The first violent outbreak by the Indians in Berks County, after the defeat of General Braddock in July, 1775, occurred in the vicinity of DeitrickDeitrick Six’s plantation, near what is now the village of Millersburg, in Bethel Township. This tragedy occurred November 14, 1755.
Conrad Weiser, who resided in what is now Womeldsdorf, frequently accompanied bands of friendly Indians on important missions to Philadelphia, but after many cruel murders had been committed upon the settlers, the inhabitants turned against Weiser, believing him to be protecting Indians who did not deserve it.
The redskins all looked alike to the sturdy settlers, who so frequently lost their own lives, or those of their dear ones, or suffered the destruction of their homes and barns at the hands of these treacherous savages.
There is no doubt of the loyalty of Colonel Weiser and his brave sons, who were ever on the alert to help others in distress or travel to the seat of government and plead the cause of the less fortunate.
Upon his return home from a trip to Philadelphia, while the trusted Chief Scarouady and his friendly Delaware Indians were still under the shelter of Weiser’s roof, his two sons, Philip and Frederic, just home from a scouting expedition, related the story of the terrible massacre, which they had received from the lips of those who felt the cruel blow, but escaped death at the hands of the Indians.
The story they related to their father was immediately sent by him to Governor Morris. The facts are of interest.
Six of the settlers were on the road going to Deitrick Six’s plantation when a party of Indians fired upon them. The frightened white men hurried toward a watchhouse, a half mile distant, but were ambushed before reaching their haven of refuge and three of the party were killed and scalped. A man named Ury shot an Indian through the heart and his body was dragged off by the savages, but it was found by the whites the next day, when a dead Indian lost his scalp.
After this attack the Indians divided themselves in two parties. The one prowling around the watchhouse overtook some settlers fleeing toward that place, when they killed three of them, making six of the inhabitants killed by the Indians within an hour’s time.
On the following night the Indians crept up in the darkness to the home of Thomas Bower, on Swatara Creek, pushed their guns through a window and killed a cobbler, who was at work repairing a shoe. They also set fire to Bower’s house before being driven away.
The Bower family sought refuge through the night in the home of Daniel Snyder, a neighbor, and returning to their home in the morning, they saw four skulking Indians running away, who had with them the scalps just taken from the heads of three children, two being yet alive. They also ran across the body of a woman who had just been killed, with a two-weeks old baby under her body, but unhurt.
Colonel Weiser dispatched a second letter the same day to Governor Morris in which he wrote:
“That night after my arrival from Philadelphia, Emanuel Carpenter and Simon Adam Kuhn, Esqr’s., came to my House and lodged with me. They acquainted me that a meeting was appointed of the people of Tulpenhacon and Heidelberg and adjacent places in Tulpenhacon Township at Benjamin Spicker’s early next morning. I made all the haste with the Indians I could, and gave them a letter to Thos. McKee, to furnish them with necessaries for their journey. Scarouady had no creature to ride on. I gave him one.
“Before I could get done with the Indians 3 or 4 Men came from Benja. Spickers to warn the Indians not to go that way, for the People were so enraged against all the Indians & would kill them without distinction. I went with them; so did the Gentlemen before named.
“When we came near Benjamin Spickers I saw about 400 or 500 men, and there was loud noise, I rode before, and in riding along the road and armed men on both Sides of the Road I heard some say, why must we be killed by the Indians and we not kill them? Why are our Hands so tied?
“I got the Indians to the House with much adoe, where I treated them with a small Dram, and so parted in Love and Friendship. Capt’n Diefenbach undertook to conduct them, with five other men, to the Susquehanna. After this a sort of a counsel of war was held by the officers present, the before named and other Freeholders.
“It was agreed that 150 men should be raised immediately to serve as out scouts, and as Guards at Certain Places under the Kittitany Hills for 40 days. That those so raised to have 2 Shillings a Day & 2 Pounds of Bread, 2 Pounds of Beaff and a Jill of Rum, and Powder and lead. Arms they must find themselves.
