HISTORY: Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia, Chapter 3, Dauphin County, PA 

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 24-32.
_______________________________________________________________ 

                               CHAPTER III.

         Summary of Events up to the Struggle for Independence.

  Proceeding onward, with our brief history of Dauphin county and the 
lists of its early settlers, we find that about 1740 the influx of 
emigration, especially of the Scotch-Irish, was so great that family 
after family removed down the Cumberland Valley to the Potomac and 
beyond, into Virginia and the Carolinas.  This tide of settlers was one 
continued stream until the thunders of the Revolution checked 
emigration to America.  They can be traced from their resting place 
among their relations and friends in the townships of Paxtang, Derry 
and Hanover, to their descendants of the present day, who are prominent 
among the representative people of the south and West.  The assessment 
lists, of which we have given, contain probably double the number of 
names found later on, showing how these people, pioneers of the 
wilderness, like bees swarmed out from the parent hive, and sought, 
perchance, more congenial localities.  Limited as we must be, in this 
historical sketch, we find it impossible to dwell fully upon the 
important events which transpired in the early days of the hardy 
pioneers.  Volumes could be written upon their trials, upon their 
endurance, and upon the remarkable events in which they were prominent 
actors in Pennsylvania history.  A summary of the most important phases 
of that history is all that can be given in this connection, reference 
being had to other works which furnish not only a fuller, but a better 
insight into the beginnings of Dauphin county history. 
  Harris' trade with the Indians continued to increase, and Harris' 
Ferry became known far and wide, not only to the red men, but to the 
white race in foreign countries.
  During John Harris' frequent visits to Philadelphia he met at the 
house of his friend Shippen, Miss Esther Say, like himself not over 
young, from his native Yorkshire, and in the latter part of the year 
1720 married her.  The wedding took place either at the Swedes Church, 
Wicaco, or at Christ church, both being members of the Church of 
England.  Among the early colonists who settled in Philadelphia were a 
number of the name of Say, but to which family Esther Harris was 
connected is not to be ascertained with certainty.  She was kinswomen 
to the Shippens, and of course respectably connected.  A remarkable 
woman, she was also well calculated to share the love, the trials, the 
hardships and the cabin of the intrepid pioneer.
  In 1721 - 22 their first child, Elizabeth, was born; in 1725 their 
second, Esther Harris, and in October, 1727, their first son, John 
Harris.  This was the founder of Harrisburg.  The statement that he was 
the first white child born west of the Conewago hills is not correct.  
There were settlers beyond, along the Swatara, as early as 1718; and it 
is natural to suppose that in many a log cabin the sunshine of babyhood 
gladdened the hearts of the hardy pioneer, and who also attained mature 
age.  The parents carried their child when nearly a year old to 
Philadelphia, where he was baptized on the 22d of September, 1728, as 
they had previously done with their other children.  That of Esther 
Harris took place August 31, 1726, according to the parish register of 
Christ church, but we have not been able to ascertain the date of the 
baptism of the eldest child.
  Until this period (1728) the country lying between the Conewago hills 
and the Kittochtinny mountains was owned, or rather claimed, by the 
Five Nations.  It is true, the Scotch-Irish settlers had been pushed 
within these bounds ten years previously by the very Provincial 
authorities who destroyed their cabins on land already purchased.  The 
treaty of 1728 opened up this vast and rich valley to the venturesome.  
Filling up rapidly, on May 10, 1729, the Assembly passed "An act for 
the erecting the upper part of the Province of Pennsylvania lying 
towards the Susquehanna, Conestogoe, Donnegal, etc., into a county,' to 
be called Lancaster.  At the first court in and for said 

