In the summer of 1778 Colonel Thomas Hartley made a successful expedition against the Six Nations Indians, marching from Fort Muncy, in present Lycoming County, to Tioga, covering 300 miles in two weeks. His army destroyed every Indian town, defeated the Indians in each encounter and brought off much food and Indian goods.
The settlers, who had taken flight, now ventured back and harvested their crops, but by spring the Indians had become bolder and more treacherous than ever before. The attention of Congress was drawn to this distress along the frontier and General Washington was directed to relieve the situation.
The Commander-in-chief selected Major General John Sullivan, and in April, 1779, directed him to prepare for an expedition into the heart of the Six Nations’ country. General Washington made no mistake in the selection of General Sullivan. He proved equal to the stupendous undertaking.
General Sullivan immediately began his preparations, but the real start of this expedition may properly be considered as of May 26, 1779, when he arrived at Easton with his command. General Washington gave him his directions in a long and interesting letter of instructions. He told him that the expedition he was to command against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations was to discourage predatory marauds on our frontier settlements and to retaliate for the horrible massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and, “if opportunity favored, for the capture of Niagara and an invasion into Canada.”
But Washington advised him that “the immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. So soon as your preparations are in sufficient forwardness you will assemble your main body at Wyoming and proceed thence to Tioga, taking from that place the most direct and practicable route into the heart of the Indian settlements.”
General Sullivan established a rendezvous at Easton, May 26, 1779, and then marched to Wyoming, where he experienced a long and tedious wait, caused by the failure of both Continental and State authorities to properly clothe and provision the army, and the further embarrassment that promised re-enforcements were not furnished.
In spite of these discouragements, General Sullivan determined to march, and July 31, 1779, at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the army left Wyoming on its march up the Susquehanna, accompanied by 120 boats.
The army was composed of the following: General Edward Hand’s brigade, which consisted of the light corps, made up of the German Regiment and that commanded by Colonel Adam Hubley and the Independent regiments of Colonels Shott and Spalding; and General Maxwell’s brigade, consisting of four regiments under Colonels Dayton, Shreeve, Ogden, and Spencer; and General Poor’s brigade, with four regiments under Colonels Cilley, Reed, Scammel and Courland. The second line, or reserves were the commands of Colonels Livingston, Dubois, Gainsworth and Olden. Colonel Thomas Proctor’s artillery was also a most important part of this army.
The several encampments were made at Lackawanna, then at Quiltimunk, Tunkhannock, Vanderlip’s farm, and Wyalusing, which was reached August 6, when a heavy rain kept the army in camp two days.
On Sunday, August 8, the army reached Standing Stone, a place which derives its name from a large stone standing erect in the river. It is twenty feet in height, fourteen feet wide and three feet in thickness.
The army was forced to go into camp at Standing Stone on account of the indisposition of General Sullivan and inability to bring up the boats.
Their next encampment was at Sheshecununk, and on the following day, August 11, had extreme difficulty fording the river before reaching Tioga Flats, where Queen Esther’s Town stood, until destroyed by Colonel Hartley the previous year.
Indians were discovered at Chemung, twelve miles distant, and an expedition was set in motion to destroy their village. The main army marched through the night and arrived at daylight, but the Indians, aware of the advancing army, had evacuated the village, but made a determined stand at Newtown.
General Sullivan pushed on with great vigor and formed a junction with General Clinton’s army August 19. On August 29, 1500 Indians, under Joe Brant and Captain John MacDonald, and the British and Tories, under Colonel John Butler and the two Johnstons, attacked the Americans near the scene of the Newtown battle.
The enemy was well entrenched, thinking to destroy our army at a narrow defile in front of their breastworks. This situation was discovered by Captain Parr when Colonel Proctor opened a cannon fire on the enemy, who retreated to a much stronger position, but too closely pursued by Poor’s troops.
The Americans charged up the hill with bayonets and poured deadly fire into their ranks, driving them from the field. Nine Indians were killed and left on the ground to be scalped by the troops.
Every Indian village was burned and the savages were made to understand that the Americans were their masters.
