HISTORY: Warner Beers, 1886, Part 2, Chapter 5, Cumberland County, PA

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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

               HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                               CHAPTER V.

  MILITARY - CUMBERLAND COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION - THE WHISKEY 
INSURRECTION - THE WAR OF 1812.

  FOR more than ten years after the close of the Indian wars the 
inhabitants of the county gave their attention to peaceful pursuits.  
Agriculture flourished and the population increased.  Great Britain 
finally attempted to force her American colonies to comply with all her 
outrageous demands without giving them any voice in the Government.  
They naturally objected.  The famous "Boston port bill" roused their 
ire.  This county had few citizens who stood by the mother country in 
such proceedings.  July 12, 1774, a public meeting was called, of which 
the following are the minutes:
  "At a respectable gathering of the freeholders and freemen from 
several townships of Cumberland County in the province of Pennsylvania, 
held at 

78  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Carlisle, in the said county, on Tuesday, the 12th day of July, 1774, 
John Montgomery, Esq., in the chair - 

  1.  Resolved, That the late act of the Parliament of Great Britain, 
by which the port of Boston is shut up, is oppressive to that town and 
subversive of the rights and liberties of the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay:  that the principle upon which the act is founded is not more 
subversive of the rights and liberties of that colony than it is of all 
other British colonies in North America; and, therefore, the 
inhabitants of Boston are suffering in the common cause of all these 
colonies.
  2.  That every vigorous and prudent measure ought speedily and 
unanimously to be adopted by these colonies for obtaining redress of 
the grievances under which the inhabitants of Boston are now laboring; 
and security from grievance of the same or of a still more severe 
nature under which they and the other inhabitants may, by a further 
operation of the same principle, hereafter labor.
  3.  That a congress of deputies from all the colonies will be one 
proper method for obtaining these purposes.
  4.  That the same purpose will, in the opinion of this meeting, be 
promoted by an agreement of all the colonies not to import any 
merchandise from nor export any merchandise to Great Britain, Ireland, 
or the British West Indies, nor to use any such merchandise so 
imported, nor tea imported from any place whatever, till these purposes 
be obtained; but that the inhabitants of this country will join any 
restriction of that agreement which, the general Congress may think it 
necessary for the colonies to confine themselves to.
  5.  That the inhabitants of this county will contribute to the relief 
of their suffering brethren in Boston at any time when they shall 
receive intimation that such relief will be most seasonable.
  6.  That a committee be immediately appointed for this county to 
correspond with the committee of this province or of the other 
provinces upon the great objects of the public attention; and to co-
operate in every measure conducing to the general welfare of British 
America.
  7.  That the committee consist of the following persons, viz.:  James 
Wilson, John Armstrong, John Montgomery, William Irvine, Robert 
Callender, William Thompson, John Calhoon, Jonathan Hoge, Robert Magaw, 
Ephraim Blane, John Allison, John Harris and Robert Miller, or any five 
of them.
  8.  That James Wilson, Robert Magaw and William Irvine be the 
deputies appointed to meet the deputies from other counties of this 
province at Philadelphia on Friday next, in order to concert measures 
preparatory to the General Congress.
                                            JOHN MONTGOMERY, Chairman.

  This meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church at Carlisle, and the 
chairman (Montgomery) was an elder in the church.  The meeting was 
called on receipt of a letter from the Assembly, under action of June 
30, calling upon each county to provide arms and ammunition and men to 
use them from out their associated companies, also to assess real and 
personal estates to defray expenses.  The Assembly encouraged military 
organizations, and promised to see that officers and men called into 
service were paid.  We quote Dr. Wing's notes upon the men composing 
the committee:
  "James Wilson was born in 1742 in Scotland; had received a finished 
education at St. Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow, under Dr. Blair in 
rhetoric and Dr. Watts in logic, and in 1766 had come to reside in 
Philadelphia, where he studied law with John Dickinson, from whom he 
doubtless acquired something of the spirit which then distinguished 
that eminent patriot.  When admitted to practice he took up his 
residence in Carlisle.  In an important land case, which had recently 
been tried between the proprietaries and Samuel Wallace, he had gained 
the administration of the most eminent lawyers in the province, and at 
once had taken rank second to none at the Pennsylvania bar.  At the 
meeting of the people now held in Carlisle, he made a speech which drew 
forth the most rapturous applause.  Robert Magaw was a native of 
Cumberland County, belonging to a family which had early settled in 
Hopewell Township, and was also a lawyer of some distinction in 
Carlisle.  The career on which he was now entering was one in which he 
was to become known to the American people as one of their purest and 
bravest officers.  William Irvine was a native of Ireland from the 
neighborhood of Enniskillen; had been 

79  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

classically educated at the University of Dublin, and had early evinced 
a fondness for military life, but had been induced by his parents to 
devote himself to the medical and surgical profession.  On receiving 
his diploma he had been appointed a surgeon in the British Navy, where 
he continued until the close of the French war (1754-63), when he 
resigned his place, removed to America and settled in Carlisle, where 
he acquired a high reputation and an extensive practice as a physician.  
William Thompson had served as a captain of horse in the expeditions 
against the Indians (1759-60), had been appointed a justice of the 
peace in Hopewell Township, and had lately been active in the relief of 
the inhabitants in the western part of the province in their 
difficulties with Virginia on the boundary question.  Jonathan Hoge and 
John Calhoon had been justices of the peace and judges in the county, 
and belonged to two of the oldest and most respectable families in the 
vicinity of Silvers' Spring.  Ephraim Blaine we have known for his 
brave defense of a fort at Ligonier, and was now the proprietor of a 
large property and mills on the Conodoguinet, near the cave, about a 
mile north of Carlisle.  John Allison, of Tyrone Township; John Harris, 
a lawyer of Carlisle, and Robert Miller, living about a mile northeast 
of Carlisle in Middleton Township; John Montgomery, a member of the 
Assembly, and Robert Callender, formerly an extensive trader with the 
Indians, a commissary for victualing the troops on the western campaign 
and the owner of mills at the confluence of the Letort with the 
Conodoguinet, were all of them active as justices, judges and 
commissioners for the county."
  The three delegates from Cumberland County were at Philadelphia a few 
days later, when the delegates from the various counties of the 
province assembled, and James Wilson was one of the committee of eleven 
which brought in a paper of "Instructions on the present situation of 
public affairs to the representatives who were to meet in the Colonial 
Assembly next week."  The proceedings of this meeting, the subsequent 
steps of the Assembly, and all the proceedings up to the opening of 
hostilities, are matters of record not necessary to introduce here.  
The committee of thirteen which had been appointed at Carlisle, July 
12, 1774, kept busy, and through their efforts a "committee of 
observation" was chosen by the people who had general oversight of 
civil affairs, and few counties were more fortunate than Cumberland in 
their choice of men.  About this time the terms "whig" and "tory" began 
to be heard, and the bitterness the two partisan factions held toward 
each other after the declaration by the colonies of their independence, 
was extreme, leading to atrocious crimes and terrible murders by the 
tories when they could strike like cowards, knowing their strength.  
"Few such," says Dr. Wing, "were found among the native population of 
this valley.  There were indeed some both in civil and in 
ecclesiastical life who questioned whether they had a right to break 
the oath or vow of allegiance which they had taken on assuming some 
official station.  Even those were seldom prepared to go so far as to 
give actual aid and comfort to the enemy, or to make positive 
resistance to the efforts of the patriots.  They usually contented 
themselves with a negative withdrawal from all participation in efforts 
at independence.  Many of them were earnest supporters of all movements 
for redress of grievances, and paused only when they were asked to 
support what they looked upon as rebellion.  These hardly deserved the 
name of "tories," since they were not the friends of extreme royal 
prerogative, and only doubted whether the colonies were authorized by 
what they had suffered to break entirely away from the crown to which 
they had sworn allegiance, and whether the people were yet able to 
maintain this separate position.  Among these who deserved rather to be 
ranked as non-

80  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

jurors were one of the first judges of the county, who had recently 
removed over the mountain to what is now Perry County, and two 
clergymen who held commissions as missionaries of the 'Venerable 
Society in England for the Propagation of Religion in Foreign Parts.'"
  James Wilson, of Cumberland County, was in December, 1774, appointed 
one of nine delegates to a second Congress to be held the next year in 
Philadelphia, and held the position until 1777.  Both he and Robert 
Magaw were members from this county of the provincial convention which 
met at Philadelphia January 23, 1775, and continued in session six 
days, during which time much business of great importance was 
transacted.
  Upon receipt of the news of the battle of Lexington (April 19, 1775), 
Congress resolved to raise an army, and the quota of Pennsylvania was 
figured at 4,300.  Word was sent to the committee of Cumberland County, 
and they proceeded at once to organize companies of "associators," many 
of which were already formed on the old plan in use since the days of 
the Indian troubles.  A letter from this county dated May 6, 1775, 
said:  "Yesterday the county committee met from nineteen townships, on 
the short notice they had.  About 8,000 men have already associated.  
The arms returned amount to about 1,500.  The committee have voted 500 
effective men, besides commissioned officers, to be immediately 
drafted, taken into pay, armed and disciplined to march on the first 
emergency; to be paid and supported as long as necessary, by a tax on 
all estates real and personal in the county; the returns to be taken by 
the township committees, and the tax laid by the commissioners and the 
assessors; the pay of the officers and men as in times past.  This 
morning we met again at 8 o'clock; among other subjects of inquiry the 
mode of drafting or taking into pay, arming and victualing immediately 
the men, and the choice of field and other officers, will among other 
matters be the subjects of deliberation.  The strength or spirit of 
this county perhaps may appear small if judged by the number of men 
proposed, but when it is considered that we are ready to raise 1,500 or 
2,000, should we have support from the province, and that independently 
and in uncertain expectation of support we have voluntarily drawn upon 
this county a debt of about 27,000L. per annum, I hope we shall not 
appear contemptible.  We make great improvement in military discipline.  
It is yet uncertain who may go."
  From July 3, 1775, to July 22, 1776, John Montgomery, Esq., of 
Carlisle, was an active and a prominent member of a committee of 
safety, consisting of twenty-five men from different parts of the 
province, sitting permanently at Philadelphia, and having management of 
the entire military affairs of the province.  The first troops sent out 
from Cumberland County, were under the call of Congress in May, 1775, 
and were from the association companies, the call by the committee of 
safety not being made until some months later.  To furnish arms and 
ammunition for the soldiers was the greatest difficulty, especially in 
Cumberland County.  "Each person in the possession of arms was called 
upon to deliver them up at a fair valuation, if he could not himself 
enlist with them.  Rifles, muskets, and other fire-arms were thus 
obtained to the amount of several hundred, and an armory was 
established for the repairing and altering of these, in Carlisle.  On 
hearing that a quantity of arms and accoutrements had been left at the 
close of the Indian war at the house of Mr. Carson, in Paxtang 
Township, and had remained there without notice or care, the 
commissioners of Cumberland County, regarding them as public property, 
sent for them and found about sixty or seventy muskets or rifles which 
were capable of being put to use, and those were brought to Carlisle, 
repaired 

