University of Virginia Library

[75] CHAPTER IV.

During the continuance of the French war, and of
that with the Indians which immediately succeeded it, the
entire frontier from New York to Georgia was exposed to
the merciless fury of the savages. In no instance were the
measures of defence adopted by the different colonies, adequate
to their object.—From some unaccountable fatuity
in those who had the direction of this matter, a defensive
war, which alone could have checked aggression and prevented
the effusion of blood, was delayed 'till the whole
population, of the country west of the Blue ridge, had retired
east of those mountains; or were cooped up in forts.

The chief means of defence employed, were the
militia of the adjoining counties, and the establishment of
a line of forts and block-houses, dispersed along a considerable
extent of country, and occupied by detachments
of British colonial troops, or by militiamen. All these
were utterly incompetent to effect security; partly from
the circumstances of the case, and somewhat from the entire
want of discipline, and the absence of that subordination
which is absolutely necessary to render an army
effective.

So great and apparent were the insubordination and
remissness of duty, on the part of the various garrisons,
that Gen. Washington, declared them "utterly inefficient
and useless;" and the inhabitants themselves, could place
no reliance whatever on them, for protection. In a particular
instance, such were the inattention and carelessness
of the garrison that several children playing under the
walls of the fort, were run down and caught by the Indians,
who were not discovered 'till they arrived at the
very gate.[1]

In Virginia the error of confiding on the militia, soon

became apparent.[2] Upen the earnest remonstrance and entreaty
of Gencral Washington, the colonial legislature
substituted a force of regulars,[3] [76] which at once effected
the partial security of her frontier, and gave confidence to
the inhabitants.

In Pennsylvania, from the pacific disposition of her
rulers and their abhorrence of war of any kind, her border
settlements suffered most severely. The whole extent of
her frontier was desolated by the Indians, and irruptions
were frequently made by them into the interior. The establishments,
which had been made in the Conococheague
valley, were altogether broken up and scenes of the greatest
barbarity, on one side, and of the utmost suffering on
the other, were constantly exhibiting. A few instances
of this suffering and of that barbarity, may not be improperly
adduced here. They will serve to illustrate the
condition of those who were within reach of the savage
enemy; and perhaps, to palliate the enormities practiced
on the christian Indians.

In the fall of 1754 about forty or fifty Indians entered
that province, and dividing themselves into two parties,
sought the unprotected settlements, for purposes of murder
and devastation: the smaller party went about the
forks of Delaware—the other directing their steps along
the Susquehanna. On the 2nd of October, twelve of the
former appeared before the house of Peter Williamson, (a
Scotchman, with no family but his wife,) who had made
considerable improvement near the Delaware river. Mrs.
Williamson being from home, he sat up later than usual,
and about 11 o'clock was astounded at the savage war
whoop, resounding from various directions, near to the
house. Going to the window, he perceived several Indians
standing in the yard, one of whom, in broken English,
promised that if he would come out and surrender he

should not be killed; threatening at the same time that
if he did not, they would burn him up in his house. Unable
to offer an effectual resistance, and preferring the
chance of safety by surrendering, to the certainty of a
horrid death if he attempted an opposition, he yielded
himself up a prisoner.

So soon as he was in their power they plundered the
house of such articles as they could conveniently take with
them, and set fire to it, and to the barn, in which was a
quantity of wheat, some horses and other cattle. After
inflicting some severe tortures on Williamson, and forcing
him to carry a heavy weight of the plunder, which they
had taken from him, they went to a neighboring house,
occupied by Jacob Snyder, his wife, five children and a
servant. The piercing cries, and [77] agonizing shrieks
of these poor creatures, made no impression on the savages.
The father, mother, and children were tomahawked
and scalped, and their bodies consumed by fire together
with the house. The servant was spared that he might
aid in carrying their plunder; but manifesting deep distress
at his situation as prisoner, he was tomahawked before
they proceeded far.

Before they could accomplish farther mischief a fall
of snow, making them apprehensive that they would be
pursued by the united force of the settlement, induced
them to return to Alamingo—taking Williamson with
them.

