Area History: Chapter 3 - Part II, Vol II - Watson's Annals of Philadelphia And Pennsylvania, 1857 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by EVC. USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ____________________________________________________________ ANNALS of PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA, VOL. II ______________________________________________ Chapter 3. Part II INDIANS INDIAN NAMES OF PLACES, BY HECKEWELDER. Schuylkill, (GanshowÈhanne) the noisy stream, because of its falls and ripples. Little Schuylkill, (Tamaquon) the beaver stream, or place where they abounded. Manayunk, (Meneiunk) our place of drinking, or to assemble to drink. Makerish Kitton, applied to river Delaware, but must have been originally meant for the Trenton falls, meaning strong, rapid, like them. Wissahickon, (WisamÍkhan) catfish creek. Wisauchsican, a stream of yellowish colour. Shakamaxon, (SchachamÈksink) place of eels. Cohocksink, (Cuweuhackink) pine lands. Wingohocking, (Wingeh·cking) fine land for planting, favourite spot. Manatawny, (Menhattanink) where we drank (liquor) (is like Manhatten, New York ! ) Tulpehoccon, (Tulpewihacki) the land of turtles. Wyoming, a river having large flats upon it. Wisaukin creek, (Wisachgim) grapes, the place where they grow in plenty. Pittsburg, (Men·chkink) a secure place, a fort. Juniata, is an Iroquois word. (unknown now) The Indians said, that this river had the best hunting ground for deer, elk and the beaver. Pennsylvania, they called (Quoekelinik) the country of Quakers ! Hoboken (Hopoken) a tobacco pipe, near New York. Burlington, (Tschichohacki) ancient, or oldest planted land. There they said, that they planted their first town on the river ! It was called Chyoes island, (or Chygoes?) after an Indian named Schigo which means widower. The Indian tribes there, and along the river, were the Mandas. Potowmak river, (Ped·mmÙk) they are coming (by water) "so Indians told Mr. H." Chesapeake bay, (TschsichwapÈke) great saltish bay. Powhatan, the name of the James river, and the chief also -- the river of abundance. Pocohantas, a run between two hills. Rappahannok, (Lappih·nne) where water ebbs and flows. Susquehanna, Hanna, means river, and Susque, muddy. Temanen, probably Temened, (the chief?) the affable. Some notable Indians, known to Heckewelder, to wit : Nutimus, (N™tamús) a striker of fish with a spear, two brothers of that name, one Isaac, the other Pontius Nutamús, an excellent man, was born where Philadelphia now stands, lived to a hundred years of age, and died at Muskingum, after thirty years' residence, in 1780. His brother Isaac, was also a chief, and a good man, and learned to work with tools, and at blacksmithing, died also near his brother in 1780. Lawelochwelend, one who walks between two others, or the middle man. He also was born on the place now Philadelphia, he saw the first house building when about twelve or thirteen years of age; he caught fish and rabbits, and shot ducks, pheasants, &c. for the workmen -- and the woman who cooked for them and kept a little shop, gave him for them, needles, thread, scissors, knives, awl blades, &c., for his mother. In manhood he went to Ohio to dwell there, to trap beavers and otters, &c.; was made a chief there, he became afterwards a Moravian; visited Philadelphia several times and saw its increase ! -- he died at ninety years of age, about the year 1779. Nedowaway, (Netaw·tees) of the Turtle tribe, was cheated of his lands by "the Long-walk"; he was a signer to the treaty at Conestoga, in 1719 -- he died in 1776, at ninety years of age, in Ohio. In his possession as chief were the speeches, &c., of William Penn and his successors. He had himself seen William Penn, and spoke of those early speeches and times with great animation to Mr. H. Kill-buck, Jun., (GelelÈmend) as chief of the Turtle tribe, had the bag containing the wampum speeches, and written documents of William Penn, carefully preserved, till surprised near Pittsburg by bad white people, and lost the bag among them in making his escape. He died in 1811, aged eighty years, a Christian convert. Tedeuscung was burnt in his house on Susquehanna. THE INDIAN ALARMS AND HOSTILITIES. Secretary Peters presented in council, in Dec 1755, a brief narrative of the incursions and ravages of the Indians in the province of Pennsylvania, beginning upon the 18th of October, upon the inhabitants of Mahanatry creek, near the forks of the Susquehanna, "this being the first inroad ever made upon this province since its first settlement", and "thus driving in the inhabitants of all the frontier country, which extends from the rivers Potomac and Susquehanna, to the river Delaware, one hundred and fifty miles in length, and between twenty and thirty in breadth, but not fully settled, and leaving the whole entirely deserted" -- "the houses and improvements reduced to ashes, and the cattle and grain carried off". All these hostile measures are imputed to the influence of the French after the defeat of Braddock, they gaining thereby to their interest the Delawares, Shawanese and many others formerly in our alliance, both from fear and from interest; they promising them to reinstate them in their lands, and to make the Susquehanna river the boundary of the whites, and to this end that they would build a strong fort at Shamokin, nigh to the confluence, or forks of the two branches of Susquehanna. The ravages of Indians, as told on the Minutes of Council, were as follows, to wit; Oct. 18, 1755. A party of Indians fell upon the people on Mahanatry creek, that runs into the Susquehanna five miles below the great fork of that river, near Shamokin or Northumberland, and killed and carried off twenty-five persons, and burnt and destroyed their buildings, leaving the whole settlement deserted by the survivors. Oct. 23d. Forty-six of the inhabitants on Susquehanna went up to Shamokin to inquire of Indians there, who they were who had so cruelly destroyed the above settlement, and on their return were fired upon by some Indians in ambush, and had four killed, four drowned, and the rest put to flight. From this cause all the settlements below, to Hunter's mill (now McAllister's Fort Hunter) for fifty miles along the river was deserted. Oct. 31. An Indian trader and two other men in the Tuscarora valley, were killed by Indians, and their houses, &c. burned. The rest of the inhabitants left their plantations and fled. Nov. 3. Two women are carried away from Conegochege by the Indians, and the same day Canalaways and Little Cove, two considerable settlements, were attacked by Indians -- the houses were burned and the inhabitants put to flight. Nov. 16. A party of Indians crossed the Susquehanna, and fell upon the county of Berks -- murdered thirteen persons, burned a great number of houses, destroyed much cattle, grain and fodder, and laid waste a large extent of country. Nov. 21. A fine settlement of Moravians, called Gnadenhutten, in Northampton county, on the West branch (Lehigh) of Delaware river, was attacked -- six persons killed -- their meeting-house and dwelling houses burned. December. During all this month, the Indians were employed in burning and destroying all before them in Northampton county, even as far as within twenty miles of Easton, its chief town. It was even said that some French officers were within the same county directing the general progress of the war and the destruction. A letter from James Hamilton, Esq., then at Easton, Dec. 25, 1755, says -- "The country along the river is absolutely deserted from this place to Broadhead's, which last place was stoutly defended by his sons and others against the frequent assaults of the Indians. There are here three companies of soldiers waiting for more arrivals; for the people here, though so injured, are very backward to engage in the service to revenge themselves; they are dispirited, and we must have men from a distance to be able to garrison these block-houses which we propose to build over the hills soon." The following notice of a reward for scalps, I had at first some scruples to record; but truth is truth, and on second thought I venture to give it, as it is, only adding that there were other views cherished by "the Association for preserving peace with the Indians", as organized at Philadelphia in the time of Gov. Hunter, in 1756. At a council at Philadelphia, 6th July, 1764, present John Penn, Lieut.-Gov., Thomas Cadwalader and Richard Penn, Esqs. The council, having before agreed to give encouragement for a more successful war on the frontiers against the Indians, agreed to give a reward for scalps, &c., provided it should be approved, &c., by Sir William Johnson. His answer of 18th June, `64, is, "I cannot but approve of your design to gratify the desire of the people in your province by a bounty on scalps" &c. Whereupon the council resolved to issue a proclamation the 7th July, 1764, and to publish it in the Gazette, to wit : for every prisoner, male, delivered, 150 dollars -- for every female, 138 dollars -- for the scalp of every male, 134 dollars -- for every female, 50 dollars, &c. &c. After this, I saw fears expressed by Conrad Weiser and others, that the reward for scalps would induce even friendly Indians to kill white men for their scalps. [It is to be hoped that the ill-judged severity passed away without any practical operation. Gov. Hunter began it in 1756, as a proclamation, but nothing was done therefrom.] May 5, 1758. Information is given that an Indian, William Sock, a Conestogoe, just returned from the New York country, and his comrade, a Cayuga, had for some time been tampering with the Conestogoe Indians, near Lancaster, and that they were at the instance of those Indians proposing to remove from the manor, his honour had therefore written to James Wright to inquire into the matter. A letter was also read from Edward Shippen, Esq., of Lancaster, of 3d May, 1758, saying among other things, that "the Conestogoe Indians are going to leave their town; they say they were not kindly treated lately at Philadelphia, they being left there unnoticed, and left naked and barefooted, which was a breach of the governor's word before given, &c.: that as they were no longer to be allowed to hunt deer, and as they were found to go into the wilderness to seek clothing for themselves and families, they should therefore go a little beyond Fort Augusta, and there build Indian cabins for their use, for six months or so, and then return. Mr. McKee, our friend, informs that he made it his business to inquire about these things and that he learned from Betty Sock, the mother of William, aforesaid, that he and some of the young men were absolutely to go and help the French. Such being the facts, I shall use my utmost to restrain them from going, as an affair of much importance to the province." [The foregoing statements probably explained, in part, the reason of the fears and jealousies of the Paxton men, then a part of Lancaster county, against that tribe.] Mr. Wright afterwards makes answer that the young men are going away for want of hunting grounds, and that the people here are in general greatly prejudiced against them, and so that there was some fear, even in sending old Sesane and some others with the Cayuga, to Philadelphia, to hold a conference, which he however does accompanied by a friend of the government. He does not palliate to excuse them, he only says he thinks they may not intend ill. ** I read the minute books of council down to the year 1760. The last twenty-five years, however, more superficially than the preceding ones. The last ten years were much engrossed with Indian concerns and deliberations, and with communications from Indians and Indian agents. The Indian conferences and speeches were generally of little interest; they contained no incidental history worth noticing. We here add sundry facts gleaned from the New York Mercury, &c., from the years 1755 to 1763. 