“This Scheme was signed by a good many Freeholders and read to the People. They cried out that so much for an Indian Scalp would they have, be they Friends or Enemies, from the Governor. I told them I had no such Power from the Governor nor Assembly. They began, some to Curse the Governor; some the Assembly; called me a Traitor of the Country who held with the Indians, and must have known this murder beforehand. I sat in the House by a Lowe window, some of my friends came to pull me away from it, telling me some of the people threatened to shoot me.
“I offered to go out to the People and either Pasefy them or make the King’s Proclamation: But those in the House with me would not let me go out. The cry was, The Land was betrayed and sold. The Common People from Lancaster (now Lebanon County) were the worst. The Wages they said was a Trifle and some Body pocketed the Rest, and they would resent it. Some Body had put it in their Head that I had it in my power to give them as much as I pleased. I was in Danger of being Shot to Death.
“In the mean Time a great smoke arose under Tulpenhacon Mountain, with the news following that the Indians had committed a murder on Mill Creek (a false alarm) and set fire to a Barn, most of the People Ran, and those that had Horses Rode off without any Order or Regulation. I then took my Horse and went Home, where I intend to stay and defend my own House as long as I can. The People of Tulpenhacon all fled; till about 6 or 7 miles from me some few remains. Another such attack will lay all the Country waste on the West side of Schuylkill.”
There is undoubted sarcasm in Colonel Weiser’s account of how the people fled upon the first faint rumor of an Indian attack, after they had made mob threats against him, yet the gravity of the situation cannot be questioned.
The principal inhabitants sent a petition to the Governor, November 24, in which they recited their distress and accurately stated the lack of order and discipline among the people. They believed a reward should be offered for Indian scalps.
George Washington had several very narrow escapes from tragic death a long time before he led the Continental Army through the eight years of the Revolution, and on one occasion was actually shot at by a treacherous Indian guide.
Late in the year of 1753 Governor Dinwiddie dispatched Major Washington on an important mission to the Ohio River, in Pennsylvania, where he was to convene the Indian chiefs at Logstown, learn from them the designs and strength of the French; then proceed to the principal French post, present his credentials and in the name of his Britannic Majesty demand the object of their invasion.
He departed from Williamsburg, the seat of Government of Virginia, on October 31, 1753. The route he was to pursue was about 560 miles in great part over high and rugged mountains, and more than half of the way through the heart of the wilderness, where no traces of civilization as yet appeared.
He arrived at Wills Creek, November 15, when John Davidson, an Indian interpreter, and Jacob Vanbraam, a Dutchman, but acquainted with the French language, were employed to accompany him. He was also fortunate in securing the services of Christopher Gist, a surveyor and guide, who was always his companion on this mission.
At length they arrived at the forks of the Ohio, where Pittsburgh now stands. Washington was impressed with the advantages it afforded as a military post.
They hastened to Logstown, twenty miles below the forks, where Washington held conferences with Shingas, Lawmolach and Monakatuatha, the Half-King. The latter had been sent by several tribes to the headquarters of French, and he related to Washington the substance of the speech he made on that mission.
Washington made a speech to the chiefs, and gave them a belt of wampum. The Indians consulted and made a friendly reply and promised an escort as soon as their young warriors would return from hunting, but Washington could not wait and on November 30, his party set out, accompanied by four Indians only, Half-King being of the number.
The post of the French Commandant was 120 miles distant and they arrived there December 11.
M. de St. Pierre, the commandant, promised immediate attention to the letter from Governor Dinwiddie and provided for the comfort of Major Washington and his party. During the two days the French officers were framing an answer, Washington examined the fort, and made accurate description of its form and size.
Washington and Gist clad themselves in Indian dress and set out on foot, leaving the weak and miserable horses to transport the baggage as best they could.
The next day an adventure occurred which is well narrated by Mr. Gist in his diary:
“We rose early in the morning, and set out about two o clock, and got to the Murdering Town on the southeast fork of Beaver Creek. Here we met with an Indian, whom I thought I had seen at Joncaire’s, at Venango, when on our journey up to the French fort.