On their way back, they met with the party of
Indians, which had separated from them, as they approached
the settlements. These had been lower down
on the Susquehanna, and had succeeded in making greater
havoc, and committing more depredations, than it had
fallen to the lot of those who had taken Williamson, to
commit. They had with them three prisoners and twenty
scalps. According to the account of their transactions as
detailed by the prisoners, they had on one day killed and
scalped John Lewis, his wife and three children, and in a
few days after had murdered, with almost every circumstance
of cruelty, Jacob Miller, his wife and six children,
and George Folke, his wife and nine children, cutting up

the bodies of the latter family and giving them piece-meal
to the hogs in the pen. Wherever they had been, destruction
marked their course. In every instance the
houses, barns and grain stacks were consumed by fire;
and the stock killed.

The three prisoners who had been brought in by the
last party, endeavored soon after to effect an escape; but
their ignorance of the country, and the persevering activity
and vigilance of the Indians, prevented the accomplishment
of their attempt. They were overtaken, and
brought back; and then commenced a series of cruelties,
tortures and death, sufficient to shock the sensibilities of
the most obdurate heart, if unaccustomed to the perpetration
of such enormities.

Two of them were tied to trees, around which large
fires were kindled, and they suffered to remain for some
time, in the gradual but horrible state of being scorched
to death. After the Indians had enjoyed awhile the
writhings of agony and the tears of anguish, which were
drawn from these suffering victims, one, stepping within
the circle, ripped open their bodies and threw their bowels
into the flames. Others, to emulate [78] this most shocking
deed, approached, and with knives, burning sticks,
and heated irons, continued to lacerate, pierce and tear
the flesh from their breasts, arms and legs, 'till death
closed the scene of horrors and rendered its victims insensible
to its pains.

The third was reserved a few hours, that he might be
sacrificed under circumstances of peculiar enormity. A
hole being dug in the ground of a depth sufficient to enable
him to stand upright, with his head only exposed,
his arms were pinioned to his body, he placed in it, and
the loose earth thrown in and rammed closely around him.
He was then scalped and permitted to remain in that situation
for several hours. A fire was next kindled near
his head. In vain did the poor suffering victim of hellish
barbarity exclaim, that his brains were boiling in his
head; and entreat the mercy of instant death. Deaf to
his cries, and inexorable to his entreaties, they continued

the fire 'till his eye balls burst and gushed from their sockets,
and death put a period to his sufferings.

Of all these horrid spectacles, Williamson was an unwilling
spectator; and supposing that he was reserved for
some still more cruel and barbarous fate, determined on
escaping. This he was soon enabled to do; and returned
to the settlements.[4]

The frequent infliction of such enormities as these
upon the helpless and unoffending women and children,
as well as upon those who were more able to resist and
better qualified to endure them; together with the desolation
of herds, the devastation of crops, and the conflagration
of houses which invariably characterized those incursions,
engendered a general feeling of resentment, that sought
in some instances, to wreak itself on those who were
guiltless of any participation in those bloody deeds. That
vindictive spirit led to the perpetration of offences against
humanity, not less atrocious than those which they were
intended to requite; and which obliterated every discriminative
feature between the perpetrators of them, and
their savage enemies.

The Canestoga Indians, to the number of forty, lived
in a village, in the vicinity of Lancaster; they were in
amity with the whites, and had been in peace and quiet
for a considerable length of time. An association of men,
denominated the "Paxton boys," broke into their little
town and murdered all who were found at home—fourteen
men, women and children fell a prey to the savage
brutality of those sons of civilization [79]. The safety of
the others was sought to be effected, by confining them in
the jail at Lancaster. It was in vain. The walls of a
prison could afford no protection, from the relentless fury
of these exasperated men. The jail doors were broken

open, and its wretched inmates cruelly murdered.—And,
as if their deaths could not satiate their infuriate murderers,
their bodies were brutally mangled, the hands and
feet lopped off, and scalps torn from the bleeding heads
of innocent infants.

A similar fate impended the christian Indians of
Nequetank and Nain; and was only averted, by the timely
interposition of the government of Pennsylvania. They
were removed to Philadelphia, where they remained from
November 1763 'till after the close of the war in December
1764; during which time the Paxton boys twice assembled
in the neighborhood of the city, for the purpose of assaulting
the barracks and murdering the Indians, but were
deterred by the military preparations made to oppose
them; and ultimately, but reluctantly, desisted.

