Chapter 14 – Manor, History of Armstrong County Pennsylvania, Part 1

Chapter 14
Manor
Part 1

Manor township was formed out of the western part of Kittanning township.
The petition for its organization was presented to the proper court, at June
sessions, 1849, and Hugh Campbell, Samuel Green and James Stewart were
appointed viewers or commissioners, who presented their report in favor of the
organization, at the then next September sessions. A remonstration was
presented, on the 20th of the same month, against the confirmation of their
report, and against the organization, setting forth the it would leave
Kittanning township too small in extent, and would cause much additional
expense in rearranging the locations of the schoolhouses. The court, however,
at December sessions of that year, confirmed the report of the commissioners,
and ordered and decreed that the new township of Manor be erected according to
the following boundaries: Beginning at a red oak, at Walker�s ferry, on
Crooked creek, on land of Robert Walker; thence by Kittanning township, or a
line running through the township as it stood, north 18 degrees east 6 miles
and 278 perches to a post on the purchase line (of 1768) on land of John
Morehead, or 6 perches west of Samuel Mechling�s upper corner; thence along
the purchase line and boundary of Pine (now Valley) township north 80 degrees
west 3 miles to the line of the borough of Kittanning; thence along the
southeast line of said borough by the curve thereof 250 perches to the
Allegheny river; thence down said river by the meanderings thereof 5 miles and
120 perches to the mouth of Crooked Creek; thence by the meanderings thereof;
being also the boundary line of Allegheny township, 5 � miles to the place of
beginning.

The first township election was held in March, 1850, at which the following
officers were elected: Judge of election, George M. King; inspectors of
election, John Christy and Michael Isaman; constable, Isaac Bouch; assessor,
David McLeod; justice of the peace, William Copley; supervisors, George Bouch
and John Hileman; township auditors, Richard Bailey, John Shoop and John
Williams; township clerk, A. J. Bailey; overseers of the poor, Josiah Copley
and William Truby; fence viewers, John Davis and John R. Shoop. The record
shows only five school directors to have been then elected, namely, Matthew
(Matthias) Bowser, John Christy, William Ehinger, Rev. Levi M. Graves and John
Robinson.

The name of this township originated from one of the proprietary manors,
which was a part of the territory within what are now its boundaries. The word
manor is derived from manere, to remain, because in England the usual
residence of the owner. It was a piece of land generally consisting of several
thousand acres, owned and held by a lord or some great personage, who occupied
as much of it as was needed for the use of his own family, and leased the
remainder to tenants for certain rents or services. This is said to have been
the origin of copyhold estates, which were those held by copy of the court
roll, or a tenure for which the tenant had nothing to show except the rolls
made by the steward of the manor, who was the register of the court-baron,
and who held that court when business relating to tenures and tenancies, etc.,
was before it.

The reader will keep in mind that the charter granted in 1681 by Charles II
to William Penn invested in the latter and his heirs the absolute ownership of
all the land in Pennsylvania, with comparatively slight exceptions. From then
until July 4, 1776, all titles to that land were derived either from Penn
himself or some of his family. Though a manor had not been granted in English
since the reign of Edward III, which began in 1327, the surveyor-general under
the Penns surveyed to them forty-four manors in the eastern, western and other
parts of a Pennsylvania, aggregating 421, 015 acres and 82 perches. One of
them was “The Manor of Kittanning,” which was surveyed, March 28,
1769, on a warrant dated February 28, 1769 on a warrant dated February 23 next
preceding. Its boundaries, as given in certain quit-claim deeds and releases
elsewhere mentioned, were: Beginning at a black oak on the east or southeast
side of the Allegheny river, which was about 125 rods below the mouth of
Garrett�s run, and running thence by land surveyed to Rebecca Smith, south
72 degrees east 391 perches to a “Lynn” (linden tree); thence
extending by hilly poor land south 18 degrees west 977 perches to a white oak;
thence by vacant land south 45 degrees west 500 perches to a white oak; thence
extending by hilly poor land north 35 degrees west 560 perches to a birch at
the side of Crooked creek, at the first bend above its mouth; thence down said
creek, the several courses and distances thereof about 170 perches to a
hickory at the side of the said river; and thence up the said river the
several courses thereof, crossing the mouth of said creek, 969 perches to the
place of beginning, containing 3,960 acres, and allowance of 6 per cent for
roads, but, according to later surveys, 4887 acres and 86 perches.