DAUPHIN COUNTY.  25

County, November 3, 1730, at Posthlethwaite's, a petition was presented 
by John Harris, among others, "praying that he may be recommended to 
the governor as a suitable person to trade with the Indians," and was 
allowed per curiam.  This, of course, was necessary in the change of 
counties; heretofore the application passed through the court of 
Chester county, and in this connection we may remark that among the 
Chester county records as early as 1722 is to be found the name of John 
Harris, "on the Susquahannah."  Subsequently he made application to the 
same authority to "sell rum by the small," which was granted.
  In 1732, with the desire of establishing an additional trading post, 
Harris built a storehouse at the mouth of the Juniata.  The last 
purchase (1728) not extending this far, the Indians objected to it, 
especially Sassonan and Shickalamy, who wrote through their 
interpreters to the governor, informing him of the fact, and also to 
John Harris, commanding him to desist from making a plantation at the 
point referred to.  The authorities made no objection.
  By virtue of a warrant from the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, 
bearing date January 1, 1725-6, five hundred acres of land were granted 
to John Harris, father of the founder of Harrisburg; and subsequently, 
on the 17th of December, 1733, by a patent, three hundred acres of 
allowance land, upon which he had commenced a clearing, on the present 
site of the city, about the year 1707.  The land included in the latter 
patent extended from what is now the line of Cumberland street some 
distance south of the present north boundary of the city, and including 
also a part of the present site of the city, with its several 
additions. 
  Until the year 1735-6 there was no regularly constructed road to the 
Susquehanna, but at a session of the Provincial council held in 
Philadelphia January 22, 1735-6, on the petition of sundry inhabitants 
of Chester and Lancaster counties, "setting forth the Want of a High 
Road in the Remote parts of the said Counties where the petitioners are 
seated, and that a very commodious one may be laid out from the Ferry 
of John Harris, on Susquehannah, to fall in with the High Road leading 
from Lancaster town at or near the Plantation of Edward Kennison, in 
the Great Valley in the county of Chester," it was ordered that viewers 
be appointed who shall make a return of the same, "together with a 
Draught of the said Road."  Subsequently this was done, and the highway 
opened from the Susquehanna to the Delaware.
  The most interesting of the early or pioneer roads, historically 
considered, is that which was laid out through the territory lying west 
of the Susquehanna river - from "Harris' Ferry towards Potomac."  It is 
the most interesting, because for a period of seventy years it was the 
great highway up and down which passed the produce of that large and 
fertile region; because in the early provincial wars to which the 
Paxtang, Derry, and Hanover settlements gave many of their fathers and 
sons, it was the way by which they marched to meet the enemy and by 
which they marched to receive greetings from homes made safe by their 
valor; and because it has the unique distinction of having been the 
first effort of our forefathers to connect the wilderness with the 
civilization which lay beyond.  It swept by our borders on the north 
and on the west; and by reason of its location became the pioneer road 
of Western and Southern Pennsylvania.  It was laid out six years before 
Cumberland county was created, and while all the territory west of the 
Susquehanna was within the jurisdiction of the courts at Lancaster.  
Hence in the archives at Lancaster is the only record now attainable of 
the various steps by which this road came into being.  It was in 
controversy for nine years.  The first trace of it is in 1735.  It was 
surveyed by courses and distances and ordained as a lawful road in 
1744.  We have said that the first trace of this pioneer road appears 
in 1735.  It was in November of that year when a petition was presented 
to the "Worshipful the Justices of the Court of Quarter Session" at 
Lancaster, from inhabitants on the west side of the Susquehanna river, 
opposite to Paxtang, praying that a roadway to be laid out "from John 
Harris' Ferry towards Potomac."  The petition was favorably regarded, 
and Randle Chambers, James Peat, James Silvers, Thomas Eastland, John 
Lawrence and Abraham Endless were appointed the viewers, with power in 
four of them to act.  They reported a route for the road at the next 
sitting of the court, but the view had developed the usual result of 
great neighborhood agitation.  In the winter of 1735, it is recorded 
that there met at the house of Widow Piper in Shippensburg a number of 
persons from along the Conedoguinet and Middle Spring to re-