Had the feelings excited in the minds of these misguided
men, by the cruelties of the Indians, been properly
directed, it would have produced a quite different result.
If, instead of avenging the outrages of others, upon those
who were no otherwise guilty than in the complexion of their
skin, they had directed their exertions to the repressing
of invasion, and the punishment of its authors, much good
might have been achieved; and they, instead of being
stigmatized as murderers of the innocent, would have
been hailed as benefactors of the border settlements. Associations
of this kind were formed in that province, and
contributed no little to lessen the frequency of Indian
massacres, and to prevent the effusion of blood, and the
destruction of property. At the time the Paxton boys
were meditating and endeavoring to effect the destruction
of the peaceable christian Indians, another company, formed
by voluntary league, was actively engaged in checking
the intrusions, of those who were enemies, and in punishing
their aggressions. A company of riflemen, called the
Black boys (from the fact of their painting themselves red
and black, after the Indian fashion,) under the command of
Capt. James Smith, contributed to preserve the Conococheague
valley, during the years 1763 and 1764, from
the devastation [80] which had overspread it early after
the commencement of Braddock's war.

Capt. Smith had been captured by the Indians in the
spring of 1755, and remained with them until the spring of
1759, when he left them at Montreal, and after some time
arrived at home in Pennsylvania. He was in Fort du Quesne,
when the Indians and French went out to surprise Gen.
Braddock; and witnessed the burnings and other dreadful
tortures inflicted upon those who were so unfortunate
as to have been made prisoners; and the orgies and demoniacal
revels with which the victory was celebrated. He
was subsequently adopted into a family, by which he was
kindly treated; and became well acquainted with their
manner of warfare, and the various arts practised by them,
to ensure success in their predatory incursions, and afterwards
to elude pursuit. He became satisfied from observation,
that to combat Indians successfully, they must
be encountered in their own way; and he accordingly
instructed his men in the Indian mode of warfare, dressed
them after the Indian fashion, and fought after the Indian
manner.[5]

An instance of the good effect resulting from practicing
the arts and stratagems of the Indians, occurred
during this war; and to its success the garrison of Fort
Pitt were indebted for their preservation.

After the ratification of the treaty of peace which had
been concluded between England and France, war continued

to be waged by the Indians on the whole western
frontier. A large body of them had collected and marched
to Fort Pitt, with a view to its reduction by famine. It
had been invested for some time and the garrison being
too weak to sally out and give battle to the besiegers,
Capt. Ecuyer dispatched messengers with the intelligence
of his situation and a request for aid and provisions:
these were either compelled to return or be killed, as the
country for some distance east of Fort Pitt was in the
possession of the savages.[6]

At length a quantity of provisions were ordered by
Gov. Amherst for the relief of the fort, and forwarded
under a strong guard commanded by Colonel Boquet.
The Indians were soon apprized of this and determined
on intercepting the provisions, and if practicable, to prevent
their reaching the place of their destination. With
this object in view, a considerable force was detached, to
watch the motions of Col. Boquet and [81] upon a favorable
opportunity to give him battle. In a narrow defile
on Turtle creek an attack was made by the Indians, and
a severe engagement ensued. Both armies fought with
the most obstinate bravery, from one o'clock 'till night,
and in the morning it was resumed, and continued with
unabated fury for several hours. At length Col. Boquet,
having placed four companies of infantry and grenadiers
in ambush, ordered a retreat. So soon as this was commenced,
the Indians, confident of victory, pressed forward
with considerable impetuosity, and fell into the ambuscade.
This decided the contest—the Indians were repulsed
with great slaughter and dispersed.

The loss of the British, in killed and wounded, exceeded
one hundred. That they were not entirely cut off,
was attributable to the stratagem of the retreat (a favorite
one of the Indians;) the success of which not only saved

the detachment under Col. Boquet, but likewise preserved
Fort Pitt, from falling into the hands of the savage foe.