The return march was made to Wyoming, where the army arrived October 8. A great feast on venison and wild turkey was had in honor of their effective service.
The army reached Easton October 15, and Congress set apart October 26, as a day for a general thanksgiving.
General Sullivan had shattered his constitution by years of constant exposure in the field and suffered much from an accident received in this campaign, and he was given a leave “as long as he shall judge it expedient for the recovery of his health.” He was thanked by Congress for his services. During the whole campaign his conduct was distinguished by courage, energy and skill.
General Sullivan could not recover his full vigor and resigned from the army at the close of 1779, but was convalescing when elected to Congress. He went to that body with much reluctance, but his services there were as conspicuous and patriotic as they had been on many a bloody battlefield. He died January 23, 1795.
During the Civil War Philadelphia lay in the channel of the great stream of volunteers from New England, New York, New Jersey and part of Pennsylvania, that commenced flowing early in May, 1861. Working in grand harmony the national and more extended organizations for the relief of the soldiers, were houses of refreshment and temporary hospital accommodationsaccommodations furnished by the citizens of Philadelphia.
The soldiers crossing New Jersey, and the Delaware River at Camden, were landed at the foot of Washington Avenue, where, weary and hungry, they often sought in vain for sufficient refreshments in the bakeries and groceries in the neighborhood before entering the cars for Washington or other points of rendezvous.
One morning the wife of a mechanic living near, commiseratingcommiserating the situation of some soldiers who had just arrived, went out with her coffee-pot and a cup, and distributed its contents among them. That generous hint was the germ of a wonderful system of relief for the passing soldiers, which was immediately developed in this patriotic and historic city.
Soon other benevolent women, living in the vicinity of the landing-place of the volunteers, imitated their patriotic sister, and a few of them formed themselves into a committee for the regular distribution of coffee on the arrival of soldiers. Soon the men in the neighborhood interested themselves in procuring other supplies.
The women who formed this original committee were Mrs. William M. Cooper, Mrs. Grace Nickles, Mrs. Sarah Ewing, Mrs. Elizabeth Vansdale, Mrs. Catherine Vansdale, Mrs. Jane Coward, Mrs. Susan Turner, Mrs. Sarah Mellen, Mrs. Catherine Alexander, Mrs. Mary Plant, and Mrs. Captain Watson.
For a few days the refreshments were dispensed under the shade of trees in front of the cooper shop owned by William M. Cooper and Henry W. Pearce, on Otsego Street near Washington Avenue. Then this shop was generously offered for the purpose by the proprietors, and immediately it was equipped with tables and such kitchen arrangements as were necessary to prepare such foods as was supplied by the voluntary contributions raised among the citizens of Philadelphia. The young women, wives and daughters of those resident in the neighborhood waited upon the soldiers.
The first body of troops fed at the saloon was the Eighth New York Regiment, called the German Rifles, under Colonel Blenker. There were 780 men who partook of a coffee breakfast there on the morning of May 27, 1861.
The cooper shop was not spacious enough to accommodate the daily increasing number of soldiers, and another place of refreshment was opened on the corner of Washington Avenue and Swanson Street, in a building formerly used as a boathouse and rigger’s loft. Two Volunteer Refreshment Saloon Committees were formed and known respectively as the “Cooper Shop” and the “Union.”
Both were in effective working order on May 27. The following were the principal officers of the two associations, respectively: The Cooper Shop: President, William M. Cooper; vice president, C. V. Fort; treasurer, Adam M. Simpson; secretaries, William M. Maull and E. S. Hall. The Union: Chairman, Arad Barrows; secretary, J. B. Wade; treasurer, B. S. Brown; steward, J. T. Williams.
These two organizations worked in harmony and generous rivalry all through the period of the war and rendered wonderful service. Both saloons were enlarged as necessity required and both had temporary hospitals attached to them. These were used for such soldiers who were sick or wounded and who were unable to leave Philadelphia and who required rest or nursing and medical attendance to restore them to health and duty.
