built. These justices were the county justices, commissioned under the broad seal of the Province, and of these any three could hold court. There are several sections omitted in the act as printed, but these related to the collection of taxes which had been assessed in Bedford County, the appointment of trustees for building a court-house and prison, for continuing suits previously commenced in Bedford County, and directed the sheriff of Bedford to superintend the first election. Thus did the county of Westmoreland assume territorial integrity. It was called Westmoreland after the county of Westmoreland in England, a name Which geographically described its situation. It was the eleventh of the original provincial counties, and was the last one created under the hereditary proprietors. 1 The bounds as taken in and so described embraced all the western part of the Province. That the actual boundaries were not definitely known is seen from the fact that they were afterwards extended. The authorities did not feel safe in taking in any territory west of the forks of the Ohio River, and although they knew that the Mason and Dixon line would be their southern boundary, yet the line was not yet run. 1 Westmoreland is pronounced by the English with it primary and secondary accent on the first and last syllables, "Be patient, gentle Earl of Westworeland."—King Henry VI., Part III Act I., S. I. Pennsylvania thus left the occupancy of the south-southwestern region beyond the most westerly branch of the Youghiogheny to the Virginians, but claimed, as far west as to the Ohio and to that affluent. And this part she embraced in Westmoreland. On the 27th of February, 1773, the next day after' the act passed, the Governor sent to the Assembly a list of the names of those he had chosen, and whom he nominated as justices of the county courts and justices of the peace. The names of those in this first-commission were James Hamilton, Joseph Tar-, nor, William Logan, Richard Peters, Lynford Lardner, Benjamin Chew, Thomas Cadwalader, James Tilghman, Andrew Allen, Edward Shippen, Jr., William Crawford, Arthur St. Clair, Thomas Gist, Alen; Alexander McKee, Robert Hanna, William Lochry, George Wilson, William Thompson, Eneas McKay, Joseph Speer, Alexander McLean, James Cavett, William Bracken, James Pollock, Samuel Sloan, and Michael Rugh, Esqs. On the 6th day of April, 1773, in the reign of our sovereign lord George the Third, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, was the first court convened at Hanna's. The court was a Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and was organized before William Crawford, Esq., and his associates, justices of the same court Here, in the low, rickety cabin, overshadowed by the grand old trees of the ancient forest, were the gm principles of the English jurisprudence publicly as sorted to the people in this wilderness; and this Iva: the first place west of the mountains where justice was administered in virtue of judicial authority. The first business of the court was to divide the county into townships. There were eleven town ships, bounded and mentioned by name, 'covering tin territory from Kittanning to the Youghiogheny, an: from the Laurel Hill to the Ohio River. They wet named Fairfield, Donegal, Huntingdon, Mount Pleasant, Hempfield, Pitt, Tyrone, Springhill, Mannillin, Rostraver, and Armstrong. An idea of the exten of these separately may be formed by knowing tin bounds of two or three. Mount Pleasant township for instance, ran along the Loyalhanna from where in breaks through the Chestnut Ridge to the Crab-Tree Run, which it followed to the main road,—that is, the Forbes or Hannastown road ; thence in a due course to Braddock's road, keeping along the Braddock’s road to where it crossed Jacobs Creek ; thence up Jacobs Creek to the Fairfield township line on the east of Chestnut. Ridge. Hempfield began at the mouth of Crab-Tree Run, ran down the Loyalhanna to the Conemaugh, and down the Kiskiminetas to its mouth ; thence in a straight line to the mouth of Brush Run, and down Brush Run to Brush Creek, thence in a straight line to the mouth of the Youghiogheny, up the Youghiogheny to Jacobs Creek, which it followed to the line of Mount Pleasant. Springhill embraced all within the Youghiogheny to Redstone, WESTMORELAND COUNTY ORGANIZED—COURTS ESTABLISHED, ETC.- 53 and thence was bounded by a straight line to the limits of the Province, the boundary of which it followed on the west and south. Armstrong township was bounded on the south by the Conemaugh and the Loyalhanna, and extended in the wild country to the line of the county on the north, running in a straight line from Kittanning to, Black Lick Creek, 1 1 Minutes of the First Court held in Westmoreland Comity. "AT A COURT of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace held at Robert Hanna's Esquire for the County of Westmoreland the sixth day of April in the thirteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the third By the Grace of God of Great Britian France and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith &c And in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & seventy three, before William Crawford Esquire and his associates Justices of the same Court . "The Court proceeded to divide the said County into the following Township by the Limits & descriptions hereafter following viz. "FAIRFIELD Beginning at the Mouth of a Run known by the Name of the miriug Run and front thence to run down the Loyal Hannan to the Chesnut Ridge, thence with the line of Armstrong Township to the Laurel Hill thence along the Line of the County to where the said Roaring Run crosses that Line, or to a point in said line due east of the head Spring of the said Run thence down the said Run to the Beginning. That part of Armstrong Township that lyes between the Lawrel hill & Chesnnt Ridge to be added to Fairfield township. "DONEGAL to begin where the line of Fairfield Township intersects the County line and to run along that line to where the Youghiogheny crosses the same thence down the North side of Youghiogheny to the top of the Chesnut Ridge thence along the top of the Chesnut Ridge to the line of Armstrong, thence up the loyal Hannan to the mouth of the big roaring Run & thence up the said Run to the beginning. "HUNTINGTON to begin at the Mouth of Brush Run where it empty's into Brush Creek and to go along Byerlys Path to Braddocks Road thence along said Road to the line of Mount Pleasant, thence with the lines of Tyrone & Pitt to the Beginning. "MOUNT PLEASANT Beginning where the Loyal Hannan breaks thro' the Chesnut Ridge and running down the Loyal Hannan to the Mouth of Crabtree Run and up the same to the Main Road thence with a due course to Braddock’s Road thence with the south side of that Road to where it crosses Jacobs Creek thence up Jacobs Creek to the line of Fairfield. "HEMPFIELD Beginning at the Mouth of Crabtree Run and running down the Loyal Hannon to the Junction of Connemaugh thence down the Kiskemenitas to the mouth, thence with a straight line to the head of Brush Run thence down Brush Run to Brush Creek then with a straight line to the mouth of the Youghiogheny then up Yonghiogheny to the mouth of Jacobs Creek then up Jacobs Creek to the line of Mount Pleasant. "PITT Beginning at the Mouth of Kiskemenitas and running down the allegeny River to its junction with the Monongahala then down the Ohio to the Western limits of the Province thence up the Western Boundary to the line of Spring hill thence with that line to the mouth of Redstone Creek thence down the Monongahala to the mouth of Youghiohgeny thence with the line of Hempfield to the mouth of Brush Run thence with the line of said Township to the Beginning. "TYRONE Beginning at the mouth of Jacobs Creek and running up that Creek to the line of Fairfield then with that line to the Youghiohgeny thence along the foot of Lawril hill to Gists thence by Birds Road to where it crosses Redstone Creek thence down that Creek to the mouth, thence with a straight line to the Beginning. "SPRINGHILL Beginning at the Mouth of Redstone Creek and running thence a due west course to the Western Boundary of the Province theme with the Province line to the Southern Boundary of the Province then east with that line to where it crosses the Youghiohgeny then with the Youghiogheny to Lawrel hill then with the line of Tyrone to Gists and thence with that line to the beginning, "MANALLIN Beginning at the Mouth of Browns Run thence due East to the Top of Laurel Hill And Westward . . . to the Limits of the Province. "ROSSTRAVER Beginning at the Mouth of Jacobs Creek and running down the Youghiohgeny to where it joins the Monongahala then up the Monongahela to the mouth of Redstone Creek and thence with a straight line to the beginning. By running these lines on a map of Western Pennsylvania it will be seen that some of these townships embraced the territory of two and three of our present counties. "ARMSTRONG Beginning where the line of the County crosses the Connenaugh then running with that river to the line of Fairfield then along that line to the Loyal Hannon then down the Loyal Hannon and the Kiskemenetas to the allegany then up the allegany to the Kittaning then with a straight line to the head waters of two lick or Blacklick Creek and thence with a straight line to the Beginning. "GRAND INQUEST. "1. John Carnahan Foreman : jr ; 2. John Carnahan junior rjur. 3. Hughey Newel jur.: 4. Hugh Bays jur : 5. Samuel McKee Jur : 6. Wendel Ourey jur : 7. Garret Fikes affil: 8. Samuel Waddle jur : 9. James Carnachan jur : 10 Hugh Brownlee jur: 11. William Teegarden jur: 12. Garret Thomas jur: 13. John Shields jur 14. Ezekiel Hickman jur 15. George McDowell jur: "FIRST INDICTMENTS. "The King vs Garret Pendegrass jr. " Forcible entry, true Bill Deft. being three times solemnly called tips pears not (process awarded per Curr.) process issd Al Process iss,; “ The King v Patrick McGuching, Richard McGuching Jr Mark McGuching "Forcible entry, (true Bill) Defts: being three times called appear not (Process awarded per Curr. (4 Process issd: Al Process issd.) (Mark McGuching one of the Dfts. being arraigned pleads non Cal de hoc natty Gent. Similiter & Issue.) "(Removed by Certiorari) "Clks fee - 4£ 10. 1 Any genl - 0. 18. 0 Shff - 0. 15. 9 4. 3. 10 "The King v James McQuiston, Joseph Ager, George Beard, Daniel Mickee, Michael Stockberger, John Levingstone, Janice . Ferguson, William Ferguson, Anthony Walter, Anderson, Casper Smidley, Nicholas Smidley, John Lydick, Daniel Pamer & Arthur Harrow. "Forcible entry (true Bill) "July Swans, 1780. "On a motion of Mr. Smith By the court this Indictment is quashed "The King v Nathan Frigs, John Swan, Charles Swan, Richard Swan, Henry Vanmetre, William Sheppard, John Philips, Thomas Roach, Jesse Pigman, Isaac Pritchard, Simon Moore, Thomas Hughes. Bernard Neal, Thomas Brown, Joseph Fairman, Edward Murdock, Daniel Murdock, Jolio Rice, William Rice, William Teegarden, Aquilla Martin, George Newlan, William Cowen, and Hugh Hule. "Forcible entry (true Bill) Defts. being three times called appear not (Process awarded per Curr.) (Process issd. Al Process issd.) " William Forgeson - tent in - £ 50 Michael Stockberger - tent in - 50 George Beard      - tent in - 50 James McQuiston - tent in - 50 Anthony Walter - tent in - 50 Caspar Smidley - tent in - 50 Nicholas Smidley - tent in - 50 Daniel Pallier - tent in - 50 Joseph Erwin - tent in - 25 James Kincade - tent in - 25 Abraham Leasure - tent in - 20 "Conditioned for the appearance of the said William Forgeson, Michael Stockberger, George Beard, Jetties McQuiston, Anthony Walter, Caspar Smidley, Nicholas Smidley, & Daniel Pitmer at the next Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be held at Rubel t Hennas Esquire for 54- HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. At the first sessions of the court, after the justices had finished the dividing of the county into townships, they proceeded to still further improve the organization of the county and courts. A grand jury the county of Westmoreland to answer to a certain Bill of Indictment found against them &c." ADDITIONAL RECORDS. " UPON the Petition of a Number of the Inhabitants of the Township of Springhill and of those on the West Side of Monongahela River, In the county of Westmorelaud setting forth That we your Petitioners are at present under difficult circumstance for want of a Road leading into any publick Road where we can possibly pass with convenience We therefore Humble request that your. Worships would be pleased to Grant a publick Road to begin at or near the Mouth of a Run known by the Name of the Fish Putt Run about two Miles below the Mouth of ten Mile Creek on the West side of Monongehela River (It being It convenient place for a ferry as also a good direction for a leading Road to the most western part of the Settlement) thence the nearest and best wily to the Forks of Dunlaps Path and General Braddocks Road on the top of Lawrel Hill' 'The Court appoints John Moore, Thomas Scutt, Henry Beason Thomas Brownfield, James McLean & Philip Shute to view the said Road, that they or any four of them if the[y] see cause, do lay out the stone by courses & distances the nearest & best way & make report of their proceedings to the next Court. Continued moat next Sessions. October Continued. January Court. " UPON the Petition of Sundry Inhabitants of the Township of Springfield & Tyrone setting forth: that your Petitioners have found the mind Trading from Washington's Spring to Seweekly Creek, as it is now opened to be convenient for your Petitioners & others the Inhabitants of the adjacent Townships, and praying your Worships to appoint some mains to view the same & if they find it of publick use to lay ont the same by courses & distances. The Court appoints Isaac Pearce, Charles Harrison, Moses Smith, John Vance, William McKee & William Massey to view the said Ground, that they or any four of them if they see cause do lay out the same by courses & distances lie nearest & best way & make Report of their proceedings to the next Court. " UPON the Petition of sundrey of the Inhabitants of the County of Westmoreland setting forth That Whereas the great Road leading from the Town of Bedford to Fort Pitt is hardly passable for the Swamps & logs across the Road, and as the said Road is not laid out by an order of Court the supervisors will not take upon them to mend the said Road. Therefore we pray your Worships to appoint Men to view the said Road from the top of Lawrel Hill & to lay out the same by courses and distances the nearest & best way they shall think proper & the least injurious to the Settlements thereabouts the Court appoints Samuel Shannon, Archibald Lochry, Joseph Erwin, John Sampson, Eli Mires & Samuel Moorehead to view the said Road that they or any four of them if they see cause do lay out the same by onuses & distances the nearest & best way & make report of their Proceedings to the next Court. " CONSTABLES. "John Smith of Fairfield fined 20s remitted John Cavenot of Donnegal do. 20s remitted George Shilling of Huntington jur: to attend John McClellan of Mount Pleasant jur: to ;attend Jahn Brown of Hempfield jnr: to attend Jacob Sinnott of the Town of Pittsburgh jur: to attend John Sampson of Pitt tined 20s remitted William McKee of Tyrone jur: to attend Jelin Masterson of Springhill jur: to attend Nathaniel McCartney of Manillen jur.: to attend Bonzes Shilling of Rosstraver jur: to attend Andrew Mitchell of Armstrong jur. "OVERSEERS OF THE POOR. "James McKay & James Friend of Manillen Joseph Caldwell & Aron Moore of Springhill John Ormsby & Jacob Bousman of Pitt George Paul & David Allen of Tyrone Daniel Hendricks & James 'McCurdy of Fairfield & John Shepperd of Mount Pleasant Samuel Miller & Alexander Thompson of Hempfield Alexander Mitchell & Samuel Biggart of Rosstraver William Mitchell & James Wallace of Armstrong Samuel Shannon and Edward McDowel of Donnegal James Baird & Marshall of Huntington. "SUPERVISORS. "Edward Brownfield of Manellen Jonathan John of Springhill Henry Small of Pitt Valentine Crawford of Tyrone James How of Fairfield James Scott of Mount Pleasant, Wendel Oury of Hempfield Eysham was named, with John Carnahan as foreman, and a list of indictments preferred in the name of the king, A number of constables were appointed, and also supervisors for the care of the roads. The constables Barnet of Rosstraver John Pomeroy of Armstrong George Glenn of Donnegal David Vance of Huntington. " The following persons were Recommended to sell spirituous liquors by small measure till next term " Erasmus Bockavus, Joseph Irwin, John Barr, William Elliot, George Kelly. "Rates for Tavern keepers of Westmoreland County Whisky Gill 4d West India Rum do 6d Continent : do 4d Toddy    do 1s A bowl of West India Rum Teddy in which there shall be half a pint with loaf sugar 1s 6d a bowl of Continent do 1s Madeira Wine     bottle 7s 6d Lisbon Wine do 6s Western Toland Wines ii do 5s Grain quart 2½d Hay & Stabeling & Night 1s Parturage Night or 24' hours 6d Cyder    Quart 1s Strong Beer do 8d "The Tavern keepers to be furnished by the Clerk of Sessions with a copy of the above regulation for which they are to pay one shilling a six pence, which Copy they are to fix up in some public part of their respective Houses open to the inspection Of all persons." The first township formed after these origiual ones was Derry, erected at the April sessions, 1775. It was to begin "at the Loyalhanna ; the along Fairfield till it strikes Blacklick ; thence along down Two Creek till it strikes Connemaugh; thence down Connemaugh till strikes Kiskiminetas; thence up Loyalhanna to the place of beginning." At April sessions, 1776: "The court orders that the line between Fairfield and Donegal is to be the Laurel Ram, the run next Ligon this side Laughlin's plantation, and adjoining the same. "The court orders that that part of Fairfield township beginning Galbraith's Run, near his house, being the same house that John Hinkston* formerly occupied to the west of Squirrel Hill, be erected in township to be called Wheatfield, and it to be a division line home the same township and Fairfield." At January sessions, 1761: "The Court erect that part of the County included within the following bounds in a township— That is say, Beginning at the west bide of the Monongahela River, at mouth of Peter's Creek, thence up the said creek to the head the thence