HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

CHAPTER III

THE NEW REGIME

 

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vincial authorities Pennsylvania became a neutral zone over which the hereditary foes travelled in quest of trophies. Neither of these antagonists fully respected the neutrality of the Delawares, and thus beset on all aides these tribes began to meditate a revenge which would have involved the savages along the whole border. The settlements could not fail to suffer in such a contest, which eventually might have been directed chiefly against them, and the governors of Virginia,, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York spared no effort to avert the threatened danger. Among the earliest measures on the part of Pennsylvania was an effort to allay the dissatisfaction of the Indians in regard to the concessions of land already made. The representatives of the Delawares and the agents of the province met; “divers deeds of sale under the hands and seals of former kings and chiefs of the Delaware Indians, their ancestors and predecessors,” were exhibited and read, and expressing themselves “satisfied and content” with these, Sassoonan, Opekasset, and five others executed a deed of release for all the lands between the Delaware and the Susquehanna, “ from Duck creek to the mountains on this side Lechay.”

This was consummated on the 17th of September, 1718. It will be observed that no new lands were sought or granted, but the several unmeasured grants which had so long disturbed the Indians were defined by one general line, and the unsettled question of their extent set at rest by a certain natural boundary which it was hoped could not be mistaken. This pleasant illusion was soon dispelled. The settlers maintaining the authority of the original treaty lines, or ignoring all alike, pushed their improvements beyond the line of l718, to the great dissatisfaction of the natives. Their most influential chiefs remonstrated with the proprietary government, isolated cases of hostility ensued, and the prospect of a general war appeared imminent, when wiser counsels prevailed. While the new line seemed well understood on the Delaware, on the Schuylkill “ the mountains this side Lechay” were confounded with the Kittatinny range, and settlers had planted themselves at Tulpehocken and Oley.

Of this Sassoonan complained with pathetic eloquence at a treaty held in 1728 at Philadelphia. Addressing James Logan, the proprietary secretary, and one of the commissioners for land affairs, he said “ that he was grown old, and was troubled to see the Christians settle on lands that the Indians had never been paid for ; that the Christians made their settlements very near them, and they would have no place of their own to live on; that this might occasion a difference between their children hereafter, and he would willingly prevent any misunderstanding that might happen.” In reply Logan said “ that he was no otherwise concerned in the lands of the province, than as he was entrusted with other commissioners by the proprietor to manage his affairs of property in his absence ; that William Penn had made .it a rule never to suffer any lands to be settled by his people till they were first purchased of the Indians; that his commissioners had followed the same rule, and how little reason there was for

Page 147 Picture Rich, Benjamin S.

Page 148 Outline Map of Bucks County

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any complaint against him or the commissioners he would make appear.” He recited the release of 1718, which the chiefs present acknowledged to be correct, but pointed out that the boundary line described "reached no farther than a few miles beyond Oley, but that their lands on Tulpehocken were seated by the Christians.” To this Logan assented so far as his knowledge went, but whether the lands mentioned were within or without the boundary of the treaty, “ he well knew that the Indians some few years since were seated on them, and that he, with the other commissioners, would never consent that any settlement should be made on lands where the Indians were seated ; that these lands were settled wholly against their minds and even without their knowledge ; but he . desired of. the Indians that though these people had seated themselves on Tulpehocken lands without the commissioners’ leave or consent, yet that they would not offer them any violence or injure them, but wait till such time as that the matter could be adjusted.”

The truth was that the province had outgrown the tutelage of Penn. The border was chiefly occupied by men whose respect for the rights of the heathen Indian was only less than that in which they held the peculiar religious tenets of the founder and early colonists of the province, and who trampled on the rights of either with equal unconcern. The founder of the province was now dead, and his successors were less conscientious in the discharge of the high moral responsibilities imposed upon them as governors and proprietors. The new element gradually came into power, and while some of those associated with the first administration were still in office a large part of their influence had departed. The somewhat autocratic form of government in the hands of an unworthy ruler began to show its evil results, and the relief suggested by Logan in 1728 was deferred until the intrigues of the French with the disaffected Indians rendered delay no longer safe.

In a letter to James Steel, under date of November 18,1729, James Logan wrote : "It is now not only Sassoonan, our very good friend, and his people of our Indians, that we have to deal with, but the lands also on the Delaware above Tohickon creek must be purchased of others. But the main business of all is to induce John Penn himself to come over. The Indians all expect him next spring, everybody expects him, and it is in vain for him to expect that others will do his business for him.” Penn did not come, however. The Indian complaints continued, and rumors that the French were secretly encouraging the disaffection led the assembly in 1731 to urge the governor to take such measures "that the Indians might be made easy respecting their lands.” In reply the governor said that their concern was prudent and just; that the matter had been delayed so long solely in expectation of the arrival of some of the proprietors ; “ but as I am assured the gentlemen now in trust for them have all possible zeal and affection for the peace and true interest of the country, it is not to be questioned but that, convinced by the necessity of it,

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they will proceed to the utmost length of the powers they are invested with so far as they can with any safety to themselves, to answer your and my request in so important an affair.” The commissioners of property were apparently unwilling to assume responsibilities not authorized by the proprietors, and on the 13th of November united in an urgent petition addressed to John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, in which they say : “We have divers times jointly, but we suppose James Logan oftener, represented to you the state of this province and the necessity there appeared that one of you should hasten over as well to settle your affairs of property as to enter treaties and to take measures with the native Indians for continuing that peace and good understanding with them, and these representations we hoped would have had the desired effect. But your coming being from time to time deferred we thought it proper that James Steel, now two years ago, should take a voyage over in order more earnestly to press and if possible prevail with you to resolve on it without more delay, and on the account he gave us at his return we fully depended on seeing Thomas the same fall, but with the following spring and another fall are all passed away without now giving us much more hopes of what has been so long expected as three or four years ago. But a treaty we must have with them if possible if we would expect to continue in any manner of safety.” John Penn came in August, 1732, and in the following month the long-deferred claims of the Indians were adjusted by the purchase of the lands unwarrantably occupied by the settlers. “ But at the same time the Indians were satisfied on the one hand, they were injured on the other. While they were paid for their lands on the Tulpehocken, they were very unjustly and in a manner forcibly dispossessed of their lands in the forks of the Delaware.”

In his will Penn left to his grandson and namesake a tract of ten thousand acres of land to be laid out by his trustees. In the discharge of this trust the . commissioners of property fixed upon the Minisinks for the location of a part of this tract, and by a warrant dated November 20,1727, authorized the surveyor- general of the province to lay it out. The region selected lay on the west side of the Delaware river, extending from the Kittatinny range to the Alleghenies. Here some two or three thousand acres of rich alluvial bottoms, inclosed by the broken foothills and a mountainous spur, which nearly connected the two ranges, had early attracted the attention of the thrifty Dutch adventurers, and at this time, if cleared of the Indian title, would readily bring sixty or seventy pounds per one hundred acres. But the natives set even a higher estimate upon these lands, and from the earliest knowledge of them steadfastly refused to grant any concessions to the whites. The surveyor-general apparently met with no better success, for although provided with “four of the best strowds, blue and red, for a present” he accomplished nothing. “ The Indians would suffer. no manner of survey to be made there on any account whatsoever.”

