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SECTION1. Be it enacted,
etc., That the Governor be and is hereby empowered to cause to be
surveyed the tract reserved at or near Presque Isle by the act entitled,
"An act for the sale of the vacant lands within this commonwealth,"
passed the 3d day of April, 1792; and at the most eligible place within the
said tract he shall cause to be laid out and surveyed sixteen hundred acres
of land in town lots of not more than one-third of an acre each; and also
three thousand four hundred acres adjoining the same, in outlots,
not less than five acres nor more than ten acres each. Provided always, That
the Governor shall reserve out of the lots of the said town so much land as
he shall deem necessary for public uses; also, so much land within or out of
the said town as may, in his opinion, be wanted by the United States for the
purpose of erecting forts, magazines, arsenals and dock yards.
SEC. 2. That the first two hundred persons that shall actually inhabit and
reside, on or before the 1st day of January next, within the said town, shall
each and every of them be entitled to one unappropriated
town lot, to be ascertained by lottery, for which they shall respectively
receive a deed, clear of all charges; Provided, That such persons
respectively, or their respective representatives, or assignees, shall
inhabit and reside in the said town for the term of three years, and also,
within the said town build or cause to be built, a house at least sixteen
feet square, and containing at least one brick or stone chimney, on the town
lots to be granted in pursuance of this act.
SEC. 3. That the Governor is hereby authorized to sell two hundred of the
town lots exclusively of those granted by the next preceding section, and the
whole of the other outlots, in such manner as he
shall think most to the advantage of the State, and make conveyance of the
same; excepting, always, such as shall be made upon this condition; that the
respective purchasers shall and do, within the term of three years, erect and
build one house, at least sixteen feet square, and containing at least one
brick or stone chimney, on each and every town lot by them purchased; and no
deed of conveyance shall be granted by the Governor to any purchaser, nor,
after the expiration of the said term of three years, shall the said sale be
deemed or construed to vest any title, claim or demand in any purchaser,
unless, satisfactory proof be first given that a house has been erected or
built on the town lots sold as aforesaid; that the streets, lanes and alleys
of the said town shall be common highways forever; and that previous to the
sale or sales of the said town lots and outlots,
notice shall be given of the same in at least three of the newspapers of the
State at least ten weeks previous to such sale or sales.
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Protecting the Frontier
On the 25th of February, 1794, another act was passed which authorized the
Governor "to detach from the several companies of artillery and infantry
raised by the State" for the security of the port of Philadelphia and
the defense of the Western frontier, "as many men as can be conveniently
spared from the specific objects of protection and defense for which the
companies were particularly destined, and to station the detachment so made
at such place or places at or near Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, as shall in
his judgment be best calculated to carry into effect the act" just
quoted. This measure was called forth by the menaces of the Indians, who had
learned of the proposed settlement at Presque Isle, and knowing that it would
cause a break in their communications between the East and West, were
determined to prevent it if possible. In accordance with its provisions, Gov.
Mifflin, on the 1st of March, 1794, issued a circular to the Brigade
Inspectors of Washington, Westmoreland and Allegheny Counties, requiring them
to raise men to serve eight months, unless sooner discharged, with a
stipulation that, if necessary, they should continue in service till the next
meeting of the Legislature. Each man who took his own rifle was to be allowed
$2 for its use, and to have a reasonable equivalent if it was lost or
destroyed in the public service. Four companies were to be organized within
the district stated, of whom one Captain, one Lieutenant, two Ensigns, six
Corporals and six Sergeants and ninety-five privates were to be detached for
the Presque Isle expedition. The command was given to Capt. Ebenezer Denny,
of Allegheny County, who is presumed to have seen
service in border warfare.
Gen. William Irvine and Andrew Ellicott had been appointed Commissioners some
time before to lay out a road from Reading
to Presque Isle. On the same day the above-mentioned circular was issued they
were notified that Albert Gallatin had been associated in the appointment,
and that they three were to lay out the town contemplated by the act of 1793.
The Governor's instructions desired them to "promote peace, order and
friendship with the peaceable Indians or British garrison, should any
intercourse * * be produced by accident or necessity." Capt. Denny was
required "to comply with every lawful request of the
Commissioners," and was further reminded that the objects of his
appointment were "strictly those of protection and defense."
Occupancy of Fort Le Boeuf
Boats and cones left Pittsburgh on the 16th of
April, by way of the Allegheny River, the
stores and provisions having been sent in advance. By the 25th of April,
three officers and seventy-seven men had reached Franklin, at the mouth of French Creek. On
the same date, a report reached headquarters at Pittsburgh that the Indians,
incited by British agents, were "meditating an opposition to the designs
of the Government respecting Presque Isle," and a week later Denny wrote
to the Governor his apprehensions that "a council holding at the mouth
of Buffalo Creek between the chiefs of the Six Nations and the British may
terminate unfavorably to our establishment." On the 1st of May, a Maumee
Indian was killed at Franklin
in a drunken row by a white man named Robertson. This added greatly to the
feeling among the aborigines. The affair was settled by the party at Franklin raising a
purse of $100 and paying it to the relatives of the dead man, in satisfaction
of their wrong, according to an old custom among the Indians.