81  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

and distributed.  Three hundred pounds were also paid for such arms and 
equipments as were collected from individuals who could not themselves 
come forward as soldiers.  All persons who were not associated, and yet 
were of the age and ability for effective service, were to be reported 
by the assessors to the county commissioners and assessed, in addition 
to the regular tax, 2L. 10s. annually, in lieu of the time which others 
spent in military training.  The only persons excepted were ministers 
of the gospel and servants purchased for a valuable consideration of 
any kind.  It was assumed that those who had conscientious scruples 
about personally bearing arms ought not to hesitate to contribute a 
reasonable share of the expense for the protection they received."
  The first troops going out from Cumberland made up eight companies 
of, generally, 100 each, and nearly all from the county.  The regiment, 
which became the First Rifle Regiment of Pennsylvania, was formed of 
men already associated, and therefore the more easily organized for 
immediate service.  It was formed within ten days after the news of the 
battle of Bunker Hill had been received.  The companies rendezvoused at 
Reading, where the regiment was fully organized by the election of 
officers as follows:  Col. William Thompson, a surveyor who lived near 
Carlisle and had served with distinction as an officer in the Indian 
war; Lieut. Col. Edward Hand, of Lancaster; Maj. Robert Magaw, of 
Carlisle.  The captains of the several companies were James Chambers, 
of Loudon Forge, near Chambersburg; Robert Cluggage, of Hamilton 
Township; Michael Doudel, William Hendricks, of East Pennsborough; John 
Loudon, James Ross, Matthew Smith and George Nagle.  Surgeon - Dr. 
William Magaw, of Mercersburg, a brother to Robert. Chaplain - Rev. 
Samuel Blair.  The regiment marched directly to Boston, reaching camp 
at Cambridge in the beginning of August, 1775, when it consisted of 3 
field officers, 9 Captains, 27 lieutenants, 1 adjutant, 1 
quartermaster, 1 surgeon, 1 surgeon's mate, 29 Sergeants, 13 drummers 
and 713 privates fit for duty, or 798 men all told.  The officers were 
commissioned to date from June 15, 1775; term of enlistment, one year.  
This was the first regiment from west of the Hudson to reach the camp, 
and received particular attention.  They were thus described by a 
contemporary:  "They are remarkably stout and vigorous men, many of 
them exceeding six feet in height.  They are dressed in white frocks or 
rifle shirts and round hats.  They are remarkable for the accuracy of 
their aim, striking a mark with great certainty at 200 yards distance.  
At a review a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their 
balls into objects of seven inches in diameter at a distance of 250 
yards.  They are stationed in our outlines, and their shots have 
frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers who exposed 
themselves to view even at more than double the distance of a common 
musket shot."  Col. Thompson, with two of his companies under Capts. 
Smith and Hendricks, went with the expedition to Canada, being probably 
part of the troops who went on the eastern route with Arnold.  December 
31, 1775, they were in the assault on Quebec, carried the barriers, and 
for three hours held out against a greatly superior force, being 
finally compelled to retire.  Of the body to which this regiment 
belonged, Gen. Richard Montgomery said:  "It is an exceedingly fine 
corps, inured to fatigue and well accustomed to common shot, having 
served at Cambridge.  There is a style of discipline amongst them much 
superior to what I have been accustomed to see in this campaign."
  By subsequent promotions Col. Thompson became a brigadier-general; 
Lieut.-Col. Hand succeeded to the command of the regiment; Capt. 
Chambers became lieutenant-colonel, and James Armstrong Wilson, of 
Carlisle, major, in place of Robert Magaw, transferred.  Part of the 
regiment was captured at 

82  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Trois Rivieres and taken to New York, while Col. Hand barely escaped 
with the balance.  Gen. Thompson was finally paroled and sent home to 
his family in 1777, but was not exchanged until October 26, 1780, when 
he and others were exchanged for Maj.-Gen. De Reidesel, of the 
Brunswick troops.  He died on his farm near Carlisle September 3, 1781, 
aged forty-five years, and his death was undoubtedly hastened by 
exposure while in a military prison.
  Upon the expiration of the term of enlistment of this regiment, June 
30, 1776, most of the officers and men re-enlisted "for three years or 
during the war," under Col. Hand, and the battalion became the first 
regiment of the Continental line.  The two separated parts of the 
regiment, one from Cambridge and the other from Canada, were reunited 
at New York, though some of its officers, like Magaw, were transferred 
by promotion to other portions of the army.  It was at Long Island, 
White Plains, Trenton and Princeton under Hand.  In April, 1777, Hand 
was made a brigadier, and James Chambers became the colonel.  Under him 
the regiment fought at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and in every 
other battle and skirmish of the main army until he retired from the 
service, January 1, 1781, and was succeeded by Col. Daniel Broadhead 
May 26, 1781.  With him the first regiment left York, Penn., with five 
others into which the line was consolidated under the command of Gen. 
Wayne, and joined Lafayette at Raccoon Ford on the Rappahannock June 
10; fought at Green Springs on July 6, and opened the second parallel 
at Yorktown, which Gen. Steuben said he considered the most important 
part of the siege.  After the surrender the regiment went southward 
with Gen. Wayne, fought the last battle of the war at Sharon, Ga., May 
24, 1782, entered Savannah in triumph on the 11th of July, Charleston 
on the 14th of December, 1782; was in camp on James Island, S. C., on 
the 11th of May, 1783, and only when the news of the cessation of 
hostilities reached that point was embarked for Philadelphia.  In its 
services it traversed every one of the original thirteen States of the 
Union.  Capt. Hendricks fell during the campaign in Canada.  A few of 
the original members of the regiment were with it through all the 
various scenes of the eight years of service.  Col. Chambers and Maj. 
Wilson both retired from the service because of wounds which 
incapacitated them from duty.  The regiment had a splendid record.
  Additional regiments from Pennsylvania were called for by Congress in 
the latter part of 1775, and the Second, Third and Fourth Battalions 
were raised and placed under the command of Cols. Arthur St. Clair, 
John Shea and Anthony Wayne.  The Fifth Battalion was commanded by 
Robert Magaw, who had been major in the First, and was composed of 
companies principally from Cumberland County.  It was recruited in 
December, 1775, and January, 1776, and in February, 1776, some of its 
companies were in Philadelphia, though the main body of the regiment 
that Cumberland County in March.  It departed from Carlisle March 17, 
1776, on which occasion Rev. William Linn, who had been licensed to 
preach by the Presbytery of Carlisle, and had been appointed Chaplain 
of the Fifth and Sixth Battalions of Pennsylvania militia, delivered a 
stirring patriotic sermon, which has been preserved in print to the 
present day.  The command proceeded to Long Island, assisted in the 
construction of defenses, and upon the retreat assisted other 
Pennsylvania regiments in covering the same.  They were afterward 
placed in Fort Washington at the head of Manhattan Island, with other 
Pennsylvania troops, commanded by such officers as Cols. Cadwallader, 
Atlee, Swope, Frederick Watts (of Carlisle) and John Montgomery, the 
whole commanded by Col. Robert Magaw.  Gen. Howe demanded the surrender 
of the fort, threatening dire consequences if it had to be carried by 
assault.  Col. Magaw replied that "he doubted 

83  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Portrait of Wm. W. Dale, M. D.

84  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Blank Page

85  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

whether a threat so unworthy of the General and of the British nation 
would be executed."  "But," said he, "give me leave to assure your 
excellency that, actuated by the most glorious cause that mankind ever 
fought in, I am determined to defend this post to the very last 
extremity."  And that he did, Washington witnessing part of the 
operations from the opposite side of the Hudson.  Finally, however, 
November 19, 1776, the gallant colonel was compelled to capitulate, and 
the strong position, with 2,818 men, fell into the hands of the 
British.  Col. Magaw remained a prisoner on parole until October 25, 
1780, when, with Gens. Thompson and Laurens he was exchanged for the 
British major-general, De Reidesel.  Many of Magaw's men suffered 
greatly in the British prisons, but they refused all temptations held 
out to induce them to desert and enlist in the royal service.  A few 
were exchanged in 1777, but most remained prisoners until nearly the 
close of the war.
  The committee of correspondence for Cumberland County wrote to 
Congress about the middle of August, 1775:  "The twelfth company of our 
militia has marched to-day, which companies contain in the whole, 833 
privates; with officers, nearly 900 men.  Six companies more are 
collecting arms, and are preparing to march."  This committee of 
correspondence included, among others, John Armstrong, John Byers, 
Robert Miller, John Agnew and James Pollock; all but Byers residents of 
Carlisle.  (Mr. Miller, in 1768 until 1782, and later, according to the 
records, owned a tan-yard, and he also is said to have been a merchant.  
He was an elder in the church and held numerous offices.  His daughter, 
Margaret, married Maj. James Armstrong Wilson.)  The committee reported 
in December, to the committee of safety, that they expected to be able 
to raise an entire battalion in the county, and hoped they might be 
allowed to do so, in order to do away with the discords generally 
prevalent among bodies of men promiscuously recruited.  They 
recommended as officers for such a regiment, colonel, William Irvine; 
lieutenant-colonel, Ephraim Blaine; major, James Dunlap; captains, 
James Byers, S. Hay, W. Alexander, J. Talbott, J. Wilson, J. Armstrong, 
A. Galbreath and R. Adams; lieutenants, A. Parker, W. Bratton, G. 
Alexander, P. Jack, S. McClay, S. McKenney, R. White and J. McDonald.  
The Sixth Regiment was accordingly organized, and William Irvine 
received his commission as colonel, January 9, 1776.  Changes were made 
in the other officers, and they were as follows:  lieutenant-colonel, 
Thomas Hartley, of York; major, James Dunlap, who lived near Newburg; 
adjutant, John Brooks; captains, Samuel Hay, Robert Adams, Abraham 
Smith (of Lurgan), William Rippey (resided near Shippensburg), James A. 
Wilson, David Grier, Moses McLean and Jeremiah Talbott (of 
Chambersburg).  The regiment marched in three months after Col. Irvine 
was commissioned, and joined the army before Quebec, in Canada.  It was 
brigaded with the First, Second and Fourth Regiments; the brigade being 
commanded first by Gen. Thomas, and after his death, by Gen. Sullivan.  
The latter sent Col. Irvine and Gen. Thompson on the disastrous Trois 
Rivieres campaign, when, June 8, 1776, so many of the men were 
captured, together with the commanders.  The portion of the regiment 
that escaped capture fell back to Lake Champlain and wintered under 
command of Lieut.-Col. Hartley.  Most of the men re-enlisted after 
their original term of service had expired (January 1, 1777), and the 
broken Sixth and Seventh Regiments were consolidated into a new one 
under the command of Col. David Greer.  Col. Irvine, like the others on 
parole, was exchanged May 6, 1777, and appointed colonel of the Second 
Pennsylvania Regiment.  May 12, 1779, he was made a brigadier-general, 
and served one or two years under Gen. Wayne.  In 1781 he was stationed 
at Fort Pitt.  He died at Philadelphia July 29, 1804.  Capt. Rippey, 
who was captured at Trois Rivieres, 