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In his report of the matter to John Penn, Logan accounts for this result by the fact that “there never was any pretence of a purchase made on thy father’s account within thirty miles of the nearest of these Indian settlements,” and evidently indicated that the trustees saw no immediate prospect of overcoming the difficulty. In the succeeding year, therefore, William Penn, Jr., sold his grant to William Allen, a gentleman more noted for his large and successful speculations in proprietary lands than for his conscientious regard for the rights of the aboriginal owners. It is not certain how soon he succeeded in locating this tract in the coveted region, but the records of Bucks county show that in 1733 he sold to Nicholas Dupue three hundred and three acres, which were a part of this tract, and included the “ Great Shawna island,” and probably “ Shawna Town,” in the Minisinks. It is probable that the whole tract was located somewhat prior to this date in different places above the Kittatinny range on lands which had not yet been released by the savages. Other grants were made in this region, but, with the understanding that the land should be surveyed when cleared of the Indian title, and if this condition had been scrupulously complied with no ill consequences would have arisen from the practice. To most persons the property thus handicapped proved unmarketable, and Allen appears to have found it a profitable business to purchase these lands, which he apparently found no difficulty in selling to actual settlers, to whom he gave a warrantee deed. In this way the Indians found their most ’ highly prized hunting-grounds invaded by an adventurous set of purchasers, who were considerably reinforced by a class of squatters who ignored the rights of the natives and the land regulations of the province alike.

On the 12th of July, 1735, the proprietors published a scheme of a lottery, in which they, “ having considered a proposal made to them for the sale of one hundred thousand acres of land, by way of lottery, and finding that the same tends to cultivate and improve the lands, and consequently increase the trade and riches of this province ; and also considering that many families are, through inadvertency, settled on lands to which they have no right, but by becoming adventurers in such lottery may have an opportunity of securing those lands and settlements at an easy rate, to themselves and their posterity,” proposed the sale of 7750 tickets at forty shillings each, of which 6157 should * be blanks, and the remainder drawing from twenty-five to three thousand acres each. On these lands the quit-rent was reduced from the common rate of four shillings and two pence per one hundred acres to one shilling, and the successful drawer permitted to lay out, his land “ anywhere within the province, except on manors, lands already surveyed or agreed for with the proprietors, or their agents, or that had been actually settled and improved before the date of these proposals, provided, nevertheless, that such persons who are settled on lands without warrants for the same and may be entitled to prizes, either by becoming adventurers themselves, or by purchasing prize tickets, may have liberty to lay

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their rights on the lands where they are so seated.” In addition to this premium to aggressors upon Indian lands, it was further provided that “ whereas several of the adventurers may be unacquainted with proper places whereon to locate the prizes they have been entitled to, several tracts of the best vacant lands shall be laid out and divided into lots for all prizes not less than two hundred acres.” In accordance with the last provision lands were laid out in the forks of the Delaware, and thus this iniquitous measure not only stimulated the reckless invasion of Indian lands by individual adventurers; but led to a similar wholesale violation of Indian rights, under the sanction of the proprietors. The lottery did not readily fill, and no drawings were ever made ; but so many tickets as were sold became valid claims to lands, which led to the rapid settlement of the lots laid out in the forks of the Delaware.

These bold aggressions at once called forth loud complaints from the Indians. The fears they had long entertained now appeared about to be realized, and as redress was delayed their complaints took on a threatening tone. Efforts were made by the provincial authorities to compose these clamors, and several conferences were held by the proprietor and delegates of the complaining tribes, but there was no room for compromise, and matters were steadily growing worse, when the arrival of deputies of the Five Nations suggested another method. These Indians had never fully acquiesced in the Dungan purchase, and continued to claim a right in the Susquehanna lands, but in the summer of 1735 it was resolved in a general council of the confederation to make a conclusion of all disputes on this point, and to this end sent twenty-three deputies in the fall of 1736 to negotiate with the Pennsylvania proprietor. In the compact completed October 11, 1736, these facts are cited, and a grant made of all the Susquehanna river with the lands lying on both sides of it, “to extend eastward as far as the heads of the branches or springs which run into the said Susquehanna.” The lands on the west side were to extend to the setting sun, and on both sides to extend from the mouth of the river to the Kittatinny range. It is known that some complaint was made to them of the clamorous Delawares, but the record of the treaty is too meagre to learn the exact character of the representation, and nothing apparently was accomplished at this meeting to adjust the difficulty with the fork tribes. The lands granted did not affect the question at issue about the territory within the forks, and other means were taken to effect the end desired by the unscrupulous proprietor.

Conrad Weiser was a prominent figure in this negotiation. By a long residence with the Mohawks he had gained great influence with the whole confederation, and it is probable that he exerted it with great effect in the interest of the proprietor’s project. It was therefore reserved to him in the obscurity of his frontier home to correct the fatal omission of the above-mentioned deed. The deputation of Indians returned from Philadelphia by way of Tulpehocken, where Weiser had a station, and remained with him several days. Here, on

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the 25th of October, the deputies executed a document in which they say that their “true intent and meaning,” in the deed of the 11th instant, was to release all the lands within the boundaries of Pennsylvania, “beginning eastward on the river Delaware, as far northward. as the said ridge of endless mountains as they cross the country of Pennsylvania from the eastward to the west.” The circumstances under which this document was given greatly weakens its force, and at best, unless the most extravagant right of conquest be conceded to the Iroquois, it was only a release of their assumed proprietorship of the lands conquered, and was of no avail against the rights of the Delaware. However, armed with this concession the proprietor sought a meeting with the Delawares in the succeeding summer.

Some time in 1731, John and Thomas Penn met a delegation of the forks tribes, headed by Tishekunk and Nutimus, at Durham, "not only for the renewal of friendship with the people, but likewise to adjust some matters relating to lands lying in the county of Bucks.” Little that was definite was accomplished at this meeting, but in the next spring these chiefs, with Lappawinzoe and other deputies, came to Pennsbury to meet the remaining proprietor. At this conference the various prior treaties were examined, and especially that of 1686, but of this the deputies appeared to have no knowledge, and the meeting was terminated to allow the chiefs to consult some of their old men who were absent. And now after the lapse of two years, and after the proposed consultation with those more likely to know of the early transactions, these chiefs, with “ Monokyhickan and several other old men,” came to Philadelphia to conclude the business begun some three years before.

