After Braddock’s defeat, the protection of the frontiers of Pennsylvania being left to the inhabitants themselves, they rapidly formed companies, designated their own officers and received commissions from Lieutenant Governor Morris.
It was thought that the Indians would do no mischief in Pennsylvania until they could draw all the others out of the province and away from the Susquehanna. But the Delaware and Shawnee had been ravaging in the neighborhood of Fort Cumberland on both sides of the Potomac. In the middle of October, 1755, occurred the terrible massacres of John Penn’s Creek, at the mouth of Mahanoy Creek, and when the Great and Little Coves were destroyed. Shortly after occurred the massacres at Tulpehocken and other places.
When any Indians of the Delaware or Shawnee Nations were discovered they were found in their war paint. These were under the command of Chief Shingass.
These incursions aroused the Quakers, and November 7, 1775, an address signed by Anthony Morris and twenty-two other Quakers was presented to the Assembly, expressing willingness to contribute toward the exigencies of government. But the Assembly and the Executive still fought over the tax bill.
At this juncture Scarouady went to Philadelphia and demanded to know if the people of Pennsylvania intended to fight, yes or no. The Governor explained to the chieftain how the Assembly and he could not agree.
Scarouady, who had suffered defeat with Braddock and remained a firm friend of the English, with many other Indians went to Shamokin to live, or at least hunt, during the ensuing season.
Governor Morris sent Scarouady to the Six Nations to report the conduct of the Delawares. While he was on this mission the Delaware destroyed Gnadenhutten, in Northampton County, and the farm houses between that place and Nazareth were burned January 1, 1756.
Benjamin Franklin, as Commissioner, then marched with several companies and built Fort Allen.
The Delaware, forcing even John Shikellamy to go against the English, sent representatives to the Six Nations to justify their conduct, but were condemned and ordered to desist.
When Lieutenant Governor Morris heard this chastisement given the Delaware, and seeing that it so far had not deterred the enemy, he determined to meet barbarity with barbarity, and gave a hatchet to Scarouady, as a declaration of war against the Delaware, and obtained an offer in writing from Commissioners Fox, Hamilton, Morgan, Mifflin and Hughes to pay rewards for Indian prisoners.
Governor Morris issued a proclamation April 14, 1756, offering such bounties that he hoped would incite not only the soldiers and more venturesome of the inhabitants, but which would also alarm those Indians who still remained friendly to the English.
The proclamation contains the following provisions:
“For every male Indian enemy above twelve years old, who shall be taken prisoner and delivered at any fort, garrisoned by the troops in pay of this Province, or at any of the county towns to the keepers of the common jail there, the sum of 150 Spanish dollars or pieces of eight; for the scalp of every male enemy above the age of twelve years, produced to evidence of their being killed the sum of 130 pieces of eight; for every female Indian taken prisoner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian prisoner under the age of twelve years, taken and brought in as aforesaid, 130 pieces of eight; for the scalp of every Indian woman, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty pieces of eight, and for every English subject that has been killed and carried from this Province into captivity that shall be recovered and brought in and delivered at the City of Philadelphia, to the Governor of this Province, the sum of 130 pieces of eight, but nothing for their scalps; and that there shall be paid to every officer or soldier as are or shall be in the pay of the Province who shall redeem and deliver any English subject carried into captivity as aforesaid, or shall take, bring in and produce any enemy prisoner, or scalp as aforesaid, one-half of the said several and respective premiums and bounties.”
This proclamation gave great offense to the Assembly, but not to the population, especially those who lived in the counties distant from Philadelphia. The times were perilous, and the bounties were absolutely necessary to secure better protection of the borders. To the credit of the hardy and brave frontier pioneers of Pennsylvania be it said no Indian was wantonly killed for the sake of the reward.
Robert Morris resigned the office of Lieutenant Governor he had held during these stirring years, and on August 20, 1756, William Denny arrived from England, and superseded him. Governor Denny was well educated and held in high favor at Court. His advent here was hailed with joy by the Assembly, who flattered themselves that with a change of the executives at this time there would come a change of such measures as had caused their enmity with his predecessors. Upon his assumption of the office and making known the Proprietary instructions, to which he stated he was compelled to adhere, all friendly feeling was at an end, and there was a renewal of the old discord.
Before Governor Morris resigned as Lieutenant Governor he had concerted with Colonel John Armstrong an expedition against the strong Indian town of Kittanning, on the Allegheny River.