with it straight line to the head of Sawmill Creek, thence up Ohio River to the mouth of the Monongahela, thence up that sir , the place of beginning, the same to be called Wharton." January sessions, 1781: "The Court considering the large extent of the township of Tyrone, do hereby erect that part of the said township lying south of the Youghiohgeny River into a separate township hereafter to be called Franklin (This now in Fayette, and not the Franklin in Westmoreland.) The following excerpts are taken from the oldest records, in add to those before cited: This entry at July session, 1779, will indicate in part the duties overseers, an office now vacated in our county,— " William Shaw late Overseer for Hempfield gives Information of following strays, viz.: One young mare in the possession of Robert Hanna, a bay horse years six old in the possession of John Jackson. A mare in the possession of James Blair and a Creatures possession of Robert Taylor." At the April sessions of 1780 a constable was appointed for Hannastown, as there had previously been one appointed for Pittsburgh. "At this sessions Captain Nehemiah Stokely [Late of the Revoluntary army] was recommended to his excellency the President [of Penna for license to sell spirituous liquors by small measure at his ho Sewickley." * This is Capt. Hinkston, who ran the Indian down and scalped related by Capt. Smith. See infra. WESTMORELAND COUNTY ORGANIZED—COURTS ESTABLISHED, ETC. - 55 were set right to work, and some jurors who had been summoned not attending were fined. A few persons were recommended to sell spirituous liquors, among whom was Joseph Erwin, who kept an inn at Hannastown, near the ancient court-house. Rates regulating the sale of liquors and fixing the price of lodging were published. All liquors and drink were sold by measure. We learn by the rates, still preserved, that whiskey was to be charged for at four pence per gill ; strong beer, eight pence per quart ; cider, one shilling per quart.; pasturage for twenty-four hours, six pence ; hay and stabling for the night, one shilling ; grain, two and one-half pence per ;part. The tavern-keepers were furnished by the clerk with a copy of the regulations on the payment of one shilling six pence, and these were to be fixed in some conspicuous place, open to the inspection of all. As drink was sold by measure, the custom of those indulging was to sit down by themselves and sip and sip. It was not a social custom to treat each other, which custom with us is, in truth, a modern American one, and even, it is said, does pot yet obtain among either the Irish or German, both allowed to be, as a people, rather given to intemperance in drinking. As to the county offices, there was at first no distinction between the functions of these. One man might hold two or more of the county offices at one time. For many years the duties of prothonotary, clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions, of the register and recorder were exercised by a single person. St. Clair was appointed the first prothonotary and clerk of the courts which sat at Hannastown. He had In the October sessions of 1782: "Robert Jackson being brought before the Court smd charged With striking the Honorable Christopher Hays, Esq., the said Robert Jaokson submits to the Court and is fined in the snns ef fifteen Pounds, besides costs of amercement and stand cum-edited until complied with." At this sessions, "John Ormsby Recommended to keep a Public House of Entertainment in Pittsburgh." At the April sessions of 1783, "John 'lays, Sr., of Hanna's Town, being brought before the Court and charged of keeping a disorderly House, Encouraging Drunkenness iu soldiers and others, it was ordered that the said Hays be amerced in the sum of Two Pounds for use if of Commonwealth, Pay Costs, etc." Among the witnesses for commonwealth were Lieut. John Cummins and Ensign William Cooper. 1 COPY OF ST. CLAIR'S COMMISSION. In the Common Pleas Docket, 1773. The Honorable RICHARD PENN, ESQUIRE, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of New castle, Kent, New Castle. Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, to Arthur St Clair, of the County of Westmoreland, within the [Thomas and John Penn, Proprietaries and Governors of Pennsylvania] said Province, Esquire, Greeting, Reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Loyally, Knowledge, Cure, and Fidelity, know that I have ordained constituted and appointed and by these presents or ordain, constitute, and appoint you, the said Arthur St. Clair, to be Prothonotary or principal clerk of the County court of Common Pleas or stud for the said County of Westmoreland, Giving hereby and Granting you full Power and Authority to execute the said office of Prothonotary or Principal Clerk of the County Court of Common Pleas of and for the County Aforesaid, in all the several Pails and Branches thereof, and the keeping of all Records, Books, and Writings :whatsoever to the said Office belonging. To Hold, Exercise, and Enjoy the said office with all Fees, Profits, Perquisites, Emolnments, and Advan- filled the same offices in Bedford County from 1771 to 1773. He was the custodian of the records of the court ; and these, as is said, during some of the dangerous times after, he kept at his house, which, it is alleged, became a custom with succeeding officers. Most of the records of the first courts at Hannastown were written by James Brison, who was employed as clerk by St. Clair, and he did the office-work also for Huffnagle, St. Clair's successor. When Allegheny County was formed out of Westmoreland, Brison was appointed prothonotary of the new county. There cannot be enough said of the legibility and the artistic clearness of these first records. They are yet, after the usage of a hundred years, clear and readable, while many others, extending back no farther filar. forty or fifty years, are sometimes almost indecipherable. A copy of St. Clair's commission and some of his autographs may be seen in the offices. The records of the courts, dating from a brief time after their organization, while they were legibly written, were, speaking in a general way, poorly kept, in a loose method, and often by incompetent clerks. Scanty as they were, some of then; have been lost, purloined, or destroyed. We look in vain for the records of the dates of the most interest next to the original ones,—the time covering the Revolution, the. destruction of Hannastown, and of the removal of the courts to Greensburg. At a time during the Revd lution, and at a time subsequent, these records were scattered, and were in the private possession of some of the officers, sometimes, it is true, from apprehended trouble. Huffnagle had been appointed the prothonotary when St. Clair took the field in 1776, and Huffnagle in turn going into. the army as a captain, another officer under the new government was appointed in his stead. Huffnagle refused to give up the records, and had them sent out of the county. A demand was made upon him for the books and documents, which demand he thought proper to refuse. President Wharton then laid the matter before Gen. Washington, and requested the general to order Huffnagle before the Council at once to answer for what he termed his audacious insult.` Huffnagle taxes from thence lawfully arising, or thereunto of Right in any wise appertaining, until my further Pleasure shall be made known therein. Given under my Hand aud the Great Seal of the said Province at Philadelphia, the twenty-seventh day of February in the thirteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the Third, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth : and in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three. RICH'D PENN. PRESIDENT WHARTON TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. PHILADELPHIA, June 25, 1777. SIR,—Mr. Michl. Hoffnagle, now a emit... in the 8th Pennsyl. Regiment in the Continental Service, was appointed Deputy Prothonotary fur the County of Westmoreland under the late government. bnt since the establishment of the present another has been appointed to the office of Prothonotary, and a demand made of Mr. Hoffnagle of the Books and public Records a said County, which he has not only thought proper to refuse, but has, as the Council is informed upon Oath, secreted them in some other County. This is not only a breach of trust and must be attended with great inconveniences to the good people of the Courts, 56 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. escaped by speedily returning the records, and saved his reputation by bending with the wind. But outside of this particular instance we have every assurance that the prothonotaries kept the records as private property, much as the dockets of the justices of the peace. And, by the way, so flagrant had become the abuse of retaining and secreting official papers that in 1804 (April 3d) was passed a law, by which it was declared the duty of every person appointed to an office to call upon his predecessor and demand all documents belonging to such office, which could not be retained under a severe penalty. John Proctor, who had been sheriff of Bedford, was appointed the first sheriff of Westmoreland. Proctor for a time lived at Hannastown, but his farm and place of residence were within the present limits of Unity township. St. Clair resided at this time near Ligonier. They were both near the great military road, St. Clair being beside it. He dated all his correspondence from Ligonier. This location was convenient for sending packages and letters both east and west, for it was only by regular or special express-riders that news and documents could then be transmitted. Although not on the road Proctor had easy access to it. Proctor was commissioned sheriff of the county Oct. 18, 1773. Previous to this time he had exercised his office by virtue of his former commission. You will notice the brotherhood in Proctor's bail bond. William Lochry and Robert Hanna were approved of as sufficient sureties, in presence of and before David Espy and Michael Huffnagle, by Arthur St. Clair, on the 3d of May, 1774. Of John Proctor history and biography are silent, notwithstanding that he was high in favor with the provincial government, and was by nature a leader of men. The deputy proprietary chose to give him the first commission as sheriff for the county. He, with all this, took sides ardently with the cause of the people. The first regiment, or battalion, of associators was placed under his command, and he was always at the head of a body of militia. During the war he held several offices of responsibility. He was appointed one of the two persons for the county to seize the personal effects of traitors, his colleague, being Thomas Galbraith. He was also a member of the Assembly. But he did not rise to prominence in the military service. It is presumed that the latter part of his life was under a cloud, for his property was taken in execution about 1791 and sold, and his but is a most audacious Insult Offr'd to the State. I therefore request your Excell'y will be so obliging as to order the said Mr. Hoffnagle to attend this Council immediately, to give satisfaction in the premises, relying at the Same time that the necessity of this application will plead an excuse for the Council in giving your Excell'y any extraordinary trouble at this very critical juncture. I have the Honor to be with great respect, Your Excell. most obed. Hum. Ser't, Thos. WHARTON, Jr.., President. See also " Penn. Arch.," 2d Series, vol. iii. p. 108. family became destitute. He lived close to Archibald Lochry on the Twelve-Mile Run, a small stream which crosses the Stoystown and Greensburg turnpike, and empties into the Fourteen-Mile Run at the foot of the hill on the road from Latrobe to St Vincent's Monastery and College. Both he as Lochry, with their brothers, took up bodies of land at the opening of the office in 1769, and both were settlers of the county before it was erected. He w in religion a Presbyterian, and entertained with hospitality the missionary fathers who came into the country, notably Dr. McMillan, who in his journal mentions the Proctors. The rude shed called Proctor's tent was the incipient church of the Unity congregation. He lies buried in the old graveyard, note part of Unity cemetery, but his grave is unknown. In the same yard lie the remains of William Findley and many of Proctor's neighbors. If he had left enough to erect a tombstone over his grave, saved out of the profusion of his liberality, the people would have been glad to raise his virtue to the ski When the citizen-soldiery on a late Decoration Day went in procession to publicly decorate the gravest the departed heroes who died for their country in all her glorious wars, they were afraid to scatter idle: over the hollow place which tradition pointed out at the resting-place of Col. Proctor lest it should tun out, which was as probable, that they were hanging garlands on the grave of a suspicious character what neck was broken by a fall from his horse whet running *a race for a gallon of whiskey, and who we buried in forma pauperis. In pursuance of previous arrangements, an election was held for county officers on time 1st of October f lowing. We may observe that most officers we elective, the appointment of some, however, being the franchise of the Governor, and by him or his duties thus filled. Joseph Beeler, James Smith James Cavett were elected the first commissioners and John Proctor sheriff, who was succeeded by James Carnahan ; James Kinkaid and William Harrison were elected coroners ; and Benjamin Davis, Charles Hickman (Hitchman), Christopher Hays, Alexander Barr, James McCleane, and Philip Rogers, ass The commissioners were sworn in office by St. Clair They were to adjust the county debts, and assess, levy the county rates and levies. Among the most prominent who sat on this board was Capt. James Smith, the celebrated Indian captive, who was returned to a seat in time Assembly, and was a representative for Westmoreland in the Convention in 1776. He lived on Jacobs Creek. William Thompson was chosen time member of Assembly at this election. At all the first elections the whole county voted a house of Robert Hanna; and at many of these elections the poll fell short of a hundred votes. In 1784 there were three election districts, for on time erection of Fayette County it was found that the third district of Westmoreland fell within the limits FIRST JAIL—EARLY PUNISHMENTS— SLAVERY IN 1781 - 57 of the new county, and it was so altered that the eheectors remaining in Westmoreland should meet at the house of William Moore, in Rostraver township. Br the act regulating the general election; of the Commonwealth, passed the 13th of September, 1785, the county was divided into ti cc districts. Those who resided on the north side of the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh were to vote at the house of Daniel Dickson; those bounded by the Laurel Hill, Conemaugh, the Chestnut Ridge, and the Fayette County line should hold their elections at the house of Samuel Jameson ; those of Huntingdon and Rostraver townships at the house of William Moore, in Rostraver ; the people of the Fort Pitt district were to vote at the house of Devereaux Smith, in the town of Fort Pitt; and all the freemen of the county who were not included in the above boundaries were to vote at Hannastown. But by the act of 19th of September, 1786, the inhabitants of this fifth district were to vote at Greensburg, otherwise Newton, at the court-house, Greensburg having been selected in the mean time by the committee and designated as the proper place for hoheding the courts. By the act of the 29th of September, 1789, Derry township was erected into a separate election district, and the freemen were to vote at the house of Moses Donald. By an act of the 11th of January, 1803, all that part of Franklin township north of the Frankstown road was annexed to the fifth or Greensburg district, and to vote at the court-house. By act of the 4th of April, 1805, Fairfield township was made a separate district, the voting-place to be at William Ramsay's, best known as " Palmer's Fort ;" and. by the same act Donegal township was made a district, with the voting-place at the house of Maj. John Ambrose. CHAPTER XI: FIRST JAIL—EARLY PUNISHMENTS—SLAVERY IN 1781. Erection of the Jail at Hanna's—The Pillory—The Whipping-Post—The Stocks—The First Indictment in the Quarter Sessions—James Brigland and Luke Picket whipped at the Post—Vestiges of English Judicial Pmcess—Elizabeth Smith whipped at the Post and sentenced to Two Tears at Hard Labor with an Inhuman Master for Larceny—Flexible Consciences— Slavery and Servitude in the Old Westmoreland —Dill of Sale for a Negro Woman Stave —Extent of Slavery in the County hi 1781—Reference to the List of Slaves made ont in Pursuance at an Act of Assembly. As soon as the place of justice had been fixed at Hanna's a jail was begun. It was built at first of round unhewn logs, of one story in height, and of one apartment, and in near proximity were soon erected 1 whipping-post and a pillory. The whipping-post was a large sapling placed in the ground firmly, with a cross-piece fixed at such a height that when the convict to be punished was brought out and his wrists tied together they might be fastened at the length of his arms, above his head, to it. The pillory, an instrument known ill the law as an instrument of punishment, but in reality an instrument of torture, is described as a frame-work raised from the ground and made with. holes and folding-doors, through which the hands and head of the criminal were passed. By common law anybody passing a prisoner in the pillory for a felony might throw one stone at him. The pillory, therefore, as a place of punishment was a success, but as a place of amusement it is not to be commended. The stocks is an instrument to confine the legs. As there were no stocks available at all times, the lowermost rails of the nearest stake-andrider fence were used to answer. We may conclude, rationally, that the stocks were, from time to time, demolished, and this not at the ordinary instance of the executives of the law. The miserable condition of the building and its insufficiency called for its condemnation frequently by the grand jury of the county. In the October sessions of 1773 we have the first record of the whipping-post. James Brigland, arraigned for a felony, pleading guilty and submitting to the court, was ordered to receive ten lashes at the whipping -post the next morning between eight, and ten o'clock, and, besides, to pay twenty shihelings to the Governor, and make restitution of the stolen proPerty, paying the costs of the prosecution. For another larceny he was to receive twenty lashes the next morning following. On the same clay Luke Picket received twenty-one lashes on the bare back, while Patrick John Masterson came off with five fewer.' 