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WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
A HISTORY
BY
CLIFTON S. HUNSICKER
Member of the Montgomery County Historical Society; Journalist and Author of Letters of Travel; Ex-President and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Press League of Bucks and Montgomery Counties; Chief of Newspaper Divi- sion of the United States Food Administration in Montgomery County during the World War.
WITH THE CO-OPERATION OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
VOLUME I
LEIVIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
NEW YORK CHICAGO
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COPYRIGHT, 1923
LEWIS HISTORICAL, PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
NEW YORK — CHICAGO
PUBLISHERS' NOTE
I HE Publishers of this "History of Montgomery County" desire to express their obligations to the officiary of the Montgomery County Historical Society for affording their representative all possible assistance through their valuable Library, and in point- ing to avenues of information ; as well as to Mr. Clifton S. Hunsicker for his intelligent and continued effort. An additional interest attaches to the work for the exhaustive history of the Bench and Bar of the County by William F. Dannehower, Esq. In the general narrative, the History by the late Colonel Theodore H. Bean, and the name of his daughter, Mrs. A. Conrad Jones, most fittingly come into association through her valuable contributions covering Women's Activ- ities from the day in which he concluded his work. Under the Educa- tional head, particularly valuable assistance was rendered by the manage- ments of Bryn Mawr College, the Theological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo at Overbrook, Ursinus College, and the Hill School of Potts- town, besides other gentlemen in their various towns and boroughs, interested in school affairs. Dr. Herbert H. Bostock rendered efficient aid in the procurement of material which makes up the chapter of Medical History. The very full details of Newspaper History were procured in great part from Hon. D. Whitman Dambly, fittingly supplemented by the ready information afforded by the newspaper men of the County generally, and with few exceptions. A similar meed of appreciation is due Bank officials all over the County, who cheerfully furnished the information called for by our representative on questionnaire blanks. Rev. Father Wachter, of Pottstown, was most industrious in affording general information pertaining to Catholic Churches of the County; while individual ministers of all denominations were also intelligent contributors. To name all who afforded aid would make up a goodly roster of prominent names. Taken all in all, it is believed that this History will be received with favor, and will be a valuable book of reference in years to come. The Publishers.
CONTENTS
Pace
Chapter I— Topography and Geography i
Chapter II— Geology, Mining, Etc 1 1
Chapter III— The Original Residents and Owners 25
Chapter IV— The First Settlements 29
Chapter V— William Penn and the Founding of His Colony 35
Chapter VI— The Colonial Era 43
Chapter VII — Military Operations 47
Chapter VIII — County Organization and Government 97
Chapter IX — Transportation 107
Chapter X — Centennial Celebration 115
Chapter XI — Religious Denominations 119
Chapter XII — Educational Institutions I45
Chapter XIII — Agriculture and Agricultural Societies 157
Chapter XIV — Journalism 161
Chapter XV — Banks and Banking i79
Chapter XVI — Fraternal Orders of the County 193
Chapter XVII — The Work of Montgomery County Women 199
Chapter XVIII — The Medical Profession 223
Chapter XIX— Bench and Bar 235
Chapter XX — Industries and Manufacturing 283
Chapter XXI — State and County Institutions 289
Chapter XXII — Townships : Abington — Cheltenham — Douglas — Franconia — Fred- erick 293
Chapter XXIII — Townships: Hatfield — Horsham^ — Limerick — ^Lower Merion 303
Chapter XXIV — Townships : Marlborough — Montgomery — Moreland — New Han- over— Upper Hanover — Norriton — Perkiomen 315
Chapter XXV — Townships : Pottsgrove, Upper, Lower and West — Providence,
Upper and Lower — Plymouth — Whitemarsh 325
Chapter XXVI- — Townships : Springfield — Towamencin — Upper Dublin — Upper
Merion — Upper and Lower Sal ford 335
Chapter XXVII — Townships : Upper and Lower Gwynedd — Worcester — Whitpain
— Skippack 347
Chapter XXVIII — Boroughs : Ambler — Bridgeport — Collegeville — Conshohocken —
East Greenville — Hatboro — Hatfield — Greenlane — Schwenkville — Jenkintown 355
Chapter XXIX — Boroughs : Lansdale — North Wales — Narberth 367
Chapter XXX> — Boroughs : Pottstown — 'Pennsburg — Royersford — Red Hill — Rock- ledge — Souderton — West Telford — Trappe — -West Conshohocken 375
Chapter XXXI — Norristown Borough 386
Appendix ; Ursinus College, 395 ; Montgomery County Post Offices, 402 ; Principal Towns and Cities, 405; Burgesses Since 1812, 406; Presidential Vote Since i860, 407; Miscellaneous Subjects, 409; Bench and Bar, 416.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
CHAPTER I. TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY.
September lo, 1784, marked the "birthday" of Montgomery county. On that date this now prosperous and enterprising district of Pennsyl- vania was carved out of Philadelphia county by an act of the General Assembly, which reads as follows :
An Act for erecting part of the County of Philadelphia into a separate county.
Sect. I. Whereas a great number of the inhabitants of the County of Philadelphia by their petition have humbly represented to the Assem- bly of this State the great inconvenience they labor under by reason of their distance from the seat of judicature in the said county: For remedy whereof,
Sect. II. Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted by the Representa- tives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and by authority of the same, That all and singular the lands lying within that part of Philadelphia County bounded as herein- after described, beginning on the line of Byberry township and the township of the Manor of Moreland, where it intersects the line of Bucks County ; thence westward along the northern lines of Byberry, Lower Dublin and Oxford Townships to the line dividing the townships of Cheltenham and Bristol ; and thence along the same line dividing Germantown township from the township of Springfield ; and thence along said line to the line dividing the township of Springfield, afore- said form the township of Roxbury to the river Schuylkill ; thence down the said river to the line dividing the townships of Blockley and Lower Merion ; and thence along said line to the line of the County of Chester ; thence by the line of Chester County to the line of Berks County ; thence by the line of Berks County to the line of Northampton County ; thence by part of the line of Northampton County and the line of Bucks County : thence along the said line of Bucks County to the place of beginning; be and hereby are erected into a county, named and hereafter to be called Montgomery County.
Sect. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the inhabitants of said County of Montgomery shall, at all times here- after, have and enjoy all and singular the jurisdictions, powers, rights, liberties, and privileges whatsoever, which the inhabitants of any other county in this State do, may, or ought to enjoy by any charter of priv- ileges, or the laws of this State, or by any other ways or means what- soever.
Sect. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the inhabitants of each township or district within the said county qual- ified by law to elect shall meet at some convenient place within their respective townships or districts, at the same time the inhabitants of the several townships of the other counties within this state shall meet for like purposes, and choose inspectors ; and at the time appointed by law the freemen of the said County of Montgomery shall meet at the house of Hannah Thompson, inn keeper, in the township of Norriton,
Mont — 1
2 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
and there elect representatives ; and the freemen of the County of Phila- delphia shall meet at the State House, in the City of Philadelphia, and there elect representatives to serve them in Assembly (one counselor), two fit persons for sheriffs, two fit persons for coroners, and three com- missioners, as by the Constitution and the laws of this State are directed in respect to other counties, which representatives so chosen shall be members of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania, and shall sit and act as such, as fully and as freely as any of the other representatives of this State do, may, can, or ought to do ; (and the said counselor, when so chosen, shall sit and act as fully and as freely as any of the other members of the Supreme Executive Council of this State do, may, can or ought to do.
Sect. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the County of Montgomery shall, until otherwise altered by the Legisla- ture of the State, be represented in the General Assembly by four mem- bers and the County of Philadelphia shall be represented in the General Assembly by five members.
Sect. Vn. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the justices of the Supreme Court of this State shall have like powers, jurisdictions and authorities within the said County of Montgomery as by law they are vested with and entitled unto in the other counties within this State ; and are hereby authorized and empowered from time to time to deliver the gaol of the said county of capital or other offenders, in like manner as they are authorized to do in other counties of this State.
Sect. X. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That it shall and may be lawful to and for Henry Pawling, Jun., Jonathan Roberts, George Smith, Robert Shannon, and Henry Cunnard, of Whit- paine township, all of the aforesaid county, yeomen, or any three of them, to purchase and take assurance to them, and their heirs, in the name of the Commonwealth, of a piece of land situated in some conven- ient place in the neighborhood of Stoney-run, contiguous to the river Schuylkill, in Norriton township, in trust and for the use of the inhabi- tants of the said county, and thereon to erect and build a court house and prison sufficient to accommodate the public service of said county.
Sect. XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That such part of the money as shall arise from the sale of the old prison and workhouse, and lot of ground thereto belonging, in the City of Phila- delphia as directed by an act of General Assembly of this Common- wealth to be sold for the use of the City and County aforesaid, be appor- tioned for the defraying the charges of purchasing the land, building and erecting the court house and prison aforesaid, in the ratio or proportion of taxes as paid between the said County of Montgomery and the County of Philadelphia and this city; but in case the same should not be suffi- cient, it shall and may be lawful to and for the commissioners and assessors of the said county, or a majority of them, to assess and levy, in the same manner as is directed by the act for raising county rates and levies, so much money as the said trustees or any three of them shall judge necessary for purchasing the said land and finishing the said court house and prison.
Sect. XII. Provided always. That the sum of money so to be raised does not exceed three thousand pounds current money of this State.
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY 3
Sect. XHI. Provided also, and be it further enacted by the authority- aforesaid, That no action or suit now commenced or depending in the County of Philadelphia against any person living within the bounds of the said County of Montgomery shall be stayed or discontinued, but that the same action or actions already commenced or depending may be prosecuted and judgment thereupon rendered, as if this act had not been made ; and that it shall and may be lawful for the justices of the County of Philadelphia to issue any judicial process to be directed to the Sheriff or Coroner of Philadelphia County, for carrying on and obtaining the effect of the aforesaid suits, which Sheriff and Coroner shall and are hereby obliged to yield obedience in executing the said writs, and make due return thereof before the justices of the said court for the said County of Philadelphia, as if the parties were living and residing within the same.
Sect. XXI. And whereas it is represented by petition to the General Assembly, that by the lines hereinbefore mentioned a long narrow neck or point of land, being part of the manor of Moreland, and lying between the townships of Byberry and Lower Dublin, in the County of Phila- delphia, would be included in the County of Montgomery, to the great inconvenience and injury of the inhabitants of the said neck of land, who have prayed that they may remain within the County of Phila- delphia.
Sect. XXn. Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the boundary line of the said County of Montgomery shall be as follows, that is to say, beginning in the line of Bucks County where the same is intersected by the line which divides the townships of Byberry and the Manor of Moreland ; thence southwesterly along the last mentioned line to the first corner or turning thereof; and thence on the same south- westerly course to the line of Lower Dublin ; and thence westwardly along the Northern line of Lower Dublin and so on, as the lines of the said County of Montgomery are hereinbefore described, to the place of beginning ; anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.
Passed Sept. 10, 1784.
Thus, in the more or less quaint phraseology of the time, was Mont- gomery county created. The boundaries thus erected cause it to be bounded on the southeast by the line of the City and County of Phil- adelphia ; on the northeast by Bucks ; on the north and northwest by Lehigh and Berks ; and on the west and southwest by Chester and Del- aware counties. Its greatest length is thirty miles, running from the southeast to the northwest lines. Its greatest breadth is about fifteen miles from the northeast to the southwest lines. The county has an approximate area of 473 square miles, or by the usual farm measurement, 303,080 acres.
Topographically, the entire county is a series of hills and valleys. Many of the hills attain the eminence of small mountains, chief among the latter being those which constitute the historic and sacred Valley Forge, the presence of which within the boundary lines draws to Mont- gomery county visitors from not only all parts of the United States, but from all over the civilized world. Also in the "mountain" class are
4 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
many which border upon the Perkiomen creek, and which have aided within the last decade to transform the Perkiomen region into a typical summer resort frequented during the vacation months by many thou- sands of visitors chiefly from Philadelphia, mostly of the working class, who here find means of recreation at a price within their modest means.
With the exception of the hilly country of the character just referred to, the entire rural territory is in a high state of cultivation, although the last twenty years has changed the county from chiefly a rural district of Pennsylvania to a manufacturing and high-class residential district. The many large towns have been built up around great manufacturing concerns, while the lower end is almost solidly built up with the great mansions of the extremely wealthy, interspersed with communities made up of the beautiful but less pretentious homes of the well-to-do but non- plutocratic class. Most of these residents of the county have their busi- ness places in Philadelphia, and commute daily.
The Schuylkill river forms the southwestern boundary line between Montgomery and Chester counties until it reaches the Merion town- ships; from thence it passes through the country in a southeasterly course until it reaches the Philadelphia line. The county is watered by many streams flowing into the Schuylkill — the Wissahickon, Plymouth, Sandy Run, Mill, Rock Hill, Gulf, Valley, Indian, Stoney, Skippack, Perkiomen and Manantawny creeks. The Pennypack and Neshaminy creeks rise in Montgomery county and pass through Bucks county to the Delaware river. The waterflow and fall of these streams and their tribu- taries, which form a network of irrigation, fed by thousands of perennial springs, rising in every part of the county, were early utilized by the settlers, who erected dams and built on the shores many primitive "manufacturies."
It was reported in a paper published in 1795 that there were within the confines of the county 96 gristmills, 61 sawmills, four forges, six fulling mills, and ten paper mills. Many of these gristmills existed prior to and during the Revolutionary War, doing active service for the con- tending armies while in occupancy of this section of the country.
Very early in its history as a political entity, Montgomery county was well traversed by public highways leading from Philadelphia to the interior settlements of the State. The Lancaster road, the Ridge Pike and similar highways, with many parallel cartways, opened up the country settlements at a very early period. These trunk thoroughfares were soon intersected by public roads running from the Delaware to the Schuylkill river, increasing in number and importance until the region was accessible from all points by well graded roads leading in the direction of Philadelphia, then the capital of the State, as late as 1799, and the capital city of the nation as late as 1800. Until the advent of the automobile these roads remained in the same general condition as when laid out by the early settlers, but now a number of the State highways
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY 5
run through this section, and the surfaces of the chief thoroughfares have either been macadamized or concreted by the State Highways Depart- ment. The county government has been equally assiduous in giving the traveling public good roads, and many of the county roads have been placed in the same high class condition as the State roads, and more mileage is being added to the class of "good roads" every year.
In miniature the general conformation of the surface of the county repeats that which has rendered the natural scenery of New York, Penn- sylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia so notable. The ranges of hills run uniformly northeast and southwest, as do the more distant lines of the Catskills, Blue Ridge, and Alleghenies. As the Hudson river forces itself through the Narrows, the Delaware at the Water Gap, the Sus- quehanna between Harrisburg and Port Deposit, the Potomac at Har- per's Ferry, so the Schuylkill river in finding its way to the Delaware, in the same direction, cuts its way through rock hills at Conshohocken and again at Fairmount, Philadelphia.
Originally the county was heavily timbered with oak, hickory and chestnut. The consumption of wood for fuel prior to the introduction of anthracite and bituminous coal, was very great in Eastern Pennsylvania. Large quantities were used in making charcoal for furnaces ; lime was made by use of wood for fuel ; every household had its woodpile, while the supply for Philadelphia constituted a profitable business for many owning and residing on lands within twenty or thirty miles of the city. There was a time, but it is not now within the memory of any one living in the county, when it was part of the work of each succeeding year to clear one or more acres of woodland, and the wood sold counted as part of the profits of the farm. This wealth of primitive forest was the foun- dation of many substantial fortunes, the purchase of woodland, its clear- age and sale of timber paying for the farm, and incidentally opening up the way for the growing of crops on rich ground that required no fertil- ization for years. It has been said by a writer of this period that this "new land" as it was called was a test of the character of the owner. If he was a provident, industrious man, his "new land" would soon blossom with crops. If he were thriftless, selling his wood to pay taxes and incidental expenses of his attendance upon militia training, horse races and other functions which made up the "sporting life" of the day, his new land would remain uncultivated and overgrown with briers and brush.
Seventy-five or more years ago farms denuded of woodland were exceptional, and their market value greatly depreciated. The old-time farmer of Montgomery county took a commendable pride in maintain- ing from ten to twenty acres of primitive forest. It was useful in many ways — for fuel, building and fencing, and probably had a charm for him aside from its utilitarian aspect. It was these patches of woodland that preserved for many years the haunts of game and made the county a
6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
paradise for hunters. But these conditions disappeared a half century ago, and nowadays the owner of a farm or a country estate reverses the ancient process, and spends large sums of money to restore woodlands instead of making money by their sale.
In different parts of the county the surface soil varies greatly. In passing inland from tidewater levels, alluvial flats and submarine for- mations, rockfaced bluffs are found at Chestnut Hill, four hundred feet above tidewater mark. The northwestern slope of these hills descends to the basin of Plymouth Valley, through which runs a belt of limestone some two miles in width, with rich beds of menatite iron ore, white and blue marble, limestone, soapstone, and large masses of gray rock easily quarried and largely used in heavy masonry. This limestone belt crosses the Schuylkill river between Conshohocken and Swedes Ford, and extends in a westerly direction to Howeltown, in the Schuylkill Valley. The soil of this locality is very productive, and is considered by many the most valuable in the county for agricultural purposes. Contiguous to the Plymouth Valley are the Sandy Hills, a light luminous soil, easily worked and productive, but often seriously affected by drought.
The rolling lands northwest of the valley, drained by Indian, Skip- pack, Perkiomen, and Manatawney creeks and their tributaries, are principally of the red shales and sandstones of the "middle secondary formation," with many intervening areas of clay soil. The primitive condition of this soil was unproductive as compared with that of the Schuylkill and Plymouth valleys, but under the skillful treatment of long generations of practical and efficient farmers and a liberal use of fertilizers, this vast region of country yields abundant harvests and supports a prosperous farming population.
As a result of generations of successive ownership of the original territory, it has been pretty well subdivided, as the records of any title insurance company will show. In 1681 it consisted of manors and large tracts, or proprietary grants, held by comparatively few persons, who lived a frontier life in almost daily contact with members of various tribes of Indians. Since then its broad acres, due to the operation of American laws which forbid the descent of estates as a whole along a direct line beyond the second generation of the devisee, have been cut into comparatively infinitesimal bits, and now thousands own that which in the early days belonged to but one.
Macadamized highways from tidewater to the interior marked the first era of public improvements. So far as their routes are concerned, these highways still exist, monuments to the early engineers who graded them over hills and mountains. But only the lines of the roads remain as a memorial. The old-time surfaces would not last a day under the stress of modern motor car travel. In their early days, there were but few bridges, most of the highways being directed so as to cross rivers and creeks at shallow water. But the increase of traffic on these roads,
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY 7
particularly freight traffic in the old Conestoga wagons — the precursors of the modern motor truck — soon induced the bridging of all important streams on the main highways.
The Schuylkill river was next the subject of public improvement, and by a system of dams, locks and canals connected it with the Susque- hanna, by means of which lumber, coal and all manner of merchandise found its way through Montgomery county to Philadelphia. There were also passenger boats, known as the "fast packet line," now not even a memory in a human mind, although an occasional freight or coal boat may be seen. Many travelers used these packet boats, which were drawn by frequent changes of horses at a trot ; and old letters reveal the fact that the tourists of those days considered this method of trans- portation a far more luxurious and pleasant way of going from point to point than by stage coach. This system of navigation now exists on the Schuylkill only in theory. Passenger travel was long ago abandoned, and even for freight it is non-existent, except that the canal company runs just enough boats in a year in order to maintain its charter rights and prevent its being seized by a corporation that would run freight boats in competition with the railroads, at a much lower tariff, as is the case in territory where such competition exists. The canal, so far as Montgomery county is concerned, is therefore no longer a rival of the railroad for mail, freight or passenger traffic, not to speak of motor traffic on the highways.
