Settlement of the Couxty. 53

SETTLEMENT OF THE COUXTY. 53

the date of the last entry in the journal, November 4th. pany in guarding Continental stores here in 1778." The "Doctor Allison" referred to in that entry as It was doubtless discontinued as a military post soon being about to set out for Philadelphia, and who had after the close of the Revohtion, and all traces of it preached the sermons previously mentioned in the were obliterated by the building of the town of journal, was the Rev. Francis Allison, the chaplain Brownsville. of the expedition. The fort when completed was named, in honor oj the commander of the expedition, "Fort Burd." As 3. military mork, it was far from being strong or for- CHAPTER VIII. midable, though bastioned. It was built in the form of a square, except for the bastions at the four angles. SETTLEMENT OF THE COCXTT. The curtains mere formed of palisades, set firmly in the earth and embanked. The bastions were con- THE first white explorers of the vast country structed of hewed logs, laid horizontally one above drained by the two principal tributaries of the Ohio River mere Indian traders, French and English. another. In the centre of the fort was a large house also of hewed logs, and near this, within the inclo- The date of their first appearance here is not known, but it was certainly as early as 1732, when the atten- sure, a well. The whole was surrounded by a broad tion of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania ras ditch, crossed by a dram-bridge, communicating with a gateway in t,he centre of the curtain in the rear of called to the fBct that Frenchmen mere known to be the work.' The location of the fort, with reference among the Indians within the supposed western limits to present landmarks in Bron.nsrille, may be de- of the territory claimed by the proprietaries under the scribed as west of t,he property of N. B. Bowman, and royal grant. This announcement caused considerabie nearly on the spct now occupied by the residence of discussion and some vague action on the part of the J. W. Jefiies. South of the fort was the bullock- Council, and there is no doubt that the fact, which pen; and a short distance, in a direction a littlesouth then became publicly -known, had the effect to bring of east, from the centre of Fort Burd was the central in the English-speaking traders (if they were not al- mound of the prehistoric mork once known as Red- ready here) to gather their share of profit from the lucrative Indian barter. stone Old Fort. Upon the departure of Col. Burd with his command, The French traders came into this region from the after the completion of the fort, he left in it a garri- north, donthe valley of the Allegheny. Tradition son of twenty-fire men, under cornnand of n commis- says they penetrated from the mouth of that rirer southeastward into the- country of the Monongahela sioned oEcer. Some acconnts hays it tlmt this oEcer was Capt. Panil,* fat.her of Col. James Paull, who jwhich there is no reason to doubt), and that some of them came many years before the campaigns of lived for many pears, and died in Fayette County. It is certain that Capt. Paull was czfteru.arcis in corn- Washington and Braddock, and intermarrying with matid at the fort for n long time. Nothing has been the Indians, settled and formed a village on the found showing horn long Fort Burd continued to be waters of Georges Creek, in what is now Georges to~rnship,Fayette County. held as a military post. " But it seems," says Judge Veech, "to hare been under some kind of military pos- Of the English-speaking traders some were Penn- session in 1774. During Dunmore's war, and during sylvanians, .vho came in by way of the Juniata, but the Revolution and contexporary Inciian troubles, it more were from Virginia and Xlaryland. who came was used as a store-house and a rallying-point for de- west orer the Indian trail leacling from Old Town, fense, supply, and observation by the early settlers Md., to the Yonghiogheny, guided and perhaps in- and adventurers. It was nerer rendered famous by duced to come to the Western wilds by Indians, n~ho a siege or a sally. We know.that the late Col. James from the,earliest times were accustomed to visit the Paull ser~eda month's duty in a drafted militia com- frontier trading-stations on the Potomac and at other points east of the mountains. These traders, both English and French, mere adventurous men, ever ' In the Pcnns~lmnin.Arcl~ives (sii. 327) is a plan of the fort, nla~le ready and willing to brave the perils of the wilder- l?r Col. Shiypen, the engineer. On this plan are given the dimeusions of the work, :IS fullo\vs: L' The cort:lin, $756 feet; the fl;unks. 16 feet; ness and risk their lives among the savages for the the faces of the bastiorrs, 30 feet; a ditch letu-ecn the bastions, 24 feet purpose of gain, but they were in no sense settlers, \vide; aud opposite the faces, 12 feet. The log-house fur a magazine, aud mly wanderers from point to point, according to the to contain tile wonlen aud clrildrcn, 39 feet squam. h gare G Feet vide and Y feet high, and a drawbridge [illegible, lrvt apparently 101 feet requirements or inducements of their vocation. Who wide." In Judge Veech's '' iilouonpi~elaof Old" is give11 3 diagram of Fort Burd, but it is uot dra~yniu accordance with tlwse dimensions, the 3 Jndge Veech says (" 1IIonongahela of Old," p. 26). "When the Tir- cllrlninsLeing n~adetoo short 8s conlpared xith the tize of the bastions. $in, M:~ryland,and Yeuns~lvaniatmders with the Indians on the ?Janres L. Ilownan, in a Ilietorie;~l sketch furnished by him to tlre )hi0 began their operations,perhaps early as li10, they procured In- Alnericoit Phneer, and published in 1843, said with regard to this first lians to stlow tllem the best and casirst route,aud this [the Xemacolin b'arrisouing of Fort Bard, "The pruhabilitg is that after the accom- path to the Youghioghmy and Ohio] was the one they ndopted." And Pli~llnrentof the oldect for wlricl~tile ,-oxnuranding officer was sent he he iulds, "There is some evidence that Indian traders. bothEnglish and placed Capt. Paull in command and returned to report." Freuch, were iu thiscountry much eurfier" than 1Tl0.

54 HISTORY OF PAPETTE COUNTY, PEXNSYLVANIA.

they were is no more known than is the time when dr. Hanbury, a London mercliant, Lawrence Wasli- they first came, for few, if any, of their names have ngton, and John Augustine Washington, of Virginia been preserved, other than those of Dunlap and Hugh brothers of Gen. George Washington), and ten other Crawford, and they were of the class of later traders, bersons, residents of that colony and Maryland, and in who gave up their calling on the approach of perma- darch, 1749, this association was chartered as the nent settlers. )hi0 Company by George tlie Second of England. Nor is it certainly known who was the first white The royal grant to the company embraced five hun- man who made a settlement intended to be perma- Ired thousand acres of land on the Ohio, and between. nent within the territory that is now Fayette County. he Mouongahela and Kanamha Riyers, ihis being Veech believed that the first actual settlers here were riven on the express condition that it should be Wendell Bromu and his two sons, Naunus and Adam, mproved and settled (to a certain specified estent) vith perhaps a third son, Thomas. "They came," vithin ten years' from the date of the charter. he says, "in 1751 or 1752. Their first location was on "The object of the company," says Sparks, "was Provance's Bottom, a short distance below little Ja- o settle the lands and to carry on tlie Indian trade cob's Creek [in tlie present township of Nicholson]. lpon a large scale. Hitherto the trade with the But soon after some Indians enticed them away from itrestern Indians had been mostly in the hands of the that choice alluvial reach by promises to show them Pennsylvanisns. The company conceived that they better land, and where they x~ouldexjoy greater se- night derive an inlportant advantage over their com- curity. They mere led to the lands on whicli, in part, >etitors in this trade from the water communication the descendants of bfaunus now reside.' . . . They )f the Potomac and the east~rnbrzilches of the Ohio came as hunters, but soon became herdsinen and til- the Monongahela and Tou~l~ioglieny],whose head- lers of the soil. . . . When Washington's litt,le army waters approsir~atedeach other. The lands were mas at the Great Meadows, or Fort Necessity, the :o be chiefly takn on the south side of the Ohio, be- Browns packed provisions to him,-corn and beef." ;ween the Monongahela and Kanamha Rivers, and This last statement, however, seems very much like one ,vest of the Alleghenies. The pririiege was reserved, of those doubtful traditions that are found clinging to iowever, by the company of embracing a portion of all accounts of Washington's movements from Fort :he lands on the north side of the river, if it shonld Secessity to Yorktown. It seems improbable, to say De deemed expedient. Two hundred thousand acres the least, that TVendell Brown wculd in that early were to be selected immediately, and to be held for time, and at his remote home in the wilderness, have ;en years free from quit-rent or any tas to the king, had sufficient store of corn and beef to spare it from In condition that the company should, at their owl the necessities of his numerous. family, and "pack" espense, seat one hundred families on the lands within it several miles across the mountain and through the seven years, and build a fort and maintain a garrisoll moods to help feed an army. Yet it may have been sufficient to protect the settlement. true. As to the date (1751-52) given by Mr. Veech "The first, steps taken by the company were to order as the time of Brown's first settlement on tlie Monon- Mr. Hamburg, their agent in London, to send ovel gahela, it appears too early, and there is a doubt for their use two cargoes of goods suited to the In- whether Wendell Brown shordd be named as the first dian trade, amounting in the whole to four thousand settler in this county, though no doubt esists that he pounds sterling, one cargo to arrive in November, was here among the earliest. 1749, the other in March fol1owing.j They resolved Of settlements made within the limits of the present

