French and Indian War

CAUSE OF WAR.-Whilst the Penns were endeavering to locate a town on the eastern bank of the Schuylkill river at the "Ford" (now Reading), war was being carried on between England and France, and the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was ,formed between them in the same year in which the town was laid out (1748). But this treaty of peace did not settle the controversy between them in respect to territory on the American continent. The English Colonies were originally, planted along the seacoast, but they advanced westwardly, and therefore the English claimed the right to extend their settlements across the continent from ocean to ocean. The French, however, had possessed Canada to the north, and Louisiana to the south, and they too claimed the intervening territory which lay along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Both parties having claimed the same country, they, in order to maintain their respective rights, rushed into a fierce and bloody war for lands which belonged to neither of them, and which after the termination of hostilitlies passed away from both, and became vested in a new power whose national existence grew out of their contentions. It was accelerated by a grant of six hundred thousand acres of land in that disputed territory by the English to certain persons who associated under the title of the "Ohio Company," and the company having agitated a scheme for its settlement, the French became alarmed. Remonstrances and complaints were fruitless and each party seized and plundered the subjects of the other, ending in hostilities which resulted in the defeat of Braddock in the western section of Pennsylvania in 1755.

The Indians, having united with the French through misrepresentation and finding the frontier eastwardly to repossess the territory which had formerly been theirs and out of which they believed they had been swindled. On their way, they committed depredations and cruelties which resulted in a great loss of life and property; and notwithstanding forts were erected by the provincial government along the Blue Mountain, from the Delaware river to the Susquehanna river to afford protection to the settlers in the vicinity, and garrisoned with twenty-five companies, comprising 1,400 men, they crossed the mountain and carried their arson and murder into the counties adjoining. Berks county was entered, and numerous persons (including men. women and children) were killed, and many dwellings and barns burned. This naturally spread consternation throughout the countv, and the settlers along the mountain abandoned home and property. The enemy soon extended their incursions to a point near Reading, alarming the inhabitants of the town for their safety. In consequence of this, they armed and organized themselves to defend the town, and marched to the mountain to assist in driving the cruel foe out of the county. Many letters have been published which describe the wretched state of the people who lived in the townships to the north and northwest of the town.

The cruelties of the Indians and the unsettled condition of the inhabitants of the upper section of the county continued during 1755, 1756 and 1757. During that time, the English were unsuccessful in their campaigns against the French and Indians, and their affairs here were in an awful situation. Their efforts had produced only expense and disappointment. But in 1758, the tide turned in their favor through the vigorous administration of a new leader, William Pitt. The Indians retreated and victory crowned the British armies everywhere during the succeeding years until 1760, when the French were dispossessed of all territories in dispute and forced to surrender Canada. Peace was declared in 1763. The town of Reading had just been fairly started when this terrible shock fell upon the inhabitants. Though discouraged they did not abandon their new settlement and its bright prospects, as the set- tlers were forced to do along the mountain. It is probable that the unsettled condition of affairs there during that period contributed much toward the rapid growth of the town.

TROOPS IN COUNTY.-The provincial military officers of the county in 1754 were: Lieutenant-Colonel, Conrad Weiser; Captains, Christian Busse (at Fort Henry), Frederick Smith, Jacob Orndt, and Jacob Morgan (at Fort Lebanon) ; Lieutenant, Philip Weiser; Ensigns, -Harry (at Fort Lebanon) and Edward Biddle; Sergeant, Peter Smith, Corporal, - Schaeffer.

Weiser was lieutenant-colonel of the 2d Battalion of the PennsyIvania Regiment, which consisted of nine companies. This was a portion of the troops ordered by the Governor to be raised for the purpose of repelling the invasion. The total force was to comprise twenty-five companies, numbering 1,400 men. Of the nine companies under Weiser, one and one-half companies were at Fort Henry, and one company was at Fort Williams.

