History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley Part 6

"Fellow-citizens:--It is not my intention to resume my seat on the bench during this term. I do not decline it from any apprehension of the mob who yesterday a.s.saulted the court and marked me for their vengeance. Supported by my country, by every virtuous citizen, and a consciousness of my integrity, I have nothing to fear; but understanding that some gentlemen, anxious for my personal safety, entered into an engagement with the leaders of the banditti that I should not sit as judge during this court, my respect for these gentlemen is my sole and only motive for making this declaration."

Colonel McFarland, after this, thanked the militia in the following terms:--

"Colonel McFarland returns his thanks to the militia of his regiments who now attend in support of the laws of their country.

He is particularly indebted to Captain Robert Johnston and Captain John Brown, for their extraordinary vigilance in collecting the men of their respective companies upon a notice given to them so late as last night after twelve o'clock. He has no doubt but that the same zeal which has distinguished the militia under his command upon this occasion will always be as honorably manifested, should this county ever be so unhappy as to be disgraced by a similar necessity."

Soon after which, the militia, having been discharged by the court, returned home.

The evening of the day was replete with alarms. One Holt, who thought he had cause of complaint respecting a militia commission, a.s.sembled a body of men to the amount of about forty. They paraded a considerable time with sound of drum. At length, at eight o'clock, they appeared before the prison-door, with an intention to break it and enlarge the sheriff. Mr. Sterrett then appeared, and informed them that the sheriff thanked his friends for their intention to serve him, but this is not a proper period; or words to that effect.

About nine o'clock, several persons, having long applied to the sheriff without success, prevailed on him at length to give a recognisance to appear at the next court to answer for the a.s.sault and battery on Judge Bryson. Happily, the sheriff, in this instance, relinquished a system which was collecting new horrors and threatened to involve in new scenes of guilt a number of the inhabitants. Great numbers in Tuscarora Valley and its vicinity prepared the following day to march and liberate the sheriff, and probably to demolish the court-house and prison. The news of his release arrived in time to stop the progress of those infatuated men, who appear to have lost sight of the social compact, and whose felicity seems to lie in scenes of tumult, disorder, and licentiousness. It is to be hoped, however, that government, when it comes to enforce the laws, will contemplate the ignorance and delusion of these unfortunate men, and that mercy will so far temper the prosecution as that it will not be extended to a capital charge; yet it is indispensably necessary that they be taught that genuine liberty consists in the power of doing every thing which is not prohibited by the laws, and that the exercise of an unbounded licentiousness which threatens the dissolution of society itself must receive a punishment in some degree commensurate to the greatness of the offence.

How far Mr. Bryson's representations to the governor against Messrs. Wilson, Walker, and Holt, have been founded in a just estimate of the characters of these men, cannot be elucidated here; but it would appear to afford the highest evidence of its propriety that they were the princ.i.p.als in this most unexampled riot.

CHAPTER IX.

KIs.h.i.+COQUILLAS VALLEY--THE SHAWNEE CHIEF KIs.h.i.+c.o.kELAS--THE MINGO CHIEF LOGAN.

Among the many valleys composing the Juniata Valley, or, indeed, among all the fine and productive valleys of the State, few, if any, can surpa.s.s Kis.h.i.+coquillas. Its outlet is at Lewistown, from whence it stretches west a distance of nearly thirty miles, varying in breadth from two to four miles.

After the treaty of Fort Stanwix, the whites returned to the neighborhood of Granville, and some of them commenced exploring the valley. The land was then included in what was termed the new purchase, and was in the market. The land-office was opened in 1769, and the first actual settler in the valley was Judge Brown.

Old Kis.h.i.+c.o.kelas was a Shawnee chief, on terms of friends.h.i.+p with the whites. With the Buchanans he was very intimate, and gave them early intimation of the impending danger, which enabled them to escape. While the Delawares and most of his own tribe went over to the French in a body, Kis.h.i.+c.o.kelas remained loyal to the proprietary government; and, although they made him splendid offers at the time they corrupted Jacobs, he rejected them all, and declared that no earthly consideration could induce him to lift the hatchet against the sons of Onas.