1755. The people settled on the west side of the Susquehanna are all alarmed and moving eastward into the settlements. The people of Juniata have all run off and left their grain to ruin -- alarms also at Carlisle. 1757. We learn from Northampton county, that at Lynn township, in same county, a party of Indians assaulted Adam Clawse and his neighbours whilst cutting his corn -- Martin Yager and his wife were killed and scalped; Abram Secler and a child were scalped, but survive; two men shot through, but still live; two children murdered; two men and two women, and a girl escaped. A party was made up and went in pursuit of them. 1757. We learn from York county, the 2d July, that a woman and three children were carried away by the Indians, and the house burnt. The farmer and his sons were abroad at work. 1757. From Carlisle, we learn, that Alexander Miller, of Antrim township, in Cumberland county, was killed in June, and two of his children carried off. His boy of fourteen years of age, shut himself in the house, and kept up such a defensive fire as to save himself by alarming his neighbours. The wife being out hid herself in the bushes -- one man was killed at about six miles from Carlisle. 1757. Two men were killed in Shearman's valley -- one man who was wounded made his escape into Carlisle. 1757. From Tulpehocken, July 4, one says -- the Indians are murdering about six miles from my house. Last Friday three women and four children were murdered only seven miles from me. If we do not get speedy assistance all the inhabitants will move away. 1757. From Heidelberg, July 9 -- yesterday afternoon an assault was made upon a house in which were twenty women and children while the men were all abroad picking cherries. They scalped one woman who still lives; another they cut terribly with a tomahawk. Three of the children they carried off prisoners. 1757. From Reading, July 12. Two Indians were seen close by the town on the 4th instant, in the evening -- two were also seen before, about eight miles off. They are frequently seen in different parts of this country. We have a scheme to secure this town; and if we are not surprised by the French, we fear but little what the Indians can do. 1758. York county, April 5. Three Indians were seen this day near Thomas Jamieson's at the head of Marsh creek. After the alarm was given, six men proceeded to Jamieson's house and found Robert Buck killed and scalped -- all the rest of the family are missing. The same day a person going to Shippenstown, saw a number of Indians. These facts have caused much alarm. 1758. A letter from an officer at Tulpehocken, April 8th, says -- We were informed last night at Shearman's valley, that a woman had been killed and scalped there -- we are now setting off with soldiers in pursuit. The list of killed, with one prisoner, is as follows, to wit : At Swatara, two young men brothers; in Tulpehocken, one Levergood and wife killed; at Northkill, the wife of Nicholas Gieger and his two children, and the wife of M. Titleser -- all killed and scalped. The Indians keep themselves divided in small parties through the woods. 1758. July. The Indians lately appeared near Harris' ferry (now Harrisburg) on the Susquehanna. One of them seized on Capt. Craig about seven miles from Harris', as he was riding along the road. The Indian cast his tomahawk and cut him in the cheek, a number of Indians at same time setting up a cry. Craig gave spurs to his horse and got off. The same day a lad, driving a plough, was shot at and one of his horses killed, the boy escaped. An Indian, at night, got his gun through the palisade at Mr. Harris' house, and endeavoured to fire at the people in the house, but his gun flashing in the pan, alarmed the people -- on which the enemy made off. 1763. A letter from Carlisle of July, says -- We have now eighty or ninety volunteers scouring the woods. The inhabitants of Shearman's valley, Tuscorara, &c., have all come over, and the people of this valley, near the mountain, are beginning to move in, so that in a few days there will be scarcely a house inhabited north of Carlisle. This letter mentions the names and places of several families attacked, and of several killed on the Juniata, and at Shearman's valley -- grain destroyed -- houses sometimes burnt, by small parties of Indians, only thirty or forty miles from Carlisle. The sheriff and his party overtook a party of fifteen to twenty Indians, and had a fight in Shearman's valley, and beat them off. At same time there are Indian alarms and surprises near Cumberland, in Frederick county, in Maryland. The papers contain many acounts of massacres all about the South mountain, Tuscarora mountains, &c. Retreating families pass through Fredericktown, Maryland daily. The families of Fincher and of Miller, twenty-four miles from Reading, were all murdered -- the Indians were pursued. At this time sermons were preached in most of the churches in Philadelphia, to raise funds and necessaries for the back inhabitants, and besides collections are made generally among the citizens, by going from house to house. Indian news from Northampton county, October 1763, says -- The Indians attacked John Stinton's house, eight miles from Bethlehem, and killed some. Capt. Wetherholt from Fort Allen, (Allentown) with his party went in pursuit. The captain and sergeant got mortally wounded. N. Marks, of Whitehall township, and Hance Snider's families, were also assaulted -- some killed and wounded. The inhabitants are all in alarm. Most of the people of Allentown &c., have fled to Bethlehem and Nazareth, and this last is put into a state of defence. About the same time an expedition of one hundred and fifty men, under Col. Armstrong, went up the West branch of the Susquehanna to the great encampment of the Indians at the Great island, and they fled beyond the frontiers. The Indians appeared in Sussex county, New Jersey, on the Delaware river side, and killed several whites. On the 15th of November, the Indians killed three men, twenty-two miles from Reading, on the north side of the mountains, at the forks of the Schuylkill. They were just returning back to their plantation, which they had before deserted. INDIAN RAVAGES AND INCIDENTS, NEAR CARLISLE AND HARRISBURG. In the year 1807, Archibald Loudon, of Carlisle (alive in 1835) wrote and published a work in two volumes, 12 mo., wherein he set forth his narrative of Indian wars in general, and several instances of occurrences in and near Shearman's valley, where he was born. They are curious now, as showing the rapid changes of civilization and cultivation in the same regions of country along the line of the Susquehanna, even in the short period of eighty years. When we contemplate the present state of Harrisburg and its society, we cannot but feel surprised that such a thickly populated country, so well improved, should have been so recently rescued from the terrors of predatory Indians and the horrors of the scalping knife. James Watson and William McMullin, who lived in Cumberland county, between Conodoquinett creek and the Blue mountain, were surprised by Indians while at their barn; they endeavoured to reach their fort, where others were gathered for safety, but got wounded, overtaken and finally killed. In the year 1756, the Indians beset the house of one Woolcomber, on Shearman's creek, at a time when all the rest of the inhabitants had gathered into the fort at George Robinson's. He being a Quaker, refused to seek refuge, saying that the Indians would be peaceable but for the Irish; while at his dinner the Indians came in, he asked them to come eat with him, but an Indian answered that they did not want food, but scalps -- he then drove his tomahawk into his head. His son of fourteen years of age made off and alarmed the fort, consisting of about forty men. July, 1756. The Indians waylaid the fort in Shearman's valley in harvest time, and when the reapers had gone out, they were about to assault it, but Robert Robinson and James Wilson, standing at the gate of the fort and firing at a mark, alarmed the Indians, so that they made off, killing a daughter of Robert Miller, the wife of James Wilson, and the widow Gibson, and taking prisoners Hugh Gibson and Betsey Henry. Samuel Bell and James Bell, near Carlisle, in 1755-6, agreed to go to Shearman's valley to hunt deer, and were to have met together upon Croghan's gap. Before they met, however, Samuel Bell, saw three Indians in the valley, all fired at each other from their trees. He wounded one of them, and received some shot in his own clothes. The two Indians, unhurt, moved at same time to get him between them; in doing so, he shot one of them dead. The other Indian ran and took the dead one on his back to make escape; but he pursuing, wounded the carrier, who dropped his charge and made off some distance, where he was afterwards found dead. The first wounded Indian was visited and killed. Thus one man killed three Indians within an hour. Samuel Bell was a farmer upon Stony ridge. [The names of sundry forts were in general after the name of the owner of the farms where situate, and were stockade defences generally, for the refuge and defence of families, acting as farmers and settlers, and not for real soldiers. Hunter's fort was the same as Hunter's mill.] In the year 1755, Peter Shaver, John Savage, and two other men, were killed at the mouth of Shaver's creek on Juniata, by Indians. In February 1756, Indians came to Juniata from Shamokin, to the house of Hugh Mitcheltrees, and killed his wife and a young man; they thence went and killed Edward Nicholous and his wife; and took Joseph, Thomas and Catherine Nicholous, John Wilcox, James Armstrong's wife and two children prisoners. About same time James Cotties and his boy left that party, and went to Shearman's creek, and killed William Sheridan and his family of thirteen persons ! -- thence they went down the creek to a family