The canal first sank into desuetude when the use of steam opened up a new era of public improvement. The construction of railroads speedily followed until Montgomery county became almost a gridiron of iron rails. The county is traversed by two great systems — the Pennsyl- vania, and the Philadelphia & Reading, with their subsidiaries. Then came electric power, with the result that there are but few communities in the county that are not connected more or less directly by trolley roads. The Philadelphia & Western railroad, which runs between Norristown and 69th street in Philadelphia, is a third-rail electric system that rivals in speed and comfort the steam trains. While steam and electricity are now the main sources of power for the operation of the county's many great industries, the surface elevations and topographical structure of the district in the early days and even up to a comparatively recent period was greatly contributory to the growth and development of the region by utilizing its flowing waters for the purpose of pro- pelling mill wheels.
With great precision the true latitude and longitude of Montgomery county was ascertained by David Rittenhouse and his distinguished scien- tific contemporaries at some period between 1769 and 1770. The astro- nomical observations which preceded the terrestrial measurements were made taking the Norriton Observatory as a place of beginning. The extraordinary importance attached at the time to the work of these
8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
learned men, and the high standard of authority conceded to them by their successors, renders some account of their labors and the circum- stances connected with the event, of interest to the historical investigator.
By judicial proceedings in 1730, Norriton township was created, at that time becoming a geographical subdivision of Philadelphia, and enjoyed at the time a worldwide celebrity in having had situated within its borders the "Norriton Observatory," at which place astronomical observations were made and reported as "An Account of the Transit of Venus over the Sun's Disk, observed at Norriton, in the County of Phil- adelphia and Province of Pennsylvania, June 3, 1769."
It was at the point where then stood the Norriton Observatory that David Rittenhouse, assisted by Archibald McKean and Jesse Lukens, met on July 2, 1770, to commence the work of surveying a line from the Observatory to the State House Square in Philadelphia. Mr. Rit- tenhouse having ascertained the latitude and longitude at the point with acknowledged precision, and his reputation for exactness in all astro- nomical observations and calculations being duly credited in scientific and official circles in this country and in Europe, he was elected to report the difference of latitude and longitude between the Norriton Observa- tory and the State House Square at Philadelphia, and harmonize the work with that of Mason and Dixon's observatory at the south point of that city.
The first description and catalogue of the plants of Montgomery county was effected by Dr. P. Y. Eisenberg, and was given in full in Bean's "History of Montgomery County" (1884), found in any public library. There the Doctor classified more than seven hundred species of flowering plants, and thirty-three species of the flowerless plants. This work makes a highly interesting and authentic study of the county's plant life.
The animal life or zoology of Montgomery county has only been thoroughly handled by William J. Buck, whose catalogue of quadrupeds contains thirty-five species, embracing eight kinds of bats, three of shrews, five of squirrels, the wild-cat, the rats come in for seven species ; the red fox, weasel, mink, otter, skunk, raccoon, and opossum. Mr. Buck gives us in his catalogue two hundred and thirty-two species of birds and embraces thirteen kinds of hawks, two of eagles, eight of owls, two of cuckoos, eight of woodpeckers, six of swallows, seven of herons, nine of fly-catchers, four of thrushes, twenty-one of warblers, eight of wrens, ten of sparrows, three of plover, five of snipe, five of sandpipers, four of rails, fifteen of ducks, three of geese, three of gulls, three of grebes, two of blackbirds, two of crows, two of orioles, two of robins. He also has in his list of birds of this county, the turkey buzzard, hum- ming bird, whip-poor-will, kingfisher, pewee, blue bird, great shrike, or butcher bird, creeper, nuthatch, red bird, yellow bird, linnet, finch, indigo bird, cow bird, meadow lark, wild pigeon, turtle dove, pheasant, par-
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY 9
tridge, snake driver, killdeer, turnstone, swan, coot, loon, and pelican. Of reptiles is given thirty-three species known to be common here. The rattlesnake and copperhead are quite common, or were in earlier years, but now foi'tunately are rapidly becoming extinct. Mr. Buck names a dozen kind of snakes, eight of turtles, eight of frogs, two of lizards, and six kinds of salamanders. Of fishes are given twenty-five, including the sunfish, bass, perch, trout, chub, roach, sucker, catfish, carp, eel, and lamprey.
CHAPTER II. GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC.
From time to time at various places throughout the county, various precious metals have been found, but in such small quantities that their discovery never attained a commercial possibility. Their presence therefore savors more of scientific interest than of practical value to the community. Gold, for instance, has been found by geologists throughout the county, but mainly in what the scientists call the Azoic rocks, the most antique formation known to the student. Particularly has the presence of this metal been detected in the river sands or alluvial deposits which have been formed by the disintegration of these old formations.
The lower end of the county from the Philadelphia city line to Con- shohocken is made up almost entirely of strata of these oldest rocks, but only slight traces of gold have been found therein, although, according to tradition, many years ago a number of attempts were made by the "get-rich-quick" promoters of the day to capitalize these finds. Accord- ing to Bean's history. Dr. Charles M. Wetherill found traces of gold on the property of a Mr. Yoder, in Franconia township. The gold was found in quartz rock and in iron pyrites. In the sand and gravel thrown out while digging a well he found brilliant scales of gold. From an analysis he found that every hundred pounds of gravel contained gold worth 26^ cents.
Of silver, like gold, only traces have been found, associated with a sulphide of lead. This lead ore holding silver was found at the Ecton mine, Shannonville, about four miles from Norristown, but this mine was abandoned about the time of the Civil War. The ores from this mine when they were assayed for silver, yielded only from five to ten ounces of silver per ton of ore.
It was at this mine and the vicinity that the greatest traces of copper have been found. As early as 1800 it was known that copper ore existed in this locality. Neither tradition nor documentary evidence tells with any degree of certainty who first discovered the ore or who it was who sunk the first shaft or mined the ore in this vicinity. On the well known Wetherill estate, ore was first discovered by some teamsters, it having been turned up with the mud by the wheels of their heavy wagons. Stephen Girard, one of the pioneer exploiters of the day, became inter- ested in these surface indications and he had a shaft sunk, but the effort was without practical value. Some ore was taken out, together with some lead ore, but neither in quantities to warrant the continuance of the operation. With similar results, so far as practicality is concerned, Samuel Wetherill sunk shafts along the Perkiomen creek near Wether-
12 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
ill's mill. Of the only extensive operation to mine copper in the county, and the only one that gave even a promise of profitable results, Bean's history interestingly narrates:
From time to time copper ore had been found in considerable quan- tities at Shannonville, along the creek which empties into the Perkiomen. Several parties became interested at different times in these deposits. At last the ore was found in such abundance and the indications were so promising, that the attention of practical miners was directed to this locality. About the year 1829, John and Robert Rowe, who were Eng- lish miners from the Cornwall mines, became interested in these mines and sunk shafts. They obtained copper ore of a good quality. The mines changed hands several times during the next twenty years. The Ecton mine was managed by the Ecton Consolidated Mining Company, who sunk a shaft two hundred and forty feet deep, and drove a few levels.
The Perkiomen mine was managed by the Perkiomen Mining Asso- ciation, who sunk a shaft over three hundred feet deep and mined much more successfully and extensively than the Ecton company. They erected Cornish pumping engines of great value, and were provided with all the necessary running machinery. These two companies were finally bought out by a new company, known as the Perkiomen Consolidated Mining Company. They purchased the real estate, mines, machinery and other property of the Perkiomen Mining Association for the sum of $iog,ooo, and the property of the Ecton Association for $111,000. This new company carried on mining operations very extensively.
It was a stock company. George Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, was president, and Samuel Wilcox secretary. The directors were George Cadwalader, Charles Macalester, David Longacre, of Lancaster, and Sam- uel F. Tracey and Horatio Allen, of New York. The company was organized in 1852, and they issued fifty thousand shares of stock ; the par value of each share was six dollars. At the Perkiomen shaft there was some valuable machinery — a fifty-inch cylinder Cornish pumping engine of one hundred horse-power; at the Ecton shaft a one hundred horse-power high-pressure pumping engine, twenty and a half inch cyl- inder. Besides these pumping engines there was a whim engine at both these mines. Powerful crushers were in the mine, and other machinery at the surface, such as tram roads and wagons, capstans and shears, whims and whim chains, pulley stands, etc. The value of the machinery at the surface was $30,212; the value of the underground machinery — plungers and drawing lifts, main rods, bobs, ladders, bucket rods, etc. — was about $9,842.
The Perkiomen mine was located on low ground near the creek, while the Ecton mine was situated on high ground about eighteen hun- dred feet distant. The method of mining was to sink shafts and then to drive levels in the direction of the ore. When a bed of ore was reached it would be taken out, and this would leave an open chamber of rock known as a stope. * * * After the main shaft of the Perkiomen mine had been sunk two hundred and forty feet, and the main shaft of the Ecton mine had reached a depth of three hundred and thirty feet, it was determined to connect these two shafts by a level or tunnel which would be eighteen hundred feet in length. This level was afterwards completed, and the mines were connected underground. * * *
GEOLOGY, MINLNG, ETC. 13
But few lodes or mineral veins were found in the Ecton mine. The miners were Englishmen who had been brought over from the Cornwall mines in England. In 1852 about two hundred men were employed at the mines. The miners were not under a regular salary by the week or month, but a number of them would club together and agree to extend a level or a stope so many feet for a certain sum. This method of work- ing sometimes proved profitable to the men, but occasionally they would be losers by the contract. The men went to work in the mines with candles in their hats, which is a rather primitive mode of illumination. One great difficulty they had to contend with was the water which accu- mulated in the shafts and interfered with their mining. The pumping engines at both shafts were kept at work draining the mines. The farmers in the vicinity, also, were sorely tried, as their wells were drained dry, and no water could be procured unless it was pumped from the mines.
Charles M. Wheatley, who was manager in 185 1, says that "all per- sons acquainted with mining operations that have examined the work- ings at Perkiomen have expressed astonishment at the regularity, size, strength and productiveness of the veins, and the high percentage of copper ore obtained from them. The Perkiomen is the first regular copper lode opened in this country, and bears a true resemblance to the Cornish system."
Professor H. D. Rogers, former State Geologist, in speaking of the mines says: "I hesitate not to declare that I entertain a very firm belief that your region is destined to become an important mining district and that ores of lead and copper will return remunerative profits upon the exercise of skill and prudence. The remarkable regularity and parallel- lism of the lodes is an excellent indication of their consistency. Another fact is the exceedingly well defined character of these mineral lodes, which do not spread or lose themselves or their ores in the adjoining strata, but insulate themselves from the rocks of the country by plainly marked parallel walls, between which all the metallic ores of the region and associated gauge stones are found. The veins are true and regular metalliferous lodes. A very important features is the gradation in pass- ing downwards from the outcrops of these veins. First we have only the vein stones, the metals being weathered out or dissolved ; then at a few fathoms below the surface we find mingled with these vein stones iho.^^e metallic ores of lead, copper and zinc which are readily vaporized by heat; and deeper still the same vein stones containing the sulphurets and other permanent ores of copper."
There were no smelting furnaces at the mines and none of the copper ores were smelted in the neighborhood, but were sent to New York and Baltimore for reduction. The ore was first sent to Umpstead's landing at Green Tree, and thence to Philadelphia by canal boats and from there to New York. * * * During the year 1853, 143 tons were raised, and sold for $9989.39. * * *
The mines were worked until the year 1858, when they were closed — not enough ore being taken out to meet the running expenses. The shafts had been sunk much deeper, that of the Perkiomen mine being over four hundred and eighty feet in depth, while that of the Ecton was over six hundred feet deep. The mines from the time they were opened until they were closed never paid the amount of money invested in them. Many interested in the mines were heavy losers. It is said that George
14 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, who was president of the company in 1851, invested one hundred thousand dollars, and many others invested large sums in the enterprise. It seems to be the general opinion that the mines were managed extravagantly and without prudence, and that there were too many needless ofificers drawing high salaries. In 1856 a quantity of refuse ore was worked at a profit by C. M. Wheatley, of Phoenixville, and Captain Cocking, of Cornwall, England.
The property was subsequently purchased by Richard Ricard, of New York, for $40,000. Plain traces of the mining operations can still be seen by the curious in the shape of piles of debris near the openings of the shafts and the latter themselves. The buildings and machinery, of course, long ago fell into decay.
Another copper mining operation of the early days but on a much smaller scale, was in upper Salford township. This vein of copper ore was found on Abraham Kober's farm, in the vicinity of Sumneytown. The ore was first discovered on the surface in a small outcrop, and these surface indications led to further developments. Excavations were immediately begun, and at a depth of fifteen feet a vein eight inches in thickness was discovered. Shortly after this discovery, the farm was leased by Samuel Milligan, of Phoenixville, who set a force of men digging deeper, and finally a rich vein of ore was reached, which at the beginning was only an inch in thickness, but which increased in width until a thickness of three feet was reached. About four tons of copper ore was taken out. Some native copper was also found in small quanti- ties. The mine was also finally abandoned, as the process was expen- sive, and the manifestation was merely superficial, no ore at all being found below a depth of thirty feet. Operations at this mine were first begun in 1878, and the mine abandoned in 1880. The old reports state that while the ore was of very fine quality, it did not exist in paying quantities. Another locality where copper was found but never mined commercially, was about one and a half miles below Norristown, along the line of the Pennsylvania railroad. This was but a small deposit in the limestone belt, and was thrown out by a dynamite blast when the railroad was being built.
There are but slight traces of tin in Montgomery county, and this was found before the Civil War in a native state of purity in the gravel of Franconia township. The largest pieces were found adhering to the gravel and forming a rounded mass of white malleable metal, which was analyzed and found to be pure tin.
The chief mineral mining industry of Montgomery county is, how- ever, and always was, the extraction from the earth of iron ore. No very important deposits of magnetic ore have been found in the county. At the soapstone quarries near Lafayette, now called Miquon, and on the opposite side of the river, near an abandoned soapstone quarry there have been found some slight deposits. In many of the creeks and in the
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC. 15
Schuylkill at places have been found traces of the crystals. What is known as brown hematite is a common iron ore in the county, and many thousand tons of it have been mined. The ore occurs in the limestone belt from Edge Hill westward to the Chester county line. It is also found in extensive deposits of clay. It is said that the first ore ever dug in the county was near Spring Mill, on the farm of J. Kirkner, in 1828. From the mines near Marble Hall, immense quantities of ore have been taken. Other parts of the county were marked by iron ore deposits, but most of these have been worked out, and only the huge craters remain to tell the tale of what an important industry this once was.
The iron ore belt began in the neighborhood of Edge Hill and Ore- land. The next important deposits were in the vicinity of Marble Hall, and were owned by Daniel O. Hitner. The next neighborhood in the limestone valley where iron ore was dug in extensive quantities, was at the Tracey iron ore pit, about one mile east of Conshohocken. There is still one large open pit where the ore was formerly dug, which showed the crude way in which the ore was mined in the early days. Shafts are now sunk vertically, and when a deposit of ore is found, the opening is made in the direction in which the ore extends.
There was also a deposit of iron ore between Potts Landing and Har- manville, and one of the last big deposits to be opened there was in August, 1883. The ore was found a few feet from the surface, in the clay. Another mine that was opened in 1872 that gave more promises than performance was that on the property of William Wills, near the Ridge Pike, on the Plymouth railroad. Ore was first dug here in 1872, and the mines were shortly afterwards bought by the Phoenix Iron Company, who went to considerable expense in erecting machinery and engines. It appeared, however, that the project was not a paying one, and finally the place was abandoned.
West of the Schuylkill river, in Upper Merion township, are or rather, were, extensive deposits of iron ore, which were worked years ago. Be- tween Henderson Station and the Gulf Mills there are many abandoned ore pits which show the direction of the iron ore belt. A short distance from Henderson's marble quarries ore was at one time mined quite extensively. Engines, washers and screen were used, as the ore was mixed with a large amount of clay. It was screened and washed before being sent to the blast furnaces. Many of these pits are exhausted and practically all the remainder abandoned.
Even coal has been found in Montgomery county, but never in work- able quantities. One deposit was found in Norristown years ago, on Elm street, near Markley, about twelve feet below the surface when the street was first graded. The vein was in what the geologists call new red sandstone, extended but a few feet, and was not very thick. Samples were sent to the University of Pennsylvania. It burnt very well, was of a deep black color, with a somewhat pitchy appearance, and was verv
i6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
brittle. Similar traces oi coal have also been found in Gwynedd and in Lower Providence.
Many fossil remains of plant and animal life have been found in the red shale and sandstone foundations. This rock covers the upper and middle portions of the county, and the remains are very interesting and instructive. The reptilian relics found in Montgomery county are the teeth and bones of large lizard-like animals which lived in the ancient seas. These remains have been found to a considerable extent in the Phoenixville tunnel. Specimens of coprolite have also been found in the same rock. The vertebral bones of these large lizard-like reptiles are slightly concave, or hollowed out at their articulating surfaces. Remains of fishes, belonging to the order known as ganoids, have also been found in this tunnel. These are fishes which have a cartilaginous skeleton, and are covered with enameled scales or bony plates. The sturgeons and gar-pikes are living examples of this ancient order. Batrician remains, such as bones and teeth, are found in this locality.
Specimens of coniferous wood, either petrified, or having the nature of coal, and still retaining the woody structure, have been found. This substance is technically known as lignite, and has been found in Ply- mouth creek, below Norristown. In the small coal vein previously referred to, on Elm street, Norristown, a piece of sandstone was found in the bottom of the vein, which bore the imprint of a fossil plant. Near Gwynedd was found on one occasion a bed of carbonaceous shale which contained vegetable remains.
Montgomery county has the honor, geologically speaking, of having given to science the oldest fossil remains yet found in Pennsylvania. It is known technically as Scolithus linearis, and was found in the Pottsdam sandstone at Edge Hill and in the vicinity of Willow Grove and Rubicam station. It consists of a straight, cylindrical, stem-like impression in the sandstone, usually smooth, but sometimes grooved transversely to its axis. Its diameter varies from one-eighth to half an inch, and its length from a few inches to two or three feet. Its position in the rock is perpendicular to the bedding, and from this fact many think that the impression was produced by the boring of a marine worm. The end of the fossil terminates in a head, which is always found at the upper sur- face of the sandstone enclosing it. The impression looks like a large pin.
The most notable find of fossil remains in the county was in the bone cave at Port Kennedy, four miles from Norristown. The following account of the cave is taken from the "American Journal of Science and Arts," Vol I, 1871, p. 235:
Before the discovery of the remains in the Port Kennedy cave, nearly the whole of the walls had been removed in quarrying. A tooth of a mastadon having been found by one of' the workmen. Dr. Quick, of Phoenixville, showed it to Mr. Charles Wheatley, and these two gentle- men immediately visited the cave and commenced the search for the
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC. 17
remains. They found one end of the cave still remaining and having the form * * * of an oval. * * * The width at the top is about twenty feet; below it gradually expands to thirty feet, and then there is a rapid contraction downward until at the depth of about forty feet it is ten feet wide. The whole of the space above this level is filled with the debris of the adjoining mesozoic red shale, with occasional angular frag- ments of auroral limestone, without any trace of organic remains. Where the cave narrows to ten feet, the floor is composed entirely of a black clay eighteen inches thick, filled with leaves, stems and seed ves- sels of post-tertiary plants. Scattered all through this mass of vege- table remains, and also in a red tough clay underneath for six to eight inches, are found fossils.