In March, 1756, an independent company of grenadiers, in General Shirley's regiment, was stationed at Reading on duty. Upon receiving orders to march to New York, 25 men under the command of a lieutenant, were ordered to Reading, to remain on guard until further orders. In June, the town was occupied by a company of men, under the command of Conrad Weiser. It was composed of two sergeants and 28 privates. The ammunition at Reading then consisted of 25 good muskets, 25 muskets out of repair, 11 broken muskets, 9 cartridge-boxes, 240 pounds of powder, 600 pounds of lead. In August, 1757, 50 men from Cumru and other townships near Reading set out in expecta- tion of bringing in some Indian scalps.

In February 1758, Fort Williams was garrisoned by Captain Morgan and 53 men; and Fort Henry by Captain Busse with 89 men, and Captain Weiser with 105 men; and Fort Augusta with eight companies, numbering 362 men. The whole number of men then receiving pay in the province was 1,274.

In June, 1758, Berks county had in the service 56 good and strong wagons, each wagon furnished with four horses and an expert driver. These wagons were formed in two divisions, the first division containing 26 wagons, and the second 30. A deputy wagon-master was over each division. Their names were John Lesher and Jacob Weaver, able to speak the English and German languages, and they understood Smith and wheelwright work.

In the limits of Berks county, in 1758, there were at Fort Henry two companies, comprising 105 men; at Fort William (Forks of Schuylkill), one company of 53 men; and at Fort Augusta, eight com- panies with 362 men.

in 1761, the inhabitants of Tulpehocken and Heidelberg townships raised 159 men as rangers to guard the county lines of Berks and Lancaster counties.

COLONIIAL FORTS.-When the officials of the provincial government learned that the Indians and Frenci-i had united for the purpose of cooperating against the English on this continent, they decided to afford protection to the settlements near the frontiers bv the erection of forts ; and the number of settlers who had gone beyond the Blue Mounains till this time having been small, they determined to locate these forts along this natural boundary tine from the Delaware on the east to the Susquelanna on the West. The object of these forts was simply for refuge-a retreat for the inhabitants when danger was imminent. They were erected hastily to serve a temporary purpose. Unfortunafely for the people, they were too few in number and too far apart to serve the purpose for which they were intended, especially to those who were somewhat removed. The Indians did not march over the mountain in large numbers together, and they did attack the forts. They came quietly, in small parties, and without warning they fell upon the unprotected families like a thunderbolt; and after murdering men, women and children indiscriminately and setting fire to dwellings and barns, they departed like a flash. Their success in these wicked incursions was truly wonderful.

In 1758, the location of the forts and distances apart were reported as follows:

...........................................................................Miles
From Wind Gap to Doll's Blockhouse.......................20
Thence to Fort Lehigh..............................................8
Thence to Fort Allen................................................10
Thence to Blockhouse.............................................20
Thence to Fort Everit...............................................10
Thence to Fort Williams...........................................12
Thence to Fort Henry...............................................22
Thence to Fort Swatara............................................14
Thence to Fort Hunter, on Susquehanna....................24
Total Distance........................................................140

FORTS IN COUNTY.-The following forts 7, erected in the territory which was embraced in Berks county, the first five having been along the Blue Mountain, and the last at Shamokin (now Sunbury), Fort Henry, Fort Dietrich Snyder, Fort Northkill, Fort Lebanon, Fort Franklin and Fort Augusta.

A log house was built within the and it, was often crowded uncomfortably by neighboring inhabitants in times of danger. The stockades were logs, about eighteen feet long, cut in the woods where the forts were built, in the ground as closely as possible. They intended to protect the house and prevent Indians from shooting its occupants when stepped outside.

Fort Henry, was situated in Bethel township, what was, and still is, commonly known as Hollow," about three miles north of the village of Millersburg, fifty yards to the east the "Old Shamokin Road," which leads over mountain. The spot was elevated, to enable the guard to look out some distance in every direction. There is no particular mention of this fort in Colonial records, and this omission induces the belief that it was a fort erected by the people of that vicinity for their protection. It was sometimes called "Dietrich Six's," doubtless because it stood on the land of Dietrich Six. The records mention several times that the people fled to Dietrich Six's. but the place was not indicated as a military post. The field where it was situated has been under cultivation for many years, and not a single mark remains to indicate where it stood. It was erected some time before June, 1754. In the beginning of June, 1757, the Governor visited Fort Henry, having been escorted thither by sixty substantial freeholders of the county on horseback, completely armed. They presented a very dutiful address to his honor, in which they expressed the warmest loyalty to the King and the greatest zeal and alacrity to serve His Majesty in defense of their country'.