of three aged persons, and killed them. The same Cotties, in the year 1757, went to Hunter's fort, and killed a young man of the name of William Martin, whilst he was gathering chestnuts. After the war was over, the same Cotties, being at the same fort, was killed by an Indian of the name of Hambus, who reproached him for the death of young Martin. In July 1756, Hugh Gibson was captured from Robinson's fort in Shearman's valley -- at the same time killed his mother. He saw a prisoner white woman burned to death, they stripped and bound her to a stake, they applied hot irons to her, the skin sticking to them at every touch, and she screaming and crying for mercy ! Several prisoners were compelled to stand as spectators. In the year 1755, the province of Pennsylvania erected Fort Granville at Old town, situate at the junction of Kishecoquilles creek and Juniata. It was the station of a company of enlisted soldiers, when it was attacked by a body of Indians, they at same time firing it with pine knots and combustibles. The captain was killed, and his lieutenant of name of Turner surrendered; some were massacred, the others borne off, only one man escaped wounded to Carlisle. Poor Turner they burnt to death, so that he saved nothing by his too tame surrendering ! The same party next attacked Bingham's fort in Tuscarora, this they also burned, killing and capturing all that were in it. About the same time they killed Robert Cochran on his own farm, and bore off his wife and son. The Indians, in one of their inroads into Shearman's valley, murdered a family of seven persons on the creek; thence passing over Croghan's gap, they wounded a man and killed his horse. At Conodoquinett creek in the next valley, they captured Mrs. Boyle and her two sons and a daughter. At another time they came upon the frontiers of Lancaster county (now that part called Dauphin county) assaulting a family moving by wagon, killed the driver; the rest made off to a fort near by. As the men went from this fort to the next, nine miles distant, to give the alarm, they were waylaid and all killed except two, who escaped wounded. Mrs. Boggs, of the same neighbourhood, while riding to a neighbour's house, was fired upon by the Indians and her horse killed -- she had a suckling child with her which they killed and scalped, -- the mother they took away. At Paxton, the defenceless state of the people induced four men living in one house "to erect a fort round it" [this perhaps shows the manner of many of them named after the individual owners.] It so happened that a captain with his company had halted there to pass the night; it also chanced that the gate was left unfastened. By this means some Indians, who knew not of the accidental increase of strength, got into the enclosure and closed it, summoning at the same time a surrender. The house door was opened; as they entered they were shot down, and those who fled, not being able to find the gate, were all killed ! In the spring of 1763, the Indians began to kill and scalp the frontier inhabitants, and in a short time drove them all as far as the North mountain; however, when harvest came on, some of the people of Tuscarora and Shearman's valley ventured to go back to secure their crops; but the Indians came upon them before they had begun, and when the people, because of its being Sabbath day, were in their houses. The most of those of Tuscarora were killed. Eight persons were killed in Dodds' house, Dodds himself got off to Shearman's valley and gave the alarm. Two companies went on the bury the dead &c., to wit : the Upper company and the Buffaloe company : as the latter were returning they were surprised by the Indians, and six of their company were killed, the remaining six persons escaped. Then the Indians went up the valley, and seeing five men approaching they concealed themselves, killed John Logan and Charles Coil, and wounded William Hamilton, who died soon after at Carlisle. In the second war, say on the 5th July 1763, as told by Robert Robinson, the Indians went to Juniata in harvest time, where the people had gone back to reap their crops. While the reapers all lay upon the floor in William White's house on Sunday, the Indians crept up and shot them all, save one boy, who leaped out of the window and got off. The same Indians, went off to Robert Campbell's on the Tuscarora creek, surprised them in the same way, shot them on the floor where they were resting themselves. One Dodds made his escape up the chimney and fled to Shearman's valley; thence they went to William Anderson's and killed him; thence they went to Collins' and committed depredations, burned Graham's house &c. They were afterwards pursued and overtaken at Nicholson's and a battle ensued, there being twenty-five Indians, to twelve white persons; five of the latter were killed. [In September 1763, five persons were killed in a fight at Buffaloe creek.] In the year 1763, a company of volunteers of one hundred men resolved to go up the Susquehanna as far as Monsey, so as by attacking them at home, they might the better drive them off from any further invasions of the settlements. They joined battle near Monsey, with two companies of Indians, supposed to be then on their way down the river for destruction -- they killed their chief, called Snake, and the others dispersed. During the Indian alarms of 1763, the congregation of Christ church and St. Peter's raised the sum of £662 for the relief of the frontier inhabitants, especially in Cumberland county. A letter at this time from their missionary, William Thompson, at Carlisle, says : "We find the number of the distressed to be seven hundred and fifty families, who have abandoned their plantations, many have lost their crops, and some their stock and furniture, and besides these we are informed that about two hundred women and children are coming down from Fort Pitt. The unhappy sufferers are dispersed through every part of this country, and many have passed through into York. In this town and neighbourhood, there are upwards of two hundred families, and having the affection of the small pox and flux to a great degree." Besides the money sent by the vestry of the above churches, they also sent two chests of arms, half a barrel of powder, four hundred pounds of lead, two hundred swan shot, and a hundred flints; to be sold to such prudent and good people as should need them, and would use them for their defence. [The above facts are on the minutes of Christ church.] Contributions were made at Philadelphia at the same time by others. In the year 1779, the Indians made inroads into the settlements of Northumberland county, assaulted the house of Andrew Armstrong, made him a prisoner, his wife was hid under a bed. Two families flying were attacked at Warrior's run, the men escaped, but Mrs. Durham, having her child shot in her arms, fainted and fell, and was scalped; but she revived again and got off safely. The same year, a party of Indians came into Buffaloe valley, where they fell upon two girls separated from the reapers and secured them with one Indian, while they should try to attack the said reapers; while their Indian was lying down, one of the girls sunk a hatchet into his head, and both made off and gave the alarm. The people of Northumberland county, to defend themselves, erected fort Freelan, also Brady's, Wallace's, and Boomes' forts. This repressed the incursions, but they killed Captain Brady while he was bringing provisions to the garrison. One of the parties of Indians went into Northumberland county, captured Peter Pence, a man and a boy. Some time after, when the Indians were asleep at night, Pence got loose, and with the aid of the boy, killed two or three, and the rest, having their guns taken, fled. The white persons got to their homes. Some of the Indian cruelties were extreme, one George Wools relates the suffering to which a young man was subjected; it was too great to be conceived of unless seen. They cut holes in his cheeks, through which they passed the cord by which he was tied to a tree, with slack enough to let him move round it. His body being naked, they seared his flesh with heated gun-barrels, and as he moved round to shun one he was met behind by another. They scalped his head and applied hot ashes and coals to his skull. Then they opened his abdomen, and taking out part of his bowels to the tree, and again compelling him to move by the touching of the hot gun-barrels, finally, as he was nearly expiring, his tormentors thrust a hot iron up to his heart, and he died ! THE INDIANS ON SUSQUEHANNA In the years 1744-5, the Rev. Mr. Brainard visited the Indians on the Susquehanna -- he thus describes his first visit there, to wit : In October, he started from his Indians at the Forks of Delaware, (since Easton) accompanied by his friend the Rev. Mr. Byron, of Rockciticus; at twenty-five miles' journey they lodged at the last house on their road, all the rest was a "hideous and howling wilderness" nothing else but mountains, deep valleys and hideous rocks. His mare broke her legs in the rocks and had to be killed, and he went onward on foot, at night sleeping on the ground before a fire. They arrived at Susquehanna river at a place called Opeholhauperg, consisting of twelve Indian houses -- here he preached several times -- had their attention, and a request to visit them again, and he returned home. [But little done.] In September 1745, he again left the Forks of Delaware, (Easton) and made his journey to the Susquehanna, lodging out three nights; when he arrived at Shamokin, where there were fifty houses and three hundred persons of three tribes, speaking different languages, consisting of Delawares, Senekas and Tutelas. Thence he travelled down the river -- visited an Indian town called Juneauta, (since Juniata) situated on an island in the Susquehanna, (Duncan's ?) they were making preparations for a sacrificial dance. They had prepared ten fat deer for the sacrifice -- they danced all night. Next day they gathered all their pow-wows, (conjurors) to ascertain why they were so sickly of fevers and flux. [He describes the process] Several of them understood English -- they learned it in Maryland. [The present "Clark's ferry" near Duncan's island, was called Queenashawakee by the Indians, and the Juniata, near by it, was spelled Coniata. This ferry was once a great fording place -- a little above it, at the White rock, on the river side, John Harris had, in 1733, a house, which was complained of by the Indians. The Swedish family of Huling came originally from Marcus Hook, and settled the fine island now called Duncan's. In the year 1755, Mrs. Huling, with her two children, all on one horse, forded the river and made their escape from the Indians, down to Fort Hunter, now McAllister's place. A Mrs. Berryhill got safe to the same place, but her husband was killed and scalped. This island was the favourite home of the Indians, and there