1 This is the record: "The King v Luke Picket Felony, (true bill) Defendant being arraigned pleads non Cul de hoc Att'y Genl. Simileter & issue "And row a Jury being called Came to wit, James Kincade, William Lyon, John Armstrong, Henry Martin, William Linn, Robert decks, James Carnaughan, Joseph McDowell, Lewis Davison, William Davison, John Wright & Alexander Duglass who being duly impannelled, returned, elected tried chosen sworn and upon their respective Oaths do say that Luke Picket is Guilty of the Felony whereof he stands Indited. "Judgment that the said Luke Picket be taken to Morrow Morning (being the 8th Instant) between the hours of eight & ten to the Public Whipping, Post and there to receive 21 Lashes on his Bare Back well laid on that he pay a fine of £32 1 9 to his Honour the Governor that he make Restitution of the Goods stolen to the Owner, pay the Costs of Prosecution and stand committed till complied with." This is the way they went about aiding the temperance cause: " It appearing to the Court that John Barr one of the Tavern keepers of this Comity keeping a disorderly House It is ordered by the Court that the said John Barr is not to sell any Spirituous Liquors for the future in the Township of Mount Pleasant & that he pay a fine of forty Shillings."— Jan. Sess., 1774. Return of Grand Inquest, April Sess., 1775: Westmoreld County ss. " We the Grand Inquest for the Body of this County Being Called upon by the Sheriff of the County To view the Goal of this Comity and upon Examination we find the said Gaol is not fit nor sufficient to confine any Person in without Endangering the life of any Person so confined. "Joseph Baelor, foreman." 58 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. The first mention of the pillory is in the January sessions of 1774. . William Howard, the earliest recorded one who suffered this indignity, was, on an indictment for a, felony, sentenced to receive thirty lashes. on the bare back, Well laid on, and afterwards to stand one hour in the common pillory. This in January weather was no doubt as great an inconvenience as prisoners now suffer at that season in the clamp cells of our county jail. During these sessions of 1774 and 1775 there are many instances of convicts suffering like Oates suffered in England almost a hundred years earlier, under Jeffreys, for a species of treason. In the October sessions of 1773 one Elizabeth Smith, was ordered out to receive fifteen ashes on the bare back. She had, no doubt, committed a trifling offense, for her fine was only eighteen shillings five pence and costs, which, as she pleaded gulty and submitted to the court, could not have been great. And in this case we see some of the worst features of the administration of the law in its comparatively crude state, in a rather primitive age. Elizabeth Smith was servant to James Kinkaid, and the master losing the services of this servant during the time she was awaiting trial in the jail, made application to the court at a private session held at the house of Charles Foreman four days after her legal. whipping for compensation, setting, forth that he had been put to great charge and expense, and that he had lost the services and labor of his servant for the time. 'The court, consisting of Hanna, William Lochry, Cavett, and Samuel Sloan, considering his application, ordered that the said Elizabeth Smith should serve the said Kinkaid and his assigns for the space of two years after the ex, piration of her indenture. A man might wonder if it were possible that the men who drew up the Resolutions of May, 1775, at Hannastown, alone, with nature and the world, with the God of Christians and the spirit of Pantheism looking down from the sky and out from the rocks at them, were of the same men that lashed helpless women on the back, and then rubbed salt into the cuts to make them smart; that bought negroes and their unborn onpring, and that treated their galley-slaves worse than the average Southern planter treated his blacks! What is conscionable in one man is unconscionable. in another. Adam Poe showed a spirit of liberal Christianity when he subscribed one pound sterling to the Rev. Smith's salary when he was first called by his congregation, but the encounter with Big Foot perhaps made him forgetful, for he never paid it. The subscription is yet open. 1 But when killing Indians was a virtue, Adam Poe, like many anotLer whose head was anointed, and whom the arrows of the Amorites could not harm, lived virtuously, died happy, and went. with the saints of all the Ages to glory everlasting. 1" Old Redstone." Anticipating any loss that might arise from the do' struction of the official records, we have turned int print a part of them belonging to the -criminal sid of the administration of public justice. It will be noticed that the " king" is the public prosecutor, an all indictments on pleas of the crown ran in his name. After the Declaration of Independence indictments were drawn in the name of the "Commonwealth," " Republica," or" Respublica." They now are drawn in the name of the "Commonwealth." . . . An old gentleman from the country districts being once shown these records, as curiosities, and not being familiar with the obsolete forms of the English processes, remarked that this man " king" must have been a very quarrelsome man, for he had a case in every court. We observe that from the reputation of the two individuals, both of them being celebrated " char. acters" in the history of Westmoreland, the followin entry has some curiosity attached : " (October Sees., 1773.) "The King            . Vs Simon Girty. Misdemeanor.  (True Bill.) Process awarded. Issued." But prosecutions were not confined to such infamous characters as Girty, for the names of some of the ancestors of very highly respectable persons of Western Pennsylvania are to be found in the Quarter Session dockets of this date. The following will show how punishment was me out, and may help to illustrate a phase of social life with which we are practically unfamiliar : "JULY SESS., 1773. "The King  vs John Fisher Assault and battery. (True Bill.) Defendant being areaigned, pleads guilty and submitted to the Court. "Judgment that he pity it fine of one pound and ten shillings Honor the Governor, pay the cysts of prosecution, and stand come till compLed with, and likewise give good security for his good bet to all his majesty's leige subjects for one year and day in £100." "JANY. SEAL, 1774. "The King vs Huens West Felony. (True Bill.) Deft. being arraigned, pleads guilty and submits to the Court. "Judgment that he be taken tomorrow morning between the of 8 and 10 to the Public Whipping Post, and there to receive 15 lashes on his bare back, well laid on, that he pay a fine of 20 shillings Honor the Governor, pay the costs of prosecution, make restitution the goods stolen, and stand committed till complied with." This defendant, found guilty of having stolen goods was, on another sentence, ordered to be take Saturday, the 9th instant, between eight and ten o'clock in the forenoon, to the public whipping-post receive fifteen lashes, etc., and to pay a fine of £5 the Governor. In the April sessions of 1782, James McGill found guilty of felony, of which he stood indi and was sentenced in the following terms : "That the said James McGill be to-morrow morning taken the hours of 10 and 12, to the public whipping-post. and there -- lashes on his bare back well laid on ; that he thence be taken to the common pillory, and there to remain; and that he have his ear crypt; that he be branded on the forehead; that he pay -," etc. FIRST JAIL— EARLY PUNISHMENTS—SLAVERY IN 1781 - 59 There is, however, no evidence that this inhuman sentence was carried into execution, for it is noted that on motion a new trial was granted. But it was reserved for the times of the Commonwealth to have recorded the most infamous sentence and conviction that disgraces the records of our courts: "APRIL SERMON 1783. "Commonwealth vs John Smith Felony. John Smith, the prisoner at the Bar, being arraigned pleads guilty and submits to the court. "Judgment, that the said John Smith, the prisoner at the Bar, be taken t-morrow morning, between the hours of ten and twelve in the forenoon, to the Public Whipping-Post, and there to receive thirty-nine lashes on his Bare Back, well laid on; that Ears be cut off and nailed to the Common Pollory ; that lie stand one hour in the Pillory ; that he make restitution of the Goods stolen ; that lie pay a fine of twenty pounds for the use of the commonwealth, and that he stand committed Will this sentence is complied with." If John Smith had been one of the justices, or relation of one of them, he probably would have gotten off quite easily, for while assaults upon the justices—and they appear to have been rather frequent—were punished with severity, any ordinary. offense by an officer of the court, as appears by these same records, was condoned, and the offender pleading guilty, was usually slightly reprimanded for form's sake, and then discharged upon the payment of a nominal fine. At the April sessions, 1779, " David Sample, Esq., in his proper person comes into court and confesses himself guilty of an assault and battery on the body of Samuel Lewis," for which offense the sentence was that " the said David Sample, Esq., for his offense aforesaid, be fined a sum of twenty shillings lawful money of this State." The following will show of what stuff these constitution-makers, law judges; law expounders was made of. At the October session of 1773, William Thompson, Esq., was held in bond in £200 " to appear at the Supreme Court to be held at Philadelphia, to answer a Bill of Indictment for Assault and Battery, etc., found against him ;" and David Sample, Esq., was held in £100 to give evidence on His Majesty's behalf against William Thompson in said assault. Anent the civil troubles of 1774, of which hereafter, we see that in July term, Common Pleas, 1775, Robert Hanna brings suit against John Connolly. Capias case ; to take bail in £20,000. Defendant appeared and accepted, etc. 1 At the first courts, under the forms of their practice, witnesses were sometimes held in bond, conditioned that they should not depart the county until the next term of court, to testify on behalf of His Majesty. As such a species of enforced labor as Elizabeth Smith had to undergo is a species of slavery, we may, in this connection, see how far human slavery did actually exist in Westmoreland. There were at first two 1 At No. —, Common Pleas, George Washington was plaintiff a suit against John Johns. I have seen the records, but cannot now recall the number and term. classes of servants besides those held as slaves. The first were ordinary indentured servants, or those who worked for a term ; the other class were those foreigners who, being in poverty, paid for their passage to these golden shores by indenturing themselves at a certain rate till their obligations were paid by their own labor. These were called redemptioners. 2 The better off sort of our early people purchased the services of these. The condition of these servants was sometimes but little better than the condition of negro slaves, for it is observable of this class, who were for the time being masters, that although in their connection with each other they had high pretensions and integrity unswerving, yet in the treatment of those beneath them they were too often tyrannical. This in part must be attributed to the age and not entirely to their disposition. The custom law, not yet repealed by statute, allowed men to beat their wives with a stick provided it were not thicker than the judge's thumb. Wife-beating, indeed, like fist-cuffing and gouging (as it was ruled in the courts of Kentucky), was part of the common law.3 Vestiges of the aristocratic feeling in the gentry, which in England was but a step from the nobility ; had not yet been eradicated. While Bancroft, with the feelings of a Puritan and a. New Englander, pointedly asserts that slavery did not hold with its enervating influences those brave settlers in the West who followed Clarke to the capture of Vincennes, he evidently overshot the mark. The versatile Hugh Henry Brackenridge, in a chapter on " Modern Chivalry," a rare work, after presenting in the guise of pleasantry all the arguments for and against slavery; cuts sharply into the fact that in our own county some held slaves who would not for a cow have shaved their beards on a Sunday. 4 That human slavery did exist in our own county, but in a mitigated.form and to a limited extent, the record shows. 2 James Annesly, true heir of the estates of Lord Althem, in Ireland, was, when a lad, spirited away from Ireland by the connivance of c is uncle and a sea captain, brought to Philadelphia and sold as a "redenptioner," or " slave," as Reade calls him. Ms accidental discovery at the house of his twister, in Lancaster County, by two of his countrymen who bad been tenants on Lis father's estate, and who passing by happened to stop there, and then recognized him, their voluntary and successful efforts to take him back to Ireland and institute legal proceedings, the ultimate determination of which reinstated the much-wronged heir,—these are facts well known. This remarkable story, the text of which is taken from the law books, is the groundwork of Charles Reade's novel, "The Wandering Heir." The romantic incidents in the career of this heir have also furnished the plot for " Guy Wandering," "Roderick Random," and "Florence Macarthy," popular novels in their day. 3 Judge Poindexter; quoted in Parrton's "Life of Andrew Jackson," vol. iii. 4 One of the most striking cases of misplaced confidence of which we have ever heard was of a prominent church elder, a Scotch-Irish justice and a militia captain, declaring in confidence to an old and very esteemed friend of ours that he was the identical person Brackenridge took to make the character of Capt. Farrago, and that the lawyer owed him a grudge from an old court action. What made the resemblance so striking to him was the fact of his having a redemptioner as near like Teague, the captain's servant, as two cherries, so that one would go for the other. The satire all through is a remarkable one, in that it is true not only to nature but to facts. 60 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. The following bill of sale from Valentine Crawford to John Mintor . Will show how the business was usually done : "Know all men by these presents; That I, Valentine Crawford of the County of West Augusta, in Virginia, fur a and in consideration of the sum of fifty Pounds, lawful money of Virginia, to me in hand paid by John Mintor, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, and myself therewith fully satisfied, have bargained and sold unto the said John Mintor a certain negro woman named Sall, Which said negro women I, the said Valentine Crawford, will forever warrant and defend to the said John Mintor, his heirs and assigns together with increase. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 12th day of April, 1776." Then follow the signature of Crawford the seal, and the acknowledgment. 1 The following records are inserted as bearing upon the subject of indentured servants : From the record for July session, 1773 : "On Motion of Mr. Wilson on behalf of John Campbell setting forth that His Servant Man Michael Heany had been committed to Gaol on Suspicion of Felony, and that he had been at sundry expenses about the same to the amount of £2 17s. and 1d., and likewise his loss of time, And praying the Court would adjudge the said Michael Heany to serve him a reasonable time for the same, It is adjudged by the Court that time said Michael Heany do serve his said Master John Campbell four months amid a half over and above the time mentioned in his Indenture." At the same term : "On motion of Mr. Wilson in behalf of George Paul to the Court setting forth that Margaret Butler his servant girl has a Mulatto Bastard Child Burn during her servitude and Praying the Court would adjudge her the said Margaret Butler to serve him a reasonable time for her loss of time and lying in charges. It is adjudged by the (Anil t that the said Margaret Butler do serve her said Master George Paul one year and six months over and above the time mentioned in her Indenture." At the same term : " On motion of Mr. Robert Galbraith to the Court in behalf of Andrew Gutchell, setting forth that Joseph Quillen his servant not doing' Ibis duty as a servant and praying the Court would grant him such relief as to them would seem meet, It is ordered by the Court that Joseph Quillen is to be under their custody until) the next sessions and likewise that Summons's be issued against Robert Meek, Alexander Bowling and William Bashers to be :Ind appear at the next Sessions to give sufficient reasons to the Court why they sold time said Joseph Quillen as a servant." At the April sessions of 1779: On motion of Michael Huffnagle, Esq., oh behalf of George Godfrey that he had been bought as a servant by Edward Lindsey and by him sold to Edmund Price and by him sold to William Newell and that the term of his servitude is expired, and time said William Newell not attending to show cause to detain the said George Godfrey, The Court on hearing Testimony on this matter do order that the said George Godfrey be discharged from the further service of the said William Newell." July sessions, 1788: " Upon the petition of Samuel Sample setting forth that Jane Adamson a servant woman belonging to him time said Samuel Sample loth had a bastard child during the time of her servitude, and praying that 1 Of record in Book "A," Recorder's Office, p. 328: following is the jurat: " Westmoreland County ss. Personally appeared before me the subscriber one of time Commonwealth's justices of time peace for said County, Charles Morgan, and made oath on the Holy Evangely of Almighty God: that he saw Valentine Crawford acknowledge the within Bill of sale to be his act and deed, and for as within mentioned. Sworn and subscribed before me this 1 May. 1783. " CHARLES MORGAN, " PROVIDENCE MONTS. [L. S.]" the Court would add such further time beyond time Term of her Indenture as may be thought a honorable compensation for time Loss and Damages which he sustained by reason of her bearing such Bastard Child. The Court having examined the said Samuel Sample upon oath respecting the premises and being satisfied of the truth thereof, Order that One Year be added to time time mentioned in the said Indenture as a compensation for the Damages and loss so sustained by the said Samuel Sample." In 1780 slavery was abolished in Pennsylvania.. Thus it is seen that in a relative degree only did the evil exist with us, but nevertheless its presence is as well authenticated, and even better, than the proceedings at Hannastown at her immortal declaration of independence. By the act which abolished slavery every one who held negroes or mulattoes as slaves was obliged to deliver to the clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the county in which he resided his or her own name, and the names, number, sex, and age of all slaves holden by him. The conflicting boundary claims of the two colonies not yet settled occasioned a special act in 1782, by which the time of taking the registry in Westmoreland and Washington Counties was extended. 