26  HISTORICAL REVIEW

monstrate against the road passing through "the barrens" and to ask 
that it be made through the Conedoguinet settlement as more populous 
and more suitable.  When, therefore, the viewers made their report in 
February, 1736, they were confronted with the petitions of a 
"considerable number of inhabitants in those parts," who set forth that 
the said road, as it is laid, is hurtful to many of the plantations, is 
"further about, and is more difficult to clear" than if it was laid 
more to the southward.  They, therefore, prayed that a review of the 
same be made by "persons living on the east side of the Susquehanna."  
This conveys a delicate suggestion that personal or other interests had 
influenced the previous viewers, two of whom lived on the line as laid 
out.  The court granted a review and appointed William Rennick, Richard 
Hough, James Armstrong, Thomas Mays, Samuel Montgomery and Benjamin 
Chambers, to make such alterations in said road as may seem to them 
necessary for the public good." Some of these lived west of the 
Susquehanna - others east of it.  So the court did not fully share the 
suspicion of the remonstrants, but conceded something to the excitement 
of the moment.  Little change, however, in the route was made, and to-
day the turnpike from Harrisburg to Chambersburg passes over this very 
pioneer highway which a century and a-half ago exercised the early 
settlers.  This was the opening of the highway to the undeveloped West.
  Well advanced in life, at the age of about seventy-five, after having 
for several years intrusted his business to his eldest son, still in 
his minority, in December, 1748, the first pioneer quietly passed away 
from earth, having previously made a request that his remains be 
interred underneath the shade of that tree so memorable to him.  There 
his dust lies at rest on the banks of our beautiful river - within the 
hearing of its thundering at flood-tide, and the musical rippling of 
its pellucid waters in its subdued majesty and beauty.
  The oldest son, John Harris, who succeeded to the greatest portion of 
his father's estate, and who, in 1785, laid out the capital city of 
Pennsylvania, married, first, Elizabeth McClure, and second, Mary Read, 
daughter of Capt. Adam Read, of Hanover, an officer of the Provincial 
service, was a prominent personage during the Indian wars, and the 
principal military storekeeper on the frontier.   His letters to the 
governors and the officials of the Province and others are of intense 
interest, and deserve to be collated by our antiquarians.  Not models 
of style, it is true, but they give vivid descriptions of the perilous 
times in which our ancestors dwelt who made the ten out-bounds of 
civilization flourish and "blossom as a rose."
  By a grant from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esqs., proprietaries, 
to John Harris, Jr., bearing date of record "ye 19th February, 1753," 
that gentlemen was allowed the right of running a ferry across the 
Susquehanna, from which originated the former name of the place, which 
previously to the organization of the county was known far and near as 
Harris' Ferry.
  It appears from letters of John Harris, written to Governor Morris, 
that an Indian named Half King, also called Tanacharisson, died at his 
house on the night of the 1st of October, 1754.  Rupp says that "he had 
his residence at Logstown, on the Ohio, fourteen miles below 
Pittsburgh, on the opposite side.  George Washington visited him in 
1753, and desired him to relate some of the particulars of a journey he 
had shortly before made to the French Commandant at Fort Duquesne."  We 
find this note among the votes of Assembly, 1754:  "Dec. 17, Post 
Meridian, 1754. - The Committee of Accounts reported a balance of L10 
15s. 4d. due to the said John Harris for his expenses, and L5 for his 
trouble, &c., in burying the Half-King and maintaining the sundry 
Indians that were with him."  It may be interesting to know that the 
Half King was buried near the first John Harris at the foot of the 
mulberry tree.
  They had considerable trouble at Harris' Ferry during the French and 
Indian war, which extended over the period from 1754 to 1765.  a 
petition from the inhabitants of the townships of Paxtang, Derry and 
Hanover, Lancaster county, bearing date July 22, 1754, and setting 
forth their precarious condition, was presented and read in the Council 
on the 6th of August following.  It bore the signatures of Thomas 
Forster, James Armstrong, John Harris, Thomas Simpson, Samuel Simpson, 
John Carson, David Shields, William M'Mullin, John Cuoit, William 
Armstrong, William Bell, John Dougherty, James Atkin, Andrew Cochran, 
James Reed, Thomas Rutherford, T. McArthur, William Steel, Samuel 
Hunter, Thomas Mayes, James Collier, Henry Rennicks, Richard Mc-