Cooper Hospital was under the charge of Dr. Andrew Nebinger, assisted by his brother, Dr. George Nebinger, and Miss Anna M. Ross. After the death of Miss Ross, Mrs. Abigail Horner became the lady principal of the “Cooper Shop Hospital.”
Dr. Eliab Ward had charge of the “Union Hospital.” He gave his services throughout the war free of charge. Nearly 11,000 sick and wounded soldiers were nursed and received medical attention at this hospital, and nearly twice that number had their wounds dressed, and more than 40,000 had a night’s lodging.
An accurate record was kept of all the operations of the “Union Saloon,” which show that 800,000 soldiers were received and 1,025,000 meals were furnished, and the total amount of money expended being $98,204.34, and for materials used there was expended $30,000, a grand total of $128,204.34, all of which was received by voluntary contributions.
The women who devoted themselves to the service of preparing the meals and waiting upon this vast host deserve the choicest blessings of their country.
At all hours of the day and night these self-sacrificing heroines, when a little signal gun employed for the purpose announced the approach of a train bearing soldiers, would repair to their saloons and cheerfully dispense their generous bounties.
The little cannon used as a signal had a notable history. It was part of the ordnance in the army of General Taylor on the Rio Grande in 1846, where it was captured, only to be recaptured by a United States cruiser.
The last regiment of soldiers fed in either of these saloons was the 104th Pennsylvania, Colonel Kephart, numbering 748 men, on August 28, 1865.
Colonel William Clapham was an English officer who rendered conspicuous service on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and who, like many others, paid the price with his scalp in the uneven warfare waged by the Indians and their French allies.
William Clapham was born in England July 5, 1722, and after graduating from college, entered the army as an ensign. He was sent to America during the French and Indian War. He subsequently resigned his commission and took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he was living at the time of Braddock’s defeat.
This disaster to the English arms caused Captain Clapham to again offer his services, this time to the Province of Pennsylvania. He was commissioned a captain and sent by Governor Morris into Bucks County to recruit troops and to muster into the Provincial service the company recruited by Captain Insley, who were ordered to join the regular troops then posted at Reading and Easton.
While Captain Clapham was on this tour of duty he journeyed to Fort Allen to make a visit with some friends. The Assembly at this moment was pressing Colonel Benjamin Franklin to return to his seat in that body. The three forts being completed, and the inhabitants willing to remain on their plantations with soldiers in these garrisons, Colonel Franklin placed Captain Clapham in full command and departed.
This was only a temporary command, but Governor Morris, March 29, 1756, commissioned him lieutenant-colonel, and assigned him to the Third Battalion. He also ordered the Colonel to assemble his troops as soon as possible at Hunter’s Mill, preparatory to marching to Shamokin (now Sunbury), where he was to build a substantial fort.
Colonel Clapham recruited 400 men for that purpose. He assembled his force at Fort Hunter, where he began training them. Before they marched from this encampment Governor Morris paid them an official visit, the incidents of which are quite entertaining and very interesting.
Colonel Clapham marched his command to Armstrongs, built Fort Halifax, stationed a garrison there, and finally proceeded up the river to Shamokin, where he arrived July 1, and immediately set about building Fort Augusta. This formidable fortress was finished in October.
From the very beginning of this frontier service Colonel Clapham experienced no end of trouble with his officers. He seems to have been overbearing and a hard taskmaster. He bore many insults, as he termed them, from the Assembly. These frequent disputes and misunderstandings with his officers wore out his patience and he resigned in November, 1756, being succeeded by Major James Burd of Lancaster.
Notwithstanding the confusion and ill-feeling which prevailed among the officers and men during the building of Fort Augusta, it seems that a secret directing power had prevented everything from falling into chaos and much good was accomplished. Had it not been for this unseen power, the fort would have been captured by the French and Indians and the whole North and West Branch Valleys would have been overrun and held by the enemy at this most critical period in the history of the Province.
He was a most conspicuous figure on the early frontiers. Even Colonel Clapham’s enemies, or those who thought he was not an acceptable officer, must have been moved to deep and sincere sympathy when they learned the sad fate which so soon afterward befell him and his family on the western frontier of Pennsylvania.