Fort Dietrich Snyder-A fort was situated on the top of the mountain, north of Fort Northkill. It occupied one of the most prominent spots, and being within two miles of Fort Northkill, it is sup- posed that it was designed for an observatory or watch-house.

Fort Northkill was in Upper Tulpehocken township, near the Northkill (a branch of the Tulpehocken creek) about two miles east of Strausstown and a mile south from the base of the Blue Mountain. It was built in the early part of 1754. As to the dimensions of the fort Commissary. Young says, June 20, 1756: "The fort is about nine miles to the westward of the Schuylkill, and stands in thick wood, on a small rising ground, half from the middle of Northkill creek. It is intended for a square about thirty-two feet each way at each corner is a half-bastion of very little service to flank the curtains. The stockades were ill-fixed to the ground, and open in many places. Within is a very bad log-house for the people; it has no chimney and can afford but little shelter in bad weather.

There was an attack in the neighborhood of this fort on Oct. 1, 14'37. Application was made to Weiser (then at Reading) for immediate assistance and Captain Oswald (who commanded the guards about Reading) sent two lieutenants ,with forty men to the relief.

Fort Lebanont was situated about six miles beyond Blue LNIountain, a short distance east,of Schuylkill river. 'It was erected in the beginning of 1754. In 1758, it was known as "Fort Williams and called sometimes "Fort Schuylkill." It is frequently mentioned in the Pennsylvania Archives. Two vears after its erection, it was described as follows: "Fort Lebanon, about twenty-four miles f rom Gnadenhutten, in the line to Shamokin--Fort, 100 feet square. Stockades, 14 feet high. House within, built 30 by 20, with a large store room. A spring within, and a magazine 12 feet square. On a barren, not much timber on it, 100 families protected by it withn the new purchase. No township. Built in three weeks. Something considered given by the neighbors towards it.

Franklin-The fifth fort on the frontier of the county was several miles above the Blue Mountain on Lizard creek. It was built about two years later than the other forts. It was sometimes called Fort Allemaengel ("all wants").

Fort Augusta-The first allusion to this fort is in a letter by Governor Morris, on Feb. 1, 1756, in which he states that he proposed to build a fort at Shamokin, at the forks of the Susquehanna, as soon as the season would admit a passage of that river. And in a letter dated July 20th following, he stated that a fort was then building at Shamokin (where a camp was stationed for some time) by Colonel Clapham, who had five hundred men with him. Shortly afterward (Aug. 14) the Colonel ad- dressed a letter to the Governor dated at "Fort Augusta," in reference to a necessary supply of military stores. This fort was therefore built during July and August, 1756. No dimensions are given. But it was large and commodious, affording room for many men and a large quantitv of military stores. Frequent reports of the supplies on hand and of the forces stationed there appear in "the Records and Archives; and cruelties by the Indians, were comniitted in the vicinity.

PREMIUM FOR SCALPS.-In pursuance of a resolution for carrving on active measures against the Indians, the Board of Commissioners decided on April 9, 1756, to recommend to the Governor that bounties, or premiums, be paid for prisoners and scalps:

For every male Indian prisoner above ten years old, that shall be delivered at any of the government forts or towns ................................... $150

For every female Indian prisoner or male prisoner, of ten years old and under, delivered as above ...... 130

For the scalp of every male Indian above ten years old ............................................. 130

For the scalp of every Indian woman ................ 50

PEACE DECLARED.-After the French had receded into Canada before the advancing army of English soldiers, the Indians naturally followed their allies. Hence the cruelties here ceased after 1758; and when Canada was surrendered in 1760, the peace and safety of our community were assured. The declaration of peace was delayed for three years, and when it was published in 1763, only a few Indians remained in the eastern section of Pennsylania. A small settlement of them (who were friendly to the government and the inhabitants) remained at Shamokin; and some families were scattered in different parts of the county, where they remained for many years afterward.