It is to be regretted that historians never made mention of Kis.h.i.+c.o.kelas, except incidentally. He was the fast friend of the old chief s.h.i.+ckalemy, who resided at Fort Augusta, and it is probable that he was converted by some of the Moravian missionaries. He died in 1756, as appears by a letter directed to his sons, as follows:--

"_Philadelphia, June 13, 1756._

"I am obliged to you for your letter by our good friend, John s.h.i.+ckcalamy. Your father's letter and present were received by the late Governor Hamilton, who acquainted me with it; and I intended, at a time when less engaged by public business, to have sent you my acknowledgments and answer.

"I heartily condole with you on the loss of your aged father, and mingle my tears with yours, which however I would now have you wipe away with the handkerchief herewith sent.

"As a testimony of love the proprietors and this government retain for the family of Kishycoquillas, you will be pleased to accept of the present which is delivered to John s.h.i.+ckcalamy for your use.

"May the Great Spirit confer on you health and every other blessing. Continue your affection for the English and the good people of this province, and you will always find them grateful.

"I am your a.s.sured friend,

"ROBERT H. MORRIS."

Soon after the treaty at Albany,--probably in 1755,--settlers, who had heard of the beauty and fertility of Kis.h.i.+coquillas Valley, flocked thither for the purpose of locating lands. Few locations, however, were effected, for the Indians of the valley, with the exception of the chief Kis.h.i.+c.o.kelas and his immediate followers, were opposed to it, and threw every obstacle, short of downright murder, in the way of the new-comers. There is no positive evidence that any murders were committed in Kis.h.i.+coquillas at that period, but the savages certainly did every thing in their power to menace and hara.s.s the settlers, in order to induce them to relinquish the design of settling upon what they still considered their lands. The following letter from Colonel Armstrong to Governor Morris gives some information of the trials these early settlers were subjected to:--

"_Carlisle, May 26, 1755._

"This day I received a letter from my brother, who is laying out lands for the settlers in the new purchase, giving an account of three Indians, very much painted, who last week robbed and drove off several settlers from the Valley of Kis.h.i.+coquillas. One of the Indians, by his skulking position, seemed as if he designed secretly to have shot, but, the white man discovering him, escaped.

They took three horses, three or four guns, and some cash. 'Tis said they robbed another man up Juniata.

"To-morrow I am to set out for Kis.h.i.+coquillas, there to decide some controversies, and thence to proceed to Susquehanna, near Shamokin, where I expect to meet Conrad Weiser. If he is there, he may, by the a.s.sistance of the s.h.i.+ckcalamies, be of use in regard to those robberies.

"I am, sir, yours, &c.,

"JOHN ARMSTRONG."

Colonel Armstrong did go to Shamokin, where he met s.h.i.+ckalemy, and induced him to use his influence in behalf of the settlers in the new purchase; but s.h.i.+ckalemy's labors were lost, for he could effect nothing among the savages of Kis.h.i.+coquillas, and the settlers were forced to fly for protection to Fort Granville; nor did they or any other whites venture into the valley until some time in 1765.

s.h.i.+ckalemy, or s.h.i.+ckellimus, as he was sometimes called, was a Cayuga chief, of the Six Nations, and for many years resided at Fort Augusta, on the Susquehanna, where Sunbury now stands. He was converted to Christianity by the Moravian missionaries about 1742, and was, to the day of his death, the firm and steadfast friend of the English colonists. To his exertions, in a great measure, may be traced the cause why none of the Six Nations on the Susquehanna joined the French, and why a portion of the Delawares spurned the most tempting offers of the French agents and remained loyal to the colonists.

s.h.i.+ckalemy attended numerous treaties in Philadelphia, during which he was kindly entertained by James Logan, the secretary of the province.

The chief esteemed him so highly that he named his second son after him, on his return from one of these treaties, and immediately had him, as well as two other sons, baptized with Christian rites by the Moravians.

In 1755, s.h.i.+ckalemy paid a visit to the old chief Kis.h.i.+c.o.kelas, for the purpose of adopting some conciliatory measures to prevent the Indians of the valley from committing depredations upon the settlers. On this occasion he was accompanied by his sons, John and James Logan. The latter, probably charmed with the beauty of the valley, soon after the demise of Kis.h.i.+c.o.kelas settled in the valley which bore the name of his father's friend. He built himself a cabin (not a wigwam) by the side of a fine limestone spring, whose pure waters gushed out of a small hill-side in the very heart of the valley, where his sole pursuit was hunting. This was Logan, the Mingo chief, whose name is perpetuated by counties, towns, towns.h.i.+ps, valleys, paths, mountains, and even hotels, and which will live in history, probably, to the end of time.