2 The list made in pursuance of this act is yet to be seen in the office of the clerk of the courts. It contains the names of three hundred and forty-two males and three hundred and forty-nine females, and four whose sex is not stated, as slaves. Eleven are called mulattoes. The names of the slave owners are of those who were most prominent in social standing, and of course of those reputed as the more wealthy. Among them are the names of two clergymen, and the greater portion were members of the rigid Scotch Presbyterian Church. It was confined especially to the southern portion of the county, along the rivers and about Pittsburgh. Rev. Joseph Smith of Washington County, states that at least six of the early ministers, and almost all their elders, were slaveholders. 3 After the passage of the law some removed to Maryland and Virginia, choosing to carry their slaves thither rather than manumit them at the command of the law. This act, both in its phraseology and in its sentiments of benevolence and civil liberty,-no less than in its remedial benefits, stands out prominently as one of the noblest, one of the grandest statutes on the rolls. 4 2 By the act passed 13 April, 1782, to redress certain grievances is Westmoreland and Washington Counties, on account of the trouble bar tweets the lines, and from time complaint that they could not get a true account of time number of slaves, owing to the fact that they had no opportunity of entering or registering their slaves, and that a nun's: of time records and papers containing the proceedings of the hands courts of Youghiogheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Were yet in the hands of time late clerks, who were not authorized to give exemplified copies them, it was provided that all negroes and mulattoes who had been he as slaves in that territory were freed ; and time registers of deeds of Wet moreland and Washington were empowered to call ou the clerks of t other counties for all such papers as related to time oath of allegiance, probates of wills, granting letters of administration, and the registry deeds or other indentures. We have not found any records or papers bearing upon this saki matter among the archives of Westmoreland County. 3 " Centenary Memorial." See also "Old Redstone" and " Life of Der Macurdy." 4 Sec Appendix "A." OLD HANNASTOWN, THE COUNTY-SEAT - 61 CHAPTER XII. OLD HANNASTOWN, THE COUNTY-SEAT. Trustees appointed to locate a County Seat—Robert Hanna's Settlement —They As en Hanna's Town—Difference of Opinion as to the expediency of locating the County-Seat there— Description of the Old Town—Opposition to its Location by the People of Pittsburgh— Correspondence on the Subject—Reports of the Trustees—Various Acts of Assembly relative thereto—Troubles at the Place in 1774-75. THE trustees appointed to locate and erect the public buildings were Robert Hanna, Joseph Erwin, John Cavet, Samuel Sloan, and George Wilson. Of these Robert Hanna appears, in this instance, to have been the most influential. He was a north county Irishman who had located on the great Forbes road at the place afterwards called Hannastown. Here he had erected a log house, used by him as a residence. The place being favorable, he converted it into a public-house. He entertained travelers ; and near him other emigrants settled a year or so before the organization of the county. In 1773 Hanna's was the chief place between Ligonier and Pittsburgh. In anticipation of the county-seat being fixed here, he, after his appointment as one of the trustees, rented his house to Erwin to carry on the tavern business, and these two, with Sloan, who was a neighbor, being a majority of the committee, made their report favorably to this place for the permanent location of the county buildings and the seat of justice. They represented that it was the most central, the most convenient, and the most desirable to the people. Nor did it seem unreasonable or unapparent. The minority, with St. Clair as their spokesman, reported in favor of Pittsburgh for the county-seat, and put forth the apparent probability that in no long time Pittsburgh would be a place of consequence ; and, in addition, represented the fact that it was a matter of policy in the government to fix upon this place, owing to the claims of Virginia and the notoriety of the pretensions of her Governor. St. Clair states in a communication to Governor Penn that Hanna and Erwin were moved to fix upon Hannastown for the reasons we have mentioned. St. Clair himself, with the true fidelity of a public servant,—a fidelity which lie never transcended for mercenary interests,—was favorable to Pittsburgh, although at that time the bulk of his property was nearer Hanna's. The report of the trustees was never fully accepted by the executives ; and it is doubtful whether, even had affairs gone on smoothly, it would ever have been fixed upon as the place at wit is l to erect the county offices after the true bounds of the Province had been satisfactorily ascertained. But, as it was, the court continued to meet regularly at Robert Hanna's house until, towards the end of the Revolution, the place was destroyed. After the burning of Hannastown other trustees were appointed, who selected Greensburg, then unnamed, and just. laid - 5 - out for buildings on the old Pennsylvania State road. The reasons why the report of the first trustees was not acted upon immediately are apparent, not counting upon the superior influence of St. Clair. The proprietary government existed under its regular Governors for only three years after the erection of the county in 1773, after which, the troublous times of the Revolution intervening, those in authority did not have occasion for interference in such local affairs. Along in 1773 and 1774 Hannastown was a collection of about a dozen cabins, built orhewed logs and roofed with clapboards, most of them of one story in height, but a few of two, claiming the name of houses. During the troubles of 1774, under the advice and supervision of St. Clair, a stockade for the protection of the people was here erected ; for from such divergent points the settlements extended out, and as early as this year Hempfield township, surrounding Hanna's, was well covered with people, as appears from the petitions of this date, addressed at Hanna's. From the best accessible authority we now have, it would appear that Hannastown never at any time consisted of more than twenty to thirty such cabins. Its most prosperous era must have been from the time of the first court in 1773 to 1776. During this time the emigration to the West was comparatively large, and that through Middle Pennsylvania restricted to 'this one route. Here, besides the courts, were held the militia musters, the greatest inducement, next to the courts themselves, in drawing the widely scattered people together. But when the war for independence commenced, not only was emigration less regular, but many of the military characters were in arms either in the Continental armies or in the service of Congress in the Western department. Some, indeed, quitted their settlements altogether. The early settlers not congregate in towns or cities, but the population.;. since the close of the Revolutionary war has gone on. ever since increasing in favor of the cities. There was no inducement for them to gather in towns, and every inducement for them to go into the country. Money was scarce indeed ; it was hardly in circulation at all among a certain class, and was only absolutely needful to those engaged in a mercantile calling. The Province of Pennsylvania was famous for its paper currency, and too often for its consequent depreciation. In the old Hannastown there were only one or two shops, where, besides whiskey and gin sold under license by measure, there were kept such commodities as gunpowder and lead, camphor and spice, jackknives and dye-stuffs, but no fabrics or wares such as we see in country stores at road-crossings now ; salt, flour, bacon, and linen were about all traded for. A weaver, a shoemaker, a blacksmith, or a joiner could make perhaps, on the whole, a better living than the great majority of such shop-keepers in the early times. 62 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Tavern-keeping was the only business that brought a corresponding return in money. But as we may reasonably infer that its most prosperous time was just before the civil troubles of 1776, yet it is presumable that towards the end of the war, and immediately before the burning in 1782, it contained more buildings and probably more inhabitants than at any other time. Through fear and necessity consequent on long border commotions, they flocked together in stations, in forts, and in block-houses. These two statements will harmonize, although they appear to conflict. In a letter dated Pittsburgh, March 3, 1773, from Æneas Mackay to Arthur St. Clair, there are some very disparaging remarks upon the selection of Hanna's as the place for holding the courts of the new county ,then lately erected. Mackay was a resident of Pittsburgh, and of course was personally interested in' having that place the seat of justice. So also, as we said, was St. Clair. In this letter he says,— " Everybody up this way are well satisfied there is a county granted this aide of the hills, altho' I find everybody else, as well as myself, observes with infinite concern that the point in question is not attended with so favorable circumstances as we at this place had reason to expect from the nature of things. I cannot but express my surprise at the point determined in favor of the courts of law first sitting at Hanna's. Pray, may I ask you the question, where is the conveniency for transacting business on these occasions, as there is neither houses, tables, Nor chairs? Certainly the people must sit at the roots of trees and stumps, and in case of rain the lawyers' books and papers must be exposed to the weather; yet to no purpose, as they cannot presume to write. Consequently, nothing can be done but that of resising [receiving?' fees, by which meal's everybody (the lawyers only excepted) going to or attending court must be sufferers. No doubt but Mr. Irwin [he means Joseph Erwin, a resident of the Hanna settlement, and inn-keeper there] and a few more of his party may find their interest in this glaring stretch of partiality; yet we, at this place in particular, are too mum, interested to look over such proceeding in silence. The whole inhabitants exclaim against the steps already taken to the injury of the county yet in its infancy, and that too before it got its eyes or tongue to speak tor itself. . . . My dear friend, if I had as much to say among the great as you, I would declare it as my opinion that, it would be absolutely necessary that the can [he means the trustees soon to be appointed] should be nominated in Philada., by which means I think we could not fail to have the point in question carried in our favor; whereas should they be appointed up this way it is ten to one if Joe Emilie and his associates will not prevail." Under date of Oct. 8, 1773, George Wilson, one of the trustees, in a letter to Governor Penn, says that the trustees had met twice to consult on some things relative to their trust, and that he, apprehending that it was the sense of the Governor and Assembly at the time that the courts should be held at Hanna's house until the unsettled state of the boundary would be perfectly settled, could not join with the other trustees in making their former report.1 The following is such a characteristic letter from Saint Clair to Joseph Shippen, President of the Council, that we give it entire. It is dated Ligonier, Jan. 15, 1774: "SIR,—This will be delivered by Mr. Hanna, one of the trustees of Westmoreland County. To some manouvres of his, I believe, the op- - Archives, iv. 466. position to fixing the County Town at Pittsburgh is chiefly owing, as it is his interest that it should continue where the law has fixed the courts pro tempore ; he lives there, need to keep a public house there, and ha now on that Expectation rented his house at an extravagant price, and Erwin, another Trustee, adjoins, and is also public-house keeper. A third trustee [Sloan] lives in the neighborhood, which always makes a majority for continuing the courts at the present place. A passage in the law for erecting the county is that Courts shall be held at the fore. going Place [the house of Hanna] till a Court House and Gaol are built; this puts it in their power to continue them as long as they please, for a little Management might prevent a Court House and Gaul being built these twenty years. I beg you will excuse inaccuracies, as I write iii the greatest hurry, Mr. Hanna holding the Horse while I write. I will see you early in the Spring.", 2 The next report is of the 3d of October, 1774, and is as follows : "We being appointed Trustees for the County of Westmoreland to make report for a proper place, etc., etc., having accurately examined and considered the same, do report that 'tis our opinion that Hamel Town seems to be the most centrical & fit to answer the purposes lie tended We are further of opinion that should your Honor and the Honorable Council think the Brush Run Manor a more proper place, It cannot be of much disadvantage to the County. We pray your Ronde Sentiments on this Head, which will be thankfully acknowledged by us," etc. Signed by Robert Hanna, Joseph Erwin, Job; Cavet, and Samuel Sloan. 3 On the 7th of February, 1775, in the morning, before the people of the town were out of bed, a party headed by Benjamin Harrison, son-in-law of William Crawford, and one Samuel Wilson, by order of Crawford, broke open the doors of the jail with a sledge, which they got out of the blacksmith shop near by, and let out the prisoners therein confined, three it number, telling them to clear the way. On that occasion Mr. Hanna poked his head out of the cockloft window of his mansion-house, which, never to 1g forgotten, was also the temple of justice, and made the remark, " Buys, you are up early to-day to buy, rope to hang yourselves." Hanna appeared on tit ground, and Sheriff John Carnahan, also there, had the riot act read to the crowd, who jeered at him and made mouths, grimaces, and very disparaging remarks, attended for the Governor's province in general, ant the magistrates there present in particular. Hang had a musket pointed at his head. On the 25th of the month Hanna and Cavet were taken into mated! and confined in the guard-room at Fort Pitt, and wet there detained in confinement above three months 4 In 1775, Pittsburgh, according to the most authentic authorities, did not contain more than twenty-fit or thirty houses, so that Hannastown was about as large. The courts continued to be held at Hannastown, rather at the house of Robert Hanna after the town was burnt in 1782, until the January term. of 1787. when the first court was held at Greensburg. By act of 10th of April, 1781, the care and custody of the lots appurtenant to Hannastown was vested 2 Ibid., 471,  3 Ibid., 579. 4 Depositions of Carnahan, Hanna, et al., in Archives, vol. iv., 604, et seq. THE BORDER TROUBLES OF 1774 BEGIN - 63 the justices of the peace residing in and within two miles of the town, to the end that the lots should be preserved from encroachment and private use, and for the benefit of common to the inhabitants of the town or place, until the same should be appropriated, under the authority of the Legislature, for building, improvement, or other use. CHAPTER XIII. THE BORDER TROUBLES OF 1774 BEGIN. Virginia claims port of the Territory of Pennsylvania—Dunmore occupies Fort Pitt—The Claims of Virginia and Pennsylvania summarized —Virginia Colonists willing to fight for the Demands of Virginia—Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia—England's Colonial Policy—Virginia's relation to the Ministry—Charges against Dunmore—His Character—Real Causes of Dunmore's or Cressap's War of 1774—How the Indians regarded Western Virginia—John Connolly—He takes possession of Fort Pitt—Issues a Proclamation—Apprehended by St. Clair, and committed to Jail at Hannastown—He returns to Pittsburgh —Is opposed by Penn's Magistrates—He returns with Authority front Dunmore, and appeals with Simon Girty and a Rabble at Hannastown —Refuses to allow the Justices to hold Court—The Justices persist, and hold Court to preserve order till the Lines are adjusted. SUCH is an outline of the character of the people and the institutions of our county at the date when it came into existence. The stream of emigration was kept unabated, and while many passed on to seat themselves farther west, many others were stopping here. So it was not long till nearly all the land had a determinate owner, but of course it was sparsely settled even in those spots which could be called the centres of population. The settlers got along tolerably well through 1773, and were to all outward prospects in a fair way of becoming a thriving colony ; but just as the vigor of this new emigration was being felt unforeseen causes intervened which made trouble and commotion all over Western Pennsylvania, which delayed that natural advancement which it was reasonable to look for, and which, after very nearly involving the people in civil war, did in truth leave them in a state of anxiety and dread and constant alarms. We have now reached the time when one who chronicles the events of our local history meet enter upon a subject not at all attractive, but which fills up a large space in our history. Those who have compiled accounts of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have dwelt at large upon this subject, but we do not know of any Westmorelander having done the same for his own county. To have a clear conception of the actual state of Westmoreland during the Revolution we must enter more into details than we should wish to, and study it it connection with subsequent events. 