Neither records nor the oldest inhabitants solve the question why, by whom
and just when the name of this manor was changed to that of
“Appleby.” It may be inferred from the following recorded facts
about what time that change occurred: John Penn, of Stoke Pogis, and Richard
Penn, of Queen Anne street west, in the parish of Marylebone, in the county of
Middlesex, England, by John Reynal Coates, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
their attorney-in-fact, conveyed this entire manor to Frederick Beates, of the
last-mentioned place, by deed dated June 26, 1804, in which it is mentioned as
“all that tract of land called and known by the name of �The Kittanning
Manor�” for the sum of $6,400. Beates, by his deed, dated the next day
thereafter, conveyed “the undivided moiety or half of the Kittanning
manor” to Thomas and Robert Duncan for $8,000, and the other undivided
moiety to Alexander Cobeau for an equal sum, a gain of $9,600 in the brief
space of twenty-four hours. The Duncans and Cobeau mutually agreed upon a
partition of this manor tract, by which the former took 2,367 acres and 130
perches of the upper or northern part, and the latter 3,458 acres of the lower
or southern part, as mentioned in their quit-claim deeds. The division line
between their purparts began at a witch-hazel, on the left bank of the
Allegheny river, about 200 rods above the mouth of Tub-mill run, and extended
thence south 52 degrees east 98 perches to a post; thence south 48 degrees
west 69 perches to a post; thence 53 � degrees east 245 perches to a white
oak; thence north 33 degrees east 9 perches to a post; thence south 55 degrees
east 324 perches to a post, on the line between the manor and the John Biddle
tract. The quit-claim deeds or releases of the Duncans to Cobeau, and of the
latter to them, are respectively dated the 11th and 12th July, 1805, in which
the land thus divided is still mentioned as “The Kittanning Manor.”
Cobeau conveyed 68 acres and 151 perches in the southwestern portion of his
purpart to Samuel Cochran, by deed dated April 25, 1807, for $4,086, in which
it is mentioned as a tract of land situate in “the Manor of
Appleby.” This being the first instance in which the writer has met with
that name in the old records, he infers that the change of name occurred
between July 12, 1805 and April 25, 1807. But why and by whom it was made was
not manifest to him. It appears to have been made while Cobeau and the Duncans
simultaneously held and owned their respective purparts. Was it made by one or
all of them? The termination by is a Norse word, meaning a town.
Had apples then begun to be abundantly produced in the manor, and did the then
proprietors, or either of them, for that reason conceive the idea of calling
it Appleby, which is the equivalent to Appletown? Or was it so called after
some person of that name who had resided on it? The writer has not discovered
that any one by the name of Appleby ever resided in this county. There was a
private by the name of George Appleby in Capt. Armstrong�s company in Gen.
Armstrong�s expedition to Kittanning. He was reported as among the missing,
but there is no evidence of his having remained or of his having afterward
settled in this region. Did Cobeau and the Duncans, or either, prefer to give
their recently acquired possessions the name of some older and favorite place?
And if so, is Appleby in England that place? It is located on the river Eden,
32 miles from Carlisle and 270 from England.

Appleby is also the name of a parish in the county of Lincoln, and of
another in the counties of Derby and Leicester, in England. It is probable
that the later name of this manor tract was derived from either that borough
or one of those parishes.

Cobeau conveyed the remainder of his purpart, namely 1,837 acres and 125
perches, to Jonathan Smith, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for $10,000, by
deed, dated May 11, 1807, in which it is mentioned as a tract in “Appleby
Manor,” and the tracts subsequently conveyed by the Duncans are described
as situated in “Appleby Manor,” so that both the Cobeau and Duncan
purparts took that name.

The original name of Kittanning is the only one appearing on the records at
the land office in Harrisburg. The manor, when surveyed by Joshua Elder,
Deputy Surveyor-General, was in Cumberland county. It appears to have been
divided by George Woods into seven tracts, their areas varying somewhat in
extent. Tract No. was the most northern, and tract No. 7 the most southern. He
made a plat of a town on two of those tracts, which he mentioned thus: “A
proposed plan for a town at the Kittanning, on the Allegheny river, on tracts
Nos. 2 and 3. George Woods.” The northern boundary of tract No. 2 was 179
perchers below the northern boundary of the Manor. Its width was 287 perches,
and that of tract No. 3 was 219 perches. “The Kittanning” is an
expression almost invariably used in the old records and documents, and it
must have included a much longer stretch of territory along the left bank of
the Allegheny river than was included in the extent of the old Indian town
destroyed by Gen. Armstrong. This is manifest from the etymology and meaning
of the word Kittanning, elsewhere given. The

idea that the borough of Kittanning “is located on this manor” is
erroneous, for the borough is a mile or more north of the manor�s northern
limit.