86  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

succeeded in making his escape.  After the war he resided at 
Shippensburg, where he kept a hotel.
  May 15, 1776, Congress passed a resolution recommending "to the 
respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no 
government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs has been 
hitherto established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion 
of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and 
safety of their constituents in particular and America in general."  On 
the 3d of June, that body also devised measures for raising a new kind 
of troops, constituting them the "flying camp," intermediate between 
militia and regulars, to consist of 10,000 men from the States of 
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.  The quota of Pennsylvania was 
6,000 men, but as 1,500 had already been sent into the field, the 
immediate demand was for 4,500, and it was finally settled that the 
quota of Cumberland county was 334, as so many had already been sent 
out from said county.  Meantime, the Assembly having dissolved, and the 
committee of safety declining to act, it became necessary for the 
people to organize some form of government, and on recommendation the 
several county committees met and sent delegates, for that purpose, to 
a meeting held at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, June 18, 1776.  
Cumberland County was represented by James McLane, of Antrim Township; 
John McClay, of Lurgan; William Elliot, Col. William Clark and Dr. John 
Calhoon, of East Pennsborough; John Creigh and John Harris, of 
Carlisle; Hugh McCormick and Hugh Alexander, of Middle Spring.  This 
conference continued in session one week, approved the resolutions of 
Congress, declared the existing government in the province incompetent, 
and appointed the 15th of July as the date for holding a convention at 
Philadelphia to frame a new government based upon the authority of the 
people.  Voting places for delegates from Cumberland County, were 
established at Carlisle, with Robert Miller and James Gregory, of that 
town, and Benjamin Blyth, of Middle Spring, as judges of election; at 
Chambersburg, with John Allison and James Maxwell and John Baird as 
judges; at Robert Campbell's, in Hamilton Township, with William Brown, 
Alex Morrow and James Taylor as judges.  The election was held July 8, 
and William Harris, then practicing law at Carlisle, William Clark, 
William Duffield (near Loudon); Hugh Alexander, of Middle Spring; 
Jonathan Hoge and Robert Whitehill, of East Pennsborough; James Brown, 
of Carlisle, and James McLane, of Antrim, were chosen delegates.  The 
convention met per appointment, July 15, and adopted a constitution, 
which in spite of some informalities, was acquiesced in by the people 
for a number of years.  Among other acts of the convention it appointed 
a council of safety, of which William Lyon was a member from Cumberland 
County.
  George Chambers, in an excellent work upon the "Irish and Scotch and 
Early Settlers of Pennsylvania," published at Chambersburg in 1856, 
says of the period at which we have now arrived:  "The progress of the 
war and the oppressive exactions of the British Government after a few 
months unsettled public opinion on this question [that of separation 
from the mother country, Ed.] and the necessity and policy of 
independence became a debatable question with the colonists in their 
social meetings.  At this time there were no newspapers published in 
Pennsylvania, we believe, west of York.  The freemen of the County of 
Cumberland, in this province, were amongst the first to form the 
opinion that the safety and welfare of the colonies did render 
separation from the mother country necessary.  The first public 
expression of that sentiment and its embodiment in a memorial emanated 
from the freemen and inhabitants of that county to the assembly of the 
province and is among the national archives."  Mr. Chambers in further 
speaking of this memorial says:  "The me-

87  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

morial from Cumberland County bears evidence that the inhabitants of 
that county were in advance of their representatives in the Assembly 
and in Congress, on the subject of independence.  The considerations 
suggested to them had their influence on the Assembly, who adopted the 
petition of the memorialists and withdrew the instructions that had 
been given to the delegates in Congress in opposition to independence.  
As the Cumberland memorial was presented to the Assembly on the 23d* of 
May, 1776, it probably had occupied the attention and consideration of 
the inhabitants of the Cumberland Valley early in that month.  As there 
was no remonstrance from this district by any dissatisfied with the 
purposes of the memorial we are to suppose that it expressed the public 
sentiment of that large, respectable and influential district of the 
province which had then many officers and men in the ranks of the 
Continental Army."
  When in Congress the motion for independence was finally acted upon, 
the vote of Pennsylvania was carried for it by the deciding vote of 
James Wilson, of Cumberland County, and of him Bancroft says (History 
of the United States Vol. VIII, pp. 456-459):  "He had at an early day 
foreseen independence as the probable, though not the intended result 
of the contest:  he had uniformly declared in his place that he never 
would vote for it contrary to his instructions; nay, that he regarded 
it as something more than presumption to take a step of such importance 
without express instructions and authority.  'For' said he, 'ought this 
act to be the act of four or five individuals, or should it be the act 
of the people of Pennsylvania?'  But now that their authority was 
communicated by the conference of committees he stood on very different 
ground."  Mr. Chambers says:  "The majority of the Pennsylvania 
delegates remained inflexible in their unwillingness to vote for the 
measure, at the head of which opposition was the distinguished patriot, 
John Dickinson, who opposed the measure not as bad or uncalled for, but 
as premature.  But when on the 4th of July the subject came up for 
final action, two of the Pennsylvania delegates, Dickinson and Morris, 
who voted in the negative, absented themselves, and the vote of 
Pennsylvania was carried by the votes of Franklin, Wilson and Morton 
against the votes of Willing and Humphreys.  The men who voted in 
opposition to this measure were esteemed honest and patriotic men but 
were too timid for the crisis.  They faltered and shrank from 
responsibility and danger when they should have been firm and brave."  
The Declaration of Independence though adopted on the 4th of July was 
not signed until August 16 following.  The name of James Wilson was 
affixed to the document with those of the other delegates, and 
Cumberland County has the satisfaction of knowing that her citizens and 
foremost men had an important voice in the formation of the Republic 
which is now so dear to more than 50,000,000 people.
  After this step had been taken by the colonies there was no way of 
honorable retreat from the ground they had taken.  The struggle was 
upon them, and many were the dark and trying hours before it closed in 
their favor and the nation was firmly established.  It was with 
difficulty the ranks were kept full.  Many had enlisted for only one 
year, and some as emergency soldiers for as short a period as three 
months.  The appeals of the recruiting officers are described as most 
stirring, and the county of Cumberland, like others, was kept in a 
constant state of excitement.  By strenuous efforts the flagging energy 
of the people was renewed.  October 16, 1776, William Lyon, who that 
day took his seat as member from Cumberland County of the council of 
safety, proposed to the board of war to continue a larger force in the 
State, to protect it both against British troops and "the growing party 
of disaffected persons which unhappily exists at this time," also to 
carry on the necessary

  *Other authority says May 28. 

88  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

works of defense.  It was resolved to raise four battalions of 500 men 
each (for the immediate defense of the State), of militia from the 
counties of York, Cumberland, Lancaster and Berks - one battalion for 
each county.  The news from Trenton (December 3, 1776) and Princton 
(January 3, 1777) encouraged the people and recruiting became more 
lively.  July 4, 1776, a military convention representing the fifty-
three associated battalions of Pennsylvania, met at Lancaster and chose 
two brigadier-generals to command the battalions and forces of 
Pennsylvania (Daniel Robardeau, of Philadelphia, and James Ewing, of 
York).  Cumberland County was represented at this convention by Col. 
John Armstrong; Lieut.-Cols. William Blair, William Clark and Frederick 
Watts, Maj. James McCalmont; Capts. Rev. John Steel, Thomas McClelland, 
John Davis, James McFarlane and George Robinson, and privates David 
Hoge, Ephraim Steel, Smith, Pauling, Brown, Sterrett, Hamilton, Read, 
Finley, and Vance.  When the "Flying Camp" was formed, two regiments 
had been organized in Cumberland County under Cols. Frederick Watts and 
John Montgomery, of Carlisle, and sent to Washington at Long Island; 
they were captured with others at Fort Washington, but the officers 
were soon exchanged and later commanded regiments under a new 
arrangement.  We quote at considerable length from Dr. Wing:
  "When Gen. Howe appeared to be about crossing New Jersey to get 
possession of Philadelphia by land (June 14, 1776), messengers were 
dispatched to the counties to give orders that the second class of the 
associated militia should march as speedily as possible to the place to 
which the first class had been ordered, and that the third class should 
be got in readiness to march at a moment's notice.  These orders were 
at once complied with, but before the companies from this county had 
started, the order was countermanded on account of the return of the 
British troops to New York.  It soon, however, became known that the 
approach to Philadelphia was to be by transports up Chesapeake Bay and 
Delaware River, and a requisition was made upon the State for 4,000 
militia in addition to those already in the field.  One class, 
therefore, was again ordered from the county.  On the 5th of October, 
1776, the council of safety resolved to throw into the new continental 
establishment two of the three Pennsylvania battalions, before in that 
service, to serve during the war, and the third was to be retained in 
the service of the State until the 1st of January, 1778, unless sooner 
discharged, and to consist of ten companies of 100 men each, including 
officers.  The privates of the three battalions were to continue in the 
service of the State, the officers according to seniority to have the 
choice of entering into either, and the two battalions to be recruited 
to their full complement of men as speedily as possible.  By this new 
arrangement Pennsylvania was to keep twelve battalions complete in the 
Continental service.  Of course this broke up all previous 
organizations, and renders it difficult to trace the course of the old 
companies.  We have seen that on the 16th of August thirteen companies 
fully officered and equipped had left the county for the seat of war, 
and six others were preparing to go.  The regiments of Cols. Thompson, 
Irvine and Magaw, we have noticed, and two or three others must have 
been in existence about this time.  One of these was commanded by Col. 
Frederick Watts and Maj. David Mitchell, and another by John 
Montgomery, who after the dissolution of the committee of safety, July 
22, 1776, appears to have taken charge of a regiment.  Both of these 
regiments were at the taking of Fort Washington and were then captured.  
One of the volunteer companies under Col. Watts, after the latter had 
been set at liberty and been put again at the head of a regiment, was 
commanded by Capt. Jonathan Robinson, of Sherman's Valley, the son of 
George Robinson, who suffered so much in the 