are still many Indian remains. At the angle of the canal, near the great bridge, I saw the mound covered with trees, from which were taken hundreds of cart-loads of human bones, and which were used with the intermixed earth, as filling materials for one of the shoulders or bastions of the dam. What a sacrilege ! There were also among them many beads, trinkets, &c.] August 1746. Rode towards Paxton, (near present Harrisburg) upon Susquehanna river; thence to Chambers' (Hunter's fort) where he found ungodly people drinking and swearing; thence fifteen miles, to a family wholly unacquainted with God; next day travelled above all the English settlements and lodged in the woods -- then he met and assembled Indians at different places -- all were attentive but few converts. September 1st, set out from Shamokin for the Great island up the North-west branch; lodged in the woods; when arrived at the Delaware town, found them drinking and drunken. Thence went eight miles to the Shawannoes -- some were attentive and some not. On the 4th September returned homewards, finding himself too feeble and unwell to remain longer. [One cannot but remark, how little all his pains and travel could effect. These journeys seemed but ill requited by the measure of success; yet his faith and zeal seem unabated.] THE ASSAULT AND BURNING OF HANNA'S TOWN, IN 1782. This town, now no longer such, once stood about three miles from Greensburg. It was distinguished in the year 1773, as the first county town where justice was dispensed in legal form, west of the Allegheny mountains. At the time that it was made the court town of Westmoreland county in 1773, it consisted of about thirty habitations of log construction. Even the court-house, and jail, and a stockade fort, were all formed of logs. Robert Hanna, Esq., was the first justice presiding in the courts, and Arthur St.Clair, Esq., first clerk and prothonotary -- the same who afterwards became Gen. St.Clair. The first road opened to Fort Pitt, by Gen. Forbes and his army, passed through this town. At that place Hugh Breckenridge made his first debut as a lawyer. There were many joyous meetings at court times, when all was rustic cordiality and good cheer. The summer of 1782 was a sorrowful season to the frontier inhabitants, all the country to the north-west of this town had been generally deserted from the dread of Indians, who had been killing and pursuing many of the people. On the 13th July 1782, the memorable day for Hanna town, when sundry of the inhabitants were absent at Miller's station, two miles distant, and another part of them gone out to assist in the harvest of O'Connor's field, a mile and a half off, the alarm of approaching Indians was sounded, so that most of the inhabitants got into the fort. The savages, provoked to find themselves discovered, sacked and burned the town -- the little garrison being too weak to assault. They then set off to attack Miller's station -- they were supposed to be about three hundred in number, assisted by some fifty or sixty refugee guides. There the Indians assaulted by surprise the principal house, where there was a wedding party, at which were present Mrs. H. and her two pretty daughters, Mr. Brownlee, and family, &c. Some made their escape, but the bride and groom (think of such a state !) and several of the guests were made prisoners, including some of the Miller family. These were all marched off to Canada -- there the beauty and the misfortunes of the Misses H. attracted attention, and a British officer loved and married the gentle Miss Marian. Brownlee, from being an active campaigner formerly against the Indians, was tomahawked on the route while carrying his child on his shoulders -- the child was killed also. A woman prisoner, who saw it, shrieking out with terror and interfering, was also killed as a warning of submission to the rest. They all remained in Canada till after the peace of 1783, and were then released -- the widow Brownlee among the number, minus the loss of husband and child murdered ! Much more in detail is remembered by the aged of that part of the country -- one man, for instance, in running from Miller's town with his family, and carrying his little child, was so hotly pursued by the savages, that for the sake of saving the mother, he laid down his child in the field, thus saving himself and her, and strange to tell, the child, since grown up to manhood, was found afterwards safe at home asleep in bed -- by what cause so restored, was never known ! Is it not now subject of wonder, that so populous and civilized a country should, only as late as 1782, have been ravaged by predatory Indians. How easily too might some of the party have made a book of their sufferings and adventures in captivity, equal to that of the Gilbert family which I have herein preserved. [A story of the above facts is well told in the Germantown Telegraph of 22d of Nov. 1837, from an inland paper.] Narrative of Lieut. Van Campen, showing the state of the Pennsylvania frontier, as he was engaged in it, during the Revolution. The facts of this narrative, as he prepared it for his claim on Congress in 1828, show that the Susquehanna was then a western frontier. It is published at large on cover No. 7, of Aug. 14, 1838, of Waldie's Library. It is full of legend and daring adventure in conflicts with the Indians, from the years 1777 to 1782, in the same counties now filled with a rich and civilized population. In 1777 he was stationed three months at Big isle, under Col. Kelly. In 1778 he was sent by Col. Hunter to build a fort at Fishing creek, where they were attacked by Indians. In the same summer occurred the great massacre of Wyoming. This produced the appointment of Gen. Sullivan, with an army to push into the Indian country, in the year 1779. When near Tioga point, the Indians assembled in great force, and Van Campen, disguised as an Indian, went by night into their camp to espy out their force, &c. After this he was sent home sick with camp fever -- he went to his father's farm, near the fort he had before built at Fishing creek. In March, 1780 the family was attacked by Indians, and his father and brother killed before his eyes, and himself and two relatives borne off as prisoners by ten Indians. In two or three days they rose upon these Indians when asleep, and despatched them all but one ! -- this was near the present Tioga. They made themselves a raft and drifted towards Wyoming. After this he was employed to keep up a constant chain of scouts around the frontier settlements, from Fishing creek to Muncey, &c. SOME INDIAN FACTS. At Lebanon, (one mile south of the road, westward, near to the creek Catepahilla, the former name of the settlement) is still a stone house, altered and renewed, which was at first the Fort house for the neighbours, now belongs to Doctor Glovinger. There is also in the town, an aged woman who had been six years a captive with the Indians -- taken with other children from the neighbourhood. The house had little windows used as loop holes for guns. At Myerstown, six miles this side of Lebanon, is another stone house, used for a fort, and which was once bravely defended by a single woman. At Womelsdorf, at the east end of town opposite to Bunker's hill, a place of fight with the Indians, is a stone house, now in part rebuilt, belonging to Mr. Schultz, and once the property of Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, (still used as a farm house) which was the fort of the place, and maintained at one time a strong defence. An Indian burial ground is close by. Mrs. Clemens is now alive, near Womelsdorf, who had been an Indian captive. In the year 1736, there were a hundred Indians of the Six Nations at Stenton farm (Logan's) come for purposes of treaty. Stayed two days and went to the city and treated. CONESTOGA INDIANS AND SHAWANESE. The Votes of the Assembly, vol. 4, p.517 -- year 1755. The committee upon the claims of the Delawares and Shawanese to lands upon Conedoquinet (a creek near Carlisle) report, that after making their best inquiries, come to the conclusion, to wit : That the Shawanese are southern Indians, who being made uneasy by their neighbours, came with about sixty families up to Conestoga about the year 1698, by the leave of the Susquehanna Indians, who then lived there. Having afterwards consulted with William Penn, and having his permission, other Indians followed them and settled there, and also on the upper parts of Delaware. That as they had thus joined the Susquehanna Indians, who were dependent upon the Five Nations, they also became under their protection. In time, these same Shawanese were offered the lands (conditionally) upon Conedoquinet. [Note -- the foregoing does not show any thing about a chief having said he had seen Penn at the treaty of the Treaty-tree, as I had published in my Tales of Olden Time, p.208, upon the alleged extract from the above vol. 4, given by R. C.] We shall enlarge this chapter relative to Indians, by giving a brief sketch of the narrative of the Gilbert family, captured by the Indians in the year 1780, at the place now so well known as Mauch Chunk, the present great coal district. We hope that its interest will excuse its length, abridged for these pages, from a still longer story. And here we must beg the reader to reflect, that this is a place but sixty miles from Philadelphia -- and that secure as it then was for predatory Indians, it is now the alluring, charming and safe spot of summer travelling, and is filled with an active and prosperous population ! THE CAPTIVITY OF BENJAMIN GILBERT AND HIS FAMILY, 1780. Benjamin Gilbert, son of Joseph Gilbert, was born at Byberry, about fifteen miles from the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1711, and received his education among the people called Quakers. He resided at or near the place of his nativity for several years; during which time of residence he married, and after the decease of his first wife, he accomplished a second marriage with Elizabeth Peart, widow of Bryan Peart, and continued in the neighbourhood until the year 1775, when he removed with his family to a farm situate on Mahoning creek, in Penn township, Northampton county, being then the frontiers of Pennsylvania [not far from where Fort Allen was erected]. This family was alarmed on the 25th day of the 4th month 1780, about sunrise, by a party of eleven Indians, whose appearance struck them with terror. To attempt to escape was death, and a portion of distress, not easy to be supported, was the certain attendant on the most patient and submissive conduct. The Indians who made this incursion were of different tribes or nations, who had abandoned their country on the approach of General Sullivan's army, and fled within their neighbourhood, and according to Indian custom of carrying on war, frequently invading the frontier settlements, taking captive the weak and defenceless. The names of these Indians, with their respective tribes, are as follows : Rowland Monteur, 1st captain; John Monteur, second in command, who was also styled captain. These two were Mohawks, descended of a French woman. [Catherine Monteur was settled at Catherine, New York -- named after her.] Samuel Harris, John Huston, and his son, John Huston, Jr., were Cayugas; John Fox of the Delaware nation; the other five were Senecas. At this place they made captives of the following persons : Benjamin Gilbert, aged about 69 years; Elizabeth, his wife, 55; Joseph Gilbert, his son, 41; Jesse Gilbert, another son, 19; Sarah Gilbert, wife to Jesse, 19; Rebecca Gilbert, a daughter, 16; Abner Gilbert, a son, 14; Elizabeth Gilbert,* a daughter, 16; a daughter, 12; Thomas Peart, son to Benjamin Gilbert's wife; Benjamin Gilbert, a son of John Gilbert, of Philadelphia, 11; Andrew Harrigar, of German descent, hired by Benjamin Gilbert, 26; Abigail Dodson, (daughter of Samuel Dodson, who lived on a farm near one mile distant from the mill) who came that morning with the grist, 14.