Part I:
Lazarus Lowry came from the north of Ireland and settled in Donegal in 1729. He took up three hundred and thirty-three acres of land, now owned by the Hon. J. D. Cameron, about two miles from Marietta. He established a trading-post, and in 1730 took out a license to trade and also to sell liquor "by the small." His dwelling is still standing. He was remarkable for his energy, industry, and courage. He made frequent trips to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, taking his sons,James, John, Daniel, and Alexander, with him. He owned several small farms adjoining his first purchase. His second marriage was to the widow of Thomas Edwards. He died in Philadelphia in 1755, leaving Lazarus, Thomas, Benjamin, William, and Martha, children by her. John Lowry traded with his father, Lazarus, among the Indians west of the mountains before 1740. He owned four hundred acres of land along the Susquehanna, which now embraces the farms owned by Col. James Duffy and Benjamin F. Hiestand, the upper part of Marietta, and the land north of the Maytown turnpike. He also owned in connection with his father the land extending from Maytown to the Colebrook road.
In 1750 he purchased from David Magaw some three hundred acres of land at Carlisle, where he intended to remove to and establish a store. This purchase was made while he was on his way to the Ohio to trade with the Indians. When he arrived at his destination he found that the Shawanese and Delaware Indians were inclined to adhere to the French interest and were clearly hostile to the English. While he was seated near a keg of powder an Indian applied a match, and an explosion followed which killed him. He left a wife,Elizabeth, but no children. A curious incident grew out of this affair. On the 18th of August, 1750, Capt. William Trent wrote a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor, dated at Lancaster, in which he says, "A few days ago some of Lowry's traders came in from the woods. They had a Frenchman in company who says he was a French trader, and was put in irons and confined for disobeying the orders of the commander of the fort where he traded. He made his escape to the Picts, who were friends of the English. Some wanted to put him to death for a spy, others wanted him delivered to James Lowry, to be kept till the man that killed his brother John was given up. He's in Lowry's possession now." He was held as a hostage by Mr. Lowry in Donegal for some weeks, but when he found that keeping him in captivity would not compel the French to surrender the Indian who killed his brother John, he set the savage free. James Lowry, son of Lazarus, married Susanna, daughter of James Patterson, the Indian trader. He bought several hundred acres of land along the Susquehanna River from James Logan, which was a part of James Le Tort's tract of nine hundred acres, a few miles above Marietta. He had great influence with the Indians along the Ohio, and he and George Croghan prevented some of the tribes from going over to the French. The French commander at Detroit offered a large reward for the arrest of those two traders. Lowry was compelled to abandon that field, and transfer his trade to the Catawbas, in Carolina. On the 26th day of January, 1753, when Daniel Hendricks, Jacob Evans, William Powell, Thomas Hyde, Alexander Maginty, and James Lowry were on their return from a trading journey among the Catawbas, and were encamped on the south bank of Kentucky River, about twenty miles from Blue Lick town, with a large stock of goods, skins, and furs, they were attacked by the French Caughnawaga Indians, and were taken prisoners. A few were wounded on both sides. While these prisoners were on their way to Detroit, Lowry made his escape, and returned to his home in Donegal. The others were not so lucky. Jacob Evans and Thomas Hyde were sold to Monsieur Celeron, the French commander at Detroit; the others were taken to Montreal. Jacob Evans and Thomas Hyde were sent prisoners to France. Powell, Jabez Evans, and Maginty were distributed among the Indians in the northern part of New York. Maginty communicated these facts to the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania, who sent Conrad Weiser to Albany to inquire about the matter, and if possible procure the release of the captive traders, all of whom belonged to Lancaster County. Weiser found that Jabez Evans was adopted by a squaw, and had some difficulty to get him away.