The amusements of the young people were for many years of the simplest and most innocent kind. Riding, swimming and skating afforded pleasant outdoor sport.
Yearly Meeting, in 1716, advised Friends against “going to or being in any way concerned in plays, games, lotteries, music and dancing.” In 1719 advice was given “that such be dealt with as run races, either on horseback or on foot, laying wagers, or use any gaming or needless and vain sport and pastimes, for our time passeth swiftly away, and our pleasure and delight ought to be in the law of the Lord.”
Various early laws of the Province prohibited stage plays and amusements, not only bull-baiting, bear-baiting and cock-fighting, but such as were neither immoral nor cruel, as bowls, billiards and quoits.
Macauley said of the Puritans that they opposed bear-baiting “not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.”
Quaker legislation as to games was, indeed, scarcely stricter than Henry VIII’s, but Quakerism discountenanced excitement.
In 1723 a wandering showman arrived in Philadelphia and set up a stage just below South Street, where he was outside the jurisdiction of the City Corporation. At the desire of the Quaker Assemblymen, the Speaker, Joseph Growdon, on March 30, asked Lieutenant Governor Keith to prohibit any performance. This he declined to do, but promised that good order should be kept.
So the actor issued his playbills and gave what is supposed to have been the first entertainment in Pennsylvania that might be called theatrical.
As the man who entertained by his “Comical Humour” in April, 1724, called himself the audience’s “Old friend Pickle Herring,” he may be presumed to have been the owner of both shows. In 1724, he introduced the “Roap-Dancing” as “newly arrived.” The rope-walkers were a lad of seven years and a woman. There was also a woman who would spin around rapidly for a quarter of an hour with seven or eight swords pointed at her eyes, mouth and breast. Governor Keith himself attended one or more of these performances.
Small shows now, from time to time, made their appearance. In 1727, “The Lion, King of Beasts,” was advertised to be exhibited on Water Street.
The Quakers and rigid Presbyterians, who in the early days frowned down dancing and other “frivolous amusements,” could not be expected to countenance the introduction of the drama in Philadelphia. So when Murray and Kean’s company of Thespians made their appearance in 1749 they were not permitted to make a long stay, but were ordered off as soon as the worthy rulers of the city’s morals realized the fact that their entertainments possessed irresistible attractions. So Murray and Kean went to New York and for five years the Philadelphians did not see a play.
In August, 1749, mention is made of the tragedy of Cato being acted; but January 8, 1750, attention being called to some persons having lately taken upon themselves to act plays, and intending “to make a frequent practice thereof,” the City Council asked the magistrates to suppress the same.
In the year 1753 Lewis Hallam’s English company, after traveling a year in the Southern colonies and performing in various places in Virginia and Maryland, went to New York, where they opened their theatre in the month of September. The report of the great success of their talented actors awakened a desire among the more liberal-minded Philadelphians that Hallam should visit the Quaker City.
On April 15, 1754, they gave their first performance in the large brick warehouse of William Plumstead, situated in King or Water Street, between Pine and Lombard Streets. This house remained standing until 1849, when it was pulled down.
The opening piece was the tragedy of “The Fair Penitent,” followed by the farce “Miss in Her Teens.”
Mr. Rigby spoke a prologue and Mrs. Hallam an epilogue written for the occasion, in which, after defending the stage from the accusation of sinfulness and alluding to the effect produced by the tragedy upon the audience, she asked:
This temporary theatre was neatly fitted up and opened to a full house. The license was for twenty-four nights but this number was extended to thirty, and the theatre closed June 24 after having had a brilliant and profitable season. One of the performances was given for the benefit of the charity school.
Hallam’s company came back to Philadelphia in 1759 to occupy a permanent theatre erected for them in Southwark, at the corner of Cedar (or South) and Vernon Streets, on Society Hill.
This theatre was opened June 25, 1759, but either because the house was too small and not well equipped or because of discouraging opposition the company only played in it one season. They remained away five years.
On their return a new house, much larger than the first one, was built at the corner of South and Apollo Streets. This new theatre was opened November 12, 1766.
It was in this theatre and by “The American Company” that the first play by an American author performed on any regular stage was given April 24, 1767. This was “The Prince of Porthia,” by Thomas Godfrey, Jr., of Philadelphia.
The American Company played at this theatre several seasons. The theatre remained closed from the beginning of the Revolutionary War until it was opened by the British officers during their occupancy of the city, 1777–78.