** *Since Mrs. E. Webster, in Byberry -- visited by me in 1832 -- a lively woman. **Abigail Dodson was held prisoner long -- is now well settled on Susquehanna. The prisoners were bound with cords which the Indians brought with them, and in this melancholy condition left under a guard for the space of half an hour, during which time the rest of the captors employed themselves plundering the house, and packing up such goods as they chose to carry off, until they had got together a sufficient loading for three horses which they took, besides compelling the distressed prisoners to carry part of their plunder. When they had finished plundering, they began their retreat, two of their numbers being detached to fire the buildings, which they did without any exception of those belonging to the unhappy sufferers; thereby aggravating their distresses, as they could observe the flames, and the falling in of the roofs, from an adjoining eminence called Summer hill. They cast a mournful look towards their dwellings, but were not permitted to stop until they had reached the other side of the hill, where the party sat down to make a short repast; but grief prevented the prisoners from sharing with them. The Indians speedily put forward from this place, as they apprehended they were not so far removed from the settlements as to be secure from pursuit. Not much further was a large hill, called Mochunk [now Mauch Chunk] which they fixed upon as a place of rendezvous : here they halted near an hour, and prepared shoes or sandals, which they call moccasons, for some of the children : considering themselves in some degree relieved from danger, their fears abated so that they could enjoy their meal at leisure, which they ate very heartily. At their removal from this hill, they told prisoners that Col. Butler was no great distance from them, in the woods, and that they were going to him. The Broad mountain it said to be seven miles over in this place, and about ten miles distant from Benjamin Gilbert's settlement. Here they halted an hour, and then struck into the Neskapeck path, the unevenness and ruggedness of which rendered it extremely toilsome, and obliged them to move forward slowly. Quackac creek runs across the Neskapeck path, which leads over Pismire hill. At this last place they stopped to refresh themselves, and then pursued their march along the same path, through Moravian Pine swamp, to Mahoniah mountain, where they lodged, being the first night of their captivity. It may furnish information to some, to mention the method the Indians generally use to secure their prisoners : They cut down a sapling as large as a man's thigh, and therein cut notches, in which they fix their legs, and over this they place a pole; crossing the pole on each side they place other poles or riders, effectually confining the prisoners on their backs; besides which they put a strap round their necks, which they fasten to a tree. In this manner the night passed. Their beds were hemlock branches strewed on the ground, and blankets for a covering, which was an indulgence scarcely to have been expected from savages. It may reasonably be expected, that in this melancholy situation, sleep was a stranger to their eyelids. Benjamin Peart having fainted in the evening, occasioned by the sufferings he endured, was threatened to be tomahawked by Rowland Monteur. 25th. Early this morning they continued their route, near the waters of Temopin ponds. The Indians thought it most eligible to separate the prisoners in companies of two by two, each company under the command of a particular Indian, spreading them to a considerable distance, in order to render a pursuit as impracticable as possible. Towards evening the parties again met and encamped; having killed a deer, they kindled a fire, each one roasting pieces of the flesh upon sharpened switches. The confinement of the captives was the same with the first night, but, as they were by this time more resigned to the event, they were not altogether deprived of sleep. 27th. After breakfast a council was held concerning the division of the prisoners, which being settled, they delivered each other those prisoners who fell within their several allotments, giving them directions to attend to the particular Indians whose property they became. In this day's journey they passed near fort Wyoming, on the eastern branch of Susquehanna, about forty miles from their late habitation. 28th. This morning the prisoners were all painted, according to the custom among the Indians, some of them with red and black, and some all red, and some with black only. Those whom they smut with black, without any other colour, are not considered of any value, and are generally by the mark devoted to death : although this cruel purpose may not be executed immediately, they are seldom preserved to reach the Indian hamlets alive. In the evening they came to Susquehanna, having had a painful and wearisome journey through a very stony and hilly path. 29th. They went in search of the horses, which had strayed from them in the night, and after some time found them. They then kept the course of the river, walking along its side with difficulty. In the afternoon they came to a place where the Indians had directed four negroes to wait their return, having left them some corn for a subsistence. These negroes had escaped from confinement, and were on their way to Niagara, when first discovered by the Indians; being challenged by them, answered, "they were for the king", upon which they immediately received them into protection. 5th mo., 1st. After crossing a considerable hill in the morning, they came to a place where two Indians lay dead. A party of Indians had taken some white people, whom they were carrying off prisoners; they rose upon the Indians in the night, killed four of them, and then effected their escape. 2d. Having some of their provisions with them, they made an early meal, and travelled the whole day. They crossed the east branch of Susquehanna towards evening, in canoes, at the place where General Sullivan's army had passed it in their expedition. 3d. They frequently killed deer, and by that means supplied the company with meat, being almost the only provision they ate, as the flour they took with them was expended. 4th. The path they travelled this morning was but little trodden, which made it difficult for those who were not acquainted with the woods to keep in it. They crossed a creek, made up a large fire to warm themselves by, and then separated into two companies, the one taking the westward path, with whom were Thomas Peart, Joseph Gilbert, Benjamin Gilbert, Jr., and Jesse Gilbert's wife, Sarah; the others went more to the north, over rich level land. When evening came, inquiry was made concerning the four captives who were taken in the westward path, and they were told that "these were killed and scalped, and you may expect the same fate to-night". *Andrew Harrigar was so terrified at the threat that he resolved upon leaving them, and as soon as it was dark, took a kettle with pretence of bringing some water, and made his escape under favour of the night. He was sought after by the Indians as soon as they observed him to be missing. [*Andrew Harrigar, after many hardships in the woods, got back "to the settlements and gave the first information.] 5th. In the morning the Indians returned, their search for Andrew Harrigar being happily for him unsuccessful. 6th, 7th, 8th. They continued these three days in the neighbourhood of these villages, which had been deserted upon General Sullivan's approach. Here they lived well, having, in addition to their usual bill of fare, plenty of turnips and potatoes, which had remained in the ground, unnoticed by the army. This place was the hunting ground of the Shipquagas, and whenever their industry prompted them to go out hunting, they had no difficulty to procure as many deer as they desired. Roast and boiled meat, with vegetables, afforded them plentiful meals; they also caught a wild turkey, and some fish called suckers. Their manner of catching fish was, to sharpen a stick, and watch along the rivers until a fish came near them, when they suddenly pierced him with the stick, and brought him out of the water. Here were a number of colts; some of them were taken, and the prisoners ordered to manage them, which was not easily done. 9th. When they renewed their march, they placed the mother upon a horse that seemed dangerous to ride, but she was preserved from any injury. In this day's journey they came to meadow ground, where they stayed the night, the men being confined as before related, and the negroes lay near them for a guard. 11th. A long reach of savannas and low ground, rendered this day's route very fatiguing and painful, especially to the women. Elizabeth Peart's husband not being allowed to relieve her by carrying the child, her spirits and strength were so exhausted that she was ready to faint; the Indian under whose care she was, observing her distress, gave her a violent blow. 14th. The mother had suffered so much, that two of her children were obliged to lead her. Before noon they came to Canadosago, where they met with Benjamin Gilbert, Jr., and Jesse Gilbert's wife Sarah, two of the four who had been separated from them ten days past, and taken along the western path. This meeting afforded them great satisfaction; the doubts and uncertainty of their lives being spared often distressing their affectionate relations. John Huston, Jr., the Indian under whose care Benjamin Gilbert was placed, designing to despatch him, painted him black; this exceedingly terrified the family, but no entreaties of theirs being likely to prevail, they resigned their cause to Him whose power can control all events. At their quarters in the evening two white men came to them, one of whom was a volunteer amongst the British, the other had been taken prisoner some time before. These two men brought some hominy, and sugar made from the sweet maple, the sap being boiled to a consistency, and is but a little inferior to the sugar imported from the islands. Of this provision, and a hedgehog which they found, they made a more comfortable supper than they had enjoyed for many days. 15th. In the morning, the volunteer having received information of the rough treatment the prisoners met with from the negroes, relieved them by taking the four blacks under his care. It was not without much difficulty they crossed a large creek which was in their way; being obliged to swim the horses over it. Fatigue at last so overcame him that he fell on the ground, when the Indian pulled the rope so hard that he almost choked him. His wife seeing this, resolutely interceded for him, although the Indians bid her go forwards, as the others had gone on before them; this she refused to comply with, unless her husband might be permitted to accompany her; they replied that they were determined to "kill the old man", having before set him apart as a victim. 