1 1 See Graham's "History of Virginia," and Campbell's " History of Virginia." As we have had no thread to follow for he narrative as it is in the In the beginning of 1774 the question of disputed territory, and conflicting claims which had agitated the two colonies for nearly twenty years in regard to the boundary lines of the respective colonies, was now brought forward, and culminated in open dissension. Virginia, it is recollected, claimed that the fort at the Forks of the Ohio was within their charter limits, and in some of her demands site judged, indeed, that Penn's charter government did not extend farther west than Laurel Hill. The actual possession of this point was now by occupancy, and by the bounds drawn by Penn's agent within the claim and under the jurisdiction and control of the proprietaries. Virginia was compelled, therefore, to take the aggressive. It must be admitted that, with the imperfect knowledge of the Western territory which was then possessed, Virginia's claim to this western territory was consistently founded. Under her early Governor, Spottswood, she had been the first to surmount the Blue Ridge and lay claim to the valley of the Mississippi. Under Dinwiddie, in the person of Washing- ton, she first asserted her claim to that unoccupied region which gave rise to the war which terminated. so advantageously for the British in the acquisition of Canada ; for this she battled long and courageously. She had held and maintained actual possession of the greater portion of this region south of the Ohio, and was the first to colonize the wild lands of Kentucky, region to which no Indian tribe asserted its right. The claim of Pennsylvania was in her original charter, and in her subsequent purchases from the Indians. There was no question, as was afterwards admitted, that Penn's colony in its integrity embraced all the original charter limits granted to the original proprietary. The dispute was to how far the actual. bounds extended. Each claimed, and each made exertion to maintain its point'. The boundary of West.. moreland, the latest and most westerly of the counties, did not extend farther southwest than the most westerly branch of the Youghiogheny, nor farther west than the Ohio at Fort Pitt ; and summarizing, it is seen that Governor Thomas Penn, as early as 1752, in his instructions to his deputies, advised them to assist the Governor of Virginia in erecting a fort at the point of the Ohio, but to take especial pains that nothing be done to the disparagement of his claims. The notes of the first survey, by Gist, the first settlements on the tributaries of the Ohio, and the attempt at the erection of a fort by the Ohio Company were under the assumption that this point was within the territory of Virginia; and accordingly in 1754 (Feb. 19th) Governor Dinwiddie, to encourage soldiers and three following chapters, we have compared, among others, Withers', "Chronicles," Doddridge's "Notes," Craig's "History of Pittsburgh," "History of the Backwoods," " Border Warfare," Campbell's" History of Virginia," Rupp's " History of Western Pennsylvania," besides the general histories and all excerpts that have come before us. But the out series of Pennsylvania Archives and Colonial Records is the One great source of information for those inquiring further. 64 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. were in a state of nurture, was but the protecting of settlers, granted, by proclamation, large bodies of land about the forks of the river. In March following, Governor Hamilton, on the part of the proprietaries, wrote to Governor Dinwiddie that, as he had given it his attention, he believed the point to be within Pennsylvania. In Dinwiddie's reply he stated that he was much misled by his surveyors if the point was not within the limits of Virginia. This doubt was not settled till the occupancy of the disputed point by the French and the erection of Fort Duquesne. The French and Indian war and the Lydian war in Western Virginia obliged both parties to be united in a common interest. After this for a time there was a lull in the war of words, and from the time when the turbulent Kyashuta laid down the hatchet to Bouquet, in 1764, on the Muskingum, till the treaty of Stan wix, 1768, the southwestern part of Pennsylvania, below the Youghiogheny, was populated under the laws of Virginia, and mostly by settlers from Virginia and Maryland along with the Irish. The establishing of the territorial government of Westmoreland then led the Virginians at this juncture to occupy Fort Pitt and the lands on the northern banks of the Monongahela; and it must be borne in mind that these settlers evert ready to fly to arms if need be rather than suffer a doubt to rest upon their title. For men are ready and willing, so strong is the feeling which attaches to one's fields and firesides, to fight for their homes, even in preference, when there is a preference, to their government. The agents of Dunmore had, therefore, willing tools to work with. Although all unprejudiced minds will not deny that Virginia had asserted this claim and screened her own firesides and the frontier of Pennsylvania in fighting for it, yet to understand the motives which actuated Dunmore, her Governor, at this time, and to appreciate that intense hatred felt even now against him by all Americans, there are other circumstances which force themselves to our attention. The considerate and patriotic men of Virginia have disclaimed any participation by the Old Dominion in these overt and high-handed acts and pretensions, and have in their histories loaded his character with shame and infamy. And this character is justly drawn, as it was justly deserved. Some writers, in the exuberance of patriotic fervor, go so far as to say that his actions hastened to bring to a crisis the troubles between the colonies and the crown, and call them the prelude to the Revolution. Connected so intimately as they are with this great epoch, we shall, in order to understand the part Westmoreland took in that great event, have to refer back to the colonial history of Virginia. There had been no country so successful in founding foreign colonies as England, and no country that so nurtured and protected them in their infancy. The freedom which they possessed from the time they came into being sprang from the protection of the common law ; for the protecting of these, while they the mother-country herself. Under different dynasties for several generations the colonial policy of England with her American colonies was founded and exercised in eminent justice. She regarded them as her offspring, and in truth as her dependencies ; and they were dutiful in their allegiance. At length this policy was changed. Instead of treating them as he near offspring, she chose to deal with them as if they were conquered provinces. In 1765, nine years before the time of which w are now treating, it was that the British ministry wanting to increase the revenues of the crown, exacted a tax of the colonists in the shape of a stamp duty on paper and writings, which act is known the Stamp Act. Discontent was manifested strong in Massachusetts and Virginia. Hitherto the Virginians had been considered the most loyal of th colonists. Now the people resisted most strongly thi unconstitutional act ; but the conciliating dispositions of the Governors fortunately appointed, howeve kept the people pacified. Lord Botetourt, from 17, to 1771, did all in his power to advance the colon and to protect the firesides of the people. He died in 1771, and his successor was John Murray, their kingly Governor of New York, known in history as Earl of Dunmore. And this man was a bitter Tory, preferring the interest of the king to the interest the people. He proceeded by means the most unjust to bind the colony in an impossible allegiance. Hut believe history as it describes- him in his public capacity, we must conclude that he was one of the most heartless of men. It does not, in view of the subsequent acts of Dunmore, appear to be at all improbable when it is 5 serted that he was appointed to the governship Virginia to rule them with severity, thus to make them feel their dependence, and to quiet the growing dissension then arising among the colonists in a con Mon interest. It cannot be said exactly whether the troubles which he helped agitate in the western pa of Pennsylvania were in pursuance of a fixed pone or whether they were instigated by his cruel disposition. All, however, agree that he secretly, throught his agents, gave a left-handed instigation to the Is dians in the course of their warfare. It is true tin when he became Governor the frontier settlers we fighting for life with famine, with the severity of lot( and dismal winters, and with their treacherous enemies; not in a long, open, and general war, but in a war no less destructive. And it is asserted that Dunmore found means to supply the Indians with arms to destroy his own blood, and, scarcely to believed, furnished money to pay for the scalps mothers and babes. He, by the means of wagin such an inhuman war, wanted, so they declare, draw the attention of the colonists from the righ civil liberty to the protection of their very ho their very lives. Such Virginians as take this view HE BORDER TROUBLES OF 1774 BEGIN - 65 regard the blood shed at the battle of Point Pleasant, the great battle of Dunmore's war of 1774, as the first offering on the altar of liberty. Dunmore was such a man who, clothed with authority, could not but use it to his own interest, and therefore use it badly. He was a supercilious aristocrat, without a redeeming patrician trait. He was hot-headed, stubborn and tyrannical, and was, on the whole, as unfit a man as could have been gotten to govern Virginia at this juncture. These assertions when sifted closely will not, perhaps, be literally sustained: But our ancestors, those who suffered and had cause to complain, did not discriminate so closely as we do. It is, in truth, not correct to say that Dunmore instigated this war, but one thing is certain, he played it and its consequences into his own hands, and for what he thought was to the interest of the king. The Indians, both before and after, opposed the advance of the whites in every direction. There was a war of the races everywhere. Every foot of ground from the James River to the Mississippi was fought for. With all this, the loss of so many is laid at his door. We shall not enter at large into the details of the war which opened and continued through 1774, and which is commonly known as Cressap's war, or Dunmore's war, as it does not, only in a general way, concern our local history. Happily for our infant colony, it did not do much actual harm. But we must consider it in connection with the wide-spread dismay it occasioned among the defenseless inhabitants of the border, the imminent dangers which looked them in the face, and its consequent effect in alternating the relations of the people of Western Pennsylvania with the royalists. The encroachment of the whites into Kentucky and upon the lands of the Indians along the Ohio, and the influence of the Canadian traders were the general causes of the war. The Indians, from these-facts, naturally regarded Western Virginia and Western Pennsylvania as the hive from which swarmed forth these emigrants. Redstone and Fort Pitt were the chief points at which these embarked. The first cabin in Kentucky was built by Harrod, who led out a party from Monongahela. Both of thee.: places had fortifications erected and garrisons kept up from the time of Pontiac's war, in 1764, to nearly this time. The Indians then watched the route which led into Kentucky, and on the little bands led out to reinforce Boone and his confederates they kept up a harassing war. And while these were the general causes, the immediate causes of this war were the instances of single murder committed, sometimes through apprehension; sometimes in cold blood ; and this on both sides. There are instances in which the savages killed the whites, and instances in which the whites inhumanly murdered the Indians. These murders continuing, both parties claimed that they were in retaliation for murders committed by the opposite party. So far of the troubles of the border in 1773 and 1774. Dunmore early made effort to hold the country round Fort Pitt as part of Virginia. To this end he sent an agent into these parts to proclaim his will. This man was John Connolly, known to the early settlers and to the Indians as Doctor John Connolly.' He was a relation of the Governor ; was a Pennsylvanian by birth; was a notorious Tory; looking for advancement commensurate with his energy ; and was a willing tool of Dunmore, as Dunmore himself was of the ministry. In January, 1774, Connolly took possession. of Pittsburgh by an armed force of militia, gotter from the south of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela. He came as the accredited agent of the Gov ernor to hold this point, and to counteract the authority of Penn's magistrates. To the colonists of Pennsylvania he represented that the militia musters which he was holding were for an advance against the Indians, then becoming troublesome ; to the Indians he 1 This John Connolly, the Benedict Arnold of Western Pennsylvania, was respectably connected. He was half-brother of Gen. James Ewing, of York County, a distinguished officer in the Revolution ; he was a nephew of Col. Brogan, the Indian agent ; and his wife was a daughter of Samuel Semple, Washington's host at Pittsburgh in 1770. He enjoyed, before his defection, the utmost confidence of Washington, and of all the foremost men of Western Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. He had, after his defection, the secrets of Gage, Dunmore, Sir William Johnson, Sir Guy Carleton (later Lord Dorchester). Ile was on such familiar terms with all those who moved affairs in the West that he undertook to corrupt, at the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Col. John Gibson (uncle of Chief Justice Gibson). He had corrupted McKee, Elliott, and Girty. Of his sagacity, energy, and foresight there is abundance of testimony. He entertained great projects; one of these was to found a colony on the Cumberland River. He, with Col. John Campbell, owned the land upon which the city of Louisville, Ky., is built. When arrested in Maryland, with two accomplices; he had most of his papers very artfully concealed in the " mailpillion" of his portmanteau horse. Enough were found to condemn hint, and to reveal his purposes. While he was a prisoner, in 1777, Ceti. Ewing became bondsman for hie good behavior, and took him to his farm to regain his health ; but ho soon betrayed this confidence, and was recommitted to prison. In 1781, after his release from prison, he plotted an attack on Pitt, burgh and other Western posts. Ho was to operate front Canada with Sir John Johnson. He had a number of blank commissions to fill in for the Tories whom he should gather round him. He renewed his efforts against Pittsburgh in 1782, and had gone so far as to have his forces collected at Lake Chatauqua, ready for descent, when a spy reported that Gen. Irvine, who then commanded at Pittsburgh, was ready. We shall see how some of his forces descended thence, and destroyed Hannastown in July of that year. His last appearance was in Kentucky, in 1758, in an effort to procure discontented spirits there to join with the Governor of Canada (Lord Dorchester) in the seizure of New Orleans, and the opening of the Mississippi to Western commerce. But he was driven ignominiously away. At last he forfeited the esteem of all Americans, and his relatives and friends deserted him. But it dues not appear that be ever repented of the treason to his native country, but, as has been reported, held Girty in high esteem till he died. It is probable that not another example like his is to be found in our history, wherein so much that was promising in the career of a man failed of fruition. He had ability, sagacity, influence, opportunity; he availed himself of neither. He lived after his expatriation, and died, on the bounty of the king. His last days were made miserable by disease and intemperance. His career may be traced through all the documentary annals of his day. For details, Sparks' " Washington," " Penn. Archives and Colonial Records." For his attempt in the Southwest, Albach's " Western Annals," 492, et seq. 66 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. represented that it was to hold this part of Virginia against the Pennsylvanians ; and to the militia themselves was held out the idea that they were assembled to hold their property against seizure by this Province. Thus from the first he sowed the seeds of dissension among these people. Taking this point without resistance in January, he changed the name to Fort Dunmore, and issuing a proclamation, called the militia of Western Virginia together and asserted the claims of Virginia. At the same time he continued to spread abroad among the people the most unfavorable reports concerning the pretensions of the legitimate Governors and their unwarranted claims. These repeated assertions, put forth in a warlike manner, together with the invasion of the soil of Pennsylvania and the disturbance of the peace, were vigorously opposed by the 'magistrates and the body of the people. The body of militia collected at Fort Pitt for the ostensible project of an invasion of the Indian country, but really used by Connolly in enforcing his authority, was, as all militia bodies, a set of Falstaffian ragamuffins, who, in a military capacity, were kept under control by officers, and in a rude military discipline in proportion as their inclinations were gratified. By obeying half the time they could command the other half. These rabble soldiery shot down the cattle and hogs of the peaceful inhabitants as they chose ; they pressed in the horses, and, in short, took whatever property they pleased. 