The remains were subsequently identified and found to be numer- ous specimens of animal, insect, reptile and plant life of a prehistoric age. The remains of most of the animals were found in the tough red clay directly under the plant bed, but the remains of the rodents, snakes, tortoises, birds, plants and insects, were mostly confined to the plant bed.
Minerals of the non-precious or profitable commercially type are found in great variety and abundance throughout the county. But few specimens are found in the new red sandstone except in those localities where metallic veins of copper have been found. Here are found not only copper, but ores of zinc and lead. At Henderson's marble quarry near Bridgeport, graphite and crystals of dolomite have been found, and occasionally small pieces of malachite. At Conshohocken, quartz, flint, chalcedony, chloritoid and cacoxenite have been found ; at Bullock's quarry, fobrolite, calcite, and occasionally a small seam of iron pyrites have been found. At the iron mines near Conshohocken the hematite is sometimes coated with a manganese mineral called pyrolusite. Edge Hill furnishes specimens of hematite, braunite, pyrolusite, turgite and goethite. The soapstone quarries when they were operated at Lafayette, now Miquon, yielded many mineral specimens to the searcher for geo- logical trophies. On the other side of the river, at the abandoned soap- stone quarry, talc, asbestos and very fine octahedral crystals of magne- tite have been found.
Montgomery county excels in its production of excellent building stones and marbles, from which many of its homes and public buildings are constructed. The new red sandstone which covers the greatest por- tion of the county, is much used as a building stone, and nearly all the stone houses in the upper section of the county are built of it. The Potsdam sandstone, which is found in Moreland, Upper Dublin, Spring- field, Whitemarsh and Plymouth townships, is a fine grained, white or gray sandstone, with scales of a light colored mica. This stone, how- ever, is not in such general use locally, especially in the country dis- tricts, as the new red sandstone, quarries of which are worked in nearly every township in the northern and central portions of the county. In
i8 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
some localities the stone is white and makes a beautiful building stone. The county's most important building stone, however, is marble, the many quarries throughout the district furnishing this building material not only to the county, but to Philadelphia and other sections. The magnificent court house at Norristown is constructed entirely of local marble, as is the United States post office building.
The soil of Montgomery county is regarded by agriculturists as being normally fertile throughout the county. The two chief constituents of the soil are limestone and sandstone. There are extensive and valuable clay beds in the county. They are found chiefly in the limestone belt, generally in the vicinity of the mica-slates and schists. The principal clay beds are found in Upper Merion, Plymouth, Whitemarsh and Springfield townships. The clay in all these townships is found in the limestone. There seems to be a depression in the limestone, which may have been the former bed of a stream, and the clay is found resting on the limestone and filling up this depression or bed. Most of the clay, however, had been derived from the mica-slates and schists, and the beds are parallel to the limestone and occupy the position of those rocks from which they have been derived. These are the old clays, while the clay which is found occupying the depressions in the limestone, and not parallel to it, is said to be a more recent clay.
Running across Montgomery county is a great limestone belt, referred to several times in the foregoing. It is this belt that has furnished such immense quantities of marble and lime for shipment both at home and abroad. It commences in Abington township, about a mile and a half north of Abington ; at this point it is quite a narrow belt, but it widens as it extends westward, entering the northern corner of Cheltenham township, and becoming a broad belt of limestone extends through Whitemarsh, Plymouth and Upper Merion townships. It extends as far south as Conshohocken and Spring Mill, and to within a short distance of the towns of Barren Hill and Edge Hill, continues along the Schuyl- kill from Conshohocken to Norristown, and crosses the river, extending into Chester county. The general structure of this main belt of lime- stone is that of a long slender basin or trough, the southern side of which is much steeper than the northern. From the neighborhood of Gulf Mills to a little west of the Schuylkill this formation prevails generally.
So far as rock of igneous origin is concerned, Montgomery county has replicas of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland and Fingal's Cave, Island of Staflfa, with the exception that the formation instead of being colum- nar is in the shape of dykes and boulders. This rock is known as trap, which came to the surface in a melted state through a fissure in the earth's surface in prehistoric days. When an opening was filled with this formation and cooled, it became what is called to-day by geologists, a dyke.
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC. 19
Montgomery county has a trap dyke running through the limestone belt for several miles. This extensive trap dyke commences in Spring- field township, at Flourtown, in the limestone belt, and extends west- ward in a straight line through Whitemarsh township; it follows the southern end of the limestone belt through Conshohocken, where it crosses the river and can be seen in its bed. It outcrops again in West Conshohocken and extends through Upper Merion township, where it can be traced without interruption to the Chester county line, a short distance above the Gulph creek.
From the Chester county line to the Schuylkill at West Consho- hocken there is no difficulty whatever in finding excellent exposures of trap, especially along the river at West Conshohocken, where there is an abutment of trap and numerous weathered boulders along the rail- road. Between Conshohocken and Marble Hall the dyke can be traced easily. It passes directly through Conshohocken and crosses five of the county roads before it reaches Marble Hall ; between these two points there are many loose boulders of rock. From Marble Hall to the Wissahickon creek the dike can not be seen, as it is covered with a deposit of clay ; but there is a fine exposure on the Wissahickon creek, where it cuts through the dike, and at one point, by contact with the formation, the creek is turned from its course.
There are numerous evidences of trap rock formations in various sections of the county, but none to approach this one in size, and none to approach in general popular interest that natural curiosity in Potts- grove township, known for miles around as "The Ringing Rocks," and around which for a decade or more has been maintained a summer park and picnic grounds known as Ringing Rocks Park. These rocks are widely known throughout the country, and are visited by thousands every year. In formation they resemble the debris cast up by a glacier. Some of the rocks are small, while many are of tremendous size. These boulders are scattered around the surface for a considerable area ; some are weathered, and many have fresh surfaces exposed. When these rocks are struck with a hammer or any metallic substance, they give forth a musical note. Diflferent tones are produced by striking different rocks, the sound varying with the size of the rock. These rocks are trap rocks of the same formation as those which form the large dike. Near Pottstown can also be found two or three small trap dikes which extend through the new red sandstone, and the boulders which com- prise ringing rocks belong to one of these dikes.
There are two extensive belts of serpentine in the county. The longest belt commences on the northern brow of Chestnut Hill, between the two turnpikes, and extends westward across the Wissahickon creek. It passes through Springfield township. This belt crosses the Schuyl- kill near Lafayette, now Miquon. It extends through Lower Merion township to Bryn Mawr. Along the eastern and central parts of its
20 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
course the southern side of the belt consists chiefly of a talcose steatite, the northern side containing much serpentine in lumps dispersed through the steatite, but towards the western side this separation seems to dis- appear. The serpentine belt is plainly seen from Chestnut Hill to Wis- sahickon creek, where enormous blocks cover the surface of the bed.
Near the Schuylkill, the large blocks of serpentine and soapstone are again seen, and they choke the bed of the ravine north of the soap- stone quarry. On the west side of the Schuylkill this serpentine and steatite rock is still visible in large blocks a little above the soapstone of that bank of the river. Near Merion Square the exposure is promi- nent, the surface being strewn with large masses. These rocks may be distinguished from others by the enormous size of the loose blocks and by the coatings of lichens and mosses which flourish over them. The rock is visible in the Pennsylvania railroad cut south of Bryn Mawr.
Near the Schuylkill river, about one-fourth of a mile beyond Miquon, to the north, is found the next serpentine belt. It extends east to the brook which flows into the Schuylkill at Lafayette, and begins in White- marsh township, whence it extends westward across the Schuylkill through Lower Merion township to the Gulf road, about one-third of a mile north of Bryn Mawr. This deposit occurs along the northern edge of the mica-schists, and runs almost parallel to the first belt described, they being but about a mile apart. South of Gulf Mills is another outcrop of serpentine. This exposure has only a length of a few hundred feet, but it is at least three hundred feet wide.
As has been stated before, the Mesozoic, or new red sandstone, is the chief geological characteristic of the northern and central parts of the county. They extend from the Bucks county line to Norristown and Valley Forge, and the sandstone and red shale can be traced along the Schuylkill river from Norristown to Pottstown. In other words, all that portion of the county north of the limestone belt and north of the Pottsdam sandstone and syenite, is covered with new red sandstone and shale. The shales and sandstones are generally of a red color, which is due to the oxide of iron which they contain. Many varieties of sand- stone belonging to this formation are found in the county. In some localities much clay is mixed with the sandstone. Elsewhere the rock is chiefly composed of grains of sand, with scarcely any clay or oxide of iron in it. In the vicinity of Norristown and Bridgeport and in other nearby localities is found white sandstone containing feldspar and mica, and which makes an excellent building stone, extensively used locally.
The principal exposures of Pottsdam sandstone, which geologists call a primal sandstone, are found flanking the limestone region on the north between Valley Forge and the eastern extremity of the limestone basin east of Fitzwatertown. It encircles the eastern end of the lime- stone belt, and extends westward as a narrow belt south of the lime- stone to Spring Mill. At Henderson's Station, Bridgeport, Hickory-
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC. 21
town. Cold Point and Oreland, folds of this sandstone are found pen- etrating the limestone. Pottsdam limestone compose the historic hills of Valley Forge. The formation is well developed at Edge Hill, Rubicam Station and Willow Grove.
Near Chestnut Hill and Bryn Mawr there appear at the surface some curious patches of an ancient gravel, which has been named by geolo- gists, "Bryn Mawr Gravel." It is found at elevations of from 300 to 400 feet above the Schuylkill, and the theory of scientists is that these deposits are the remains of an ancient ocean beach and the remnants of a once continuous formation. The gravel consists of rounded or sharp pebbles of quartzite, or grains of sand cemented by iron. Sometimes the pebbles are coated with a brownish-black glaze. They are very hard. The gravel is ten feet deep, and rests upon the gneiss rock, which is decomposed. This is held by the scientists to be the oldest surface formation in Pennsylvania.
Mica schists and slates are found in the southern part of Upper Merion township. They cross the river at Conshohocken, and extend into Whitemarsh township. Near the Gulph Mills the hill divides into two spurs. The main deposits of clay in the county are found in the vicinity of the slates, and it is supposed that some of the clay beds are derived from the decomposition of the mica in the slates. The rocks of this formation rest on limestone and are of more recent age, according to the scientists, who assign them to the Hudson river age in the geo- logical development of this section of the country.
Syenite and granitic rocks extend from Moreland, at the Bucks county line, westward across the Schuylkill river to the Delaware county line. The hills at Spring Mills are syenite. The cuts in the Pennsylvania railroad at Spring Mill were made through this rock. The Schuylkill river between West Conshohocken and Spring Mill is turned from its course by the resistance offered by this extremely hard rock. It is the oldest formation in the county, and no fossils are ever found in it.
An interesting account of the early quarrying of limestone is given in Bean's history, and is reproduced here in part as follows :
* * * The earliest mention we have been enabled to find of lime- stone and of lime being made therefrom to be used for building purposes, is in a letter written by Robert Turner, of Philadelphia, dated 3rd of 6th month, 1685, addressed to William Penn in England, from which we learn that "Samuel Carpenter is our limeburner on his wharf. Brave limestone found here, as the workmen say, being proved."
The next mention found is in another letter to Penn, written by Nicholas More, dated "Green Spring, the 13th of September, 1686," wherein he states that "Madame Farmer has found out as good limestone on the Schuylkill as any in the world, and is building with it : she ofifers to sell ten thousand bushels at sixpence the bushel upon her plantation, where there are several considerable hills, and near to your manor of Springfield." The aforesaid was evidently the wife of Jaspar Farmer, who had arrived here in November, 1685, and had taken up in the pres-'
22 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
ent Whitemarsh township a tract of five thousand acres of land, but died soon thereafter. His son, Edward Farmer, subsequently became the owner of about three-fourths of this purchase.
For building purposes, the Swedes and other early settlers first used lime prepared from oyster shells, of which we find mention made by several writers. Thomas Budd, in his account of Pennsylvania, printed in 1685, says : "We make lime of oyster shells which by the sea and bay- side are so plentiful that we may load ships with them." He further informs us that there is no limestone, "as we yet know of," from which we are led to infer that Samuel Carpenter and Madam Farmer, as has been mentioned, must have been among the earliest to convert limestone into lime. Even prior to the summer of 1685, considerable building had been done in Philadelphia and its vicinity, which required no small amount of the article as prepared from oyster shells.
William Penn, in a letter to the Marquis of Halifax, dated 9th of I2th month, 1683, mentions that "about one hundred and fifty very tol- erable houses for wooden ones" had been erected in Philadelphia. In his "Further Account of Pennsylvania," written in December, 1685, he states that the number had been increased to three hundred and fifty- seven houses, "divers of them large, well built, with good cellars, three stories, and some with balconies." He also mentions in the same of "divers brickeries going on, and some brick houses going up." Robert Turner in a letter from Philadelphia, 3rd of 6th month, 1685, states that "we are now laying the foundation of a plain meeting house, sixty by fourty feet," and that "Pastorius, the German Friend, with his people, are preparing to make brick next year." These statements show the necessity for lime, for which purpose no inconsiderable quantities must have been required, and that the discovery of limestone so near the city created at once a demand for its superior quality ranking, as has since been proven, among the best found in the country.
John Goodson wrote from Philadelphia, 24th of 6th month, 1690, "that six carters have teams daily employed to carry and fetch timber, bricks, stone and lime for building, which goeth on to admiration. We have rocks of limestone, where many hundreds, yea thousands of bush- els of lime are made in one year for this town." John Holme, one of the judges of the Philadelphia County Court, in his poem on "The Flourishing State of Pennsylvania," written in 1696, mentions therein that a few years previously lime had been burned from oyster shells, but since "a great store" of limestone had been discovered in the ground from which "now is made good stone lime," which was not only superior but cheaper than the former article. * * *
At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held May 19, 1698, a road was ordered to be laid out from White Marsh, for the purpose of hauling lime from the kilns there to the city, and to meet the Plymouth road near Cresheim, or the upper part of Germantown. In 1703, Nicholas Saul, and others, of "Sandy Run," in the "Manor of Springfield," peti- tion that they had formerly received the grant of a road from the lime- kilns to Philadelphia on the Germantown road, which the court now ordered should be speedily opened. This is evidently the road proposed by the council aforesaid, and the present highway leading from the vil- lage of Whitemarsh through Chestnut Hill. In 1713 the road was opened from the aforesaid kilns to Skippack, over which also consider- able lime was hauled.
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC. 23
The Plymouth highway was laid out as "a cart road" in the spring of 1687. This is the road leading from Plymouth to Philadelphia and now known as the Germantown and Perkiomen turnpike, which was laid on its bed and finished in 1804. It is likely that this is the first road opened for the transportation of lime to the city. What is now known as the Limekiln road was laid out from Germantown to Upper Dublin in 1693, and probably first opened for the purpose of obtaining lime from the vicinity of the present Fitzwatertown. The road from the latter place to Abington Meeting House was confirmed in 1724, and opened the following year. From the petition it is ascertained that Thomas Fitz- water carried on there the business of lime burning in 1705.
Gabriel Thomas, who arrived here in 1683, in his account of Pennsyl- vania, published in London in 1698, mentions that where "there is also very good limestone in great abundance, plenty and cheap, of great use, in buildings, also in manuring lands." The Manor of Mount Joy, con- taining seven thousand eight hundred acres, was granted by Penn to his daughter Letitia the 24th of 8th month, 1701. This tract was partly situated in Upper Merion, and we have the authority of Oldmixon's "British Empire in America," published in 1708, that it abounded in lime- stone, which had been made use of for some time. Edward Farmer, whose settlement in Whitemarsh was known in 1708 as "Farmer's Town," supplied lime at various times from there for the buildings of Springettsbury, erected by Thomas and Richard Penn, between the years 1732 to the time of his death in 1745. Francis Rawle, who had settled in Plymouth about 1685, in his "Ways and Means," printed by S. Keimer, of Philadelphia, in 1725, and written the previous year, states on page 54 that "of limestone we have a great plenty, of which stone lime is made, which gives the opportunity to the inhabitants to build good stone and brick houses in town and country."
The lime used in the building of the State House, from 1729 to 1735, was hauled from the kilns of Ryner Tyson, in Abington township, four- teen miles north of the city. Those kilns and quarries have ever since been in the family, and the business of lime burning is still carried on by the descendents.
The county commissioners in March, 1804, invite proposals for haul- ing by the bushel a quantity of lime from Plymouth to Pottstown suffi- cient to complete the bridge over the Manatawney, a distance of about twenty-three miles.
In 1810, if not earlier, the limestone burners of the county formed themselves into an association, of which Alexander Crawford was presi- dent and John Fitzwater secretary, meeting for several years, in Janu- ary, at the house of Philip Sellers, White Marsh. In February, 1824, they met in the house of Andrew Hart, Plymouth. The members at this time were George Tippen, Samuel Davis, John Shepherd, Daniel Fisher, Benjamin Marple, Eleazer Michener, Enoch Marple, John Hell- ings, George Egbert, George Lare, Henry Johnson, Abraham Marple, William Sands, Joseph Harmer, and Daniel Davis. It appears they soon afterwards dissolved, their proceedings being deemed unlawful, but we presume no more so than any other combination of a similar char- acter. Among their objects was to fix the price of lime and the wood they either purchased or received in exchange.
On so great a business as the production of lime, it is to be regretted that there are so few statistics. It should be interesting to possess a list
24 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
of the several manufacturers, the number of kilns operated, and the amount respectively made. The quantity sent off by water must be considerable, especially to the States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, as also by railroad to adjoining counties, Philadelphia and other places, for building, manufacturing and agricultural purposes.
The townships of Montgomery that possess limestone are Abington, Upper Dublin, Springfield, Whitemarsh, Plymouth, and Upper Merion. The limestone surface here may probably compose about fifteen square miles. Plymouth no doubt is now the greatest producer; next Upper Merion, followed by Whitemarsh and Upper Dublin. Norristown, Swedesburg and Port Kennedy are extensive shipping points of this material. The lime of Montgomery county for all building purposes possesses a high reputation, and is regarded as the very best produced.
CHAPTER III. THE ORIGINAL RESIDENTS AND OWNERS.
The first residents and owners of the land that comprises Montgom- ery county were, of course, like with all the remainder of North America, the Indians.
That section of territory now embraced within the geographical boun- daries of the county was purchased in sections by William Penn. The earliest recorded transaction by Penn for a section of what now con- stitutes the county was made the 26th of June, 1683, of Wingebone, a chief, for all his rights to lands lying on the west side of the Schuylkill, beginning at the lower falls of the same, and so on up and backwards of said stream as far as his right goes. The next purchase was made the 14th of July of the same year, from Secane and Idquoquehan and others for all the land lying between the Manayunk or Schuylkill river and Macopanackhan or Chester river, and up as far as Conshohocken Hill, which is opposite the present borough of the same name. On the same day another purchase was made of Neneshickan, Malebore, Nesh- anocke and Oscreneon for the lands lying between the Schuylkill and Pennypack streams, and extending as far northwest as Conshohocken, but now better known as Edge Hill. On the 3rd of June, 1684, all the right of Maughhongsink to the land along the Perkiomen creek was duly sold and conveyed. On the 7th of the same month and year, Met- tamicont relinquished all his right to lands on both sides of the Penny- pack. July 30, 1685, Shakhoppa, Secane, Malebore and Tangoras con- veyed all their rights to lands situated between Chester and Pennypack creeks, and extending up into the country in a northwest direction from the sources of those streams, two full days' journey.