89  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Indian war, and who now, though above fifty years of age, had entered 
the patriot army.  This company was in the battle of Princeton, and was 
for some time stationed at that town to guard against the British and 
to act as scouts to intercept their foraging parties.  Near the close 
of the year 1776, or the beginning of 1777, battalions began to be 
designated by numbers in their respective counties and are made of the 
First, Second, Third, etc., of Cumberland County.  This was under the 
new organization of the militia of the State.  The first was organized 
in January, 1777, when 'Col. Ephraim Blaine of the First Battalion of 
Cumberland County militia is directed to hold an election for field 
officers in the said battalion, if two-thirds of the battalion, now 
marched and marching to camp, require the same.'  Accordingly the 
Colonel was furnished with blank commissions to fill when the officers 
should be chosen.  Capts. Samuel Postlethwaite, Matthias Selers, John 
Steel, William Chambers and John Boggs are mentioned in the minutes of 
the council of safety as connected with this regiment.  Col. Blaine's 
connection with the regiment must have been brief, for he was soon 
transferred to the commissary department, and we find it under the 
command of Col. James Dunlap (from near Newburg, and a ruling elder in 
the congregation of Middle Spring), Lieut.-Col. Robert Culbertson, and 
connected with three companies from what is now Franklin County, viz.:  
those of Capts. Noah Abraham of Path Valley, Patrick Jack of Hamilton 
Township and Charles McClay of Lurgan.  The Second Battalion was at 
first under the command of Col. John Allison, a justice of the peace in 
Tyrone Township, over the mountains, and a judge of the county, but 
after his retirement (for he was now past middle life) it was for 
awhile under the command of Col. James Murray, and still later we find 
it under John Davis, of Middleton, near the Conodoguinet.  Under him 
were the companies of Capts. William Huston, Charles Leeper (of the 
Middle Spring congregation), James Crawford, Patrick Jack (sometimes 
credited to this regiment), Samuel Royal and Lieut. George Wallace.  
While this regiment was under marching orders for Amboy, near January 
1, 1777, they took from such persons as were not associated, in Antrim 
and Peters Township, whatever arms were found in their possession, to 
be paid for according to appraisement by the Government.  The Fourth 
Battalion was under Col. Samuel Lyon, and had in it the companies of 
Capts. John Purdy, of East Pennsborough, James McConnel, of 
Letterkenny, and, in 1778, of Jonathan Robinson, of Sherman's Valley; 
Stephen Stevenson, who was at first a lieutenant but afterward became a 
captain.  The Fifth Battalion was commanded by Col. Joseph Armstrong, a 
veteran of the Indian war and of the expedition to Kittanning, and in 
1756-57, a member of the Colonial Assembly.  Most of this regiment was 
raised in Hamilton, Letterkenny and Lurgan Townships, and its companies 
at different times were under Capts, John Andrew, Robert Culbertson 
(for a time), Samuel Patton, John McConnel, Conrad Snider, William 
Thompson, Charles McClay (at one period), James McKee, James Gibson, 
John Rea, Jonathan Robinson, George Matthews and John Boggs.  John 
Murphy was a lieutenant and John Martin ensign.  Capt. McClay's men are 
said to have been over six feet in height and to have numbered 100, and 
the whole regiment was remarkable for its vigor and high spirit.  It 
suffered severely at the battle of "Crooked Billet," in Berks County, 
May 4, 1778, when Gen. ____y was surprised and many of his men were 
butchered without mercy.  The Sixth Battalion was commanded by Col. 
Samuel Culbertson, who had been a lieutenant-colonel in the First but 
was promoted to the command of the Sixth.  John Work was the 
lieutenant-colonel; James McCammont, major; John Wilson, adjutant; 
Samuel Finley, quartermaster, and Richard Brownson, surgeon, and 
Patrick Jack, Samuel Pat-

90  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

ton, James Patterson, Joseph Culbertson, William Huston, Robert McCoy 
and John McConnel were at some periods captains.
  "As the period for which the enlistments about this time, when the 
invasion of Pennsylvania was imminent, was usually limited to six 
months and sometimes even to three and two months, we need not be 
surprised to find that at different times the same men and officers 
served in two or three different regiments.  As an instance J. Robinson 
says that he entered the service a number of times on short enlistments 
of two or three months, and was placed in different regiments and 
brigades.  The Seventh Battalion is believed to have consisted of 
remnants of the old Fifth and Sixth Continental Regiments, and was 
commanded by Col. William Irvine.  These soldiers re-entered the 
service as the Seventh Battalion in March, 1777, and were under the 
command of its major, David Grier, until the release of Irvine from his 
parole as a prisoner of war (May 6, 1777).  In 1779 Col. Irvine was 
commissioned a brigadier, and served under Gen. Wayne, but before this 
(July 5, 1777) Abraham Smith, of Lurgan Township, was elected colonel.  
Among the captains were William Rippey; Samuel Montgomery, who became 
captain of Smith's company when the latter was promoted; John 
Alexander, before a lieutenant in Smith's company; Alexander Parker; 
Jeremiah Talbott, who in the latter part of the year 1777 was promoted 
a major in the Sixth, and served in that position until the close of 
the war.  He was the first sheriff of Franklin County (October, 1784) 
and was twice re-elected.  The Eighth Battalion was commanded by 
Abraham Smith, who was chosen July 6, 1777, probably from Lurgan, and a 
member of the congregation of Middle Spring.  Its officers were largely 
taken from a single remarkable family in Antrim Township.  The head of 
this family had settled very early, about 1735, two and a half miles 
east of where Greencastle now is, and had died near 1755, leaving a 
large property and four sons.  Each of these sons entered the army.  
The eldest, James, was a lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Battalion, 
but afterward was the colonel of a battalion during a campaign in New 
Jersey.  John, the youngest, was the major, and Thomas, the second son, 
was adjutant, and was present at the slaughter at Paoli, September 20, 
1777, but survived to be promoted to a colonelcy and lived till about 
1819.  Dr. Robert, the other brother, was a surgeon in Col. Irvine's 
regiment, was in the South during the latter years of the war, was at 
the surrender of Yorktown, in October, 1781, and in 1790 was an excise 
collector for Franklin County.  Terrence Campbell was the 
quartermaster.  The captains were Samuel Roger, John Jack, James Poe 
and John Rea, who afterward became a brigadier-general.
  "Besides these we have notices of several companies, regiments and 
officers, whose number and position in the service is not given in any 
account we have seen.  Early in the war James Wilson and John 
Montgomery were appointed colonels, and in the battalion of the former 
are mentioned the companies of Capts. Thomas Clarke and Thomas Turbitt.  
Montgomery was in the army at New York in 1776, and was at the 
surrender of Fort Washington, but both he and Wilson were soon called 
into the civil department of the service, and do not appear in the army 
after that year.  Besides them were Cols. Robert Callender, of 
Middlesex, now in advance life, whose death early in the war deprived 
his country of his valuable services; James Armstrong, Robert Peoples, 
James Gregory, Arthur Buchanan, Benjamin Blythe, Abraham Smith, Isaac 
Miller and William Scott.  Among the captains, whom we are unable to 
locate in any particular regiment, at least for any considerable time, 
were Joseph Brady, Thomas Beale, Matthew Henderson, Samuel McCune 
(under Col. William Clarke for awhile, and at Ticonderoga), Isaac 
Miller, David Mc-

91  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Knight, Alexander Trindle, Robert Quigley, William Strain, Samuel 
Kearsley, Samuel Blythe, Samuel Walker, William Blaine, Joseph Martin, 
James Adams, Samuel Erwin and Peter Withington.  One of the companies 
which were early mustered into the service was that of Capt. William 
Peebles.  The officers' commissions were dated somewhere between the 
9th and the 15th of March, near the time at which Magaw's regiment left 
the county.  The company was in Philadelphia August 17, and was then 
said to consist of eighty-one riflemen.  It was in the battle of Long 
Island, August 27, when a portion was captured, and the remainder were 
in the engagements at White Plains, Trenton and Princeton.  On his 
return from the war Capt. Peebles resided on Peebles' Run, a little 
distance from Newburg, and was for many years an elder in the 
congregation at Middle Spring.  He was promoted to be a colonel 
September 23, 1776.  Matthew Scott was the first-lieutenant, and among 
the captured at Long Island, but he was exchanged December 8, 1776, and 
promoted captain, April 18, 1777.  He married Peggy, the daughter of 
Samuel Lamb, a stonemason near Stony Ridge, who long survived him and 
was living in Mechanicsburg in 1845.  The family of Mr. Lamb was 
distinguished for its ardent patriotism.  The second lieutenant was 
Robert Burns, promoted to be a captain in Col. Hazen's regiment 
December 21, 1776.  The third lieutenant was Robert Campble, also 
promoted to be a captain at the same time in the same regiment, and 
when wounded was transferred to an invalid regiment under Lewis 
Nichola.  The sergeants were Samuel Kenny, William McCracken, Patrick 
Highland (captured), and Joseph Collier.  James Carson, drummer and 
Edward Lee, fifer, were also captured at Long Island August 27, 1776.  
The privates were William Adams, Zachariah Archer, William Armstrong, 
James Atchison (captured), Thomas Beatty, Henry Bourke, William Boyd, 
Daniel Boyle (enlisted for two years, discharged at Valley Forge July 
1, 1778, and in 1824 resided in Armstrong County), James Brattin, John 
Brown, Robert Campble, John Carrigan, William Carson, William Cavan, 
Henry Dibbins, Pat Dixon, Samuel Dixon (captured), Barnabas Dougherty, 
James Dowds, John Elliott, Charles Fargner, Daniel Finley, Pat Flynn, 
James Galbreath, Thomas Gilmore, Dagwell Hawn, John Hodge, Charles 
Holder, Jacob Hove, John Jacobs, John Justice, John Keating, John Lane, 
Peter Lane, Samuel Logan, Robert McClintock, Alexander McCurdy, Hugh 
McKegney, Andrew McKinsey, Charles McKowen, Niel McMullen, Alex. 
Mitchell, John Mitchell, (justice of the peace in Cumberland County in 
1821), Laurence Morgan, Samuel Montgomery, William Montgomery, David 
Moore, James Moore, John Moore, James Mortimer, Robert Mullady, Patrick 
Murdaugh, John Niel, James Nickleson, Robert Nugent, Richard Orput, 
John Paxton, Robert Pealing, James Pollock, Hans Potts, Patrick 
Quigley, John Quinn, Andrew Ralston, James Reily, Thomas Rogers 
(captured on Long Island, died in New Jersey, leaving a widow, who 
resided in Chester County), James Scroggs, Andrew Sharpe, Thomas 
Sheerer, John Shields, John Skuse, Thomas Townsend, Patten Viney, John 
Walker, John Wallace, Thomas Wallace, William Weatherspoon (captain), 
Peter Weaver, Robert Wilson and Hugh Woods.  Total of officers ten, and 
of privates, eighty.
  "A company of rangers from the borders of this county, who had been 
accustomed in the Indian wars to act under James Smith, also deserves 
notice.  He had now removed to the western part of the State, and was a 
member of the Assembly from Westmoreland.  While attending on that body 
early in 1777, he saw in the streets of the city some of his former 
companions in forest adventure, from this region, and they immediately 
formed themselves into a company under him as their commander.  
Obtaining leave of absence for a short 