county of Fayette, tlie earliest which have been any- Sp~rl;~,in his I' Life rind Writings of W~shington:' s:~ysof this corn thing like definitely fised and well authenticated were pany t11:it when it was first instituted Nr. Lee, its projector, was iti lwincip:11orgn and most efficient men~ber. Hc died soon afterward^. those which resulted from the operations of the Ohio and tlwn the chief n~~nagerneutfell on Lawrence \Y;tshington, wl~ohd Contpany, an organization or corporation to which engayrd in the enterprise vith an entl~usiasnland energy peculiar tc reference has already been made in preceding chap- his cl~amcter. His agency was short, lio\revcr, as his rapidly declining 11ealtl1 soo?~terminated in his drat11. Several OF the con~pany's sl~arec ters. The project of the formation of this .com- cl~anged11:iuds. Governor Dinwiddie [of Virginiir] and George Mason pany mas originated in the gear 1745 by Thomas became proprietors. There were originally twentj sl~ares,andthe corn. Lee, a member of the Royal Council in Virginia; puny never consisted of more than that nnn~lmof m~mbers." his object being to form an association of gentlemen 3 The defeat of Wasl~iugtonand Braddock by the French in the year! 17% aud 1755, as drendy narrated, mid the cooseqnent expnlsion of the for the purpose of promoting the settlement of the English from the country west of the Allcgl~enies,rirtnally closed tllc wild lands west of the Allegheny &Iountains,within oper:rtions of the Ohio Company. Of this Sparks s:~y~,"The goods [de what was then supposed to be the territory of the signed fur the eonipa~~y'sprospecti\-e1ndi;in tradeon theOhio] badcome orer from England, but had uerer been taken trtl~criuto the iutcriol colony of Virginia, and also to secure the Indiar than Wills' Creek [Cumberland], \vl~erethey were sold to traders aud trade. For this purpose he associated with himsel Indians, who rrccired thcm at that post. Some progress had been made in constructing a road to ths Dlonongal~ela,but the temper of the Indian! IIXY such as to discourage any attempt toscnd tllegovd nt tlrc con~pns~'~ 1 South of Uniontown, near thelinebet\\-aen Pout11 Union and George' risk to a more remote point." This WIS the end of the company's op tonnsl~ipq,in the l~i~roricsof which towndrips further mention of th~ atious, at lenst as fur as this region was concerned. Almut 1760 anat. settlemeuts of the Brorj-ns will Ee given. tcnipt was madc to rcrive the project, aud Col. George Mercer was seni

SETTLEMEST OF THE COUNTY.

also that such roads should be made and houses built tition in their lucrative trade with the natives. These as would facilitate the communication from the bead efforts had had some effect in creating dissatisfaction of navigation on the Potomac Rirer across the moun- and distrust among the savages, but this feeling was tains to some point on the Monongahela. [This route to a great extent removed by the arguments and per- would, almost of necessitv, cross the territory of the suasions of the commissioqers and the company's present county of Fayette.] And as no attempt at agent, abd the treaty resulted in a rather reluctant establishing settlements could safely be made without promise from the chiefs of the Sis Kations not to some previous arrangements with the Indians, the molest any settlements which might be made under company petitioned the gorernment of Virginia to the auspices of the company in the region southeast invite them to n treaty. As a preliminary to other of the Ohio and west of Laurel Hill. proceedings, the company also sent out Mr. Cbris- Immediately after the conclnsion of the treaty at &q~herGist, with instructions to explore the country, Logstown, Mr. Gist was appointed surveyor for the examine the quality of the lands, keep a journal of Ohio Company, and mas instructed to lay off a town his adventures, dram as accurate a plan of the country and fort at Chartiers Creek, "a little below the present as his observations would permit, and report the same site of Pittsburgh, on the east side of the Ohio." The to the board." smn of £400 was set apart by the company for this Gist performed his journey of exploration for the purpose. For some cause which is not clear the site company in the summer and fall of the year 1750. In was not loc~tedaccording to these inst,ructions, but this trip he ascended the Juniata Rirer, crossed the in the forks of the Allegheny and Nonongahela mountain, nncl went down the Kiskiminetas to the Rirers, and there in February, 1754, Capt. Trent with Allegheny, crossed that river, and proceeded down his company of men commenced the erection of a fort the Ohio to the Great Falls at Louisville, Ky. On for the hioCon~pany, which fort was captured by this journey he did not enter the Monongahela Vd- the French in the following April, and became the ley, but in November of the next year (1'751) he tra- famed Fort du Quesne, as has already been men- ~ersedthis region, coming up from Wills' Creek, tioned. crossing the Youghiogheny, descending the valley of The grant of lands to the Ohio Company, even that stream and the Mocongahela, and passing down vaguely described asthose lands were, could not besaicl on the south and east side of the Ohio to the Great Ka- to embrace any of the territory which is now Fayette namhx, making a thorough inspection of the country, C0unt.y; but the company assumed the right to make in which the principal part of the company's lauds their own interpretation, and as they ignored all the were to be located, and spending the whole of the rights of the Penns in this region, and, moreover, as winter of 1'751-51 on the trip, and returning east by th& ]lad no doubt that it was wholly to the westward a nore southern route. of the western limits of Pennsylvania, they professed to regard this territory as within their scope, and In 1752 a treaty council (invited by the governn~cnt made grants from it to various persons on condition of Virginia at the request of the Ohio Company, as of settlement. These grants from the company gave before alluded to) was held with the Six Nations at to those who received them no title (except the claim Logstown, on the Ohio, a few miles below the conflu- conferred by actual occupation, temporary as it ence of the A411eghenyand Monongahela; the object proved), but they had the effect to bring immigrants being to obtain the consent of the Indians to the here, and to locate upon the lands of this county the locating of white settlements on the lands which the first settlements which were made in Pennsylvania . company should select,-the Six Wations being recog- west of the mountains. nized as the aboriginal owners of this region, and the Early in the period of their brief operations the company ignoring all proprietorship by Yenn in the company made propositions to the East Pennsylvania lands west of the Laurel Hill range. Dutch people to come here and settle, and this offer At this treaty there mere present on the part of mas accepted to the amount of fifty thousand acres, Virginia three commissioners, viz.: Col. Joshua Fry, to be taken by about two hundred fhmilies, on the Lunsford Lomax, and James Patton. and the com- condition that they be exempted from paying taxes pany was represented by its agent, Christopher Gist. to support English religious n-orship, which very few Every possible effort had been liiade by the French of them could understand and none wished to attend. Governor of Canada to excite the hostility of the Six The company were milling enough to accede to this, Eations towards the objects of the company, and but it required the sanction of government, to obtain the same had also been done by the Pennsylvania mhich was a slow process, and before it could be ac- tiaders, who were alarmed at the prospect of compe- complished the proposed settlers became indifferent or averse to the project, which thus finally fell through Out a8 an agent to England fur this purpose. At times it seeme8 r\s if and was abandoned. his eff~rtswouldbe successful, but oLstaclrs interposed, years of delay alcoreded, and finally the breaking ont of the Revolution caused all llo~esofrcsuscitatiug the O!~io Company to be alanduued, md clused its The first person who actually located a settlement existeuce. on lands presumed to be of the Ohio Company was