He did not long remain out of the service when his resignation as commander of the garrison at Fort Augusta was accepted. In 1763 he was an active officer in the expedition of Colonel Henry Bouquet on the western frontier of the Province.
He was in command of a formidable scouting party when he was murdered on Sewickley Creek, near where the town of West Newton now stands.
This tragedy occurred on the afternoon of May 28, 1763, and was committed by The Wolf, Kektuscung and two other Indians, one of whom was called Butler.
Colonel Clapham had taken his family to this frontier, and was very near his own home when these Indians shot him from ambush, rushed into his house, killed and scalped his wife and three children and a woman. The two women were treated with brutal indecency. They left evidences of the fact that they were paying an old score with Colonel Clapham, and the scene was horrible to behold.
At the time of the murder of the Claphams, three men who were working at some distance from the Clapham house escaped through the woods and carried the terrible news to the garrison in Fort Pitt.
Two soldiers, who were in Colonel Clapham’s detail, and stationed at a sawmill near the fort, were killed and scalped by these same Indians.
It seems that there were others slain in this massacre for Colonel Burd entered in his journal, June 5, 1763, that “John Harris gave me an account of Colonel Clapham and twelve men being killed near Pittsburgh, and two Royal Americans being killed at the saw mill.”
Colonel Bouquet in a letter to General Amherst, dated Fort Pitt, May 31, 1763, says: “We have most melancholy reports here * * * the Indians have broke out in several places, and murdered Colonel Clapham and his family.”
Judge Jasper Yeates made a visit to Braddock’s battlefield in August, 1776, and then to the site of Fort Pitt. He remarked about seeing the grave of Colonel Clapham.
It is probable that the family became extinct after the Indians perpetrated their dastardly crime, and the ashes of the famous commander and builder of Fort Augusta have long since mingled with the soil.
Soon as William Penn received the grant of land in America which is now Pennsylvania, he immediately issued advertisements in which certain concessions were offered to settlers. Among those who made application for large quantities of land were companies organized for colonization purposes.
One such company was “The Free Society of Traders,” whose plans Penn favored and whose constitution and charter he helped to draw.
The first general court of this society was held in London May 29, 1682, at which time the “Articles, Settlement and Offices” of the society were adopted and the actual operations begun.
The charter to the Pennsylvania Company, the Free Society of Traders, bears date March 24, 1862. The incorporators named in Penn’s deed to them were “Nicholas More, of London, medical doctor; James Claypoole, merchant; Philip Ford (Penn’s unworthy steward); William Sherloe, of London, merchant; Edward Pierce, of London, leather seller; John Symcock and Thomas Brassey, of Cheshire, yeoman; Thomas Barker, of London, wine cooper, and Edward Brookes, of London, grocer.”
The deed recites Penn’s authority under his patent, mentions the conveyance to the company of 20,000 acres in Philadelphia, erects this tract into the manor of Frank, “in free and common Socage, by such rents, customs and services, as to them and their successors shall seem meet, so as to be consistent with said tenure.” It allowed them two justices’ courts a year and other legal privileges.
In addition to the first 20,000 acres, their appurtenant city lots “was an entire street, and one side of a street from river to river,” comprising 100 acres, exclusive of an additional 400 acres owned in the Liberties. The location of the property was the tract between Spruce and Pine streets, from the Delaware to the Schuylkill River, 366 feet in width. Their lands were given the name Society Hill.
The society was empowered to appoint and remove its officers and servants, to levy taxes, etc. An important privilege was the authority given to be represented in the Provincial Council by three representatives of the society.
This society was given title to three-fifths of the products of all mines and minerals found, free privilege to fish in all waters of the Province, and to establish fairs, markets, etc., and the books of the society were to be exempted from all inspection.
May 29, 1682, the general court prepared and published an address, and mapped out an ambitious program of operations.
The address, which is ingenuous, points to the fact that while it proposes to employ the principles of the association in order to conduct a large business, it is no monopoly, but an absolutely free society in a free country. “It is,” says the prospectus, “an enduring estate, and a lasting as well as certain credit; a portion and inheritance that is clear and growing, free from the mischief of frauds and false securities, supported by the concurrent strength and care of a great and prudent body, a kind of perpetual trustees, the friends of the widow and orphan, for it takes no advantages of minority or simplicity.”