This meeting occurred on August 24, 1737. The events noted above were stated by Thomas Penn and the early deeds read to the assemblage of Indians and councilmen. All this the Indians confirmed as correct and acknowledged the treaty of 1682 to be true, but the natives manifesting some hesitation as to the other deed of 1686, “ the same was not only read and fully interpreted to them, but likewise the deposition of Joseph Wood, who was present at the said sale, and who signed it as a witness to the deed, and likewise the deposition of William Biles, who was present at this transaction, and remembered well all that then passed.” At this point in the proceedings the Indians asked an adjournment of the sitting till afternoon to consider the matter. On coming together again the Indians said they did not fully understand how the lines mentioned in the deed were to run, whereupon a draft was made and explained to them. In regard to this draft a gentleman who has given the matter much study says:--* It was our good fortune to find this very draft among the papers of Thomas Penn, by which he attempted to explain to the Indians the proper course of the walk. Any one can

* See Pennsylvania Archives, vol. i. p. 529 et seq.

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readily see, on inspecting and comparing it with our present maps, that it was purposely gotten up to deceive. It is a rude affair, on which the Delaware is represented from the mouth of the Neshaminy to the Lehigh river. The forks of the Neshaminy are placed considerably more than half-way towards the Lehigh, when in reality they do not nearly approach half this distance. The “ spruce tree P” is marked on the Delaware a short distance above the “ Great Creek Mackerick-hitton,” from the head of which a line is made westward to the Neshaminy, and serves as a base from the middle of which another line is represented nearly due north with the Lehigh and no further, and “The supposed day-and-a-half’s journey into ye woods.” The deception lies in making this line exactly parallel with the Delaware, and not representing it any farther to the north or northwest.*

The Indians did not discover these inaccuracies, and upon considering all that they had heard touching the said deed, and now seeing the lines in it laid down, they expressed themselves convinced of the truth thereof, and that they had no objection, but were willing to join in a full and absolute confirmation of the said sale, but at the same time requested that they might be permitted to remain on their present settlements and plantations, although within that purchase, unmolested. In answer to this request the proprietor repeated his assurances given them at Pennsbury and reaffirmed them.

This ended the proceedings of the day, and on the following, the 25th of August, the treaty was consummated by a document in which the events recounted above are briefly recited and the promised u full and absolute confirmation” of the deed of 1686 given. The limits of the tract thus conveyed are described as follows : “ Beginning on a line drawn from a certain spruce tree on the river Delaware by a west-northwest course to Neshaminy creek ; from thence back into the woods as far as a man can go in a day and a half, and bounded in the west by Neshaminy or the most westerly branch thereof, so far as the said branch doth extend, and from thence by a line to the utmost extent of the day-and-a-half ‘s walk ; and from thence to the aforesaid River Delaware ; and so down the courses of the river to the first mentioned spruce tree.” To this was added an agreement “ that the extent of the said tract or tracts of land shall be forthwith walked, travelled, or gone over by proper persons to be appointed for that purpose, according to the direction of the aforesaid deed.“†

 

* History of the Indian Walk, by William J. Buck, Philadelphia, 1886, p. 79.

† Appended to a copy of this deed in one of his note-books, John Watson has the following notes :-

1. Makerick-kitton. The creek formerly called Baker's creek, now. known by the name of Great creek, the longest and most southerly branch whereof is thought to have been called Towsisnick--this branch heads in Jos. Hamton's land.

2. This course, W. N. W., is supposed would never touch Neshaminy creek, and as there are persons of veracity now living who have heard John Penquite, lately deceased, say that he well remembered to have seen, when he was a lad, a line of marked trees crossing his father's land, to Neshaminy creek, -which he also well remembered to have heard the

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There is abundant evidence of sharp practice on the part of Thomas Penn in the negotiations which have just been described. The urging of the “walking purchase” at all is indefensible in view of the treaty of 1718, in which, after an examination of the different previous grants, all former concessions were merged into the one which established the northern limit at “the mountains on this side Lechay.” But aside from this consideration, granting that the treaty of 1737 was made with tribes acknowledged to be independent of Sassoonan and competent to grant territory on the Delaware above this limit as well as to release the territory below it, the evidence is unmistakable that they totally misapprehended the possible scope of the deed they confirmed. Penn, however, labored under no such error. The draft submitted to the Indians was drawn with the deliberate intention to deceive them, and the purpose to seize the land in the forks of the Delaware by means of this deed was conceived as early as 1734 and intelligently pursued to the end.

The uncompromising attitude of the forks Indians, together with the stubborn, undisciplined character of the white aggressors, too many of whom had been invited into the region by the unwise if not unlawful action of the proprietors, presented a question of difficult solution even to one honorably disposed. It was thought by some that a liberal payment made to the natives would induce them under the circumstances to relinquish their lands, but this policy did not accord with the penurious disposition of Thomas Penn and the exacting business dealings of William Allen, and so the open, honorable course was rejected for one of trickery and subterfuge.

The proprietors met the representatives of the forks tribes at Durham, in October, 1734, when this subject was broached, and it is probable that they were quite as desirous as the natives to defer further negotiations until they could investigate the bearings of the matter more fully. Accordingly, early in the next spring they set about testing the conditions of the deed to ascertain whether it could be made to serve their purpose. A trial walk was ordered; Timothy Smith, sheriff of Bucks county, John Chapman, deputy-surveyor for the same county, and James Steel, the proprietors' receiver of rents, were appointed to conduct the business. Steel does not appear to have gone into the field, but the others, after receiving full instructions at Philadelphia, were dispatched to the work, Smith in general charge and Chapman conducting the professional part. The object was to run a line “back into the woods" by as nearly a straight course as practicable, so that the final walk might be made with

Indians say was the line between them and Penn, and ordered Penquite to till the ground on Penn's side of it only, and not to meddle with theirs. It must therefore be either a mistake in entering the course W. N. W. in the deed instead of W. S. W., which pretty nearly agrees with the line of marked trees aforesaid, or otherwise being without a compass they set the course by estimation, to the white-oak corner, which seems most likely to have been the case.

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the least hindrance and cover the greatest distance possible. Chapman’s notes of his survey have been preserved in one of John Watson’s books, from which Mr. Buck (Walking Purchase, p. 56) marks out the following course : “From Wrightstown to Plumstead is nine or ten miles, from the latter place to the head branch of Perkiomen 8 miles, to Stokes’ meadow 4 miles, and to the ‘West Branch’ or Lehigh river 17 miles, making from Wrightstown to the Lehigh, 39 miles, and to Lehigh gap of the Blue mountains a total of 48 3/4 miles. These facts prove that this route was laid through Bedminister township near the present village of Strawntown, keeping west of the Haycock, or it would not have passed over the head of Perkiomen and through Stokes’ meadow, which was the place lately owned and occupied by General Paul Applebach. By comparing the line of this route with late maps it will be found on a pretty direct course towards the Lehigh gap.”