92  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

time from the assembly, he went with them to the army in New Jersey, 
attacked about 200 of the British, at Rocky Hill, and, with only 
thirty-six men, drove them from their position; and on another occasion 
took twenty-two Hessions with their officers' baggage-wagons, and a 
number of our Continental prisoners they were guarding.  In a few days 
they took more of the British than there were of their own party.  
Being taken with the camp fever Smith returned to the city, and the 
party was commanded by Maj. McCammont, of Strasburg.  He then applied 
to Gen. Washington for permission to raise a battalion of riflemen, all 
expert marksmen, and accustomed to the Indian method of fighting.  The 
council of safety strongly recommended the project, but the General 
thought it not best to introduce such an irregular element into the 
army, and only offered him a major's commission in a regular regiment.  
Not fancying the officer under whom he was to serve, he declined this, 
and remained for a time with his companions in the militia.  In 1778 he 
received a colonel's commission, and served with credit till the end of 
the war, principally on the western frontier.
  "Another partisan leader was Samuel Brady, originally from near 
Shippensburg, and among those who went first to Boston.  Though but 
sixteen years of age when he enlisted, in 1775, in a company of 
riflemen, he was one of the boldest and hardiest of that remarkable 
company.  At the battle of Monmouth he was made captain; at Princeton 
he was near being taken prisoner, but succeeded in effecting an escape 
for himself and his colonel, and in many places displayed an 
astonishing coolness and steadiness of courage.  He so often acted on 
special commissions to obtain intelligence that he became distinguished 
as the 'captain of the spies.'  In 1778 his brother, and in 1779 his 
father were cruelly killed by the Indians, and from that time it was 
said of him, 'this made him an Indian killer, and he never changed his 
business.  The red man never had a more implacable foe or a more 
relentless tracker.  Being as well skilled in woodcraft as any Indian 
of them all, he would trail them to their very lairs with all the 
fierceness and tenacity of the sleuth hound.'  During the whole 
sanguinary war with the Indians he gave up his whole time to lone 
vigils, solitary wanderings and terrible revenges.  He commenced his 
scouting service in 1780, when he was but twenty-one years old, and 
became a terror to the savages and a security to a large body of 
settlers.  He did not marry until about 1786, when he spent some years 
at West Liberty, in West Virginia, where he probably died about 1800.  
[See McKnight's "Western Border," pp. 426-442.]
  "The Patrick Jack who is mentioned more than once above as connected 
at different times with several regiments, was probably the same man 
who afterward became famous as the 'Wild Hunter, or Juniata Jack the 
Indian Killer.'  He was from Hamilton Township, and is said by George 
Croghan in 1755 to have been at the head of a company of hunter 
rangers, expert in Indian warfare, and clad, like their leader, in 
Indian attire.  They were therefore proposed to Gen. Braddock as proper 
persons to act as scouts, provided they were allowed to dress, march 
and fight as they pleased.  'They are well armed,' said Croghan, 'and 
are equally regardless of heat and cold.  They require no shelter for 
the night and ask no pay.'  It is said of him as of Brady that he 
became a bitter enemy of the Indians by finding his cabin one evening, 
on his return from hunting, 'a heap of smoldering ruins, and the 
blackened corpses of his murdered family scattered around.'  From that 
time he became a rancorous Indian hater and slayer.  When the 
Revolutionary war began he was among the first to enlist, and he 
afterward enlisted several times on short terms in various companies.  
He was of large size and stature, dark almost as an Indian, and stern 
and relentless to his foes.  John Armstrong in his ac-

93  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Portrait of R. Lowry Sibbet

94  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Blank Page

95  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

count of the Kittanning expedition, calls him 'the half Indian,' but he 
could have had no Indian blood in his veins.  His monument may been 
seen at Chambersburg, with this inscription:  'Colonel Patrick Jack, an 
officer of the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars - died January 25, 1821, 
aged ninety-one years.'"
  We shall now give a few of the important events of the war as 
relating to Cumberland County without going further into details.  In 
1778 George Stevenson, John Boggs, Joseph Brady and Alexander McGehan 
were appointed a committee to attend to estates forfeited for treason, 
and the commissioners for the county, James Pollock and Samuel Laird, 
were required to collect from non-associators the amounts they owed the 
State as a fair equivalent for military services, also to collect such 
arms and ammunition as may be found in their possession.  In September, 
1777, information had been given of plots by "tories" to destroy public 
stores at York, Lancaster, Carlisle and other points, and several 
prominent persons in the region were implicated.  "By a proclamation of 
the Supreme Executive Council, June 15, 1778, John Wilson, wheel-wright 
and husbandman, and Andrew Fursner, laborer, both of Allen Township; 
Lawrence Kelley, cooper; William Curlan, laborer; John M. Cart, 
distiller and laborer, and Francis Irwin, carter, of East Pennsborough; 
George Croghan, Alexander McKee, Simon Girty and Matthew Elliott, 
Indian traders were said severally to have aided and assisted the enemy 
by having joined the British Army, and were therefore attainted of high 
treason and subject to the penalties and forfeitures which were by law 
attached to their crime.  The committee on forfeited estates rendered 
an account of several hundred pounds which they had handed over to the 
proper officers to be used in the purchase of arms, provisions, etc., 
from which it would appear that some persons had been found guilty of 
treason in the county.  The names which have come down to us either by 
tradition or documentary evidence were usually of persons of no 
prominence, or of such as were then residing beyond the limits of the 
present county of Cumberland." -[Wing.]
  An act of the Supreme Executive Council passed March 17, 1777, 
provided for the appointment of one or more lieutenants of militia in 
each city or county, also of sub-lieutenants, with duties which the act 
prescribed.  John Armstrong and Ephraim Blaine were successively 
appointed lieutenants for Cumberland County, but both declined for 
sufficient reasons.  April 10, 1777, James Galbreath, of East 
Pennsborough Township, was appointed, and finally accepted the position 
and performed its duties faithfully.  He was succeeded by John 
Carothers, and he by Col. James Dunlap, in October, 1779.  Abraham 
Smith held the office in April, 1780.  The sub-lieutenants were Col. 
James Gregory, of Allen Township; Col. Benjamin Blythe, near Middle 
Spring; George Sharpe, near Big Spring; Col. Robert McCoy (died in May 
1777); John Harris of Carlisle; George Stewart, James McDowell, of 
Peters Township (in place of Col. McCoy), all appointed in 1777, and 
Col. Frederick Watts, Col. Arthur Buchanan, Thomas Buchanan, John 
Trindle, Col. Abraham Smith and Thomas Turbitt appointed in 1780.
  In June, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council appointed an entirely 
new board of justices for Cumberland County, as some of the old ones 
had failed to take the oath of allegiance required of them and several 
of the positions were vacant.  Those newly appointed were John Rannels 
(Reynolds), James Maxwell, James Oliver, John Holmes, John Agnew, John 
McClay, Samuel Lyon, William Brown, John Harris, Samuel Royer, John 
Anderson, John Creigh, Hugh Laird, Andrew McBeath, Thomas Kenny, 
Alexandria Laughlin, Samuel McClure, Patrick Vance, George Matthews, 
William McClure, Samuel Cul-

96  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

bertson, James Armstrong, John Work, John Trindle, Stephen Duncan, 
Ephraim Steel, William Brown (Carlisle), Robert Peebles, Henry Taylor, 
James Taylor, Charles Leeper, John Scouller, Matthew Wilson and David 
McClure.  November 5, 1777, John Agnew, on the nomination of these 
justices, was appointed a clerk of the peace, and February 20, 1779, a 
commissioner for the exchange of money.  These justices were required 
to "administer the oath of allegiance to every person who should vote 
for officers or enter upon any office either under the State government 
or under the Continental Congress."  From 1777 to 1779 Col. William 
Clark was paymaster of troops in Cumberland County.  In 1777 he 
reported concerning the destitute condition of the militia, and a 
committee was appointed consisting of John Boggs, Abraham Smith, John 
Andrew, William McClure, Samuel Williamson, James Purdy and William 
Blair "to collect without delay from such as have not taken the oath of 
allegiance and abjuration, or who have aided or assisted the enemy with 
arms or accoutrements, blankets, linen and linsey-wolsey cloth, shoes 
and stockings for the army."  Besides this committee, George Stevens, 
John Boggs and Joseph Brady were appointed commissioners "to seize upon 
the personal estates of all who have abandoned their families or 
habitations, joined the army of the enemy, or resorted to any city, 
town or place within the commonwealth in possession of the enemy, or 
supplied provisions, intelligence or aid for the enemy, or shall 
hereafter do such things; and they shall as speedily as possible 
dispose of all the perishable part thereof, and hold possession of all 
the remainder subject to the future disposition of the Legislature."
  Large numbers of wagons and teams and teamsters were employed to 
transport the great quantities of stores and supplies from place to 
place as necessary, and a special department was maintained for the 
organization and management of this service.  Cumberland County was 
required to furnish a large proportion of supplies, wagons and teams, 
and sent out at one time 200, at another 800, and at various times 
smaller numbers of wagons.  Hugh McCormick was appointed wagon-master 
in 1777, Matthew Gregg in 1778 and Robert Culbertson in 1780.  Dr. Wing 
states:  "In November, 1777, the assessment was upon East Pennsborough, 
Peters and Antrim Townships, each for twelve wagons and teams; Allen 
for eleven, Middleton, West Pennsborough, Newton, Hopewell, Lurgan, 
Letterkenny, Guilford and Hamilton each for ten.  Each wagon was to be 
accompanied by four horses, a good harness and one attendant, and the 
owner was paid thirty shillings in specie or forty in currency, 
according to the exchange agreed upon by Congress."
  Early in 1776 a number of British prisoners captured on the northern 
frontier and in the east were confined at Lancaster, but by order of 
congress they were removed in March, half to York and half to Carlisle.  
At that time Lieuts. Andre, Despard and Anstruther were taken to 
Carlisle; and, as stated by early writers, were confined in a stone 
building which stood on the east side of Hanover Street, on Lot 161.  
These prisoners were exchanged in the latter part of the same year, 
most of them being sent to New York, November 28, "under the escort of 
Lieut.-Col. John Creigh and Ephraim Steel, two members of the committee 
of inspection, with their servants and their servants' wives and their 
baggage, by way of Reading and Trenton to the nearest camp of the 
United States in New Jersey."  With the subsequent fate of Andre, 
promoted to captain and then to major, everybody is familiar.  A large 
number of the Hessians captured at Trenton, December 25, 1776, were 
sent to Carlisle, and while here were set at work building barracks, 
which became noted in later years as a school for cavalry training and 
in other ways, and stood on the site now occupied by the Indian school.

97  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  "About the 1st of August, 1777," says Dr. Wing, "John Penn, James 
Hamilton, Benjamin Chew, and about thirty others who had been officers 
under the royal and proprietary government, and declined to take the 
oath of allegiance to the new government, were arrested in 
Philadelphia, received by the sheriff of Reading and by the sheriff of 
Cumberland County, and escorted through this valley to Staunton, Va., 
where they were detained until near the conclusion of the war."
  In April, 1777, Gen. Armstrong, of Carlisle, was placed in command of 
the militia of the State; resigning his position as first brigadier-
general in the Continental Army, he was appointed first brigadier-
general and a month afterward major-general of the State of 
Pennsylvania.  Though advanced in years he entered vigorously upon the 
work of protecting the state against the enemy, and erected and 
maintained defensive works along the Delaware River.  Portions of his 
command did splendid service at Brandywine and Germantown.  Five 
hundred men or more enlisted and went to the fort from Cumberland 
County early in 1778.  The county was nearly bereft of men to carry on 
necessary business or to guard the prisoners which from time to time 
were sent to Carlisle.  It was difficult to provide arms and ammunition 
until France came to the aid of the colonies in 1778.  "Hence the 
efforts in the beginning of the conflict to establish at every 
available town shops for the manufacture of rifles, muskets and even 
cannon.  Old arms were repaired and altered so that even fowling-pieces 
could be used for deadlier purposes, and bayonets were prepared.  
Armories are spoken of in Carlisle and Shippensburg at which hundreds 
of rifles were got in readiness at one time.  A foundry was started at 
Mount Holly and perhaps at Boiling Springs, at which cannon were cast, 
and at which William Denning [Deming?] was known to have worked at his 
inventions.  Aware of the many failures which had followed all previous 
attempts, under the most favorable conditions, to make cannon of 
wrought iron; he is said to have persevered until he constructed at 
least two of such uniform quality and of such size and caliber as to 
have done good service in the American Army.  One of them is reported 
to have been taken by the British at the battle of Brandywine, and now 
kept as a trophy in the Tower of London, and another to have been for a 
long time and perhaps to be now, at the barracks near Carlisle.  
(William Denning was a resident of Chester County when the war broke 
out; enlisted in a company and was its second lieutenant for nine 
months; was a blacksmith by trade, and very ingenious; was placed at 
head of a band of artificers at Philadelphia, but removed to Carlisle 
upon the approach of the British Army; iron from the South Mountain was 
made into gunbarrels, bayonets, etc., and Denning had a chance to 
exercise his ingenuity to his greatest desire.  In welding the heavy 
bars of iron for bands and hoops to his wrought iron guns, few could be 
induced to assist him on account of the great heat.  He made four and 
six-pounders and attempted a twelve-pounder, but never completed it.  
He resided at Big Spring after the war, and died December 19, 1830, 
aged ninety-four years).  So great was the destitution of lead for 
bullets, that the council of safety requested all families possessing 
plates, weights for clocks or windows, or any other articles made of 
lead, to give them up the collectors appointed to demand them, with the 
promise that they should be replaced by substitutes of iron.  Payments 
were acknowledged for considerable quantities of lead thus collected in 
this county.  Every part of the county was explored to obtain Sulphur 
and other substances in sufficient quantities for the manufacture of 
gunpowder.  Jonathan Kearsley, of Carlisle, was for some months 
employed in learning the art and in the attempt to manufacture 
saltpeter out of earths impregnated with nitrous particles in 