These grants from the Indian chiefs as just set forth, comprise most of the territory now embraced within the confines of Montgomery county, excepting that portion lying east of the Pennypack creek. July 5, 1697, another purchase was made from Tamany, Weheeland, Wehe- queckhon, Yaqueekhon and Quenamockquid for all their right to lands lying between the Pennypack and Neshaminy creeks, and extending in a northwest direction from the Delaware as far as a horse could travel in two days. The last right and title of the Indians to any portion of Montgomery county, as now constituted, was thus finally extinguished by purchase.
By previous appointment, a council of the Indians and whites was held at the house of Edward Farmer, where is now the village of White- marsh, on May 19, 1712. The Governor, Charles Gookin, was present, with the sherifif, John Budd, Conrad Richard Walker, and others. The Indians were represented by a delegation of eleven Delaware aborigines
26 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
headed by Sassunan, accompanied by Ealochelan and Scholichy, the latter being speaker. The duties of interpreter were performed by Edward Farmer, who was quite familiar with the Indian language. Scholichy, in his address to the governor, mentioned that as the Dela- wares had been made tributary to the Mingoes, or Five Nations, many years ago, they had thought proper to call on him previous to their seeing those tribes, and that they had brought their tribute along, which was duly presented to the governor and consisted of thirty-two belts of wampum, and a long Indian pipe called a calumet, made of stone, the shaft of which was made of stone, adorned with feathers resembling wings. Their business was amicably settled to the satisfaction of all parties. On this occasion the journey of the governor and his associates was made on horseback from Philadelphia to Whitemarsh.
It may be of interest in this connection to state that wampum passed as current money between the early whites and the Indians. There were two kinds of it — white and purple. They were both worked into the form of beads, generally each about a half an inch long and one- eighth broad, with a hole drilled through so as to be strung on leather or hempen strings. The white was made out of the great conch or sea- shell, and the purple out of the inside of the mussel-shell. These beads, after being strung, were next woven by the Indian women into belts, sometimes broader than a person's hand, and about two feet long. It was these that were given and received at their various treaties as seals of friendship; in matters of less importance, only a single string was given. Two pieces of white wampum were considered to equal in value one of purple.
The calumet was a large smoking pipe, made out of some soft stone, commonly of a dark red color, well polished, and shaped somewhat in the form of a hatchet, and ornamented with large feathers of several colors. It was used in all their treaties with the whites, and it was considered by them as a flag of truce between contending parties which it would be a high crime to violate. In fact, the calumet by them was considered as sacred and as serious an obligation as an oath among the Christians.
It is also interesting to note that not a single title in Montgomery county, or anywhere else, for that matter, in Pennsylvania, is traced back to these original grants to Penn by the Indians, despite the fact that there is not a foot of ground in the county that could not be reduced by conveyancers to these titles. But even if they were, they would not be in law a good title. Lawrence Lewis, in his "Essay on Original Land Titles in Philadelphia," endorses this contention after holding to the contrary to the first part of the proposition, namely, that "it is impos- sible to trace with any accuracy" the titles to land in Philadelphia ceded by the Indians. Nor is it necessary, it is further held, to trace a title which is of no value. The Indians could not sell land to individuals and
THE ORIGINAL RESIDENTS AND OWNERS 27
give valid title to it in any of the colonies ; they could sell if they chose, but only to the government. Upon this subject the lawyers are explicit. All good titles in the thirteen original colonies are derived from land grants, made or accepted not by the Indians, but by the British Crown. Thus Chalmers ("Political Annals," 677) says: "The Law of Nations sternly disregarded the possessions of the aborigines, because they had not been admitted into the society of nations." At the Declaration of Independence, every acre of ground in this country was held immedi- ately by grants from the Crown. All our institutions recognize the absolute title of the Crown, subject only to the Indian's right of occu- pancy, and recognize the absolute title of the Crown to extinguish that right. An Indian conveyance alone could give no valid title to an individual.
CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
Among the first settlers in Montgomery county were natives of Sweden, from whom so many prominent residents of the locality are lineal descendants. The events connected with and resulting from the discovery of the Delaware and Hudson rivers by the Dutch from 1609 to 1638 are closely interwoven with the settlements of the Swedes on the shore of the Schuylkill.
A lineal descendant of one of the earliest settlers, Matts Holstein, the late Dr. George W. Holstein, of Bridgeport, in his response to a toast, "The Swedes," at the first annual banquet of the Montgomery County Historical Society, held at Norristown on the evening of February 22, 1882, paid an interesting tribute to an ancestry which pioneered civili- zation and Christianity in the Schuylkill Valley. Dr. Holstein said in part:
As a lineal descendant of those Swedes who crossed the ocean as early as 1636, I am deeply conscious of the compliment thus paid to their memory, and yet I feel that it is justly due, in view of the results accom- plished by them and their influence in moulding the destinies of this great country.
Trained at home in a love for the practical teachings of the "Sermon on the Mount," and the general truths of revealed religion, they early planted the Cross of Calvary upon these shores, and in all their inter- course with the natives and others illustrated the principles heralded thereby. By fair and honorable dealings they gained the confidence of the Indians, and lived among them upon the most amicable terms. Their influence over them was remarkable, as was evinced by many of the natives attaching themselves to the religious and educational institu- tions established by them, thus rendering much more easy the great work accomplished by William Penn, who came over here later as the representative of the British Crown, supported by all the vast influence of that powerful nation, commissioned by King Charles H to act as Proprietory Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, having received a grant of land lying north of that occupied by Lord Baltimore, and west of the river Delaware. This was in lieu of a claim of sixteen thousand pounds due him for services rendered by his father. Rear Admiral Penn, a distinguished officer of the British Navy. The charter for this grant still hangs in the ofifice of the secretary of the Commonwealth at Harris- burg, dated March 4, 1681. William Penn reached here in October, 1682, and now in this bi-centennial year of that event, when it is pro- posed to celebrate it with distinguished honors, while I would not for one moment detract from the glory to which I believe he is eminently en- titled, yet I do not wish the fact to be lost sight of that the Swedes were among the first to establish friendly relations with the natives, that the first translation into the Indian dialect was the Swedish (Lutheran) Catechism by Rev. John Campanius, a Swedish (Lutheran) missionary.
30 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
In 1642, six years after their arrival, Colonel John Printz, of the Swedish army, was sent over as the governor of the colony. His instructions dated Stockholm, August 15, 1642, contain twenty-eight articles embracing his duties — first, in relation to the Swedes ; secondly, to the Europeans living in the vicinity ; and thirdly, to the Indians. With respect to these latter, the Governor was directed to confirm, im- mediately upon his arrival, the treaty with them by which they had con- veyed to the Swedes the western shore of the Delaware from Cape Hen- lopen to the Falls of Sanhickan, since called Trenton, and as much inland as should gradually be wanted. Also to ratify the bargain for land on the east side, and in these and future purchases to regard them as rightful owners of the country. He was to treat all the neighboring tribes in the most equitable and humane manner, so that no injury by violence or otherwise should be done to them by any of his people. He had also in charge to accomplish as far as practicable the embracing of Christianity by them, and their adoption of the manners and customs of civilized life.
He was accompanied by Rev. John Campanius as chaplain of the colony. In 1653 Governor Printz was succeeded by Governor John Claudius Rising, who soon after invited ten of the leading Indian chiefs to a friendly conference. It was held at Tinicum on the 17th of June, 1654. He saluted them in the name of the Swedish queen, with assur- ance of her favor, put them in mind of the purchase of lands already made, and requested a continuation of their friendship. He distributed various presents among them, and gave a good entertainment to them and their company. They were much pleased, and assured him of a faithful affection. One of the chiefs, Naaman, made a speech during which he remarked that "the Swedes and the Indians had been as one body and one heart, and that thenceforward they should be as one head ;" at the same time making a motion as if he were tying a strong knot, and then made this comparison, "that as the calabash was round with- out any crack, so should they be a compact body without any fissure."
Campanius represents the Indians as having been frequent visitors at his grandfather's house in Delaware county, which gave him an oppor- tunity of studying their language, in which he became quite proficient. In the conversation he had there with them, he succeeded in impressing upon their minds the great truths of Christianity and awakening a deep interest among them, hence his translation of the Lutheran catechism. They attached great value to this act, as evincing a deeper interest in their welfare than that indicated by mere lip service, and it thencefor- ward proved a bond of union, binding them in acts of devotion and fealty to the Swedes. The Swedes gave the great and good Penn a most cordial welcome, and the benefit of their influence and experience, for which he was truly grateful, and which he kind'ly acknowledged in a letter to his friends at home, in 1683.
This society does itself credit in thus honoring the memory of a people who were among the earliest to locate in this vicinity, and who established regulations and usages that have exercised a refining and elevating influence in shaping the morals and habits of the community around us.
The Swedish government has never lost sight of the Swedes in Montgomery county, for as recently as 1876, during the Centennial
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS 3'
Celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the blood royal of the Swedish government, accompanied by a large number of distinguished guests and citizens, paid a visit to the Lutheran Church of Christ (Swede) in Upper Merion, now an Episcopalian edifice. This unusual event occurred on Sunday, July 2, of the Centennial year. The appearance of the royal delegation, nearly all of whom were garbed in the full uniforms of their respective ranks, seated in the ancient church, was an unusual sight in democratic America. The Prince occupied a front pew, and was of course the center of attraction. His Highness was a boyish-looking lad, according to the testimony of those who saw him, possessing a free and unassuming manner. His name was Prince Oscar, his title, Duke of Gottland, and he was the second son of the King of Sweden.
In his sermon, which threw much light upon the civil and religious history of the Swedish colony, the pastor of the church. Rev. O. Perin- chief, spoke in part as follows :
* * * In 1631, or from that to 1638, a colony of Swedes landed and settled upon this side of the Delaware, below the place where now stands the city of Wilmington. There is some uncertainty about the date. The probability is that attempts had been made, or partial settlements, hav- ing for their object the necessary investigation preparatory to a perma- nent occupation, which at least did take eflfect in 1637 or '38. At any rate, we know the great Gustavus had contemplated the enterprise for many years. The great struggle between Romanism and Protestantism was then at its bitterest, and the hope and purpose of founding here a Protestant colony entered largely into the enterprise. But with this was combined the evangelization of the Indians, and, more than all, the establishment of the people — good, honest Swedes — in comfortable homes, upon lands they could look at and call their own. The persons who came over in this way were of two classes — a small class of govern- ment officials to administer order and, as occasion occurred, watch their own individual chances, but a large class of sober and industrious people truly seeking a home. It sometimes happened that persons were sent over partly as banishment and partly in hope of reform ; but the people not only of this but of sister colonies sent them back, for they were always worse than useless. Though bound to hard labor, it was a sort of slave labor, and the freemen would rather do their own work, because they could do it better and because they abhorred slavery.
These settlers bought their lands from the Indians, and in later times erected substantial homes. Nearly all the men were husbandmen. They saw their wealth in the soil. Up to 1700 the colony had grown to over a thousand, though they had been subjected to bitter discouragement and sad vicissitudes. But their prosperity had not been accomplished without great care and generosity on the part of their brethren at home At the very outset the settlers were provided with ministers of the gos- pel— pious and learned men — to teach and admonish the people and to preserve the spiritual privileges they had enjoyed in their native land. These ministers were supported by the funds of the mother country. The colony was supplied with Bibles, catechisms, and other books. On one single occasion ministers were sent forth bearing books in plentiful
32 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
supply, and encouraged by a donation of three thousand dollars from Charles XII.
The Swedes were reminded of the Indians around them, and Luther's Catechism was translated into the Indian dialect, at least as soon and perhaps sooner than the corresponding work of Eliot in regions farther north. The fault of these Swedes, if it may be permitted to speak of such a thing to-day, was a lack of unity of purpose and harmony in action. Their plans lacked breadth and unselfishness. They looked a little ahead or not at all. Before their children they set no greatness, and made little provision for its creation. In narrowed endeavors to save, they very frequently lost, and left us, instead of property and rich advantages, a legacy of sad reflection and bitter regrets. In the nature of things the settlement spread on the other side of the river in New Jersey, and on this side of the Delaware and along the Schuylkill.
The first settlement in this immediate vicinity was in 1702. At that time the nearest church was at Wiaco, now Gloria Dei, in Philadelphia. Gradually their numbers thickened, and in a few years we begin to hear requests for occasional services up here. In 1773 a lot was given and a house built for the double purpose of school and church. Upon the very ground within the very stone walls which enclose our yard, a wooden building was constructed, though we know that prior to 1733 the grounds had been used as a place of burial. No stated minister living nearer than Philadelphia, both religious and educational matters languished until 1759, when there arrived from Sweden a very remarkable man, whose memory is still green and deserves to be richly cherished, Dr. Charles M. Van Mangel. Under him our church here, this very struc- ture, was built in 1760, making this present its one hundred and sixteenth anniversary. The date "1760" was engraved on its walls and stands there to-day.
In 1765 a charter was obtained from the Proprietary government of John Penn, then at the head of affairs. The churches lying within the territorial limits of Pennsylvania were incorporated under the name of the United Swedish Lutheran Churches of Wiaco, Kingsessing, and Upper Merion. This charter continued until 1787, when the new state of things consequent upon the American Revolution rendered it needful to obtain a charter from the State Government of Pennsylvania. The new charter was substantially the same as that of 1765, except that it gave the people the right to elect their own minister, and provided for the formal ending of the Swedish mission. Thus closed the long inter- val of nursing care which established us here as a church, which through many years must have exerted a vast influence in shaping the destiny of this commonwealth and nation ; a period marked by noble generosity, by many sacrifices, enshrined by many holy and exemplary lives ; a period which left us stewards invested with no slight responsibility.
The two churches (Kingsessing and Upper Merion) continued with Wiaco until 1842, when each church obtained for itself a separate and independent charter. The other two churches passed into communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church. We remained as we still remain, a separate organization, heir to all the traditions, invested, too, perhaps, in that very fact, with the great responsibility, a witness still of a faith and kindness which never slumbered, a monument of labor which blessed our fathers, still blesses us, and which we believe will go on to bless our children. For it all we lift up our hearts and praise God who made man
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS
33
of one blood. We greet our brethren to-day from the Fatherland, and thank them, and through them the people to whom they belong, and assure them that whatever things among us their ears may hear or their eyes behold, which at the same time their hearts approve, they have had their part in producing, and that this day as a people we would not be a selfish people taking credit to ourselves, but gratefuly acknowledge our debt, and praying God to return the blessing a thousandfold upon their own people, asking in turn their prayers that we and the whole nation may be faithful in every trust, that we have freely received, we may freely give, until all nations, kindreds, tribes and tongues be gath- ered into one grand kingdom, under one king, the common Redeemer and Saviour of all.
CHAPTER V. WILLIAM PENN AND THE FOUNDING OF HIS COLONY.
Montgomery county being such an important unit in the State of Pennsylvania, the history of William Penn and of his colonization eflforts in America are themselves an important part of the history of the county. Of the earlier days of the founder of Pennsylvania it is unnec- essary to comment here — that is a history in itself, together with his religious beliefs and his ambition to try a "holy experiment" in the New World.
Penn's connection with America and therefore with the State and the county, begins after the death of his father, Admiral Penn, when the son fell heir to estates in England and Ireland, with an income of £1500 a year. The English government was debtor to the estate of Admiral Penn for money loaned amounting to £15,000. The treasury of Charles the Second was not particularly well filled at that time, nor did Penn press for the claim in money. This indebtedness was used by him as a lever with the government for the colonial enterprise he had been for some time projecting, and he therefore proposed to the King to grant him a tract of land in America, situated between the country held under grants to the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore, or between Maryland and the Delaware river. Penn's negotiations were successful, but not without great effort on his part, as his enterprise was considered Utopian by influential members of the government, and looked upon with dis- trust by the agents and proprietaries of the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore.
The draft of the charter of what was to become one of America's greatest commonwealths was drawn by Penn and his confidential advis- ers, and was submitted to the scrutiny of the authorities of both Church and State. Sir William Jones, attorney general of the realm, the Lords of Trade, and the Bishop of London, all passed upon the form and sub- stance of the grant, which was finally signed by the King on March 4, 1681. This great document is well preserved to this day, and may be seen at the State Department at Harrisburg.
The new colony's name was left blank in the original draft of the charter, historians holding that such a condition was consistent with the innate modesty of the Quaker and his deferential disposition towards his Royal Master, whose favor he evidently sought with extra- ordinary zeal and judgment. The King, however, filled the blank with his royal penmanship, and named the projected colony in honor of Sir William and Admiral Penn. It is stated by some historians that Penn objected to the name, and oflFered a tempting "fee" to the Under Secre- tary of Colonial Affairs to change it to New Wales and, upon refusal,
36 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
protesting that he had no vanity or family pride to gratify in the mat- ter, "but it is a just and clear thing, and my God that has given it me through many difficulties will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation."
Penn, once he had obtained his charter, commissioned William Markham his deputy, and sent him promptly to his field of labor. Mark- ham arrived in New York in June, 1681. He secured the advice of Gov- ernor Anthony Brockholls, and then hastened to Upland to meet Lord Baltimore, whose friendship he desired to secure in order to arrange the boundary lines on the south and west of the new colony. Markham found that he would be unable to adjust the southern boundary lines of the grant without making concessions which he deemed unjust to William Penn. He therefore deferred further action, and immediately organized the Council of Nine, being the first exercise of duly consti- tuted authority" under the charter. This council was in fact a provi- sional government with power to make public surveys, establish boun- dary lines, constitute courts, appoint justices of the peace, constables, sheriflfs to suppress violence, and generally to institute and enforce such measures as inured to peace and good order of the Province. The war- rant, self-instituted, by this council, was as follows :
Whereas, wee whose hands and Seals are hereunto Sett are Chosen by Wm. Markham (agent to Wm. Penn, Esq., Proprietor of ye Province of Pennsylvania) to be of the Councill for ye sd province, doe hereby bind ourselves by our hands & seals, that we will neither act nor advise, nor Consent unto anything that shall not be according to our own Con- sciences the best for ye true and well Government of the sd Province and Likewise to Keep Secret all ye votes and acts of us ye sd Councell, unless such as by the General Consent of us are to be published. Dated at Upland, ye third day of August, 1681. (Signed) Robert Wade, Morgan Drewet, Wm. Woodmansee (W. W., the Mark of), Willim Warner, Thomas Fairman, James Sandlenes, Will Clayton, Otto Ernest Koch, and ye mark (L) of Lacy or (Lasse) Cock.
The new arrangement of things was placed in running order by Deputy Markham by September, 1681, and the first court for jury trials was held at Upland. The justices present at the meeting of this newly organized court were William Clayton, William Warner, Robert Wade, William Byles, Otto Ernest Koch, Robert Lucas, Lasse Cock, Swen Swenson and Andreas Bankson, five of them being members of Mark- ham's Council. Thomas Revell was clerk of the court, and John Test was sheriff. The first case to be tried was one in which the charge was assault and battery, that of Peter Ericksen vs. Harman Johnson and wife. The first jury consisted of Morgan Drewet, William Woodmanson, Wil- liam Hewes, James Browne, Henry Reynolds, Robert Schooley, Richard Pittman, Lasse Dalboe, John Akraman, Peter Rambo, Jr., Henry Has- tings, and William Oxley. At the next session of the Upland court,
WILLIAM PENN AND THE FOUNDING OF HIS COLONY 37
held in November, Markham was present, and he attended all the sub- sequent sessions up to the time of Penn's arrival.