“This fellow called me by an Indian name, and pretended to be glad to see me. He asked us several questions, as, how we came to travel on foot, when we left Venango, where we parted with our horses, and when they would be there. Major Washington insisted on traveling by the nearest way to the Forks of the Allegheny. We asked the Indian if he could go with us and show us the nearest way. The Indian seemed very glad, and ready to go with us; upon which we set out, and the Indian took the Major’s pack.
“We traveled very brisk for eight or ten miles, when the Major’s feet grew very sore. The Major desired to encamp; upon which the Indian asked to carry his gun, but he refused. Then the Indian grew churlish, and pressed us to keep on, telling us there were Ottawa Indians in those woods, and they would scalp us if we lay out; but go to his cabin and we should be safe.
“I thought very ill of the fellow, but did not care to let the Major know I mistrusted him. But he soon mistrusted him as much as I did. The Indian said he could hear a gun from his cabin and steered up more northwardly. We grew uneasy and then he said two whoops might be heard from his cabin. We went two miles farther. Then the Major said he would stay at the next water.
“We desired the Indian to stop at the next water, but before we came to water, we came to a clear meadow. It was very light and snow was on the ground.
“The Indian made a stop and turned about. The Major saw him point his gun towards us and he fired. Said the Major, ‘Are you shot?’ ‘No,’ said I; upon which the Indian ran forward to a big standing light oak and began loading his gun, but we were soon with him. I would have killed him, but the Major would not suffer me. We let him charge his gun. We found he put in a ball; then we took care of him. Either the Major or I always stood by the guns. We made him make a fire for us by a little run, as if we intended to sleep there.”
The Indian was sent ahead to his cabin and Washington and Gist traveled all night, reaching Piny Creek in the morning.
Whether it was the intention of the Indian to kill either of them can only be conjectured. The circumstances were extremely suspicious. Major Washington hints at this incident in his journal.
The next night, at dusk, the travelers came to the Allegheny River, a little above Shannopino, where they expected to cross over on the ice. In that they were disappointed, the river being frozen only a few yards on each side, and a great body of broken ice driving rapidly down the current.
There was no way of getting over the river but on a raft, which they set about to build with the aid of but one poor hatchet. They worked hard all day and finished the raft just after sundown. They launched their raft, got aboard and pushed off. But before they got to midstream they got caught in an ice jam. Washington set his pole in an effort to stop the raft, but the current threw the raft against his pole with much violence and he was hurled out into ten feet of water. He fortunately saved himself by grabbing hold of a raft log, and was assisted aboard by his companions, but in spite of all their efforts they could not get the raft to either shore, but were obliged to land on a small island and encamp for the night.
Mr. Gist’s hands and feet were frozen and their sufferings through the night were extreme. The ice had formed during the night of sufficient thickness to bear their weight, and they crossed over without accident, and the same day traveled about ten miles, reaching a trading posttrading post established by John Frazier, at Turtle Creek, near the spot where eighteen months afterward was fought the memorable battle of the Monongahela.
Anxious to hasten back and report to Governor Dinwiddie the result of his mission, Major Washington and Mr. Gist recrossed the Allegheny Mountains to Gist’s house on Wills Creek and thence Washington proceeded with dispatch to Williamsburg, where he arrived on January 16, 1754, having been absent eleven weeks.
John Binns was one of the most influential citizens of the State during the quarter century of which the War of 1812 might be considered the central period. He was a politician, but more than all else an editor, who was a fearless and trenchant writer.
Binns had experienced a stormy life in England before he came to America. He was born December 22, 1772, in the city of Dublin, Ireland, and received a fair education at an English school.
April, 1794, he went to London and soon became a member of the London Corresponding Society, an event which gave much color to his future life. This society was the leading opposition to the Crown and many of its members were arrested and tried for high treason. Binns was an officer and most active member, and was soon in trouble, being arrested, March 11, 1796, while making an address in Birmingham, and imprisoned in “The Dungeon,” charged with “delivering seditious and inflammatory lectures.”
Binns was mixed up in the movement of the United Irishmen to have France make an invasion of Ireland. He was arrested four times for the same offense, and was sentenced to Clerkwell Prison. Soon as he was liberated, he was again arrested for high treason, and sent to the Tower of London, where he was confined under a strict watch.