Before the war, considerable trade had been carried on successfully between the settlers and the Indians, continuing without interruption from the time of the first settlements until 1744, and even a decade afterward. The relations had become so pleasant and firm that certain Indians remained in the county unmolested.during the war, and car- ried on their peaceful vocations, such as basketmaking, bead-work. etc., and after the war, traveling parties of them frequently visited the county and sold articles of their handiwork.

MURDERED AND CAPTURED.-During this war, the Indians killed about one hundred and fifty, and captured thirty inhabitants of the county. Several of those who were taken captive returned after the war. Many persons were wounded and some of them died from their wounds. But, during these eight years, only four of the Indians were killed in the county, so far as ascertained.

The French and Indian War between England and France had broken out twice before in the eighteenth century, In the War of the Spanish Succession, or Queen Anne's War, some of the newly arrived Palatines had found themselves on an expedition against Canada. In the later War of the Austrian Succession, or King George's War, from 1740 to 1748, one of the four Pennsylvania companies that joined in the attack on Canada contained so many Pennsylvania Dutch that it was known as the German Company. But it was the French and Indian War that in the most literal sense brought war home to the Pennsylvania Dutch. In this war Pennsylvania was the worst sufferer of the thirteen colonies. Nor was it the Quakers and the Anglicans in Philadelphia who suffered; It was the Pennsylvania Dutch and the Scotch-Irish on the frontier. These two peoples formed a protecting band for PhIladelphia and Its home counties.

For a long time the province of Pennsylvania had lived at peace with the Indians. In the beginning much of this was due to Penn's fair dealing; later on it was largely owing to the wisdom and skill. Conrad Weiser, who was in a sense the colony's ambassador to the Six Nations. Weiser was one of the Schoharie pioneers who had moved south to the Tulpehocken region. As a youth he lived for a winter with Quagnant, the Iroquois chief, to learn the Mohawk tongue and the Indian way of life. Later, in Pennsylvania, Weiser became a close friend of Shikellamy, the Iroquois agent in the province. Trusted and respected by the Indians as was no other white man in the colony-or, for that matter, in the other twelve colonies-Weiser became the greatest Indian agent of colonial days. Believing that only the support of the Iroquois could check French expansion in the West, he was able to persuade James Logan, then a rising statesman in the province, of the soundness of his views. As a consequence Pennsylvania in 1731 recognized the Six Nations' sovereignty over all Indians in the colony, in return for which the Iroquois were expected to keep the Indian tribes in order, In June, 1744, the Treaty of Lancaster, probably Weiser's greatest achievement, was signed. This treaty, which bound Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia on one hand and the Six Nations on the other with a "chain of friendship," was a serious diplomatic defeat for the French. Weiser's ability and fairness were recognized by the Iroquois when they gave him the great name of Tarachiawagon, an unparalleled honor, as this name, meaning the Holder of the Heavens. was that of the chief god of the Iroquois.

An incident that occurred in 1754 shows how friendly Weiser was with the Indians. A fine rifle carried by Weiser was greatly admired by .Shikellamy, the Iroquois chieftain, who was filled with a desire to possess it. The next morning he told Weiser of a dream he had had in which Weiser made him a present of the rifle. Weiser was caught, for Indian etiquette compelled him to give the rifle to Shikellamy. Weiser handed over the rifle, but several days later he too had a dream, in which Shikellamy had given him the beautiful Isle of Que in the Susquehanna. Shikellamy gave Weiser the island, but as he did so he said, Tarachiawagon, let us never dream again."