All these traders except Lowry were financially ruined by their misfortunes. Maginty afterwards became prominent in Cumberland Valley. In a letter which Capt. Stobo wrote when a prisoner at Fort Duquesne, dated July 29, 1754, he says that the Indians under John, a Mingo Indian, made an attack upon Lowry's traders at Gist's, and took Andrew McBrier, Nehemiah Stevens, John Kennedy, and Elizabeth Williams prisoners. Several persons were killed. Kennedy was shot through the leg, and was left at Fort Duquesne until he was able to be moved; the others were sent to Canada. The Indians demanded a ransom of forty pistoles for each. They were employed by James, Daniel, and Alexander Lowry. Their goods were all destroyed. These frequent losses were too much for James Lowry. He sold his land in Donegal, and moved away about the year 1758. Daniel Lowry owned three hundred acres of land adjoining Hon. Simon Cameron's farm on the north. He afterwards sold this farm and purchased the one previously owned by his brother, John, who was then dead. His losses were very heavy in the West. When Col. James Burd had command of Fort Augusta (Sunbury), in 1757-58, Daniel Lowry had a fleet of bateaux, and supplied the soldiers with provisions. His brother Alexander purchased his farm on the 5th day of June, 1759. He moved to the Juniata. The late John G. Lowry, of Centre County, was his son. Alexander Lowry was the most prominent of these brothers. He commenced to trade with the Indians about the year 1744. He had made frequent trips to the Indian country for his father and brothers before this and when yet a minor. He acquired the Indian language readily, and could speak the tongue of several tribes. He at once became a great favorite with the Indians, and participated with them in their sports, and hunted and trapped with them. He established trading stations at Forts Pitt and Carlisle, and employed men to visit various tribes and trade for him. He went as far west as Kaskaskia and Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi. Although he frequently went among hostile tribes, he never was molested but once by Indians, and then he only saved his life by his courage and fleetness of foot. After his father's death he purchased his mansion, farm, and other property belonging to his estate, and from that period accumulated large tracts of land, and notwithstanding his great losses by the Indians at "Bloody Run" in 1763, he steadily added to his wealth. His losses alone at Bloody Run amounted to over eight thousand pounds, and his subsequent heavy losses grew out of this affair by reason of money advanced to some of the other sufferers, and money expended to establish a title and get possession of certain large tracts of land in Virginia. He followed the Indian trade for more than forty years, and was much of this time interested with his life-long friend, Joseph Simons, an Indian trader, who resided in Lancaster. When these two men had passed their threescore and ten, they selected three friends, among whom was the late Adam Reigart, to settle their transactions, which had run through this long period. When they came before these friends they stated verbally (for neither had a written account) all of their transactions with each other. There was no dispute or difference between them, and then and there they made an arrangement of their affairs that could not be disturbed by their heirs had they been disposed to do so. Col. James Hamilton, of Leacock township, opened a trading-post at Canawago, where he owned a farm and a large island opposite to it, which is now owned by Col. James Duffy. He carried on his trade with the Indians at and in the vicinity of the Forks of the Ohio, where he established a store. Joseph Simons was one of the richest and most prominent Indian traders in the province. He came to Lancaster about the year 1740, and at once embarked in the Indian trade. He also established a store at the southeast corner of Penn Square, and subsequently another one on the southwest corner. He made frequent trips to the Ohio and Illinois country. He also had an interest in several other stores in the Indian territory in connection with Gratz, Frank, Etting, Callender, Trent, and others. His real estate transactions were on a grand scale, and at one time he owned many thousands of acres of land. He was one of the twenty-two Indian traders who were attacked by the Indians at Bloody Run in 1763, and lost a large