These amateur performers gave regular plays, the proceeds going to widows and orphan children of the soldiers. The ill-fated Major Andre and Captain Delancy painted the scenes and other decorations. The curtain, representing a waterfall scene, the work of young Andre, remained in use until the theatre was destroyed by fire May 9, 1823.
After the return of the Continental Congress the Legislature of Pennsylvania legislated against theatrical performances. No plays were given until 1789, when a petition signed by 1900 citizens, asking the repeal of the prohibiting provision relating to theatres, was presented to the Legislature. The religious community presented a petition signed by more than 1000 citizens as a remonstrance against the repeal.
The restrictive portion of the act was repealed and Hallam and Henry opened the Southwark Theatre January 6, 1790, with “The Rivals” and “The Critic.”
The season was unusually brilliant, and the theatre in Philadelphia and elsewhere throughout Pennsylvania has since been popular.
Tedyuskung was made king of the Delaware nation in the spring of 1756, and from that date until his untimely death this great Indian chieftain exerted a most powerful influence throughout the entire Province of Pennsylvania.
The name is of Munsee dialect, and signifies “the healer,” or “one who cures wounds, bruises, etc.”
He was one of the most famous and crafty of the Delaware chiefs during the period of discussion of the Indian claims, following the sale of the lands along the Delaware and Susquehanna to the Proprietors of Pennsylvania by the Iroquois.
Tedyuskung was born at the present site of Trenton, N.J., about 1705, and died April 16, 1763. Nothing is known of his life before the time he first appears as an historic character, prior to which he was known as “Honest John.”
When about fifty years old he was chosen chief of the Delaware on the Susquehanna, and from that time wielded a potent influence, although he occupied a peculiar position.
Sir William Johnson, of New York, was a zealous friend of the Iroquois, while Conrad Weiser and George Croghan, of Pennsylvania, were strongly prejudiced against the Delaware and Shawnee. The problem which the Provincial Government of Pennsylvania had to solve was how to keep peace with the Iroquois and at the same time prevent the Delaware and the Shawnee who were then becoming independent of the Iroquois, from going over to the French.
The Delaware were conscious they had been unjustly deprived of their lands by the Pennsylvania authorities, aided by the Iroquois. They had been driven from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, and many had been forced even as far west as the Ohio, and now that France and England had commenced to struggle for the possession of that region the Delaware felt they were to be again driven from their home. They were revolting not only against the English, but against their masters, the Iroquois.
At this critical time, when the border settlements in Western Pennsylvania were being ravaged by hostile bands of Delaware and Shawnee, and when the English were making preparations for an expedition to take Fort Duquesne, Tedyuskung took his stand as a friend of the English.
Christian Frederic Post had been sent on a mission to the Ohio Indians, and Conrad Weiser and others were working to retain the friendship of these Indians. The many squatters along the Juniata River and the illegal sale of land at Wyoming made by the Mohawk to the Connecticut settlers complicated the situation and made the work of these emissaries much more difficult and trying. Then the Indians who had been in conference at Albany in 1754, found when they returned home that lands had been sold to the Proprietors which they did not comprehend.
Washington suffered defeat at Fort Necessity and this was followed by the terrible Braddock disaster; which with the evil effects of the rum traffic among the Indians and the almost total neglect by the Province of Pennsylvania had almost entirely alienated them from the English cause.
Then began the several attempts to win them back, but the passage of the Scalp Act and the declaration of war against the Delaware caused this tribe to rise in rebellion against the Province and also against their hated title of “women,” given them by the Iroquois.
Such was the situation when the great council was called at Easton, July, 1756, at which Tedyuskung appeared as the champion of the Delaware. Governor Morris opened the council with a speech, in which he warmly welcomed the chief. Tedyuskung replied: “The Delaware are no longer the slaves of the Six Nations. I, Tedyuskung, have been appointed King over the Five United Nations. What I do here will be approved by all. This is a good day. I wish the same good that possessed the good old man, William Penn, who was a friend of the Indian, may inspire the people of the Province at this time.”
The first session was followed by a grand feast and reception, during which King Tedyuskung and Chief Newcastle were sent to give the “big peace halloo” to the Indians and invite them to a larger conference, which was held at a later time.
Tedyuskung left Easton, but loitered about Fort Allen, where he became drunk and disorderly, and so incensed Lieutenant Miller that the whole outcome of the peace conference was, for a time, endangered.