SETTLEMEST OF TIlE COUNTY. 57

it is by no means strange that the former should have was his location at that time is unknown. There known nothing about their sett!ement. mere some settlements then on the 3fonongahela, as Another settler who came at about the same time is shown by De Villiers' journal of his march back vith Gist m-as William Stewart, said to be the same from Forc Necessity to Fort du Quesne. An entry, Stewart who was employed by Washington in some dated July 6,1754, reads, " I burned down the Han- capacity in his espedition to the French forts on the guard. We then embarked (on the Blonongahela) ; Allegheny in 1753. He made his settlemezlt on the passing along, we burnt down all the settlements we %west shore of the Youghiogheny, near where Is the found, and about four o'clock I delivered my detach- present borough of New Haven. From the fact of ment to M. de Contrec~ur." But there is nothing to $is location there the place became known as "Stew- shorn that any of the settlements so destroyed by art's Crossings," and retained the nrme for many him mere within the limits of the present county of years. That Stewart came here early in 1753 is Fayette. shown by an affida~itmade by his son many years after the French had been driven from the head afterwards, of which the following is a copy: of the Ohio by Forbes, and the English forts, Pitt and Burd, had been erected in 1759, tlie country be- "Cel'ore the subscriber, one of the com~nonirealth'ejusticesof came comparatively safe for settlers, but some time the peacc for enid county, personally appeared V'illiam Stcm- elapsed before the fugitives of 1754 began to return. art, who bei~gof lawful ngc nnd duly sworn on the IIoIy A few "military permits" mere issued by the com- Ernngclists of Almizhty God, saith, That he mas li\-ing in this mandant at Fort Pitt, and under this authority two county, ncar Stewart's Croesin,~~,in the year 1753, nnd part or three (and perhaps more) temporary settlers were of the gcnr li.54, until he was obliged to remove hcncc on clustered in the vicinity of Fort Burd within about account of the French taking possession of this country; that three years after its erection. One of these was he was well acquainted with Ci~pti~inChristopher Gist and family, 311.1 also with Mr. William Crom~ell,Capt. Gist's son-in- William Colvin, wl~~located near the fort in 1'761, law. He further snith that the land where Jonathan Hill nom and receired a settlement permit not long afterwards. lives and the land vherc John Murphy now lives mas settled William Jacobs settled at the mouth of Redstone by William Cromwell, as this deponent bclicres and always Creek in 1761. He nrm dri~enaway by fear of the understood, a.s tenant to the said Christopher Gist. The said Indians about two years later, but afterwards returned, Cro~uwellchimed n place called the 'Cenrer Dam,' which is and received a warrant for his claim soo? after the the place now orvned by Philip Shute, nnd whcrc he now lives; opening of the Land Office. and this dcponcnt further s:lith that 11o always understood that Upon tlic conclusion of peace between France and the reason of said Cromwell's notsettling on his own land (the Ecarer D:rm) was that theIndia~~sin this countly at thnt time England, by the treaty of Paris (Feb. 10, 1T63), the nere very plencg, and the said Crummcll's wife wns afraid or king of Great-Britain, desiring to appear to have did not choose to live so fur from her f:~thcrand mother, there the well-being of the Indians much at heart, issued a Lcing at t!int time but n rery few f;ru~iIicsof white peop?e set- proclamation (in October of that year) declaring that tled in this country. . . . When this dcponcnt's f;~ther,l~imsclf, they must not, and should not, be molested in their and brothers first came into thiscountry, in the 1 cginning of the hunting-grounds by the encroachments of settlers, year Ii5:3! they attempted to take posscrsion of the said Beaver and forbidding any Governor of a colony or any Dam, and werc rrarned off by some of said Christopher Gist's military commanler to issue any patents, warrants family, who informed then1 that the s:lme belonged to William Cromwcll, tlie said Gist's son-in.lnw. And furthcr dcponcnt of survey, or settlement permits for lands to the westward of the head-streams of rivers flowing into the ssith no:. ' "T'JILLIAX STEWART. Atlantic,-this, of course, being an interdietioh of a11 " Slvorn and subscribed before me this 20th of April, 17%. settlements west of the Alleghenies. But the effect "JAJIESFIXLET!' was bad, for while the prohibition was disregarded by The victory of the French and their Indian allies settlers and by the colonial authorities (particularly over Washington at Fort Necessity in 175-1 effected the of Virginia), it caused the savages to be still more espulsion of ei-erg English-speaking settler from this jealous of their rights, and to regard incoming settlers section of the country. There is nothing to show that with increased distrust and dislike. This state of af- at that time there were nny others located in what is fairs was rendered still more alarming by the India11 now Fayette County than ~hristo~herGist, his fam- troubles in the West, known as tllc Pontiac war, ily, William Cromwell, the eleren unnanled families ldlich occurred in that year, and by which the pas- li\-ing near them, Stewart and family at the " Cross- sions of the savages (particularly those west of the ings," the Browns, Dunlap,' the trader on Dunlap's Aliegllenies) mere inflamed to such a degree that the Creek, and possibly Hugh Crawford, though it is not few settlers in the valleys of the Monongahela and likely that he was then here as a settler, and if he Youghiogheny Rirers, as well as those in other parts -- I of the trans-Allegheny region. became terrified at the 1 Dunlnp had certainly been loczted here before 1759, ns his place is prospect and fled fro111 the country. mentioned in Burd's jouinal in that year. And it is l~nldlylilii~ly that But the thorough and decisive chastisement admin- hc vonld lmre come hereafter 17% and bcfore 1759, ns tl1eFic11c11were then in undisputed possrssion of the country, and used it whully for 1 to the on the 31~s- their owu purposes. ! kingum in the fall of 1764 brought them to their

