HISTORY: “Valley of the Conemaugh” by Thomas J. Chapman, 1865 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Diann Olsen , September, 2008 Copyright 2008 All rights reserved. http://http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ _______________________________________________ THE VALLEY OF THE CONEMAUGH. BY THOMAS J. CHAPMAN. ALTOONA, PA.: McCRUM & DERN, PRINTERS. 1865. CHAPTER II. EXPEDITIONS AGAINST THE INDIANS. Pennsylvania, during the middle years of the last century, was a scene of havoc and bloodshed. The Indians, stirred up by the French, who were at war with the English, committed the most horrid excesses upon the defenceless people of the frontier. The tomahawk and the scalping-knife were constantly dripping with the blood of their victims. The glare of burning cabins and barns often lighted up the gloom of midnight. "Why flames the far summit? Why shoot to the blast Those embers, like stars from the firmament cast? 'Tis the fire-shower of ruin, all dreadfully driven From his aerie that beacons the darkness of heaven." Roving bands of marauders scoured the country far and near, and often fell upon the lonely habitation or the isolated hamlet like a thun- derbolt. Under such circumstances it was impossible for the remote settlements of Pennsylvania to prosper. The pioneer was compelled to lay down the axe for the rifle, and the pruning-hook for the sword. These gangs of murderous savages usually made their incursions up the valley of the Conemaugh, and across the mountains to the head-waters of the Susquehanna, and thence down that stream to --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 23 the settlements upon its banks. At an early day in the troubles the smoke from no white settler's chimney curled above the forest trees to the west of the Alleghenies. For the protection of the colonists, and as a war measure against France, the government of England projected several important expedi- tions against the combined. French and Indians in North Amgrica. With some of these enterprises we have to do, inasmuch as they very nearly concerned the condition of things in that part of Pennsylvania of which we are treating. The first of these enterprises, and that around which clusters the greatest interest for us, was the ill-starred expedition under Major General Edward Braddock, in 1755. Braddock had the reputation of a brave and skillful officer. In the early part of the year 1755, he arrived in this country with two regiments of royal troops, the 44th and 48th, under Sir Peter Halkett and Colonel Dunbar. At Fort Cumberland, on Will's Creek, he was joined by about one thousand provincial troops. The army, however, was delayed some weeks for want of means of transportation for their baggage and stores. At length, on the 8th of June, they took up their line of march. Their destination --------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 THE HISTORY OF was Fort Duquesne, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, on the present site of Pittsburg. This fort was in the possession of the French, who, the year before, had taken it yet unfinished from Ensign Ward. The progress of Braddock's army was very slow, on account of the nature of the road, and the cumbrous character of their baggage. At the suggestion of George Washington, then a young man who acted as aid-de- camp to Braddock, it was determined to leave the greater part of the baggage under a sufficient escort to follow after by slow and easy marches, and push on a picked force with all speed. The baggage was accordingly left to the care of Colonel Dunbar, while General Braddock, with some twelve or thirteen hundred men, went forward. In the forenoon of the 9th day of July they crossed over to the left hand side of the Monongahela, a little below the mouth of the Youghiogheny, in order to avoid some hills that obstructed their march. Between twelve and one o'clock, noon, they re-crossed to the right hand side. At the spot where they landed, the ground slopes gently back towards the country, while on each side of the hillock are ravines from eight to ten feet deep. The --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 25 whole country was then overgrown with a dense forest, and the ravines were entirely hidden from sight. As this large army drew near to the place of their destination, the French commandant at the fort was greatly distressed. His force was small, and the fort totally unable to resist the attack of such an army. In this conjuncture, Captain Beaujeu, who, it seems, was a man of great spirit and enterprise, after much persuasion and entreaty, induced a number of French and Indians* to go out to meet the enemy, and offer such resistance as was in their power. Early on the morning of the 9th they left the fort. The point where Braddock's army re-crossed the river is within ten miles of the site of Fort Duquesne. It is likely that the party of Beaujeu first came in sight of it at this spot. Nature had already prepared the ground to their advantage, and they at once took their stations in the parallel ravines, without having been seen or heard by the British. _____ * Various estimates are given of the force of the French and Indians. The largest estimate is, two hundred and fifty French and Canadians, and six hundred and forty Indians. The lowest estimate reduces the number of white men to two hundred and thirty-five, and Indians to six hundred. -- Neville