DAUPHIN COUNTY.  27

Clure, Thomas Dugan, John Johnson, Peter Fleming, Thomas Sturgeon, 
Matthew Taylor, Jeremiah Sturgeon, Thomas King, Robert Smith, Adam 
Read, John Crawford, Thomas Crawford, Jonathan McClure, Thomas Hume, 
Thomas Steene, John Hume, John Creige, Thomas McClure, William McClure, 
John Rodgers, James Patterson, John Young, Ez. Sankey, John Forster, 
Mitchel Graham, James Toalen, James Galbraith, James Campbell, Robert 
Boyd, James Chambers, Robert Armstrong, Jno. Campbell, Hugh Black, 
Thomas Black.
  At this period also we find an extensive correspondence between John 
Harris, Conrad Weiser and others and Edward Shippen, complaining of the 
insecurity of life and property owing to the depredations of the 
Indians; and their tenor is a continual and just complaint of the 
outrages committed by the savages, and urgent requests to the 
authorities for protection and arms, etc.
  On the 8th of January, 1756, a council with the Indians was held at 
the house of John Harris, at Paxtang, composed of Hon. Robert Hunter 
Morris, governor; James Hamilton and Richard Peters, secretaries; 
Joseph Fox, commissioner, and Conrad Weiser, interpreter; two Indians 
of the Six Nations, called "The Belt of Wampum," a Seneca, and the 
"Broken Thigh," a Mohawk.  The meeting was of an amicable character, 
and was only the preliminary step to a larger and more important 
council held the week following at Carlisle.  One of the reasons for 
holding the council at the latter place was, "that there was but few 
conveniences 'for the proper entertainment' of the Governor and his 
company at Harris ferry, and Mr. Weiser gave it as his opinion that it 
would be better to adjourn to Carlisle."  A second council was held 
here on the 1st of April, 1757.  Present, the Rev. John Elder, Captain 
Thomas McKee, Messrs. James Armstrong, Hugh Crawford, John Harris, 
William Pentrup, interpreter, and warriors from the Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Tuscaroras, Onondagoes, Nanticokes, Cayugas, Delawares, Senecas and 
Conestogoes, with their women and children.  George Croghan, Esq., 
deputy agent to the Hon. Sir W. Johnson, Bart., his majesty's sole 
agent and superintendent of the Six Nations, etc., was also present.  
This council was removed to Lancaster, owing to the number of Indians 
then encamped at Conestoga Manor where the remainder of the business 
was concluded. 
  The most interesting event of this period was the extermination of 
the so-called Conestoga Indians by the Paxtang Rangers.  The situation 
of the frontiers succeeding the Pontiac war was truly deplorable, 
principally owing to the supineness of the Provincial authorities, for 
the Quakers, who controlled the government, were, to use the language 
of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, "more solicitous for the welfare of the 
blood-thirsty Indian than for the lives of the frontiersman."  In their 
blind partiality, bigotry and political prejudice, they would not 
readily accede to the demands of those of a different religious faith.  
Especially was this the case relative to the Presbyterians and Roman 
Catholics, both of whom were tolerated by mere sufferance.  To them, 
therefore, was greatly attributable the reign of horror and devastation 
in the border counties.  The government was deaf to all entreaties, and 
Gen. Amherst, commander of the British forces in America, did not 
hesitate to give his feelings an empathetic expression - "The conduct 
of the Pennsylvania Assembly," he wrote, "is altogether so infatuated 
and stupidly obstinate, that I want words to express by indignation 
thereat."  Nevertheless, the sturdy Scotch-Irish and Germans of this 
section rallied for their own defense.  The inhabitants of Paxtang and 
Hanover immediately enrolled themselves into several companies, the 
Rev. John Elder being their colonel.
  Lazarus Stewart, Matthew Smith and Asher Clayton, men of acknowledged 
military ability and prowess, commanded distinct companies of Rangers.  
These brave men were ever on the alert, watching with eagle eye the 
Indian marauders who at this period swooped down upon the defenseless 
frontiers.  High mountains, swollen rivers, or great distances never 
deterred or appalled them.  Their courage and fortitude were equal to 
every undertaking, and woe betide the red men when their blood-stained 
tracks once met their eyes.  The Paxtang Rangers were the terror of the 
Indians - they were swift on foot, excellent horsemen, good shots, 
skillful in pursuit or escape, dexterous as scouts and expert in 
maneuvering. 
  The murders in and around Paxtang, not withstanding the vigilance of 
the Rangers, became numerous, and many a family mourned for some of 
their number shot by the secret foe or carried away captive.  The 
frontiersmen took their rifles with them to the field and to the 
sanctuary.  Their colonel and 