In the society votes were to be on a basis of amount of stock held, up to three votes, which was the limit. No one in England was allowed more than a single vote, and proxies could be voted. The officers were president, deputy, treasurer, secretary and twelve committeemen. Five, with president or deputy a quorum. The officers were to live on the society’s property.
All the society’s servants were bound to secrecy, and the books were kept in the society’s house, under three locks, the keys in charge of the president, treasurer and oldest committeeman, and not to be entrusted to any persons longer than to transcribe any part in daytime and in the house, before seven persons appointed by the committee.
The society was to send 200 servants to Pennsylvania the first year, “to build two or more general factories in Pennsylvania, one upon Chesapeake Bay, and the other upon Delaware River, or where else the committee shall see necessary for the more speedy conveyance of goods in the country and Maryland, but that the government of the whole be in the Capital City of Pennsylvania.”
The society was to aid Indians in building houses, etc., and to hold Negroes for fourteen years’ service, when they were to go free “on giving to the society two-thirds of what they can produce on land allotted to them by the society, with a stock and tools; if they agree not to this, to be servants till they do.”
The leading object of the society at the outset seems to have been an extensive free trade with the Indians, agriculture, establishment of manufactories, for carrying on the lumber trade and whale fishing. An agent in London was to sell the goods.
Nicholas More, president of the society and one of Penn’s Judges, was the first purchaser of land in the province who had a manor granted to him.
The Free Society of Traders obtained land on the river front south of Dock Creek. The society built a sawmill and a glasshouse, both in the same year, 1683. They also established a tannery, which was well supplied with bark and hides. Leather was in general use for articles of clothing, such as are now made of other goods. Penn himself wore leather stockings.
In 1695 the exportation of dressed and undressed deerskins was prohibited in order to promote their utilization at home.
But as the people arrived and settled they probably found they could do better by themselves than in a company and its schemes were not carried out. So the Free Society of Traders, from which much had been expected and which actually yielded so little, came to an end March 2, 1723, when an act of Assembly placed its property into the hands of trustees for sale to pay its debts.
The trustees appointed were Charles Reed, Job Goodson, Evan Owen, George Fitzwater and Joseph Pigeon, merchants of Philadelphia. These soon disposed of the property.
During the morning of May 30, 1783, an Indian was discovered sitting on a porch in Pittsburgh, holding in his hand a light pole.
When a girl of the household responded to his alarm he asked her in broken English for milk. She told members of the family that the Indian was a mere skeleton and they appeared on the porch and found him so thin and emaciated that they could scarcely detect any flesh upon his bones. One of his limbs had been wounded, and the pole had been used as a sort of crutch.
On being questioned, he appeared too weak to give much of an account of himself, but drank of the milk. Word was immediately sent to General William Irvine, commandant of the garrison of Fort Pitt, who sent a guard and had him taken to the fort.
When questioned, he said that he had been trapping along Beaver River, and had a difference with a Mingo Indian who shot him in the leg, because he had said he wished to come to the white people. This story was not believed, especially by some who thought they recognized him as an Indian known as Davy. He was told to tell the truth, he would fare better, and he gave an account of the attack on the Walthour settlement, April 24, in which the following facts were related:
Five or six men were working in Christopher Walthour’s field, about eight miles west of the present Greensburg. Among the workers was a son-in-law, named Willard, whose daughter, sixteen years old, was carrying water to the men.
The workers were surprised by the appearance of a band of Delaware who captured the girl. The men reached their guns, which were a short distance away, and made a running fight as they retired toward the fort. Old man Walthour and Willard were killed, the latter falling not far from the stockade. An Indian rushed out of the bushes to scalp Willard, and was just in the act of twisting his fingers in the white man’s long hair, when a well-directed rifle shot, fired from the fort, struck the savage in the leg, who gave a horrid yell and made off toward the woods, leaving his gun beside his victim.