This line was begun on the 22d of April, and finished on the 2d of May, 1735, but in the mean time the proprietors became anxious to know the results of the experiment, and instructed James Steel to make inquiry. Accordingly, on the 25th of April he addressed a letter to Smith, in which he says:

The proprietaries are impatient to know what progress is made in travelling over the land that is to be settled in the ensuing treaty that is to be held with the Indians at Pennsbury the fifth of the next month, and, therefore, I now desire thee, without delay, to send down an account of what has been done in that affair, and if anything is omitted or neglected which should have been pursued, the same may be yet performed before the intended time of meeting the Indians. Pray fail not of doing everything. that was proposed to thyself and John Chapman, at Philadelphia, that no disappointment may be the means of delay in the business of the treaty.

Again on the following day he addresses a letter to both of the persons in charge of the business :

The proprietors are very much concerned that so much time hath been lost before you begun the work recommended so earnestly to you at your leaving Philadelphia, and it being so very short before the meeting at Pennsbury, the fifth of the next month, that they now desire that upon the return of Joseph Deane, he, together with two other persons who can travel well, should be immediately sent on foot the day-and-half journey, and two others on horseback to carry necessary provisions for them and to assist them in their return home. The time is now so far spent that not one moment is to be lost ; and as soon as they have travelled the day-and-a-half journey, the proprietaries desire that a messenger be sent to give them account, without delay, how far that day-and-a-half travelling will reach up into the country. Pray use your utmost diligence, and let nothing be wanting to be done on this most important occasion, which will give great satisfaction to the proprietaries, who will generously reward you and those you employ, for your care and trouble.*

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* The Steel letters with much other information upon this topic are derived from an article published in the Bucks County Intelligencer, in 1850, by Judge Richard Watson. These letters were obtained at that time through the courtesy of George Justice, Esq. ; the Steel letter-book is not now to be found.

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Edward Marshall and Joseph Doane were two of the three employed* in accordance with the instructions contained in the last letter, and the trial walk was made some time in the early part of May. As the meeting at Pennsbury did not occur until the ninth, it is possible that it was delayed until a report of the result of the trial could be received. How far this walk reached is uncertain, but as the course was subsequently found marked by blazed trees some miles beyond the Lehigh gap it is probable that the walkers succeeded in passing far beyond the existing treaty limit, notwithstanding much of the route led “ through a very rocky, broken way.” The result demonstrated that the deed could be made to serve the purpose of the proprietors, and the negotiations with the Indians were accordingly pushed to the conclusion of 1737.

During the two years which elapsed between the negotiations at Pennsbury and the consummation at Philadelphia, the trial walk was held in abeyance and escaped the general notice of the public. It is practically certain that the Indians knew nothing of it, and those who were employed in a subordinate capacity in running the line, when afterward examined, apparently knew nothing of the subsequent trial-walk. And it is quite as certain that very few, outside of the interested circle of the proprietors and William Allen, comprehended the motives which led these worthies to lay so much stress upon the confirmation of this deed. But they did not enter into the project without a close calculation of all the chances, and so well had these calculations been made that Thomas Penn could write to his brothers in England on October 11, 1737 : "Since I wrote you last, at no very great expense concluded with the Delaware Indians on the foot of the agreement of 1686, which though done to their satisfaction takes in as much ground as any person here expected.”

Two days after the signing of the treaty of 1737, agreeing that the walk should be made forthwith, James Steel wrote Timothy Smith as follows : "The treaty with the Indians which was begun at Durham, and afterward held at Pennsbury, is now finished at Philadelphia, and the time appointed for walking over the land, it is to be the 12th of September next, and for that purpose our proprietary would request thee to speak to that man of the three which travelled and held out the best when they walked over the land before, to attend to that

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* Moses Marshall, son of the walker, stated to John Watson "that in the year 1734 notice was given in the public papers, that the remaining day-and-a-half’s walk was to be made, and offering 500 acres of land, anywhere in the purchase, and £5 in money, to the person who should attend, and walk the farthest in the given time." After a careful examination of the only papers published in Philadelphia at the time, Mr. Buck was unable to verify the statement, and if any such publication was made at any time it was probably done by posting notices in the usual public places. This could only refer, however, to the trial walk, as the selections for the final walk were made by the proprietors before time for any such advertising had passed, and the little knowledge of the first walk which got abroad discourages the idea that any considerable advertising of the matter was made. The offer of reward was probably made through Smith privately.

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service at the time mentioned, when Solomon Jennings is expected to join and travel the day and a half with him. Thou art also requested to accompany them, and to provide such provisions for those men as may be needful on the occasion desired. John Chapman also to go along with you and be sure to choose the best ground and shortest way that can be found. The Indians intend that two or three of their young men shall be present, and see the land fairly walked over.” Smith and Chapman at once proceeded to go over and critically examine the route laid out something more than two years before. This was found as nearly straight as the character of the country would permit, but as it led over the mountains and through a very rocky, broken way, which Smith conceived could not answer, he advised that in going the walk the walkers should keep the great road and old paths as much as might be. The “great road” or the “great Durham road,” as it was variously called, had been opened nearly five years before as far up as the Tohickon creek “near where the Deep run empties into it,” and from this point a rough wagon trail now led up to the iron furnace in Durham. It was decided, therefore, that the route of the proposed walk should be “up the Durham road to the present village of Stony Point, in Springfield township ; thence by the present villages of Bursonville and Springtown, striking the Lehigh river a short distance below Bethlehem. *This was undoubtedly a much better selection, thus entirely avoiding the rocky sections of Haycock, Springfield, and Saucon. The route of the trial walk must have left the Durham road at or near the present village of Gardenville, in Plumstead township, and did not meet it again till a short distance this side of the Lehigh. For this distance the two routes were parallel to each other for about twenty miles, and nowhere beyond four and a half miles apart, which was most likely at the Haycock.” (Walking Purchase, p. 88.)

Edward Marshall and James Yeates, of Newtown, and Solomon Jennings, a settler very recently located on the Lehigh about two miles above the site of Bethlehem, were chosen by the proprietors to make the journey. What led to their selection is not certainly known. Marshall was doubtless “that man of the three which travelled and held out the best when they walked over the land before,” and when notified of his appointment “put himself in keeping according to his best judgment, fully determined to win the prize of five hundred acres of land or lose his life in the attempt.” It is possible that Yeates was also engaged in the trial walk; or it may be that both he and Jennings were suggested to the proprietors as young, athletic hunters inured to great exertion, and well acquainted with the region to be traversed. The time set for the walk to begin was the 12th of September, but Smith’s presence being required at court that day the business was postponed for one week. Accordingly, before sunrise on the morning of the 19th of September, 1737, a “great number” of spectators and those officially connected with the undertaking, gathered about “ a chestnut tree near the turning out of the road from Durham

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to John Chapman's."* The prominent figures of this company, beside the chosen pedestrians of the proprietors and the three natives delegated by the Indians, were Sheriff Smith, who had general charge of the walk; Benjamin Eastburn, his two deputies, Nicholas Scull and John Chapman, and the nephew of James Steel, who were to run the line to the Delaware ; Joseph Smith, a nephew of Smith, and others who were to attend as spectators, or to carry the “provisions, liquors, and bedding" provided. All who proposed to make the journey were mounted, save the accompanying Indians and the chosen walkers, and as the hour of sunrise approached the latter stood with their hands upon the tree awaiting the start.