28  HISTORICAL REVIEW

pastor placed his trusty piece beside him in the pulpit; and it is 
authoritatively stated that on one occasion old Derry meeting house was 
surrounded while he was preaching; but their spies having counted the 
rifles the Indians retired from their ambuscade without making an 
attack.
  Many were the murderous deeds perpetrated by the savages - but where 
these came from was a mystery.  Indians had been traced by the scouts 
to the wigwams of the so-called friendly Indians at Conestoga, and to 
those of the Moravian Indians in Northampton county.  Suspicion was 
awakened, the questions, "are these Christian Indians treacherous ? are 
their wigwams the harbors of our deadly foe ? do they conceal the 
nightly prowling assassin of the forest; the villain, who with savage 
ferocity tore the innocent babe from the bosom of its mother, where it 
had been quietly reposing, and hurled it in the fire?  The mangled 
bodies of our friends cry aloud for vengeance."  Such were the 
questions, surmises and expressions of the exasperated people on the 
frontiers, and well warranted, for on one occasion when the Assembly 
were deaf to all entreaties and petition, with the hope of arousing 
their sympathy the murdered were taken to Philadelphia on wagons - when 
a prominent Quaker, with a sneer, remarked they were "only Irish."  
This unfeeling expression was remembered by the Scotch-Irish of the 
frontiers. 
  The Quakers who controlled the government, as heretofore remarked, 
"seemed resolved," says Parkman, "That they would neither defend the 
people of the frontier or allow them to defend themselves, vehemently 
inveighed against all expeditions to cut off the Indian marauders.  
Their security was owing to their local situation, being confined to 
the eastern part of the Province."  That such was the case, rather than 
to the kind feelings of the Indian toward them, is shown by the fact 
that of the very few living in exposed positions, several were killed.
  The inhabitants declared openly that they no longer confided in the 
professions of the governor or his advisers in the assembly.  Numbers 
of volunteers joined the Rangers of Northampton, Berks, Lancaster, York 
and Cumberland, who were engaged in tracing the midnight assassins.  On 
the Manor, a portion of land surveyed for the Proprietaries, situated 
in Lancaster county, near where the borough of Columbia is now located, 
was settled a band of squalid, miserable Indians - the refuse of sundry 
tribes.  Time and again they were suspected of murder and thievery, and 
their movements at this crisis were closely watched.  Strange Indians 
were constantly coming and going.
  Colonel Elder under the date of September 13, 1763, thus wrote to 
Governor Hamilton, "I suggest to you the propriety of an immediate 
removal of the Indians from Conestoga and placing a garrison in their 
room.  In case this is done, I pledge myself for the future security of 
the frontiers."
  Subsequently, on taking charge of the executive affairs of the 
Province in October, Governor John Penn replied as follows:  "The 
Indians of Conestoga have been represented as innocent, helpless and 
dependent on this government for support.  The faith of this government 
is pledged for their protection.  I cannot remove them without adequate 
cause.  The contract made with William Penn was a private agreement, 
afterwards confirmed by several treaties.  Care has been taken by the 
Provincial committee that no Indians but our own visit Conestoga.  
Whatever can be faithfully executed under the laws shall be as 
faithfully performed;" and yet Governor Penn in writing to Thomas Penn 
afterwards used this language: "Many of them," referring to the 
frontier inhabitants, "have had wives and children murdered and 
scalped, their houses burnt to the ground, their cattle destroyed, and 
from an easy, plentiful life are now become beggars.  In short, not 
only in this Province, but in the neighboring governments is the spirit 
of the people inveterate against the Indians."
  John Harris had previously made a similar request:  "The Indians 
here, I hope your honor will be pleased to be removed to some other 
place, as I don't like their company."
  The Rangers finding appeals to the authorities useless, resolved on 
taking the law into their own hands.  Several Indian murderers had been 
traced to Conestoga, and it was determined to take them prisoners.  
Captain Stewart, whose men ascertained this fact, acquainted his 
colonel of the object, who seemed rather to encourage his command to 
make the trial, as an example was necessary to be made for the safety 
of the frontier inhabitants.  The destruction of the Conestogas was not 
then projected.  That was the result of the attempted capture.  Parkman 
and Webster, following Rupp,  

DAUPHIN COUNTY.  29

state that Colonel Elder, learning of an intent to destroy the entire 
tribe, as they were about to set off rode after them commanding them to 
desist, and that Stewart threatened to shoot his horse.  Such was not 
the case.  From a letter dated Paxtang, December 16, 1763, written to 
Governor Penn, he says:  "On receiving intelligence the 13th inst., 
that a number of persons were assembled on purpose to go and cut off 
the Conestoga Indians, in concert with Mr. Forster, the neighboring 
magistrate, I hurried off an express with written message to that party 
'entreating them to desist from such an undertaking, representing to 
them the unlawfulness and barbarity of such an action; that it's cruel 
and unchristian in its nature, and would be fatal in its consequences 
to themselves and families; that private persons have no right to take 
the lives of any under the protection of the Legislature; that they 
must, if they proceeded in that affair, lay their accounts to meet with 
a severe prosecution, and become liable even to capital punishment; 
that they need not expect that the country would endeavor to conceal or 
screen them from punishment, but that they would be detected and given 
up to the resentment of the government.'  These things I urged in the 
warmest terms in order to prevail with them to drop the enterprise, but 
to no purpose."
  Not to be deterred, the Rangers reached the Indian settlement before 
daylight.  The barking of some dogs discovered them and a number of 
strange Indians rushed from their wigwams, brandishing their tomahawks.  
This show of resistance was sufficient inducements for the Rangers to 
make use of their arms.  In a few moments every Indian present fell 
before the unerring fire of the brave frontiersmen.  The act 
accomplished, they mounted their horses and returned severally to their 
homes.  Unfortunately a number of the Indians were absent from 
Conestoga, prowling about the neighboring settlements, doubtless on 
predatory excursions.  The destruction at the Manor becoming known, 
they were placed in the Lancaster work-house for protection.  Among 
these vagabonds were two well known to Parson Elder's scouts.
  An express being sent to Philadelphia with the news, great excitement 
ensued, and Governor Penn issued a proclamation relative thereto.  
Notwithstanding its fine array of words it fell upon the Province 
harmless.  Outside of the Quaker settlements everyone heartily approved 
of the measures taken by the Paxtang Rangers.  As the governor himself 
wrote to England:  "If we had ten thousand of the king's troops I don't 
believe it would be possible to secure one of these people.  Though I 
took all the pains I could even to get their names, I could not 
succeed, for indeed no one would make the discovery, though ever so 
well acquainted with them, and there is not a magistrate in the country 
would have touched one of them.  The people of this town are as 
inveterate against the Indians as the frontier inhabitants.  For it is 
beyond a doubt that many of the Indians now in town [referring to the 
Moravians confined in the barracks] have been concerned in committing 
murders among back settlers.
  The presence of the remaining Indians at Lancaster also became a 
cause of great uneasiness to the magistrates and people, for as 
previously remarked, two or three were notorious scoundrels.  It may be 
here related that several of the strange Indians harbored at Conestoga, 
who were also absent at the destruction of the village, made their 
escape and reached Philadelphia, where they joined the Moravian Indians 
from Nain and Wechquetank, and there secreted. 
  The removal of the remaining Indians from Lancaster was requested by 
the chief magistrate, Edward Shippen.  Governor Penn proved very tardy, 
and we are of the opinion he cared little about them, or he would have 
acted promptly, as from his own confession he was not ignorant of the 
exasperation of the people and the murderous character of the refugees.  
Day after day passed by, and the excitement throughout the frontiers 
became greater.  The Rangers, who found that their work had been only 
half done, consulted as to what measure should be further proceeded 
with.  Captain Stewart proposed to capture the principal Indian outlaw, 
who was confined in the Lancaster work-house, and take him to Carlisle 
jail, where he could be held for trial.  This was heartily approved, 
and accordingly a detachment of the Rangers, variously estimated at 
from twenty to fifty, proceeded to Lancaster on the 27th of December, 
broke into the work-house, and but for the show of resistance would 
have effected their purpose.  But the younger portion of the Rangers, 
to whom was confided this work, were so enraged at the defiance of the 
Indians that 