HISTORY OF PAPETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. - senses, and made the country once more safe, so that at the unwarranted encroachments being made by the the years 1765 and 1766 not only saw the return of whites. In a letter dated at the fort on the 24th of the people who had fled from the country between the nlonth mentioned, George Croghan, deputy Indian the Nonougahela and Youghiogheny Rivers, but a agent, said, " AS soon as the peace mas. made last yefir rery considerable increase of settlements in the same [meaning the peace that followed Bouquet's victory territory by fresh arrivals of immigrants from the of 17641, contrary to our engagements to .them [the frontiers of Maryland and Virginia, to which latter Inclians], a number of our people came over the Great province this region was then supposed to bclong. Mountain and settled at Redstone Creek and upon A letter dated Winchester, Va., April 30, 1765, said, the Nonongahela, before they had giren the country "The frontier inhabitants of this colony and Mary- to the king, their father." He also addressed Gen. land are removing fast over the Allegheny Mountains Gage, commander-in-chief of the British forces in in order to settle and lire there." The immigrants America, saying, "If some effectual measures are not who came here in that and several succeeding years speedily tnken to remove those people settled on Red- settled chiefly in the valley of the Redstone (~~11ichstone Creek till ,z boundary can be properly settled included also Dunlap's Creek in usual niention), at or proposed, and the Governors pursue 1 i, orn nus meas- Turkey Foot, and some other points below on the ures, the consequences may be dreadful, and me be Youghiogheny, in the ralley of the Cheat, and in involved in all the calamities of another general ~ist'sn&hborhood. In the settlements at these war." places, with that at Pittsburgh, were embraced nearly This resulted in the ordering of Capt. Alexander all the white inhabitants of Pennsylvania west of the Mackay, with a detachment of the Forty-second Regi- Alleghenies1 until about the year 1770. ment of Foot, to Fort Burd, where he issued a proc- Information having come to the king of England lamation, dated at Redstone Creek,' June 22, 1766, that settlements were being made quite rapidly west which proclanlation was as follows: "To all people of the mountains in defiance of his prohibition, he, now inhabiting to the westward of the Allegheny in October, 1765, sent the following instructions to Alountains : In consequence of several complain ts Go-iernor Penn : " Whereas it liath been represented made by the savages against the people who have unto us that sel-era1persons froin Pennsylvania and the presumed to inhabit some parts of the country west back settlen~entsof Virginia hare immigrated to the of the Allegheny Sfountains, which by treaty belong n-estward df the Allegheny Xountains, aud have there to them, and had never been purchased, and which seated themselres on lands contiguous to the river is contrary to his Majesty's royal proclamation, his Ohio, in express disobedience to our royal proclama- Excellency, the commander-in-chief, out of compas- tion of Oct. 7,1763, it is therefore our mill and pleas- sion to your ignorance, before he proceeds to estrem- nre, and you are enjoined and required to put a stop ity, has been pleased to order me, with a detachment to all these and all other like encroachments for the from the garrison at Fort Pitt, to come here and col- future by cnusing ail persons who hare irregularly lect you together, to inform you of the lawless and seated themselves on lands to the vestvard of the licentious manner in which you behave, and to order Allegheny Mountains immediately to evacuate those you also to return to your several proviuces without premises." Instructions of the same purport had delay, which I am to do in the presence of some In- been sent to the Governor of Virginia in 1764, and a dian chiefs now along with me. I therefore desire proclamation had been issued by the Governor, but you will all come to this place along with the bearer, without having the desired effect. The dissatisfaction whom I 11ar-e sent on purpose to collect you together. among the Indians increased rapidly, and to a degree " His Excellency, the commander-in-chief, has or- which awakened the authorities to the necessity for dered, in case you should remain after this notice, to some action to allay it. The chiefs of the Six Xa- seize and make prize of all goods and merchandise tions were invited to a treaty council, mhich was brought on this side the Allegheny Mountains, or accordingly held at Fort Pitt in May, 1766, at which exposed to sale to Indians at any place except at his no little dissatisfaction IVXS espressed by the Indians Majesty's garrison ; that goods thus seized will be a lamfhl prize, and become the property of the captors. 1 Judge Vrech says, "The documentary history of 1765, 'GG, 'GT, and The Indians mill be encouraged in this may of doing indeed of all that decade, spenlis of no other settlen~rntsin Western themselves justice, and if accidents should happen, Pennsylvania, or the IVcst generally, than those within or innne- diafely bordering npon the BIonongallrla, upon Cheat, npon the you lawless people must look upon yourselves as the Yough, the Turkey Foot, and Rcdstone, the first and last being the cause of. whatever may be the consequence hurtful to most prominent, and the last the most extensive, covering all the inte- your persons and estates ; and if this should not be rior settlenlents about Unioutown. Georges Creck settlers were re- sufficient to make you return to your several provinces, ferred to Cheat, those al~ontGist's to the Tough, wl~ileTorkey Foot took in all the mountain districts. All tllese settlenler?tsseem to hre his Excellency, the commander-in-chief, will order an been nearly contemporancons, those on the Redstone and the 3Ionon- armed force to drive you from the lands you have gahela border being perhaps the earliest, tllose on the Tough RII~Tw- key Foot tl~elatest, while those of Georges Creek nnd Cheat occupy nn intermediatedate, blending with all the others. Tlley all range from 2 At that tinio the nnnle of L'Bedst~ne"\\.as also giren to the vicinity 176:: to lTCP, iuclusire." of Fort Burd and tile vallrx of Dunlap's Creek.

SETTLEXEST OF THE COUXTY. 59 taken possession of to the westward of the Allegheny pestionably in the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and Xountains, the property of the Indians, till such time n January, 1768, Governor Penn called the attention as his Jlajesty may be pleased to fix a farther bound- )f the Assembly to this then recently discovered fact, ary. Such people as will not come to this plece are mrrated the ineffectual efforts made to that time to to send their names and the province they belong to, :emove the settlers, mentioned the exasperation of :~ndwhat they are to do, by the bearer, tha* his Es- ;he savages, which might not improbably result in a cellencp, the commander-in-chief, may be acquainted ~loodywar, and advised the enactment of a law severe m-ith their intentions." :nough to effect the desired result, and thus avert the On the 31st of July next following the publica t'ion horrors of a savage outbraak. Accordingly, on the of Uackay's manifesto, Governor Fauquier, of Vir- Id of February, 1768, an act mas passed providing ginia, issued a proclamation to the people who had ind declaring,- presumed to settle to the westward of the Alleglienies " That if any person or persons settle upon any lands in clefiance of his previous warning and prohibition within this province not purchased of the Indians (x~hichhad been regarded by the people as a merely by the proprietors thereof, and shall neglect or refuse fornxil compliance with the king's order, and not in- to remove themselves and families off and from the tended to be enforced), and requiring all such to im- ;aid land within the space of thirty days after he or mediately evacuate their settlements, which if they they shall be required to do so, either by such per- $ailed to do promptly they must expect no protection sons as the Gownor of this province shall appoint or mercy from the government, but would be left to for that purpose, or by his proclamation, to be set up the revenge and retribution of the exasperated In- in the most public places of the settlements on such dians. unpurchased Ia~ds,or'if any person or persons being In October, 1766, Governor Penn, at the request of jo removed shall afterwards return to his or their set- the Assembly, addressed Governor Fauquier, saying tlements, or the settlement of any other person, with that, rrithout any authority whaterer from Pennsyl- his or their family, or without any family, to remain vania, settlements had been made near the Redstone and settle on any such lands, or if any person shall, Creek and the Monongahela, and that he had no after the said notice, to be gi~enas aforesaid, reside doubt this had been done also without the consent of and settle on such lands, every such person or persons the government of Virginia, and in violation of the 50 neglecting or refusing to move mith his or their rights of the Indian nations. He desired Governor family, or returning to settle as aforesaid, or that Fauquier to unite with him in removing the settlers shall settle on any such lands after the requisition or from the lands in the Monongahela Valley, and prom- notice aforesaid, being thereof legdly convicted by ised, in caGe of necessity, to furnish a military force their own confessions or the verdict of a jury, SJLU~E to effect the object. Governor Fauquier replied to sufer dea,th without the benefit of clergy. this that he had already issued three proclanlations " Provided always, nevertheiess, that nothing here- to the settlers without effect, but that the commander- in contained shall be deemed or construed to extend in-chicf had taken a more effectual method to renlore to any person or persons who now are or hereafter then] by ordering an officer and a detachment of sol- may be settled on the main roads or communications diers to summon the settlers on Redstone Creek, on leading t.hroug11 this pro~inceto Fort Pitt, under the the Monongahela, and in other parts west of the Alle- approbation and permission of the commander-in- ..,elieny Nountains to quit their illegal settlements, chief of his Majesty's forces in North Bmeriea, or of :ind in case of a refusal to threaten forcible expulsion the chief officer comn~anding.inthe Western District and seizure of their movable property. to the Ohio for the time being, for the more con- 311 these proclamations, mith the show of military venient accoi!imodation of the soldiers and others, force, had the effect to terrify a few of the settlers or to such person or persons as are or shall be settled iuto remoral; but by far the greater part remained in the neighborhood of Port Pitt, under the approba- and n-ere not disturbed by the military, which, after tion and permission, or to a settlement made by a short stay at Fort Burd, returned to garrison at Fort George Croghan, deputy superintendent of Indian Pitt. In the summer of 1767, however, troops n-ere affairs under Sir William Johcson, on the Ohio River again sent here to espel non-complying settlers, above said fort, anything herein contained to the con- many of whom were then actually driven away; but trary notwithstanding." they all made haste to return as soon as the force was This lam mas doubtless as severe as Governor Penn withdrawn, and not a few of those who had thus been had desired, but its folly exceeded its severity, for espellecl came back accon~paniedby new settlers from the evident brutality of its provisions barred the pos- the east of the mountains. sibility of their execution, and it is by no means cer- Finally all efforts to prevent settlements in this re- tain t,hat this was not had in view by many of the mem- gion and to espel those n-110 had already located here bers who 1-oted for its enactment. A show was to be failed. The estension of Mason and Dixon's line made, however, of carrying the lam into effect, and to the second crossing of Dunkard Creek, in 1767, soon after its passage the Governor appointed the showed that nearly all the settlements made lvere un- Rererend Captain John Steele, of the Presbyterian