Just as the sun touched the horizon the watches of Smith and Scull pointed precisely to six o'clock and the signal was given. The pedestrians at once set out, with Marshall somewhat in the rear of the others. Their course led along the Durham road, which they followed without incident until Red hill, about two miles beyond the Tohickon, was reached. Here Jennings and two of the Indians gave out and fell back with the company of attendants. At Gallows hill the walkers turned off from the great road to a lesser one, which they travelled until noon, halting for dinner on a branch of Scook's creek, in meadows belonging to one Wilson, an Indian trader. After fifteen minutes for refreshment, the walk was resumed along an old beaten Indian path which led across the Saucon and the Lehigh, where Bethlehem now stands. The journey was pursued until fifteen minutes past six, to complete the twelve hours of actual travel, and as they neared the finish of the first day's walk in the twilight,

* The starting-point, which is variously described in the different accounts, has given no little trouble to those who have attempted to exactly locate it. Of those who attended the walk, Thomas Furniss describes it as in the text ; Edward Marshall as " a chestnut tree in the line of John Chapman, in Wrightstown ;" Timothy Smith as " a chestnut tree near the Wrightstown meeting-house ;" John Heider as "a tree within a few rods of Wrightstown meeting-house ;" Joseph Knowles as "John Chapman's corner at Wrightstown ;" and according to Mr. Buck (Walking Purchase, p. 101, where the whole matter is discussed at length) "Benjamin Eastburn places it at the south corner of John Chapman's (the first settler) tract on the Newtown township line, about three-quarters of a mile from the east corner of Wrightstown township, and about the same distance below the meeting-house."

But the deed requires that the starting-point shall be on a line "drawn from a certain spruce tree on the river Delaware by a west-northwest course to Neshaminy creek." From notes of John Watson it appears that the spruce tree stood 140 perches above the mouth of the Great creek--now Knowle's creek--and that a line drawn west-southwest, as Watson corrects the deed, would strike the locality where the text and the majority of the accounts place the chestnut tree. The Bucks County Historical Society, after a painstaking examination of the evidence bearing on the matter, has fixed upon a plot of ground in the lower angle formed by the Durham or Newtown road and the Pennsville road. A committee of the society is now considering the ways and means for erecting a permanent memorial upon this spot to mark the kite of the famous chestnut tree. The ground for the purpose was contributed by Mary Chapman.

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Smith held his watch in his hand counting off the remaining minutes and calling to Marshall and Yeates, who were beginning a little ascent, to “pull up." This "they did so briskly that immediately upon his saying the time was out, Marshall clasped his arms, about a sapling to support himself," and declared “he was almost gone, and that if he had proceeded a few poles farther he must have fallen."

.

The Indians appear to have been dissatisfied with the course from the outset, declaring that the walk should have been made up the river, and it is said there was a great difference of opinion upon this matter among the settlers. One complained also of the unfitness of his shoepacks for travelling, saying that he expected the proprietor would have made him a present of some shoes, and at this some of the attendants, dismounting from their horses, alternated with the savages in riding. The Lehigh was reached about one o'clock, and after this was crossed the Indians began to look sullen, and murmured at the rapid pace of the walkers. Several times in the course of the afternoon they had protested against running, saying : "You run ; that's not fair ; you was to walk." Some hours before sunset two of them left, declaring they would go no farther with the party ; that they saw the walkers would pass all the good land, and that they did not care how far or where they went. It is said the third continued to near where the road forks at Easton, where he lay down to rest, and on getting up was unable to proceed further.

The halt that night was made within a half mile of the Indian village of Hockyondocqua, where the shouting of the natives at a cantica could be distinctly heard. With the morning came dull, rainy weather. It was discovered that some of the horses had strayed away in the night, and while some went in search of them others were sent to the village to request Lappawinzoe, who resided there, to send other Indians to accompany the walking party. The chief was not in a pleasant mood and declined to do so, saying that they had got all the best of the land and they might go to the devil for the bad. It is said that some of the natives did stroll into the camp and take a “dram" with the whites, but they soon straggled off about their own business.* In this way two hours or more were consumed, when, the horses having been secured, the walk was resumed. The start was made at eight o'clock, and for an hour the trail which had marked their course hitherto was still followed. About nine o'clock they came upon "Captain Harrison's" town of Pokopoghcunck, from whence the route took a north-northwest direction through the woods, Marshall now carrying the compass by which he held his course. While crossing Big creek, at the foot of the mountains, Yeates staggered and fell, but

* In Smith's account it is said that one of the Indians of the first day's walk joined the party with two others and continued with them for eight or Ben miles, when the rain increasing they retired. Joseph Knowles says two of the three Indians that walked the day before came and travelled two or three miles, and then left much dissatisfied.

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Marshall pushing on, followed by Alexander Brown with watch in hand, and Enoch Pearson, both mounted, ended the journey on the north side of the Pocono or Broad mountain at precisely two o'clock. Of Yeates, Smith says he became "lame and tired," but he appeared to have been less distressed by the first day's work than Marshall, and all the circumstances tend to confirm the statements of Brown and Heider that he "drank rather too much" of the varied store of liquors provided.

The various estimates of the distance accomplished in this eighteen-hour walk differ widely, but accepting the survey of Chapman to the Kittatinny range, and Marshall's estimate of twenty miles beyond this point to the finish, the total is found to be a little more than sixty-eight miles, which is about an average of the different estimates and probably nearer the truth. In the condition of the country, this was a remarkable performance ; and considering the absence of bridges, the uneven character of the route, and the steady, constant tramp required, it is not astonishing that two of the three athletic woodsmen broke down under the severe strain. The terminus of the walk was marked by placing stones in the forks of five chestnut oak trees, and from thence the surveyors proceeded at once to perform their part of the general task. And here the convenient blank in the deed allowed the surveyor to put the proprietor's construction upon the course to be followed toward the Delaware. Eastburn and his assistants accordingly ran a "right line" instead of one parallel with the base and the shortest route to the river, and after four days' work in a barren, mountainous region, reached the Delaware near the mouth of Shohola creek.