16th. Necessity induced two of the Indians to set off on horseback, into the Seneca country, in search of provisions. The prisoners, in the mean time, were ordered to dig up a root, something resembling potatoes, which the Indians called whoppanies. They tarried at this place until towards evening of the succeeding day, and made a soup of wild onions and turnip tops; this they ate without bread or salt; it could not, therefore, afford sufficient sustenance, either for young or old; their food being so very light, their strength daily wasted. 17th. They left this place, and crossed the Genesee river, (which empties its waters into lake Ontario) on a raft of logs, bound together by hickory withes. This appeared to be a dangerous method of ferrying them over such a river, to those who had been unaccustomed to such conveyances. They fixed their station near the Genessee banks, and procured more of the wild potato roots before mentioned, for their supper. {Note : withe = a slender flexible branch or twig} 18th. One of the Indians left the company, taking with him the finest horse they had, and in some hours after, returned with a large piece of meat, ordering the captives to boil it; this command they cheerfully performed, anxiously watching the kettle, fresh meat being a rarity which they had not eaten for a long time. The Indians, when it was sufficiently boiled, distributed to each one a piece, eating sparingly themselves. The prisoners made their repast without bread or salt, and ate with a good relish what they supposed to be fresh beef, but afterwards understood it was horse-flesh. A shrill halloo which they heard gave the prisoners some uneasiness. One of the Indians immediately rode to examine the cause, and found it was Capt. Rowland Monteur, and his brother John's wife, with some other Indians, who were seeking them with provision. The captain and his company had brought with them cakes of hominy and Indian corn; of this they made a good meal. From him they received information respecting Joseph Gilbert and Thomas Peart, who were separated from the others on the 4th instant, that they had arrived at the Indian settlements, some time, in safety. 19th. Pounding hominy was this day's employment, the weather being warm, made it a hard task; they boiled and prepared it for supper, the Indians sitting down to eat first, and when they had concluded their meal, they wiped the spoon on the sole of their moccasins, and then gave it to the captives. Hunger alone could prevail on any one to eat after such filth and nastiness. 21st. The report of a morning gun from Niagara, which they heard, contributed to raise their hopes, they rejoiced at being so near. An Indian was despatched on horseback, to procure provisions from the fort. 22d. As the Indians approached nearer their habitations they frequently repeated their halloos, and after some time they received an answer in the same manner, which alarmed the company much; but they soon discovered it to proceed from a party of whites and Indians, who were on some expedition, though their pretence was that they were for New York. The captain being at a distance behind, when his wife came, the company waited for him. After the customary salutations, he addressed himself to his wife, telling her that Rebecca was her daughter, and that she must not be induced, by any consideration, to part with her; whereupon she took a silver ring off her finger, and put it upon Rebecca, by which she was adopted as her daughter. They feasted upon the provisions that were brought, for they had been for several days before pinched with hunger, what sustenance they could procure not being sufficient to support nature. 23d. The Indians proceeded on their journey, and continued whooping in the most frightful manner. Those who were behind came up, and the captain handed some rum round, giving each a dram, except the two old folks, whom they did not consider worthy of this notice. Here the captain, who had the chief direction, painted Abner, Jesse, Rebecca, and Elizabeth Gilbert, jun., and presented each with a belt of wampum, as a token of their being received into favour, and they took from them all their hats and bonnets, except Rebecca's. The Indians, men, women, and children, collect together, bringing clubs and stones, in order to beat them, which they usually do with great severity, by way of revenge for their relations who have been slain; this is performed immediately upon their entering the village where the warriors reside. This treatment CANNOT BE AVOIDED, and the blows, however cruel, must be borne without complaint, and the prisoners are sorely beaten, until their enemies are wearied with the cruel sport. Their sufferings were in this case very great, they received several wounds, and two of the women, who were on horseback, were much bruised by falling from their horses, which were frightened by the Indians. Elizabeth, the mother, took shelter by the side of one of them, but upon his observing that she met with some favour upon his account, he sent her away; she then received several violent blows, so that she was almost disabled. The blood trickled from their heads in a stream, their hair being cropped close, and the clothes they had on, in rags, made their situation piteous. Whilst they were inflecting this revenge upon the captives, the king came, and put a stop to any further cruelty, by telling them "it was sufficient" which they immediately attended to. Benjamin Gilbert, and Elizabeth his wife, Jesse Gilbert and his wife, were ordered to Captain Rowland Monteur's house, the women belonging to it were kind to them, and gave them something to eat; Sarah Gilbert, Jesse's wife, was taken from them by three women, in order to be placed in the family she was to be adopted by. 24th. Two officers from Niagara fort, Captains Dace and Powell, came to see the prisoners, and prevent (as they were informed) any abuse that might be given them. Benjamin Gilbert informed these officers, that he was apprehensive they were in great danger of being murdered, upon which they promised him they would send a boat the next day to bring them to Niagara. When they left the Indian town, several issued from their huts after them, with sticks in their hands, yelling and screeching in a most dismal manner; but through the interposition of four Indian women, who had come with the captives to prevent any further abuse they might receive, they were preserved. After reaching the fort, Captain Powel introduced them to Colonel Guy Johnson, and Colonel Butler, who asked the prisoners many questions in the presence of the Indians. They presented the captain with a belt of wampum, which is a constant practice amongst them, when they intend a ratification of peace. 25th. Benjamin Gilbert, Elizabeth his wife, and Jesse Gilbert, were surrendered to Colonel Johnson. This deliverance, from such scenes of distress as they had become acquainted with, gave them a more free opportunity of close reflection than heretofore. The particular attention of Colonel Johnson's housekeeper to them, from a commiseration of their distress, claims their remembrance; Benjamin, his wife, and Jesse Gilbert, were invited to her house, where she not only gave the old folks her best room, but administered to their necessities, and endeavoured to soothe their sorrows. 28th. A few days after they came to the fort, they had information that Benjamin Peart was by the river side, with the Indians; upon hearing this report, his mother went to see him, but every attempt for his release was in vain, the Indians would by no means give him up. The British officers being acquainted that Jesse Gilbert's wife was among the Indians, with great tenderness agreed to seek her out, and after a diligent inquiry, found that she was among the Delawares; they went to them, and endeavoured to agree upon terms for her releasement; the Indians brought her to the fort the next day, but would not give her up to her relations. 29th. As the cabins of the Indians were but two miles from the fort, they went thither, and Jesse and the officers used every argument in their power to prevail upon them, representing how hard it was to part these two young people; at length they consented to bring her in next day, with their whole tribe, for a final release. 30th. They accordingly came, but started so many objections, that she was obliged to return with them. 31st. Early next morning, Captain Robeson generously undertook to procure her liberty, which, after much attention and solicitude, he, together with Lieutenant Hillyard, happily accomplished. They made the Indians several small presents, and gave them thirty pounds as a ransom. When Sarah Gilbert had obtained her liberty, she altered her dress more in character for her sex than she had been able to do whilst amongst the Indians, and went to her husband and parents at Colonel Johnson's, where she was joyfully received. Colonel Johnson's housekeeper continued her kind attentions to them during their stay here, and procured clothing for them from the king's stores. 6th month 1st. About this time, the Senecas, among whom Elizabeth Peart was captive, brought her with them to the fort; as soon as the mother heard of it, she went to her, and had some conversation with her, but could not learn where she was to be sent to. Captain Powell interested himself in her case likewise, and offered to purchase her of them, but the Indians refused to give her up; and as the mother and daughter expected they should see each other no more, their parting was very affecting. 