30  HISTORICAL REVIEW

before their resentment could be repressed by Captain Stewart, the 
unerring rifle was employed, and the last of the so-called Conestogas 
had yielded up his life.  In a few minutes thereafter, mounting their 
horses, the daring Rangers were safe from arrest.  George Gibson, who, 
from his acquaintance with the principal frontiersmen of his time, in a 
letter written some years after, gives the most plausible account of 
this transaction, which bore such an important part in the early 
history of the Province.  He says:  "No murder has been committed since 
the removal of the friendly Indians and the destruction of the 
Conestogas - a strong proof that the murders were committed under the 
cloak of the Moravian Indians.  A description of an Indian who had, 
with great barbarity, murdered a family on the Susquehanna, near 
Paxtang, was sent to Lazarus Stewart at Lancaster.  This Indian had 
been traced to Conestoga.  On the day of its destruction he was on a 
hunting expedition.  When he heard that the Rangers were in pursuit of 
him he fled to Philadelphia.  The three or four who entered the work-
house at Lancaster were directed by Stewart to seize on the murderer 
and give him to his charge.  When those outside heard the report of the 
guns within several of the Rangers alighted, thinking their friends in 
danger, and hastened to the door.  The more active of the Indians, 
endeavoring to make their escape, were met by them and shot.  No 
children were killed by the Paxtang boys.  No act of savage butchery 
was committed."
  If the excitement throughout the Province was great after the affair 
at Conestoga, this transaction set everything in a ferment.  "No 
language," says Rev. Dr. Wallace, "can describe the outcry which arose 
from the Quakers in Philadelphia, or the excitement which swayed to and 
fro on the frontiers and in the city.  The Quakers blamed the governor, 
the governor the Assembly, and the latter censured everybody except 
their own inaction."  Two proclamations were issued by the Provincial 
authorities, offering rewards for the seizure of those concerned in the 
destruction of the Indians; but this was impossible, owing to the 
exasperation of the frontiersmen, who heartily approved of the action 
of the Rangers.
  On the 27th of December the Rev. Mr. Elder hurriedly wrote to 
Governor Penn:  "the storm, which had been so long gathering, has at 
length exploded.  Had government removed the Indians from Conestoga, as 
was frequently urged without success, this painful catastrophe might 
have been avoided.  What could I do with men heated to madness?  All 
that I could do was done.  I expostulated, but life and reason were set 
at defiance, and yet the men in private life are virtuous and 
respectable - not cruel, but mild and merciful. . . . . . .  The time 
will arrive when each palliating circumstance will be calmly weighed.  
This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered 
one of those youthful ebullitions of wrath caused momentary excitement, 
to which human infirmity is subjected."  
  To this extenuating and warm-hearted letter came a reply, under date 
of December 29, 1763, from the governor, requesting the commanders of 
the troops - Colonels Elder and Seely - to return the Provincial arms, 
etc., as their services were no longer required.  From this letter of 
Governor John Penn, it is evident that the commissioners, or rather the 
Provincial council, intended to punish both Colonel Elder and Esquire 
Seely, or that with the destruction of the Conestogas, there was little 
or no danger of Indian atrocities.  The latter proved to be the case, 
but the authorities were cognizant of the fact that the Paxtang boys 
were correct in their surmisings, and that peace would follow the 
removal of the friendly Indians.  It shows, also, that believing thus, 
the Provincial government was culpable to a great degree in allowing 
the Indians to remain on the Manor, despite the representations of 
Colonel Elder, John Harris and Edward Shippen.  The Rev. Mr. Elder 
quietly laid by his sword, feeling confident that time would vindicate 
his course, whatever that may have been.
  Of the marching of the Paxtang boys toward Philadelphia, we shall 
briefly refer in this connection, and the reason therefore is best 
given by an extract from a letter of Governor Penn:  "The 14th of this 
month we suspect a Thousand of the Rioters in Town to insist upon the 
Assembly granting their request with regard to the increase of 
Representatives, to put them upon an equality with the rest of the 
Counties.  They have from time to time presented several petitions for 
the purpose, which have been always disregarded by the House; for which 
reason they intend to come in Person."  Although our Quaker historians 
have uniformly stated that the object of the Paxtang boys was the 

