Rock, in commemoration of that closing tragedy and catastrophe in the history of the great tribe whose name is perpetuated not only by the river along which they roved, fished and hunted, and fought their numerous foes, but also by the title of one of the greatest and most prosperous states in the American Union." Thus was expiated the death of Pontiac, over whose grave, as Parkman says, more blood was poured out in atonement than flowed from the veins of the slaughtered heroes on the corpse of Patroclus."

Let justice be done to the memory of the man who broke the eastern wing of the great conspiracy at Bushy Run, Aug. 6, 1763, and rolled back the advancing tide of savage barbarism. All honor to Colonel Henry Bouquet and his heroic army of deliverance, who consecrated by their blood and valor, the green hills of old Westmoreland and made them historic forever.

WESTMORELAND COUNTY BEFORE AND DURING THE

REVOLUTION.

Westmoreland county was created by Pennsylvania provincial authorities in 1773, and originally included all that part of the State west of Laurel Hill. A dozen other counties have since been created out of the same territory, so that for Western Pennsylvania it may be said that “Old Westmoreland" was the mother of counties.

Hannastown, a hamlet a few miles north-east of Greensburg, was the first county seat. Here justice was first dispensed, west of the Alleghenies, according to the civil code. William Crawford, afterwards burnt by the Indians, was the first presiding justice, and Arthur St. Clair was the first prothonotary. The first court fixed the price of a gill of whiskey at four pence; toddy, one shilling; West India rum, six pence; cider, per quart, one shilling six pence; strong beer, per quart, sixpence.

The jail was made of rough, unhewn logs. Punishments were fines, whipping, standing in pillory or stocks, cropping off ears and branding.

Rape, sodomy, robbery, mahem, arson, burglary, witchcraft and concealing of a bastard child were punishable

with death, as well as murder. Virginia set up rival claims to a large part of the territory included in Westmoreland county, and created West Augusta county to cover it. Lord Dunmore, her Tory Governor, organized a court at Pittsburgh Feb. 21, 1775, to offset the claims of Pennsylvania. Dr. John Connolly, a resident of Pittsburgh, was the Virginia agent, and representative of Dunmore. He published a manifesto Jan. 1, 1774, inviting settlers to meet at Pittsburgh on the 25th proximo for conference, assuring them of the protection of Virginia.

Arthur St. Clair, a justice of the peace of Westmoreland, issued a warrant and had Connolly arrested for a short time and confined in the log jail at Hannastown. Connolly, after his release, issued warrants and arrested the Westmoreland justices of the peace. The conflict continued for about a year. Virginia's claims were recognized at Fort Pitt and in the Monongahela region. Yohogania. county was created Nov. 30, 1776, out of part of Augusta and included the greater part of Alleghany and Washington counties. Virginia courts were held for five years under these auspices. Virginia's price for lands being cheaper than those of Pennsylvania, the settlers in those regions generally sided with her in the dispute. At Bushy Run, Hannastown and Ligonier, with adjacent settlements, Pennsylvania interests and claims were upheld. This conflict of jurisdiction caused great trouble and uneasiness, which was not allayed fully until the completion of the western end of Mason and Dixon's line, after the Revolution.

From the date of Bouquet's peace, dictated to the Indians on the Muskingum, until the outbreak of the Revolution, there was comparative peace and tranquility, so far as the Indians were concerned. The fur traders plied their lucrative traffic without molestation. The country began to fill up rapidly. When the War of Independence began, the sectional disputes were forgotten and a common purpose was manifested to resist the encroachments of Great Britain. Hannastown has the honor of not only being the first seat of civil justice, west of the Alleghanies, but of leading the van in sounding the note of defiance in

a formal public declaration of the sentiments that stirred the heart of the persecuted colonies. On the sixteenth of May, 1775, a convention was held at Hannastown, which denounced the acts of British usurpation and tyrrany, and took measures to provide for the common defence.

Westmoreland was prompt in electing delegates, July 8, 1776, to attend the convention, which met in Philadelphia, July 15, 1776, to lay the foundations of a government, "based on the authority of the people only."

That convention included many of the best men of the state-wise in counsel, brave and energetic in action. Men like Franklin, Clymer, Hiester, and Rittenhouse. Westmoreland sent as her delegates - James Barr, Edward Cook, James Smith, John Moore, John Carmichael, James Perry, John McClellan and Christian Lavingair.