2d and 3d. Not many days after their arrival at Niagara, a vessel came up Lake Ontario to the fort, with orders for the prisoners to go to Montreal. In this vessel came one Captain Brant, an Indian chief, high in rank amongst them. Elizabeth Gilbert immediately applied herself to solicit and interest him on behalf of her children who yet remained in captivity; he readily promised her to use his endeavours to procure their liberty. A short time before they sailed for Montreal, they received accounts of Abner and Elizabeth Gilbert, the younger, but it was also understood that their possessors were not disposed to give them up. Here they became acquainted with one Jesse Pawling, from Pennsylvania, who was an officer among the British, and behaved with kindness and respect to the prisoners, which induced them to request his attention also to that part of the family remaining in captivity; it appeared to them of some consequence to gain an additional friend. The colonel also gave his promise to exert himself on their behalf. After continuing ten days at Colonel Johnson's, they took boat in the forenoon of the 2d, being the sixth day of the week, and crossed the river Niagara, in order to go on board the vessel (which lay in Lake Ontario) for Montreal. [In order to condense the narrative, which contains ninety-six pages, that it may not render the perusal of it tiresome, we give the main facts, after the thirtieth page, in the following compendium.] After proceeding as far as Charlton island, seeing a number of small boats for descending the St. Lawrence, they solicited to go in one of them. They got exposed to much rain, whereby Benjamin Gilbert took sick on the passage, and for want of necessary comforts, he died of a fever on the fourth day of their departure, and they interred him under an oak by the river side, in a coffin procured from the fort of Coeur de Lac. Finally, the widow and her two children arrived at Montreal, where they were received by General McClean, and placed in the house of Daniel M'Ulphin, for a time. Here they went severally into hired situations to procure their livelihood, and in the mean time were often favourably noticed by the British officers. One day, while Elizabeth Gilbert was at her ironing, she was most agreeably surprised by the unexpected entrance of her six children, just arrived there ! -- to wit : Joseph Gilbert, Benjamin Peart, Elizabeth his wife and young child, Abner and Elizabeth Gilbert. What a happy meeting after a captivity of upwards of fourteen months ! These informed, that Thomas Peart, who had obtained his liberty, had voluntarily remained at Niagara, in hopes of being useful in procuring the release of the two yet detained in captivity -- say Benjamin Gilbert, Jr., and Rebecca Gilbert. We pass over considerable of incidents and facts, which attended that branch of the captives, to wit : Joseph Gilbert, Thomas Peart and two others, who were conducted by the western path, and how they finally succeeded to join the widow Gilbert, as above related. They were generally liberated through the influence and money of the British officers, and by these eventually sent to Montreal. Elizabeth Peart, the wife of Benjamin, who had the young child, being parted from her husband by those who had adopted her, was also separated from her child by those who had chosen it. The Indians intended no cruelty by those measures, but to reinstate their own family losses by adoption. Finally, she and her child were procured, and brought together again through the intercession and purchase of Captain Powell, at the Niagara fort. Rebecca Gilbert in her captivity was well treated, much valued, and made herself extremely useful to her Indian and legal owners, by teaching them the use of many useful branches of domestic economy. While these events were transpiring, Benjamin Gilbert, one of the family, coming from Pennsylvania, had arrived at Carleton, near the British lines, to endeavour to procure the return of the whole family. The Society of Friends also had interested themselves in their behalf. Finally, he met them all at Montreal, after an absence of nearly three years. On the 22d of 8 mo., 1782, they all set out on their return home, and on the 28th of 9 mo. following, arrived all safely at Byberry, the place of their nativity; producing much interest and gratification to their former friends, and affording them a lively concern in the incidents of the narrative now brought to a close. The kindness extended to this family, by the British and tory officers at Niagara, proved that humane feelings possessed their breasts, notwithstanding some of them were conspicuous in their severity against our people as warriors. Colonel Butler and Brant had been conspicuous in the massacre at Wyoming, and Colonel Guy Johnson had invaded Herkemer with Indians and committed ravages there and at his former home of Johnstown. The foregoing article concerning the Gilberts was sent by me to the printer at Mauch Chunk, and by him reprinted, with a promise to hunt up the old localities and families, and to make report. A son of Jesse Gilbert told me that the little girl, Abigail Dodson, was detained a captive longer than the Gilberts, and is now a good liver, settled on the Susquehanna. It would really be an interesting tour to make one's pathway along the Indian path yet left, from Mahoning to the Susquehanna. One of the daughters in the foregoing narrative is now alive in Byberry, Philadelphia county, and has feelingly confirmed the foregoing recitals to the present writer. What a change of country in so short a period ! Now Mauch Chunk is all life and prosperity ! FINAL NOTES The Rev. Henry Smith, a Methodist minister, told in 1841, that when he was a young minister in 1793, at or near Clarksburg, on the Monongahela, the Indians assaulted the house of brother Smith, where he sometimes stopped. The preachers then wore moccasons; in their then little congregation, the two best-dressed females were clothed in short gowns and petticoats, the rest had neither short nor long gowns, and every man and woman was barefooted ! Indian relics, New Jersey, 1839. The skeletons of three Indians were dug out, on Benjamin Colson's farm near Rackoon creek, in Gloucester county, New Jersey, in December 1839, by some men digging for marl. They were found two and a half feet below ground, and some of the bones still good. With them were found two pieces of gold coin of 1666, six rings, and three strings of beads. {Note : marl = a loose or crumbling earthy deposit (as of sand, silt, or clay) that contains a substantial amount of calcium carbonate and is used especially as a fertilizer for soils deficient in lime} My friend, the Rev. Doctor William Neil, (late president of Dickenson college) a gentleman of about fifty-six years of age in 1835, when a child of two years of age, had his father and uncle killed by Indians in the same field in day time, on a farm only nine miles from Pittsburg, on the Yougheogheney. On the same day, they also killed three sons of one Marshall, their neighbour. The Indians were a small predatory band. Such an act, so recent as about the year 1780, near to so settled a place as that country is now, must seem strange, to those who may now contemplate the great change in population and security ! In the year 1756, in the time of Gov. Morris, Benjamin Franklin was made an agent, or commissioner, for seeing to the execution of measures for the war against the Indians. At same time some regulars arrived at Philadelphia, from New York, and were ordered to be posted at Reading and Easton. Three hundred men were ordered to be posted on the west of the Susquehanna, and three forts to be built there. The governor went out to Harris' ferry and afterwards to Carlisle, then to Easton. At same time Benjamin Franklin goes up the Lehigh, in company with a military force, to Gnadenhutten (Tents of Mercy) near where he had a fort erected, called Fort Allen, situated opposite to the mouth of Mahoning creek. A line of communication was also opened by the same agent through the wilderness out to the Susquehanna at Wyoming, and having a fort at mid distance, called the Middle fort. The old warriors of that day are forgotten, but they consisted of 550 men. When marching from Bethlehem and Nazareth, they went by the way of the gap and Uplinger's. Those named as "without the forks" were Trump's company, of 50; Aston's, 50; Foulke's, 46; Trexler's, 48; and Wetterhold's, 44. Orndt, Craig and Martin had each a company at the Irish settlements. Secretary Peters, in his report to Lord Loudon, states, that the whole number of men raised for garrisons and patrols on the frontier was 1400 -- at a cost of £70,000 currency, annually. These men were enlisted for one year, at 1s. 6d a day. Fort Allen was surprised and taken by Indians, while part of the garrison was skating on the Lehigh. They then took and burned Gnadenhutten, and bore off prisoners, November, 1756. There was, in the times of which we are speaking, a universal and deep excitement among the people -- such as disturbed and alarmed every body. It occupied and engrossed the continued attention of the governors and legislatures in the several provinces. Governors from several of the states assembled at Philadelphia, to counsel and to concert measures with the Earl of Loudon, the commander-in-chief; and messages were continually passing to and fro, and especially to and from Sir Wm. Johnson, the chief agent for Indian affairs; Indian friends and allies were earnestly sought, and the Indian traders and interpreters were busily occupied in travelling with embassies to the frontiers, to create favourable impressions and to strengthen the frontier people. Men, women and children were every where upon the "qui vive". They were indeed days of evil omen -- every thing was sad and terrified. Long were they remembered and spoken of in later years by our forefathers. But since, their tales of woe and terror are forgotten ! During all this excitement the governors and assemblies were in high disagreement about supplies, and who should pay for them. The Friends in the house, averse to war, would not vote for its progress; and those not in office, who ruled the meetings, believed that they could do better by peaceful measures. Hence the origin of "the Friendly Association for preserving peace". They exerted themselves greatly to effect their object, and contributed large sums of money. The Earl of Halifax, in England, sent out his reprimand, and censured them for interfering in Indian matters, about treaties "with sovereign princes". To this the Friends made a strong case in vindication, but withdrawing, however, from any further interposition. When the ravages of Indians were made at Tulpehocken, the panic flew to Reading, and the people there were disposed to pull down the houses of the Friends. A letter from Judge Moore, in Chester county, stated that 2000 of the inhabitants were preparing to march to Philadelphia, to compel the assembly to defensive laws. A letter from C. Weiser, then made a colonel, stated that many in Berks county were intending the same thing. Kirkbride, Hoge, Dicks and Pennock, in the assembly, resigned their seats, as Friends, at the