Pittsburgh

The news and literary center was between Front and Second streets. Here the two newspapers were published. John Scull, the owner of the Pittsburgh Gazette, lived at the northwest corner of Market and Front streets; and on Front Street, immediately in the rear of his dwelling, stood the small one-story building where the newspaper was printed. In this house the post office had been located until 1794, when Scull was succeeded as postmaster by George Adams, who removed the post office to the log house on Front Street near Ferry. At the northerly end of the block, at the corner of Second Street, was the brick house of Dr. Peter Mowry, who had the largest medical practice in the town. Directly across Market Street from Dr. Mowry, Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge had erected for the Tree of Liberty, a one-story office, and behind this a building where the paper was printed.174

Judge Brackenridge’s dwelling adjoined the office of the Tree of Liberty on the south.175 It was a large and commodious blue frame building which had been, until recently, surrounded by a paling fence. The larger part was now given over to trade. It was the best known house in the town. In it General Lee had made his headquarters while in Pittsburgh during the memorable days of November, 1794.176 In front of this building, Brackenridge, according to his own story, braved the indignation of Lee’s troops, by parading before them dressed in his “large cocked hat, buff underdress, and coat of military blue.”177 On the north side of Second Street, one door west of Chancery Lane, stood William Turnbull’s large two-story stone structure, occupied during the Whisky Insurrection by William Semple as a store.178 Here also resided at that time Colonel Presley Neville.179 General Daniel Morgan lived with his son-in-law during the stay of the army in Pittsburgh. From this house General Morgan and Colonel Neville rushed hatless to save Brackenridge from the fury of the soldiers, who Brackenridge charged were planning his assassination.180 In 1804, the building was occupied by the “Office of Discount and Deposit,” as the branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania was called. At the corner of Chancery Lane adjoining the Turnbull house, was the home of Steele Semple, the famous advocate and wit, and connoisseur of the polite and fashionable literature of the day.181

In the center of the block in which Brackenridge lived, was the book store and bindery of Zadok Cramer, at the “Sign of the Franklin Head.” “Its ancient appearance,” wrote one of its habitués, “is agreeably associated in the memory of many amongst us with our happiest moments, when the careless, airy hours of youth were passing thoughtlessly and cheerfully away.”182 Men just as substantial, but of less note, also had establishments in this square. At the southerly corner of Front Street was the large store of Abner and Jeffe Barker who sold bar iron and castings,183 and kept a “general assortment of merchandise and boulting cloths.”184 All the merchants were selling “boulting cloths,” which were cloths used by millers for sifting flour. Adjoining Abner and Jeffe Barker’s store on the north was the establishment of Jeremiah Barker who had for sale a “handsome and general assortment of the freshest goods,”185 and “a few boxes of glass eight by ten.”186 In addition to being a merchant, Jeremiah Barker was justice of the peace, and in 1801 burgess.187 The store of Abner and Jeffe Barker, and the store of Jeremiah Barker, were both on the site formerly occupied by Andrew Watson’s tavern.

On the north side of Front Street, two doors east of Abner and Jeffe Barker’s store, was an old two-story log building owned by Andrew Watson. It had been formerly occupied as a store by John and Samuel Calhoun,188 and when Allegheny County was formed, was rented by the county for the use of the courts, and called the “Court House.” In this house justice was dispensed for many years. In December, 1788, the first court of quarter sessions for Allegheny County was held there, George Wallace being president judge, and John Scott, John Wilkins, and John Johnson associates. They were all laymen, the constitution in force not requiring judges to be learned in the law. The first court of common pleas was held in the building on March 14, 1789.

The judges of the Supreme Court, or at least two of them, were required to go on the circuit annually, visiting every county during the intervals between the regular sessions of the Supreme Court, and to hold courts of nisi prius and Oyer and Terminer for the trial of capital cases.189 In Pittsburgh the sessions were held in Andrew Watson’s house. Here Chief Justice McKean and Justice George Bryan held the first court of Oyer and Terminer for Allegheny County. Judge Henry M. Brackenridge related that he had been informed that, at this session, they sat in scarlet robes. He stated further that when going to and returning from court the judges were carefully attired in black, with cocked hats, and were preceded by the Sheriff of the County bearing a white wand. Leading the procession was a drummer beating a drum.190