amount of goods. He died in Lancaster in 1804. Thomas Harris established a trading-post at Conewago Creek, at a point where the Paxtang and Conestoga road crossed. He became one of the wealthiest of the Indian traders. He left Donegal and removed to Harford County, Md., before the Revolution, and from thence he went to Baltimore. He had several sons, who became eminent physicians, one of whom remained in Baltimore, another removed to Philadelphia, another to New Brunswick. Some of them were prominent officers in the Revolutionary army. Barnabas Hughes, who kept tavern at Canoy Creek (now Elizabethtown), was also an Indian trader. John Galbraith, son of James Galbraith, Jr., located at the mouth of Canoy Creek, where he had an Indian trading-post as early as 1760. He removed to Cumberland Valley. James Galbraith, father of the above, was also an Indian trader, but did not follow the business for any length of time. Col. John Gibson removed to the Forks of the Ohio before the Revolutionary war. He was an Indian fighter as well as an Indian trader. He was born in Lancaster borough. It has been said that it was to him that the chief Logan delivered his famous speech on the murder of his relatives. Gibson and Logan were intimate and warm friends. He had great influence with the Indians, but knew how to punish them when they misbehaved. Col. Gibson's field of operations during the Revolutionary war was with the Western army. Col. George Gibson, brother of John, was also born in Lancaster, and became an Indian trader and fighter. He married a daughter of Francis West, and settled at Shearman's Creek, in Perry County. He commanded a regiment during the Revolutionary war, and was in a number of battles. He was killed at "St. Clair's defeat." He was the father of John Bannister Gibson, chief justice of the State. John Kennedy, who had been trading for Lazarus Lowry for some years, became a trader on his own account. He purchased the farm upon which Maytown is built, from Lazarus Lowry. After being wounded and captured by the Indians he raised a company and fought through the Indian wars. Dennis Sullivan owned at one time the farm sold to John Kennedy. He traded on the Ohio, and lost everything by the Indians. James Harris, an Indian trader, had his post near James Le Tort's, about two miles west from Maytown. Gordon Howard was one of the earliest and most prominent of the Indian traders. He lived on and owned the farm now owned by Mr. Hershey, two miles west from Mount Joy. Simon Girty, the notorious renegade, was an Indian trader, located at one time in Lancaster County, having his post on the Conewago. From there he moved to Shearman's Creek, and thence to the theatre of his later infamy in the territory beyond the Ohio.
Chapter: Chapter IV. Pioneer Settlements--Erection of the County--Establishment of the County-Seat
The earliest white settlements within the territory now embraced in the county of Lancaster were made by people called (on account of their religious belief) Mennonites, who had emigrated to America from Switzerland and the Palatinate. The first of these who settled here came in 1709, and they were followed in the next and succeeding years by others of the same people. They were not only the first, but were also more numerous than any other class of the pioneer settlers in this region. Their earliest settlements were made along Little Beaver Creek, and where the city of Lancaster now stands, from which localities they afterwards spread over other parts of the county.
Part II:
John Kennedy, who had been trading for Lazarus Lowry for some years, became a trader on his own account. He purchased the farm upon which Maytown is built, from Lazarus Lowry. After being wounded and captured by the Indians he raised a company and fought through the Indian wars. Dennis Sullivan owned at one time the farm sold to John Kennedy. He traded on the Ohio, and lost everything by the Indians. James Harris, an Indian trader, had his post near James Le Tort's, about two miles west from Maytown. Gordon Howard was one of the earliest and most prominent of the Indian traders. He lived on and owned the farm now owned by Mr. Hershey, two miles west from Mount Joy. Simon Girty, the notorious renegade, was an Indian trader, located at one time in Lancaster County, having his post on the Conewago. From there he moved to Shearman's Creek, and thence to the theatre of his later infamy in the territory beyond the Ohio.