With all the plans and purposes of Penn, Markham had been made thoroughly familiar before leaving England. He carried with him instructions comprehensive enough to cover all possible contingencies. Meantime Penn in England was devoting all his time and energies to his scheme of colonization. He gave the utmost publicity to his char- tered privileges, and invited the cooperation of all classes in founding a free and industrial state. In the course of his colonization propaganda he published a pamphlet entitled, "Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America." It contained a truthful account of the resources of the country. The author was candid in pointing out to all the possible hardships and perils likely to be experienced in the unsettled land, and impressed upon the minds of all who had the idea in view of seeking the fortunes in the colony, the necessity of careful preparations for the long voyage and the life of toil and self-denial essential to their success. In referring to his colony he said : "I shall say little in its praise to excite desires in any. Whatever I could truly write as to the soil, air and water, this shall satisfy me, that by the blessing of God and the honesty and industry of man, it may be a good and fruitful land."
Direct overtures were made by Penn to men and families of all relig- ious persuasions, assuring them of a tolerant government in all things. He invited purchasers and renters of lands, and made special provisions for those without means :
To the first, the shares I sell shall be certain as to number of acres ; that is to say, every one shall contain five thousand acres, free from any incumbrance, the price a hundred pounds and for the quit rent but one English shilling, or the value of it, yearly, for a hundred acres ; and the said quit rent not to begin to be paid till 1684. To the second sort that take up land upon rent, they shall have liberty so to do, paying yearly one penny per acre, not exceeding two hundred acres. To the third sort, to wit, servants that are carried over, fifty acres shall be allowed to the master for every head, and fifty acres to every servant when their time has expired. And because some engage with me that may not be dis- posed to go, it were very advisable for every three adventurers to send an overseer with their servants, which would well pay the cost.
Penn classified his prospective colonists, with special reference to their peculiar fitness for frontier life, as follows: "ist. Industrious hus- bandmen and day laborers that are hardly able (with extreme labor) to maintain their families and portion their children. 2nd. Laborious han- dicrafts, especially carpenters, masons, smiths, weavers, taylors, tan- ners, shoemakers, shipwrights, etc., where they may be spared or low in in the world, and as they shall want no encouragement, so their labor is worth more than here, and their provisions cheaper." 3rd. Penn invited ingenious spirits who are low in the world, younger brothers with small
38 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
inheritances and often large families. Lastly, he said: "There are another sort of persons, not only fit for but necessary in plantations, and that is men of universal spirits, that have an eye to the good of posterity, and that both understand and delight to promote good dis- cipline and just government among a plain and well-intending people ; such persons may find room in colonies for their good counsel and con- trivance, who are shut out from being of much use or service to great nations under settled customs ; these men deserve much esteem and would be hearkened to." Penn further enumerated and commended the resources of the province. He set forth : "Timber was abundant, also game, wild fowl, and fish, flax, hemp, cider, wood, madder, liquorish, tobacco and iron, hides, tallow, staves, beef, pork, sheep, wool, corn, wheat, rye, barley, also furs, minks, raccoons, martins, and such like store of furs which is to be found among the Indians that are profitable commodities in England." As to the arrival of colonists in the fall months of the year, Penn said :
Two men may clear as much ground by spring (when they set the corn in that country) as will bring in that time twelve months, forty barrels, which makes twenty-five quarters of corn. So that the first year they must buy corn, which is usually very plentiful. They must, so soon as they come, buy cows, more or less, as they want or are able, which are to be had at easy rates. For swine, they are plentiful and cheap, these will quickly increase to a stock. So that after the first year, what with the poorer sort sometimes laboring for others, and the more able fishing, fowling and sometimes buying, they may do very well till their own stocks are sufficient to supply them and their families, which will quickly be, and to spare, if they follow the English hus- bandry, as they do in New England and New York, and get winter fodder for their stock.
To conclude, I desire all my dear country folks who may be inclined to go into those parts, to consider seriously the premises, as well the inconveniency, as to future ease and plenty, so that none may move rashly or from a fickle but from a solid mind, having above all things an eye to the providence of God in the disposing of themselves ; and I would further advise all such at least to have the permission, if not the good liking, of their near relations, for that is both natural and a duty incum- bent upon all. And by this will natural aflfections be preserved, and a friendly and profitable correspondence between them, in all which I beseech Almighty God to direct us, that his blessing may attend our earnest endeavors, and then the consequences of all our undertakings will turn to the glory of His great name, and all true happiness to us and our posterity. Amen.
Being assured that he would have a large and intelligent following to the New World, Penn was anxious to facilitate trade and commerce between the colony and the mother country. In order to accomplish this purpose, he encouraged the organization of "The Free Society of Traders," looking upon the enterprise as a potent and peaceful agent in maintaining frequent intercourse between the inhabitants of the col-
WILLIAM PENN AND THE FOUNDING OF HIS COLONY 39
ony and England, and as an encouragement to further emigration, which he felt sure once opened to the superior advantages of a new and fertile country where religious and political freedom could be fully enjoyed, would never be closed.
In his solicitude for the persons forming his colony, Penn showed his humanity. In the code of government he framed for his colony he showed his statesmanship. In codifying his laws, there were three dis- tinct departments to be taken under consideration: i. The limitations imposed by his charter. 2. The relations with the Indians. 3. The un- restrained exercise of religious liberty and the institution of self-gov- ernment among the residents of the colony. The code of laws devised by Penn were free from all repressive measures in relation to religious tolerance; were far in advance of all ecclesiastical or legislative thought in Europe ; and, with but one notable exception among the provinces fringing the Atlantic coast in this country, were alike new and startling. The manner of perpetuating evidence of purchase and title to landed estates, their liability for debt, the establishment of courts of justice, the manner of distributing decedent's property, and the practical sun- dering of Church and State, all marked an era of progressive legislation more radical in those days, perhaps, than any laws that are proposed to-day.
By August, 1682, Penn's work of preparation for his departure from England was completed. The ship "Welcome," under command of Robert Greenway, had shipped her stores, her crew was in service, and the sailors waited for the Governor of the Colony and the adventurous people who were to cross the ocean with them to come on board. Penn's "Valedictory Epistle to England" was written on August 30, and an affectionate farewell given to his wife and children.
By the first of September, Penn was ready to sail in the possession of a charter for a province and future State. Penn's deputy Markham and his associates had been busy preparing the minds of the settlers and the Indian chiefs for his coming. Accompanied by more than a hundred venturesome pioneers, Penn, as indicated by his writings at the time, keenly felt the responsibility that devolved upon him under the circumstances ; but with settled purposes, and convictions deepened by years of painful experience, he sought consolation and repose of mind in the hopefulness of a near and still more eventful future among a free people and in a new country. As the time of Penn's arrival approached, expectancy was intense among the settlers on the Delaware. The sale of lands by the agents covered five hundred thousand acres, with ships sailing from Europe for the province every sixteen days. The arrival of over five hundred emigrants, and the site of a great city located, created a stir and excitement among all classes that only needed the presence of Penn to insure a climax. This was reached on October 'Zj,
40 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
when his ship anchored ofif New Castle. The historical account of the event is as follows :
October 28. On the 27th day of October, arrived before the town of New Castle, in Delaware, from England, William Penn, Esq., proprie- tary of Pennsylvania, who produced two certain deeds of feoffment from the illustrious Prince James, Duke of York, Albany, etc., for this town of New Castle, and twelve miles about it, and also for the two lower counties, the Whorekill's and St. Jones's, which said deeds bear date the 24th of August, 1682; and pursuant to the true intent, purpose and meaning of his royal highness in the same deeds, he, the said Wil- liam Penn, received possession of the town of New Castle, the 28th of October, 1682.
This delivery was made by John Moll, Esq., and Ephraim Herman, attorneys, constituted by his royal highness as commissioners to act in the formal ceremony, in which the key of the fort was delivered to Penn by one of the commissioners, "in order that he might lock upon himselt alone the door," and which was accompanied by presents of "turf and twig, and water and soyle of the river Delaware."
Referring to the voyage and arrival of Penn's ship, Robert Proud, who wrote in 1780, said:
The number of passengers in this ship was about one hundred, mostly Quakers ; the major part of them from Sussex, the Proprietary's place of residence. In their passage many of them were taken sick with the smallpox, and about thirty of their number died. In this trying situ- ation the acceptable company of William Penn is said to have been of singular advantage to them, and his kind advice and assistance of great service during their passage ; so that in the main they had a prosperous voyage, and in little more than six weeks came in sight of the American coast, supposed to be about Egg Harbor, in New Jersey. In coming up the Delaware, the inhabitants, consisting of English, Dutch and Swedes, indiscriminately met the Proprietary with demonstrations of joy. He landed in New Castle on the 24th of October, and next day had the people summoned to the court house, where, after possession of the country was legally given him, he made a speech to the old magistrates and the people, signifying to them the design of his coming, the nature and end of government, and of that which more particularly he came to establish, assuring them of their spiritual and temporal rights, liberty of conscience and civil freedom, and recommending to them to live in sobriety and peace ; he renewed the magistrates' commissions. After this he proceeded to Upland, now called Chester, where on the fourth day of the tenth month (about three months after his sailing from Eng- land) he called an Assembly. It consisted of equal numbers of mem- bers from the province and the three lower counties, called the Terri- tories ; that is, from both of them so many of the freemen as thought proper to appear, according to the sixteenth article of the Frame of Government.
This Assembly chose Nicholas Moore, who was president of the Free Society of Traders, for their chairman or speaker, and received as ample satisfaction from the Proprietary as the inhabitants of New Castle had done, for which they returned him their grateful acknowledgments.
WILLIAM PENN AND THE FOUNDING OF HIS COLONY 41
The Swedes, for themselves, deputed Lacy Cock to acquaint him "that they would love, serve and obey him with all they had," declaring that "it was the best day they ever saw."
At this Assembly an act of union was passed annexing the three lower counties to the province, in legislation, on the 7th day of Septem- ber, 1682; likewise an act of settlement in reference to the Frame of Government, which, with some alterations, was thereby declared to be accepted and confirmed. The Dutch, Swedes and other foreigners were then naturalized ; all the laws agreed upon in England, with some alter- ations, were passed in form.
The meeting continued only three days, and notwithstanding the great variety of dispositions, rawness and inexperience of this Assembly in affairs of this kind, yet a very remarkable candor and harmony pre- vailed among them.
CHAPTER VI. THE COLONIAL ERA.
What a few years of man's handiwork can do to change the aspect of a primeval land can best be appreciated by a resident of Montgomery county to-day if he will cast his mind's eye backwards but a few cen- turies and endeavor to form a mental picture of the topography of this district before the first settlers arrived.
Intense silence prevailed, broken only by the cries of savage men and beasts, and the noises made by wind and water. Traversed from end to end by the Schuylkill and cut up by its tributaries, the land that was later to become Montgomery county offered nothing to the early settler but towering forests, shrubbery and wild game. Rocks and fallen timber encumbered the free passage of man at every point. The fact that beneath were concealed mineral treasures in the shape of lime- stone, marble, iron, copper and clay, which later on were to enable the settlers to make such progress in turning the wilderness into a civilized place, was unknown to them. There were no roads, as we know them ; the rivers and creeks were obstructed by driftwood, rocks and shoals, and the early arrived white man had to have recourse, when traveling from point to point, to the only known means of transportation to the Indian, the light canoe on the waters, or narrow foot trails through the primitive forests.
Fleeing from civil and religious oppression in Europe, the ancestors of all of us who are here to-day, were mainly intent on liberty and food. Most of them were agricultural peasants, with a few artisans indis- pensable to the farmer. As, however, settlers of various nationalities attracted by Penn's liberal institutions, became seated in our valleys, they were first drawn to the rivers and creeks, not only by the fertility of the land but for supplies of game and fish. They, therefore, set about improving the streams with rude dams, weirs, and other contrivances for catching the migratory species, which soon led to contests with other occupants above who needed the river for transportation and travel. The law soon interfered in favor of the latter, but even thus protected as a highway, the river could only be used safely in spring or in time of high water. Thus, unlike as at present, they were hemmed in and obliged to live almost entirely upon farm products. Still, the territory filled with a constant stream of pilgrim religionists, a rugged, industrious people, who came with two chief aims — civil liberty, and the right to worship God unawed by governmental interference. Thus situated, the early pioneers felt the need of improvements, of all char- acter, very naturally.
As a consequence of the strange environment in which they found
44 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
themselves, the early settlers had to learn new habits of life. Most of them, before crossing the sea, had been accustomed to a position of service to masters, charged with no responsibilities beyond doing their daily tasks. Law was left behind them and force substituted therefor, as in all primitive communities within the era of known history.
But these immigrants for the most part came here on a mission of peace and justice for all men. Unlike the Spaniards to the south and west, instead of fighting the Indians, they attacked the forests and rocks, which were removed before them. The first imperative neces- sity was shelter from weather and wild beasts, but they built no forts or block houses against the Indian. Seeking out therefore near a spring a southern slope to give protection against the cold, they built a rude cabin of logs or rocks or both, and sometimes, for temporary shelter, only a cave hewn out of a bank. With a few tools of iron or steel brought with them and some utensils of tin and wood, their toil began, while the Indian looked on, pleased and friendly with the new comer. A shelter of some such sort finished, a small clearing was made, and with a few domestic animals and a supply of seeds for planting, the im- migrant soon felt himself to be really that once much looked-up-to individual, "the Lord of the Manor" himself.
The welfare of his children was next the object of his solicitude. The desire for education, still a dominant factor in the government of the county and State, came over with the first settlers. Wherever a settle- ment was located, it was not long before a rude school house, which might also serve as a place for religious meetings, was built of logs by the joint effort of the members of the community. Almost at the same time came also the blacksmith shop, chiefly for the making and repair of agricultural implements, and the mill to grind grain into food for man. The next great want was a cart road, so essential for the purpose of intercommunication between settlements for both business and pleasure. Many of these primitive thoroughfares were but well worn footpaths through timber lands or clearings, made before the advent of the cart, and which had to be widened. There is practically no data to show that the Hollanders and Swedes laid out and established any permanent highways previous to the beginning of Penn's government, although their arrival antedates his by many years. But no sooner had Penn landed, and founded Philadelphia, than roads and civilization began to radiate from the "metropolis."
For approximately a century afterwards, Montgomery county was a part of the city and county of Philadelphia, which was founded in 1682. It early began, as indicated, to stretch its arms towards the interior and the district soon began to throng with settlers. As settlements spread, highways were ordered to be surveyed and opened from the city in nearly every inland direction. Of course there were what are now called dirt roads, many of them little wider than sufficient for carts to
THE COLONIAL ERA 45
pass each other on the way, and often, with the view of accommodating land owners, they were run out of direction to the objective point in order to follow line fences; or if striving to make a straight one, they would carry it over almost untravelable hills or through deep valleys, instead of winding along at a more level grade. In less than half a century after Penn arrived, great highways were laid out leading from the city to the interior, for no sooner had Penn completed satisfactory arrangements with the Indians for their cession of territory, than sur- veyors were at work laying out roads and running the lines upon the new purchases, until by 1740 most of the land of the present Montgom- ery county had been parcelled out and nearly settled by Swedes, Welsh and English on the southern and central borders, and by Germans on the northwest, with a sprinkling of Hollanders, French and Scotch-Irish distributed from the Delaware westward to the center.
Having built their homes, and all the territory laid off into town- ships, the people soon had municipal governments organized. A ready method of crossing streams was early looked after, but beyond canoes, ferries and a few wooden bridges and foot-logs, fords were the only method of transit from one side to another.
VALLEY FORGE— MASSACHUSETTS MONUMENT, NATIONAL ARCH, FORT WASHINGTON AND CONTINENTAL ARMY HUT
CHAPTER VII. MILITARY OPERATIONS.
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, being one of the oldest sub-divi- sions in the Commonwealth, has participated in all of the principal wars which the United States has been engaged in since the War for Inde- pendence. These chapters will give a concise outline of the part this county has had in these several conflicts, including the last great World War, in which she became an ally.
The Revolution — This commenced in this State when the Council of Safety was instituted, June 30, 1775, in Philadelphia, by the Assembly of the Province. At that time Montgomery was included in Philadelphia county. On July 3, 1775, Benjamin Franklin was elected president ot the Council of Safety. The first Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia, July 1 5, 1 776. Besides framing a constitution it also assumed the legislative power of the State. This was followed by the institu- tion of the Supreme Council of Safety, in which reposed the executive powers of the Commonwealth until the first constitution was revised in 1790. The Colonial era closed with the adjournment of the Provincial Assembly, September 23, 1776. Governor Richard Penn yielded reluc- tantly to the forces of the Revolution, and the last act of provincial authority was a fierce denunciation of the Constitutional Convention in assuming legislative power in the State of Pennsylvania. "God Save the King!" was said for the last time in a Pennsylvania Assembly; henceforth it was to be "God Save the Commonwealth !"
Conspicuous in the annals of Pennsylvania and Montgomery county, as regards the Revolutionary War, were the memorable events asso- ciated with General Washington, in the autumn of 1777 and the winter of 1778. The provincial conservatism and peaceful character of the people who had permanently settled in the beautiful Schuylkill Valley, woke slowly and painfully to the warlike preparations which preceded Lord Howe's attack upon Philadelphia; and when reverses befell our army on the Brandywine, a profound sense of alarm pervaded the capital city, shared by many sorrowing homes that lay on the line of march, and within the limits certain to be desolated by hostile armies.
No just conception of the scope and magnitude of the campaign organized for the defense of Eastern Pennsylvania and the capital city in the autumn of 1777 can be realized unless it comprehend the movements and results of the two principal armies of the Middle States, and for whose conduct Washington, as commander-in-chief, was responsible to the Continental government. On the 19th of June, 1775, Washington received his commission and instructions as "General and Commander- in-Chief of the armies of the United Colonies, and of all the forces raised
48 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
or to be raised by them, and all others who shall voluntarily offer their services and join the army for the defense of American Liberty."
To disconcert him by strategy, to compel him to battle with troops superior in armament and discipline, and to overwhelm him with num- bers, was the general and well-matured plan of the enemy. The prep- arations of the home government to this end were commensurate with the reasonable hope of success ; and the belief that the resources of men and means so lavishly confided to commanders would speedily end the conflict and compel submission to the mother-country, was shared by many of the wayward and doubting of the period.
The effort of Washington through the winter of 1777 to organize a powerful army for the ensuing campaign is a matter of history. The hopes inspired from time to time by the flattering reports which reached his headquarters were cruelly disappointed, and he found himself not only powerless to take the aggressive, but unequal to that measure of defensive warfare necessary to preserve his long lines unbroken.
Having used his best efforts to hasten the concentration of troops from the Eastern States, and overcome in some measure the shock to public confidence resulting from the loss of Ticonderoga and the dis- astrous retreat of General St. Clair ; having strengthened the willing hands of General Schuyler in bringing into the field the militia of New York State, rendering the victory at Bennington and other minor points possible, and witnessed the departure of Lord Howe from New York Bay, he turned the head of his devoted columns toward the Delaware, massing his army at Germantown early in the month of August, 1777.