Perhaps some reader is wondering why this manor was retained by the Penn
family until 1804. Notwithstanding the discontinuance of granting manors in
England for more than three centuries before the granting of the charter to
Penn, the provisions of the nineteenth section of that chapter evinced a
disposition to engraft, as Sergeant says, on our provincial institutions some
of the features of feudal nobility. (1) They empowered Penn, and such as he
might license, to erect any parcels of lands into manors, with a court-baron
and other incidents belonging thereto by the laws of England. Yet no manor in
that sense was ever erected in Pennsylvania. But there is reason to believe
that Penn was induced, on his last visit to England, to erect such manors. But
the commissioners of property, when applied to for that purpose, declined to
erect such a manor, because it was repugnant to the spirit of the provincial
laws and the habits and ideas of the people. By his charter, Penn and his
heirs became the owners, subject to the Indian titles, of all the land in
Pennsylvania, except that in the possession of the Swedes, Dutch and English
along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It having become evident, in the
course of the first four years of the Revolutionary war, that the independence
of the United States would result, it was obvious that the possession and
control of so much territory by the Penn family, who adhered to the English
side of that contest, were incompatible with the principles enunciated in the
Declaration of Independence, the safety and stability of free institutions,
the growth of the commonwealth, and the just and proper distribution o the
rights, duties, and burdens of the people. Hence, the act of June 28, 1779,
was passed, which provided for the payment to the proprietaries, after the
close of the war, of 130,000 pounds for their lands, except their manors,
quit-rents and private estates, the last mentioned of which consisted of
tracts of land other than the proprietary manors in the interior, eastern and
northeastern parts of the state, aggregating nearly 89,000 acres, all of which
were reserved to them, that is, all which had been “duly surveyed and
returned to the land office,” on or before the 4th day of July, 1776. In
pursuance of that act, and particularly its 15th section, Joseph Reed, then
president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, addressed to
Edmund Physic, as Receiver-General under the late proprietaries, a written
demand, dated February 9, 1780, for the books, certificates and other
documents, instruments, writings and seals belonging to that office, which
must have been complied with, as the 130,000 pounds and interest were paid
within eight years after the peace of 1783. In Richard Penn vs Ann
Penn, executrix, and John F. Mifflin, executor of John Penn, deceased, 2
Yeates, 550, Chief-Justice Shippen treated that amount as having been paid to
John Penn in his lifetime in money or certificates, and one-third therefore
paid over to Richard Penn.

The Kittanning (Appleby) manor having been one of those thus reserved, its
title was never vested in the commonwealth, and did not pass from the Penns
until they conveyed it to Beates.

John Penn and William Penn, by their deed, dated November 27, 1820, the
consideration therein expressed being $1, conveyed to Thomas W. Morris all
their lands, manors, reserved tracts, tenements, rents and hereditaments in
Pennsylvania, by virtue of the act of January 16, 1799, which was passed to
facilitate the barring of entails.

Events of historical interest in this township occurred chiefly within the
limits of this manor. Various aged inhabitants of this township and other
parts of this county remember having seen the vestiges of a military
fortification, consisting of a fosse, parapet and for, on the left bank of the
Allegheny, between Tub-mill run and Fort run. Samuel Monroe, now of South
Buffalo township, who was born on this manor and resided near those vestiges
until he was twenty-four years of age, or from 1809 until 1833, has described
them to the writer as they appeared to him in his youth, when, during a period
of eighteen years, he saw them very often. A trench or fosse extended along
the bottom about seventy rods easterly from the river, and thence at an obtuse
angle southeasterly, twenty or thirty rods, which, he estimates from the
quantity of earth thrown up, must have been four or five feet deep, and as
many or more wide. (2) The parapet around the fort, which was a considerable
distance below the trench, must have been several feet high when it was
constructed. Its shape, as he remembers it, was somewhat like, though more
circular than a horseshoe, and enclosed about two acres, which is in
accordance with the memories of John Christy who, in 1833, owned and cleared a
part of the land on which it had been constructed. The latter�s impression
is that a ditch originally four or five feet deep had once extended all around
it. Monroe, on the other hand, thinks that the ditch-like appearance was
caused by excavating the earth used in constructing the parapet. Robert
Thompson, now of Templeton station, who plowed there soon after the land was
cleared, and John Patterson, of Manor township, whose remembrance of it
extends back to 1834-5, think it was not a regular trench. According to the
recollection of the latter and John Mechling, the shape of the parapet was
nearly semi-circular, or nearly that of a half-moon, the distance between the
extremities of its lunes, of the horns of the half-moon, being about fifty
rods, along the bank of the river- that would have been the length of the
diameter of the entire circle, or rather oblate spheroid, if it had been
completed. Many lead bullets were found in the river bank in front of that
parapet, which must have been shot from the opposite side of the river.
Christy found, within the parapet, vestiges of small buildings, and, at the
depth of four feet, arrow-heads and pieces of pottery.

A red-oak, says Monroe, which had grown up on the southern or lower lune of
that parapet, indicated 105 annual growths when it was cut down in 1823-4, so
that it must have germinated there prior to 171-19. How much longer before
then had that parapet been constructed? And Christy remembers that there was a
tree in what he thinks was the trench, that was between four and five feet in
diameter.

These works evinced a higher degree of skill, intelligence and civilization
than the Indians possessed. Their construction required a different kind of
labor from that performed by them. There are vestiges of similar works in
other parts of the Allegheny valley, on the southern shore of Lake Erie in
this state, in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and in Western New York. In
the trench and on the parapet of those near Lake Erie are trees three feet in
diameter, indicating that they were constructed two or more centuries before
either the French or the English began to erect military fortifications in
that region. The parapets in Western New York were earthen, from three to
eight feet high, with trenches on their exterior sides. On some of the
parapets, many years ago, were oak-trees whose concentric circles indicated
that they were 150, 260 and 300 years old, and there were evident indications
that they had sprung up since the erection of those works. Some of the
trenches were deep and wide, and others shallow and narrow. (3)