The first court house was memorable for another reason. It was in the court room that the townspeople assembled on that eventful evening of the thirty-first day of July, during the stormiest days of the Whisky Insurrection.191 The mail from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia had been robbed by the Insurgents and among the letters taken were several, written by prominent citizens of Pittsburgh, which indicated a hostile spirit toward the insurrection. The sentiments expressed were considered as reflecting the opinion of the town. The rage of the Insurgents was now directed against Pittsburgh. In their wrath they characterized it as another Sodom, and declared that they would come and destroy it with fire, and leave nothing but smoking ruins to mark the spot where it had stood. With this end in view they commenced gathering in force at Braddocksfield. News of the sinister purpose spread to the town. Alarm grew into terror, and a meeting was hastily called to consider measures of protection. The meeting was already in progress, when a committee sent by the Insurgents arrived and announced that the town would be spared if certain obnoxious persons, including the writers of the letters found in the mail, were banished from the town. They reported that the task of saving the town would be easier of accomplishment if the inhabitants marched out in a body to meet the Insurgents, and by fraternizing with them show that they were not hostile to the Insurgent cause. The meeting deliberated far into the night, and at two o’clock the next morning arrived at a humiliating conclusion. They agreed to banish the men asked for, and to join the Insurgents at Braddocksfield, “as brethren to carry into effect with them any measure that may seem to them advisable for the common cause.” Even then the panic did not subside. The people refused to go to bed; women wept; valuables were hidden, and lights flickered in the houses all night long.

At the northwest corner of Market and Second streets, in the three-story double brick building owned by Colonel O’Hara, was the store of Scott & Trotter, where they sold “merchandise of a superior quality suitable to every station, which they are determined to sell on very low terms for cash, peltry, furs, and approved country produce.”192 Next door to Scott & Trotter was Dr. George Stevenson. Like Dr. Richardson, Stevenson conducted an apothecary shop and sold “drugs, medicines, surgical instruments, etc.”193 He was a former Revolutionary officer, and had been third lieutenant in the First Pennsylvania Regiment. In 1778, he resigned to study medicine, and re-entered the service in 1779 as surgeon’s mate with the rank of ensign. In 1798, he was major in the Tenth United States Regiment. Stevenson was chief burgess in 1801.194

At the southwest corner of Market and Third streets was the “hat sales shop” of Thomas and Samuel Magee.195 Here they kept for sale the beaver, castor, and roram hats, which they manufactured at the corner of Front Street and Chancery Lane. On the opposite side of Market Street from Scott & Trotter was William Herd’s dry goods and grocery store.196 Also on this side of Market Street, at the northeast corner of that street and Third Street, was another physician, Dr. Hugh Scott.197 Then came the store of William Gazzam, and adjoining was that of William Barrett. Farther on, Fulton & Baird sold “soal and upper leather,”198 and James Riddle had a boot and shoe-making establishment199 and sold “Halifax soal leather, also boot legs, half and whole soals, and boot webbing.”200 Another establishment was that of William Porter who had a cut and forged nail manufactory.201

Adjoining Porter on the north was the well-known tavern of Mrs. Mary Murphy, commonly known as “Molly” Murphy, the widow of Patrick Murphy, at the “Sign of General Butler.” Beginning on April 1, 1800, and for several years afterward, the tavern was conducted by Richard Hancock.202 Next door to the “Sign of General Butler,” and extending to Fourth Street at the “Sign of the Negro,” Joseph McClurg sold dry goods, hardware, china, and glassware, and conducted a tobacco manufactory.203 He also advertised as having for sale “a large assortment of window and hollow glass of a superior quality, from A. Gallatin, Esq’s., glass works at New Geneva.”204

The “Sign of General Butler” was named for General Richard Butler who in his day was the most noted character in Pittsburgh. He had been Indian trader and Indian agent. In the Revolution he was second in command to General Daniel Morgan at Saratoga, and second in command to General Anthony Wayne at Stony Point. He was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County205 and was the first lieutenant of the county, the officer who at that time was commander of the militia.206 He was a member of the General Assembly,207 and met a glorious death during St. Clair’s unfortunate expedition against the Indians on the Miami River, on November 4, 1791.208 His name has been commemorated in that of Butler County.209 His home was in the log house situated on the east side of Marbury, now Third Street, one door south of Penn Street, now Penn Avenue,210 where his widow continued to reside.