DAUPHIN COUNTY.  31

massacre of the Moravian Indians in Philadelphia, yet the foregoing 
statement of the Executive of the Province proves conclusively that 
their visit was not one of slaughter but of petition for regress of 
grievances.  The narrative is one of interest to us in this section and 
the true history remains to be written.
  Pamphlets, says Webster, without number, truth or decency, poured 
like a torrent from the press.  The Quakers took the pen to hold up the 
deed to execration; and many others seized the opportunity to defame 
the Irish Presbyterian as ignorant bigots and lawless marauders.
  Violent and bitter as were the attacks of the Quaker pamphleteers, 
Parson Elder was only casually alluded to.  With the exception of the 
following, written to Colonel Burd, he made no attempt to reply to any 
of these, leaving his cause with God and posterity:  "Lazarus Stewart 
is still threatened by the Philadelphia party; he and his friends talk 
of leaving; if they do, the Province will lose some of its best 
friends, and that by the faults of others, not their own; for if any 
cruelty was practiced on the Indians at Conestoga or at Lancaster, it 
was not by his or their hands.  There is great reason to believe that 
much injustice has been done to all concerned.  In the contrariness of 
accounts, we must infer that much rests for support on the imagination 
or interest of the witnesses.  The character of Stewart and his friends 
was well established.  Ruffians, nor brutal, they were not; but humane, 
liberal and moral, nay, religious.  It is evidently not the wish of the 
party to give Stewart a fair hearing.  All he desires is to be put on 
trial at Lancaster, near the scenes of the horrible butcheries 
committed by the Indians at Tulpehocken, etc., where he can have the 
testimony of the scouts and rangers, men whose services can never be 
sufficiently rewarded.  The pamphlet has been sent by my friends and 
enemies; it failed to inflict a wound; it is at least a garbled 
statement; it carries with it the seeds of its own dissolution.  That 
the hatchet was used is denied, and is it not reasonable to suppose 
that men, accustomed to the use of guns, would make use of their 
favorite weapons?
  "The inference is plain that the bodies of the Indians were thus 
mangled after death by certain boys to excite a feeling against the 
Paxtang boys.  This fact Stewart says he can and will establish in a 
fair trial at Lancaster, York or Carlisle.  At any rate we are all 
suffering at present by the secret influence of a faction - a faction 
who have shown their love to the Indians by not exposing themselves to 
its influence in the frontier settlements."
  The "pamphlet" alluded to in the foregoing was the notorious article 
written by Benjamin Franklin for political effect.  He acknowledged, in 
a letter to Lord Kames, that his object was a political one.  As such, 
its tissue of falsehoods caused his defeat for member of the Assembly, 
a position he had held for fourteen years.  Fortunately for him, the 
Revolution brought him into prominence, and the past was forgotten. 
  This transaction was subsequently "investigated" by the magistrate at 
Lancaster, but so condemnatory of the Indians was the evidence elicited 
that it was the Quaker policy to suppress and destroy it.  Nevertheless 
all efforts to carry into effect the proclamation of the governor were 
really suspended, so far as his authority went, in regard to which 
grave complaints were made by the Assembly, who seemed to bend all 
their energies to prosecute the offenders.
  The names of many of those brave defenders of their homes have been 
lost to us - but the frequent statement in all our histories that the 
participants in that transaction came to an untimely end is false.  
With the exception of Lazarus Stewart, who fell on that unfortunate day 
at the massacre of Wyoming, these heroes of the frontiers lived to 
hearty old age, and several reached almost the hundred years of life.  
Their deeds were those of desperation, it is true, but their acts are 
to be honored and their names revered.
  The discussions which ensued may truly be said to have sown the seeds 
of the Revolution, and in a letter of Governor John Penn to his brother 
in England, written at this time, he thus alludes to the inhabitants of 
Paxtang, "their next move will be so subvert the government and 
establish one of their own."
  No wonder then, when the first mutterings of the storm was heard, 
that the people of this entire section were ripe for revolution.  The 
love of liberty was a leading trait of the people who settled in this 
delightful valley.  The tyranny and oppression of Europe drove them to 
seek an asylum among the primeval forests of America.  Persecution for 
conscience sake compelled alike the Scotch-Irish and the German of the 
Palati-