During this drunken spree Tedyuskung was blamed for having dealings with the French, but no evidence was produced to prove the charges; yet Governor Morris dispatched Chief Newcastle to Sir William Johnson to learn if the Iroquois had deputized Tedyuskung to act for them. This they denied.
Then followed endless discussions in Provincial Council. Governor Morris had been succeeded by Governor Denny, who went to the council at Easton, July, 1757, under a heavy guard. Tedyuskung, in his opening speech, said: “I am sorry for what our people have done. I have gone among our people pleading for peace. If it cost me my life I would do it.”
Tedyuskung demanded a clerk at this Easton Council on threat of leaving, and he was assigned such official. While Tedyuskung was drunk each night, he appeared at council each morning with a clear head and was the equal of any in debate.
This second Easton council determined upon a general peace and Tedyuskung promised to see that their white prisoners were all returned. He then went to Fort Allen, where he and his warriors had a drunken frolic. Conrad Weiser says of him at this time: “Though he is a drunkard and a very irregular man, yet he is a man that can think well, and I believe him to be sincere in what he said.”
A fourth council was held at Easton in October, 1758, when Post had returned from his Western mission. Land disputes again became a principal topic, and Tedyuskung was discredited by the Iroquois, who attempted to destroy his influence with the Provincial Government. They even left the council when he spoke, but the old King won out and the council finally ended in a treaty of peace.
In 1762 the Governor offered Tedyuskung £400 as a present if he would withdraw his charges of fraud in the “Walking Purchase,” and he accepted the bribe.
After all the dealing with the Governors and councils of Pennsylvania, and his personal controversies with the enemy tribes, this last of the chiefs of the eastern Delaware traveled from Philadelphia to his home at Wyoming, and on the night of April 16, 1763, his house was set on fire while he lay on his couch in a drunken debauch and he was burned to death in the flames. The perpetrators of this crime were either Seneca or Mohawk.
He was the most virile chief of the Delaware nation during the years of their subjugation to the Iroquois. His efforts for peace did much to win the Ohio region from the French.
A monument to Tedyuskung has been erected in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.
By the act of April 17, 1795, the president and managers of the Schuykill and Susquehanna Navigation, and the president and managers of the Delaware and Schuykill Canal Navigation, were authorized to raise by means of a lottery, a sum of $400,000 for the purpose of completing the works cited in their acts of incorporation, under a prohibition that neither of them should form the same into capital stock, upon which to declare a dividend of profits.
An Act Passed March 4, 1807, authorized the said companies to raise their respective sums separately, subject to the prohibition as to dividends.
The two companies were consolidated by act of April 2, 1811 into a corporation known as the Union Canal Company of Pennsylvania. The new company was authorized to raise money by loan to complete the canal and to use the proceeds of the lotteries already authorized, and by the twenty-eighth section of the act authority was given to raise the residue of the original sum equal to $340,000 by a lottery.
By the act of March 29, 1819 the proceeds of the above lottery were pledged as a fund for the payment of an annual interest of 6 per cent upon the stock of the company.
By these and subsequent acts it appears that the lottery grants were given in the first instance, to the two companies, and afterwards continued to the Union Canal Company to aid and encourage the construction and completion of a canal and lock navigation uniting the waters of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill.
In consequence of these lottery grants, individuals were induced to invest their funds in the furtherance of the work, and loans to the amount of $830,400 were made upon the credit of the capital stock and the profits of the lotteries.
The Union Canal Company entered into contracts for the conduct of these lotteries, the last one, October 6, 1824, for five years, which expired December 31, 1829.
There was much sentiment against these lotteries and as there were laws in force for suppressing and preventing lotteries, there was objection made when the extension of this lottery was brought to the General Assembly. The Committee on Ways and Means, February 9, 1828, reported that it was inexpedient to resume the lottery grants to the Union Canal Company at this time and further resolved, “that the committee be instructed to bring in a bill to regulate lottery brokers, and to restrain the sale of lottery tickets within this Commonwealth.”
For more than half a century after the founding of the Province, Pennsylvania was dominated by the Quakers, who were constantly opposed to all games of chance. At the very first meeting of the Assembly, at Chester, in 1682, an act was passed against cards, dice, lotteries, etc. This and similar acts were annulled by the English Government.
Although lotteries were not legally prohibited only one lottery appears to have been drawn during the next several decades. In 1720 a Mr. Reed by means of a lottery of 350 tickets, which were sold for twenty shillings each, disposed of a new brick house and several lots in Philadelphia.