After a number of trials he was freed, only to be again arrested, and confined in Gloucester prison, where he was ill-treated. On his liberation he embarked, July 1, 1801, for the United States and landed in Baltimore September 1.
Upon his arrival at Baltimore, he hired three wagons, loaded them with his personal effects, and set out, on foot to accompany them to Northumberland, where he proposed to reside. At Harrisburg he hired a boat, and helped push it up the Susquehanna. At Northumberland he joined Dr. Joseph Priestley and Judge Thomas Cooper, two former Englishmen, who had sought refuge there.
Dr. Priestley lived an ideal life of peace and usefulness in Northumberland, but Dr. Cooper, the most learned man of his time, a Judge, president of two different colleges, and renowned chemist, was so violent in his politics that he was imprisoned for a libel on President John Adams.
On July 4, 1802, John Binns delivered an oration, which was printed in the Northumberland Gazette, the only paper published beyond Harrisburg, in the State, at that time. The many criticisms of this oration led to a lengthy newspaper controversy, and finally resulted in John Binns establishing at Northumberland the Republican Argus, which soon became one of the best and most widely known papers in Pennsylvania.
John Binns, from that date and for many years thereafter, became a dominant factor in politics. About this time he fought a duel, near Milton, with a man from Williamsport, named Samuel Stewart, which was one of the last duels fought on Pennsylvania soil.
In January, 1807, he was urged by the influential Democrats to remove from Northumberland to Philadelphia and to establish a newspaper there. The Aurora had lost its punch; William J. Duane was losing his grip as a leader, and Binns’ power and influence were in the ascendent.
Binns yielded to these solicitations and the first number of the Democratic Press appeared in Philadelphia March 27, 1807. He was advised against using the world “Democratic” in his paper’s title, and later took much satisfaction in having started the first paper anywhere published under the name. He claimed the title of his paper led to the change of the party name to “Democratic.”
Binns was an ardent friend and admirer of Simon Snyder, then Speaker of the House of Representatives. Governor McKean defeated Snyder, “the Pennsylvania Dutchman,” but the latter was again returned to the House and elected Speaker.
Snyder was again nominated in 1808. During this campaign Binns wrote a series of letters, over the signature of “One of the People,” addressed to Governor McKean, which were published in all the Democratic newspapers of the State, and also in pamphlets.
Binns had no sooner arrived in Philadelphia than he had a clash with Dr. Michael Leib, who had been the autocratic political leader, but for some years with lessening power.
The Democratic Press openly opposed Dr. Leib’s candidacy for re-election to the General Assembly, claiming the doctor was the cause of the dissensions among the Republican Party. Leib was elected, but by a much reduced majority than the other Republican candidate received, and Duane was defeated for the Senate. The Aurora groaned aloud at this “first Federal triumph” since Jefferson’s election.
From its first issue Binn’s paper was highly successful. It soon was published daily. Its circulation increased rapidly and in the same proportion the Aurora began to lose subscribers.
The power of Binns was increased in the election of Simon Snyder as Governor in 1808. Duane and Leib were, at heart, opposed to Snyder, but could not stem the tide and supported him.
Dr. Leib was elected to the United States Senate in 1809, but Duane was not pleased with Governor Snyder. The Press defended him. The Aurora criticized his conduct and was soon in opposition in all that he did. By August the Aurora threatened the Governor with impeachment, and in October announced he should never again be Governor.
Binns called the Aurora and its supporters “The Philadelphia Junto,” and they soon joined with the Federalists. Binns already was in favor of a war with England, and he was active in pledging support to the Administration.
In 1811, Governor Snyder was overwhelmingly re-elected, and by 1812 Binns was even stronger as a leader, possibly increased by his war enthusiasm. The Democratic Press published strong articles on the war, while the Aurora was silent.
In fall of 1813 the Democrats were successful, but in 1814, though Snyder was elected for a third term by 20,000 votes over Wayne, and the State Legislature was strongly Democratic, yet the Federalists were largely successful in Philadelphia.