For days and weeks the work of marshaling new troops, collecting supplies and fitting the command to resist the impending attack by Howe went on. The commander-in-chief was in daily consultation with committees of Congress and heads of departments; and for the first time met the youthful and heroic Lafayette, who was by him assigned to duty on his staff with the rank of major-general. The public mind became feverish and excited in anticipation of events now certain to affect the gravest interests of the colony. War, with its desolation, its bloody horrors, its blighting consequences upon society and sacrifice of life, was at the threshold of a community devoted by sentiment, religion, and pecuniary interests to peaceful pursuits. Evidence of disaffection increased with the certainty of Howe's approach, and when his presence, with fleet and army, in the Chesapeake Bay was announced, it was deemed politic by the government that Washington should march his army through the city as he moved south to meet the advance of the foe. It was accordingly done, and the 24th of August, 1777, was a memorable day in the history of the capital city, as well as in the lives of the patri- otic soldiers, who received at every square the most marked considera- tion at the hands of the populace, who were wild in their demonstra- tions of joy as divisions marched by them under commanders who had
MILITARY OPERATIONS 49
grown into popular favor On the nth of September, 1777, the battle of Brandywine was fought. The plan of the engagement, as subse- quently revealed, the necessities which induced it, the skilfully executed movement of the enemy upon the right of the patriot army, the ineffici- ency of Washington's mounted troops in not disclosing the movement of Cornwallis at an earlier hour in the day, the uncertain and embarrassing reports that reached him from sources that should have been reliable, the partial surprise, and the heroic though ineffectual effort to meet and resist a fierce attack from a direction unlocked for, the deeds of valor upon the part of officers who sought to retrieve misfortune by personal daring, and the usual conduct of battle-shocked troops, have gone into history, and been graphically described by Marshall, Botta, Lossing, Headley, Bancroft and others, less distinguished in history, it may be, but by no means less truthful in narrative.
The battle was lost, and its discouraging features were keenly felt by those who left the field in possession of the enemy. But its effects, as measured by them, were by no means as disastrous as intended or believed to be. Marshall, referring to the immediate results of the en- gagement, in his history declares: "It was not considered decisive by Congress, the general, or the army," and cites the fact that the govern- ment upon receiving Washington's report immediately passed vigorous resolutions for reinforcing the army, and directed him to complete the defenses of the Delaware.
On the 15th, four days after this battle, the army was on the march to attack Howe, who, apprised of the movement, immediately put his army in motion, and the opposing armies met between the Goshen Meet- ing-House and the White Horse Tavern, on the table-land south of the Great Valley. The choice of position was again with Washington. Hos- tilities had actually commenced, when storm and flood rendered the movement of troops impossible, and disclosed the alarming fact that arms and ammunition were so seriously damaged that to further engage the enemy would be suicidal. This exigency decided temporarily the fate of the capital city, and doubtless hastened the period of occupation by the British troops. The situation was critical, and the day certainly memorable. To retire upon Philadelphia and sufifer a partial investment, leaving the country open from the Schuylkill to the Hudson, making a diversion in favor of Burgoyne not only possible, but probable, would be unwise for many reasons ; to give up all further defense of the capital was an hour of supreme interest in the struggle, and upon his decision hung the most momentous results. Assuming the entire responsibility, courting the counsel of his subordinates, but acting upon his own mature judgment, he uncovered Philadelphia, detaching General Wayne, and directing him to attack the extreme left of the enemy, in the hope of detaining him until he could refit his army and renew the conflict, provi- dentially postponed.
50 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Pending the movement of reinforcements from the North, the public mind, having recovered from the first effects of the reverses at Brandy- wine, Paoli and Germantown, perhaps unduly elated by the surrender of Burgoyne and its sequences, clamored for further aggressive move- ments against Hovi^e. Washington moved his army to the east, taking a strong position at Whitemarsh, from which he was able to watch the movements of the enemy, harass his outposts, cut oflf his source of supplies, give protection to the agricultural people and confidence to the public mind. Here, after an ineffectual attempt on the part of the enemy to dislodge him, on the 5th and 6th of December, the campaign closed, HoM-e retiring within his lines of defense, reaching from the Del- aware to the Schuylkill river. The war-worn and jaded condition of the patriot troops, the want of supplies, the hopelessness of further opera- tions to repossess Philadelphia, and the approach of winter, all admon- ished the commander to seek shelter and repose for his army.
The proposition to retire the army for the winter gave rise to well- marked differences of opinion. Within army circles the only question was that of location. Whether it should fortify and remain where it was, or retire to the Perkiomen hills, or move south and occupy the vicinity of Wilmington, was canvassed by leading officers in the army, whose opinions were sought by the commander-in-chief. In political circles, and among a large and influential class of patriotic citizens of Pennsylvania, a different view prevailed. In their opinion, the exigency of the public service demanded a continuation of active operations upon the part of this army. Their hostility to the proposed cantonment of troops culminated in a remonstrance prepared by the General Assembly, and by that body presented to Congress, then in session at York. We recite the remonstrance here in order to illustrate the wisdom and force of character of the great and good man who, in serving the higher inter- ests of his country, disregarded the remonstrance of those whose sensi- bilities were shocked by the calamities of war, and who, for a temporary respite from its ravages, would have sacrificed the army of hope by denying it that well-earned repose absolutely necessary at that season and period to preserve its existence.
On the nth of December the camp was broken up at Whitemarsh, and after a painful march over rough and frozen roads reached the Gulf Hills, crossing the Schuylkill river at Swedes' and Matson's ford on improvised bridges. Here the advance division under General Potter, which moved south of Matson's ford to cover the passage of the main army, unexpectedly came in contact with a strong detachment of the enemy under Cornwallis, out upon a foraging expedition. The presence of the enemy in this quarter and in such force was a surprise at the time, and occasioned delay, the counter-movement of troops and some apprehension upon the part of the commander-in-chief, which subse- quently proved to be without cause. A camp was established for some
MILITARY OPERATIONS 51
days on the Gulf Hills, fourteen miles distant from Philadelphia, where the army remained until the i8th, when it retired to Valley Forge, going into position with the right resting upon the base of Mount Joy, near the acute angle of the Valley creek, the left flank resting upon and pro- tected by the Schuylkill river, about one-half mile below Fatland ford or Sullivan's bridge.
Historians have uniformly signalized the arrival of the army on this ground as coincident with the famous order of the commander-in-chief dated Headquarters on the Schuylkill, December 17, 1777, congratu- lating his troops upon the close of the campaign, the results accom- plished, the heroic conduct of officers and the endurance of men, coun- seling them to continue in fortitude and patience, assuring his follow- ers "that while in some instances he has unfortunately failed, that upon the whole, heaven had smiled upon their army and crowned them with success, that the end of their warfare was independence, liberty and peace, and that the hope of securing these blessings for themselves and their posterity demanded a continuance of the struggle at every hazard." This was the pleasing side of the picture, set in the gilded framework of war's seducing blandishments and panoplied with its field-day glories. But there was another, — the shoeless soldiers, the frozen ground, the cheerless hills, the lowering leaden sky that arched them over with gloom. These were the sorrowing and mute witnesses to the true scene of the arrival, and which the artist has thus far failed to place upon can- vas. We are not, however, wanting for the pen picture, and I give it in the language of Mr. George Washington Parke Custis :
The brigades had gone into position upon the line of defense indi- cated by the skillful officer who drew it. The pitiless winter winds swept the hills and valley with unceasing fury as the December sun sank into banks of snow-clouds, presaging the coming storm. The pov- erty of supplies in food and raiment was bitterly and profanely bewailed by shivering, unpaid officers and half-naked men as they crowded around the comfortless camp-fire of the bivouac, when suddenly the appearance of the Horse Guard announced the approach of the commander-in-chief. The officer commanding the detachment, choosing the most favorable ground, paraded his men to pay their general the honors of a passing salute. As Washington rode slowly up he was observed to be eyeing very earnestly something that attracted his attention on the frozen sur- face of the road. Having returned the salute with that native grace and dignified manner that won the admiration of the soldiers of the Revolu- tion, the chief reined in his charger, and ordering the commanding officer of the detachment to his side, addressed him as follows : "How comes it. sir, that I have tracked the march of your troops by the blood-stains of their feet upon the frozen ground? Were there no shoes in the com- missary's stores, that this sad spectacle is to be seen along the public highway?" The officer replied : "Your Excellency may rest assured that this sight is as painful to my feelings as it can be to yours, but there is no remedy within our reach. When shoes were issued the diflferent regi- ments were served in turn ; it was our misfortune to be among the last to
52 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
be served, and the stores became exhausted before we could obtain even the smallest supply."
The general was observed to be deeply affected by his officer's description of the soldiers' privations and sufferings. His compressed lips, the heaving of his manly chest, betokened the powerful emotions that were struggling in his bosom, when, turning towards the troops, with a voice tremulous, yet kindly, he exclaimed, "Poor fellows !" Then giving rein to his horse, he rode rapidly away.
The purpose of the commander-in-chief in taking position at Valley Forge was to give the greatest measure of protection possible to the State, and to circumscribe the operations of General Howe within limits that would seriously affect his source of supply. To this end his line was admirably drawn. On the west side of the Schuylkill he extended his right flank to Wilmington, at which point he stationed General Small- wood with his brigade of infantry, covering the long interval with Mor- gan's rifle corps and the squadron of cavalry under Major Harry Lee. On the east of the river he occupied the country as far as Whitemarsh, placing General Armstrong with a brigade of Pennsylvania militia so as to cover the principal roads converging at that point ; the cavalry under Major Jameson and Captain McLane guarded the highways in the direc- tion of Barren and Chestnut Hills ; and to still further prevent the incur- sions of the enemy northward from Philadelphia, he directed General Pulaski, who was in command of the brigade of cavalry, to go into camp at Trenton, New Jersey. The line of defense from the west shore of the Schuylkill river to the base of Mount Joy, at the angle of Valley creek, occupied commanding ground, and the earthworks and fortifications erected under the direction of General Duportail were extensive in char- acter and skillfully constructed. The interior line of works and abatis were semicircular in form, crossing from north to south, with one star and two square forts, from which the army could have successfully cov- ered a retreat westward, had such a movement become necessary.
An order was given to construct huts for the winter, and its execu- tion followed with dispatch and great exactness. Soldiers became axe- men from necessity; before them the forest fell, and hundreds of log houses grew as by magic. The dimensions of each hut were fourteen by sixteen feet, with chimney, fire-place, and door, facing upon company streets, drawn in strict conformity with the rules of military encamp- ments. Quarters for field and staff officers were erected in rear of the line of troops, while still farther to the rear, upon the sloping hills, shelter was sought for the trains of the army. History and tradition alike confirm the fact that the hills were made bare of timber in com-' pleting the shelter necessary for men and animals, and the wood neces- sary for fuel during the long winter was hauled by men a distance of one or more miles from the camp.
Chief Justice Marshall and others in writing of these dark days of
OLD CAMP SCHOOL HOUSE. VALLEY FORGE
INTERIOR OF OLU CAMP SCHOOL HOUSE, VALLEY FORGE
MILITARY OPERATIONS 53
the War for Independence, gave facts as follows, as will be seen in that most authentic history of Montgomery county, by Colonel Bean :
In the absence of blankets, the want of straw as well as grain was sorely felt by the army ; farmers in the immediate vicinity had suffered great loss by the presence of both armies in their midst. If the patriot army were considerate to those known to be friendly to their cause and merciless upon the "Tory," the British, who closely followed them, laid a heavy hand upon the supplies of the "Rebel," and between the two the farmers from the Brandywine to the Delaware found an involuntary market. Under these circumstances, it was not surprising that those who had stowed away the grain and hay that was relied upon to keep body and soul together for another year were tardy in threshing it out. The commander-in-chief comprehended the situation, and the order issued went direct to the vital point; it suggested an alternative which brought flails to the front, barn-doors were opened, the golden sheaves were brought in from well-preserved stacks, in many instances by the soldiers themselves, who were glad to exchange the rigors of a starving camp for the toil of the threshing-floor, which exchange yielded bread for themselves and compatriots by day, and afforded the hope of merri- ment amidst the cheerful homes of patriot mothers and daughters by night. . Tradition says that throughout the length and breadth of "Wash- ington's seventy miles" could be heard from morn till night two or three threshers on every barn-floor. Straw was soon in the market, soft as flails could make it, and contributed greatly to the comfort of the men at Valley Forge, and hundreds and thousands of other sick and wounded, who filled every church and meeting-house from Barren Hill to the "Swamp," and from "Birmingham to Reading."
"At no period of the war," writes Chief Justice Marshall, "had the American army been reduced to a situation of greater peril than during the winter at Valley Forge. More than once they were absolutely with- out food. Even while their condition was less desperate in this respect, their stock of provisions was so scanty that there was seldom at any time in the stores a quantity sufificient for the use of the troops for a week. The returns of the ist of February exhibit the astonishing num- ber of 3,989 men in camp unfit for duty for want of clothes. Of this number scarcely a man had a pair of shoes. Although the total of the army exceeded 17,000 men, the present eflfective rank and file amounted to only 5,012. The returns throughout the winter did not eflfectually vary from that which has been particularly stated."
Dr. Thatcher, in his private journal, states : "That it was with the greatest difficulty that men enough could be found in a fit condition to discharge the military camp duties from day to day, and for this pur- pose, those who were naked borrowed of those who were more fortunate in having covering for their bodies and shoes for their feet. Yet, amidst the sufferings and privations endured by these devoted troops week after week and month after month, pelted by the storms of one of the severest winters ever known in this region, the love of country, the hope of victory, and an abiding confidence in their great leader, sustained
54 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
them until, in the Providence of God, the cause found an ally whose offices of friendship, long and ardently hoped for by the chivalrous Laf- ayette, were finally assured by the diplomacy of our own glorious Franklin."
Perhaps no more marked spirit of patriotism and loyalty to one's country can be named in connection with the Revolution than is recorded by Bishop in his "History of American Manufactures," Vol. I, in which he says :
William Dunning, a blacksmith of Cumberland County, during the Revolution endeavored to serve his country by the construction of a wrought-iron cannon of a curious description. One of these is said to have fallen into the hands of the British at the battle of Brandywine, and is to this day preserved in the Tower of London, and another unfin- ished specimen is said to be at the arsenal in Philadelphia. These sin- gular pieces of ordnance were made of "wrought-iron staves, hooped like a barrel, with bands of the same material, excepting there were four layers of staves breaking joint, all of which were firmly bound together, and then boxed and breeched like other cannon." An obituary notice of Dunning, who died in Mififiin township, in 1830. at the age of ninety- four, states that he was an artificer in the Revolutionary army, and that his was the only successful attempt ever made in the world to manufac- ture wrought-iron cannon, one of which he completed in Middlesex, Pa., and commenced another and larger one at Mount Holly, but could get no one to assist him who could stand the heat, which is said to have been so great as "to melt the lead buttons on his clothes." The British, it is added, offered a stated annuity and a large sum to the person who would instruct them in the manufacture of that article, but the patriotic blacksmith preferred obscurity and poverty in his own beloved country, though the country for which he had done so much kept her purse closed from the veteran soldier until near the close of his long life.
During the British occupancy of Philadelphia county, property was destroyed or damaged in that portion now known as Montgomery county as follows :
Townships and Assessors. Amount.
£. s. d.
Cheltenham, Peter Rush 210 i 6
Gwynedd, Stephen Bloem 120 o o
Hatfield, George Sheive 71 12 6
Lower Merion, Hugh Jones 3413 11 o
Moreland, Robert Whitten 21 19 13 2
Norriton, Jacob Auld 7076 10 6
Plymouth, Zebulon Potts 1172 12 8
Providence, Benjamin Dismant 679 5 9
Springfield, Baltzer Hydrick 1 165 19 9
Upper Merion, John Johnson 1525 9 6
Upper Dublin, John Mann 343 10 o
Worcester, Peter Wentz 125 o o
Whitemarsh, William Johnson 668 i 6
Whitpain, Daniel Yost 610 o 6
There were no returns received from the townships of Abington, Douglas, Frederick, Franconia, Horsham, Lower Salford, Limerick,
MILITARY OPERATIONS 55
Montgomery, Marlboro, New Hanover, Skippack, Towamensing, Upper Salford or Upper Hanover. Much damage that was done was never made a subject of claim. The whole amount of the assessment for Phil- adelphia City was £187,280 5s.; the amount for the county £19,300 8s. lod. These estimated damages were assessed under an act of the General Assembly passed September 21, 1782, and subsequently these claims were filed in the office of the county commissioners and the Supreme Council.
Second War With Great Britain — Thirty years after the colonies had achieved their independence and twenty-three years after the constitu- tional Union of States was established. Congress declared war against Great Britain. Peace was declared at the end of the Revolution, Novem- ber 30, 1782, and war was declared by Congress June 18, 1812, hence the title of the second war with Great Britain is styled "War of 1812." The population of the United States was in 181 2 approximately eight millions. The event was in the third year of President James Madison's administration, and was supported by the Democratic party as an ad- ministration measure, and was resisted by the Federalists. The bill was supported by seventy-nine members in the House of Representatives ; forty-nine of the one hundred and twenty-eight present entered their protest against it, and the measure passed the Senate by a slight majority. The cause leading up to this conflict with the Mother country was the conduct of England in insisting upon the right of search and impress- ment of naturalized American citizens into her naval service. This alleged right was exercised against the solemn protest of the govern- ment, and finally, to vindicate the rights of her citizens, the appeal to arms was made.
At this period England had not conceded the right of her subjects or people to absolve their allegiance to the King by the simple forms of American naturalization, while the United States government was in honor bound to protect her foreign-born citizens in the full and free exercise of their rights. At the date referred to, thousands of American citizens were serving out terms of impressment in the British navy, many of them suffering imprisonment and subjected to treatment of extreme cruelty. One among many examples will serve to show the un- warrantable conduct of the British government. We quote :
In the month of June, 1807, the English man-of-war "Leopard" came in sight of the American frigate "Chesapeake" near Cape Henry. At this point the "Leopard" was joined by the British frigates the "Bellona" and "Melampus." The "Chesapeake" was hailed by Admiral Berkley, an officer sent aboard with an order of search, alleging that five deserters from the English service were aboard the American vessel. Commodore Barron refused the officer, saying that he did not know of any deserters on board, that the recruiting officers for the "Chesapeake" had been par- ticularly instructed not to receive any deserters from His Britannic Majesty's service, and that he was directed never to permit the crew of
56 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
a ship under his command to be mustered by any officers but his own. Upon receiving this answer the officer returned to the "Leopard," when a heavy fire was opened upon the "Chesapeake," to the surprise and dis- comfiture of Commodore Barron, who was unprepared to resist the attack. After remaining under fire for thirty minutes, having three men killed and eighteen men wounded, himself among the rest, the ship sur- rendered. The British officer refused to accept the surrender, but came aboard, made search, claimed four of the seamen as British subjects and deserters, conveyed them to Halifax where they were tried and one of them executed in order to establish the rightfulness of their system of impressment. Subsequently the other three were proved to be Amer- icans who had been previously impressed and made their escape from the British service. The intelligence of this outrage upon the high seas was received by the country with profound indignation.
The citizens of Montgomery county held a public meeting at the court house, July 22, 1807, "for the purpose of expressing their sense of the late unwarrantable and dastardly outrage committed by one of the British ships-of-war on the American frigate 'Chesapeake.'" General Francis Swaine was appointed president, and Samuel Patterson, secre- tary. Levi Pawling, William Henderson, Israel Bringhurst, George Weaver, Mathias Holstein, John Markley, and James Winnard reported seven resolutions, wherein they state :
That the outrage committed by the British ship-of-war, "Leopard," on the American frigate "Chesapeake," and the murder of our seamen, whether it be considered as the act of the British government, or of individuals who committed it, requires rigid retribution or honorable reparation. That we will, at the hazard of our lives and properties, support the proclamation of the President of the United States, and any other measures that may be adopted by the constituted authorities to obtain redress from the British Government, for the reparation of our national honor and insulted sovereignty. At this crisis, it is the duty of every citizen, who is not conscientiously scrupulous against bearing arms, to arm in defense of his injured country, and to prepare for the event of a war.
Public meetings were called in all the principal cities of the Union, party feelings were forgotten for the time, and all united in resolutions supporting the government in measures deemed necessary to redress the wrong. The President issued a proclamation forbidding British ships-of-war the ports and harbors of the United States, and instructing the American Minister at the Court of St. James to demand satisfaction for the insult. He also summoned Congress to meet and take the subject into consideration.