Chapter: Chapter IV. Pioneer Settlements--Erection of the County--Establishment of the County-Seat
The earliest white settlements within the territory now embraced in the county of Lancaster were made by people called (on account of their religious belief) Mennonites, who had emigrated to America from Switzerland and the Palatinate. The first of these who settled here came in 1709, and they were followed in the next and succeeding years by others of the same people. They were not only the first, but were also more numerous than any other class of the pioneer settlers in this region. Their earliest settlements were made along Little Beaver Creek, and where the city of Lancaster now stands, from which localities they afterwards spread over other parts of the county. Next after the Mennonites came a number of French Huguenots from the departments of Alsace and Lorraine. These settled in Pequea Valley. During the then pending struggle between England and Catholic France these French-speaking people (as also the Mennonite settlers, in less degree) were, on account of their language, suspected by the colonial authorities of sympathy, if not complicity, with the French. For this reason they were compelled to take the oath of allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and to submit to other restrictions which were somewhat unpleasant to them. The suspicious against them (which afterwards proved to be wholly unfounded and unjust) were increased by the fact that upon their arrival in this country they made little if any stop in Philadelphia, but in their eagerness to secure homes pressed on without delay towards the frontier, and not infrequently took up lands without the proper authority for doing so. The Scotch-Irish people who came to Pennsylvania on the invitation of the first Proprietary first entered this region in 1715, and pushing on past the Mennonite and Huguenot settlements. located themselves on Chikis Creek, along which stream they soon after spread themselves for a distance of eight or nine miles from its mouth. A few years later a cordon of settlements of these people (who were all Presbyterians) had been made and extended along Octorara Creek from Sadsbury to the Susquehanna, and thence along the river to the Conestoga. These people had been encouraged by the authorities to settle near the disputed boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, because it was believed they would be more disposed and better able to defend the settlements against the Catholic Marylanders than would either the Huguenots, the Friends, or the Mennonites. Nearly simultaneously with the coming of the first Scotch-Irish immigrants to this region, a number of English Quaker families settled in Salisbury and Sadsbury townships. They were followed, about 1717, by a body of Welsh Episcopalians, who settled in what is now Caernarvon township. All the settlements above mentioned were made within the jurisdiction of the original county of Chester, [1 The other original counties of Pennsylvania, as established by William Penn in 1682, were Philadelphia and Bucks.] which then comprehended all of the present county of Lancaster, and extended thence indefinitely west and northwest. In 1718 a part of that county was laid off and erected into Conestoga [2 The township when erected was named Conestogoe, which in later years became changed to Conestoga, as at present. The modern orthography will be used in these pages (except when occurring in quotation) for the sake of uniformity.] township, embracing all that portion lying west of Octorara Creek, and extending northward to and including the Welsh settlements along the eastern branch of the Conestoga. The first assessment in Conestoga township was made in 1718, and shows approximately the names of the heads of families and single men who were then living in what is now the county of Lancaster: English Inhabitants. [3 Including also the Welsh, the Scotch-Irish, and a few French.] Francis Warly. John Cartedge. James Hendricks. James Le Tort (French trader). James Patterson. William Sherrel. John Hendricks. Collum Macquair.
Part III:
At November court, 1730, the following-named persons petitioned the court to recommend them to the Governor (who issued licenses) to trade with the Indians, viz.: James Patterson (who had been a trader for thirteen years), Edmond Cartlidge (a trader for thirteen years), Peter Chartière (an old Indian trader), John Lawrence (old trader), Jonas Davenport (old trader), Oliver Wallis, Patrick Boyd, Lazarus Lowry, William Dunlap (old trader), William Beswick, John Wilkins (old trader), Thomas Perrin, John Harris (old trader). In October, 1730, John Davis, of Caernarvon, was elected county commissioner, and Joshua Lowe (Hempfield), Emanuel Carpenter (Cocalico), Walter Denny, John Caldwell, Gabriel Davies (Earl), and Thomas Wilkins (Donegal), were elected assessors. For the year 1730, John Postlethwait was elected treasurer of the county, and in that year he paid £71 6s. bounties "for sixty-three old wolfes heads and sixteen young wolfes heads."
Chapter: Chapter IV. Pioneer
Settlements--Erection of the County--Establishment of
the County-Seat
Subject :
Establishment of the County-Seat By
the act erecting the county of Lancaster (Section v.)