As soon as a band of frontiersmen could be collected they pursued the Indians, following their trail as far as the Allegheny River.
Almost two months after the attack the badly decomposed body of the Willard girl was found in the woods not far from Negley’s Run. Her head had been crushed in with a tomahawk and her scalp was gone.
The lame Indian after relating many horrid details told that he lay three days without moving from the first place he threw himself in the bushes fearing pursuit; then he crawled on hands and one foot until he found the pole in a marsh, which he used to assist him, and in the meantime lived on berries and roots. He lay all day on a hill overlooking a garrison of militiamen, thinking of giving himself up, but as they were not regulars he did not venture. Driven to desperation by hunger, he decided to make his way to Fort Pitt, and give himself up to regular soldiers.
Davy was confined in the guard house in the fort, but the news of his capture and his identity reached the settlement of Brush Creek and caused considerable excitement there.
Kindred and friends of the victims were hot for revenge and the chance presented itself. Mrs. Mary Willard, the widow of the man Davy killed and mother of the girl killed and scalped by his companions, accompanied by a deputation of her neighbors, arrived at Fort Pitt and asked General Irvine to deliver up the prisoner.
At first the request was refused, but when the body of the Willard girl was afterward found, a mass-meeting was held and a committee chosen to go to Fort Pitt and renew negotiations with General Irvine for the surrender of Davy.
After much deliberation, General Irvine yielded to the pleadings of the committee and surrendered the prisoner. The order of General Irvine to the frontiersmen was as follows: “You are hereby enjoined and required to take the Indian delivered into your charge by my order and carry him safe into the settlement of Brush Creek. You will afterward warn two justices of the peace and request their attendance at such times as they shall think proper to appoint, with several other reputable inhabitants. Until this is done and their advise and direction had in the matter you are, at your peril, not to hurt him, nor suffer any person to do it. Given under my hand at Fort Pitt, July 21, 1782.
The general also sent a note to Mrs. Willard, in which he urged her to do nothing rash in retaliating her vengeance on the prisoner, and not to permit him to be put to death until after “some form of trial.”
The intention of the frontiersmen was to summon a jury of their neighbors and try him, at least to comply with the General’s orders. But the fact he was an Indian would be sufficient evidence to condemn him, even if the wounded leg was not added evidence. In event of conviction he was to suffer death in regular Indian fashion, by torture and burning.
On arrival at Walthour’s, Davy was confined in a log blockhouse for two days and three nights, while the neighbors and magistrates could assemble for the trial and execution.
While a few were guarding the prisoner, some were in quest of the neighbors and others collected wood and materials for the burning, which it was already determined should be at the identical spot where he had received his wound while in the act of scalping Willard.
On the night preceding the great day the guard was somewhat careless and, realizing their prisoner was a bad cripple, they joined rather enthusiastically in the preparations for the execution.
On arising in the morning the blockhouse was empty. The guards were aroused and an investigation revealed the guardhouse door securely locked. No human being could get through the loopholes. It was found the only possible way of escape was through the narrow space between the overjutting roof and the top of the wall, and through this he must have escaped.
Bitter was their disappointment, when they learned their prey had escaped. In every direction eager searching parties ranged the country, but no trace of the wounded Delaware. The hunt continued for two days, but Davy had made good his escape and saved himself from the warm reception which awaited him later in the day.
When an avalanche of water swept down the Conemaugh Valley destroying everything in its descent, including the thriving city of Johnstown, containing thirty thousand souls, many great industrial establishments were nearly wiped from the earth, many thousands were drowned or burned to death, and property worth many millions was destroyed. This disaster was so far beyond all experience that it is difficult for the mind to grasp it.
Johnstown was a community of seven or eight towns with a combined population of quite thirty thousand souls. It is situated in a deep valley where the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek unite to form the Conemaugh River.
Early on Friday, May 31, 1889, a freshet in Stony Creek broke away the boom above the town and swept down the mass of logs against the inundated houses.
This was followed in the afternoon by a far worse disaster, when the dam of the South Fork Lake broke and the mass of water swept down the valley, carrying everything before it. The logs and wreckage piled against the bridge, forming a partial dam, that raised the water level still higher, and in a short time the whole town was submerged.