Patterson plowed up in the vicinity of those works various relics-a hundred
or more white beads, and some colored ones, about a quarter of an inch in
diameter, and from half an inch to two inches in length; a silver band,
probably like that found by Joel Monroe, an inch wide and ten inches long with
one edge scalloped and the other straight, a hole near each end, and letters
and some other inscriptions on the surface- he does not remember what they
were- which his brother James traded to Samuel Quest, then a jeweler in
Kittanning, for a gold finger-ring; knife blades of rather large size, the
sharp edge of which was straight from heel to point, and the back was straight
from the heel to within an inch of the point, where it was arched, making that
part of the blade somewhat wider than the rest, and its shape somewhat like
that of a lancet. Other and longer blades with hilts and arched backs were
also found. Another relic, found in that vicinity, appears to have been made
from a dark-red soft stone or hard clay, whose present surface color is dark
brown- below the surface, deep red. Its shape is ovate. The length of its axis
is one inch and three-eighths, and that of its transverse is two inches. A
groove one-quarter of an inch wide and one-eighth of an inch deep extends
lengthwise, or in the direction of its transverse axis, entirely around it.
Its surface, as well as that of the groove, must have been very smooth when it
received the finishing touch. The whole evinces much expertness.

Now, the question arises, when were that ancient fortification and its
outworks built? The answer cannot b found in the records of history. If they
had been constructed by either the French or the English, before or during the
period in which this valley was disputed territory, there would probably have
been some mention of them in the records of the one or the other, or of both
claimants. Are they part of the pre-historic works of the moundbuilders? Rev.
Dr. Eaton, of Franklin, Pennsylvania, who has devoted much time and attention
to these ancient people and their wonderful works, is inclined to think the
Allegheny and Ohio valleys were among the prominent places in their
settlements.

The valley of the Allegheny was, says, Heckewelder, according to the
tradition cherished by the Lenni-Lenape, or Delawares, inhabited by the
Alligewi, who are represented to have ben tall, athletic and superior in other
respects to the other aboriginal nations. It is also a part of the traditional
history of various Indian nations, that the Alligewi, as stated in Cummings�
sketches, had made considerable progress in the arts, and that the remains of
some of the fortifications which they constructed still exist. Were the fosse,
parapet and fort in question a part of them? and was it around them that one
of the long and bloody battles was waged between the Allegewi, the primitive
occupants of this valley, and the united forces of the Lenni-Lenape, and the
Five Nations, as the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Senecas were
subsequently called?

Was it here that the Allegewi, centuries since, were defeated and
exterminated by the superior numbers of their allied foes, as the latter swept
along in their triumphant advance from beyond the Mississippi to the Delaware
and the Hudson? According to the accounts, once common among the Lenni-Lenape,
they and their allies found the Allegewi their most valiant and powerful
opponents, who bravely, and for awhile successfully, defended themselves,
their homes and their native soil from the attacks of their invaders.

In a field above those fortifications, as Samuel Monroe further related,
which appeared to him to have been cleared many years, various relics of an
ancient battlefield were found, namely, 300 pounds of lead bullets, each
weighing several ounces, some of which were wrought into a lead cannon; twenty
or more open dirk-knives, with narrow blades six or seven inches long, having
sharp points, whose stamps had been effaced by rust, and nothing but the back
springs of their handles left; gunlocks; unrifled gun-barrels; pistol barrels
and butts, about the size of those of old holster hors-pistols; pecks of flint
arrow-heads; numerous remnants of horseshoes, the size of which was between
that of the horse and the mule; many pieces of brass about the shape and size
of an old American cent, on both sides of which letters had been impressed,
but had become illegible-on one side of each piece was the representation of a
buck running at full speed, with his head up, his fore-feet thrown forward,
and his hind-feet backward, and on the edge of each was something like the eye
of a brass button; three brass kettles, set in one another, the largest
holding three or four gallons, the next, a size less, and son on; three pieces
of silver coin, each of the value of 25 cents; a silver band, found by Joel
Monroe, which the latter sold or traded in Pittsburgh for a set of silver
tablespoons and a set of silver teaspoons.

The remnant of what appears to have been either a medal, or a trinket which
traders, perhaps, sold to the Indians, was plowed up by A. B. Starr, in the
spring of 1878, on the same tract. It may be an alloy of brass and some other
metal. Its shape is circular. Its diameter is one inch and its original
thickness was one-sixteenth of an inch. On its upper edge is the half part of
an eye which was one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. On the obverse side is
a king�s bust, with this inscription along the border: “GEORGIVS, II.
D. GRATIA. R.” If there are any other letters, they have been effaced by
corrosion. On the reverse side is a queen�s bust, with this inscription
along the border: “CAROLINA-REGINA.” The date, if there was one, is
invisible. It must have been struck during the reign of George II, who was
king of England from 1727 until 1760.

The writer has another relic, plowed up by William Hileman, on the Murphy
and Craig farm, on that part of the hill portion of the Manor tract, between
Fort Run and Tub-mill run, about 280 rods east of the Allegheny river, and
about 175 rods south of the former run. It is a pipe differing in shape from
that of Indian pipes. The diameter of the bowl is nearly three-fourths of an
inch at its top; the length one inch and five-eighths; the circumference of
the bulge on its outer surface, four and one-eighth inches; the circumference
of the neck, three inches; the portion below the neck is cuneal, in the upper
part of which is an aperture for the stem, nearly tree-eighths of an inch in
diameter; the length of the pipe from the top of the bowl to the lower end,
i.e., the sharp end of the wedge part is two inches and seven-eighths; and the
material appears to be a fine soft stone, or hard clay, containing
considerable aluminous matter.