60 HISTORY OF FAFETTE COUSTT, PENNSYLVANIA.

Church of Carlisle, John Allison, Christopher Lemes, said they apprehended thc English intended to make and Capt. James Potter, of Cumberland County, to nar upon the Indians, as they were moving off their \-isit the Monongahela, Youghiogheny, and Redstone people from the neighborhood. We labored to per- T'alleys, as well as any other places vest of the Alle- suade them that they were imposed upon by a few gheny Mountains where settlements might hal-e been straggling Indians; that Sir William Johnson, who made within the supposed territory of Pennsylvania, had informed our government, must be better ac- to promulgate and explain the law, and induce the quainted with the mind of the Six Kations, and that settlers to comply with its requirements. The com- they were displeased with the white people's settling missioners took with them copies of a proclamation on their unpurcl~asedlands. by the Governor, which, after a preamble reciting the " On Sabbath, the 27th of March, a considerable pro~isionsof the law, proceeded, " In pursuance, number attended (their names are subjoined), and therefore, of the said act, I bare tkought proper, by most of them told us they were resolved to move off, the advice of the Council, to issue this my proclama- and would petition your Honor for a preference in ob- tion, hereby giving notice to all persons to remove taiiiing their improvements a purchase was themselves and families off and from said lands on mtlde. While we were conrersing we were informed or before the first day of &fay, 1765. -4ucl I do that a number of Indians were come to Indian Peter's.' hereby strictly charge and command such person or UTe,judging it might be subservient to our main de- persons, under the pains and penalties by it the said sign that the Indians should be present while we mere act imposed, t!lat they do not, on any pretense n-hat- advising the people to obey the law, sent for them. el-er, remain or continue on the.said lands longer than They came, and after sermon delirered a speech, with thirty days after the first day of Nay nest." Besides a string of wampum, to be transmitted to your.Honor. this proclamation, the commissioners also had the Their speech was : ' Ye are come, sent by your great ~oveinor'sinstructions to call t,ogether at e&h of the men, to tell these people to go away from the land settlements as many of the people as they could, and ~vhichye say is ours; and we are sent by our great at such gatherings to read and explain the proclama- men, and are glad we hare met here this day. We tion, to remonstrate mith the settlers against their tell you the wliite people must stop, and me stop them continuing on lands which still belonged to the In- ti!l the treaty, and when George Croghan and our dians, and to warn them of the terrible danger which great men talk together we will tell them mhat to do.' they, as mell as other settlers, mere incurring by their Thc names of the Indians are subjoined.' They n-ere persistent refusal to remove. Finally, they were in- from the Mingo town, about eighty miles from Red- structed to procure, if possible, the names of all the stone (on the Ohio, below Steubenville). settlers at the several points, and report the list to the "After this the people were more confirmed that Governor on their return. there was no danger of war. They dropt the design of petitioning, and said they mould wait the issue of The commissioners, with the Reverend Captain the treaty. Some, however, declared they would Steele at their head,'left Carlisle on the 2d of March, more off. and proceeded to^ Fort Cumberland, from n-hich place "We had sent a messenger to Cheat River and to they traveled over the mute pursued by Bradclock's Stewart's Crossings of Yougheganny, with several army to the youghiogheny and to Gist's, thence by proclamations, requesting them to meet us at Giesse's Burd's road to the Monongahela. What they clid at [Gist's] place, as most central for both settlements. the various settlements visited was related in their On the 30th of March about thirty or forty men met report to the Governor, as follon-s: us there. We proceeded as at Red Stone, reading the " We arrived at the settlement on Redstone on the act of Assembly and proclamation, and, endeavored 23d day of March. The people having heard of our to convince them of the necessity and reasonableness coming had appointed a meeting among themselves of quitting the unpurchased land, but to no purpose. on the 24t11, to consult mhat measures to take. We I They had heard what the Indians had said at Red took adrantage of this meeting, read the act of As- ) stone, and reasoned in the same manner, declaring sembly and proclamation explaining the law, and ' that they had no apprehension of war, that they giving the reasons of it as mell as we could, and used ! would attend the treaty and take their measures ac- our endezvors to persuade them to comply, alleging 1 cordingly. Many severe things were said of Mr. Cro- to them that it was the most probable method to en- 1 ghan, and one Lawrence Harrison treated the law and title them to favor mith the honorable proprietors ' our government with too much disrespect. when the land was purchased. " On the 31st of March we came to the Great Cross- "After lamenting their distressed condition, they 1 inys of Yougheghanny, and being informed by one told us the people mere not fully collected; but they I - - 1 n all would attend on the Sabbath folloiving,-, "Indian Peter7' was then living in cabin located on ahat ia now and then they mould give us an answer. They, how- the property of Col. Sanluel Erans, three nliles &?st of Uniontown. 2 -4s iollo\m : The Indians who camc to Bedstone. xiz.: Captains eyer, affirmed that the Indians were ~erypeaceable, 3k.qIIornets, Mygng-Wgo, Xogawilc11, Strikcbelt, Pouch, Gilly, and and seemed sorry that they were to be remored, and Slewbelle."