The loss sustained by the enemy, must have equaled
that of the British; several of their most distinguished
chiefs and warriors, were of the number of the slain: and
so decisive was the victory obtained over them, that in the
succeeding campaign against the Indians on the Muskingum,
Boquet found not much difficulty in bringing
them to terms. A cessation of hostilities was agreed to,
upon condition that they would give up all the whites
then detained by them in captivity. Upwards of three
hundred prisoners were then redeemed; but the season
being far advanced and the others scattered in different
parts of the country, it was stipulated, that they should
be brought into Fort Pitt early in the ensuing spring; and
as a security that they would comply with this condition
of the armistice, six of their chiefs were delivered up as
hostages—these however succeeded in making their escape
before the army arrived at Fort Pitt.[7]

The ill success which had attended the combined operations
of the Indians, during this war, the difficulty of
procuring ammunition to support it, and the fact that it
had begun to be carried into their own country, disposed
them to make peace. A treaty was accordingly concluded
with them by Sir William Johnson in 1765. Previous to
this however, some few depredations were committed by

the Indians, in contravention of the agreement made with
them by Col. Boquet; and which induced a belief that
the want of clothes and ammunition, [82] was the real
cause of their partial forbearance. It was therefore of
great consequence, to prevent their obtaining a supply of
these necessaries, until there could be some stronger assurance,
than had been given, of their pacific disposition.

Notwithstanding the prevalence of this impression,
and the fact, that a royal proclamation had been issued, forbidding
any person trading with the Indians, yet in March
1765 a number of wagons, laden with goods and warlike
stores for the Indians, was sent from Philadelphia to
Henry Pollens of Conococheague, to be thence transported
on pack horses to Fort Pitt. This very much alarmed the
country; and many individuals remonstrated against the
propriety of supplying the Indians at that particular juncture;
alleging the well known fact, that they were then
destitute of ammunition and clothing, and that to furnish
them with those articles, would be to aid in bringing on
another frontier war, and to lend themselves to the commission
of those horrid murders, by which those wars
were always distinguished. Remonstrance was fruitless.
The gainful traffick which could be then carried on with
the Indians, banished every other consideration; and seventy
horses, packed with goods, were directed on to Fort
Pitt.

In this situation of things, Capt. James Smith, (who
had been with Boquet during the campaign of 1764, and
was well convinced that a supply at that time of clothing
and ammunition, would be the signal for the recommencement
of hostilities) collected ten of his "Black boys,"
painted and dressed as Indians; and waylaid the caravan,
near a place called the "Side long Hill." He disposed his
men in pairs, behind trees along the road, at intervals of
about 60 yards, with orders for the second not to fire 'till
the first had reloaded, so that a regular, slow fire might be
maintained at once, from front to rear.

As soon as the cavalcade approached, the firing commenced,
and the pack horses beginning to fall by the side
of their conductors, excited the fear of the latter, and induced

them to cry out "Gentlemen what would you have
us to do." Captain Smith replied, "collect all your loads
to the front, deposit them in one place; take your private
property and retire." These things were accordingly
done; and the goods left (consisting of blankets, shirts,
beads, vermillion, powder, lead, tomahawks, scalping
knives, &c.) were immediately burned or otherwise destroyed.

[83] The traders then went to Fort Loudon, and obtaining
of the commanding officer a party of Higland
soldiers, proceeded in quest of the Robbers (as they termed
them;) some of whom were taken and carried into the Fort.
Capt. Smith then raised about 300 riflemen, and marching
to Fort Loudon, occupied a position on an eminence near
it. He had not been long there before he had more than
twice as many of the garrison, prisoners in his camp, as
there were of his men in the guard house. Under a flag
of truce proceeding from the Fort, a convention for the exchange
of prisoners was entered into between Capt. Grant,
the commander of the garrison, and Capt. Smith, and the
latter with his men, immediately returned to their homes.[8]

Occurrences such as this, were afterwards of too frequent
[84] recurrence. The people had been taught by
experience, that the fort afforded very little, if any protection
to those who were not confined within its walls—
they were jealous of the easy, and yet secure life led by
the garrison, and apprehensive of the worst consequences

from the intercourse of traders with the Indians. Under
those feelings, they did not scruple to intercept the pussage
of goods to the trading posts, and commit similar outrages
to those above described, if there were any interference
on the part of the neighboring forts. On one occasion,
Capt. Grant was himself taken prisoner, and [85] detained
'till restitution was made the inhabitants of some guns,
which had been taken from them, by soldiers from the
garrison; and in 1769, a quantity of powder, lead and
other articles was taken from some traders passing through
Bedford county, and destroyed. Several persons, supposed
to have been of the party who committed this outrage,
were apprehended, and laid in irons in the guard
house at Fort Bedford.