Leib was appointed postmaster at Philadelphia in February, 1814, but the opposition was too strong and he was removed, and passed off the political stage. Duane, who was supreme for a time, antagonized large numbers of his party, and finally yielded to Binns, who completely took from him his power.
Binns was an aid on the staff of Governor Snyder, with rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was actively engaged during the War of 1812–14.
Governor Snyder always remained a close and intimate friend of Binns, and while he was in office, Binns exercised great power, but only maintained his sway a few years after Snyder’s last term.
Binns bitterly opposed Jackson for President. He issued the famous coffin handbills in 1828, and excited thereby such opposition that his house was mobbed, Binns escaping by the roof.
He was appointed an alderman by Governor Hiester in 1822, and in 1829 the publication of the Democratic Press ceased.
John Binns died November 16, 1860.
During the administration of Sir William Keith, Deputy-Governor of the Province, July, 1718, to July, 1726, a difficulty arose between the Southern Indians upon the Shenandoah, and those resident upon the Susquehanna in the Province of Pennsylvania, respecting the limits of their hunting grounds. Hostilities between them seemed imminent. It was necessary to settle these difficulties amicably or the peace of the Province was seriously threatened.
To avert this, says Proud, Governor Keith paid a visit to the Governor of Virginia, with whom he framed a convention, confining the Indians on the North and South of the Potomac to their respective side of that river. A conference was held with the Pennsylvania Indians and the Five Nations, at Conestoga, July 6, 1721, when this convention was fully ratified.
Governor Keith made this visit in state. He was attended by seventy horsemen, many of them were armed. He was welcomed upon his return at the upper ferry on the Schuylkill, by Mayor William Fishbourne and the Aldermen of Philadelphia, accompanied by two hundred of the most respectable citizens, who conducted him through the streets after the manner of a hero returned from a conquest.
Trouble over the boundary arose when the Governor of Maryland proposed making a survey on the Susquehanna, within the limits of the present York County.
Governor Keith resolved to resist this attempt by force, and ordered out a militia company from New Castle. The Provincial Council discouraged this show of violence.
The Indians became alarmed at the encroachments of the Marylanders and conveyed to Governor Keith a large tract of land, that he might have a better title to resist them. This land was given for the use of Springett Penn, the grandson of William Penn, and was afterwards known by the name of Springettsbury Manor.
The fears of the Province were soon after awakened by a quarrel between two brothers named Cartlidge and an Indian near Conestoga, in which the Indian was killed, with many evidences of cruelty. The known principles of revenge professed by the Indians gave reason to apprehend severe retaliation. Policy and justice required a rigid inquiry and punishment of the murderers.
Governor Keith took prompt measures for their apprehension and the Assembly ordered a coroner’s inquest, though the body had been buried two months, and the arrest of the Cartlidge brothers.
Messengers were dispatched to the Five Nations to deprecate hostilities, and, to prevent further irregularities, the prohibition of sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians was re-enacted, with additional penalties.
The Indians invited Governor Keith and the governors of Virginia, New York, and the New England colonies, to meet with them in council at Albany, where with great magnanimity, the Indians pardoned the offense of the Cartlidges, and requested they might be discharged without further punishment. The address of the Indian sachem is worth repeating:
“The great King of the Five Nations is sorry for the death of the Indian that was killed, for he was of his own flesh and blood; he believes the Governor is also sorry; but, now that it is done, there is no help for it, and he desires that Cartlidge may not be put to death, nor that he should be spared for a time and afterwards executed; one life is enough to be lost; there should not two die. The King’s heart is good to the Governor, and all the English.”
Governor Keith was attended on this journey to Albany by Messrs. Hill, Norris, and Hamilton, of his Council.
A considerable part of the emigration to the colonies was composed of servants, who were of two classes. The first and the larger part, were poor and oppressed in the land of their nativity, sometimes the victims of political changes or religious intolerance, who submitted to temporary servitude, as a price of freedom, plenty and peace. The second, vagrants and felons, the dregs of the British populace, who were cast by the mother country upon her colonies, with the most selfish disregard of the feelings she outraged.