Hundreds were drowned in their houses, others were swept along by the torrent and perished either by water or by fire among the debris. Nothing in the history of the United States in time of peace ever approached this appalling catastrophe.
Conemaugh Lake was a body of water about three and a half miles long, one and a quarter miles in width, and in some places one hundred feet in depth. It was located on the mountain some three or four hundred feet above the level of Johnstown and was, of course, a menace to that city. It was believed to hold more water than any reservoir in America. This lake was the property of some wealthy sportsmen of Pittsburgh and elsewhere, members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club.
Every known precaution had been taken to insure the safety of the reservoir. An inspection was made monthly by competent engineers, and it was believed nothing less than some extraordinary freak of nature could destroy the barrier that held this large body of water in check. These waters were held in bounds by a dam nearly one thousand feet wide, more than one hundred feet high and ninety feet in thickness at the base.
The streams were already unusually swollen, when a heavy downpour of rain fell steadily for forty-eight hours which increased the volume of water in all the mountain streams. In fact, the entire State suffered from floods. The regions along the West Branch of the Susquehanna, the Lehigh, the Juniata and the Conemaugh Rivers were the principal scenes of desolation.
The water in the South Fork Lake rose slowly until it poured over the top of the big dam, and then some of the old leakages became larger, then the breast broke, and sixteen million tons of water rushed forth like a demon.
John Baker, the Paul Revere of the occasion, rode a race with it for a while and saved many people, but the death-dealing torrent laden with trees, houses, wreckage and human beings, defied even steam whistles and telegraph instruments.
The water plowed through South Fork, Mineral Point, Franklin, East Conemaugh, Woodvale, Conemaugh, Johnstown, Kernville, Millville and Cambria.
It was late in the afternoon and the night that followed was one of unutterable agony. Darkness added to the terror of the situation.
The wreckage could not pass through the big stone bridge. That caused the water to back up and flood the city, but soon a channel was made which cut through the heart of Johnstown. This caused the terrible destruction of life and property that was incurred at Cambria Iron Works.
Then came the flames to make the calamity more appalling. Hundreds of houses had been piled up against the stone bridge, the inmates of but a few being able to escape; these took fire and many hundreds of souls perished in them. Men, women and children, held down by timbers, watched with indescribable agony the flames creep surely toward them, and they were slowly roasted to death.
There were many instances of personal heroism and self-sacrifice in which many persons were saved from drowning or being burned to death. There were many cases of most remarkable escapes, and not a few instances of heroic rescue, which a moment later were rendered useless by another catastrophe in which both hero and victim lost their lives. Edward C. Will is credited with saving twenty-two lives.
Governor Beaver issued a proclamation, calling upon the people for their benefactions. Adjutant General Hastings was promptly on the scene and personally directed the patrol, composed of the Fourteenth Regiment and one company of the Fifth Regiment of the National Guard.
Governor Beaver appointed a Flood Relief Commission to distribute a fund which had been raised from every section of the State and all over the country. The fund exceeded $3,000,000.
The State Board of Health was early on the ground to enforce the sanitary laws. The debris was removed as promptly as possible, and healthful conditions were soon restored.
To pay the State’s expenses, generous men of means advanced the money till the Legislature would reimburse them. There never was a more beautiful example of public and private charity in all history.
The loss of lives was 2,235, or more, and the property loss exceeded $10,000,000 in value.
The people of Johnstown, although prostrated by their misfortune, soon recovered, rebuilt their city and re-established their industrial plants, making it a more beautiful and more modern place than ever before.
General John Bull was one of the distinguished patriots of the Province and State and a veteran of the French and Indian War, a trusted agent of the Proprietaries to the Indians, an early adherent of the colonists, a member of the first Constitutional Convention, an officer of troops and builder of forts, a member of the Board of War and of the General Assembly, a prominent citizen in every particular, yet one of whose life little is known.
John Bull was born in Providence Township, now Montgomery County, June 1, 1731, and spent his early life in that immediate neighborhood.