There is no evidence that he had a family at the time he resided in Kis.h.i.+coquillas; neither was he a chief at that time, for he lived away from his tribe, and what little intercourse he held with his fellow-men was with the whites, to whom he bartered venison and deer-skins for such articles as he stood in need of. He maintained himself solely by hunting, and was pa.s.sionately fond of it. A gentleman who saw Logan at Standing Stone, in 1771 or 1772, described him to Mr. Maguire as "a fine-looking, muscular fellow, apparently about twenty-eight years of age. He weighed about two hundred pounds, had a full chest, and prominent and expansive features. His complexion was not so dark as that of the Juniata Indians, and his whole actions showed that he had had some intercourse with the whites." This n.o.ble specimen of the red men, unfortunately, had the failing common to his kind: he would indulge in intoxicating liquors to excess on nearly every occasion that offered. When sober, he was dignified and reserved, but frank and honest; when intoxicated, he was vain, boastful, and extremely foolish.

Judge Brown, a short time previous to his death, in the course of a conversation with R. P. Maclay, Esq., about Logan, said:--

"The first time I ever saw that spring, (Logan's,) my brother, James Reed, and myself, had wandered out of the valley in search of land, and, finding it very good, we were looking about for springs.

About a mile from this we started a bear, and separated to get a shot at him. I was travelling along, looking about on the rising ground for the bear, when I came suddenly upon the spring; and, being dry, and more rejoiced to find so fine a spring than to have killed a dozen bears, I set my rifle against a bush, and rushed down the bank, and laid down to drink. Upon putting my head down, I saw reflected in the water, on the opposite side, the shadow of a tall Indian. I sprang to my rifle, when the Indian gave a yell, whether for peace or war I was not just then sufficiently master of my faculties to determine; but upon my seizing my rifle and facing him, he knocked up the pan of his gun, threw out the priming, and extended his open palm toward me in token of friends.h.i.+p. After putting down our guns, we again met at the spring, and shook hands.

This was Logan--the best specimen of humanity I ever met with, either _white_ or _red_. He could speak a little English, and told me there was another white hunter a little way down the stream, and offered to guide me to his camp. There I first met your father, (Samuel Maclay.) We remained together in the valley for a week, looking for springs and selecting lands, and laid the foundation of a friends.h.i.+p which never has had the slightest interruption.

"We visited Logan at his camp, at Logan's Spring, and your father and he shot at a mark, for a dollar a shot. Logan lost four or five rounds, and acknowledged himself beaten. When we were about to leave him, he went into his hut and brought out as many deer-skins as he had lost dollars, and handed them to Mr. Maclay, who refused to take them, alleging that he had been his guest, and did not come to rob him; that the shooting had only been a trial of skill, and the bet merely nominal. Logan drew himself up with great dignity, and said, 'Me bet to make you shoot your best; me gentleman, and me take your dollar if me beat.' So he was obliged to take the skins, or affront our friend, whose nice sense of honor would not permit him to receive even a horn of powder in return.

"The next year," said Judge Brown, "I brought my wife up, and camped under a big walnut-tree on the bank of Tea Creek, until I had built a cabin near where the mill now stands, and I have lived in the valley ever since. Poor Logan" (and the tears chased each other down his cheeks) "soon after went into the Alleghany, and I never saw him again."

Many other characteristic anecdotes are given of Logan, the publication of which in these pages would answer no very desirable end.

In looking over the few pages of ma.n.u.scripts left by the late Edward Bell, Esq., we find mention made of "Captain Logan, an Indian friendly to the whites." This confirmed us in the belief that there were two Logans. "Logan, the Mingo chief," left Kis.h.i.+coquillas Valley in 1771; while Captain Logan resided in the upper end of Huntingdon county at that time, and a few years afterward in Logan's Valley, in Blair county. When the Revolution broke out, he moved toward the mountain, in the neighborhood of Chickalacamoose, near what is now Clearfield. He served as a spy for the settlers, and rendered them valuable service.