It was provided: "That it shall and may be lawful to and for Caleb Pierce, John Wright, Thomas Edwards, and James Mitchell, or any three of them, to purchase, and take assurance to them and their Heirs, of a Piece of land situate in some convenient place in the said county, to be approved of by the Governor in Trust, and for the use of the said County, and thereon to erect and build, or cause to be erected and built, a Court House and Prison sufficient to accommodate the public service of the said County, for the ease and conveniency of the Inhabitants." There were three principal points whose claims and advantages were each vigorously urged in the selection of a county-seat. One of these was at "Gibson's Pasture" (the site of the present city of Lancaster), another was Postlethwait's, a point some seven or eight miles south westerly from Gibson's, it being the place where John Postlethwait kept an ordinary or tavern in Conestoga township, on or near Conestoga Creek. The third was Wright's Ferry (now Columbia), on the Susquehanna. The claims and advantages of this last-named point were strongly urged and advocated by Robert Barber (first sheriff of the county), John Wright (first presiding magistrate), and Samuel Blunston, all of whom resided and owned land there. Postlethwait's, however, was at first regarded most favorably; the first courts were held (in temporary quarters) there, and it was generally thought to be the place most likely to be selected as the seat of justice. But a more powerful influence favored the site at Gibson's (Lancaster), and after an extended and deliberate examination the last-named site was selected and agreed on by the Commissioners, who, in their report to the Governor in February, 1730, said, "We, the subscribers, after much pains and deligent search for a proper place for the aforesaid use (the building of a court-house and county prison) for the ease and accommodation of the majority of the inhabitants, have agreed upon a certain lot of land lying on or near a small run of water, between the plantations of Rudy Mire, Michael Shank, and Jacob Imble, and being about ten miles from the Susquehanna River, which we conceive the most convenient for the use aforesaid. And we pray the Governor would please to approve and confirm the same, that we may proceed to purchase and build as the said law directs." The report was signed by Pierce, Wright, and Mitchell, but not by the other member of the commission, Thomas Edwards, who was a justice of the peace, and resided on the Conestoga, two or three miles east of Hinkletown. Whether he withheld his signature and assent to the report because favoring the location of a site at or nearer his own residence does not appear. The report was approved by the Governor Feb. 17, 1730, but on the 19th of the same month he laid before the Council the fact that the commissioners had certified to him their selection of the site as described, and "the Governor therefore referred the matter to the consideration of the board, whether the situation of the place those gentlemen had pitched on for a town might be fit to be confirmed, and that a town should accordingly be fixed there. But the question being asked, to whom the land they had made choice of now belongs, and who has the property of it, because it may be in such hands as will not part with it, or at least on reasonable terms, for that use, and this not being known by any at the board, it was deferred till such time as that point could be ascertained. But as it is presumed, for anything that is yet known, to be unsurveyed land, and that the right is only in the Proprietor, it is the opinion of the board that it is more proper to be granted by the Proprietor for such uses than by any other person." The matter of the ownership of the land being afterwards inquired into, and "the Governor having understood that the right to the land pitched upon for the townstead of Lancaster remains yet in the Proprietaries, was advised to approve of the place agreed on by Messrs. Wright, Pierce, and Mitchell, and the same was confirmed accordingly by a writing dated May 1, 1730." [1 Colonial Records.] In point of fact, however, the Governor had been misinformed as to the ownership of the land, as it had passed from the Proprietors to the hands of Andrew Hamilton. Meanwhile, under authority of the Governor's approval of the commissioners' report, on the 17th of February they had made arrangements for the purchase of the land, and on the 15th of May, 1730, Andrew Hamilton and his wife, Ann Hamilton, conveyed by deed, for the consideration of five shillings, two lots of land for the use and service of the county,--viz., one for a court-house site, and the other for the erection of a county prison. At the same time they also conveyed a lot one hundred and twenty feet square as a site for a public market-house for the (then newly laid out) town of Lancaster, which then, in the manner above narrated, became the seat of justice of Lancaster County. The courthouse lot, sixty-six feet square, was located in the centre of the Centre Square of the town; the prison lot was on the north side of King Street, extending from Prince to Water Streets. The erection of county buildings on these lots will be especially and fully noticed in a chapter devoted to that subject.