insistence of the ministry at home. It was a time of deep excitement indeed ! It will probably be interesting to many to have a right conception of the localities of frontier forts, Indian towns, and Indian paths, as they formerly existed in Pennsylvania, when the Indians were still among us. A line of posts began above Easton, on the Delaware, and formed a semi-circular cordon of defense from thence across the Susquehanna at Wilkesbarre and thence by Northumberland, across the Juniata near Huntingdon, down to Fort Littleton near Bedford, and thence down to the Potomac. Beginning with the semi-circle, they stood thus, viz : Fort Penn, on Broadhead's creek, falling into the Delaware above Easton. Fort Augusta, at the forks of the Susquehanna, at the present Northumberland and Sunbury. There was also another fort, once used above it, a short distance westward of the present Wilkesbarre. There was also a second and interior line of forts to the preceding, situate severally, to wit : Fort Allen, on the Lehigh, opposite to Mahoning creek; next, Fort Henry, at the head of the main Swatara creek, at the foot of the Blue mountains; next, At Fort Halifax, on the Susquehanna, a little above Duncan's island; and Fort Hunter, a little below that island. In returning now to the first above named exterior circle, we find next after Fort Augusta, Fort Shirley, on Aughwick branch -- a creek which empties into the Juniata, a little below Huntingdon; then comes Fort Littleton and Fort Loudon -- the former being a few miles eastward from Bedford, and the latter being a few miles south of Fort Littleton, on the Conocochegue creek, in Franklin county. The three last named forts ranged in a north and south line, up to Fort Shirley and from thence there went an Indian path to Fort Augusta, on the Susquehanna. We now come to show another range of forts, going westward from Bedford, say-- Fort Ligonier; then to Hannah town, and then to Fort Pitt. Southward from Pittsburg, on the Monongahela, at Redstone creek stood Fort Burd, near to which there had been two Indian forts. Proceeding due north from Fort Pitt, (Pittsburg) we find on the Allegheny, at the mouth of French creek, Fort Venango; and north-east from thence stood Fort Le Boeuf, at the mouth of Le Boeuf creek; and onward, a little further north, stood Fort Presque-isle, upon the margin of Lake Erie. The Indian towns were these, viz : The Shawnese town, at the mouth of Fishing creek, on the north branch of the Susquehanna; next, the Wyoming town, near present Wilkesbarre; and still higher up that river, the Wyalusing town, at the mouth of the Wyalusing creek. From these we turn to towns westward, viz : Bald-eagles' nest, (at the present Bellefonte) at the entrance of Spring Creek into Bald Eagle creek, which empties into the west branch of the Susquehanna; thence westward a few miles, was Chingliomalouk, at the mouth of that creek. Westward of the range of the Allegheny mountains, there were the following, to wit : Shawnese cabins, a little beyond Bedford. Conemack old town, at the head of the Kishkemanates river; on the same river, lower down, stood the town of Blacklegs; and still further down the same, stood the Kishkemanates town, near to its outlet into the Allegheny river. On the Allegheny, a little below Kishkemanates river, stood Chartiers old town; a few miles below it stood Sewickly's town, a little above Pittsburg. On the Allegheny, a few miles above Kishkemanates river, stood Kittaning town, celebrated for its destruction by Col. Armstrong's expedition. Further up the Allegheny, a few miles above Fort Venango, stood Kushusduling and Buccaloons towns; and further up the same river, at Bigrock branch, stood Bighole town. The Indian paths were these, viz : Beginning at the north boundary of the state, and with the head waters of the north branch of the Susquehanna, at a few miles westward of Wyalusing; thence southward along the range of mountains westward of Wilkesbarre, down to present Northumberland; thence to the Juniata, south-westerdly, to near the mouth of Tuscarora branch; thence up the Juniata to the present Huntingdon; thence south-westerdly, along Woodcock valley, and keeping between the mountain ranges of the Alleghenies, called "the Great warrior's mountains", down to the south line of the state, and thence to the Potomac. There was another Indian path, ranging parallel with the preceding, some twelve or fifteen miles more westward, beginning from the Bald Eagle and Mushanen creeks, on the west branch of Susquehanna, and proceeding southwardly along the Allegheny ranges to the present Frankstown, down to Bedford; where it was joined unto the former line of Indian paths, and guiding the traveller down to Potomac, as in the former pathway. There was still another great Indian pathway, laying north-westward and south-eastward, beginning at Bedford, and Fort Littleton nigh by it, and going thence north-westwardly to Kittaning, on the Allegheny; and another path, still more northern in its direction, proceeded through Frankston, and from thence due north-west to Venango, still higher up the Allegheny than the former. These several descriptions, we are aware, will be somewhat difficult of apprehension; but if those who are curious in these matters will be at the pains to pencil-mark their maps from post to post, as herein set down and directed, they will find themselves sufficiently instructed herein. It may serve to illustrate the character of some of our American Indians, to say, that Anthony Benezet became acquainted with a portion of them in the back part of Pennsylvania, who, from their self-conviction of the injustice and irreligion of war, united themselves into a community, with a resolution to war no more, and asserting as their reason, "that when God made men, he did not intend they should hurt or kill one another". Such views entertained by them, were of course very gratifying to Anthony Benezet, and he was therfore at special pains to find out the originating cause of views so accordant with his own principles; and the facts in the case, preserved in his preface to his "plain Path to Christian Perfection" having been kindly given to me by Mrs. Benjamin Chew, I here insert them, viz.: One of the tribe, being by a particular providence brought under difficulty and sorrow, was led, from the contemplation of the sufferings and sins around him, to think of a Creator, and to desire a knowledge of him in whom he had his being. This exercise begat in his mind a spirit of prayer. As this operation proceeded he became conscious of a good and evil principle working within him; he was at last delivered from one, and attained to the other. This man came in time to proselyte others to his own convictions, and to form his own little community averse to the principles of war. "Thus this Indian (as says A.B.) untaught by books and unlearned in what is called divinity, through the inshining of the light of Christ on his understanding, could explain the operation of true religion on the heart". He is supposed to have been a chief of the Delawares, named Nedowaway, who finally settled in Ohio, and who with his people united with the Moravian missionaries. NEDOWAWAY was an Indian chief of the Delawares, of more than common character, who had become a Christian, and died in Ohio in 1776, at ninety years of age. His name appears among the signers of the treaty at Conestoga in 1718; and in his childhood he is said to have seen William Penn on his second visit in 1701-22. As a trusty and discreet chief, he had been entrusted with the preservation of all the verbal speeches, bead vouchers, and wampum, and with such writings and instruments as had come from William Penn and his early governors & c. He was grieved with the constant encroachment of the white men westward, on the Indian lands, and early foreseeing that wars must ensue, and that the people must be sufferers, he resolved with his people to get far off in the west. By the advice of the Wyandot chief, he settled on the Cayahage river, where he was visited and seen by Heckewelder in 1772. His picture shows how pensive he sits alone, and ponders in the mute eloquence of grief, upon his former well known scenes, along the mountain range traversing the Susquehanna, near Harrisburg. The picture seems to speak his inward emotions and distress at being obliged to leave the regions of his former home. And he felt the soul sigh, as he look'd o'er the scene, And remembered how once they were lords of that stream. As a proper conclusion to our Indian notices, it may be well to give a little account of the present disposal of the Indian tribes, as now placed in the far west. They will make a fearful account in numerical force, if made our enemies there, and much it behoves us even now to conciliate and preserve their good will, by acts of sincere and generous friendship and support. We have selfishly placed them -- many of them against their wills, where they may yet find means to consolidate and combine their strength against us ! We must now look to it in time ! Their localities and numbers stood thus in 1848, viz.: The Indians now east of the Mississippi number 49,365, of which the following are under engagements to remove west of the same river, to wit : The Winnebagoes 4,500 Ottawas of Ohio 100 Pottawatamies of Indiana 2,950 Cherokees 14,000 Chippewas, Ottawas and Creeks 1,000 Pottawatamies 1,500 Seminoles 5,000 Chickesaws 1,000 Ottawas and Chip- Apalachicolas 400 pewas in Michigan 6,500 Making in all 36,950 And those not under treaty stipulations to remove amount to 12,415, to wit : New York Indians 4,176 Wyandots 575 Miamis 1,100 Menomonies 4,000 Ottawas and Chippewas of the lakes, 2,564 The Indians who have emigrated from the east to the west of the Mississippi (in 1838) stood thus, viz.: Chickesaws 549 Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatamies 2,191 Senecas and Shawnese 211 Choctaws 15,000 Quapaws 476 Ottawas 374 Pottawatamies of Indiana 211 Creeks 476 Cherokees 7,911 Shawnese 1,272 Piankeshaws 162 Senecas 251 Seminoles 407 Kickapoos 588 Peorias and Kaskas 132 Apalachicollas 265 Delawares 826 Weas 222 Besides the foregoing, we are to consider the force of the Indian tribes, whose former home was in the far west, which comprise an aggregate of 231,806, to wit : Sioux 21,600 Foxes 1,600 Kanzas 1,606 Pawnees 12,500 Mandans 3,200 Pagans 80,000 Crees 3,000 Eutaws 19,200 Poncas 900 Blackfeet 30,000 Iowas 1,500 Osages 5,120 Omehas 1,600 Camanches 19,200 Assinnaboins 15,000 Arrepahas 3,000 Crows 7,200 Arickareas 2,750 Sacs 4,800 Sacs of Missouri 500 Otoes and Missourias 1,000 Kioways 1,800 Minaterees 2,000 Appaches 20,280 Gros Ventres 16,800 Caddoes 2,000 Cheyennes 3,200 Thus making a sum total of 332,498, as derived from official reports, made up in the year 1838. If such a mass should be set upon us as the instruments of retributive justice, what might not be our penalties ! NEXT : THE PIRATES