B. Craig, Esq. Washington, writing to his mother from Fort Cumberland, 18th July, 1755, nine days after the battle, says: "When we came there we were attacked by a party of French and Indians, whose number I am persuaded did not exceed three hundred men." --------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 THE HISTORY OF Washington, who was acquainted with the Indian mode of warfare, proposed to the general commanding to send out scouts to guard against an ambuscade; but the imperious officer spurned his proposition with contempt. The troops were crossed in parties of two hundred and three hundred. It was one o'clock. The general, with the last of the men, and the supplies, had gained the opposite shore, and the first detachment had proceeded a short distance up the slope, when they were met by sharp and rapid discharges from hundreds of rifles. They were at once thrown into such confusion and fright, that many of them did not seem to have the use of their senses. Particularly was this the case with the British regulars. Reinforcements were hurried forward to sustain the first detachment, but the panic soon communicated to them also, and they were able to offer but little resistance. Many of them huddled together like frightened sheep, and were mowed down by the fire of the enemy. The provincial troops, who were accustomed to the Indian mode of fighting, sprang behind trees, to fight them on. their own terms, but were ordered out by the infatuated Braddock, who even struck some of them with his sword for their cowardice, as he thought it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 27 Meanwhile the firing was kept up. Men were falling thick and fast on every side. The ground was soon covered with the dead and the dying. And yet the enemy was invisible. -- The firing of the troops was by random – often at their own men while the devouring flame of the enemy's rifles encompassed them on every side. For three hours this horrible carnage rioted. Nearly seven hundred men had fallen, when a ball, fired by one of his own soldiers,* cut short the career of Braddock, and he fell from his horse mortally wounded. With the fall of Braddock ended everything like an attempt at resistance. The few troops who had remained upon the ground now turned and fled, taking the wounded general with them. A few days afterward he died. The enemy pursued the flying host, remorselessly destroying almost all that fell into their hands. A number they reserved for a more cruel fate. They were burnt at the stake the same evening on the return of the savages to Fort Duquesne. The Point, between the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers, was the scene of their immolation. The flying soldiery did not stop their retreat until they reached the camp of Colonel Dunbar, ----- * Thomas Fausett, of Fayette county, Pa. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 THE HISTORY OF six miles in the rear. They here paused. After destroying nearly all their stores of every kind, the retreat was re-commenced. They returned to Fort Cumberland, their starting point, on the 22d of the same month. So ended Braddock's expedition.* The unfortunate termination of this affair undoubtedly was owing entirely to the obstinacy and self- sufficiency of those who had charge of the undertaking. -- General Morris wrote on the occasion: “The defeat of our troops appears to me to be owing to the want of care and caution in the leaders, who have been too secure, and held in great contempt the Indian manner of fighting." The defeat of Braddock subjected the entire frontier to ravage and apprehension. The Indians were more cruel and destructive than ever. In his message to the Assembly, July 24th, 1755, Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, has the following language in relation to this disaster : "This unfortunate and unexpected change in our affairs deeply affects every one of his majesty's colonies, but none of them in so sensible a manner as this province, which having no militia, is thereby left exposed to the cruel incursion of the French and barbarous ----- *This account I have collated chiefly from Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 29 Indians, who delight in shedding human blood, and who make no distinction as to age or sex -- as to those who are armed against them, or such as they can surprise in their peaceful habitations -- all are alike the objects of their cruelty -- slaughtering the tender infant and frightened mother with equal joy and fierceness. To such enemies, spurred by the native cruelty of their tempers, encouraged by their late success, and having now no army to fear, are the inhabitants of this province exposed; and by such must we now expect to be overrun, if we do not immediately prepare for our own defence; nor ought we to content ourselves with this, but resolve to drive to and confine the French to their own just limits."* During the year following the defeat of Braddock, the enemies of the English were permitted to carry on their high-handed outrages almost without rebuke. On the 30th of August, 1756, Colonel John Armstrong, with an army of only three hundred and seven men, marched from Fort Shirley, in what is now Huntingdon county, against Kittanning. This Colonel Armstrong seems to have been one of the most prominent and energetic men on the frontier in that stormy time. Kittanning was ----- * Votes of Assembly, IV, 416. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 THE HISTORY OF a famous Indian town upon the Allegheny river, and occupied the site of the present borough of the same name in Armstrong county. It was the headquarters of Captain Jacobs, a notorious Indian chief, and the gen- eral depot to which most of the whites whom they captured were transferred. They reached the town during the night of the sixth of September. As they drew near, they could hear the beating of the drums and the whooping of the warriors, who were having a grand break-down. Their front came to the river, about one hundred perches below the main body of the town, a short time before daylight. They had met with an interruption in their march, in the early part of the night, that had considerably retarded them. About six miles from the town, at what is now called Blanket Hill, they had discovered a party of Indians encamped in the path. It was believed that not more than three or four savages made up the party. They immediately retreated with the greatest possible secrecy to some distance, when, after due deliberation, it was thought best to take a circuitous route, and not meddle with the savages at that time, for, if one should escape, he would alarm the town, and thus perhaps frustrate the object of the expedition. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 31 Lieutenant Hogg, however, with thirteen men, was left, with orders not to attack the Indians until the next morning at break of day, and then, if possible, to cut them off. Finally, along in the "wee sma' hours ayon the twal," the dusky braves left off their dancing, and fires having been kindled by the squaws in a corn-field near by, for the purpose of dispersing the gnats, the night being very warm, the warriors lay down here to sleep. By the time Armstrong had made a proper disposition of his men, and everything was got in readiness, the gray light of morning had stolen upon them. A detachment was sent along the top of the hill until they came to a point opposite the body of the town, when they were to make an assault upon it. Supposing that the greater part of the warriors had lodged in the corn-field, a larger force was kept here, but the attack upon it was delayed some twenty minutes, until those who had been sent to the other point should arrive. At the appointed time the battle commenced. A warm engagement took place in the corn fields. At the same time the attack upon the houses was begun. Captain Jacobs and those with him, when they beheld the approach of the white men, pretended to be greatly de- --------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 THE HISTORY OF lighted, and cried out, "The white men were at last come, they would then have scalps enough." Their squaws and children, however, they immediately ordered to take refuge in the woods. The house in which Jacobs and his companions were, was pierced with port-holes, through which they could fire upon the soldiers without themselves being exposed. In this way they killed and wounded a good many. But it was soon determined by Armstrong to set fire to the houses. Before proceeding to do this the Indians were called on to surrender. To this one of then answered, "He was a man and would not be a prisoner." He was then told that he would be burnt to death, but he replied that he did not care, for he would kill four or five before he died. The houses were accordingly set on fire. As the flames progressed, some of the Indians jumped from the windows and tried to make their escape; but they were all shot down. "During the burning of the houses," says Armstrong, in his official report to Governor Denny, "which were nearly thirty in number, we were agreeably entertained with a quick succession of charged guns gradually firing off as they were reached by the fire ; but more so --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 33 with the vast explosion of sundry bags and large kegs of gunpowder, wherewith almost every house abounded. The prisoners afterwards wards informing, that the Indians had frequently said they had a sufficient stock of ammunition for ten years to war with the English. With the roof of Captain Jacobs' house, where the powder blew up, was thrown the leg and thigh of an Indian, with a child of three or four years old, such a hight that they appeared as nothing, and fell into the adjacent corn-field." Having demolished the town, and killed or chased away the inhabitants, Armstrong and his small army set out to return. Upon their arrival at the Indian encampment of the night before, they found evidences of a sanguinary conflict. The truth was that the scout who had discovered and reported the Indian party had been grossly deceived as to their numbers. When Lieutenant Hogg came to attack them in the morning, he discovered that they greatly outnumbered his own force. A severe fight took place, in which the lieutenant himself received two serious wounds, and had three of his men killed, after which the balance ran off. He then crawled into a thicket of underbrush, where he might have remained in safety, had --------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 THE HISTORY OF not a cowardly sergeant of Captain Mercer's company, with three or four privates, who had run away from the battle at Kittanning, found him and persuaded him to go along with them. They had not gone far together, when they were met by four Indians. Upon sight