As early as 1682 the Council proposed to prohibit convicts from the province, but as none had entered and this was only prospective, no law was enacted. Now the Council did enact such a law, by placing a duty of five pounds upon every convicted felon brought into the Province, and the importer was also required to give surety for the good behavior of the convict for one year.
In the year 1722 there were commercial embarrassments caused by the deficiency of the circulating medium. Governor Keith proposed to overcome this difficulty by the introduction of paper money. The Assembly moved with caution, for they had full knowledge of the mistakes of the colonies, and issued only £15,000 on favorable terms to keep up their credit. This act was passed March 2, 1723. The emission proved of advantage but was insufficient, so towards the end of the year £30,000 more were emitted on the same terms.
Governor Keith, in espousing this popular cause, pleased the Assembly but incurred the displeasure of the Proprietary party and its leader, James Logan. Complications arose which eventuated in the triumph of Logan and the deposition of Keith, who was decidedly the most successful of the Proprietary Governors.
Franklin said of Keith, that “he differed from the great body of the people whom he governed, in religion and manners, yet he acquired their esteem and confidence. If he sought popularity, he promoted the public happiness; and his courage in resisting the demands of the family may be ascribed to a higher motive than private interest. The conduct of the Assembly toward him was neither honorable nor polite; for his sins against his principles were virtues to the people, with whom he was deservedly a favorite; and the House should have given him substantial marks of their gratitude as would have tempted his successors to walk in his steps. But fear of further offence to the Proprietary family, the influence of Logan, and a quarrel between the Governor and Lloyd, turned their attention from him to his successor.”
After his removal, Sir William Keith resided in the Province, and was elected to the Assembly, but he manifested a most unjustifiable and malicious spirit, and caused dissensions in the administration of his successor. His power and influence rapidly waned.
In 1729 he returned to England, where, it is sad to record, he died in obscurity, in London, November 17, 1749.
“It may be very little known,” says Watson, “that he who moved with so much excitement and as our Governor in 1726, should at last fall into such neglect, as to leave his widow among us unnoticed and almost forgotten! She lived and died in a small wooden house on Third Street, between High and Mulberry. There, much pinched for subsistence, she eked out her existence with an old female, declining all intercourse with society or with her neighbors. The house itself was burnt in 1786.”
Lady Ann Keith died July 31, 1740, aged 65 years, and lies entombed at Christ Church graveyard.
In the early settlement of that part of Pennsylvania which is now included within the limits of Berks County a large portion of the population was drawn from those parts of Germany bordering on or near the River Rhine.
Among these sturdy emigrants were three brothers, John, Joseph and Daniel Hiester.
John, the eldest, emigrated in 1732, and was followed in 1737 by Joseph and Daniel, who sailed in that year in the ship St. Andrew from Rotterdam.
These three brothers were sons of John and Catherine Hiester and their birthplace was the village of Elcoff in the county of Wittgenstein, in the province of Westphalia, Prussia. The father, John Hiester, was born in January, 1708.
The three brothers first settled in Goshenhoppen, then Philadelphia, now Montgomery County. Soon after the arrival of Joseph and Daniel, they purchased of the Proprietary Government a tract of several thousand acres in Bern Township, now Berks County.
Here John and Joseph settled, and the Hiester family in America are their descendants. Here was born a patriot of the Revolution, distinguished citizen and statesman, who afterwards became a governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Joseph Hiester, son of John Hiester, was born in Bern Township, November 18, 1752.
He spent his early days on the farm and in the intervals of the routine from labor, Joseph received the rudiments of an English and German education under the supervision of the pastor of Bern Reformed Church.
In 1771, in his nineteenth year, he married Elizabeth Whitman, daughter of Adam Whitman, of Reading, to which place he soon removed, and went into the mercantile business with his father-in-law.
Joseph Hiester was an ardent Whig in politics and took an aggressive part in espousing the cause of the Revolution.
As a representative of that party he was chosen a member of the Pennsylvania Conference, which met in Philadelphia, June 18, 1776, and which in reality assumed the government of the Province, called a convention to frame a new constitution, gave instructions for the guidance of its representatives in Congress, and authorized the calling out of troops for the Continental Army. In all these proceedings he was a warm supporter of the popular cause.