There were indications that there had been a burying ground on the second
bench or bottom above or northerly from the trench, in which a large number of
persons had been interred. Such of the bones as were exhumed were sound.
Samuel Monroe found a skull in which there was a hole about the size of a
bullet, just above the ear, but none in any other part.

Matthias Bowser has related to the writer that, while he was plowing on the
same tract, in 1836, then owned by John Mechling, he struck the bones of a
human skeleton and part of a moccasin about sixty-two rods east of the
Allegheny river, and 300 rods north of Tub-mill run, or about thirty feet a
little west of north from the house now occupied by A. B. Starr. About two
rods southeast from that grave he opened another, sixteen feet square and two
feet deep, in which was a large number of human bones, so arranged as if the
bodies had been piled one upon another, when they were buried.

In the early part of this century those old fortifications and vicinity
were frequented by various persons now living, to gather plums. James E. Brown
remembers of that fort

being then called “the old French fort.” In 1835 James W.
Campbell, now of North Buffalo township, and his brother were returning from
the mill at Nicholson�s falls, and stopped near these old works over night.
George Cook, an old resident in the manor, accompanied them to the remains of
the parapet, and showed them how the women and children of the surrounding
country were protected there one night during the Indian troubles, 1790-5,
when forced to flee from their homes. After the women and children had
entered, the men guarded the entrance to the interior of the parapet. He said
that James Claypoole, John Guld and others with their families, used to flee
thither in those times for refuge. At least some of the bullets used on such
occasions were made by the women while in the blockhouse, who melted their
pewter plates and other dishes for that purpose.

Such being the vestiges and surroundings of and the facts connected with
that ancient fosse, parapet and fort, and history being otherwise silent in
relation to them, it can of course only be conjectured when and by whom they
were originally constructed, and on this question there is ground for an
honest difference of opinion among antiquaries. It is a question well
calculated to stimulate research, and one, too, that affords ample scope for
profitable and interesting discussion by historical and debating societies.

It is stated in Albach�s Western Annals, page 716, that “a fort was
built on the site of the old village of Kittanning, known also by the name of
Appleby�s fort, by the government, in 1776.” His authority for that
statement is not given. The writer has not been able to ascertain that there
was ever a vestige of a fort on the site of that village. The manor does not
appear to have been called Appleby until between 1805 and 1807. It seems
clear, then, that Mr. Albach must have been misinformed respecting both the
name and location of that fort. It is a well-established fact, however, that
troops were stationed that year at Kittanning, most likely in the vicinity of
the present site of that borough, and within the limits of the manor.

A memorial was presented June 5, 1776, to the assembly of Pennsylvania from
the inhabitants of Westmoreland county, setting forth that they feared an
attack from Detroit and the Indian country, and that Vaun Swearingen, Esq.,
had raised a company of effective men at a considerable expense, which the
memorialists had continued and stationed at the Kittanning, and which they
prayed might be continued. Congress resolve, July 15, that the battalion which
was to garrison the posts of Presque Isle, LeBoeuf and Kittanning be raised in
the counties of Westmoreland and Bedford, in the proportion of seven in the
former to one in the latter. July 18, John Hancock, then president of
congress, informed the president of the Pennsylvania convention that congress
had resolved to raise a battalion in these 2 counties for the defense of the
western part of Pennsylvania, and requested the convention to name proper
persons for field officers, which was accordingly done July 20, Sometime
afterward, the battalion, commanded by Col. Eneas Mackey, was stationed at the
Kittanning, where it remained until about December 15, when he collected his
scattered force at a suitable place of general rendezvous, prepatory to a
compliance with the direction of congress of November 23, to the board of war
of Pennsylvania, to order his and Col. Cook�s battalions to march with all
possible expedition to Brunswick (4) (now New Brunswick), New Jersey, where,
at Amboy, Elizabethtown and Fort Lee, Washington, being perplexed by Howe�s
movements, distributed troops, about the middle of November, “so as to be
ready at those various points to check any incursions into the Jerseys.”
(5)

Philip Mechling remembers of his father, Michael Mechling, relating that
when young, before his marriage, he and others hauled provisions from about
Hannastown and Greenburgh to the soldiers then stationed in the manor, but
whether to those under Col. Mackey�s command or to others stationed here
afterward, he cannot state.

During 1777-8 the chief military protection to the inhabitants of
Westmoreland county was afforded by the ranging companies acting under the
authority and paid by the state. Col. Lochery wrote to Thomas Wharton, then
president of the supreme executive council, December 6, 1777: “Not a man
on our frontier, from Ligonier to the Allegheny river, except a few at Fort
Hand, on continental pay.” In the same letter he mentioned that he had
sent five Indian scalps, taken by one of the scouting parties which he had
sent out, commanded by Col. Baee, Col. Perry, Col. Smith and Capt. Kingston,
who were volunteers in the action which occurred near Kittanning. They
recaptured six horses which the savages had taken from the suffering
frontiersmen.