Capt. Smith, although in no wise engaged in this transaction,
nor yet approving it, was nevertheless so indignant
that an offence against the civil authorities, should be attempted
to be punished by a military tribunal, that he resolved
on effecting their release. To accomplish this, he
collected eighteen of his "Black boys," in whom he knew
he could confide; and marched along the main road in the
direction of Fort Bedford. On his way to that place, he
did not attempt to conceal his object, but freely told to
every one who enquired, that he was going to take Fort
Bedford. On the evening of the second day of their march,
they arrived at the crossings of Juniata, (14 miles from
Bedford) and erected tents as if they intended encamping
there all night.

Previous to this, Capt. Smith had communicated his
intention to Mr. William Thompson (who lived in Bedford
and on whom he could rely,) and prevailed on him to obtain
what information he could as to the effect produced in
the garrison by the preparations which he was making for
its attack; and acquaint him with it. That he might be
enabled to do this with greater certainty, a place and hour
were appointed at which Capt. Smith would meet him.

About 11 o'clock at night the march was resumed,
and moving briskly they arrived near to Bedford, where
they met Thompson; who communicated to them the fact,
that the garrison had been apprized of their object that in

consequence of having heard from them on the preceding
evening, at the Crossings of Juniata, it was not expected
they would arrive before mid-day, that their number
was known, and the enterprise ridiculed. Thompson then
returned to Bedford, and the party moved silently under
covert of the banks of the river, 'till they approached near
to the Fort, where they lay concealed, awaiting the opening
of the gate. About day light Thompson apprised them
that the guard had thrown open the gate, and were taking
their morning's dram; that the arms were stacked not far
from the entrace into the Fort, and three centinels on the
wall.

Upon hearing these things, Capt. Smith with his men
rushed rapidly to the Fort, and the morning being misty,
were not discovered 'till they had reached the gate. At
that instant the centinels fired their guns and gave the
alarm; but Capt. Smith and his men took possession of the
arms, and raised a loud shout, before the soldiers of the
garrison could learn the cause of the alarm, or get to the
scene of action.

[86] Having thus obtained possession of the Fort,
Capt. Smith had the prisoners released from the guardhouse,
and compelling a blacksmith to knock off their
irons, left the Fort with them and returned to Conococheaque.
"This, Capt. Smith says, was the first British
fort in America, taken by what they called American
rebels."

Some time after this, an attempt was made to apprehend
Capt. Smith, as he was proceeding to survey and locate
land on the Youghogany river. In the encounter which
succeeded, a man (by the name of Johnson) was killed;
and the murder being charged on Smith, he was confined
for a time in Bedford jail; but fearing a release, the civil
authority sent him privately through the wilderness to Carlisle,
to await a trial for the alledged offence. On hearing
this, upwards of three hundred persons (among whom
were his old "Black boys,") proceeded to Carlisle to effect
a rescue; and were only prevented the accomplishment of
their object, by the solicitation of Smith himself. He

knew his innocence, and preferred awaiting a trial; and
how willing soever he might have been to oppose any
encroachments of the military, he held in just abhorrence,
an opposition to the civil authority of his country. He
was put on his trial and acquitted.[9]

[87] Events such as those which have been narrated,
serve to shew the state of things which existed at that day;
and to point out the evils necessarily resulting, from an
absence of municipal regulations. Man, in every station
and condition of life, requires the controlling hand of civil
power, to confine him in his proper sphere, and to check
every advance of invasion, on the rights of others. Unrestrained
liberty speedily degenerates into licentiousness.
Without the ncessary curbs and restraints of law, men
would relapse into a state of nature; [88] and although
the obligations of justice (the basis of society) be natural
obligations; yet such are the depravity and corruption of
human nature, that without some superintending and coercive
power, they would be wholly disregarded; and human

society, would become the field of oppression and
outrage—instead of a theatre for the interchange of good
offices. Civil institutions and judicial establishments; the
comminations of punishment and the denunciations of law,
are barely sufficient to repress the evil propensities of man.
Left to themselves, they spurn all natural restrictions, and
riot in the unrestrained indulgence of every passion.