He was then a captain of militia, and no sooner had the conference adjourned, than he hastened home and aroused the young men of Reading and vicinity to the importance of enlisting in the cause of American independence, at that time but feebly supported.
Joseph Hiester called together, by beat of drum, his fellow-townsmen, to take into consideration the alarming state and gloomy prospects of their country. He explained to them the perilous situation of General Washington in New Jersey, and urged them to enlist and march to his support.
He was heard with attention and respect, and his proposition was kindly received. He then laid forty dollars on the drum-head and said: “I will give this sum as a bounty, and the appointment of a sergeant to the first man who will subscribe to the articles of association to form a volunteer company to march forthwith and join the Commander-in-Chief; and I will also pledge myself to furnish the company with blankets and necessary funds for their equipment, and on the march!”
This promise he honorably and faithfully fulfilled.
Matthias Babb stepped forward, signed the article, and took the money from the drumhead. His example, and the further advancement of smaller sums of money, induced twenty men that evening to subscribe to the articles of association. In ten days Captain Joseph Hiester had enrolled a company of eighty men.
The company became a part of the Flying Camp, but soon Captain Hiester was induced to extend his efforts, and a battalion was shortly obtained. He could have been made their colonel but declined to be even a major, so attached was he to his original company.
When his command reached Elizabethtown, N. J., it was learned General Washington had moved to Long Island. Captain Hiester used his best endeavor to induce the men to advance, as they had enlisted only for Pennsylvania service, and following his patriotic lead, they marched to join Washington.
The gallant captain little knew the hard fate that was to be his. In the battle of Long Island he was taken prisoner, with most of his men, and confined in the notorious prison-ship, Jersey, where they were subjected to every indignity which refined cruelty could invent.
After seven months’ imprisonment Captain Hiester was exchanged, and returned in time to take part in the battle of Germantown, where he received a wound in the head.
In the varied fortunes of the patriot army he continued to share until the close of the war.
He was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council one of the commissioners of exchange, April 5, 1779, and on October 21, following, one of the committee to seize the personal effects of traitors.
He was chosen to the General Assembly in 1780, and served almost continuously from that date until 1790.
He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania convention to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1787, and in 1789, he was a member of the convention which framed the State Constitution of 1790. He was chosen a presidential elector in 1792, and again in 1796.
He served in the fifth to eighth Congress, and again in the fifteenth and sixteenth Congresses, and during his last term was elected Governor of Pennsylvania by the Federalists, defeating Governor William Findlay, in a campaign which for personal vituperation has never been equalled in Pennsylvania.
Governor Hiester’s administration was most successful, but he would not allow himself to be nominated for a second term.
Returning to Reading, he retired to private life, and died there June 10, 1832.
Abraham Lincoln made many notable speeches, the most prominent of which, probably, were those delivered in his historic debates with Stephen A. Douglas, the “Little Giant.”
On his way from his home in Springfield to Washington for his inauguration he made a number of speeches, the most notable of which was delivered in Philadelphia in Independence Hall. But the most famous of all his addresses as President was delivered November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery on the battlefield of Gettysburg.
President Lincoln left Washington at noon on Wednesday, November 18, 1863. There were four passenger coaches, in which were seated the President, members of his Cabinet, several foreign ministers, the private secretaries of the President, officers of the Army and Navy, a military detail serving as a guard, and newspaper correspondents. This special train pulled into the town of Gettysburg about dark of that day.
Mr. Lincoln passed the evening and night in the home of David Wills, who was the special representative of Governor Andrew G. Curtin and the most active agent in the establishment of the Soldiers’ Cemetery.
Arnold, in his “History of Lincoln and the Overthrow of Slavery,” asserts that the President while on his way from the White House to the battlefield was notified that he would be expected to make some remarks, and that asking for some paper a rough sheet of foolscap was handed to him. Retiring to a seat by himself, with a pencil be wrote the address.
Mrs. Andrews in her beautiful story entitled “The Perfect Tribute” says, “The President appealed to Secretary Seward for the brown paper he had just removed from a package of books: ‘May I have this to do a little writing?’ and then with a stump of a pencil labored for hours over his speech.”