The act of the British naval officer was promptly disavowed by the English government, but they still persisted in their right of search, nor did they offer adequate reparation for the injury and indignity suffered. The exasperated feelings of national hostility became deep-seated ; for- eign complications arising out of contentions between France and Eng-
MILITARY OPERATIONS 57
land still further embarrassed American shipping interests. Napoleon, by his Berlin Decree of 1806, had forbidden the introduction of any English merchandise to the continent of Europe, even in neutral vessels that should touch at an English port. Great Britain retaliated by pro- hibiting the trade from port to port of neutrals belonging to the enemy, and, declaring the whole coast of Europe in a state of blockade, render- ing the vessels of all neutrals passing to European ports liable to capture. Upon learning of this measure, Napoleon issued his famous Milan Decree, confiscating not only the vessels that should touch at a British port, but such as should submit to be searched by the English. These measures were very injurious to American shipping interests, and in- duced the American Congress, in December, 1807, to pass an Embargo Act, prohibiting American vessels to leave their ports. This was admit- tedly a preparatory step in the direction of war with England, and a cautionary measure to call home all trading vessels and seamen in order to put the country in the best possible condition for the struggle that all sagacious minds saw to be near at hand. In March, 1809, the Em- bargo Act was repealed, and an act prohibiting all commercial inter- course with both England and France was passed.
The non-intercourse act expired by its own limitation in 1810. In anticipation of this event, the administration invoked France and Eng- land to remove their restrictive measures from American shipping. Napoleon promptly responded through his minister directing a suspen- sion of his decrees so far as they aflfected American interests. Encour- aged by this success, efforts were made to induce England to follow the example of France. The British diplomats of the period sought delay in skillfully devised dilatory proceedings, questioning the formal- ity of the seemingly friendly act of France. Mr. Pinckney, the American envoy in London, grew weary and impatient at "the shuffling behavior of the British government," and demanded his audience of leave. Con- tinuous breaches of national amity on the high seas by British naval officers, commented on by a free press, and made the subject of debate in and out of Congress, kept the public mind inflamed and strengthened the President and his Cabinet in their preparatory efforts for actual hos- tility. On the 20th of May, 1812, the "Hornet" arrived from London, conveying the intelligence that England refused to repeal or suspend her restrictions upon American shipping interests, and further insisting upon her right of search and impressment. This information brought public affairs to a crisis, and in the following June the President trans- mitted to Congress a special message, disclosing to the nation the unwar- ranted attitude of England, the necessity of protecting the rights of naturalized citizens, enumerating the grievances suffered, and submit- ting the question "whether they should be longer endured or immediate resource had to the ultimate resort of injured nations, a declaration of
58 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
war." Congress deliberated on the measure with closed doors, and on the i8th of June passed an act declaring war against Great Britain.
The lapse of time and the many remarkable events that have inter- vened, including the War with Mexico, the Great Civil War, the War with Spain and the last great World War, in which this country became a powerful ally, have all had a tendency to forget the War of 1812-14, but it should here be stated that Pennsylvania and Montgomery county did well in supporting the administration and gave freely of money and men for that second struggle with England. The spirit of those times in Pennsylvania are well illustrated in the words of the Governor of this Commonwealth, Simon Snyder:
If ever a people had motives to fight, we are that people. Our Gov- ernment, the watchful guardians of our welfare, have sounded the alarm ; they have called upon us to gird on our swords, and to be ready to go forth and meet our enemies. Let us hasten to obey the Government of our choice, and rally around the constituted authorities of the Union. Let an honorable zeal glow in our bosoms as we eagerly press forward to render our services. It would give the Governor inexpressible satis- faction if Pennsylvania would volunteer her quota. May each State ani- mate the others, and every citizen act as if the public weal, the national honor and independence rested on his single arm. The example of the heroes and statesmen of our Revolution, and the rich inheritance their courage and wisdom achieved, cannot fail to urge all who love their country to flock around her standard.
The first year of this war saw many British ships captured or destroyed on the Great Lakes, but no positive proof of victory. In the spring of 1814 the invading army was apprised of the poor defense had of Washington, our national capital. The English knew of our raw recruits there standing guard duty. It was a tempting prize, and Gen- eral Ross was quick to enter the Potomac river with his fleet and pressed his way up to Washington, where about eight thousand militia were guarding the new Republic's interests. Ross had five thousand men, and they easily disembarked and made an attack on the capital buildings. The hasty retreat made by our forces under General Winder left the city without defense. Not being able to get money as a ransom from those in charge of the government buildings, the British took torches and burned the capitol and the President's mansion, and destroyed the equip- ment of the Navy Yard, and a late war frigate about completed, and ruthlessly destroyed by fire public archives, library, and works of art. All this on account of the incompetency of General Winder, the com- mander, whose conduct no historian ever seeks to excuse. Baltimore was better protected and did not suffer as Washington City did.
The pacification of Europe, resulting from the overthrow of Napoleon in 1814, and the joy that pervaded all classes of the people, were shared by the rulers, and had a happy influence upon England in inducing that country to relinquish the right of impressment of American citizens.
MILITARY OPERATIONS 59
This point gained, the object of the war was practically accomplished, and the commissioners concluded a treaty of peace at Ghent on the 24th day of December, 1814, the same being ratified by the Prince Regent of England on December 27th. The news of this event did not reach this country until the following nth of February (1815), the treaty being ratified on the 27th of the same month by the President and Senate. It will thus be seen that the great battle of New Orleans, that made Gen- eral Jackson the hero of the war, was fought and won after the treaty of peace had been concluded with England. Truly, an Atlantic cable and telegraphic communication with the British army and navy in the Gulf at this time would have saved that nation from the humiliation of the most disastrous battle of the war, and thousands of lives would have been preserved for the better service of peace.
The population of Montgomery county at this period of the war was about 30,000. The constant apprehension of the enemy's attack upon Philadelphia, and possible incursions into this and the adjoining coun- ties of Delaware and Bucks, kept the people in a state of anxiety. Dis- cussions in political and social circles upon the principles involved in the struggle were animated. Democrats warmly espoused the cause as maintained by the administration of James Madison, while the Feder- alists boldly criticised many of the leading measures of those in author- ity, and the manner of conducting the war. The Democrats evinced considerable sympathy towards Napoleon, and looked upon his opera- tions against England at that time with favor. On the other hand, the Federalists proclaimed the French Emperor an adventurer, tyrant, and a leader dangerous to all forms of government and the peace and stabil- ity of society.
The stage was the only means of public travel in those days, only two weekly papers were published in the county, mail facilities were limited, and news from the capital and the remote points of active hostil- ities found its way to the country post office with its weekly newspaper once, and. in some favored localities, twice a week. Volunteer and militia troops, organized in the interior and northern counties of the State, and ordered to report at Marcus Hook, passed down our main highways to Philadelphia, followed by long trains of supplies and muni- tions of war. The same iron-works on the Manatawny and Schuylkill that supplied the American army during the Revolution were busily em- ployed from 1812 to 1815 in furnishing supplies of common shot and shell, while powder mills and establishments for the manufacture and repair of small-arms were operated at many places in the county. The troops appear to have been militia, dressed in home-spun clothing, and officered by men who seemed to exercise but a limited control while in the line of march. The "stragglers," or that class of men who habitually "fall out by the way," are vividly recalled by an aged friend, who, then a girl twelve years old, lived near the Perkiomen bridge. She says her
6o HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
father, a miller, fed scores while passing, and that sick, bare-footed and weary soldiers were slowly passing the point for several days after the officers and main body of men had gone by.
It is not known how many soldiers from Montgomery county served in the War of 1812-14, as many enlisted from Philadelphia and were not properly credited to Montgomery county, but suffice to say this county furnished many hundred men and in all ways aided in conquering the British the second time, standing as true supporters of President Madi- son and Governor Simon Snyder.
The citizen soldiers of Montgomery county responded promptly to the call of the Governor when the strong arm of the commonwealth was required to repress the lawless spirit that rendered the civil authorities and the city of Philadelphia powerless in the summer of 1844. The fire and smoke of burning churches and adjoining buildings in the alarmed city could be plainly seen from the hills in our county, and many of the living still remember the sense of fear that was felt in all the towns in the Schuylkill Valley. The military moved promptly to the scene of danger, and by their presence, discipline, courage and good conduct soon restored order and confidence in the city and surrounding country. The record of their public service is a part of the history of Montgomery county.
At this late date it is not of general interest to give a long roster ot names in military affairs that were enacted nearly a century ago, hence this summary is appended : First Troop Cavalry, two officers, 44 men ; Second Troop Cavalry, three officers, 48 men ; Union Grey Artillerists, three officers, 31 men; First National Dragoons, three officers, 20 men; New Hanover Artillerists, three officers, 21 men; Goschenhoppen Grays, three officers, 22 men ; Washington Gray Artillerists, two officers, 34 men ; Montgomery Guards, three officers, 27 men ; Sumneytown Artil- lerists, two officers, 14 men ; Lafayette Blues, two officers, 38 men ; Pennsylvania Defenders, two officers, 26 men ; Union Rifle Company, three officers, 24 men. The total number of officers was thirty-one and the number of men three hundred and forty-nine.
The Mexican War — The war with Mexico from 1846 to 1848 did not demand a large army, hence there was no company formed in Montgom- ery county. The list of names of those who did enter that war from this county has never been properly filed, and cannot be here listed. It is known that a few found their way into the army and aided in sub- duing the Republic of Mexico. Among these was Andrew H. Tippen, who was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Eleventh Regiment of United States Infantry, and served with distinction. He survived the conflict, and served as a colonel in a Pennsylvania regiment during the Civil War. Two brothers, George and Henry Lower, of Springfield township, served as volunteers. Henry Lower died the first day of the
MILITARY OPERATIONS 6i
battle of Cerro Gordo, of brain fever, and was buried at Piano Del Rio. His remains were later brought home by his brother George, and now rest in St. Thomas' Episcopal Church Cemetery, Whitemarsh. Joseph Cleaver and Michael Dougherty were enlisted in the Mountain How- itzer Battery. Benjamin Ehler enlisted in the Eleventh regular infantry, from Springfield township ; Louis Monsert enlisted in the Second Penn- sylvania regiment; he resided in Norristown many years after the Mex- ican War; he enlisted from Reading, Berks county. Albert Arthur en- listed and served in the same command with George and Henry Lower, above mentioned.
The Civil War — Public opinion had been divided in this country for many years over the question of States Rights, especially as it related to human slavery. One element, both in the North as well as in the South, declared the right to hold men and women in bondage, while the opposing element (confined very largely to the Northern States), declared against slavery, and against a State within the Union having the constitutional right to withdraw from the Union, or to enact and enforce laws not in accord with the Constitution and decisions of the Supreme Court, as the extension of slavery into the Territories, and into such States as were opposed to such a system. The war cloud became dark and foreboding with the election of the first Republican President in the person of Abraham Lincoln, who was seated March 4, 1861, and whom it was known was by his very nature bitterly opposed to slavery. The North by its majorities insisted upon universal freedom ; the South fiercely maintained the right to peaceably secede and establish a rival republic. South Carolina had "gone out of the Union" as she supposed, in December, i860, but before 1865 found she was still a part of it. Fort Sumter, within her borders, fired upon, was the signal for the opening of what was destined to be a long drawn out and bloody civil strife in which brother fought against brother and father against son. Now that fifty-eight years have gone by since Lee's surrender, it need not be further referred to ; but the part taken in this never-to-be-forgotten con- flict by the citizens of Montgomery county should not be omitted in a history of the county.
The part taken by the people of this county during the four long years of hostilities can never be but half told. From various military records, together with Bean's and other local histories, the statements found herein concerning the Civil War may be relied upon as true, hence freely drawn from by the author of this Montgomery county's latest history.
The novel and exciting experience of those who responded to the first call of President Lincoln for three months' troops was memorable, if not so important as that which resulted from the long terms of enlist- ments following the disaster at Bull Run on the 21st day of July, 1861.
62 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
The great uprising of the North which quickly succeeded the fall of Fort Sumter was a national impulse, and the movement of men to the defense of the capital was through an excited and indignant populace. Great as the perils of war were known to be, they were extravagantly magnified at the time, and the anxiety and solicitude for those who were the first to march was shown by every household in the county. Few among those who witnessed the memorable scene of the departure of the Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers from Norristown, on the morning of April 20, 1861, will ever forget the event. The several companies from the borough had been hastily recruited to their maxi- mum. Many of the members being residents of the rural districts, had hastened to town, signed the roll, and, returning to bid the dear ones good-by, thoroughly aroused the plain country folks, hundreds of whom came trooping into town, "to see them off." Those who were present when the regiment was in line in front of the court house surrounded by thousands of our best citizens and the families of those in the ranks, will recall the intense excitement that prevailed. The painful solicitude of the hour was deepened as the impassioned and eloquent words of the Hon. Daniel Smyser, then president judge of the district, fell upon attentive ears from the steps of the court yard. The word country had a new and deeper significance for the men of that generation than was ever felt before. The beautiful flag presented to these gallant men by the ladies of the county was felt to symbolize hopes and interests para- mount to all other considerations, and for the time being all differences of political opinion were subordinated to an exalted love of country. Men of all political opinions were requested to "put out their flags," and it is due to truth to say that in deference to public sentiment, that stood not upon trifles, the request was complied with.
On Saturday, April 20th, the command proceeded by rail to Harris- burg, and reached Camp Curtin at two o'clock p. m. It was the inten- tion to have remained in camp till a sufficient number of men could have been procured from Montgomery county to fill the regiment to its max- imum number ; but the urgent necessities of the government rendered this purpose impracticable, and orders were issued to form a regiment immediately from such companies as were in camp. This order had the effect to change the command from a militia to a volunteer organization. An election was held, which resulted in the choice of the same field officers as those holding the militia commissions, as follows : John F. Hartranft, of Norristown, colonel ; Edward Schall, of Norristown, lieu- tenant-colonel ; Edwin Schall, of Norristown, major. Charles Hunsicker was appointed adjutant.
Scarcely was the organization completed when marching orders were received. Leaving Camp Curtin on the evening of the 21st of April, the regiment proceeded by rail to Philadelphia, where it was ordered by General Patterson to report to Colonel Dare, of the Twenty-third. Tak-
MILITARY OPERATIONS 63
ing one company of his own and the Fourth Regiment, Colonel Dare proceeded by rail to Perryville, Maryland, and took possession of the town, making such disposition of the troops as would prevent a surprise.
On the following day General Patterson ordered the regiment to pro- ceed without delay to Washington. Immediate application was made to Colonel Dare for transportation by steamer to Annapolis, the route by Baltimore being then closed. Not feeling secure from capture, Colonel Dare only gave transportation for one wing of the regiment, which embarked under command of Colonel Hartranft. Arriving at Annapolis, the troops were disembarked and quartered in the buildings belonging to the Naval Academy, by order of Major-General Butler, then in command of the town. The left wing, under command of Major Schall, was detained several days at Perryville for the security of the port.
It was expected that the men would be fully clothed, armed and equipped at Harrisburg before marching. But when the urgent appeals came from Washington for troops, it was not the time for the patriotic citizen-soldier to hesitate, and the regiment marched without uniforms or equipments, the men being armed with muskets, and provided with ammunition, which they were obliged to carry in their pockets. Cloth- ing was sent to the regiment on the 28th of April, but not until some time in June were proper uniforms supplied.
In pursuance of orders, the regiment proceeded, on the 8th of May, to Washington, and was quartered in the Assembly buildings and in a church near by. Transportation and camp and garrison equipage not having been supplied by the State or national government, the regiment was prevented from going into camp. The close confinement of the men in crowded quarters soon produced its legitimate results. Sickness, which, up to this time, had been scarcely known in the regiment, now began to prevail to a considerable extent. As soon as tents were received it was at once established in camp, about two miles from the city, toward Bladensburg. When the necessary equipment was furnished regimental drills and inspections were commenced, and vigorous meas- ures taken to make the regiment effective. On the 24th of June it was ordered to Alexandria, in anticipation of an attack by the enemy, and was soon after placed in camp on Shuter's Hill, where the regular drills and inspections were resumed.
On Sunday, June 30th, at two o'clock in the morning, the pickets of the regiment, stationed on the old Fairfax road, under command of Lieutenant M. R. McClennan, were attacked by about thirty of the enemy. They were repulsed by our pickets, only three in number, who killed Sergeant Haines, previously a clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington. Three others of our pickets on the outer post, intend- ing to go to the rescue of their comrades, came in contact with the enemy's force, in which Thomas Murray was killed and Llewelyn Rhumer was severely wounded. The third, dropping upon the ground,
64 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
escaped without injury, the enemy, in the excitement and darkness, passing over him. The trails of blood, discovered in the morning, showed that they had likewise suffered in the encounter.
The evidences on every hand pointed unmistakably to an early advance of the army. Inspections were careful and minute. All surplus baggage was sent to the rear, together with knapsacks and overcoats, the men retaining only their blankets. The Fourth Regiment was assigned to the First Brigade, Third Division of McDowell's army. The division moved from camp by the Fairfax road, reaching Sangster's Station on Thursday evening. The enemy set fire to his stores and retreated, as the column advanced. Firing was heard in the direction of Blackburn's Ford, occasioned by Colonel Richardson's reconnaissance in that direc- tion. On Friday the division moved to Centreville, where the entire army of McDowell lay encamped. On Saturday, the 20th of July, the question of muster out was freely agitated, the term of enlistment expiring on the following day. Desirous of retaining the regiment in his command till the anticipated battle should be fought. General Mc- Dowell made an urgent appeal to the regiment to remain in service at least two weeks longer, saying he could not afford to do without such men. But differences of opinion prevailed in the regiment upon the question of compliance with this request. While many were willing to reenlist for two weeks longer, some were desirous of being mustered out in accordance with their contract with the government. When it was ascertained that unanimity of sentiment was not likely to be secured, it was decided by the commanding general that to break up the organiza- tion and to take a fragment of the regiment into battle would not be prudent ; orders were accordingly issued for its muster out of service. Several causes conspired to create an aversion to remaining. The regi- ment had been subject, during its service, to hardships which are, per- haps, inseparable from new and hasty organizations, but which bore somewhat heavily upon the men, a detail of which it is unnecessary here to give. It was at a time, too, when great activity prevailed in the organization of new regiments for the three years' service, the officers of this regiment having already taken steps for making new organiza- tions, in which considerable strife was manifested to get the trained men. Their decision was, accordingly, made more with reference to their own advantage and that of their officers than to any ulterior results.
General McDowell, when he found himself defeated in the battle which ensued, looking about for some causes to which he could attribute his failure, towards the close of his official report drags in this regiment for a share of blame, to whose service he had no more rightful claim, and whose conduct he could no more justly censure, than that of the regiment a week or a month earlier discharged. The subsequent history of the men composing this regiment dispels any doubt that may, at the time, have been raised of the rectitude of their intentions. Under the
MILITARY OPERATIONS 65
command of the lieutenant-colonel, it marched to Washington, from whence it was taken by rail to Harrisburg, where it was soon after mus- tered out of service. But measures were immediately taken for the organization of new regiments, in which the men immediately enlisted for the war, and fully attested on the bloody fields of Fredericksburg and Antietam, and in numberless hard-fought battles of the war, their patriotism and their valor.
For ready reference, the account of the various organizations from Montgomery county will appear in the order of their formation or departure into the service. They appear as follows :
The 44th Regiment (or First Pennsylvania Cavalry) entered U. S. service for a term of three years. Company B was recruited in Mont- gomery county, and was trained under that gallant and well versed military man. Colonel George D. Bayard, a West Point graduate of 1856. He fell mortally wounded in December, 1862, at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The second colonel was Owen Jones, of this county, a splen- did type of a soldier. This company was recruited at Athensville, in August, 1861, and served three years, having seen much service in the Army of the Potomac.