The troops took possession of "the forks of French Creek, about two
miles below the old post of LeBoeuf," on or
near the 11th of May, where they built a small block-house, pending the
cutting out of the logs which obstructed the navigation of the stream. From
this point, Gen. John Wilkins, of Pittsburgh,
who accompanied the expedition, wrote on the day of their arrival that
"the British are determined to oppose the progress of the State troops
from LeBoeuf to Presque Isle by sending a number of
Indians and English to cut them off." In a few days more the detachment
reached LeBoeuf, where they immediately erected two
small picketed block-houses, which, Wilkins reported, "will make them
sufficiently strong until the re-enforcement arrives under Capt. Denny."
The latter event did not occur until the 24th of June. A draft of 1,000
militia from the brigades of Westmoreland, Washington, Allegheny and Fayette Counties
was ordered by the Governor in the latter part of May, to co-operate with
Denny's detachment under command of Gen. Wilkins. On the day the order was
issued, the Governor wrote to Wilkins warning him of "the critical state
of our Presque Isle settlements," which, he added, "calls for an
exercise of judgment, prudence and spirit."
Interference of the General Government
While the events here mentioned were in progress, a letter reached Gen. Knox,
Secretary of War under President Washington, from Gen. Israel Chapin, the
United States Commissioner to the Six Nations, to the effect that the British
"feel very much alarmed at the garrisoning of Presque Isle. * * If the
garrison destined for that place," wrote Chapin, "is not very
strong, it is doubtful whether it will not be attacked." On the 9th of
May, Gen. Knox wrote to Wilkins and Denny, cautioning them to "proceed
with the utmost vigilance and precaution." The next day, he addressed a
communication to Gen. Mifflin, stating that "affairs are critically
circumstanced between the United
States and the Six Nations," and
giving it as the opinion of the President, "on mature reflection, that
it is advisable to suspend for the present the establishment of Presque
Isle." On the very day this epistle was received, the Governor notified
the Brigade Inspectors of the four western counties that he had been induced
to suspend the execution of the act for laying out a town at Presque Isle. He
therefore rescinded all orders for drafting men, directed the Commissioners,
who had not yet left Pittsburgh,
to postpone further proceedings, and commanded Denny's detachment to remain
at LeBoeuf, "unless it should be found
necessary to retire from the station in order to prevent an actual contest
with the friendly Indians." The Commissioners were asked to remain
"in such a situation as will enable them on short notice to resume the
execution of their mission."
Was the Danger Real?
The correspondence that has been preserved on the subject indicates that the
fears of an Indian war were well founded and quite universal among those who
had the best means of information. Gen. Wilkins wrote from LeBoeuf: "The Indians contrive to make opposition to
the establishment at Presque Isle. The Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada and
an Indian agent were visiting all the Indian towns westward, exciting the
Indians to oppose the Americans and assuring them of support from the King. *
* * Advices from the Genesee country state
that every industry is being made by the British to put the Indians on
us." The chief men of the Six Nations, he concluded, held a council at
Buffalo Creek about the middle of May. In a letter of June 5, from David Reweck to Gov. Mifflin, he says of Presque Isle: "I
have not doubted but that the British wish seriously to possess it. * * * It
is pretty certainly known that for a considerable time past no vessel
(British) has gone up or down the lake without instructions to put in at
Presque Isle and see whether we were there or no." About the same time,
John Polhemus, commanding at Fort Franklin,
reported: "From the best information that I have received this day, I
have reason to believe the Indians will attempt to make themselves masters of
this post." A week later, he forwarded the tidings that three men on
their way to Pittsburgh from Franklin were attacked by the savages, two
of whom were killed. D. Ransom, a trader wit the Indians, deposed on the 11th
of June that he "had been told by the Broken Twig that the British and
Indians were to land at Presque Isle and form a junction with Cornplanter on French Creek and were then to clear it by
killing all the white people and taking all the posts on it."
It is but fair to the Senecas and their chief to
state that in a letter from Capt.Denny, dated at Franklin on the 10th of June, he says: "The Cornplanter has gone to another council at Buffalo. * * * He is
extremely concerned at the account given of their going to take up the
hatchet; says they are bad men that report it; that it's a lie."
In a communication of the 12th of June from Gen. Chapin to the war
Department, he declares: "I am afraid of the consequences of the attempt
to settle Presque Isle at present. The Indians do no acknowledge the validity
of the Cornplanter's sale to Pennsylvania."