In 1730 lotteries were prohibited under a penalty of £100, half of which was to go to the Governor, and half to the party bringing suit.
It seems probable that the Provincial Assembly authorized lotteries by special legislation for at least two lotteries had the official sanction of the Philadelphia Council; one in 1747, for the fortification of the City, the other a year later for street paving. From this time until the passage of the anti-lottery act of 1762, lotteries increased in number.
During this period lotteries were drawn for the college, academy and charitable school of Philadelphia, to complete the Episcopal Church, etc.
The act of 1762 proved to be effective in limiting the number and purposes for which lotteries might be established. Between 1762 and 1796, there were only twenty-three lotteries in Pennsylvania. Of these six were private, eight were for public use and nine for the erection of church buildings, in which twenty-one churches were concerned.
With the establishment of the Federal Government the financial condition of the country rapidly improved. With the gradual growth of population, and rapid development of business, came increased demands for new churches, schools, public buildings and improved transportation. To meet these public needs the regular revenue was insufficient and to avoid an abnormal increase in taxation, petitions were presented to the Legislature for the privilege of establishing public or semi-public lotteries.
The Legislature rejected all requests for lotteries, except when some important purpose was to be served. Only one lottery was authorized in 1790, for the erection of a Jewish synagogue; none then until 1795, when one was granted the Aaronsburg Town Lottery, in now Center County, and the other was to aid in opening the canal navigation between the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers.
From 1796 to 1808 inclusive seventy-eight different lotteries were authorized.
The lottery of 1782 for the improvement of roads west of Philadelphia was managed as a state lottery. Others were county, city, borough and township schemes. Some were for erection of bridges, ferries and even improving creeks. One was for a garden and public bath in Philadelphia, one for the pay of soldiers in the French and Indian War; hospitals were also included, as were schools.
Many churches were built by means of lotteries and the newspapers of that period carried many advertisements, both from those authorized by the Pennsylvania Legislature and those of other States. It is estimated that at least fifty lotteries chartered by other States had agencies in Pennsylvania.
From 1747 to 1883 there were 176 separate lotteries. One single lottery, Union Canal lottery, awarded in prizes more than $33,000,000 between 1811 and December 31, 1833.
The State became flooded with local and foreign lottery tickets, and many memorials were presented to the Legislature against all form of lotteries, but they continued to thrive until December 31, 1833, when they were abolished by law, Pennsylvania taking the lead of all States in banishing lotteries.
Governor George Wolf said in a message to the General Assembly: “A more pernicious, ruinous and demoralizing evil can scarcely be imagined.”
On April 18, 1861, Camp Curtin was regularly and formally established in the northwestern suburbs of Harrisburg. It was the first regular camp formed north of the Susquehanna in the loyal States, and before the end of the month twenty-five regiments were sent to the front from the counties of Pennsylvania.
The willing and prompt response to the call of President Lincoln and the appeal of Governor Curtin created immediately the necessity for a great rendezvous for the State’s troops. Harrisburg was the logical place for such a camp, for it had the advantage of being the seat of government and railroad lines extending in all directions.
The troops began to pour into Harrisburg so suddenly that temporary shelter was erected on all public grounds, within three days after the President’s call for volunteers.
Governor Curtin acted promptly in procuring accommodationsaccommodations for the troops, and on April 18 requested Captain E. C. Williams to take charge of the grounds controlled by the Dauphin County Agricultural Society, near the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on the east and less than a quarter of a mile from the Susquehanna on the west.
It was the original intention to call this rendezvous “Camp Union,” but Captain E. C. Williams, Captain J. P. Knipe and others very appropriately changed the name in honor of the patriotic and beloved Governor of Pennsylvania.
When the war broke out in all its suddenness, and Washington was cut off from the loyal States of the North by the riotous proceedings at Baltimore, there was an utter lack of military organization in Pennsylvania. The military system of the State had decayed and aside from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, there were very few military companies in the State fully armed and equipped. Of these only a few contained the minimum number of thirty-two men. But, as the appeal for men was disseminated through the towns and villages of the interior counties, the officers of such military companies as did exist very promptly rallied their men and tendered their services to the Governor.
Ringgold Light Artillery, Captain McKnight, of Reading; the Logan Guards, Captain Selheimer, of Lewistown; the Washington Artillery, Captain Wren, and the National Light Infantry, Captain McDonald, both of Pottsville, and the Allen Rifles, Captain Yeager, of Allentown, were the first to offer their services in an armed and disciplined condition for immediate action. When the Ringgold Light Artillery, numbering one hundred and two men, reached Harrisburg and word was sent to the Secretary of War of the presence of so strong a company at the State Capital, he at once telegraphed for its immediate presence in Washington, but for prudence the order was suppressed.