During those two years detachments of Westmoreland county rangers were
occasionally here. Early in the spring of 1779, Gen. Washington contemplated
the establishment of a military post at this point. In his letter to Col.
Daniel Brodhead, commandant at Fort Pitt, dated at his headquarters,
Middlebrook, (6) New Jersey, March 22, he wrote: “I have directed Col.
Rawlings with his corps, consisting of three companies, to march from Fort
Frederick in Maryland, where he is guarding the British prisoners, to Fort
Pitt, as soon as he is relieved by a guard of militia. Upon his arrival you
are to detach him with his own corps and as many as will make up 100, should
his companies be short of that number, to take post at Kittanning, and
immediately throw up a stockade fort for the security of convoys. When
this is accomplished a small garrison is to be left there, and the
remainder are to proceed to Venango (now Franklin) and establish another post
of the same kind for the same purpose. The party is to go provided with proper
tools from Fort Pitt, and Col. Rawlings is to be directed to make choice of
good pieces of ground, and by all means to use every precaution against a
surprise at either post.

“Col. Gibson is to be ordered to hold himself ready to join you with
his force when matters are ripe for execution. But he is to keep his intended
removal from Tuscarora a profound secret; and when he receives his orders to
march let it be as sudden as possible. Hasten the water-craft by all means,
that you may not have to wait for them when other matters are ready. Neither
the Indians nor any other persons are to know your destination until your
movements point out the probable quarter. Engage at a proper season as many
warriors as you can to accompany you, and at all events procure good guider,
who know the way from the head of the navigation of the Allegany to the
nearest Indian town and to Niagara. After you have moved let it remain a
secret, as long as possible, to which place you are going. You are to inform
me with precision, and by a careful express, when you will be ready to begin
your movement from Fort Pitt, when you can be at Kittanning, when at
Vanango, when at the head of the navigation, how far it is from thence to the
nearest Indian towns, and when you can reach them. In making your estimate of
the times, you are to calculate upon moving as light as possible, and with
only a few pieces of the lightest artillery. These things it is necessary for
me to know with as much accuracy as possible, that the plan of co-operation,
upon which much depends, may be perfectly formed.

“I wish you to pacify and cultivate the friendship of the western
Indians, by all the means in your power. When you are ready to move, and your
probable destination can be no longer concealed, contrive ways and means to
inform them that you are going to meet a large force (7) to fall upon and
destroy the whole country of the Six Nations, and that if they do in the
meantime give the least disturbance to the frontiers, the whole force will be
turned against them; and that we will never rest till we have cut them off
from the face of the earth.”

The commander-in-chief�s views respecting that project underwent a change
during the next month, for on April 22, 1779, he wrote again from Middlebrook
to Col. Brodhead: “Since my last letter and upon further consideration of
the subject I have relinguished the idea of attempting a co-operation between
the troops of Fort Pitt and the bodies moving from other quarters against the
Six Nations. The difficulty of providing supplies in time, a want of
satisfactory information of the route and of the nature of the country up the
Allegany river and between that and the Indian Settlements” on the Upper
Allegheny, “and consequently the uncertainty of being able to co-operate
to advantage, and the hazard which the smaller party might run, are principal
motives for declining it. The danger to which the frontier would be exposed by
drawing off the troops from their present position, and the incursions of the
more western tribes, are additional, though less powerful, reasons.” On
the 3d of May then next he again wrote to Col. Brodhead. The latter replied on
the 22d: “I am honored by yours of the 3d instant and the inclosure. The
strictest attention shall ever be paid to all the instructions your excellency
may from time to time be pleased to give me, and I am very happy in having
permission to establish the posts at Kittanning and Venango, and am convinced
they will answer the grand purposes mentioned in your latter. The greatest
difficulty will be to procure salt provisions to subsist the garrison at the
different advanced posts, but I have taken every promising step to obtain
them. * * * I have about twenty canoes ready made of poplar, and more are
making; some will carry two tons. I have not heard a word from Col. Rawlins
nor any of his officers, and fear they are not yet relieved by the
militia.”

May 26th Col. Brodhead wrote to Gen. Greene: “I most sincerely wish
Gen Sullivan success against the black caitiffs of the north, and should be
happy to meet him near the heads of the Allegheny, and assist him in giving
the Senecas a complete flogging.”