We have gathered the testimony on this point at more length than many seem
necessary, because of it relation to other events that will be detailed in a
subsequent chapter.
A Lengthy Discussion
The people of the western counties were highly indignant at the suspension of
the proceedings for settlement, and without knowing the reason that prompted
Gov. Mifflin, hotly condemned what they called him timidity. The Governor,
however, soon righted himself by spreading the intelligence abroad that he
had acted in pursuance of a special request from President Washington. He was
of the belief, in common with most of the citizens of the State, that there
was more bluster than sincerity in the threats of the Indians, and that the
best way was to go right on, and, if necessary, whip them into acquiescence.
Gen. Irvine wrote from Pittsburgh: "People here are astonished at the
course of the General Government. I could have taken 500 -- some mounted,
some riflemen, of such as would have effectually awed the savages and
British." A long correspondence took place between Mifflin and the
Federal authorities, in which the Governor argued earnestly in favor of the
right of the State to protect its own territory and endeavored to convince
the Cabinet of the folly of suspending the operations.
An Important Council
The council referred to by Denny was held at the mouth of Buffalo Creek on
the 18th of June. It was attended by Gen. Chapin, as representative of the
United States, who found the Indians "much agitated with regard to the
movements made by the State of Pennsylvania." He left Buffalo on the
19th, in company with sixteen chiefs and warriors and a British Indian agent,
who acted as interpreter, for Presque Isle, which they reached on the 24th.
Finding no person there, they proceeded to Le Boeuf
that evening, where they met Capt. Denny and Mr. Ellicott, one of the State
Commissioners, who had recently come up from Pittsburgh. In the consultation
which ensued, the Indians objected to the establishment of garrisons in this
quarter in the professed belief that it would involve them in a war with the
Western Indians. They also claimed that the lands wee not legally purchased
from them by Pennsylvania. Ellicott and Denny replied that the purchase was
as openly and fairly made as any that had ever taken place. The Indians
returned to Buffalo, where another council was held on the 4thof July, at
which it was determined to maintain their rights by force. In a communication
of July 17, from the Secretary of War to the Governor, he reported that
Chapin had sent word that, had he not proceeded to LeBoeuf
and the surveyors not suspended operations, blood would certainly have been
shed.
Fort Le Boeuf and Its Garrison
Denny begged of Gen. Gibson on the 27th of June for "a few
militia," on the ground that a number of his men at Le Boeuf were ill with the flux and others had to be
detached. To the Governor he reported on the 4th of July: -- Have been busy
erecting a stockade post. Moved the detachment in yesterday. Am now beyond
the power of any body of hostile Indians. None have been around since the
party on the 24th. Hear firing almost daily, but whether friends or does is
uncertain." Ellicott wrote on the 1st of August: "The Indians
consider themselves as our enemies and that we are theirs. From this consideration
they never come near the garrison except as spies and then escape as soon as
discovered." Denny notified the Governor on the same date that they had
four block-houses at LeBoeuf, on two of which a
six-pounder was mounted, the others not being
calculated for cannon. Over each gate was a swivel. The officers occupied
their tents in the absence of more agreeable quarters. The situation he
regarded as excellent, except that there was a hollow way parallel with the
rear of the works and within gunshot that would "cover any number of
Indians." This was examined every morning before the gates were thrown
open. A few days previous, two or three Indians were seen "reviewing the
plan," who seemed disappointed when a white flag was hoisted. The troops
at the post numbered one hundred and ten, inclusive of officers. Ellicott
regarded the garrison as being "in excellent order," and that it
could, "if supplied with provisions, safely bid defiance to all the
Indians between the Genesee and Mississippi Rivers."
On the 10th of September, a man named Dickson was fired at by a party of
Indians and wounded in two places, while working in a field within a hundred
and fifty yards of the settlement at Cussewago,
below LeBoeuf. The news of the atrocious act spread
like wildfire, and excited a universal desire among the whites for
retaliation.
Denny complained to the Governor, on the 1st of October, that "the men
are very naked; few of them have anything but their summer dress, and that in
rags, and the most of them are barefooted." Again, o the 1st of
November, he sent word: "For want of clothing, particularly shoes, there
are numbers of the men who are almost useless. * * The fellows who are
barefooted suffer with the snow." A letter from Wilkins, of the 10th of
October, dave more favorable accounts from LeBoeuf and Franklin. The British influence over the Six
Nations, he stated, had been greatly affected by the defeat which the Western
Indians sustained from Gen. Wayne's army in August. A number of Six Nation
Indians were in the battle at Maumee, and on getting back to their homes told
the most terrifying stories of Wayne's skill and bravery. Mr. Ellicott set
out for the older sections of the State on the 23d of October, and was in
Philadelphia on the 30th of December. An order was issued by the Governor to
Gen. Wilkins on the 26th of October to raise one hundred and thirty men for
six months, after the expiration of the services of the detachment at LeBoeuf, for the maintenance of that post and the
completion of the Presque Isle enterprise. Each private was to receive 50
shillings a month, besides the customary rations. The old detachment was
relieved by the new recruits in the closing part of December.