1 For the issuing of his proclamation and the calling of the militia together, St. Clair had Connolly arrested on a warrant, brought before him at Ligonier, and committed to jail at Hannastown. Giving bail to answer for his appearance in court, he was released from custody. On being released he went into Augusta County, Va., where at Staunton, the county-seat, he was created a justice of the peace. It was alleged that Fort Pitt was in that county, in the district of West Augusta. This was to give a show of legality to his proceedings, and to cover them with the official sanction of the authority for whom he was acting: When he returned in March it was with both civil and military authority, and his acts from thenceforth were of the most tyrannical and abusive kind. When the court, early in April, assembled at Hanna's, Connolly, with a force of a hundred and fifty men, armed and with colors, appeared before the place. He placed armed men before the door of the court-house, and refused admittance to the provincial magistrates without his consent. Connolly had had a sheriff appointed for this region. In the meeting between himself and the justices he said that in coming he had fulfilled his promise to the sheriff, and denied the authority of the court, and that the magistrates had any authority to hold a court. He agreed so far as to let the officers act as a court in matters 1 Devereux Smith's Letter to Dr. William Smith.—Penn. Archives. which might be submitted to them by the people, but only till he should receive instructions to the contrary. He wanted to be, and was, tyrannical, but was fearful of bringing the power of the Province upon himself. The magistrates were outspoken and firm. They averred that their authority rested on the legislative authority of Pennsylvania ; that it had been regularly exercised ; that they would continue to ex. ercise it, and to do all in their power to preserve public tranquillity. They added the assurance that the Province would use every exertion to have the boundary line satisfactorily adjusted, and by fixing a temporary boundary would accommodate differences till one should be ascertained. CHAPTER XIV CONNOLLY'S USURPATIONS, INDIAN ALARMS, ETC, The Pennsylvania Justices further resist Connolly's Usurpation—He sends Three of them in Irons into Virginia—They are released by Dunmore—Commissioners appointed by the Council to visit the house of Burgesses of Virginia—Evil Summer of 1774—Petitions from Earl, Inhabitants of Westmoreland to Governor Penn—Meeting held a: Pittsburgh—The Association first formed— Devereux Smith's Letter to Dr. William Smith—Some acts of Connolly recited—Dunmore opens Offices for the Sale of Land in Pennsylvania Territory—He issues a Proclamation to the People—St. Clair superintends the Military Arrangements--Forts repaired, and list of new ones erected-Rangers organized and posted at various Points—Alarm of the inhabitants—Many Settlers cross back over the Mountains—They are urged to remain by St. Clair and Others—People of Ligonier Valle! gather near the Fort in fear of the Indians crossing the Ohio—Number and Lists of the Signers of the Petitions to Governor Penn- Hempfield Dutch and Pittsburgh Irish. AMONG the stanch and firm adherents of Penn about Fort Pitt were Devereux Smith, Alexander Mackay, Æneas Mackay, and Andrew McFarland These Mackays were early settlers about the fort and Æneas Mackay was named as county judge among those created at the forming of the county At the usurpation of Connolly these men specially resisted and opposed his assumption, and stood up mu fully, representing in their persons and magisterial capacity the claims of the legitimate Governor These magistrates kept up a regular corresponded with the Governor and with each other, as indeed all prominent citizens, and among these in vigilance and in energy none excelled St. Clair. His common nications, printed in the archives of the State, are many instances our chief source of information, an on disputed points these are allowed the preference This opposition to Connolly was opposed by ever reasonable and peaceable manner, and with long suffering. They claimed that it was tyrannical to enforce the authority of Virginia over the territory which they held, and which they had settled under the impression that it was within Penn's jurisdiction These justices attended court at Hanna's in April 1774. When they returned home they, with the CONNOLLY'S USURPATIONS, INDIAN ALARMS, ETC. - 67 ception of Alexander Mackay, were arrested by Connolly. They refused to give bail, and were sent under guard to Staunton. Mackay got permission to go by way of Williamsburg, the capital of the State, in order to see Dunmore. The upshot of the interview he had was that the justices were allowed to return home. But when the news of their arrest reached the Council it was determined to send two commissioners to the Burgesses of Virginia to represent to them the consequences which might ensue if such proceedings were continued. These two were James Tilghman and Andrew Allen. Their instructions were to request the government to unite with the proprietaries in a petition to the Council of the king, first, to have a definite boundary line run, and second, to use every exertion to have a temporary boundary line drawn.'. After a 'good deal of talk the hot-headed viceroy dismissed the commissioners, and the conference ended.. in nothing ; and when its failure was known Connolly's insolence and oppression increased in accelerated proportion. These things occurring in the early summer of 1774, at the very time when word was circulated that an Indian war was uprising, the inhabitants of our county were in a strait betwixt two troubles. It appeared to them that if they remained, either death from the hands of Indians, gm to be upon them, or their very substance eaten out by a set of mercenary militia was their choice; and, further, and of great moment, the title to most part of their land was now brought into question. On account of these confirmed and apprehended dangers the crops of that year were in many places unsown, and what was grown was not harvested. For many miles from Pittsburgh eastward the fences were demolished, and the domestic cattle slaughtered or running at large were not reclaimed. Many at this juncture left and returned to the East., some hopeful for better times, and some with no intention of returning. The officers of the county, and many who were the most interested, used every exertion to induce the others to stay. But a panic, constantly extending, was around them on all sides. In the latter end of May and in June public meetings were held at various places, and at these meetings resolutions were adopted which were intended to show their distressful situation, and in which the Governor was petitioned to give the inhabitants assistance. The petitions presented at this time, on the immediate apprehension of an Indian war, are headed from Hannastown, from Allen's, a block-house on the Crab-Tree down towards the Loyalhanna, from Fort Shippen at Capt. John Proctor's on the Twelve-Mile Run, and from Pittsburgh. The public meeting which met at Pittsburgh, June 14, 1774, signed a petition which differs not much from the others in the statement of their fears, but rather more plainly and forcibly dwelt upon the indignities they had suffered and the privation they were under from Connolly's shameful proceedings. These, it is true, had suffered more than those in the eastern part; But they said, in effect, that their situation was alarming ; that they were deserted by the far greater number of their neighbors ; that they had no place of strength to resort to should war be upon them ; that labor was at a stand ; that their growing crops were destroyed by the cattle ; that their flocks were dispersed, and that the minds of the people were disturbed with the fear of falling to the mercies of the barbarous savages. Thus, in distress, next to the Almighty, they looked to his Honor for relief. The magistrates still continued to exercise their functions in opposition to Connolly. He proceeded to extremes theretofore unknown. He, by his militia, broke open the houses of many citizens, a thing tolerated only under military law. In many instances the inhabitants courageously opposed his rabble.. In several instances they were brought face to face, and when defending their houses from illegal visitation and from pillage they showed a bravery which the maudlin crew dared not encounter. An association was even formed for the protection of the people. This association was composed of the most active and influential of the inhabitants, and they proposed to stand together to resist Connolly, and to make preparations for their mutual safety. They called upon the militia, and these, in small forces, were posted at different points. While this, perhaps, is getting tedious, we would say that the aggressions of Connolly were summed up in a masterly manner by Devereux Smith in the remarks which he made in a letter to William Smith in June, 1774. After laying the distress of the inhabitants to the tyrannical conduct of this man in the present dread of In Indian war, he claimed that Connolly first alarmed the Indians by the action of the militia in firing upon a friendly party in the January previous, which party were encamped near Sawmill Run, on the Ohio, when the 'militia, returning home, some of them under the influence of whiskey, fired upon the party there encamped without provocation. Further, that Cressap had, in vindication of his conduct in helping to murder the friendly Indians, and in beating up the whites of Virginia to arm, alleged the instigation of Connolly in a circular letter to the people on the Ohio ; that he brutally assaulted and abused, after breaking open the doors by force, the persons of Mackay, Smith, and Spear ; that with an armed force he surrounded the court-house (Hanna's) at Hannastown ; that he transported Æneas Mackay, Smith, and MacFarland, magistrates, in irons, to Staunton jail in Virginia; that he proceeded to shoot down and impress the domestic animals without compensating the sufferers ; that with an armed force he attempted to plunder the house of Devereux Smith, but was prevented by a Mr. Butler at the risk of his life; that when a man had died in the fort, and his corpse was robbed by some of his 68 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. own men, he sent an armed force into the town with a general search-warrant to search every house without exception, and that in the course of the search the militia broke open and took out private property of a citizen, at the same time insulting him ; that he sent a party that waylaid a horse laden with gunpowder sent out by William Spear for the use of the inhabitants of the county ; and these he declares to be but a few of the many distresses under which they labored, and without speedy protection and redress they could not long support themselves under such tyranny. It would appear then, when all the testimony is summed together, that this statement, although drawn up by one smarting under the abuse of Connolly, was not an exaggerated statement. Connolly himself although of untiring energy and some ability, was a drunken, blasphemous wretch, who worked fir hire, and the men under him were too apt to follow Ms leadership. These he supplied with as much whiskey as they wanted, and the only exertion to which they were put was to procure provision and forage, which they tried to get with as little trouble as possible. Dunmore now had opened several offices for the sale of lands in what is now the region embraced in Fayette, Washington, Greene, and Southern Allegheny. The warrants were granted on the payment of two shillings sixpence. The purchase-money was only ten shillings per hundred acres. This was an inducement for settlers to occupy here in preference to going to the Pennsylvania office. He also established, in the latter part of the year, three county courts in this region. Two of these were south of the Monongahela, and one north of this, at old Fort Redstone, the name of which was changed to Fort Burd. And still persisting in his pretensions, Dunmore, when he was at Fort Pitt in September, where he had stopped on his way to reinforce Col. Lewis, issued a proclamation, in which he demanded the unqualified submission of all settlers to his county governments west of Laurel Hill. During this critical time the agents of the Penns, the magistrates, and the foremost of the people were tireless in their efforts to induce the inhabitants to remain at the homes they were just clearing out of the wilderness, and they used every exertion to infuse confidence into the public mind. The association everywhere urged upon the people to have their arms ready, and at the first call of danger to fly to each other's assistance. St. Clair was recognized as the controlling spirit in the military arrangements. He was in constant communication with the Governor, and the Governor having great confidence in his judgment, left the direction of these executive affairs in great part to him. St. Clair gave his advice and his personal supervision. Stockades and blockhouses were erected at every available point where the number of people would justify, and at where it was feared the savages might enter. The stockade at Ligonier was put in repair, and one which had been begun at Hannastown was now hurried up. Kittanning was made a special point., and here it was intended that a large depot of arms and munitions, under the care of a garrison, should be kept up. For St. Clair's idea was to have a road opened from near Ligonier to that point in case the southern portion of country should be overrun, and also he maintained that it was, in a military point of view, a desirable place at which to mass a body of troops for active service on the frontier. By this time quite a number of settlements had been made along the river in what is now the southern part of Armstrong County. It to this date we trace the erection of the many block houses which afterwards offered shelter during their Indian depredations through the Revolution, and which were long the landmarks of their respective"' localities. This season was built Fort Shippen, at John Proctor's; Fort Allen, in Hempfield township between Wendell Ourry's and Christopher Trubee's (who owned the land upon which Greensburg was laid out) ; one at John Shields' on the Loyalhanna about stx miles from Hanna's. Several were bui also in the outskirts of the settlements from Ligonier by way of the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas, and a long line in the southern part of the county, faced by the river-courses which trend towards the Mononghela and the Ohio. We have seen how the troubles were realized about Pittsburgh. No less was the eastern portion of then county distressed. Under St. Clair a ranging party of sixty men had been organized at Ligonier ; but every idle report the people sought the shelter some little fort, and many hundreds, on the testimony, of St. Clair, fled out of the county. St. Clair call, in the rangers, who had been scattered about, an arranged them to some advantage. Twenty we posted at Turtle Creek, twenty at the Bullock seven miles east of Pittsburgh, thirty at Hannastown twenty at Proctor's, twenty at Ligonier. These were on the direct frontier towards the Allegheny, all country between the Forbes road and the river being almost entirely abandoned. A few remained shut in a block-house on the Conemaugh. To St. Clair was surprising, and, as he says, shameful, that so great a body of the people should be driven from their sessions without even the appearance of an enemy, no attempt had been made by the Indians on w, was understood to be Pennsylvania. On the 11th June a report was started that a party of Indians had been seen near Hannastown, and another party on Braddock road. This set the people agoing again. Clair took horse and rode up to inquire into the fa He found the reports improbable, but it was impossibility to persuade the people so. He states that he is ce lie met no fewer than two hundred families and thousand cattle in twenty miles' riding, The people of Ligonier Valley had, up to this tine made a stand, but on that day they all moved into the CONNOLLY'S USURPATIONS, INDIAN ALARMS, ETC. - 69 stockade. They all, seized with a strange infatuation, contemplated leaving the country, and so strong was the current that St. Clair says had they left he would have been forced to go with them. Had they gone then, with the scanty harvest just ready to cut, they must undoubtedly have perished by famine. As it was made evident to the settlers of Westmoreland that the projected Indian attack was directed against Virginia, the only hope of the public peace being restored was in the success of the authorities in settling the line of jurisdiction yet unsettled. The petitions sent by the inhabitants to the Governor are still extant. The one from John Proctor's numbered seventy-eight ; the one from Fort Allen, seventy-seven ; one from the country at large, dated at Hannastown, one hundred and thirty-four; the one from 'John Shields', fifty; another from Hannastown, ninety-one. 1 1 "The petition from Fort Shippen, at Col. (then captain) John Proctor's, on Twelve-Mile Run," was signed by the following : Lot Darling, Andrew Woolf, George Hellingbar, Samuel Sloan, William CaldweH, Roberi Roulston, William Allison, William Cortney, John Patrick, Benjamin Cochran, David Maxwill, William Hughs, Elias Pellet, James Gemmel, James Forsyth, Robert Taylor, John Leslie, William Anderson, Joseph Campbell, John McKee, George Moore, William Perry, Charles Mitchell, James Wallace, John Scott, Knight Scott, Robert Stephenson, Andrew Allison, John Cox William Michel, Joseph Man, George Henry, James Campbell, Josias Campbell, John Lam, Joseph Suphut, Isaac Parr, John Moore, Robert Beislein, John Lydick, Philip Couze, William McCall, George Smilie, Ferguson Moorhead, Richard Jarvis, David Kilgour, John