On the morning of the 18th, the day Camp Curtin was established, a detachment of Company H, Fourth United States Artillery, numbering fifty, arrived from the West, in command of Lieutenant Pemberton.
The five volunteer companies, first to report at Camp Curtin, were promptly mustered into the United States service by Captain, afterwards Colonel Seneca G. Simmons, of the Seventh United States Infantry, and the regulars, mentioned above, and these volunteers departed on the same train for Fort McHenry, to assist in the defense of Washington.
The volunteers marched through Baltimore, then filled with Southern sympathizers, ready and eager to obstruct their passage through the city. On leaving the cars at Bolton station to march to the Camden station, a battalion was formed. As the march began the Baltimore police appeared in large force, headed by Marshall Kane, followed by a mob, who at once attacked the volunteers and were countenanced by the police sent to give safe conduct through the city. The troops were ordered to maintain their discipline.
When in the center of the city, the regulars under Lieutenant Pemberton marched off toward Fort McHenry leaving the volunteers to pursue their march to Camden station. This seemed to be a signal to the mob, and at once the air was filled with flying missiles, while every species of oath and imprecation were flung at the volunteers as they marched forward. Not a man made a reply, but steadily, sternly, and undauntedly the five companies of Pennsylvanians moved over the cobble-stoned streets of the city. At every step the mob increased, but with unblanched faces and martial step the brave men never for one moment wavered, marching like veterans as the mob gave way before and around them as they forced their passage to the depot.
The mob believed that a portion of the Logan Guards carried loaded guns, because their half-cocked pieces displayed percussion caps, but in reality there was not a load of powder and ball in the entire five companies. Nevertheless, the feint of displaying the caps, which was done partly as a jest on leaving the cars at Bolton Station, saved the men from the bloody attack which was hurled the next day at the force of Massachusetts troops passing through the city. As it was, when the troops were boarding the cars at Camden station, the infuriated rabble who had dogged their steps, hurled bricks, stones, clubs and mud into their disorganized ranks, without, fortunately, injuring a single volunteer.
Attempts were made to throw the cars from the track, to detach the locomotive, and even to break the driving mechanism of the engine, all of which failed, and the train pulled out of the station amid the demoniac yells of the disappointed ruffians whose thirst for blood was now aroused to a savage fury.
The solicitude of Governor Curtin for the safe transportation of these troops through Baltimore was intense. He remained at the telegraph office in Harrisburg receiving dispatches which depicted the stirring scenes in the streets of Baltimore. When it was finally announced that the trains had passed out of reach of their assailants with the men safely aboard, he emphatically declared that not another Pennsylvania soldier should march through Baltimore unarmed, but fully prepared to defend himself.
At 7 o’clock in the evening of the eighteenth, the five Pennsylvania companies reached Washington, the first troops which arrived from any State to defend the National Capital. On July 22 Congress adopted a resolution commending these Pennsylvania volunteers for the gallantry displayed in passing through the Baltimore mob and reaching Washington so promptly. It is of interest to note that our own Pennsylvanian, Galusha A. Grow, was then Speaker of the House of Representatives and signed this resolution.
When the First Defenders departed from Camp Curtin and were the first troops which arrived at Washington from any State to defend the National Capital, the real activities of this famous training camp began.
Beginning on the morning of April 19 every inbound train brought troops to Harrisburg, and soon Camp Curtin was a hive of activity.
Eli Seifer, Secretary of the Commonwealth, assumed the discharge of certain military functions, such as replying to telegraphic offer of troops, etc., but beginning April 19, Captain G. A. C. Seiler, the commandant, assumed the responsibilities, and displayed great energy. His administration was characterized by earnestness and activity, until by exposure and over-work, he contracted a disease from which he died. He was succeeded July 31 by Colonel John H. Taggart, of Philadelphia.
Colonel Taggart was the editor of the Sunday Times, in Philadelphia, and when the news of hostilities reached there, he raised a company of volunteers called “The Wayne Guards” and marched them from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. They arrived at Camp Curtin June 7.