Weiser's policy had the serious disadvantage of turning the Lenni-Lenapes to the French. Resentful of the dominance of the Iroquois, they had been acquiring firearms and were almost ready to put their vaIor to the test. Nor did the fraud of the Walking Purchase endear the white man to them. Though white lawyers might justify this as a stratagem rather than a cheat, the Indians remembered that a way for the "walkers" had been cleared through the forest ahead of time and that riders had been hired to carry "Rum, Sugar, and Lime Juice" to fortify the "walkers"-probably the daiquiri's first appearance in American history. Weiser foresaw the coming war but he was helpless to head it off. Shikellamy had died in 1748, and with his death Weiser lost a good deal of his influence.

Braddock's defeat was the signal for the opening of the war. From its very conception Braddock's cxpedition was badly managed. The first mistake was to route it through Virginia, for in that colony the horses and wagons he needed were not to be obtained. Turning to Pennsylvania for one hundred fifty wagons, he got all of them and fifty more within three days. Some of the Pennsylvania farmers offered their wagons, to be sure, with the idea of profit in mind; some as a means of defending their homes; and some because they felt that if they refused them the government would take them anyway. But only in Pennsylvania were the wagons forthcoming.

With the stupid and disastrous defeat of Braddock, the whole frontier was open to attack. The white settlements beyond the Blue Mountains were wiped out almost at once. Everywhere from the Delaware to the Potomac the tale was of burning houses and barns with men, women, and children tomahawked and scalped or carried off into the woods. On October 16, 1755, occurred the massacre at Penn's Creek near Shamokin, with fourteen killed and eleven taken captive. The raid at Great Cove, in what is now Fulton County, was a repetition of the Penn's Creek massacre. Most of the settlers in the Congohego Valley fled for their lives. In the middle of November the settlements on the Tulpehocken and the Swatara were attacked. Thirteen more people were killed and many houses and barns burned. Governor Morris made no effort to defend these settlers except to write to General Shirley of New York to send some troops down from Albany. The attack on the Moravian settlement of Gnadenhutten on the Lehigh on November 24, 1755, was one of the worst. Usually, however, the story was one of an attack on an isolated pioneer and his family rather than the slaughter of an entire settlement.

Refugees crowded into the towns. Bethlehem, with less than six hundred people, took in 208 refugees in eight days. A stockade was hastily constructed to protect the town from the Indians. Near Bethlehem, Muhlenberg met an old woman of eighty-eight who had had to leave behind all of her earthly possessions except a little bundle of clothing. "She wept bitterly at being compelled to ourney into a strange land at her great age," Muhlenberg wrote ill hls Journals, "but took comfort in God's word and desired the dear Lord would take her out of the harsh world to everlasting peace." The people of Reading, who could see in the skies the glare of the burning buildillgs at Tulpcehocken, were so badly frightened that they were about to pick up their skirts and run. Only a command of Scotch Highlanders summoned to the town and stationed there put some spunk into them.

Many of the settlers had good cause to be frightened: the Indians had broken through the barrier of the Blue Mountains and were raiding almost at will the farms of Allemengel, Berne, Tulpehocken, Bethel, and Swatara. In Lancaster the courthouse bell rang almost constantly throughout the day of October 28 to call the people together to defend themselves. From Carlisle, too, came reports of people fleeing in terror. Sauer in the November 16 issue of his paper declared that between Lancaster and Carlisle all was in confusion. Women were carrying children on their backs as they fled to the more thickly settled sections. Fortunately, many of the settlers displayed presence of mind and courage. Companies of men were formed to resist the Indians and to build blockhouses at strategic points. On October 26th Conrad Weiser's call for volunteers at Tulpehocken was answered by 300 men and within a few days by 400 more. But the Indians had slipped away as suddenly as they had appeared. Disappointed in finding no Indians, many of the men returned to their homes.

When the massacres were repo~ted to the Assembly, the only action this body took was to ask the governor if he knew of any injury to the Delawares and Shawnees that could have alienated their affections. This tenderness and concern .of the Quakers for the Indians filled the frontiersmen with fury and disgust. General Amherst marveled at "the infatuation of the people [of Pennsylvania] who tamely look on while their brethren are butchered by the savages." Not from the Dutch and the Scotch.Irish alone but from all the thirteen colonies the harshest criticism was leveled at the Pennsylvania Assembly.