May 29th he informed Gen. Washington that Col. Rawlins� detachment had
arrived at Pittsburgh the day before, under the command of Capt. Beall, and as
he was informed, the terms of half the men would expire in July, when the
officers intended to resign on account of some neglect shown them by the
state. June 3 he wrote to Col. Archibald Lochry, lieutenant of Westmoreland
county, that two Delaware runners had arrived with intelligence that the
Wyandot nation had bidden the English farewell forever, and their chiefs were
then en route to take him by the hand and making a lasting peace with the
Americans; that, according to his private intelligence, Butler, with about 200
rangers and a number of Mingoes, was to attack the frontier on the west side
of Laurel Hill, to prevent the American forces from carrying on a campaign
against the American forces from carrying on a campaign against the British,
and that it would, therefore, be necessary for him (Lochry) to warn out
seventy-five more men of the militia to hold themselves in readiness to march
at a short notice, promising all possible protection notwithstanding the angry
letters which he had sent him a few days before. He further stated that the
enemy would strike when the strawberries were ripe, requesting him to put the
frontier inhabitants on their guard, and give them assurance of protection
from himself. “I propose, ” he also wrote, “building a small
fort at Kittanning as soon as possible, and that will be a more effectual
security to the inhabitants than all the little posts now occupied by the
garrison; these will be considerable, and I intend to send a fieldpiece there
to command the writer, etc.” June 11 he wrote to Col. Lochry: “A
considerable garrison will, in my opinion, afford greater security to your
settlements than as many again trifling forts as are now garrisoned;” and
on the 23d of the same month: “Lt.-Col. Bayard is at Kittanning,
and will cover the frontier effectually.” June 25th he wrote to Gen.
Washington: “Lt.-Col. Bayard, with 120 rank and file, is now erecting a
stockade fort at Kittanning.” Then followed correspondence between
him and Lt.-Col. Stephen Bayard respecting the name which that fort should
bear. Bayard�s letters, even if still extant, are not accessible to the
writer, so that what he said about naming that fort is inferable from Brodhead�s
replies, from which it seems that Bayard wished to have it named after
Brodhead, or Col. John Bayard, or himself.

In answering Bayard�s letters of June 24 and 27, Brodhead, July 1 wrote:
“I pity the men who are lame, and as a partial supply have ordered thirty
pair of shoes out of my regimental stores, which I hope will be sufficient to
alleviate their distresses and render them serviceable. Mr. Van Lear declares
he has sent everything he was ordered to send, and if you have pickaxes and
shovels, they are the proper tools for such ground as you mention. We will,
however, send you some other articles which have been mentioned by you and
Capt. Findley. *** I think it is a compliment due to Gen. Armstrong to call
that fort after him, therefore it is my pleasure from this time forward it be
called Fort Armstrong, and I doubt not we shall soon be in the neighborhood of
a place where greater regard is paid to saints than at Kittanning, where your
sainthood may not be forgotten. I cannot conclude without once more
recommending the strictest economy of stores, and particularly
ammunition.”

On July 9, Brodhead to Bayard: “I am favored with yours of 7th inst.
by Mr. Morrison. It is with great pleasure I learn your strict economy, and I
hope you find your situation more agreeable than you expected. I have said
that I thought it a compliment due to Gen. Armstrong to name the fort now
erecting at Kittanning after him, and I should be very sorry to have the first
fort erected by my directions in the department names after me. Besides, I
consider it will be more proper to have our names at a greater distance from
our metropolis. I never denied the sainthood of Stephen or John, but some
regard to priority must be necessary even among the saints. I am glad the fort
is in forwardness, and hope you are able to keep out the scouts I ordered for
the protection of the inhabitants. Capt. Harrison is ordered on a tour to Fort
Armstrong, and he will deliver you this and my compliments to the
officers.***”

In conclusion: “Whilst I am writing, I am tortured by at least a dozen
drunken Indians, and I shall be obliged to remove my quarters from hence on
account of a cursed villainous set of inhabitants, who in spite of ever
exertion, continue to rob the soldiers, or cheat them and the Indians out of
everything they are possessed of.”

Same to same, July 20: “Yours of 17th was delivered to me by Capt.
Finley, and by him I will send such articles as may be necessary for your
garrison and completing the fort. His excellency the commander-in-chief has at
length given me leave (8) to make an excursion into the Indian country, and as
my route will naturally cover the garrison at Fort Armstrong, a few men can
maintain it till my return. Therefore, you will order two officers and two
sergeants, and twenty-four rank and file of ye worst king to remain at ye
post, and with all the rest march to this place” – Pittsburgh – “by
the first of next month, and bring with you likewise all the best men from
Fort Crawford, except a sergeant and twelve privates.”

If the tradition that a woman was brutally and mortally outraged at that
fort is true, perhaps some of those “worst kind” who then remained
there committed that base and horrible crime.

Same to Gen. Washington, July 31: “A completer stockade fort is
erected at the Kittanning, and now called Fort Armstrong.”

Same to Capt. Campbell, October 2, ordering him to march his company with
all his stores immediately to Fort Crawford, which post he was to garrison
until further orders. He further stated: “Capt. Irwin will be ordered to
Kittanning, and I shall order you a sufficient quantity of
provisions.”

The same day he wrote to Francis McIlwaine: “I have ordered a quantity
of provisions to Fort Armstrong, and Capt. Irwin is to garrison that post his
company. As soon as he takes the command (if the water will permit), you will
proceed to this place (Pittsburgh) with your men, leaving the provisions with
Capt. Irwin, bring down the canoes and other stores to these magazines; but
should the water continue too low, you will march down your men by land, and
take a receipt for all the provisions, craft and stores left with Capt.
Irwin.”