Proctor, Samuel Moorhead, William Lochry, James Hamilton, Arthur Harvey, Patrick Archbald, William Mount, John Davis, John Harry, John Pagan, Robert Marshall, John Campbell, Henry Zane, Robert Caldwell, George Leasure, James Stevenson, Thomas Stevenson, Robert Cochran, John Taylor, William Skrm, William Martin, Andrew Mitchell, David Sloan, James Fulton, Francis McGinnis, James Carnahan, William Thompson, Allen Sloan, Moses Dickie, Nathaniel Bryan. The one from Fort Allen, in Hempfield township, between Wendel Ourry's and Christopher Trilby's, was signed by the following: Wendell Ourry, Christopher Trubee, Frantz Raupp, Nicholas Shener, John Lafferty, John Bendeary, Conrad Houck, James Waterms, John Bedeck, Adam George, Nicholas Allimang, Adam Uhrig, Stofei Urich, John Golden, Peter Urich, Martin Mintz, Michael Bonet, Heinrich Kleyn, Conrad Hister, Hans Gunckee, Peter Knauer, Peter Uber, John Kransher, Heinrich Schmit, Jacob Kuemel, John Morey, Adam Bricken, Peter Nannemacher, Philip Klingelschmit, Peter Klingelschmit, Peter Altman, Andoni Altman, Joseph Pankkek, Brent Reis, Baltzer Moyer, Jacob Hauser, Peter Altman, Christian Banns, George Crier, Peter Rosh, Joseph Kutz, Adam Meire, Daniel Wiler, Thomas Williams, Michael Butz, George Blended, William Hanson, William Altman, Marx Breinig, Johannes Breinig, Samuel Lewisch, Andony Walter, Jacob Welcker, George Bender, Nicholas Junt, Michael Hams, David Marshall, Heinrich Sil, Richard Archbold, Conrad Linck, Freiderick Marschal, Hennes Breynig, Harper Mickendorf, Jacob Schraber, Daniel Mane Heinrich Schram, Peter Schelhammer, Jacob Maylin, Dewalt Macklin, Hennes Kostwitz, Jacob Shram, Lutwig Alterman, Hans Sill, Jacob Stroh, Christopher Heron', Gerhart Tenses. Of these names only twenty-five were written in English, thE rest in German; and, perhaps with the exception of Lafferty and Archbold, they were all of German lineage. The names are still preserved in Hempfield, North Huntingdon, and Penn townships, but the spelling has undergone a change, and "Kleyn" is now "Kline," and " Macklin" is "Mechlin." A similar petition from the county, evidently signed at Hannastown, had the following signatures Robert Hanna, Alexander Thompson, William Jack, Joseph Kinkead, Manuel Csliber, William Shaw, William Jenkins, William Dawson, J. Donne, Joshua Archer, John Gothery, Joseph McGarraugh, William It is to be noticed that some of the names are repeated in at least two of the petitions, and it has been suspected that a few of the names are not genuine ; that is, there was no one in proper person to stand for the signature. What is likewise observable is that the names repeated are those of a German original. Maybe more of them might write their names than their brethren the Irish ; and it might be that the signatures were signed in good faith at different times by the petitioners, with the hope of moving the authorities by the unanimous array of names. But feeling a sympathy with them at this late day in their trying times, we cannot help professing astonishment at the peculiar ubiquity of our sturdy Dutch ancestors, which allowed them to be, in time of danger, at different places at the same time. We might be led to infer that they indulged in the pleasing delusion that, being "now here, now there, now everywhere" (like the ghost in Hamlet), they might, like Paddy at Trenton, surround the Indians. McCutchin, James McCutchin, Jeremiah Lochrey, Joseph Brownlee, Robert Taylor, John Child, William Riddle, Hugh Brownlee, James Leech, David Crutchlow, James Crutchlow, Peter Castner, David Crutchlow, Jr., John Cristy, Joseph Shaw, David Shaw, William Nelson, John Guthrey, James Dunlap, Robert Riddle, John Riddle, William Guthrey, Charles Wilson, Joseph Studybaker, William Darraugh, James Darraugh, William Thompson, David Dickie, John Thompson, John Glass, Jehn Holmes, Charles Foreman, Samuel Miller, John Shields, Thomas Patton, John Taylor, Samuel Parr, James Case, Adam Maxwell, William Maxwell, William Barnes, James Moore, John Moore, Thomas Burbrldge, Martin Cavanagh, Arthur Denworthy, David Larrimore, Thomas Freeman, William Freeman, James Blain, Alexander McClean, John Moore, John Nobler, William Moore, William Hamilton, Thomas Ellis, Stark Ellis, John Ellis, John Adam, Andrew McCIain, Robert Bell, William Bell, William Bell, Samuel Craig, John Craig, Alexander Craig, John Cochran, James Wills, Henry McBride, Isaac McBride, James Bendy, Jacob Round, Barn abas Brant, William Brant, Edward Brant, Samuel Whiteside, Samuel Leetch, Matthew Miller, Alexander Hers, George Kean, Charles McGinnis, William Kindsey, Thomas Jack, John McAllister, Alexander Thomas, Samuel Courier, John Gouda, Samuel Gourla, James Beatty, Samuel Henderson, John Bryson, Robert Crawford Alexander Simerall, James McClelland, James White, Thomas Dennis, John Shrimpley, Richard Jones, William Moore, Adam Oury, John Cunningham, John Mackmalon, Peter Stot, William McCord, Andrew Gordin, John Muppdin rs, n Christy, Patrick Colgan, P. Russell, James Neilson, Abraham Pyatt, B. McGeehan, Joseph Thorn, Robert Frier, William Powel, William. Cat; Joseph Erwin, John Brownlee, Thomas Lyon. A petition from John Shields, on the Loyalhanna, about six miles from Greensburg, of the same date, 1774, has the following names: John Shields, John Nolder, John McIntire, David Henen, Henry Heathly, Manual Callahan, Isaac Parr, James Parr, Samuel Parr, Arthur Denniston, Archibald Trimble, John Denniston, Lorance Irwin. John Moore, Isaac Youngsee, Daniel McManame, Patrick Butler, Daniel McBride, James Blain, John Thompson, James Wills, Andrew Wills, Bobcat Bell, William Bell, Alexander McClain, Charles McClain, Thomas Burbridge, Andrew McClain, William Brent, Samuel Craig, John Craig, Alexander Craig, James Burns, John Cochran, David Shields, Thomas Freeman, Barmabas Brant, Edward Brant, James Bently, Jacob Round, John Moore, William Barns, William Cooper, William Hamilton, James Hall, David Loramer, John Loramer, Alexander Barr. Another, dated Hannastown, but evidently signed by residents south of that place, contains, among others, Joseph McGanaugh, William Brown, William McGlaughen, Samuel McKee, John McDowell, David McKee, Robert McKee, James Paul, William Sampson, John Brown, Adam Morrow, John Giffen, Isaac Keeth, Dennis McConnel, George Nelson, James King, John Canan, William .Shaw, Archibald Leach, James Boveard, Robert Haslet, Joseph Shaw, James Westley, John Calhoun, John Least, Stephen Groves, John Adams, John Hays, Charles Sterret, Robert Hays, and John Colliery, Jr. 70 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XV. DUNMORE'S WAR. Dunmore's War begun by the Murder of sonic Friendly Indians. especially Logan's Family— Virginian Army organized—Dunmore at Pittsburgh with Connolly—Great Gathering and Organization of the Ienlian Tribes—The Campaign of 1774—The Hopes of our People in Col. Lewis—Dunmore and Connolly want to see the Army defeated and the Indians on the Frontiers—Lewis gains the Battle of Point Pleasant—Dunmore's Treaty—Indictment : The People vs. Dunmore-Dunmore through Connolly still tyrannizes over the Pennsylvania Settlers, many of whom talk of leaving their Clearings—Condition of the People in 1775—Leaders in Westmoreland in 1775—The Military Spirit. IT is now time to return to the war itself, which, we have seen, was gathering upon the frontiers in the earl: part of 1774. Although, as we have said, Dunmore's war was not carried into our county, yet so intimately are our affairs connected with it that to have an understanding of them at all clear a rehearsal of it cannot be omitted. We shall, in as few words as consistent, briefly relate the whole campaign. We know, first, the apprehensions of the settlers in the Southwest. In the latter end of April a party of land adventurers, fleeing from the dangers which threatened them, came in contact with some Indians at the mouth of Captina Creek, sixteen miles below Wheeling. At about the same time happened the affair at Yellow Creek, midway between Pittsburgh and Wheeling. At this time there was a large party of friendly Indians encamped at Yellow Creek. The surrounding inhabitants prepared to flee. A party of these meeting together at the house of one Joshua Baker fired upon some Indians collected there. Among those who were killed were the brother and daughter of Logan. This it was that drove this great warrior td take the war to himself. Hearing the coming storm, such settlers as could go fled to places of safety, and all the block-houses between the Ohio and the Laurel Hill were filled. When this news reached the East the colonial government of Virginia speedily organized a command for the defense of the frontier. An advance force penetrated into Ohio, but as they could not be supplied with necessary provisions they had to retire. The Indians followed, and the time following was a miserable one to the helpless. Logan's actions were imitated by the rest. This renowned Indian did not go with the larger bodies of Indians, but he headed a party of eight Cayuga warriors, and these had mercy on nothing before them. He himself said afterwards that he had fully glutted his vengeance. What the frontiers of Virginia suffered never was and never will be told. Those even in the forts were in a confinement compared to which the confinement of a prison would be liberty. But during this time preparations were going on for the organization and forwarding of the expedition intended for their relief by the House of Burgesses. The Virginia army raised for the war of 1774 was divided into two divisions. In September the first division, under Col. Lewis, consisting of eleven hundred, marched from the mouth of the Little Kanawha. After a march of nineteen days through the wilds they erected their camp on the Ohio where the Big Kanawha empties. This place was called Point Pleasant. Here the other division of the army under the immediate command of Dunmore himself was to form a junction with the former. For reasons best known to Dunmore and his advisers it failed to do so. While Col. Lewis was awaiting word from the East, he received different news than he had expected. Lewis had reached this point about the 1st of October, and on the 9th he got word that Dunmore, instead of advancing to unite their armies, intended to proceed across the country directly to the Shawanese town, for Dunmore had on organizing his forces proceeded to Fort Pitt. He here consulted with Connolly, and had in his service such men as Simon Girty and Alexander McKee, recognized afterwards as notorious Tories, and while here at this time it was that be further attended to the organization of his civil affairs in these parts, as has been noticed before. The Indians in the mean time had not been idle. They had organized a large and terrible army, com- prised of many nations gathered under one chieftain. These were the flower of the Indian tribes along the Ohio,—the Shawanese, Mingoes, Delawares, Wyandotty, and Cayugas. In number they perhaps exceeded the Virginians.. They were all under they command of Cornstalk, a chief of the Shawanese, and king of the Northern Confederacy. He had hesitated long in taking arms against the whites. He was an eloquent man, of great foresight and judgment, and as a warrior is acknowledged on all sides to have been the most consummate Indian commander ever in arms against the whites. The plan of this battl was such as to reflect the highest credit on any general who had made an assiduous study of the science of war. And his arrangements were executed under his eyes with the utmost vigilance and bravery. He ha brought his warriors with such secrecy and dispatch as to occupy a large half-circle across the opening where the two rivers flowed to meet each other. He then, under cover of the darkness, stretched his line of red-skinned warriors across the base of this triangl in which triangle was the army of Virginians. Thus far without the knowledge of the whites, the savag did not count on anything but decisive victory, for their leader did not give his enemy a chance to escape only by winning the battle. He intended to drive them into the decreasing point, and either to annihilate them before they could cross the rivers, on cut them to pieces in the retreat. As for his own men, so much did he count on their bravery that threatened to kill with his own hand any who sho attempt to run back, unless he ordered them to do feigning themselves defeated. This was his plan, b he had not, in truth, fully secured his position,- not DUNMORE'S WAR - 71 enough to begin the battle,—till the Virginians were warned; for when intelligence had been received by Lewis that Dunmore did not intend to advance to his support, he hastened to break up his camp, and, in pursuance of Dunmore's orders, to march to meet him in the Indians' own country. The next morning, the 10th of October, 1774, he commenced preparations to transfer his army to the opposite side of the Ohio. Scouts were early sent out along the bank of the river. Two of these, at the distance of a few miles, were surprised by a great body of Indians. One was shot dead, and the other returning reported that the savages covered acres of ground. The army was immediately ordered out, and no sooner were they formed into line of battle than they received the shock of the inpouring savages. Some of the most prominent of the subordinate officers falling early in the battle, the main body fell back towards the camp. The line of the enemy now extended almost from river to river, a gap of a small space remaining on the side next the Kanawha. But when it appeared that the Indians were the victors, a bold movement fortunately executed by the whites saved them and changed the fortune of the day. While the Indians were advancing they protected themselves by piles of logs and brush, in some places rolled before them. They held the ground thus secured all day till evening. But Col. Lewis had latterly sent out three companies under cover of the high banks of the Kanawha to fall, upon the rear of the enemy. These succeeded in so doing. The Indians, intently engaged on the front, received with tremendous effect the fire behind. Thinking that the reinforcements from the settlements, which they knew to be coming, had now arrived, the Indian lines gave away. As the sun went down they retreated across the Ohio to their huts on the Scioto. The Virginians suffered a loss in dead and wounded amounting to almost one-fifth of their whole number, and it was believed the loss of Indians was in number not much less. The battle was the turning of the war, and in its results effective, for no other battle was fought till Dunmore treated with the chiefs at that memorable council where Logan, by his Patroclus (Jefferson), so eloquently spoke in his own defense. Dearly bought as was the victory, yet the complaints were loud that Dunmore made it of no avail ; for all that he gained by the conquest, which he claimed falsely as his own, were the closing of the war, an exchange of prisoners, and many liberal promises worth no more than the promises of an Indian. There was the usual amount of talk about burying hatchets, brightening chains, smoking pipes, setting suns, dear brethren, "sweet voices ;" but the frontier people, who knew whereof they spoke, said that he ought to have destroyed the Indian towns on the rivers, and pushed the tribes back into the far West, which he had in his power. Those who say that Dunmore was at this early day bidding for the assistance of the Indians as against the colonists, and instigating war for mercenary and unjust purposes, produce these facts, from which they adduce their reasons : While at Fort Pitt he associated with himself' such men as Connolly the Tory, Girty the renegade, McKee the deserter ; he failed to make the junction with Lewis, which was part of the plan agreed upon ; he had knowledge of the intended attack upon Lewis, but neither sent him word nor made an effort to assist him ; he drew all the honor of the subsequent treaty of peace between him and the confederate chiefs to himself, although it was apparent that it was owing to the victory of Col. Lewis that they were compelled to accept terms, and not to any act of Dunmore ; that the war being but half finished, it did not gain anything, whereas the desire of the fighting men was to destroy the Indian villages, and to leave them not a harboring-place in Eastern Ohio ; from the subsequent defection of his chief and most intimate associates, as well as of himself, and the alliance of the Indian tribes with Britain in the war which he helped to effect with the colonies ; from the action of Connolly in the year following, 1775 ; from the known attitude of the colonies and of England, one towards the other ; for many instances cited in which Connolly tried to make the Indians believe that the Pennsylvania colonists were their enemies, and-in which he appositely encouraged the whites and the Indians, regardless of consequences, to be in covert war against each other. It was late in the fall before those settlers who remained in Westmoreland knew they were saved from an Indian war. But their situation was truly pitiably: No sooner had Connolly returned than he continued his tyrannical acts with the magistrates and the people. So unbearable had he become that some of the adherents of Penn about Pittsburgh thought of leaving that place and settling at Kittanning. In November a number of armed men, under Connolly's orders, seized a Mr. Scott, acting under authority of Penn, and carried him to Brownsville, where he was required to enter bail for his appearance at the next court to be holden at Pittsburgh for Augusta County. In November another party of armed men, under Connolly, went to Hannastown, and breaking open the jail, released two prisoners confined under sentence of execution ; and in February of 1775 a third party went to Hannastown, again broke open the jail, and released three prisoners. Connolly was not in command of this last party, for a few days before he had started for Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia; but it was under command of Benjamin Harrison, a son-in-law of William Crawford There  time distinctive line drawn between the jurisdiction and the claims of the two colonies, and each of these had its adherents. Many of the most prominent had not given up the hope that the disturbances would be settled without difficulty, attributing that the most of the present troubles came   72 