Governor Curtin was not over sanguine that the war was likely to be concluded at the first contest so when the responses to the first call for volunteers brought enough to make twenty-five regiments instead of only the eight asked for, the Governor did not disband them, but directed that they preserve their organizations, and immediately applied to the Legislature for authority to form a corps of thirteen regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery, to be organized and equipped by the State, to be subject to the call of the National Government if needed, and at all times to be in readiness for immediate service.
On May 15, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the organization of the “Reserve Volunteer Corps of the Commonwealth,” and Governor Curtin issued his call for men to compose the corps, and apportioned the number that would be received from each county, in order that each section of the State and every class of its people should be duly represented in it.
Four camps of instruction were established; one at Easton, under command of Colonel William B. Mann, of Philadelphia; one at West Chester, under Captain Henry M. McIntire, of West Chester; one at Pittsburgh, under Colonel John W. McLean; and one at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, under Colonel G. A. C. Seiler, of Harrisburg.
George A. McCall, a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, of the class of 1822, a distinguished soldier in the war with Mexico, was appointed a Major General to command the corps. General McCall immediately organized his staff by appointing Henry J. Biddle, Assistant Adjutant General, and Henry Sheets and Eldrige McConkey, Aids-de-Camp. Subsequently, Professor Henry Coppee was attached to the staff as Inspector General.
On June 22 two of the regiments were ordered to Cumberland, Md., and soon afterward rendered excellent service at New Creek and Piedmont, in West Virginia until ordered to the lower Potomac regions.
On July 22, the day after the disaster at Bull Run, a requisition was made on the State for its Reserve Corps, and as quickly as the means of transportation could be provided, eleven thousand of these troops, fully armed and equipped, were sent to the defenses of Washington, and a few days later the regiments were mustered into the United States service for three years, or during the war.
This was the beginning of the Pennsylvania Reserves, an organization, which, during the later years of the war, won fame on many battlefields, and many of whose members sleep beneath the sod in Southern States. Their skill was everywhere recognized, and no others were more renowned for bravery.
Reverend A. S. Williams who gave the historical address on the occasion of the dedication of the statue to Governor Curtin on the site of Camp Curtin, among other interesting facts said: “When General McDowell’s soldiers were defeated at Bull’s Run, the trained Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment from Camp Curtin, steadied the Government at Washington. When General Lee attempted to invade the North in 1862, Governor Curtin called for fifty thousand volunteers, and a strong reserve was maintained at Camp Curtin ready to march at a moment’s notice.
“During the early months of the war, on one occasion trucks were pushed on the tracks of the railroad to the east of the Camp and a Brigade of Soldiers stepped on them and was carried by way of Huntingdon over the Broad Top Railroad to Hopewell; from here they marched through Bedford to Cumberland, Md. For two months these soldiers protected this community from the harrassing enemy.
“In June 1863 when the people of the State became apprehensive lest Harrisburg and Philadelphia fall into the hands of General Lee, again the troops from Camp Curtin met the enemy but a few miles from Harrisburg along the Carlisle Pike.”
Camp Curtin was available and often used as an Army hospital.
Among the commanders at Camp Curtin besides those above mentioned were Colonel Thomas Welsh, of Lancaster; Colonel Charles J. Biddle, of Philadelphia; and Colonel James A. Beaver, afterwards General and later Governor of Pennsylvania.
Governor Curtin, after all, was the leading spirit in this greatest of Army Camps and it is appropriate that the words on a bronze tablet on his statue should read: “His administration of the Gubernatorial office during the dark days of the Republic made an imperishable name for his family, and added historic grandeur to the annals of the Commonwealth.”
Colonel Daniel Brodhead, the commandant at Fort Pitt, had not been able to execute his design to lead a force against the Wyandot and Shawnee Indian towns in Ohio. He had expected to obtain the help of the Delaware warriors at Coshocton for this expedition, but in the spring of 1781, a change in the situation impelled him to strike at the Delaware.
Until December, 1780, the Delaware took no part, as a nation, in the warfare against the frontiers of Pennsylvania, and the alliance with the United States, made by their three principal chiefs in the autumn of 1778, was outwardly observed for more than two years. The death of their noted chief, White Eyes, which occurred from an attack of smallpox, at Pittsburgh, November, 1778, was followed by the election of Killbuck, or Gelelemand, the celebrated sachem, who proved himself to be an unswerving friend of the Americans. Chief Killbuck found himself the leader of the minority of his nation, but his influence was sufficient to delay the union of the Delaware with the other hostile Indian nations.