Before taking their seats or casting their votes, they were required to subscribe to the following: "I, do profess faith in God, the Father, and in Jesus Christ, His Eternal Son, the true God, and in the Holy Spirit, one God blessed forevermore; and do acknowledge the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration." A very correct and orthodox profession of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The convention adjourned September 28, 1776, after framing an excellent form of government, by the people and for the people. In fact, their work has formed the basis for all the state constitutions since adopted.

And now came the horrors of war. To the everlasting disgrace and infamy of Great Britain, it must be said that she offered large bounties to cruel savages for the scalps of the frontier settlers, men, women and children.

The British Governor, Hamilton, who had control at Detroit and along the northern frontiers, gave standing rewards for scalps, but offered none for prisoners. In consequence the Indians compelled the poor captives to carry their plunder to the immediate vicinity of Detroit, where, after having endured indescribable sufferings during the journey through the wilderness, the poor creatures were put to death and scalped in cold blood to get the bounty. DePeyster, under orders from Haldimand,

He

acted more humanely as commandant at Detroit. encouraged the Indians to bring in live meat, as the prisoners from the borders were called, rather than scalps, which he did not like to see. In this way he saved 300 frontier prisoners from a barbarous death. Prowling bands of savages continually ravaged the borders, and Westmoreland was a favorite resort for the scalping parties. The old war path of the Catawbas and Cherokees from the south and southwest, with a tributary trail or path. from Tennessee and Kentucky, went right through the heart of Westmoreland to the headwaters of the Susquehanna, in western New York, where lived the Iroquois, or Six Nations, their inveterate enemies. After the conquest of the southern tribes by their powerful northern foes, they made periodical trips to pay tribute or show proper obeisance to the conquerors.

The Mohawk Pluggy, located on the eastern branch of the Scioto, with a lawless and miscellaneous gang of marauders, made frequent forays into the settlements along the Ohio and its branches.

Generals Hand and McIntosh, Col. Brodhead and Gen. Irvine commaded Fort Pitt during the Revolution, and although many expeditions were projected and a few abortive ones undertaken to carry the war into the Indian country, nothing serious was ever accomplished in that line to check the repeated incursions of the savages. Such a campaign and commander as carried terror to their hearts in their own native haunts in 1764, would have secured safety and tranquility to a large extent. But the desultory and fragmentary efforts put forth from time to time for aggressive movements against the savages and tories, as a rule only resulted in greater hardships for the frontier settlers.

McKee, the Girty's and other tories who had grudge against the frontier settlers, led on the savage demons with great craft and daring against the exposed frontiers.

In April, 1778, a Westmorelander wrote, God only knows what may be the fate of this county; but at present it wears a dismal aspect." May 1, 1779, another wrote, "The savages are continually making depredations

among us; not less than forty people have been killed, wounded or captured this spring." A year later and the prospect was still more gloomy. Over forty settlers had been slain in the Monongahela region, and the raids were frequent from the northern Allegheny regions. "It really began to look," wrote Butterfield, "as though Westmoreland would again become a wilderness. The people, in a half starving condition, huddled in and about the forts and block-houses. The troops at Fort Pitt were ragged, unpaid, poorly fed, and of course discontented and inefficient. In August the Maryland corps deserted their posts on the frontier of Westmoreland, and in a body marched across the mountains. Lochry and his 150 picked men were surprised and destroyed in 1781. Crawford, another county official, met with terrible disaster and death in 1782; and thus the chapter of horrors and frontier suffering goes on. Brodhead and some of his subordinate officers got at loggerheads, and in the midst of quarrels among officers at Fort Pitt the work of desolation prospered.

Gen. Irvine was appointed, but although many campaigns were talked about, none but such as Crawford's, Williamson's, &c., badly managed affairs, were actualized. The main army was engaged in the last death grapples with the British Lion along the Atlantic coast, and the western settlers were largely left to the mercy of the savages.

The British were emboldened even to fit out an expedition to capture Fort Pitt. Three hundred British and Tories, and five hundred Indians, assembled with twelve pieces of artillery, on Lake Jadagua (Chatauqua ), in 1782, with this intention. Having learned, through a spy, that the fort was much stronger than had been supposed, the main object of the expedition was given up. The usual method of border warfare was then adopted, and marauding bands went into the different settlements. A feeling of unrest and apprehension pervaded the frontier. Many had been shot down and scalped, and prisoners carried off from the immediate vicinity of Forts Walthour, Klingensmith, &c. This sense of alarm found very timely and forcible representation in the petition of German settlers on Brush Creek, addressed to General Irvine, com