He was an Iroquois or Mingo Indian, too, and a chief; whereas Logan, the Mingo, was no chief until he removed to Ohio after his relatives were murdered and he took up the hatchet against the whites. This explanation is necessary, because many people of Huntingdon and Blair counties are under the impression that the Captain Logan who resided in Tuckahoe as late as 1785, and Logan, the Mingo chief, were one and the same person.

Logan, in consequence of Kis.h.i.+coquillas becoming too thickly populated, and the game becoming proportionately scarce, emigrated to Ohio, where he settled at the mouth of Yellow Creek, thirty miles above Wheeling.

There he was joined by his surviving relatives and some Cayugas from Fort Augusta, and a small Indian village of log-huts was built up.

Heckwelder, who must have seen him previous to settling at Yellow Creek, speaks of him as follows:--

About the year 1772, Logan was introduced to me by an Indian friend, as son of the late reputable chief s.h.i.+kelemus, and as a friend to the white people. In the course of conversation, I thought him a man of superior talents than Indians generally were.

The subject turning on vice and immorality, he confessed his too great share of this, especially his fondness for liquor. He exclaimed against the white people for imposing liquors upon the Indians. He otherwise admired their ingenuity; spoke of gentlemen, but observed the Indians unfortunately had but few of these neighbors, &c. He spoke of his friends.h.i.+p to the white people, wished always to be a neighbor to them, intended to settle on the Ohio, below Big Beaver; was (to the best of my recollection) then encamped at the mouth of this river, (Beaver;) urged me to pay him a visit. I was then living at the Moravian town on this river, in the neighborhood of Cuskuskee. In April, 1773, while on my pa.s.sage down the Ohio for Muskingum, I called at Logan's settlement, where I received every civility I could expect from such of the family as were at home.

Indian reports concerning Logan, after the death of his family, ran to this: that he exerted himself during the Shawnees war (then so called) to take all the revenge he could, declaring he had lost all confidence in the white people. At the time of the negotiation, he declared his reluctance to lay down the hatchet, not having (in his opinion) yet taken ample satisfaction; yet, for the sake of the nation, he would do it. His expression, from time to time, denoted a deep melancholy. Life, said he, had become a torment to him; he knew no more what pleasure was; he thought it had been better if he had never existed. Report further states that he became in some measure delirious; declared he would kill himself; went to Detroit, and, on his way between that place and Miami, was murdered. In October, 1781, while a prisoner, on my way to Detroit, I was shown the spot where this was said to have happened.

That Logan's temper should have soured on the murder of his relatives and friends, after the friends.h.i.+p he had always extended to the whites, is not at all strange. These murders changed his nature from a peaceable Indian to a most cruel and bloodthirsty savage. Revenge stimulated him to the most daring deeds; and how many innocent white men, women, and children, he ushered into eternity to appease his wrath, is only known to Him "whose eye seeth all things."

His people--some say his family, but it never was ascertained that he had any--were murdered in May, 1774. Some roving Indians had committed depredations in the neighborhood, and the settlers, highly incensed, determined to drive them out of the neighborhood. To this end, about thirty men, completely armed, and under the command of Daniel Greathouse, without knowing the character and disposition of Logan and his friends, made a descent upon the village and destroyed it, and killed twelve and wounded six or eight of the Indians. Among the former was Logan's sister and a son of Kis.h.i.+c.o.kelas. Logan was absent, at the time of the occurrence, on a hunting expedition. On his return, as soon as he saw the extent of the injury done him, he buried the dead, cared for the wounded, and, with the remnant of his band, went into Ohio, joined the Shawnees, and fought during their war against the whites with the most bitter and relentless fury.

In the autumn of 1774, the Indians, getting some very rough usage, and fearing that the powerful army of Lord Dunmore would march upon and exterminate them, sued for peace. Lord Dunmore sent a belt of wampum to all the princ.i.p.al chiefs, and, among the rest, one to Logan, inviting them to a treaty. Logan refused to attend the council, but sent the following speech by an interpreter, in a belt of wampum. The treaty was held under an oak-tree, near Circleville, Ohio, and it was there that the eloquent and purely Indian speech which rendered Logan's name immortal was read, and brought tears to the eyes of many of the st.u.r.dy pioneers a.s.sembled:--