There is something of poetic justice in the result of this walk to some of those interested in it. Though frequently promised, the five hundred acres were never laid off to Marshall; Eastburn was subsequently repudiated by Thomas Penn, and his heirs notified "that they need not expect the least favor ;" and the proprietor, brought before the king by the indignant people, was forced to dissemble and disown his own acts and agents in a painfully humiliating manner. But all this did not repair the injury inflicted upon the Indians, nor avert the vengeance which the folly of Penn brought upon the province. Before the members of the "walking" party reached their homes they saw striking evidences of the deep feeling of dissatisfaction existing among the Indians, and made it a frequent topic of conversation on the return journey. Some two months later Marshall was at Hockyondocqua, where he met Lappawinzoe and Tishecunk. The natives were loud in their complaints of the way in which the walk was performed, one old Indian expressing his disgust with- "No sit down to smoke-no shoot squirrel; but lun, lun, lun, all day long." The chief was equally dissatisfied with the manner of the walk and the course. Next May, he said, we will go to Philadelphia, each one with a buckskin, to repay the presents, and take the land back again.

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Unfortunately such a solution of the difficulty was not practicable. The lands previously sold to speculators at once came into market, and the natives found the settlers taking up their lands even about their villages. The Indians refused to vacate their lands and continued their remonstrances, until despairing of redress in this way, they procured letters written to the governor and "Mr. Langhorne, a magistrate of Bucks, in which they treated the proprietors with a great deal of freedom, remonstrated against the injustice that was done them, and declared their resolution of maintaining the possession of their lands by force of arms. "This thoroughly alarmed the provincial authorities, who in 1741 had recourse to the Six Nations. Shikelemy, an aboriginal viceroy stationed at Shamokin, was sent to the confederation with a pressing invitation to send deputies to Philadelphia, and in the summer of 1742 two hundred and thirty of their leading men came to the seat of government. The Delawares were also summoned and the matter brought before the conference for decision. The provincial authorities stated their case, laying especial stress upon the insolence of the Delawares in writing letters " wherein they had abused the worthy proprietaries, and treated them with the utmost rudeness and ill-manners."

The finding of the Iroquois was a foregone conclusion. They had sold their pretended claim to the region, they were flattered by the invitation to act as arbitrators, and they could satisfy their vindictive hatred without personal cost. They promptly decided, therefore, in favor of the whites, and in a most insolent speech bade the betrayed natives to remove either to Wyoming or Shamokin. Beset before and behind, the remnant of Delawares and Shawanese had no other course to pursue than to obey, a part continuing their journey to Ohio.

The expanding settlements still kept in advance of the Indian boundary line, and the demand for more room soon began to be urgently pressed. In

1749 a further cession of land was secured from the natives, the representatives of the Six Nations uniting with chiefs of the Shamokin, Delaware, and Shawanese occupants, on August 22, in a deed granting the region north of the Kittatinny range on the east side of the Susquehanna, within the following limits: Beginning on the river at the nearest mountains north of the Mahanoy creek, and from thence extending by a direct line to the main branch of the Delaware at the north side of the Lackawaxen. Much of this region had already been pre-empted by adventurous squatters, while west of the Susquehanna the line of settlements was scarcely less advanced, although the purchase line on this side was still marked by the Blue hills.

In 1753 the increased activity .of the French in the-valley of the Ohio began to create concern for the safety of the frontier. The enemy's agents were known to be actively engaged in seducing the natives from their allegiance to the English; the Shawanese had yielded to their blandishments, and the Dela-

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wares and Iroquois were known to be wavering. A general conference of representatives from the threatened colonies was called to meet at Albany, and to this the Iroquois were also invited. The meeting occurred in 1754, and on July 6th the representatives of Pennsylvania secured a deed from the Indians for all the land within the state southwest of a line beginning one mile above the mouth of Penn's creek, and running thence "northwest and by west as far as the province of Pennsylvania extends, to its western lines or boundaries." In determining this line, however, it was found to strike the northern boundary a short distance west of the Conewango creek. The lands of the Shawanese, Delaware, and Monsey occupants were thus "sold from under their feet" contrary to the express stipulation of the Six Nations to these tribes. Nothing further was needed to completely alienate these savages, and but little more to precipitate them into a cruel and relentless war upon the defenseless frontiers.

The defeat of Braddock, in 1755, decided the last waverer, and the border, from the Delaware to the Allegheny, was at once ravaged with tomahawk and fire-brand. On October 18th a party of Indians attacked the settlers on Penn's creek, and carried off twenty-five persons, after burning and otherwise destroying the improvements. Five days later a company of forty-six men from Paxton creek, led by John Harris, went to Shamokin to inquire of the Indians there who the authors of the devastation were. On their return, while crossing Mahanoy creek, they were ambushed by hostile savages; four were killed by the enemy, four were drowned, and the rest put to flight. These incidents inspired the pioneers in this region with such terror of the savages that all the settlements between Shamokin and Hunter's mill, a space of fifty miles along the Susquehanna, were deserted. On the 13th of December, Weiser reported to the provincial government that the country about Reading was in a dismal condition. Consternation, poverty, and confusion were everywhere apparent, with the prospect that the settlements would soon be abandoned. On the l6th, reports from Bethlehem and Nazareth gave account of two hundred savages invading Northampton county, murdering the inhabitants and burning their dwellings. On Christmas, reports were received from Conrad Weiser, who had been sent to Harris's ferry and who had gone thence up the west branch of the Susquehanna, that the Delawares at Nescopec had given that place to the French for a rendezvous, and frequent collisions had occurred between the hostile Indians and the white rangers. On the same day a letter from Easton conveyed the doleful tidings that above the town for fifty miles the improvements were generally destroyed and the settlers fled. In the neighborhood of Dupue's place five families only formed an exception. The enemy made but few prisoners, slaughtering men, women, and children alike. On the 31st, it was reported that during the current month the Indians had burned fifty houses, murdered above one hundred persons, and were " still continuing their ravages, murders, and devastations."

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Happily, Bucks county was never called upon to resist the ravages of an Indian war in her own borders, but her citizens responded none the less promptly to the call of her suffering neighbors. The event of hostilities from a foreign source had been anticipated in the county for some years. In the latter part of 1747 two hundred and sixty citizens of Philadelphia formed a military association for the purpose of placing the city in a posture of defense, and had proposed to erect batteries and supply an armament for the protection of the city against a naval attack. They appealed to the assembly and the proprietors for countenance and support, and got very little of either. On New Years day however, eleven companies paraded in public, and the governor issued commissions to their chosen officers. This spirit extended to the surrounding country, and by the latter part of May, 1748, Bucks had eleven "associated" companies organized into a regiment under command of Colonel Alexander Graydon. "The companies were organized with respect to township lines, were subject to no discipline, save such as they voluntarily adopted, and were formally recognized by the provincial authorities so far only as to grant commissions to the officers. Although freedom from imminent danger by way of the river tended to diminish the military ardor of the associators, these organizations were still maintained until the ominous murmurs of the Indians supplied a new incentive, and when these murmurs gave place to actual hostilities the associators were promptly heard urging the more effective organization of a regular militia. †

* The following officers were commissioned by the governor on February 12, 1748 :-

CAPTAINS. LIEUTENANTS. ENSIGNS.