At length the Assembly, seeing that some defense would have to be made, proposed to lay a tax on land. To this the Penn heirs promptly objected that their land should be tax-free. The quarrel dragged on for a fortnight, as though there were all the time in the world in which to talk. Nothing was done. Finally the patience of the frontiersmen exhausted they decided to compel the authorities to defend the Province agamst the French and Indians. News was brought to Governor Morris that "a body of five hundred Dutch from Berks" and another group of Chester County farmers were marching on the city. Philadelphia sent out the sheriff to turn them back, but they calmly took him prisoner and forced him to lead the way to the governor's house. Morris was able to show them a letter from the Penns offering £5,000 for their defense. The Assembly was not so fortunate; it was unable to explain away its procrastination. A special night session was called with rules suspended, while the Dutch frontiersmen waited outside to make sure of action. A militia bill for an army to defend the frontier was quickly passed; but in it the Quakers quietly inserted a joker that exempted all Quakers and conscientious objectors from service and even from taxation for defense. Furthermore, troops could not be compelled to serve in any campaign that lasted more than three days, nor could they be garrisoned at any place for more than three weeks, nor could they serve more than eleven consecutive months; nor could a man under twenty-one be enlisted in the militia, nor an indentured servant. Clearly the Quaker members of the Assembly were more interested in making certain that no Quaker could be forced into the militia than in providing protection for the Dutch and Scotch-Irish settlers on the frontier.

It was this act that broke the Quaker hold on the "church people" among the Dutch. Only the "plain people," all of them pacifists, still held to their old alliance with the Quakers; but the Dutch of the Reformed and Lutheran faiths from this time on joined with the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians to bring to a close the Quaker control of the colony.

Two weeks after the Militia Act was passed another German procession moved on Philadelphia, one of a very different kind and possibly the most dramatic the Quaker City has ever seen. It was a silent German funeral procession with a wagon bearing the bodies of new victims of Indian massacres. As it passed through the streets before the sympathetic but angry spectators, it attracted crowds of excited citizens who followed it to the statehouse, where the procession came to a halt. There the wagon was drawn up at a spot where the bodies of the victims could be seen by the assemblymen meeting inside.

Early the following year a series of forts from ten to twelve miles apart were erected along the frontier from the Delaware to the Susquehanna. Stockades of heavy planks were bwlt about an open space which there were from one to four blockhouses pierced with loopholes through which the riflemen could shoot. Franklin was in charge of the construction of the forts in Northampton County and Weiser in Berks. Although the forts were not a complete defense, for the Indians were able to slip through the lines in the country between the forts, they did succeed in checking the Indian raids. Yet at some of the forts the forest was so close to the stockade that the Indians with their rifles were able to pick off men who ventured outside. At Fort Henry, where the Shamokin Trail crossed the Blue Mountains, a touch of horror was added when wolves dug up the shallow graves in which the men killed by the Indians had been buried. That the shedding of blood did not cease with the building of the forts is shown by the account of a raid made by Indians crossing the mountains at Swatara Gap that was published by Christopher Sauer in his paper on October 15, 1757:

News comes from Quittobohille that in Lancaster [now Lebanon] county on October I Indians came to Peter Wamffiers house, while he and his wife were in the fields, bringing in a Wagon with hay. The Indians took 5 Children off with them, 4 girls and one boy; the smallest Child is scarce a Year old and cannot walk yet; they took from the House all they could carry; the rest they destroyed, scattered the flour, spilled the honey, broke the pots and windows and tore up the beds.

Earlier that year, on July 5, an impressive service was held in the graveyard of Christ Church, Tulpehocken, at the burial of three men and four children who had been slain by the Indians. Led by the pastor, the bereaved families and the assembled friends and neighbors rang Luther's great hymn, "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott," the solemn words striking home as seldom before.