The Americans gave no presents to the Indians and had little else of value to offer them, while the British, especially those at the Detroit post, gave them not only alluring promises but showered many valuable presents upon them. It was then only a matter of time until the Shawnee, Seneca, Miami, Wyandot and other Indians hostile to the Americans could persuade the Delaware to join with them in war against the Colonists. Captain Pipe was the principal Delaware chief who had long led the war party and finally controlled their determination to take up the hatchet.
In February, 1781, a council was held at Coshocton, at which Killbuck was not present, being then on an important mission to Fort Pitt, and the Delaware yielded to the pressure and voted to join in warfare against the borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Killbuck was afraid to return to Coshocton, as he learned of threats against his life, so he made his home with the Moravians and their converted Indians at Salem, on the western branch of the Tuscarawas River, fourteen miles below New Philadelphia. Here he professed Christianity and was baptized and received the Christian name William Henry, in honor of a distinguished citizen of Lancaster, Pa. He was afterward commissioned by the United States Congress and was proud to call himself “Colonel Henry.” When he removed his family to Salem he took also with him the family of White Eyes and other Delaware Indians, including the aged warriors Big Cat and Nonowland.
Killbuck wrote a long letter to Colonel Brodhead informing him of the hostile action of the council at Coshocton. The missionary, the Reverend John Heckewelder, who penned this letter, also sent another by the same messenger, John Montour, in which he suggested an expedition against Coshocton.
Colonel Brodhead at once determined to attack the place and punish the Delaware for their perfidy. The Pennsylvania Government gave him much assistance and a supply of provisions, but his force of regular troops at Fort Pitt had been reduced, from various causes, to about 200 men. He made a call for assistance to the officers of the border counties, but no troops were furnished by them. Colonel David Shepherd, county lieutenant of Ohio County, Virginia (now Green County, Pa.) however, sent him a body of excellent volunteers consisting of 134 Virginia militiamen, arranged in four companies, under Captains John Ogle, Benjamin Royce, Jacob Leffler and William Crawford. These men were hardy young farmers from the settlements in Washington County; most of them rode their own horses, and cheerfully responded to Colonel Shepherd’s call.
These troops rendezvousedrendezvoused at Fort Henry, the stockade at Wheeling, where Colonel Brodhead and his command joined them. On Tuesday, April 19, the little army of 300 was ferried over the Ohio River and marched over the Indian trail for Muskingum River. John Montour, Nonowland and Delaware braves joined the Americans to fight their own treacherous tribesmen.
The purpose was to march rapidly and take the village of Coshocton by surprise; yet it required ten days to reach that place on account of severe weather and unusually heavy rains. A short pause was made at Salem, where Colonel Brodhead held a conference with the Reverend John Heckewelder.
He learned there were no Christian Indians at Coshocton. The Moravians were to prepare corn and cattle for the soldiers against the return march. The missionary then hastened back to Gnadenhuetten and Salem to carry the news that the Americans were in the country and Killbuck and his warriors again donned the war paint to join the Continentals against other savages.
Although it required ten days to reach the Muskingum, the Delaware were taken by surprise. They had no expectation that the Americans would act so promptly and, on account of stormy weather, they were careless and kept out no scouts. Then some of the principal chiefs were at Detroit, in attendance at a big council with De Peyster, the British governor.
On Friday morning, April 20, during a heavy downpour, the advance guard came upon three Indians in the woods, not more than a mile distant from Coshocton. One of the savages was captured, but the two others escaped to the town and gave the alarm. The captured Indian said there were not many warriors at home, that a band of forty had just returned from a border raid, with scalps and prisoners, but had crossed to the farther side of the river, a few miles above the town, to enjoy a drunken revel.
Brodhead hurried forward and dashed into the Indian capital, finding but fifteen warriors there, who made a brave resistance, but every one was either killed by rifle ball or tomahawked by an American soldier. The mounted men were first in the town and they would not accept surrender or suffer the wounded to linger long in agony. No harm was done to any of the old men, women or children, of whom more than a score were captured. These were removed and every building in Coshocton set on fire. A great quantity of peltry and other stores was taken and forty head of cattle furnished good food for the hungry soldiers.
As a result of the Coshocton campaign the hostile Delaware migrated to the headwaters of the Sandusky and other places farther westward, while the adherents of Chief Killbuck and those friendly to the Americans moved to Pittsburgh and erected their rude wigwams on Smoky Island, sometimes called Killbuck Island, at the northern side of the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.