Chapter: Chapter V. the French and Indian War
Summary: Beginning of the War in Pennsylvania--Braddock's Defeat--Indian Massacres in the Susquehanna Valley and Elsewhere on the Frontier--Expeditions of Armstrong, Forbes, and Bouquet--Peace with the Indians--Lancaster County Officers in the War. The French and Indian war, as it has usually been termed, commenced in 1754. For ten years prior to that time war had existed between England and France, but the American colonies felt none of its effects until the month of May in the year named, when Col. George Washington, then a youth of twenty-two years, in command of a small body of Virginia troops, attacked a party of Frenchmen and Indians led by M. de Jumonville, in a ravine of the Laurel Hill, in the present county of Fayette, Pa. This affair, in which the French leader and a number of his party were killed, was the opening fight of the French and Indian war, as it was also the first battle of the man who afterwards became commander-in-chief of the patriot armies of America. Immediately afterwards the French commandant at Fort Duquesne, M. de Contrec£ur, marched at the head of a much stronger party of French and Indians to attack Washington, who in the mean time had erected a slight defensive work which he called Fort Necessity, located at the Great Meadows, a short distance from the scene of his attack on Jumonville. The work was invested by the French, and a battle ensued, resulting in Washington's surrender of the fort to Contrec£ur, and its evacuation (July 4, 1754) by the colonial troops, who were allowed by the victorious French commander to march away without further molestation to Fort Cumberland, at the place where Cumberland, Md., now stands. In the following year Maj.-Gen. Edward Braddock was sent from England to lead a formidable force against the French at Fort Duquesne. He brought with him two veteran regiments of British regulars. Arriving at Alexandria, Va., they marched thence to Fort Cumberland, where they were joined by the colonial troops destined for the expedition. The army having been organized at Fort Cumberland, marched thence under command of Gen. Braddock across the Alleghenies and the Laurel Hill to the Monongahela River, where, on the 9th of July, 1755, in a forest defile near the north bank of the stream, the proud army of Braddock fought the bloody battle and sustained the historic defeat, of which the dismal story has been too often told to need repetition here. The rash but heroic general, mortally wounded, was borne back by his faithful followers to the Laurel Hill, where he died four days after, and where his bones still repose. The remnant of the army, disorganized and panic-stricken, made a precipitate retreat to Fort Cumberland, leaving the French and their Indian allies in complete possession of the country from the Ohio to the eastern base of the Alleghenies. Soon after the French had succeeded in expelling the English forces from the region of country west of the Alleghenies, and establishing themselves in the absolute possession of that territory, they reduced their force at Fort Duquesne, sending a part of it to Venango and other northern posts, and many of their Indian allies scattered and returned to their homes, being in a state of discontent and incipient disaffection, though still holding to their French allegiance. But it soon became apparent that they had no intention to be at peace with the English, for within a little more than two months from the time of Braddock's defeat the Shawanese and the Delawares under King Shingis had advanced eastward to the Alleghenies, and made incursions beyond that range. About the 25th of September a body of one hundred and sixty Indians (afterwards found to be Shawanese and Delawares under command of Shingis) set out from Fort Duquesne and its vicinity on an expedition against the English, and a few days later they burst upon the defenseless people of the Maryland and Virginia settlements. On the 4th of October, Capt. William Trent wrote Col. James Burd, at Shippensburg: "Last night came to the mill at Wolgomoth's an express going to the Governor of Maryland with an account of the inhabitants being out on Patterson's Creek; and about the Fort (Cumberland), the express says, there is forty killed and taken, and that one whole family was burnt to death in an house. The Indians destroy all before them, firing houses, barns, stack-yards, and everything that will burn." A week later Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, wrote the Governor of Pennsylvania: "Within a few days I have received several letters by express from Capt. Dagworthy, who commands the garrison consisting of one hundred and thirty-seven men at Fort Cumberland, and from some other people, advising me that the Indians have, since the 1st instant, cut off a great many families who lived near Fort Cumberland, and on both sides of Powtowmack, some miles eastward of the fort. It is supposed that near one hundred persons have been murdered or carried away