32  HISTORICAL REVIEW

nate to come higher and rear their altars dedicated to God and Freedom 
to man.  With them Independence was as much their dream as the 
realization.  Their isolated position - placed on the frontiers - 
unprotected by the Provincial authorities - early instilled into their 
minds those incentives to action, that when the opportune moment 
arrived they were in the van.  Two years before the Declaration by 
Congress, the people had assembled at their respective places of 
rendezvous, and heralded forth their opinions in plain and unmistakable 
language, while the citizens of the large towns were fearful and 
hesitating.
  As early as the spring of 1774 meetings were held in the different 
townships, the resolves of only two of which are preserved to us.  The 
earliest was that of an assembly of the inhabitants of Hanover, 
Lancaster county, held on Saturday, June 4, 1774, Colonel Timothy 
Green, chairman, "to express their sentiments on the present critical 
state of affairs."  It was then and there "Unanimously resolved: 
  "1st.  That the recent action of the Parliament of Great Britain is 
iniquitous and oppressive.
  "2d.  That it is the bounden duty of the inhabitants of America to 
oppose every measure which tends to deprive them of their just 
prerogatives.
  "3d.  That in a closer union of the colonies lies the safeguard of 
the people.
  "4th.  That in the event of Great Britain attempting to force unjust 
laws upon us by the strength of arms, our cause we leave to Heaven and 
our rifles. 
  "5th.  That a committee of nine be appointed who shall act for us and 
in our behalf as emergency may require.
  "The committee consisted of Colonel Timothy Green, James Caruthers, 
Josiah Espy, Robert Dixon, Thomas Copenheffer, William Clark, James 
Stewart, Joseph Barnett and John Rogers."
  So much for patriotic Hanover.  Following in the footsteps of these 
brave men, on Friday following, June 10, 1774, a similar meeting was 
held at Middletown, Colonel James Burd, chairman, at which these 
stirring resolves were concurred in, and which served as the text of 
those passed at the meeting at Lancaster subsequently:
  "1st.  That tho acts of the Parliament of Great Britain in divesting 
us of the right to give and grant our money, and assuming such power to 
themselves, are unconstitutional, unjust and oppressive.
  "2d.  That it is an indispensable duty we owe to ourselves and 
posterity to oppose with decency and firmness every measure tending to 
deprive us of our just rights and privileges.
  "3d.  That a close union of the colonies and their faithful adhering 
to such measures as a general congress shall judge proper are the most 
likely means to procure redress of American grievances and settle the 
rights of the colonies on a permanent basis.
  "4th.  That we will sincerely and heartily agree to and abide by the 
measures which shall be adopted by the members of the general congress 
of the colonies.
  "5th.  That a committee be appointed to confer with similar 
committees relative to the present exigency of affairs."
  Not to be behind their Scotch-Irish neighbors, the German inhabitants 
located in the east of the county met at Frederickstown (now 
Hummelstown), on Saturday, the 11th of June, at which Capt. Frederick 
Hummel was chairman, resolving to stand by the other townships in all 
their action.
  We say they were ripe for revolution, and when the stirring battle-
drum aroused the new-born  nation, the inhabitants of Dauphin valiantly 
armed for the strife.  One of the first companies raised in the 
colonies was that of Capt. Matthew Smith, of Paxtang.  Within ten days 
after the receipt of the news of the battle of Lexington, this company 
was armed and equipped, ready for service.  Composing this pioneer body 
of patriots was the best blood of the county - the Dixons, the Elders, 
the Simpsons, the Boyds, the Harrises, the Reeds, the Tods and others.  
Archibald Steele and Michael Simpson were the lieutenants.  It was the 
second company to arrive at Boston, coming south of the Hudson river.  
It was subsequently ordered to join General Arnold in his unfortunate 
campaign against Quebec, and the most reliable account of that 
expedition was written by a member of this very Paxtang company, John 
Joseph Henry, afterwards president judge of Lancaster and Dauphin 
counties.  They were enlisted for one year.  The majority, however, 
were taken prisoners at Quebec, while a large percentage died of wounds 
and exposure.