of them the sergeant and his companions began to flee, notwithstanding the lieutenant urged them to stand their ground like men. Here he was again wounded, and he died shortly afterward. Colonel Armstrong returned to Fort Littleton, in Bedford county, about the 13th of September. He had lost in all forty-nine men -- killed, seventeen; wounded, thirteen; missing, nineteen. The fall of Kittanning was a heavy stroke upon the savages and their French allies. In the fall of 1758, another expedition against Fort Duquesne was undertaken by General Forbes. Colonel Bouquet commanded under him, and the expedition is often spoken of as Bouquet's expedition. Colonel Washington had command of the troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland. The whole force under Forbes consisted of about seven thousand men. The early part of the autumn had been devoted to cutting a new road over the mountains. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 35 On the 23d or 24th of October, General Forbes, with the rear division of the army, left Bedford, then called Raystown, and advanced towards Loyalhanna. Colonel Bouquet had reached the same point some weeks before. In the interval he had sent out Major Grant, of the Highlanders, with a force of about eight hundred and fifty men, to reconnoitre the fort and the adjacent country. He was instructed not to approach too near the fort, and to avoid a collision with the enemy, if possible. But the impetuosity of Grant, and the glory of seizing the fort himself, led him to transcend his orders. At eleven o'clock at night of the third day after their departure, he, with the principal part of his little force, stood upon the brow of a hill that overlooked the fort, and. not above a quarter of a mile from it. For various reasons Major Grant supposed that the number of the enemy was very small -- not exceeding two hundred. Shortly after daybreak, Captain McDonald's company was sent, with drums beating, directly towards the fort, for the purpose of drawing them out. -- But the major had reckoned without his host. As soon as the garrison were aroused from their slumbers by the music of the enemy, they sallied out in great numbers to the attack. A --------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 THE HISTORY OF desperate struggle then ensued, in which the invaders, after dreadful slaughter, were driven from the field, and Grant himself was taken prisoner. The hill upon which this affray was commenced is still known as Grant's Hill. -- This battle was fought on the 14th of September, and the losses to Grant's force amounted to over three hundred men. This victory so emboldened the enemy that they determined to attack the army under Bouquet, at Loyalhanna, before he should be strengthened by the division under Forbes. Accordingly, a force of fourteen hundred French and Indians, under the command of De Vetri, assailed him on the 12th of October. They fought with great desperation and fury, but after a conflict of tour hours they were compelled to retire with considerable loss. They renewed the attack after night- fall; but a few well-directed shells thrown into their midst had the effect of dispersing them. The army pursued its way by very slow degrees. The weather was very unfavorable, and the roads, as fast as made, were rendered almost impassable by the heavy rains. At length, on the 25th of November, they reached the fort, but found it little more than a black and smouldering ruin. The enemy, upon the --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 37 near approach of the British, had destroyed it and then fled. There were two magazines, one of which had been blown up and ruined; in the other were found a large quantity of ammunition, gun barrels, iron, and a wagon load of scalping-knives. But little else remained. The capture of Fort Duquesne sent a thrill of joy through every heart upon the frontier. It had long been one of the most important strongholds of the French in the west. Much blood and treasure had been spent in efforts to take it, but its importance to the people over balanced every other consideration. It secured to the Anglo-Saxon race the key to the Mississippi valley forever. Governor Denny, in his Message to the Assembly on this occasion, says : "Gentlemen -- I have the Pleasure to Lay before you a Letter I lately received from Brigadier General Forbes, with the interesting and important Account of his Success in the Expedition against his Majesty's Enemies to the Westward, An Event which, it is true, has been purchased at a Considerable present Expence, but when the Consequences are cooly weighed and Considered, of suffering the French to lay the Foundation of our Future Slavery, by possessing --------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 THE HISTORY OF themselves and fortifying the back Parts of his Majesty's Colonies on this Continent, and to keep open a Communication between their Settlements from Canada to the Mississippi, I am persuaded every real Friend of Liberty will think this Conquest could not have been too dearly bought. * * * * * * The great Advantages that will attend this success of his Majesty's Arms, will be sensibly felt by all the British Colonies, but none so much as this Province, whose Inhabitants have been the most exposed to the Incursions and Cruelties of the French and their Allies from that Quarter."* ----- * See Colonial Records, Vol. VIII, p. 257.