His active military life began May 12, 1758, when he was commissioned captain in the Provincial service, and with his command was on duty at Fort Allen, now Weissport, Carbon County.
Later in that year he commanded a company in the expedition led by General John Forbes, for the reduction of Fort DuQuesne, and during this tour of duty he rendered most conspicuous service in negotiations with the Indians.
This treaty was attended by Governor Bernard of New Jersey, who had come principally to demand of the Munsee that they keep a treaty promise by which they were to deliver captives taken from his province.
The treaty ended at Easton, October 24, when mutual releases were executed; Pisquitomen and Thomas Hickman, an Ohio Indian, were sent back to the Ohio to bear assurance of pardon, and invitations to those western Indians to come to Philadelphia. Captain John Bull and William Hayes and Isaac Still, the interpreter, and two Indians of the Six Nations, one of whom was John Shikellamy, accompanied them. The mission was wholly successful.
In 1771 Captain Bull owned the Norris plantation and mill, and resided there on the site of the present Norristown, then called Norriton.
He was a delegate to the Provincial Conference of January 23, 1775, and of June 18, 1775.
On July 8, 1776, the day of the reading of the Declaration of Independence, an election was held at the State House for members of the Convention to form a Constitution for the State. Those elected from Philadelphia County were Frederic Antes, Henry Hill, Robert Loller, Joseph Blewer, John Bull, Thomas Potts, Edward Bartholomew, and William Coats.
Captain Bull was elected a member of the Board of War, March 14, 1777.
Congress asked in October, 1775, that a battalion from Pennsylvania be raised to take part in the expedition against Canada. John Bull was appointed its colonel, but resigned January 20, 1776, owing to a threat of about half the officers to do so if he continued in command, so John Philip DeHaas, of Lebanon, was appointed.
Colonel Bull was one of the commissioners at the Indian Treaty held at Easton January 30, 1777.
At the election held February 14, 1777, Colonel Bull was one of four elected to the Assembly.
After the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, Colonel Bull was sent to Mud Island, with workmen and laborers, to repair the banks and sluices and complete barracks sufficient for the garrison.
On May 2, 1777, he was appointed colonel of the First State Regiment of Foot, and on July 16 was commissioned Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania.
In October of this year his barns, barracks, grain, and hay were burned by the British, and his wagons, horses, cattle, sheep and Negroes carried off, although General Howe had given his word to Mrs. Bull that they would not be disturbed.
In December, when General James Irvine was captured, General Bull succeeded to the command of the Second Brigade of Pennsylvania militia, under General John Armstrong.
While the British were in possession of Philadelphia a brigade of Continental troops under Colonel John Bull on the evening of December 24, 1777, made an excursion into Fourth Street in Philadelphia, with two thousand militia, and three pieces of cannon, and alarmed the city by firing off the heavy guns, whereby some of the balls fell about old Christ Church. Colonel Bull then made a good retreat back to his station, without the loss of a man.
During 1778 and 1779 he was engaged in erecting defenses for Philadelphia and in latter year he put down the chevaux de frize in the Delaware to obstruct the approach of British ships. In 1780 he served as Commissary of Purchase at Philadelphia, and appears to have been one of the busiest and most indefatigable of workers.
In the year 1785 he removed to Northumberland, being attracted there by the location of the town and the belief that it would become a large place.
In 1802 he was a candidate for the Legislature but was defeated by Simon Snyder, afterwards Governor of the State. In 1805 General Bull was elected to the General Assembly, but in 1808 he was defeated for Congress when he ran as the Federalist candidate.
Mrs. Mary Bull, his wife, died February 23, 1811, aged eighty years. The Northumberland Argus says, “She was buried in the Quaker graveyard, and General Bull, though much reduced by sickness and old age, previous to the grave being closed, addressed the people as follows: 'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord; may we who are soon to follow be as well prepared as she was.'”
General Bull died August 9, 1824, in the 94th year of his age.
This distinguished patriot and citizen lies buried beside his wife in the Riverside Cemetery, Northumberland, where a monument should be erected in memory of this distinguished, yet eccentric, officer of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.