prisoners by these barbarians, who have burnt the houses and ravaged all the plantations in that part of the country. Parties of the enemy appear within sight of Fort Cumberland every day, and frequently in greater numbers than the garrison consists of. As I presume it will not be long before these people pay a visit to your borders, I take this opportunity of intimating what I think may be expected." The first blow struck by the Indians within the bounds of Pennsylvania was on the 18th of October, when they attacked the settlements on Mahanoy or John Penn's Creek, that flows into the Susquehanna about five miles below the confluence of the North and West Branches. Information of this incursion was sent to Governor Morris on the 22d by Conrad Weiser. "I take this opportunity," he said, "to inform you I received news from Shamokin that six families have been murdered on John Penn's Creek, on the west side of Susquehanna, about four miles from that river; several people have been found scalped, and twenty-eight are missing; the people are in a great consternation, and are coming down, leaving the plantations and corn behind them." On the 23d of October a party of white settlers (forty-nine in number, among whom were John Harris, of Paxtang, Justice Forster, and Capt. Thomas McKee), who had been to Shamokin to ascertain if possible where the party came from who did the murderous work on John Penn's Creek, were on their return fired on from an ambush, and four killed, four drowned in attempting to swim the river, and the rest put to flight. Upon this "all the settlements between Shamokin and Hunter's Mill, for the space of fifty miles along the River Susquehannah, were deserted." Adam Terrence, one of the white party who were fired on, said, "As I understood the Delaware tongue, I heard several of the Indians that were engaged against us speak a good many words in that tongue during the action." The savages who attacked were supposed to be a part of a force mentioned by Governor Morris in a letter to the Governor of Virginia, dated October 29th. He said, "I have received Intelligence that a large body of French and Indians were seen to pass the Allegheny Mountains moving towards the Inhabitants of this Province, and that a party of them have since passed the Susquehannah, and killed all before them, and were within five miles of Harris' Ferry [Harrisburg]. The people are mostly without arms, and struck with such a panick that they flee as fast as they can from their habitations." On the same date, John Harris, of Paxtang, said in a letter to Edward Shippen, of Lancaster, "The Indians is cutting us off every day, and I had a certain account [from Andrew Montour] of about fifteen hundred Indians beside French being on their march against us and Virginia, and now close to our borders, their Scouts Scalping our Families on our Frontiers daily.... I am informed that a French officer was expected at Shamokin this week with a party of Delawares and Shawanese, no doubt to take possession of our River; and as to the state of the Susquehannah Indians, a great part of them is actually in the French Interest." In a letter written about this time by Conrad Weiser to Governor Morris, narrating how he had marched with a party of about three hundred men in pursuit of the savages who committed the atrocities on the Susquehanna, from Hunter's Mills to John Penn's Creek, but found that the enemy had withdrawn from that region, the writer continued: "Upon this we had a consultation, and as we did not come up to serve as guards to the Paxtang people, but to fight the enemy, if they were come so far, as we first heard, we thought best to return and take care of our own townships. After I had given the necessary caution to the people to hold themselves in readiness, as the enemy was certainly in the country, to keep their arms in good order, and so on, and then discharged them, and we marched back, with the approbation of Mr. Reed.<sp>1</sp>[1 Adam Reed, Esq., of Hanover township, Lancaster Co., now Lebanon County.] By the way we were alarmed by a report that five hundred Indians had come over the mountains at Tolheo to this side, and had already killed a number of people. We stopped and sent a few men to discover the enemy, but, on their return, it proved to be a false alarm, occasioned by a company that I had sent that way the day before, whose guns getting wet, they fired them off, which was the cause of alarm; this not only had alarmed the company, but whole townships through which they marched. In going back I met messengers from other townships about Conestoga, who came for intelligence, and to ask me where their assistance was necessary, promising that they would come to the place where I should direct." In the morning of Sunday, the 2d of November, the Indian allies of the French attacked the Great Cove settlement, in Cumberland County, killed six persons, and carried away seventeen prisoners. On the same day Benjamin Chambers wrote from Fallow Spring: [Col. Rec., vol. vi. p. 675.]