A Treaty of Peace
By the efforts of Timothy Pickering, representing the United States, a treaty
of peace was concluded with the Six Nations at Canandaigua, N. Y., on the
11th of November, in which they unreservedly acknowledged the title of
Pennsylvania to the Triangle, and for themselves and their successors
released all claims upon the lands within its limits. This happy conclusion
was much hastened by the terror of Anthony Wayne's name and victories. As
soon as tidings of the treaty reached Washington, word was sent by the
President to Gov. Mifflin that the temporary obstacles to the establishment
were removed. It being too late in the season when the good news arrived at
Le Boeuf to do any effective work at Presque Isle,
the detachment remained at the former post until early spring. The force
there on the 27th of March, 1795, consisted of nine-nine in all.
While Ellicott was at Le Boeuf, in the summer of
1794, he laid out the town of Waterford, the plan of which was afterward
sanctioned by the Legislature. An act for laying out towns at Presque Isle,
Le Boeuf, Venango and Conewango (Erie, Waterford, Franklin and Warren) passed
that body in April, 1795, being the second in regard to the first-named
place. This law also repealed the one of April 8, 1793, quoted in the
beginning of this chapter.
Maj. Craig, of the United States Army, stationed at Pittsburgh, reported to
the Secretary of War on the 24th of May, 1795, that "the State troops at
Le Boeuf are nearly all disbanded. Capt.
Buchanan," he says, who commanded at that post (Denny having left),
arrived here yesterday with the greater part of the men under his command,
who are all discharged." In Buchanan's communication to the Governor, of
June 19, he states, however, that Lieut. Mehaffey,
with twenty-six men, marched from Pittsburgh with Commissioners Irvine and
Ellicott toward Le Boeuf. He, Buchanan, expected to
start that day with the balance of the escort. This would imply that a new
set of men had been enlisted for the purpose. In Denny's report of his
operations, he thus describes the location at Presque Isle: "A mile and
a half in some directions from the old French fort the land appears to have
been under cultivation, or at least cleared, but is now grown up thick with
young chestnut and linn. The fort has been a
regular pentagon, but the work was very light. The parapet don't exceed five
feet, and the ditch not more. The walls of the magazine, of stone, are
standing, and may be repaired. The well may also be easily made fit for
use." He mentions that "among the stores sent up by the State"
was "a complete set of irons for a saw mill."
Beginning of the Town of Erie
Some two hundred men from Wayne's army landed at Presque Isle early in the
spring of 1795, under command of Capt. Russell Bissell. They set to work at
once, cutting timber for block-houses, of which two were erected on the bluff
overlooking the entrance to the harbor, just east of the mouth of Mill Creek.1
They also cleared a good deal of land to raise corn for the use of the garrison.
In June, Ellicott and Irvine, commissioners, arrived, accompanied by a corps
of surveyors, and escorted by State troops under command of Capt. John Grubb,
to lay out the town of Erie as required by the act of Assembly. How long they
remained it is impossible to ascertain. The troops under Bissell built a saw
mill the next season at the mouth of Mill Creek, which was the first in Erie
County, and gave name to the stream. The command would seem to have been kept
up until about 1806, being successively in charge, after Bissell, who
continued until 1799, of Capts. Hamtramck, Lyman
and McCall, and Gen. Callender Irvine, a son of
Commissioner Irvine.
The Last Indian Murder
A bloody incident occurred on the 22d of May, 1795, which was afterward the
cause of much discussion and litigation, on account of which we will give the
contemporary statements in regard to it found in the Pennsylvania Archives.
Denny wrote to the Governor from Pittsburgh on the 29th of May: "Four
men were attacked on Saturday last by a party of Indians lying in wait on the
road two miles from Presque Isle. One was found scalped; the fate of the
other three is not known." A letter from the Secretary of War to Gov.
Mifflin, dated the 5th of June, referring to the occurrence, says: "It is
not improbable that the attack was in retaliation, because a family of
friendly Indians on the Allegheny, returning from their winter hunt, had been
fired upon in May be a party of white men, and two of the Indians badly
wounded." The man who was killed was named Ralph Rutledge, and one of
the other three was his son, who was found scalped but living, and was
carried to the fort at Waterford for medical treatment, where he died shortly
after. These were the first known deaths in the county. The body of the elder
Rutledge was found near the site of the Union depot in Erie, and was buried
on the spot where he died.
1The troops merely erected quarters that year; the
warehouse and stockades were not completed until the next year, after the new
mill was placed in operation. The supplies for the command were brought by
vessel from Detroit.
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