SETTLENEXT OF THE COUXTY. G 1

Speer that eight or ten families lived in a place called different settlements of Red Stone, Yougheganny, and the Turkey Bat, we sent some proclamations thither Cheat." by said Speer, as me did to a few families nigh the This estimate mas intended to include all the set- crossiugs of Little Yough, judging it unnecessary to tlers in what is now. Fa-jette County, and the about go amongst them. It is our opinion that some will eighthmilies on the east side of the Youghiogheny at move off, in obedience to the law, that the greater Turkey Foot. The lists given in the con~missioners' part mill wait the treaty, and if they find that the In- report of course omitted a great number of names of dians are indeed dissatisfied, we think the whole will settlers, including a number who were somewhat be persuaded to move. The Indians coming to Red prominent and well known as having been located in Stone and delivering their speeches greatly ob- this region several years before 1765, as Christopher structed our design." and Richard Gist, William Cromnell, Stewart of the Appended to the commissioners7 report was a list " Crossing," Capt. William Crawford," who had been of settlers, as follows : settled near Stewart for about three years; Hugh "The names of inhabitants near Red Stone: John Stevenson, on the Youghiogheny ; Martin Hardin Wiseman, Eenry Prisser, William Linn, William (father of Col. John Hardin), on Georges Creek; Colvin, John Vervalson, Abraham Tygard, Thomas John McKibben, on Dunlap's Creek, and others. Brown, Richard Rodgers, Henry Swatz [Smartz], Jo- scph McClean, Jesse Xartin, Adam Hatton, John The mission of the Rev. Mr. Steele and his asso- Vern-al, Jr., James Waller, Thomas Douter [Douthet, ciates ended in failure, for the few people who had who owned a part of the site of Uniontown], Captain promised to remove disregarded that promise and re- Coburn, John Delong, Peter Young, George Xartin, mained, for all the settlers mere strong in confidence Thomas Down, -4ndrew Gudgeon, Philip Sute, James that results favorable to their continued occupation Crawford, John Peters, Uichael Hooter, Andrew would come from the treaty council which ivas ap- Linn, Gabriel Conn, John Martin, Hans Cook, Daniel pointed to be held at Fort Pitt about a month later, Mck'ay, Josias Cramford, one Prorence. At that treaty cpuncil there were present nearly two " Pr'ames of some who met us at Giesse's [Gist's] thousand Indians, including, besides chiefs and head place : One Bloonifield [probably Brownfield], James men of the dominant Six Nations, representatives of Lynn, Ezekiel Johnson, Richard Harrison, Phil Sute, the Delaware, Shamanese, Munsee; and Jlohican Jed Johnson, Thomas Geisse [Gist], Charles Lindsay, tribes. On the part of the white men there were James Wallace [Waller?], Henry Burkman, Law- present George Croghan, deputy agent for Indian rence Harrison, Ralph Hickenbottom.' affairs; John Allen and Joseph Shippen, Jr., Esqrs., "Names of the people at Turkey Foot: Henry Abrahams, Ezekiel Dewitt, James Spencer, Benjamin 2 Captain (afterwards colonel) Tilliam Craaford settled on the nest bank of the Youghiogh

63 HISTORY OF FATETTE COUNTY, PEXXSYLVANI-4.

-- commissioners for the province of Pennsylvania ; continuing any longer on their settlements, and that Alexander McKee, commissary of Indian affairs; Col. you expect they will quit them without delay. If you John Reed, commandant of Fort Pitt, and several agree to this, we mill send an honest and discreet other military officers. The principal interpreter was white man to accompany your messengers. And, Henry Montour, and many of the Monongahela and brethren, if, after receiving such notice from you, they Redstone settlers were present and among the most shall refuse to remove by the time limited them, you anxious of the spectators. may depend upon it the Governor will not fail to put The council proceeded in the usual way, with high- the law into immediate execution against them." sounding speeches, hollow assurances of friendship, Finally a reluctant consent to the proposition of the presentation of divers belts and strings of wam- the commissioners was gained from the Six Natioiis7 pum, and the distribution among the Indians of pres- chiefs. At a session held with these chiefs on the 9th ents to the amount of S1500 ; but as the deliberations of May, "It was agreed by them to comply with the progressed it became more and more apparent that request of the commissioners in sending messengers there existed among the savages no deep-seated dis- to the people settled at Red Stone, Youghiogany, and satisfwtion against the settlers; that nearly all the Monongahela, to signify to them the great displeasure indignation at the encroachments of the whites was of the Six Nations at their taking possession of the felt and expressed by the gentlemen acting for the lands there and making settlements on them, and Pennsylrania authorities ; that these were extremely also that it is expected they will, mith their families, angry with the Indians because in a few instances remove without further notice. They accordingly ap- they had sold small tracts to white men, and be- pointed the White Mingo and the three deputies sent cause they were now exhibiting a decided disiucli- from the Six Nations7 country to carry a message to nation to demand the immediate removal of the set- that effect, and the commissioners agreed to send Mr. tlers. *4lmost the only Indian of the Six Nations John Frazer and Mr. William Thompson to accom- who complained was Tohonissahgarawa, who said, pany them, with written instructions in behalf of the "Some of them" (the settlements) "are made di- government of Pennsylvania." rectly on our war-path leading to our enemies' country, " Monday, May 9,1768, P.M. : and we do not like it. . . . As we look upon it, it will

SETTLESENT OF THE COUNTY. 63

them to pay doe obedience to the laws, and they may thought fills my heart with deepest grief, and I could depend on it they mill be eEectually exerted if they not suffer you to leave us without speaking to J-ou on persist in their obstinacy. You may likewise assure this subject and endeavoring to make your minds then1 that they need not attempt to make an offer of easy. We were all of us much disposed to colnply terms mith the government respecting their remoral, mith your request, and expected it coulcl have been as we hear some of them hare vainly proposed to do, done without difficulty, but I now find not only the by saying they would go off the lands immediately Indians appointed by us but all our other young men on condition that they should be secured to them as are very unwilling to carry a message from us to the soon as the purchase is made. It is a high insult to white people ordering them to remove from our lands. government for those people even to hint at such They saj7they would not choose to incur the ill will things." of those people, for if they should be now removed The two gentlemen whom the Pennsylvania com- they will hereafter return to their settlements when missioners had designated, Messrs. John Frazer .and the English have purchased the country from us. William Thompson, being ready to set out on their Snd we shall be very unhappy if, by our conduct contemplated journey from Fort Pitt to Redstone towards them at this time, we shall give them reason Creek, the Indian messengers mere sent for, and at to dislike us and treat us in an unkind manner when last made their appearance at the fort, but said that, they again become our neighbors. We therefore after due consideration of the business on which it hope, brethren, that you mill not be displeased at us was proposed to send them, they had decided that for not performing our agreement with you, for you thep could by no means undertake it, and immedi- may be assured that me have good hearts towards all ately returned to the commissioners the wampum our brethren, the English." vhich had been given them. Gpon being interro- Cpon the conclusion of this speech the commis- gated as to their reasons for now declining to perform sioners returned to Guyasutha many thanks for his what thep had once consented to, they answered that friendly expressions and behavior, assuring him that three of them were sent by the Six Nations' council the conduct of all the Indians at the treaty council to attend the treaty at the fort, and having received met their full approbation, and that they were now no directions from the council to proceed farther, they returning home mith contented minds. They said to chose to return home in order to make report of what him that they had urged the chiefs to send a message they had seen and heard. They further added that by their own people to the Redsbne and Monon- the driving of white people away from their settle- gahela settlers, entirely on account of the great anxiety ments was a matter which co Indians could, with any they had to do everything in their power to forward satisfaction, be concerned in, and they thought it the desig& of the go\-ernment, to do the Indians most proper for the English themselves to compel justice, and to redress every ir~jurythey complained their own people to remove from the Indian lands. of; but, as they found that the course proposed was After this refusal of the Indians who had been ap- repugnant to them, that they (the commissioners) pointed to carry the message from the Six R-ations, would not press the matter further, though it appeared the commissioners in vain attempted to persuade or to them to be a proper and necessary course, and one procure others to execute the business, though they which they regretted to be obliged to abandon. "They used great endeavors for that purpose, and they then took leave of the Indians in the most friendly thought it both useless and imprudent to continue to manner, and set out on their return to Philadelphia." press on the Indians a matter which they found they This unlooked-for conclusion of the treaty council were generally so much averse to, and therefore they at Fort Pitt ended the efforts on the part of the pro- concluded to set out on their return to Philadelphia prietary government of Pennsylvania to espel the without further delay. But in a short time after- pioneer settlers from the valleys of the Monongahela, wards Guyasutha' came, mith Arroas (a principal the Youghiogheny, and the Redstone. warrior of the Six Nations), to the commissioners, to whom the former addressed himself in effect as fol- The aboriginal title to the lands composing the lows : present county of Fayette, as well as those embraced "Brethren,-I am very sorry to find that you have in a great number of other counties in this State, been disappointed in your expectations of the Indian was acquired by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania by messengers going to Redstone, according to your de- the terms of a treaty held with the Indians at Fort sir9 and our agreement ; and I am much afraid that Stanwix (near Rome, N. P.)in the autumn of 1768. you are now going away from us with a discontented In October of that year there were assembled at the mind on this account. Believe me, brethren, this fort,, by invitation of Sir William Johnson, Superin- tendent of Indian affairs, a great number of chiefs of 1 This Guymutha, or hn)ashuta, was a chief aho met Washington on the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, his firat appearance in this region in the fall of 1753. Ha aas friendly and Tuscarora tribes (composing the Six Nations), to the English as against the French, but in the Revolutionary mar took sidea against the settlers, and was the leader of the Indian party which ~ithother chiefs of the Delawares and Shawanese burned Hannostown, the county-seat of Westmorelaud, in liS?. tribes, and on the 24th of that month these were ccn-