Contrary to those statements, General James B. Fry, who was present in the car as one of the escort, says:
“I have no recollection of seeing him writing or even reading his speech during the journey; in fact, there was hardly any opportunity for him to read or write.”
That opinion is shared by no less an authority than Nicolay, the senior of the President’s private secretaries, who in an interesting and highly valuable paper on the Gettysburg address, says:
“There is neither record, evidence, nor well-founded tradition that Mr. Lincoln did any writing or made any notes on the journey between Washington and Gettysburg. The many interruptions incident to the journey, together with the rocking and jolting of the train, made writing virtually impossible.”
Morory in his “History of the United States for Schools,” says: “There is conclusive evidence that the words of the address were not written out until after the presidential party had arrived on the ground”; and in an appendix it is stated:
“The following account of how the address was written was received directly from the lips of ex-Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, who was present on the occasion and knew whereof he affirmed. Governor Curtin said that after the arrival of the party from Washington, while the President and his Cabinet, Edward Everett, the orator of the day, Governor Curtin, and others were sitting in the parlor of the hotel, the President remarked that he understood that the committee expected him to say something. He would, therefore, if they would excuse him, retire to the next room and see if he could write out something.”
The Hon. Edward McPherson, of Gettysburg, for many years Clerk of the House of Representatives and father of the present Judge Hon. Donald P. McPherson, of Adams County, said in 1875, that after Lincoln had retired to his room on the night of the 18th he sent for his host and “inquired the order of exercises for the next day and begun to put in writing what he called some stray thoughts to utter on the morrow.” Mr. Wills always believed the address was written in his house and said in 1893, as he had earlier, that the President read “from the same paper on which I had seen him writing it the night before.”
Noah Brooks, a newspaper correspondent at Washington during the war, who was on terms of friendly intimacy, declared that a few days prior to November 19, 1863, Lincoln told him that Mr. Everett had kindly sent him a copy of his oration in order that the same ground might not be gone over by both. The President added, “There is no danger that I shall; my speech is all blocked out—it is very short.”
Ward H. Lamon, a personal friend and chief marshal of the ceremonies at Gettysburg, in his “Recollections of Abraham Lincoln,” states that Mr, Lincoln read to him, a day or two before the dedication, what he claims to have been in substance, if not in exact words, what was afterward printed in his famous Gettysburg speech.
Senator Simon Cameron, also asserted, in a newspaper interview, that he had seen a draft of the address in the White House before the President left Washington.
Such are the divergent testimonies concerning the preparation of the Address. Fortunately there exists documentary evidence to substantiate the statements of Noah Brooks, Ward H. Lamon and Senator Cameron and to establish conclusively that the address was the outcome of deliberation and careful thought.
That is further emphasized in the wording of the formal invitation to the President, which was written on November 2, and specifically stated that “it is the desire that you as Chief Executive of the Nation formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.”
The address has been so long and so generously accepted as the highest expression of American oratory, that it is difficult to realize that it ever had less appreciation than now. The testimonies of those who heard the address delivered differ widely as to the reception given and as to the impression it made.
Bates in his “History of the Battle of Gettysburg,” in 1875, says: “Its delivery was more solemn and impressive than is possible to conceive from its perusal.”
Arnold says: “Before the last sentence was completed, a thrill of feeling like an electric spark pervaded the crowd. As he closed, and the tears and sobs and cheers which expressed the emotions of the people subsided, he turned to Everett and, grasping his hand, said, ‘I congratulate you on your success.’ The orator gratefully replied, 'Ah! Mr. President, how gladly would I exchange all my hundred pages to have been the author of your twenty lines’.” Major Nickerson, Robert Miller and many others commented on a similar vein.
The reports of the address, published November 20, 1863, in the Public Ledger, the North American, the Press, and the Bulletin, of Philadelphia, were furnished by the Associated Press, the text is identical in each. But many variations of this address are to be found even today.
Not until the war itself had ended and the great leader had fallen did the Nation realize that this speech had given to Gettysburg another claim to immortality and to American eloquence its highest glory.