Same to Captain Joseph Irwin, October 13: “Your letter of the 3d inst.
is now before men. The contents are insolent and inconsistent, and, therefore,
scarcely merit an answer. Your letter, too, to Mr. McIlvaine, contains a false
assertion (if he has copied it right) for you had my positive orders to wait
upon me for instructions to govern you at Fort Armstrong, which orders you
have been hardy enough to disobey and are to answer for. ” * * *

“If, as you seem to apprehend, you are at liberty to disobey my
orders, you cannot expect to be supplied from my magazines, and I shall take
care to report your conduct to the Governor and Council. My former orders to
you were verbal. I now command you in writing to wait on me at headquarters,
and if your company is not yet marched, it is immediately to proceed to Fort
Armstrong, where your lieutenant will relieve Mr. McIlvaine and his small
garrison, and take the command of that post until further orders.”

Same to Francis McIlvaine, October 13: “I received yours of the 11th
inst. per express. I expect Capt. Irwin�s company will be at Fort Armstrong
with a few days.* * *”

“I cannot send regular troops to be stationed at Fort Armstrong; the
new levies raised in Pennsylvania are properest for that duty.

“You will pay particular attention to my last instructions; I did not
recollect there was a commissionaire there at the time of writing them. He
will take proper case of the provisions, therefore you will only take account
of all other stores and craft, should any be left.

“I conceive the firing, about Fort Armstrong is done by hunters, and
not by Indians.”

Same to Lt. Glass, or the commanding officer of Capt. Irwin�s company,
October 18: “You are to march the company under your command to Fort
Armstrong, and there relieve the present garrison under Mr. McIlvaine. Mr.
Douglas, assistant commissary of issues, will furnish you with provisions for
your garrison at that post. Mr. McIlvain will consult with you and leave a
proper quantity of military stores, for which you are to be accountable.

“Capt. Camble (Campbell) who, had, October 16, been ordered with his
company to Fort Crawford, is “instructed to send scout to the mouth of
the Kiskamanitis, where you are to order the scouts from your post to meet
them, and upon discovery of the enemy or tracks, you are to give me immediate
notice. It may be likewise proper for you to keep a spy or two up the
Allegheny river to give your notice of an approaching enemy, of which I must
likewise be acquainted. You are to be particularly careful to prevent any wast
of public stores, and not suffer any firing, except at an enemy, or by a
hunter particularly employed, if you have any in your company. You are to
transmit to me a particular return of the company and the provisions and
stores left at Fort Armstrong. You will write to me by every opportunity and
inform of the state of the garrison.”

Same to Lt. Jno. Jameson, October 27: “I have rec�d your favor of
the 24th inst. I am glad to hear you are at length got to Fort Armstrong, and
I should be happy {if} it was in my power to contribute to the relief of your
men, but the means are not yet come up the country. I have wrote to the presid�t
of the state for blankets, and daily expect his answer. I have ordered for
your garrison two kegs of whisky and fifteen pairs of shoes. Whiskey being an
expensive article, you will not issue it except in rainy weather, and to
guards and fatigues. I approve of building the sentry boxes, as they will in
some measure shelter the poor soldiers from the weather, which will soon be
unfavorable.

Your captain returned me forty-five men. I shall be glad to know from you
where the men are, which, it appears, you have not returned.” Jos. L.
Finley, M. B., to Lieut. Jno. Jameson, dated at headquarters, Pittsburgh,
November 27: “I am directed by Col. Brodhead to require you to evacuate
Fort Armstrong, and repair to this post with all convenient dispatch, taking
care to bring off all the stores in your possession and pertaining to the
garrison of whatsoever kinds. For this purpose, I have sent you two canoes,
with which and the craft you already have I expect you will be able to
transport all the stores by water. If not, you must have recourse to
pack-horses, which you can receive from Capt. Carnaghan, who is now with a
party at Bulls Town on the mouth of the Kiskaminitis, and will herewith
receive an order to supply you, if necessary” – that order was issued by
Col. Brodhead the same day – “Immediately on receipt of this, you will
proceed to put the above order into execution.”

The troops at Fort Armstrong were not exempt from the discomforts and
suffering which resulted from the delays in receiving provisions, clothing and
other public stores at Pittsburgh. Col. Brodhead wrote to Gen. Washington,
July 31, 1779: “Many of the troops are still suffering for want of shoes.
I have been obliged to give some soldiers� clothing to the Indians, and
unless they can be replaced by the 1st of October, they will be great
sufferers.” A few days later, to Timothy Pickering: ”
Notwithstanding my frequent applications, I have not received a hat or a pair
of stockings for my regiment, or a coates or pair of overalls for my officers.
Besides this, there had been a great deficiency in blankets, shirts and shoes,
buckskin breeches and woolen overalls for the troops in general.” To Gov.
Reed: “My officers begin to be very ragged, and some have worn and lost
their blankets, and I have not a single stocking for my men. Many other
articles of clothing are wanting to render them useful in this part of the
country.” Amid the privations endured and patriotism evinced by officers
and men, there was, even in those virtuous times, some plundering of public
property. For, on the 2d of August, Col. Brodhead wrote to Gen. Greene and
Col. Mitchell: “Two barrels of pitch were opened on the road, the pitch
stolen, and some gravel and straw put into them; and I have been obliged to
send almost everyone of the boat carpenters down the country for want of stuff
to enable them to finish the work.”

Source: Page(s) 310-345, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by
Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed January 1999 by Donna Mohney for the Armstrong County Smith
Project.
Contributed by onna Mohney for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)

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