The “Sign of General Butler,” like the home of Brackenridge, became famous during the Whisky Insurrection. President Washington had appointed a commission to meet the Insurgents, and procure their submission. It consisted of Senator James Ross, Attorney General William Bradford, also a Pennsylvanian, and Jasper Yeates, a justice of the Supreme Court of this State. The commissioners on the part of Pennsylvania were Chief Justice McKean and General William Irvine. The commission had arranged to meet representatives of those in rebellion, on Wednesday, August 20, 1794. Two days before that date, the commissioners took up their lodgings at the “Sign of General Butler.” When it became known that they were at the tavern, a mob gathered before it on Market Street, and made their sentiments apparent by raising a liberty pole, the emblem everywhere in the disturbed districts of disaffection toward the national government. A streamer was fastened to the pole on which were inscribed the watchwords of the Insurgents:

Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge has stated that it was with difficulty that he and others who were influential with the rioters prevailed on them to forego their intention of placing on the pole the flag which had been prepared, bearing six stripes, emblematical of the six counties, five in Pennsylvania, and one in Virginia, which were threatening to secede from the United States and set up a government of their own. That the conferences which followed were fruitless is well known. Only one man in attendance gained in reputation. Albert Gallatin was on the committee sent by the Insurgents. His ability and his firm stand in favor of law and order won for him everywhere, and particularly in Allegheny and Washington counties, the lasting regard of the citizens. Two months later a member of Congress was to be elected in the district composed of these counties, and Insurgents and non-insurgents flocked to Gallatin’s support, and to the surprise of Brackenridge and General John Woods, the other candidates, he was elected.

During the occupancy of the “Sign of General Butler” by Richard Hancock, James Hilliard had a farrier shop and livery stable, in the stable connected with the tavern.211 The public controversy in which Hilliard engaged his wife, is a striking illustration of the mischievous result of the husband’s absolute control of his wife’s separate estate under the existing laws. Hilliard was married to Elizabeth Bausman, a daughter of Jacob Bausman, who was possessed of property in her own right which she had inherited from her father. Hilliard published a notice212 advising the public that his wife had “absconded from his bed and board,” and declaring that he would not be responsible for debts contracted by her. To this charge Mrs. Hilliard replied in a sharp letter.213 She denied her husband’s accusation, and stated that she had gone with her children, at his request, on a visit to Jacob Haymaker. She charged Hilliard with having, during her absence, disposed of the household effects, including her wearing apparel, to John Smur, a tavern keeper in the town, and that everything had been taken away after nightfall; that the articles were part of her separate estate; that now she had “no bed nor board to go to.” She asked that no credit be extended to Hilliard on the strength of her estate, and declared that thereafter she would decline to pay his debts, but would use her estate for her own benefit. “In the future,” she concluded, “it shall not be expended in paying his tavern bills.”

A unique reputation attached to the houses in this block which, while descriptive, was at the same time significant of the political power of the occupants and their associates. Although the houses were built separately, and were of different types, they were collectively called by the not-over-euphonious name of “Clapboard Row.” As the name indicated, they were constructed of clapboards. So well known was “Clapboard Row” that the merchants who had their establishments there were fond of advertising the fact. Practically all the occupants were politicians, and without exception belonged to the Republican party. Also the “Sign of General Butler” was the headquarters of that party. By their opponents, these leaders were termed the “Clapboard Row Junto,” “junto” being an older word for “ring.” General Fowler, after he separated from the Republican party, designated them as the “Clapboardonian Democracy.”214 The Pittsburgh Gazette charged that the editor of the Tree of Liberty was controlled by “Clapboard Row.”215 Some were officeholders, others desired to be such, and in State and national affairs they were supreme.

The members of the “Clapboard Row Junto” were men of dual capacity. Their energies were devoted to their private affairs and to politics with equal intensity. In politics the smallest details received careful attention. Many of the methods employed by modern Pittsburgh politicians were inherited from “Clapboard Row.” One of the schemes for increasing the party vote, which originated with “Clapboard Row,” was to encourage and assist the aliens who settled in Pittsburgh to become naturalized. This was done through the medium of a committee composed of Thomas Baird, James Riddle, and Joseph McClurg.216

Dr. Scott was high in the favor of the Republican leaders, and on the death of George Adams on April 1, 1801, was appointed postmaster, and established the post office in his store, continuing the practice of medicine and the sale of drugs as before. William Gazzam was an aggressive Irishman, who had been in the country only a few years, but by dint of perseverance had pressed well forward in politics, perhaps to the detriment of his business, as he failed early in his career. He was brigade inspector of the Allegheny County militia, and justice of the peace. He aroused the ire of General Fowler, when with other “Clapboard Row” politicians he refused to support Fowler for Congress.