Alexander Graydon, Anthony Denormandie, James Barber,

Joseph Inslee, Anthony Teate, David Lowell,

Langhorne Biles, Garret Vansant, John Severns,

George Bennett, Garret Wynkoop, Ralph Dunn,

Richard Walker. Robert Walker. William Davis.

On May 25th, the following :-

Charles Stewart, James Hart, William Hart,

Ahthony Wright, Lewis Rue, Richard Vanhorne,

Robert Jemmison, John Beard, Samuel Martin,

James McLaughlin, James Davis, John Hall,

John Wilson, Thomas Blair, George Overpack,

Bernard Vanhorne, Jr. Robert Cummings. Ralph Dunn.

The last-named company officers lost their commissions on the 12th of the following

month, as they had withdrawn from the Northampton company, a fact not known to the

governor when he issued the commissions.

† On November 4, 1756, there were nine associated companies, with the following

officers : -

CAPTAINS. LIEUTENANTS. ENSIGNS.

Alexander Graydon. Matthias Keen. John Priestly.

Sergeants, 2. Private men, 50.

William Ramsay. John Johnson. John Adams.

Sergeants, 2. Private men, 56.

Page 167 Photo Fellman, Charles

Page 168 Blank

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On November 12, 1755, certain citizens of Philadelphia appealed to the assembly declaring that at a time when a bold and barbarous enemy had advanced within about a hundred miles of the metropolis, carrying murder and desolation along with them; when the country is already stained with blood, and upwards of a thousand families dispersed over the province, the only security of the people is in an established militia. At the same time the Friends deprecated all such suggestions and formally expressed apprehensions that "many among us will be under the necessity of suffering rather than consenting thereto by the payment of a tax for such purposes." Reports of savage hostilities and appeals for help continued to come in, and the assembly, divided in its sense of duty, finally struck a compromise. On the 17th of November, a bill was presented, in which it was shown that a majority of the legislative body were Friends and conscientiously opposed to war, but as it appeared from certain letters received, that the Indians had passed the Blue mountains, had broke into the county of Berks and were then committing murder, devastation, and other kind of horrid mischief, and that many of other religious faith had come into the province, to whom warlike operations were not obnoxious, it was deemed best to recognize and employ the companies formed and to be hereafter formed. This bill, however, only made it lawful for the freemen of the province to form themselves into companies and organize as it was customary for a militia to do. No youth under age, nor any bought or indented servant was to be admitted. No definite term of service was fixed, and it was provided that none should be compelled nor led to go more than three days' journey beyond the inhabited part of the province, nor detained in garrison longer than three weeks, without the written consent of volunteers. Practically, the law simply recognized the associators, and permitted the government to employ them in resisting the inroads of the savages.

The massacre at Gnadenhutten occurred on the 24th of November; the

CAPTAINS. . LIEUTENANTS. ENSIGNS

Henry Creusen. Josiah Vansant. Andrew Van Bockerk

Sergeants, 2. Private men, 50.

Henry Scott. Garrett Wynkoop. Lufford Laflordson

Sergeants, 2. Private men, 74.

Jacob Orndt. Anthony Miller. Nicholas Conrade.

Sergeants, 2. Private men, 33

. Joseph Inslee. John Zuber. Joseph Inslee, Jr

Sergeants, 2. Private men, 62.

Anthony Teate. Robert Cummings. James Cummings

Sergeants, 2. Private men, 40.

Jonathan Palmer Luther Calvin. Thompson Price.

. . . . . . . . Private men, 108.

Charles Stewart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Private men, 40

10

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report of it came to Philadelphia on the day following, and on the 26th, Captain Wilson with a company of sixty or seventy men started for the scene of hostilities. They reached Bethlehem that night, and on the following morning proceeded toward the mountains, but found the enemy had gone. It is probable that this company went to the support of the frontier settlements upon its own motion, and returned when no immediate occasion for active service was found. But the provincial authorities felt the necessity of providing some systematic defense of the frontier, and under the authority of the bill mentioned to take certain of the associated companies into the pay of the province. By the, first of February, 1756, some eight hundred men were thus mustered into the provincial service, under the immediate command of Benjamin Franklin, who, as colonel of one of the Philadelphia regiments and one of the provincial commissioners for frontier defense, was given charge of the defensive operations from the Delaware to the Susquehanna.

The first contribution to this force from Bucks county was the company of Captain James McLaughlin. It was formally mustered* on the 29th of December, but it was not until the 5th of January following that it received orders to march. The captain was then directed by the governor to detach the lieutenant with twenty men of his company to await in readiness for orders from Benjamin Franklin, and with the remaining thirty to march at once for Harris's ferry. None of the other associated companies of the county appear to have offered their services at this time, and, as the province was still in urgent need of troops, a Captain Hays, who commanded a small company on the frontier, came to Bucks county to secure recruits. He was accompanied by the Reverend Charles Beatty, then pastor of the Neshaminy church, but who had gone to the frontier with Wilson's company and remained behind. Hays met with ill success for a time, and on January 14, 1756, Franklin wrote the governor from Bethlehem : "As Hays, I hear, is not likely to soon recruit his company, I have ordered Orndt to come up from Rockland in Bucks county to strengthen this part of the province." † But Mr. Beatty appears to have been of that class of

* The following muster-roll, subscribed by the members of this company, suggests the military discipline of the period and the terms upon which the troops served the province :-

" We, the subscribers, do hereby engage ourselves to serve as soldiers in His Majesty's service under the command of Captain James McLaughlin for the space of two months, and whoever of us shall desert or prove cowardly in time of action, or disobedient to our officers, shall forfeit his Pay. This agreement we make in consideration of being allowed, at the rate of Six Dollars per month, Arms, Ammunition, Blankets, Provisions, and a gill of rum per day for each man. The Blankets, Arms, and Ammunition left to be returned when we are discharged from the service."

† This company served in Northampton county in building forts and subsequently as a garrison. How long it served cannot be definitely determined. It was first stationed at Fort Norris, on Big creek, within the present limits of Monroe county. On October 8,

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fighting parsons of which the revolutionary period subsequently produced so many examples, and learning of the captain's difficulty determined to present the subject to his people from the pulpit. Meeting the officer one day he invited him to be present at church on the following Sunday, when, at the close of his service, he addressed his people somewhat as follows: "The savages have attacked the frontier settlements, and are murdering our fellow-citizens. The governor has made a call for volunteers to march with a view to attack and drive them back, but I regret to learn that it is not very promptly met. It is certainly somebody's duty to go, and I have determined, if the synod allows me, to offer my services as chaplain, and thus do my part. Of course, it will be very pleasant for me to have the company of any of the congregation or my neighbors who may feel it their duty to go." The response to this appeal was of the most practical character. In a short time forty-five men joined Captain Hays's standard, and proceeded to Bethlehem. A few days later it was stationed near the Lehigh gap, and on the 10th of January, with the detachment from McLaughlin's company, Orndt's company, and other troops, marched to a point opposite Gnadenhutten, where they built Fort Allen. Hays's company was employed in conveying trains for a time, and was subsequently stationed at the Lehigh gap or below this point at Fort Brown.