98  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Dauphin County.  After nearly three months of experiments he wrote that 
the amount obtained was not sufficient to warrant his continuance at 
the work in that vicinity.  Common salt finally became so scarce that 
Congress took upon itself the business of supplying the people as well 
as the soldiers.  Before the construction of those vast establishments 
which have since been created for the manufacture of these articles, 
the whole population was dependent on foreign countries, and now were 
cut off from all importation of it.  Near the close of 1776 a law was 
passed against those who endeavored to monopolize the sale of salt, and 
a large purchase of it was made by Congress itself.  A certain portion 
was delivered to each householder who applied for it with an order from 
the county committee, 'on his paying the prime cost of 15 shillings a 
bushel, expenses of carriage only added.'"
  August 17, 1776, by authority of a resolution of the Assembly passed 
a month previous, the committee of inspection and observation for 
Cumberland County drew an order on the council of safety for 200L. for 
the relief of the poor families of associators called into service.  
The greater part of the grain raised in the county was sent away for 
supplies or distilled into liquor, and the men were so scarce it was 
difficult to harvest and thresh the grain.  Gen. Armstrong, noting this 
condition of affairs, wrote on the 17th of February, 1777:  "From the 
best information that I can get, the rye in both this and the county of 
York is almost all distilled, as is also considerable quantities of 
wheat, and larger still of the latter bought up for the same purpose; 
nor can we doubt that Lancaster and other counties are going on in the 
same destructive way, so that in a few months Pennsylvania may be 
scarce of bread for her own inhabitants.  Liquor is already 10 
shillings per gallon, wheat will immediately be the same per bushel, 
and if the complicated demon of avarice and infatuation is not suddenly 
changed or cast out, he will raise them each to twenty!"
  To Col. Ephraim Blaine, of Cumberland County, as assistant 
quartermaster-general, under Gen. Greene, quartermaster-general, was 
due great praise and much credit for his aid in times of financial 
depression during the war.  His flouring-mill on the Conodoguinet, near 
Carlisle, was enlarged and kept in operation to its utmost capacity for 
the benefit of the suffering army and without profit to himself.  His 
extensive fortune was ever at the disposal of his country, and by his 
earnest and careful management he kept the soldiers from actual 
starvation, more than once in the face of pronounced opposition to his 
measures.  His name became dear to his countrymen.  The schemes of 
Congress to provide money led to disastrous results, and many 
inhabitants of Cumberland County were very seriously embarrassed or 
completely broken up financially for years.  Many dark days were 
experienced by the people of the struggling republic during the war, 
and at times even mutiny and violence were advocated or attempted; the 
Indian troubles of 1778 and succeeding years brought to mind the 
terrible scenes of days gone by, and soldiers from the county were sent 
with others for the punishment of the marauding murderers.  The sad end 
of the expedition of Col. Crawford, in 1782 against the western 
Indians, called numbers into the service for vengeance, for Crawford 
was known and loved in the valley, but the British recalled their 
Indian allies from the frontiers of the northwest, and the troops 
organized to march against them under Gens. Irvine and Potter were 
disbanded.  The peace of 1783 brought relief to the land, and the war 
cloud was lifted.

99  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  March 3, 1781, Samuel Laird and William Lyon were appointed auditors 
of depreciated accounts, "to settle with officers and soldiers in the 
county the amount which should be allowed on their pay for the 
depreciated value of the notes paid them."  Gen. William Irvine, of 
Carlisle, was made one of the board of censors October 20, 1783, from 
Cumberland County, as was also James McLene, of Chambersburg.  The only 
meeting was at Philadelphia November 10, 1783, for the new constitution 
(1790) abolished it.
  The Whiskey Insurrection, 1794. - When it became evident that some 
source of revenue must be looked to besides the duties on imported 
goods, and congress decided to levy a tax (of 4 pence per gallon) on 
distilled spirits (March 3, 1791), believing that article to be of the 
least necessity, the tax was violently opposed by people in the 
interior; and western parts of Pennsylvania, where it bore with most 
severity.  There had been no market for the great quantities of grain 
raised, and it was largely used to fatten cattle and hogs upon.  When 
distilled it was more easily transported over the mountains and found a 
ready market, and in numerous sections every fifth or sixth farmer had 
a still-house.  [The consumption was not all away from home, either. - 
Ed.]  The excise law was felt to be oppressive, as most of the money 
brought into the region was sent out in the shape of excise duties.  
The people hoped the law would be unexecuted and finally repealed, and 
the collectors were often threatened, intimidated, and as in the 
instance of Pittsburgh, roughly handled and their property destroyed.  
The excitement spread and the fury grew by the aid of mass meetings, 
pole raisings, and the like, and steps were taken for an armed 
resistance to the authorities should a force be sent against the 
disturbers.  Braddock's Field, ten miles east of Pittsburgh, was 
designated as a place of rendezvous for the rebellious troops.  The 
general sympathy of even the most prominent men was with those who 
openly opposed the law, but they did not, as the end shows, believe in 
a resort to arms.  President Washington issued proclamations, September 
15, 1792, and August 7, 1793, requiring insurgents to disperse and 
directing that troops should be raised to march at a moment's warning 
before the 15th of September in the latter year.  Those who had been 
opposed to the law, but hoped a few trials of aggressors would lead to 
its repeal, now joined hands with the Government.  An army of 12,900 
men was called for from the four States most interested, and the quota 
of Pennsylvania was 5,200.  Gen. William Irvine, of Carlisle, was one 
of a number of commissioners appointed to confer with such deputies as 
the deputies might appoint, but they returned with an adverse or 
unfavorable report, though they were followed by commissioners from the 
insurgents who were more reasonable than those with whom they had 
conferred.  The army was put in motion and finally reached Carlisle.  
The softened commissioners met the President and commander-in-chief at 
that point October 10, 1794, and assured him that it was unnecessary to 
send the military to obtain submission and order, but he declined to 
stay the march of the army, though promising that no violence would be 
offered if the people would return to their allegiance.  Carlisle was 
the place of rendezvous for the army.  Cumberland County furnished 363 
men and officers who were brigaded with others from York, Lancaster and 
Franklin Counties, under Brig.-Gen. James Chambers, of Franklin County.  
They encamped on "an extensive common near the town (Carlisle) said to 
be admirably fitted for the purpose."
  A large number of distilleries then undoubtedly existed in Cumberland 
County, where those opposed to the law had not been over-cautious in 
making remarks or in demonstrations of disfavor.  A liberty pole had 
been erected in the Public Square on the night of September 8, 1794, 
with the words, 

100  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

"Liberty and No Excise, & Whisky," thereon.  A few friends of law and 
order out it down the next morning, and the excitement was great.  A 
large number of country people, some bearing arms, came in a few days 
later, on afternoon, and put up a large pole with the words, "Liberty 
and Equality."  They were mostly of the poorer class, although the 
county treasurer was a leader among them and distributed money to buy 
whisky.  Deeds of violence were offered occasionally, the insurgents 
patrolling the town to prevent the pole being taken down.  Col. Ephraim 
Blaine was pursued and fired upon by three of them while conducting his 
sister, Mrs. Lyon, out of town, but fortunately without injury.  
Threats were made against the militia should they turn out, and affairs 
were rather desperate.  Gen. Irvine, as commissioner, attended strictly 
to the business of his office, saying, "I make a rule of doing what I 
think is right, and trust to events for consequences."  The presence of 
troops in Carlisle brought the people to their senses.  Gov. Mifflin 
arrived on the 1st of October, and in the evening delivered a stirring 
address in the Presbyterian Church.  His arrival was in advance of the 
army, which reached Carlisle October 3.  A writer says "the beloved 
Washington" approached in a traveling dress, attended by his secretary, 
Alexander Hamilton, and proceeds:  "As he passed our troops he pulled 
off his hat and, in the most respectful manner, bowed to the officers 
and men, and in this manner passed the line, who were (as you may 
suppose) affected by the sight of their chief, for whom each individual 
seemed to show the affectionate regard that would have been paid to an 
honored parent.  As he entered the town the inhabitants seemed anxious 
to see this very great and good man; crowds were assembled in the 
streets, but their admiration was silent.  The President passed to the 
front of the camp, where the troops were assembled in front of the 
tents; the line of artillery, horse and infantry appeared in the most 
perfect order; the greatest silence was observed.  The spectacle was 
grand, interesting and affecting; every man as he passed along poured 
forth his wishes for the preservation of this most valuable of their 
fellow-citizens.  Here you might see the aged veteran, the mature 
soldier and the zealous youth assembled in defense of that government 
which must (in turn) prove the protection of their persons, family and 
property."  The court house was illuminated in the evening, and a 
transparency was prepared, bearing the inscriptions:  "Washing is ever 
triumphant."  "The reign of the laws," and "Woe to Anarchists."  
President Washington while here was the guest of Col. Ephraim Blaine.  
A number of the principal inhabitants presented him the following 
address on Monday of the week following:
                                            CARLISLE, October 17, 1794.
TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
     Sir:  We, the subscribers, inhabitants of this borough, on behalf 
of ourselves, our fellow-citizens, friends to good order, government 
and the laws, approach you at this time to express our sincere 
admiration of those virtues which have been uniformly exerted with so 
much success for the happiness of America, and which at this critical 
period of impending foreign and domestic troubles have been manifested 
with distinguished luster.
     Though we deplore the cause which has collected in this borough 
all classes of virtuous citizens, yet it affords us the most heartfelt 
satisfaction to meet the father of our country and brethren in arms, 
distinguished for their patriotism, their love of order and attachment 
to the constitution and laws; and while on the one hand we regret the 
occasion which has brought from their homes men of all situations, who 
have made sacrifices unequaled in any other country of their private 
interests to the public good, yet we are consoled by the consideration 
that the citizens of the United States have evinced to our enemies 
abroad and the foes of our happy constitution at home and they not only 
have the will but possess the power to repel all foreign invaders and 
to crush all domestic traitors.
  The history of the world affords us too many instances of the 
destruction of free governments by factious and unprincipled men.  Yet 
the present insurrection and opposition