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. from some hot-headed and rash men. But in the state of affairs getting still more complicated, and which had called demands from the Council of the king, and advises from the Continental Congress, it was not unreasonable that men of high character in every respect should be held by the ties which bound them under every consideration to their own colony. We are, therefore, not surprised to know that as strenuously as Penn's settlers and his agents advocated their rights and his claims, so as strenuously on the other side and as naturally did such men as Crawford and Gibson take the side of Virginia. In January of 1775 the Executive Council of Pennsylvania having, bad information that William Crawford the president judge of Westmoreland, sided with the Virginians in opposing the justices of Pennsylvania, the Council advised the Governor to supersede him in the office of judge, which was done forthwith. But of the. troubles of the settlers during the fall and winter of 1774 and 1775 these were of the least. During the preceding summer the crops had been neglected, and winter found them unprepared, At the termination of Dunmore's war a goodly number, as was always the case on the frontier, had returned to their former homes, and this accession of inhabitants, who were consumers and not producers, had a distressful effect. They could not have come in a worse time, for the amount of provisions gathered was barely sufficient for those that had remained. The harvest of 1774 at best had been scanty ; along the southern border it had not been gathered at all. This season came very near to what the preceding year had been to Western Virginia, a year which in their annals was long remembered as the "starving year." But with that generosity which was a 'noble and a prominent trait among the early settlers, each assisted the other. During this winter many must have perished had they not resorted to hunting, and got from the woods enough game to keep them from want. Their small supply of corn, rye, and potatoes they divided among each other. And this was but the prelude to a long era of want and privation, necessity, and constant alarm, which was terminated only with the war which secured the independence of the colonies. Readers of general history are well conversant with the affairs which were taking place in Massachusetts and at Philadelphia in the early part of 1775. We will pass them over with observing that they were sympathetically responded to and closely watched by our colonists. Already were some, by more ways than one, controlling the actions of all. From notice of foregoing statements it will be observed that the whole people, as a body, at these early times may readily be separated into two classes, between which was a prominent line of demarkation. Although we alluded incidentally to this distinction before, at no other time is it more suitable to recall it than now. And this distinction is noticeable all through our early affairs, and indeed is noticeable at all times and among all people. We may call them respectively, aristocrats and plebeians, gentry and commonalty ; they are, in reality, the leaders and the followers. The class of which the county justices were the most prominent representatives, together with others who, in a military station, were equally prominent, deserves more than a passing notice. These were the ones who shaped the measures which received the approval of the people. As to these justices, we can at almost all times bear testimony to their integrity, and to their good, sound common sense. They reflect honor upon their lineage in the capacity of judges, the arbiters of right and wrong. But besides this knowledge, which it is certain they possessed, an accompanying and an indispensable qualification for a prominent man was that he have some knowledge of arms. Nearly every man of that day distinguished as a leader in civil affairs was also a military man, Indeed, from the incessant wars, to be. a man distinguished above the others was to be one who commanded the respect of his followers by having displayed more than ordinary bravery or knowledge or warfare. Of this class of men St. Clair, Capt. James Smith, Capt. Proctor, Col. Lochry were fitting ampler with us; while of those at Pittsburgh, Cols. Crawford, John Neville, John Gibson may be noticed. To have acquired a seat in the Assembly, or a nomination as a justice of the peace, or of the quorum, was about as much as to say that the on so specially favored was, or land been, a leader in th militia. The military organization of the Province had been early attended to, and no less from necessity was in than from a desire of glory that every citizen had a tincture of the manual of arias and of camp discipline. The justices of the peace were usually officers in the militia. St. Clair, Smith Crawford Neville had won a sort of pre-eminence in service before the were recognized as leaders in the civil affairs. T ideas of these men at the head of our county at conjuncture had been enlarged by connection with the more prominent men of the colonies, had beet improved by observation, by travel, by reading, by experience. So they were in manners, in information, in the possession of peculiar privileges and franchises bestowed by the colonial authorities, far above the great body of the people who came hither to e their bread by drudgery, and clear a patch and re thatched cabin to shelter the heads of their ragged offspring ; for these people, as a class, were poor impoverishment. They had made little advancement in refinement, they were of different and disti nationalities. Of all the early settlers they had special claim above the others to the boasted liberty of those born under the common law of England. But it is with a peculiar satisfaction that the Westmorelander of to-day contemplates the proceeding of his ancestors in 1775. WESTMORELAND'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1775 - 73 CHAPTER XVI. WESTMORELAND'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1775. Congrees and TIconderoga—Westmoreland listening to the Guns at Lexington Common— Meeting held at Pittsburgh and at Hannastown, May 16,1775—What they said at Pittsburgh—What they did at Hannastown—Westmoreland's Declaration of Independence— Spirit of the Resolutions Adopted—who wrote them —Similarity between the Declaration and the Resolutions In Expression and iu Sentiment—The military Idea of Resistance—Observatious and Remarks on the Paper —Westmoreland's Great Glory—The Regiment of Associators. WHAT occurred in Massachusetts after the passage of the bill by Parliament which closed Boston Harbor, when Gen. Gage was reinforced by British soldiers, and when minute-men were enlisting in every village, are matters of general notoriety. On the 19th of April, 1775, the men at Lexington Common laid bare their breasts to the bayonets of the soldiers of Great Britain, the representatives of an empire upon which the sun never went down. The cracking of the rifles of those yeomen " was heard the world around." When it echoed through these woods it reached the ears of a people who had been suffering under an indirect British oppression, and who were ready to fly to arms for a principle which they recognized as dear to them as their very existence, and for which they were as ready to battle as for their hearths. A thrill of sympathy went indeed through' all the English-speaking people when this act was witnessed; for there were many who, to the last moment, could not believe that actual war was imminent, and trusted that the differences between the mother and her offspring would be satisfactorily adjusted without, the intervention of arms. Now it was too late for either to retract or recede from their position without sacrificing on the one side their pretensions, on the other side their demands. Then the people spoke. On the same day on which Congress met from adjournment, May the 10th, 1775, Col. Ethan Allen demanded the surrender of Ticonderoga. The organized committee had by this time extended from the North to the South. Virginia, as well as Massachusetts, was a unit in the cause of the colonies. The spirit of freedom extended to here and to the most remote colonies in the Wrest. From the exertions of those men, who lost for a while all local prejudices and forgot all personal interests, the West, almost unanimously, was carried for the cause of liberty. We have not, at this day, the means of knowing who were the leaders of the others in Western Pennsylvania, and especially in Westmoreland, in shaping the course which the others with so much honor followed; hut the facts as they are preserved in history it is our pleasure to rehearse. Of the local movements in the early part of 1775 we can give no particulars in detail ; their whisperings were lost in the great storm which suddenly broke over the land. To as it would be a great satisfaction to know how the news was carried down the slim cartway of the old Forbes trail ; how the rider, forwarded, maybe, by the committee at Philadelphia, dashed up the hill at the stockade at Ligonier, and stopped at the door of Capt. St. Clair to deliver his packet; how the word was received by the settlers at Hanna's ; how neighbor ran to tell neighbor the greatest news of his life. Of this we know nothing, but we know that so speedily flew the news, and so spontaneous was the emotions of surprise and of fear which it awoke in the hearts of the Westmorelanders, that on the 16th of May, four weeks after the skirmish at Lexington, a meeting was held at Hannastown, and on the same day one at Pittsburgh, in which our inhabitants participated. In these they gave expressions to their views, and in many respects the meeting held at Hannastown was the noblest ever, to our time, held in Westmoreland or in the West. The resolutions adopted at Hannastown on the 16th of May, 1775, are perhaps better displayed, as all superior excellencies are displayed, by comparison. The meeting at Pittsburgh may be thus summarized. The inhabitants of the western part of Augusta County 1 meeting together, chose a committee, which committee met and resolved that seven so chosen, or any four of them, should be a standing committee, vested with all the powers of the corresponding committees which had been appointed in nearly all the counties, and after resolving,— First, That the thanks of the committee were due to their representatives in the Colonial Council, which sat at Richmond. Second, That the committee, haviug a high sense of honor in the behavior of their brethren of New England, they therefore cordially approved of their opposing the invaders of American liberty, and urged upon each one to encourage his neighbor to follow their example. And then taking into consideration the dangers which threatened America by the attack on Massachusetts, and the dangers which threatened themselves by the action of the loyalists in stirring up the Indians against them, they resolved,— Third, That the recommendation of the Richmond Convention relativc to cmbodying the militia be complied with, and that the recommendation to raise enough money to purchase ammunition be carried into effect. Then following in a noble appeal to the inhabitants, in the name of God and of everything sacred, to use their utmost to assist in levying the sum, and looking to their personal security, they resolved,— Fourth, An approval of a resolution of the committee in the other part of the county relative to cultivating friendship with the Indians. Then it was ordered that the committee secure such arms and ammunition as they could, and deliver them to the militia officers ; and resolved,— Fifth, That a sum definite be raised by subscription for the use of the deputies sent from the colonies to the General Congress. 1 Representing themselves to be within the jurisdiction of Virginia. 74 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. The meeting concluded by a report of the select committee, which was embodied in the form of a circular letter to the other delegates in the Colonial Congress, which statement sets forth only local grievances and local desires, and by an order to have the proceedings certified and published in the Virginia Gazette. On the same day, in the shade of the old forest-trees at Hannastown, met the backswoodsmen of Westmoreland. There, without any pretensions, but in modesty and with firmness, they subscribed unanimously to a series of resolutions, the substance of which had been written in King John's great charter, and which was subsequently embodied in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. The record of this meeting, preserved in the second volume of the fourth series of American Archives, sets forth in substance what follows: At a general meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland, held at Hannastown on the 16th of May, 1775, for taking into consideration the very alarming state of the country occasioned by the dispute skit Great Brieaiu, it was unanimously resolved that the Parliament by several acts had declared the inhabitauts of Massachusetts to be in rebelliou, and by endeavoring to enforce those acts the ministry had attempted to reduce the inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery thau existed, or had ever existed, in auy State or country. That not content with violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity by exposing their lives to the wanton spurt of a licentious soldiery, and by depriving them of the very means of subsistence. That us there was no reason to doubt but the some system of tyranny and oppression would be extended to all parts of America (provided it met with success in Massachusetts), it had therefore become the indispensable duty of every American, of any man who had any public virtue or love fur his country, or any compassion for posterity, to resist and oppose by every means which God had pnt in his power the execution of this system ; and that as for them they would be ready to oppose it with their lives and fortunes. And the better to enable them to accomplish this they agreed to immediately form themselves into a military body, to consist of companies to lie made up out of the several townships, under an association declared to be the Association of Westmoreland County. In words so noble was the preamble set forth, and no less happily conceived were the articles of association. They asserted that, as dutiful subjects, possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to his kingly Majesty George the Third, whom they acknowledged as their lawful and rightful king, and whom they wished to be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British empire, they did not by this association mean to deviate from that loyalty which it was their duty to observe ; but, animated with a love of liberty, it was no less their duty to maintain and defend their just rights, which of late had been violated by the ministry and Parliament, and to transmit those rights to their posterity. And for this they agreed and associated to form themselves into a regiment, or regiments, and to choose officers to command them ; and they promised with alacrity to make themselves masters of the manual exercise, and such evolutions as were necessary to enable them to act in a body with concert ; for which end they were to meet at such times and places as might be appointed by the commanding officers ; and also agreed that, should the country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the acts, of Parliament, that they would cheerfully submit to military discipline, and Would, to the utmost of their, power, resist and oppose them, and would coincide with any plan which might be formed for the defense, of America in general or Pennsylvania in particular. They then declared, by way of extenuation, that they did not desire any innovation, but only wished to see things go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp Act, when Boston grew great and America was happy. In proof of which they would willingly submit to the laws of which they had been accustomed to be governed before that period, and even pledged themselves to be ready, in either their associate or several capacity, to assist the civil magistrates to enforce the same. Finally, when the British Parliament would repeal the obnoxious statutes, and would recede from their unjust claim of taxing them and of making lawn for them in any instance, or when some general plan of union and reconciliation had been formed a accepted by America, that then their association should be dissolved ; but until then it should remain in full force ; and to the observance of it they bound themselves by everything dear and sacred among men. For them there was to be no licensed murder, famine introduced by law. The meeting ended by the passing of a resoluti for the townships to meet on Wednesday, the twenty fourth instant, to accede to the said association choose their officers. The resolutions stand recorded without the names of the signers attached ; neither is there any positive knowledge in so many words who drew them up. The signers without question were all Pennsylvanians. As to the authorship, the strongest presumption—a presumption almost capable of proof—is that St. Clair had the lion's share in it. The only contemporaneous documents to this tune made public are two lette both from St. Clair, written within a few days of the meeting. In the first letter, dated Ligonier, May 1 1775, to Joseph Shippen, Jr., the fact of the meeting is mentioned : "Yesterday we had a County Meeting, and have come to resolution to arm and discipline, and have formed an Association, which I suppose you will soon see in the papers. God grant an end may be speedily to any necessity for such proceedings. I doubt their utility, and almost as much afraid of success in this contest us of being vanquished." 1 In a letter dated at the same place on the 25th the month, when it was time some explanation should be given, Governor Penn read the following : "We have nothing but musters and committees all over the can and everything seem to be running into the greatest confusion some conciliating plan is not adopted by the Congress, America has seen 1 The date, or rather the word "yesterday," which is used, was evidently a slip of the pen. See the chapter on the life and services of St. Clair, in which further evidence is given on this matter.