In January ninety-five regulars had come from New York and been placed in garrison at Reading and Easton. In March these troops were ordered to return, and the governor, finding it necessary to take another company of fifty men into the pay of the service, directed Colonel Clapham, on the 8th instant, to proceed to Newtown, inspect the company of Captain Inslee there, and if found satisfactory to muster it into the provincial service. This was accordingly done, when the captain with his ensign and twenty-five men was ordered to Easton, and the lieutenant with the other twenty-five was ordered to Reading. The latter detachment is heard of no more, but, on the 25th of June, the first named is reported by the "Cornmiss' Gen' of ye Musters" as still at Easton. In this report of his tour of inspection the commissary says :

" At six came to Easton, found Ensign Inslee of Captain Inslee's company with twenty-four men ; he told me the captain was gone to Philadelphia for the company's pay, and one man absent, sick at Bethlehem. Provincial stores, twenty-five good muskets, twenty-five cartouche boxes with eleven rounds each, fifteen blankets.”

" 26 June. -At nine A. M. mustered the company stationed here, found them stout, able men ; their arms in good order; they fired at a mark, sixteen of twenty hit within nine inches of the centre at eighty yards distance. The ensign had no certificates of enlistment, but told me that Colonel Clapham had carried them with him."

1756, it was transferred to Fort Allen, on the Lehigh, a little below Mauch Chunk, and is there lost sight of in the records. Captain Orndt remained in the service until the end of the French war, reaching the rank of major, and in the summer of 1758 was placed in command of the eastern frontier with headquarters at Easton.

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It is believed that Captain "Jemmison's" company was taken into the pay of the province, and stationed at Hunter's Fort, but nothing further can be learned of it. In 1758 the company of Richard Walker was summoned to assist in the campaign which General Forbes was then preparing against Fort Duquesne. A staff officer wrote the captain, under date of June 5th, from Philadelphia : "It is General Forbes's order that you get your company armed and accoutred here, and then to march without loss of time to Lancaster, where you will wait to receive further orders." It is probable that the company went no further, and served as a general protection to Forbes's flank as he proceeded westward.

The service on the eastern frontier, where Bucks county was principally represented, consisted chiefly of garrison duty and ranging, with frequent details to guard settlers while harvesting their crops. There were no expeditions, no pitched battles with the enemy, and the troops from this county, while doing their duty well, did not figure conspicuously in the records.

The military policy which dictated the operations in the southwest during the years 1755-8 aimed at the reduction of the French and Indians' stronghold at the forks of the Ohio, assured that if this was accomplished the frontiers of Pennsylvania would need no surer defense. But the defeat of Braddock demonstrated that such an event had not been provided for, and the unprotected frontiers were found defenseless against the terrible onslaught which the savages made in the succeeding fall. The unfortunate bickerings of the proprietors and the assembly even then delayed the needed measures for defense until the Indians had depopulated the settlements above the Blue hills, and were pressing their victorious way into the heart of the province. Among the last acts of Governor Morris's administration was the declaration of war against the savages, in spite of a general protest from the Friends. This was adopted by his successor, who, aided by Benjamin Franklin, employed the most vigorous measures for defense.

Bounties were offered for prisoners and for scalps of men, women, and children of the enemy; a chain of block-houses was stretched along the Kittatinny hills from the Delaware to the Maryland line, and each garrisoned with twenty to seventy-five men. But by far the most effective in its results was an expedition, concerted in 1756, against Kittanning--an Indian stronghold on the Allegheny river. The movement, under the direction of General Armstrong, was entirely successful, and resulted in the complete disorganization of the Indian conspiracy against the frontier.

The savages were once more willing to treat, and a grand council was convened at Easton in November of this year. The high contracting parties were Governor Denny, on the part of the province, and Teedyuscung, on the part of the natives. Each leader was accompanied by a considerable retinue, the whites making special effort to impose upon the imagination of the Indians by

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the bravery of their martial display. A previous council had been held in July, but the attendance was small, and neither party was fully prepared to join issue. The more important business was therefore deferred until autumn. Meanwhile Armstrong's expedition had occurred, and the second meeting found the two parties ready to discuss their grievances. When questioned as to the cause of the dissatisfaction and hostility of the Indians, the eminent chief mentioned the overtures of the French and the ill usage of the provincial authorities. He boldly declared that the very land on which they stood had been taken from the rightful owners by fraud ; and not only had the country from the Tohickon creek to Wyoming been thus taken, but several tracts in New Jersey had been similarly stolen from his people. And, subsequently, when the Six Nations had given them and the Shawanese the country on the Juniata for a hunting-ground, with the full knowledge of the governor, the latter permitted settlers to encroach upon their lands. Again, in 1754, the governor had gone to Albany to purchase more lands of the Six Nations, describing the lands sought by points of compass, which the Indians did not understand, and, by the profusion of presents, obtained grants for lands which the Iroquois did not intend to sell, including not only the Juniata, but also the west branch of the Susquehanna. When these things were known to the native occupants, they declared they would no longer be friends with the English, who were trying to get all of their country.

This council lasted nine days, and resulted in a treaty of peace between the two parties. Compensation was offered for the lands taken by the “walking purchase," but this matter was deferred until those especially interested could be present. A council for this purpose was accordingly convened in July, 1757, when the whites resorted to a practice too common with them in such conferences. Rum was freely supplied, and strenuous efforts made to place Teedyuscung hopelessly under its influence. Through the aid of certain Quakers present this was prevented, and the whole settlement finally referred to the king and council in England. In the succeeding year another grand council was held at Easton for the adjustment of the whole question of Indian grievances, and representatives of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawanese, Miamis, Mohicans, Monseys, Nanticokes, Conoys, etc., were present to the number of five hundred. The Iroquois had taken great offense on account of the independent treaty made by the Delawares and Shawanese in 1756, and had committed sundry outrages upon the settlements in the hope of embroiling the adjoining tribes with the whites. In this conference, also, they took great offense because of the prominence assumed by the Delaware chieftain, and it was only through the earnest efforts of the Quakers present that rum and intrigue with the representatives of the Six Nations did not defeat the purposes of the conference. Teedyuscung, however, bore himself with dignity and firmness, and secured from the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the

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principal Indian agents, who represented the whites, a release of all lands beyond the Allegheny mountains, purchased in 1754, and the lands on the "west branch." For the remainder the Indians gave a deed confirming the former purchase, and more clearly defining its boundaries, for which they received additional compensation.