61 HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUXTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

~enedin council with representatives of the royal box or trunk, and after mixing them well together t authority and of the governments of Pennsylvania, draw them out and number them in the order the Virginia, and Kew Jersey. The principal white should be drawn, in order to determine the preferenc persons present at the council were " the Honorable of those respecting vacant lands. Those who ha Sir William Johnson, Baronet, his Majesty's super- settled plantations, especially those who had settler intendent of Indian affairs; his Excellency William by permission of the commanding officers, to th Franklic, Esq., Governor of New Jersey; Thomas westward, were declared to have a preference. Bc Walker, Esq., commissioner for the colony of Vir- those persons who had settled or made what the ginia; Hon. Frederick Smith, chief justice of New called improvements since the purchase should na Jersey; Richard Peters and James Tilghman, Esqrs., thereby acquii-e any advantage. The locations (afte of the Council of Pennsylvania; George Croghan being put into a trunk prepared for the purpose, an and Daniel Claus, Esqrs., deputy agents of Indian frequently well mixed) were drawn outy7l in the man affairs; Guy Johnson, Esq., deputy agent and acting ner above described. as secretary, with several gentlemen from the different colonies; John Butler, Esq., Mr. Andrew Mon- Prior to the opening of the Land Office in 1769, th tour, and Philip Phillipb, interpreters for the Crown." settlers west of the Slleghenies (with a very few ex The council was opened by Sir William Johnson, ceptions" held the lands on which they hqd locate who stated that Lieutenant-Governor Penn, of Penn- solely by occupation, on what were then known a sylvania, had been there and waited a considerable "tomahawk improvement" claims. The manner ii time, but mas forced by press of business to return, leav- which the settler recorded his tomahawk claim wa ing Messrs. Peters and Tilghnlan as his commissioners. to deaden a few trees near a spring, and to cut th He also explained to the chiefs the business on which initials of his name in the bark of others, as indicabiv he had called them together, and then, after some of his intention to hold and occupy the lands adjacell preliminary talk, the council adjourned for the day. to or surrounded by the blazed and deadened tree! Afterwards its sessions mere continued from time to These "claims': constituted no title, and were of n time until the 5th of November, when a treaty, known legal ralne, except so far as they were evidences c in history as the treaty of Fort Stanwix, by which the actual occupation. They were not sanctioned by an, chiefs of the Six Nations ceded to Thomas Penn and lam, but were generally (though not always) recog Richard Penn, for the consideration of ten thousand nized and respected by the settlers; and thus, in th pounds, an immense tract of land in Pennsyl~ania, applications which were afterwards made at the Lanl described in the treaty by a great number of bounda- OEce for the various tracts, there were Tery few co: ries mhich it would be tedious to quote. This great lisions between riral claimants for the same lands. purchase may, in a general may, be described as com- The plan of drawing the names of applicants b, prehending all of the present territory of the counties lot, which was adopted at the opening of the Lanl of Fayette, Westmoreland, Washington, Greene, Som- Office in April, 1769, as before noticed, was discorj erset, Cambria, Columbia, Wyoming, Sullivan, and tinued after about three months, and then thewarrant Susquehanna, nearly all of Wayne, Luzerne, Mon- were issued regularly on appIications as reached ii tour, Northumberland, Union, and Indiana, and parts the routine of business at the oEce. In the first thre of Beaver, Allegheny, Armstrong, Clearfield, Centre, months there had been issued daily, on an averagt Clinton, Lycoming, Bradford, Pike, and Snyder. over one hundred warrants for lands west of th The Indian title to this great tract having now been mountains and below Xittaning. The surveys o acquired by the Penns, measures mere immediately lands within the territory mhich now forms Fayett taken to prepare the newly-purchased lands for sale County were begun on the 12th of August, 1769, b, to settlers. On the 23d of February, 1769, they pub- the three brothers, Archibald, Moses, and Alexande lished an advertisement for the general information McCiean, of whom the first two mere deputy surre1 of the public, to the effect that their Land Office in ors, while Alesmder (who afterwards succeeded t Philadelphia would be open on the 3d of April nest that office and became a more widely-famed surrey0 following at ten o'clock A.N. to receive applications than either of his brothers) mas then a young man a from alpersons inclined to take up lands in the new nbout twenty-three yea? of age, and an assistant sur purchase, upon the terms of five pounds sterling per .r-eyor under them. During the remainder of thal one hundred acres, and one penny per acre per annurn - 1 Addison's Reports, Appendis, p. 305. quit-rent. Vliese very few esceptions were porsons who held militars pernlit! "It, being known that great numbers of people 'or settlement near the forts and on the lines of army roads; also thost would attend '[at the Land Office on the day of open- :o whom 'L grantsof preference" Iind )een given. Veech s;i~.sonly o,i, 'grant of prcf~rcnco"was issued in Fajerte County, riz., to Hngl ing], ready to give in their locations at the same h;vford, dated Jan. 12, liGS, for 500 acres, fur his serrices as " Intel- instant, it was the opinion of the Governor and pro- mter and conductorof the Indians" in the running of the est~nsior prietar~agents that the most unexceptionable method ~f IIason aud Dison's line in 3567. And in afew instances the Indian! old lands direct to settlers in this county,-as to Gist, the Bro\vns of receiving the locations would be to put them all tnd to somc of the Provmces, at Prorance's Bottom, on the Monon, together (after being received from the people) into a pheh.