101  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

to government is exceeded by none, either for its causeless origin or 
for the extreme malignity and wickedness with which it has been 
executed.
  The unexampled clemency of our councils in their endeavors to bring 
to a sense of duty the western insurgents, and the ungrateful returns 
which have been made by that deluded people, have united all good men 
in one common effort to restore order and obedience to the laws, and to 
punish those who have neglected to avail themselves of and have spurned 
at the most tender and humane offers that have ever been made to rebels 
and traitors.
  We have viewed with pain the great industry, art and 
misrepresentations which have been practiced to delude our fellow-
citizens.  We trust that the efforts of the General Government, the 
combination of the good and virtuous against the vicious and factious, 
will cover with confusion the malevolent disturbers of the public 
peace, and afford to the well-disposed the certainty of protection to 
their persons and property.  The sword of justice in the hands of our 
beloved President can only be considered an object of terror by the 
wicked, and will be looked up to by the good and virtuous as their 
safeguard and protection.
  We bless that Providence which has preserved a life so valuable 
through so many important scenes, and we pray that He will continue to 
direct and prosper the measures adopted by you for the security of our 
internal peace and the stability of our Government, and that after a 
life of continued usefulness and glory you may be rewarded with eternal 
felicity.
  There was no doubt of the sincerity of the foregoing address, and 
Washington, whom it could not fail to touch with a feeling of pleasure, 
responded as follows:

     GENTLEMEN:  I thank you sincerely for your affectionate address.  
I feel as I ought what is personal to me, and I can not but be 
particularly pleased with the enlightened and patriotic attachment 
which is manifested towards our happy constitution and the laws.
     When we look around and behold the universally acknowledged 
prosperity which blesses every part of the United States, facts no less 
unequivocal than those which are the lamented occasion of our present 
meeting were necessary to persuade us that any portion of our fellow-
citizens could be so deficient in discernment or virtue as to attempt 
to disturb a situation which, instead of murmurs and tumults, calls for 
our warmest gratitude to heaven, and our earnest endeavors to preserve 
and prolong so favored a lot.
     Let us hope that the delusion cannot be lasting, that reason will 
speedily regain her empire, and the laws their just authority where 
they have lost it.  Let the wise and the virtuous unite their efforts 
to reclaim the misguided, and to detect and defeat the arts of the 
factious.  The union of good men is a basis on which the security of 
our internal peace and the stability of our government may safely rest.  
It will always prove an adequate rampart against the vicious and 
disorderly.
     In any case in which it may be indispensable to raise the sword of 
justice against obstinate offenders, I shall deprecate the necessity of 
deviating from a favorite alm, to establish the authority of the laws 
in the affections rather than in the fears of any.
                                            GEORGE WASHINGTON.

  Before Washington arrived at Carlisle, the accidental discharge of a 
soldier's pistol killed the brother of a man whom a party of soldiers 
were pursuing because of his action in conjunction with the insurgents, 
and another countryman was killed in a quarrel with a soldier.  The 
circumstances were regretted by the president and his secretary (Gen. 
Hamilton).  Several who had acted with the insurrectionists were 
arrested and lodged in jail at Carlisle, but they appeared to be little 
concerned at the consequences of their proceedings.
  Andrew Holmes, Esq., a member of a company from Carlisle, in the 
command of Gen. Chambers, kept a private journal in which he recorded 
the movement of the troops, and under date of Sunday, October 11, 1794, 
2 o'clock P. M., he wrote as follows:  "The Carlisle Light Infantry, 
together with from 3,000 to 4,000 troops, cavalry, rifle and infantry, 
marched from Carlisle to Mount Rock.  The officers of the Carlisle 
Infantry were as follows:  Captain, George Stevenson; first-lieutenant, 
Robert Miller; second-lieutenant, William Miller; ensign, Thomas 
Creigh; orderly sergeant, William Armor; sergeant-major, George 
Hackett; drum-major, James Holmes; and fifty-two privates, among whom 
were Thomas Duncan, David Watts, Robert Duncan, 

102  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

John Lyon, Nathaniel Weakley, George Pattison, Charles Pattison, 
William Andrew, Abraham Holmes, Archibald Ramsey, Joseph Clark, William 
Dunbar, Archibald McAllister, William Crane, Jacob Fetter, Archibald 
Loudon, Thomas Foster, Jacob Housenet, George Wright, Thomas Wallace, 
Francis Gibson, Joseph and Michael Egolf, Robert McClure and William 
Levis.  At Sideling Hill Capt. Stevenson was made a major, and William 
Levis, quartermaster."
  The following brigade order, December 4, 1794, is from the same 
journal:

  The General congratulates the troops which he has the honor to 
command, on their arrival at Strasburg,* and feelingly anticipates the 
pleasure which the worthy citizen soldiers and himself shall have in 
the company of their nearest connections.  He also has the pleasure of 
announcing to the brigade the entire approbation of the commander-in-
chief for their orderly conduct, and strict discipline, which reflects 
the highest honor on both officers and soldiers.  He is likewise happy 
in assuring his fellow-citizens that their soldierly behavior during 
the whole campaign has merited his highest acknowledgments and as they 
have supported the laws of their country he rests assured that they 
will, when they have retired to private life, support civil society in 
every point of view.  As the worthy men who stepped forward in support 
of the happiness of their country and the support of the commanding 
officers of the regiments composing the brigade will see that fair 
inventories of every article are made to Mr. Samuel Riddle, brigade 
quartermaster, who is to give receipts for such delivery.  And the 
quartermaster of the brigade is to detain a sufficient number of wagons 
to transport the arms to the place pointed out in the orders of the 
commander-in-chief of the 17th ult.  The officers commanding the 
several corps will meet tomorrow morning to certify to the men as to 
their time of service and the balance due and to become due, agreeable 
to General Irvine's orders of the 30th of November.
     By order of                            GEN. CHAMBERS.
WILLIAM ROSS, Adjutant.

  The company of Carlisle infantry was mustered out of service and 
arrived at home December 5, 1794.  Thus ended the famous "Whiskey 
Insurrection of 1794."
  The following account of Washington's visit is from a recent account 
published by George R. Prowell in the Gettysburg Compiler"
  "Much has been written that is inaccurate concerning the visit of 
Gen. Washington to western Pennsylvania for the purpose of quelling the 
so-called Whisky Insurrection in that section of our State in 1794.  An 
original record of the facts and incidents of that famous trip having 
lately come into my possession, and in a condensed form, I feel a 
pleasure in hereby furnishing them to the readers of the Compiler.
  "President Washington, accompanied by a portion of his cabinet, left 
Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States, for the west via 
Reading, on Wednesday, October 1, 1794.  He reached Harrisburg on the 
afternoon of Friday, October 3, when he was presented with an address 
by the burgesses, to which he replied the next morning.  He reached 
Carlisle at 12 o'clock, noon, October 4.  The town was the place of 
rendezvous for the Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops, and he remained 
in Carlisle from Saturday, October 4, to Saturday, October 11, 
reviewing the troops.  On the last named date he left for the West, 
dined at Shippensburg and reached Chambersburg the same evening.  At 
this place tradition says he stopped and spent Sunday with Dr. Robert 
Johnson, a surgeon of the Pennsylvania line during the Revolution.  He 
passed through Chambersburg, and arrived at Williamsport, Maryland, on 
the evening of October 13, Monday.  Early the next morning he set out 
for Fort Cumberland, where he arrived on Thursday, October 16, and the 
next day reviewed the Virginia and Maryland troops under command of 
Gen. Lee.
  "On Sunday, October 19, Gen. Washington arrived at Bedford, where he 
remained until Tuesday, October 21.  The approach of the armed troops 
soon

  *A village ten miles northwest of Chambersburg, where the troops were 
then encamped. 

103  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Portrait of A. J. Herman M. D.

104  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Blank Page

105  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

caused a cessation of hostilities.  On the last named date he set out 
on his return, spending the night of Friday, October 24, at 
Shippensburg, and the following night (Saturday) with Gen. Michael 
Simpson, in Fairview Township, York County, who then owned the ferry 
across the river and what is now known as the "Haldeman property" below 
New Cumberland.  At this place he is supposed to have spent a quiet 
Sunday, as he arrived in Philadelphia on the following Tuesday morning.
  "One time in the history of this great man's life he crossed the 
southern border of Adams County.  The facts of this trip I will be 
pleased to furnish at some future time, giving exact facts and data 
from original documents, which are the only true sources of history."
  In the Northwestern Indians wars of 1790-94, under Gens. Harmar, St. 
Clair and Wayne, Cumberland County was represented by a number of 
daring men, though no companies were raised or called for in 
Pennsylvania except west of the Allegheny Mountains.  Dr. William 
McCoskry, then of Carlisle but afterward of Detroit, served as surgeon 
in the expeditions of St. Clair and Wayne; and Robert McClellan, son of 
a pioneer in East Pennsborough, distinguished himself as a scout, 
winning the title "Fleet Ranger" by his exploits and daring.
  In 1798, when a war with France was threatened, companies of militia 
were by order of Gov. Mifflin held in readiness for immediate service, 
and quite a speck of war cloud was visible above the horizon.  Some of 
the people sympathized with the French, and affairs might have become 
very serious but for the accession of Napoleon Bonaparte to power in 
France, by which event the aspect was changed and France withdrew from 
her offensive attitude.  To meet any emergency the Tenth Regiment of 
Pennsylvania troops was organized under Thomas L. More, of 
Philadelphia, as colonel, and William Henderson and George Stevenson, 
of Cumberland County as majors.  These men had been active in the 
Revolution.  Maj. Stevenson had command of the recruiting service in 
that portion of the state west of the Allegheny Mountains.  Alexander 
McComb - afterward a major-general and noted in the war of 1812-15 - 
was an ensign in this Tenth Regiment, and Hugh Brady, also a general 
afterward, was a lieutenant.
  War of 1812 - 15. - Upon the call of the President for troops at the 
breaking out of the second war with Great Britain in June, 1812, 
Pennsylvania responded quickly, and Cumberland County hastened to 
furnish her quota of soldiers.  There was little opposition to the war 
in the county, and four full companies were speedily mustered and 
equipped at Carlisle, generally for six months' service, ready to march 
wherever ordered.
  Principal among these was the "Carlisle Light Infantry," which, as 
seen, took part in the campaign against the whisky insurrectionists in 
1794.  It was originally organized in 1784, by soldiers who had served 
in the Revolution, and after its service in the second war it continued 
to exist until some time in 1854.  From its organization its commanders 
were Capts. Magaw, George Stevenson, Robert Miller, William Miller, 
William Alexander (who was captain when the second war began, and had 
been, since July 1, 1802, printer and editor of the Carlisle Herald, 
established that year), Lindsey, Thompson, Spottswood, Edward Armor 
(1823), George D. Foulke (1827), John McCartney (1829), William 
Sterrett Ramsey (1835), William Moudy (1839), Jacob Rehrar (1840), 
George Sanderson (1842) and Samuel Crop (from November 24, 1845, to 
1854).
  Two small companies of riflemen - one from Carlisle commanded by 
Capt. George Hendall, and the other from Mechanicsburg under Capt. 
Coover - were 