The controversy was amusing. In the communications which Fowler published in the Pittsburgh Gazette about his wrongs, he designated Gazzam as a “little man—in the most emphatic sense.” He declared that under “the cloak of Republicanism and religion,” Gazzam was “artfully aiming at offices.”217 The allusion to Gazzam’s “religion” referred to the gentleman’s well known activity in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church, which he afterward left, owing, it was alleged, to the fact that the minister, the Rev. Robert Steele, gave out “two lines of a stanza to be sung, instead of the time-honored one.”218 Fowler enlarged on Gazzam’s reputed yearning for office. He enumerated the offices which Gazzam had held, and the others that he desired. He claimed that Gazzam was an applicant for the post office on the demise of George Adams; that he hoped to be county commissioner; that he was scheming to become a member of the General Assembly.219 To this abuse Gazzam replied with equal venom. He said General Fowler had been drunk on the last occasion that he had asked his support for Congress, and that he had abused him in a very ungentlemanly manner.220

Thomas Baird was a member of the firm of Fulton and Baird, and was a candidate for burgess in 1803, the year that Colonel Neville was elected.221 Joseph McClurg was a candidate for supervisor in 1803, but was defeated by A. McNickle.222 Affiliated with these men were Samuel Ewalt, Nathaniel Irish, and Adamson Tannehill, the last two being former Revolutionary officers. Nathaniel Irish was county commissioner,223 and inspector of flour for the Western country.224 Adamson Tannehill had formerly conducted a tavern on Water Street,225 and had been president of the Pittsburgh Fire Company.226 In October, 1800, while a justice of the peace, he was tried and convicted of extortion, before Justices Jasper Yeates and Thomas Smith of the Supreme Court while on circuit in Pittsburgh, that court then having original jurisdiction of this offense, under the constitution of 1790. Tannehill received a reprimand and was fined fifty dollars. The conviction was thought to disqualify him from further exercising the office of justice of the peace. Being a leading Republican, and the offense, which consisted in charging on two probates two shillings more than the law allowed, having been committed five years before, Governor McKean, in January, 1801, remitted the fine and reappointed Tannehill to the office which he had formerly held.227 Dr. Andrew Richardson belonged to the “Clapboard Row” faction until his desertion of the Republican party. Joseph Davis, who had a grocery store on the other side of Market Street from “Clapboard Row,” was another member of the clique, as was Tarleton Bates, the prothonotary of the county,228 who had succeeded John C. Gilkison in office.

“Clapboard Row,” was not allowed to win its victories unopposed. The opposition was both able and active. Judge Alexander Addison, Senator James Ross, and General John Woods were the leaders of the Federalists. Colonel O’Hara, General Neville, Colonel Neville, Major Craig, Major Ebenezer Denny, Dr. Stevenson, and most of the former Revolutionary officers were also Federalists. Other Federalists were William Christy, Dr. Mowry, Abner Barker, Jeremiah Barker, and Alexander McLaughlin. They made a gallant fight for their principles, but their voice was usually drowned in the mighty chorus of Republicanism that had swept the country from its former conservative moorings. In borough politics only were they successful.

The views of the rival political parties were echoed with startling frankness in the columns of the Tree of Liberty and the Pittsburgh Gazette. On October 11, 1800, the Tree of Liberty announced the election of the Republican candidate for inspector of elections in the borough, and added jubilantly: “The people are no longer to be led up like tame asses to vote against their inclination for the characters that Ross, Woods, and Addison recommend. They now act for themselves.” After the presidential election of 1800, it exulted further: “It is laughable to hear some of the hot-blooded Federalists moaning and groaning at the result of the last election. They know not what cause to attribute it to. They curse the Tree and all its leaves, they denounce ‘Clapboard Row’ with the yards and its size sticks.”229

The Pittsburgh Gazette was equally outspoken, its ire being particularly directed against Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge. In an article signed “A Citizen of Washington,” it gave what purported to be an account of a drunken escapade of the Judge through Washington and Allegheny Counties, which, if published to-day, would lead to a personal encounter.230 On another occasion Scull paid his compliments to Brackenridge in the following sarcastic terms: “You who get two or three thousand dollars a year for setting up a slanderous press, and for two or three journeys through the State to sit as a mute on the bench, and wear the new cockade, in your drunken frolics through the country, can afford to buy a press and hire types, and pay under-devils to set types and fetch and carry tales. I cannot afford such things. I have no salary, post, or pension.”231

A week later Scull attacked Brackenridge with even more virulence: “Mr. Brackenridge cannot expect to live long. He has already outlived all hope of fame. I doubt whether he feels that there is a God above him. I doubt whether he does not think that he is his own divinity while he lives, and that when he dies his dust will mingle with that of the beasts that perish. He has labored with industry and success to acquire the contempt and abhorrence of all whom it was possible for him to esteem.”232