SETTLEXENT QF THE COUNTY. 63

-- - - year they made and completed seventy official surveys being all that the settler ~mscompelled to pay down on in Fayette County territory; and in the following his purchase of four hundred acres. Thus the pur- year they executea eighty more in the same terri- chaser of lands from Virginia paid less than one-tenth tory, besides a large number in the part which is the amount which he would harebeen compelled to pay still Westmoreland County, and some in Somerset to Pennsylvania for the same lands. For this reason and Washington. he often chose to take the cheaper Virginia title, and In the next succeeding five years there were but when he had so purchased it mas but natural that he few surveys of land made in what is now Fayette ter- should incline towards Virginia partisanship, at least ritory, viz. : In the year 1771, twelve surveys ; in 1772, so far as to desire the success of that government in fourteen surveys ; in 1773, eleven; in 1774, seven ; its boundary controversy against Pennsylvania. The in 1775, two. During tlie Revolution, Pennsylvania greater part of the lands in the present counties of adopted the recommendation of Congress to ce'ase the IVashiugton and Greene were taken up on these Vir- granting of warrants for wild lands to settlers. This ginia certificates, but the reverse masthe case in the n-as intended to discourage settlements (temporarily) territory that is now Fayette, where nearly all the and thus promote enlistments in the Continental army. sel;tlers took titles from Pennsylvania, and where few It is doubtful whether this measure had the effect in- Virginia certificates are found. The reason for this tended, but it closed the Land Ofice, thus preventing was that prior to the close of the Revolution many, settlers from acquiring titles to their lands, and from and probably by far the greater part of the people, procuring o6cial surreys, of which none mere made believed that the Skate line would eventually be es- in the present territory of Fayette County from 1775 tablished on the Monougaheln, giving sole jurisdiction to 1783, in which latter year three surveys were made east of that river to Pennsylvania, and all west of it here, and the same number in 1783. On the 1st of to Virginia. July, 1754, the Land Office wss reopened by the State But in the settlement of the controversy between of Pennsylvania,' and from that time until 1790, the the States it mas agreed " That the private property number of surveys made each year in what is now and rights of all persons acquired under, founded on, Fayette County were as follows : In 1784, twenty ; in or recognized by the lams of either country be saved 1785, two hundred and fifty-eight ; in 1786, one hun- and confirmed to them, although they should be found dred and fifty; in 1787, eighty-eight; in 1788, sisty- to fall within the other; and that in the decision of two; in 1789, twenty-eight; and in 1790, nineteen. disputes thereon, preference shall be given to the elder Two or three years afterwards they began to grow a or prior right, whichever of the statis the same shall little more numerous, but never again reached any- be acquired under such persons paying within whose thing like the previous figures. boundary the'ir lands shall be included the same pur- During the Revolution, when Pennsylvania had chase or consideration money which mould have been closed her Land Office and issued no warrants for mild due from them to the State under which they claimed lands west of the Alleghenies, the government of the right; and where such money hath, since the Virginia pursued an opposite course in the issuance ~eclaiationof Independence, been received by either of " certificates" (corresponding to the Pennsylvania State for lands which, under the beforernamed agree- warrants) for lands in this same section of country. ment, falls within the other, the same shall be re- The reason why this was done by Virginia was be- funded and repaid; and that the inhabitants of the cause she claimed 2nd regarded as her own, the terri- disputed territory now ceded to Pennsylvania shall tory which now forms the western part of Pennsyl- not before the 1st of December in the year 1784 be vania as far eastward as the Laurel Hill. On this subject to the payment of any tax, nor at any time territory (extending, however, carther southward) she hereafter to the payment of any arrears of taxes or laid out her counties of Yohogania, Monongalia, and impositions heretofore laid by either State; and we Ohio, the latter bordering on the Ohio River, and the do hereby accept and fully ratify the said recited con- . . two others lying to the eastward of it, covering all of ditious and the boundnry line formed." what is now Fayette County. It mas on lands in And in the adjustment of claims which succeeded these Virginia counties that the "Virginia certifi- the settlement of the controversy the rule was ab- cates" were issued in great numbers, principally in served to recognize the ~alidityof the oldest titles, 1779 and 1780. A board of commissioners, appointed whether acquired from Virginia or from Pennsylvania. for the purpose, granted to such bonajde settlers as So the Virginia certificates (when antedating all other n70uldbuild a cabin and raise a crop a certificate for claims to the said lands) mere as good and valid as if four hundred acres, of which the purchase price was they had been warrants from the Pennsylvania Land ten shillings per one hundred acres. The cost of the Office, and the titles were afterwards perfected by the certificate was two shilling and sixpence; this latter issuance of Peunsylvania patents on them. The price - - of lands, which n7as £5 per one hundred acres under There \I-=no longer any proprietaryship by the Penns, this bming the Pennsylvania proprietaries, and under the State ceased on the passage of "-4u Act for ~estingthe estates of the late proprietaries in this Commonwe:dth." Tl~is,usually called the " Divesting till 1784, was then reduced to 23 lOs., and the quit- Act," was passed Sov. ?7,17;9. rent (one penny per acre per annum), which had pre-

66 HISTORY- OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. ~iouslgbeen required, was then discontinued, but in. of Capt. Cresap being on the river, about fifteen miles terest was ciemanded from the date of first improve above us, with some hands, settling a plantation, and inent. Again, in 1792, the price was further reduced that he had concluded to follow us to Kentucky as to £2 10s. per one hundred acres, with interest as be soon as he had fixed there his people. We also knew fore. This continued till 1814, when the price was that he had been experienced in a former war. He placed at $10 per one hundred acres, nrith interest from was proposed, and it was unanimously agreed to send date of settlement. for him to command the party. Messengers were dispatched, and in half an hour returned with Cresap. He had heard of our resolution by some of his hunters that had fallen in with ours, and had set out to CHAPTER IX. come to ns. " We thought our army, as me called it, complete, and the destruction of the Indians sure. A council Ix the Indian hostilities of 1774, known as " Dun- was called, and, to om astonishment, our intended more's war," the territory now Fayette County saw commander-in-chief was the person that dissuaded little, if anything, of actual fighting and bloodshed; us from the enterprise. He said that appearances yet, in the universal terror and consternation caused were very suspicious, but there was no certainty of a by the Indian inroads and butcheries on the west oi war; that if we made the attempt proposed he had no thc Xonongahela, it came near being as completely doubt of our success, but a war mould at my rate be depopulated as it had been twenty years before by the result, and that we should be blamed for it, and the panic which succeeded the French victory over perhaps justly. But if we were determined to pro- Washington. ceed he would lay aside all considerations, send to The Dunmore war was the result of several col- his camp for his people, and share our fortunes. He lisions which took place in the spring of 1774, on the was then asked what he would advise. His answer Ohio River above the mouth of the Little Kanawha, mas that we should return to Wheeling as a conveni- between Indians and parties of white men, most 01 ent spot to hear what was going forward ; that a few whom were adventurers, who had rendezvoused there weeks would determine. As it was early in the spring, preparatory to passing down the river for the purpose if we found the Indians were not disposed for war, me of making settlements in the then new country of should hare full time to return and make our estab- Kentucky. The circumstances which attended the lishment in Kentucky. This was adopted, and in beginning of those hostile collisions were afterwards tvo hours the whole mere under way. . . . narrated by Gen. George Rogers Clarke, who mm "On our arrival at Wheeling (the whole country himself present and a prominent actor in the scenes being pretty well settled thereabouts) the whole of which he describes. The account, which bears date the inhabitants appeared to bealarmed. They flocked June 17, 1798, is as follows : to our camp from every direction, and all we could ('This country [Kentucky] was explored in 1773. say we could not keep them from under our wings. A resolution mas formed to make a settlemeot the We offered to corer their neighborhood with scouts spring following, and the month of the Little Kan- until further information if they mould return to awha appointed the place of general rendezvous, in their plantations, but nothing would prevail. By order to descend the Ohio from thence in a body. this time we had got to be a formidable party. All Early in the spring the Indians had done some mis- the hunters, men without families, etc., in that quar- chief. Reports from their towns were alarming, ter had joined our party. Our arrival at Wheeling mhich deterred many. About eighty or ninety men was soon known at Pittsburgh. The whole of that only arrived at the appointed rendezvous, where me country at that time being under the jurisdiction of lay some days. A small party of hunters that lay Virginia,l Dr. Connolly had been appointed by Dun- about ten miles below us were fired upon by the In- more captain commandant of the district, which mas dians, whom the hunters beat back and returned to called West Augusta? He, learning of us, sent a cnmp. This and many other circumstances led us to message addressed to the party, letting us know that believe that the Indians were determined on war. n war mas to be apprehended, and requesting that we The whole party was enrolled, and determined to ex- would keep our position for a few days, as messages ecute their project of forming a settlement in Ken- had been sent to the Indians, and a few days would tucky, as me had every necessary store that could be determine the doubt. The answer he got was, that thought of. An Indian town called the Horsehead we had no inclination to quit our quarters for some Bottom, on the Scioto, and near itu mouth, lay nearly 1 The country around Pittsburgh was then claimed by Loth Virginia in our way. The determination was to cross the md Pennsylvania, but Clarke, being a Virginian, viewed the matter country and surprise it. Who was to command mas ?ntirely from the Virginian stand-point. the question. There were but few among us who had Dr. John Connolly, a nephcu- of George Crogl~an,the deputy snper- experience in Indian warfare, and they were such as nteudent of Indian affairs. 3 A11 this regim was at that time claimed by Virginia to be within its we did not choose to be commanded by. We knew 'West Augusta" District.

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