106  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

united into one company, George Hendall was chosen captain, and they 
went with the Light Infantry to the Niagara frontier in 1814.  It is 
said of them:  "Both companies participated in most of the battles and 
sorties of that hard fought campaign.  In the battle of Chippewa they 
were a part of the detachment of 250 Pennsylvanians under the command 
of Col. Bull, of Perry County, who were sent with fifty or sixty 
regulars and 300 Indians, into the woods to strike the Chippewa Creek 
about a half mile above the British works.  Here they were attacked by 
a party of 200 militia with some Indians, but so impetuous was the 
charge with which our troops met them that they were compelled to give 
way in every direction and were pursued with great slaughter up to the 
very guns of the fort.  This little band of Pennsylvanians here found 
themselves forsaken by the Indians, and in the face of the enemy's main 
force and assailed by four companies on the left and flank.  They were 
of course compelled to retire, but having gone about 300 yards they 
reformed and kept up a heavy fire for about ten minutes, when, being 
raked by a cannon on the right, outflanked and almost surrounded by the 
entire four companies now brought against them they were obliged to 
retreat.  They had depended on and every moment expected a support from 
the main army, but as this was not given them in season they retired in 
good order and keeping up a fire upon their assailants.  They had 
fought more than an hour, had chased their enemies a mile and a half, 
and when exhausted by their exertions and extreme heat they rejoined 
their regiment, which they met entering the field under Col. Fenton.  
They then re-entered the field and bore their part as if they had been 
fresh from their tents.  Not more than twelve men (and these on account 
of extreme exhaustion) were absent from this second encounter.  Eight 
of their men had been killed in the woods and the number of their 
wounded was in the usual proportion.  One hundred and fifty of the 
enemy's militia and Indians were left dead on the field.  Col. Bull was 
treacherously shot down by the enemy after his surrender, and Maj. 
Galloway and Capt. White were taken prisoners.  These two officers on 
their return home were received by their former companions with great 
rejoicings.  The time of enlistment for these companies was short, 
being not over six or nine months, but whether they continued during 
another term we are not informed."
  Besides these Cumberland County troops there were other men from the 
county connected with the regular army on the same (Niagara) frontier.  
Among them were George McFeely and Willis D. Foulke.  The former became 
a lieutenant-colonel in the Twenty-second United States Infantry, July 
6, 1812, and colonel of the Twenty-fifth April 15, 1814.  He had in the 
early part of 1812 been in charge of the recruiting service at the 
Carlisle Barracks.  He left that place October 5, 1812, and proceeded 
to the Niagara frontier, with 200 men of the Twenty-second Regiment.  
With his men he was sent to the old Fort Niagara to relieve Col. Winder 
in the command of that station, arriving November 14.  In the artillery 
duel with Fort George on the 21st the British had the worst of the 
game.  May 27, 1813, Lieut. Col. Winfield Scott ("to whom he yielded 
precedence") invited him to lead the vanguard in the movement into 
Canada.  Col. McFeely was second in command in that expedition and had 
about 650 men under him.  They routed a superior force of the enemy and 
captured Fort George, and subsequently suffered greatly during the 
campaign.  Lieut.-Col. McFeely was sent to Lake Champlain later, and in 
June, 1814, was promoted to colonel, to rank from April previous.  
Reported to Maj.-Gen. Jacob Brown on the Niagara frontier again, and 
joined his new regiment under Gen. Scott.  Held several responsible 
commands until close of war.  "He was an excellent disciplinarian, had 
his troops under admirable

107  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

control, and was remarkable for his coolness under the enemy's fire and 
his patient hardihood under the severest sufferings."
  The "Patriotic Blues" was another company, commanded by Capt. Jacob 
Squier; first lieutenant, Samuel McKeehan; second lieutenant, Frederick 
Fogle; and ensign, Stephen Kerr.  The company was sent to Baltimore to 
assist in repelling the British attack upon that city, and was attached 
to the Forty-ninth Maryland Militia under Lieut. Col. Veazy.  Took an 
important part in the actions of September 12-15, 1814, and on the 
16th, danger being apparently over, left for home with the assurance 
that they had performed their duty honorably and well.
  "There were other companies," says Dr. Wing, "which went to Baltimore 
from the eastern towns in the county, and from what is now Perry 
County.  It is said that these were in the detachment which was sent to 
lie in ambush by the route on which the British troops were expected to 
advance on its way to Baltimore.  As Gen. Ross, the commander of these 
troops, was riding by the spot where they were concealed, it is said 
that two sharpshooters raised their pieces and were about to fire.  An 
order was given them to desist, but before one of them, whose name was 
Kirkpatrick, from over the mountains, could understand the order, he 
fired his gun and the British general fell.  The result was that a 
tremendous volley was fired into the thicket where they were concealed; 
but confusion was thrown into the plans of the invading party by the 
loss of their commander, and the idea of occupying Baltimore was given 
up."
  In order to protect Philadelphia from possible violence at the hands 
of an invading force, a large body of troops was massed at that point, 
and among them was a company known as the "Carlisle Guards," who 
marched under Capt. Joseph Halbert early in September, 1814, and were 
encamped on Bush Hill, near Philadelphia, for nearly a month, drilling, 
constructing intrenchments, etc.  They saw no enemy, but were subjected 
to as strict discipline as troops at the front.  Capt. Halberd, on the 
3d of August, 1811, had been commissioned by Gov. Snider, a major of 
the Second Battalion, Twelfth Regiment Pennsylvania Militia, in First 
Brigade, Second Division, including militia of Cumberland and Franklin 
Counties.  His commission was for four years from that date.
      
                            THE MEXICAN WAR.

  When the Mexican war broke out Carlisle Barracks was in command of 
Capt. J. M. Washington, Battery D, Fourth United States Artillery.  
This company of light artillery received recruits from various portions 
of the country, and finally left Carlisle for the seat of war June 23, 
1846.  The organization was as follows:  Captain, J. M. Washington; 
first lieutenant, J. P. J. O'Brien; second lieutenant, Henry L. 
Whiting; acting assistant quartermaster, Thos. L. Brent; surgeon, C. M. 
Hitchcock.
  The company did valiant service with Taylor's army in Mexico.  At the 
battle of Buena Vista the battery was divided into sections, one of 
which, consisting of three guns, under charge of Lieut. O'Brien, was 
captured, but not till every man was shot down and every horse killed.  
Lieut. O'Brien was wounded, but continued steadfast at his post till 
the last.  In this engagement the casualties to the section were as 
follows:  Killed, privates, Edwin Holley, Green, Weakley, Rinks and 
Doughty.  Wounded:  first lieutenant, J. P. J. O'Brien; sergeant, 
Queen; lance sergeant, Pratt; privates, Hannams, Puffer, Beagle, 
Berrin, Floyd, Hannon, Baker, Brown, Birch, Butler, Clark and Robbins.
  On the 18th of January, 1847, an election of officers for an 
independent

108  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

company of volunteers occurred at Carlisle, resulting as follows:  
Captain, John F. Hunter; first lieutenant, Marshall Hannon; second 
lieutenant, Wm. H. Gray; third lieutenant, Geo. L. Reighter.
  This company, organized by Capt. Hunter under what was known as "the 
ten regiments' bill," embraced recruits from Cumberland, Perry and 
Franklin Counties, and probably some from others.  They were enlisted 
to serve during the war, and were rendezvoused at Carlisle Barracks.  
The company required sixty-six men, but left Carlisle with some forty-
six, additions having been made to it en route for Mexico.  It was 
known as Company G, Eleventh Infantry.
  The following is the roster of enlisted men as it left Carlisle:  
first sergeant, E. G. Heck; second sergeant, Wm. Blaine; third 
sergeant, Alex. F. Meck; fourth sergeant, F. O. Baker; first corporal, 
S. W. Hannon; second corporal, Wm. Hipple; third corporal, Jacob 
Bender; fourth corporal, John Thompson; drummer, George King; fifer, 
Archibald Rowe; privates, Applegate, John Brannon, George Boyer, Samuel 
Baxter, Wm. Biceline, Crell, James Carey, Culp, Deung, John Evinger, 
Joseph Faust, James Gallagan, Graham, John Gill, Samuel Guysinger, 
George Hikes, Higbee, Wm. Hudson, Leonard Hoffman, Wm. Hollinger, 
Hetrich, Wm. James, Kunkle, Casper Kline, George Lamison, McCracken, 
Wm. Moore, McIntire, Wm. McDonald, Misinger, Samuel Peck, Lafayette 
Searey, Amos Steffey, Scheime, Samuel Swigert, Stein, George Shatto, 
Emanuel Weirich, Lewis Weaver, Wilde, Samuel Zell.
  This company was first under command of Capt. Hunter, but on reaching 
the field he was promoted to be major of the Eleventh Infantry, and 
Lewis Carr, of Philadelphia, was chosen captain.  Lieut. Gray finally 
became commander of Capt. Waddel's company, Eleventh Infantry.
  The company left Carlisle Barracks on Monday morning, March 29, 1847, 
for the field.  Marching to town it was halted in front of the court 
house, where the men were addressed by L. G. Brandeberry, Esq., in a 
few appropriate and well-timed remarks.  They were then presented, each 
with a new testament, by Mr. Samuel Ensminger, after which they marched 
to the cars to the tune of "The Girl I Left Behind Me."  Going by rail 
to Harrisburg, the company proceeded thence by canal-boat to 
Pittsburgh, whence it sailed by boat to New Orleans, and thence to the 
mouth of Rio Grande River via Brazos Island.  After a time it sailed 
for Vera Cruz, but after eighteen days' detention on the Gulf, it was 
compelled to stop at Tampico, where it lost about one-third of its 
number by yellow fever and other forms of disease.  The company, from 
no fault of its own, never reached Vera Cruz, and did not fight.
  Other companies were organized in Cumberland County and their 
services tendered to the Government, but not accepted.  In this list is 
found a company of young men organized, in May, 1847, with the 
following officers:  Capt. R. M. Henderson; Lieuts. Hampton R. Lemer, 
Robert McCord.
  In June, 1846, Capt. Samuel Crop tendered a company with full 
complement of men known as Carlisle Light Infantry.
  Edward Watts, formerly a student of West Point, established a 
recruiting station at Winrot's Hotel (now Mansion House) for a company 
of infantry.  This was in June, 1847.
  Capt. R. C. Smead, Fourth United States Artillery, superintended 
recruiting service at the barracks during several months in 1847.
  From the time Capt. Washington relinquished command of the barracks 
(June 23, 1846) George M. Sanno, barrack master, had charge of the 
public property until the return of Col. A. C. May, August 25, 1847.