The 51st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers — Some time before the battle of Bull Run, Colonel Hartranft, who commanded a regiment in the three months' service, received authority to recruit one for the three years' service. Calling around him many of his old ofificers and warm friends, the ranks of the new regiment were soon filled up with a body rarely excelled as first-class soldiers. With the exception of a few enlist- ments, companies A, C, D, F and I were recruited from Montgomery county. The companies went into quarters at Camp Curtin, and the regiment was organized by selecting the following officers: John F. Hartranft, of Montgomery county, colonel ; Thomas S. Bell, of Chester county, lieutenant-colonel ; Edwin Schall, of Montgomery county, major. On November i8th the regiment left camp and proceeded by rail to Annapolis, Maryland, where beneath the venerable elms of St. John's College it was the first time formed in line, its details made and its arms stacked. Burnside's expedition to North Carolina was now being fitted out, and the best drilled and most reliable of the volunteer regiments were selected for that service. The 51st Pennsylvania was early desig- nated as one. Upon its arrival at Annapolis it was at first quartered in the buildings of the college, and subsequently went into camp on the old French burying-ground. On the ist of December the camp was moved two miles beyond the city, and for six weeks it was subjected to contin- uous and laborious drill, during which its efficiency and discipline were rapidly improved, and a foundation laid for its future renown. In the final organization of the corps it was assigned to Reno's brigade, and of which General Reno made the following report :
Mont — 5
66 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
On the 6th of January, 1862, the regiment embarked, and on the 9th the fleet, in three squadrons, set sail from Annapolis, and with sealed orders passed out to sea. No sooner had it reached the open ocean than it was overtaken by a succession of violent storms. It seemed as though a tempest had been lurking in the waste of waters ready to burst upon it the moment it should appear. For nearly two weeks, staggering beneath the giant waves, it was swept about at the mercy of the ele- ments. Braving successfully the tempest, it finally passed Hatteras Inlet, and came to anchor in Pamlico Sound. On the morning of the 5th of February the flag-ship "Philadelphia" was anxiously watched as it moved, followed by the fleet, and it soon became evident that Roanoke Island was the destination. At early dawn on the 7th a landing was effected and the movement commenced. The enemy was found strongly posted in earthworks on the northwestern corner of the island, nearly surrounded by an impenetrable swamp, approached in front by a single causeway, which was swept by the guns of the fort. Upon arriving at the edge of the swamp, Reno's brigade was sent to the left to cut of? the enemy's retreat south, while Foster was directed to penetrate the swamp to the right of the road, and attack the enemy upon that flank. Hart- ranft soon found his way completely blocked, and returned upon the track of Foster, leaving two companies of the 51st, which had the advance, still groping in the mire. But before he had reached the lines Foster had already opened upon the enemy with infantry and artillery, and as the regiment came into position on the right of the line, Foster ordered a final charge, and the enemy was driven from his works, and fled in confusion. The demonstration upon the left seemed to heighten the confusion, as he anticipated that his way of retreat was effectually broken. A hot pursuit was immediately made, and the entire force, with numerous heavy guns and small-arms, was captured.
On the 3d of March the regiment embarked for the expedition to Newbern, and on the 4th changed its muskets for Enfield rifles. The fleet sailed on the nth, and entered the Neuse river on the 12th, anchor- ing ofif Slocum's creek, fifteen miles from Newbern, where, on the fol- lowing day, the regiment debarked. A portion, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, was detailed to assist in moving the artillery. The rain was descending in torrents, and the roads were soon trodden into a stiff mud, which rendered the movement of the pieces next to im- possible. Many of the men lost their shoes, and went into battle on the following day barefoot. But without faltering or pausing by the way, they toiled on over the weary miles, and brought up the pieces in time for the attack. For this important service General Burnside personally thanked Lieutenant-Colonel Bell. In the meantime Colonel Hartranft, with the remaining companies, pushed on with the advance column. Upon its arrival in front of the enemy's earth-works, dispositions for attack were made, Foster occupying the right, Reno the left and Parke in support upon the centre. The enemy's line upon the left was masked by timber, and in the thick fog which prevailed the extent of his works was undiscovered. They proved to be of great strength, consisting of "thirteen finished redans" bristling with cannon, protected in front "by an almost impassable morass filled with fallen timber," and stretching away far beyond the railroad, where his right was supposed to rest. Foster attacked upon his left ; but the enemy concentrating his strength, proved too much for him.
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As soon as he could gain his position on the left, Reno attacked and the battle soon became general, raging with great fury for three and a half hours. The 51st had been held in support, and though exposed to a severe fire had not been allowed to return a single shot. General Reno becoming impatient at the delay and at the losses he was sustaining, ordered up Colonel Hartranft for the decisive charge. Forming within a short distance of the rebel intrenchments, the regiment was led forward through the ranks of the 51st New York, which cheered the column as it passed to a little hill beyond. General Reno in person, his face beaming with an expression seen only in battle, ordered the charge. With deter- mined valor the regiment rushed down a ravine choked with felled timber, up the opposite bank and, without a falter, carried the redan in front, planting the old flag upon the ramparts. "All this," says General Reno, in his ofificial report, "was gallantly executed, and the enemy fled precipitately from all their entrenchments. Some fifty prisoners were captured in these works, many severely wounded. Upon reaching the rebel intrenchments I was rejoiced to see our flag waving along the entire line of the enemy's works." After setting fire to the railroad bridge and a number of factories, the rebels abandoned Newbern.
On August 12 Burnside hastened with his command to the support of Pope, and landed at Fredericksburg, whence he pushed forward two divisions to Cedar Mountain, where they formed a junction with General McDowell. Four companies were detailed for a rearguard, and held the enemy at bay until so far separated from the main body as to excite serious apprehension for their safety ; but they succeeded in bringing in their gun with which they had been entrusted and crossed the river in safety. The 51st supported the batteries. On the afternoon of the first day of the battle, the 29th, Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, with part of his regiment, was detailed to advance to the picket line in Kearny's front, and there remained until the morning of the second day. Towards evening, says Reno's report, our forces had been driven back and then began to move from the field. The road was completely blocked with the artillery trains and much confusion followed. It was a critical mo- ment. Graham's pieces were admirably posted for its protection, and were already dealing death blows in constant volleys upon the advancing foe ; but should his support fail him all was to be lost. Ferrero saw the necessity of holding these guns at all hazards and keeping them in full play. Undaunted by the masses of the foe hurled against him, he clung to the ground, and poured in double-shotted canister and rapid rounds of musketry until the enemy lines were broken and driven in confusion from the field. But they reappeared stronger than ever, yet Ferrero's column withstood the shock, finally routing the foe. Now Ferrero, with the 2ist Massachusetts, moved off, and was separated from the rest ot the brigade. The command of the two remaining regiments devolved on Colonel Hartranft.
68 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Retiring across Bull Run, the two regiments filed into the fields to the right of the pike, and bivouacked for the night. In the morning they moved on to Centreville, and rejoined the army. It was soon after dis- covered that the rebels were in motion to strike the Union column by a movement upon its right and cut off its retreat. Reno's corps was immediately put in motion, with the cavalry in advance, and was soon joined by Stevens and Kearny. Hartranft had the rear of the column, and was moving with two batteries, though under no orders to support them, when he suddenly found himself confronting the enemy. The two armies were moving on convergent roads, and the lines were here first struck. Seeing that these batteries were in peril, he instantly ordered them into a commanding position on the left of the road, and drove back the foe. It was nightfall, and a terrible thunder-storm prevailed; but Kearny and Stevens and Reno, three impetuous leaders, immedi- ately formed, moved upon the foe, and fought in the darkness. They knew nothing of his strength and little of the ground, and contended to a great disadvantage ; but the enemy was beaten back, which was the principal point, though Kearny and Stevens both yielded up their lives.
At his own request Pope was now relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, and McClellan was restored. On the 3rd of Sep- tember the Ninth Corps moved through Washington, and on the nth reached New Market, on the Maryland campaign. The passage of the Monocacy was not disputed. On the 12th the command entered Fred- erick, and had a brisk skirmish with the cavalry which was covering the withdrawal of the rebel army, now concentrating in the passes of the South Mountain, which it was determined to hold. Before reaching the mountain Ferrero's brigade moved by a country road leading up to the summit on the left of the Sharpsburg pike. Upon encountering the enemy's lines the 17th Michigan, a new regiment, full of enthusiasm, but little schooled in those cardinal virtues of the soldier imparted by veteran discipline, made a most gallant charge diagonally across the road from left to right, in the face of murderous fire, which swept the ranks at every step, and soon disappeared in the woods beyond. General Reno coming up soon after, and supposing that his regiment had established a line in the woods and was holding the ground it had so gallantly won, ordered Colonel Hartranft to lead his regiment across the open field in the rear of the supposed line, and close up to the edge of the woods. While the regiment was thus moving and was stretched out upon the march unsuspicious of danger, the enemy suddenly opened upon it from the wood a most withering fire. The 17th Michigan had advanced and driven the enemy, but had neglected to hold its advantage, and the rebels returning, had awaited until the 51st was upon their bayonet ends, when they deliberately opened fire. The column was instantly drawn under cover of the wall that flanks the road, and soon after was deployed to the left of the road, under a fence that stretches at right angles to it.
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Fire was immediately opened upon the enemy, which was kept up until the ammunition was spent, when it was relieved by the 51st New York, Colonel Potter, lying in close supporting distance. Returning again to the contest, fire was continued until the enemy, finding himself hard pressed on all sides and his position rendered insecure, fled under cover of darkness, and in the morning the columns advanced without opposi- tion. General Reno was killed early in the contest.
The battle of Antietam opened on the afternoon of the i6th of Sep- tember, General Hooker crossing Antietam creek and attacking the enemy's left with great impetuosity and the most triumphant success, and was followed up on the morning of the 17th with even greater impetu- osity by the commands of Mansfield and Sumner. In the meantime the left and center of the Union line, stretching away towards the Potomac on the left bank of the creek, remained quiet spectators of the desperate encounter on the right. At nine o'clock on the morning of the 17th, when the struggle upon the right had been four hours in progress, Gen- eral Cox, in command of the Ninth Army Corps since the fall of Reno, was ordered to advance and carry the stone bridge on the extreme left of the line, firmly held by the enemy. "The bridge itself is a stone structure of three arches, with stone parapet above, this parapet to some extent flanking the approach to the bridge at either end. The valley in which the stream runs is quite narrow, the steep slope on the right bank approaching to the water's edge. In this slope the road-way is scarped, running both ways from the bridge and passing to the higher land above by ascending through ravines above and below, the upper ravine being some six hundred yards above the bridge, the town about half that dis- tance below. On the hillside immediately above the bridge was a strong stone fence running parallel to the stream ; the turns of the road-way were covered by rifle-pits and breastworks made of rails and stone, all of which defenses, as well as the woods which covered the slope, were filled with the enemy's infantry and sharpshooters. Besides the infantry defenses, batteries were placed to enfilade the bridge and all its approaches." [General Cox's Official Report, Moore's "Rebellion Rec- ord," Docs. Vol. V, p. 454-455.]
Against this position, strong by nature, rendered doubly strong by art, the nth Connecticut and Crook's brigade, supported by Sturgis' division, were ordered to the assault. As this force advanced up the open valley by the road which leads along the river bank to the bridge, it was exposed to so warm a fire from the opposite heights, alive with the enemy, that it was forced to halt and reply. Sturgis' troops reached the head of the bridge, and the 2nd Maryland and the 6th New Hamp- shire charged at double-quick with fixed bayonets ; but the concentrated fire of the enemy upon it forced them to fall back. After repeated efforts these regiments were withdrawn. Burnside, nettled at the failure of this attempt and the consequent delay of his columns, and knowing full
70 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
well in whom he could trust, ordered forward the 51st. General Ferrero dashing up to the regiment, said, "General Burnside orders the 51st Pennsylvania to storm the bridge." Hartranft, avoiding the road by the river bank, led his men in rear of the heights overlooking the river until he arrived opposite the bridge, when he moved boldly down the slope for the crossing. The instant his men came into the open ground in the valley they received a withering fire from the enemy's well-posted infan- try, and many fell. A fence skirting the road proved a serious impedi- ment, and in crossing it the men were particularly exposed. Here fell Cap- tains Bolton and Hart, severely wounded, a serious loss at this juncture. Unheeding the enemy's bullets or the obstruction by the way, the col- umn moved forward with a determined front, and made straight for the bridge. As they entered, a storm of missiles swept it, but no danger could stay that tide of living valor. Hartranft, who led the way, paused in the midst, and was hasteneing on the rear of his column when he was joined by Colonel Potter, with the gallant 51st New York. With a shout that rang out above the noise of the battle the two columns rushed for- ward, and were soon firmly established on the thither bank. The bridge was carried !
A regiment was quickly advanced, and took position on the heights commanding the bridge and its approaches, driving out the enemy and rendering the crossing for infantry secure. The whole corps now ad- vanced rapidly, took position on the heights above the bridge, and imme- diately advanced to the attack. The 51st was posted on the second range of hills overlooking the creek, some distance below the bridge. Here it was soon hotly engaged with the enemy under cover of a stone wall and in a cornfield on its left. Its ammunition was soon exhausted, and a fresh supply failing to arrive as ordered, the men held their position with the bayonet until relief came. But all this struggle and costly sac- rifice was vain. The enemy, relieved by the slackening of the battle on the left and the arrival of a fresh corps from Harper's Ferry, was enabled to concentrate an overwhelming force upon this single corps, and it was forced to yield. The loss of the regiment was 125. Among the killed was Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, a most vigilant officer and most estimable man, and Lieutenants Beaver and Hunsicker. Of the wounded were Captains Bolton and Hart, Adjutant Shorkly, Quartermaster Freedly and Lieutenant Lynch. Upon the fall of Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, Major Schall was promoted to fill the vacancy, and Captain William J. Bolten, of Company A, was promoted to major.
In the subsequent operations of the brigade the 51st, under command of Colonel Bolton, participated, engaging the enemy at Poplar Spring Church, at Ream's Station, at Hatcher's Run and in the final attack on the 2d of April, which resulted in the evacuation of Richmond. On the 27th of July, after four years of arduous service, extending over the whole
MILITARY OPERATIONS 71
line from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, it was mustered out of service at Alexandria, Virginia. This regiment took part in a majority of the greatest battles in the Civil War; it traveled a total of 10,439 m'les; marched 1,738 miles; by virater, 5,390; by rail, 3,311.
The history of the 51st Pennsylvania contains this bit of pleasantry worthy of becoming a permanent record, and is appreciated by the few remaining veterans of the Civil War, whether of the Confederate or Union forces. The following episode between the pickets on the line of the Rappahannock by men of the 51st illustrates the fact:
The best of feeling was expressed by both parties, and if a stray hog should by chance come within sight, both Reb and Yank would start off in pursuit of the porker, and catch and slaughter it, and then divide it equally between them with many jocular remarks about the mode of living that each army was subject to. The commencement of cessation of hostilities by both sets of pickets began with hallooing to each other, then with the poking up of heads above their rude breastworks, and then by exposing themselves outside of the works, finally feeling some confi- dence in each other, and no shots being fired along either line, they began by advancing towards one another. Between the two picket-lines flowed a stream of water ; this was the Rappahannock of the two parties ; when both parties met near the stream the following introductory remarks took place, the Rebs asking: "Hallo, Yanks, what regiment?" Yank —
"The Fifty-first Pennsylvania." Reb — "D good boys, too." Yank —
"Say, Johnnies, what regiments?" Reb — "Eighty-eighth Tennessee, Second Georgia and Fourth Mississippi." Yank — "We've met you chaps before." Reb — "Yes, several times ; come across the creek." Yank — "Can't see it; will you reach your hand out?" Reb — "Yes, here; give us your hand ; now, jump !" and over one went, and in a few minutes the Fifty-first boys were on the rebel side, and in return the rebels came over to our side, and all the civilities of an enlightened race were extended to one another.
The pickets of both lines made a treaty between themselves not to fire a gun at each other during that relief, which would be until four o'clock the next morning, and with true faith was it carried out, although the flag of truce expired at 5 p. m. There was not a solitary shot fired until the next relief was put on the next morning.
On the 2ist of August, 1861, John R. Brooke, of Pottstown, was commissioned colonel of the 53rd Regiment. He had served as captain of the 4th (three months') Regiment. Recruiting was immediately com- menced, and on the 28th of September the first company was mustered into the service of the United States. Company A was recruited in Pottstown, B in Chester and Montgomery counties, C in Blair and Huntingdon, D in Centre and Clearfield, E in Carbon and Union, F in Luzerne, G in Potter, H in Northumberland, I in Juniata and K in West- moreland. During the period of its organization it occupied Camp Cur- tin, and while here did provost guard duty in Harrisburg. The follow- ing field officers were selected: John R. Brooke, colonel; Richard Mc- Michael, of Reading, Berks county, lieutenant-colonel: and Thomas
72 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Yeager, of Allentown, Lehigh county, major. Charles P. Hatch, ol Philadelphia, was appointed adjutant.
On the 7th of November it moved to Washington and encamped north of the capitol. On the 27th it crossed the Potomac, went into camp near Alexandria, and was assigned to a brigade commanded by General William H. French. It remained here during the winter of 1861-62, and was constantly drilled and disciplined in the routine of a soldier's duty. It participated in the general advance of the Army of the Potomac in March, 1862, arriving at Manassas Junction, which had been evacuated by the rebels on the 12th. On the 21st it was marched to Warrenton Junc- tion to support a reconnoissance of Howard's brigade, which was being pushed towards the Rappahannock. The object having been accom- plished, on the 23rd it returned to Manassas and from thence to Alex- andria. Upon the reorganization of the army the regiment was assigned to the Third Brigade, First Division, Second Corps. April 3rd it was transferred with McClellan's army to the Peninsula, and formed a part of the reserve division during the siege of Yorktown. It had numerous and fierce engagements, including those at Peach Orchard, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, then moving via Yorktown to Newport News, it eml)arked for Alexandria, encamped on the Lee farm, and heard the roar of the guns at Bull Run. At Centerville the regiment did duty in line of battle. When General Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potv->mac and projected the movement upon Fredericksburg, the regiment proceeded to Falmouth, performed guard duty until in Decem- ber, then took quarters opposite Fredericksburg, in support of the bat- teries. They took an active part in the battle of Fredericksburg, and at eventide after the conflict was ended and the day lost to our forces, what remained of the regiment retired silently from its position and returned to the city. It went into battle with 283 men, and of these 158 were either killed or wounded. Among the former were Lieutenants Cross, McKiernan and Kerr, and the latter, Captains Coulter and Eichholtz, and Lieutenants Potts, Root, Hopkins and Smith.
In April the regiment entered upon the Chancellorsville campaign, and saw hard fighting until the 2nd of July, 1863, when it arrived and took position at Gettysburg at eight o'clock in the morning. Later that day it moved to Little Round Top. It fought bravely, but being much exposed its loss was necessarily heavy. Three companies were still on detached duty, and the remainder had but 124 men; of this number, only 45 escaped uninjured, six were killed, 67 seriously wounded, and six missing.
After many a long march and weary campaign, in December, 1863, the men were granted a veteran furlough and proceeded to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but on their return in the spring of 1864 they broke camp again and went into active service, including Chancellorsville, Chicka-
MILITARY OPERATIONS 73
hominy, the James river country, also Petersburg, where in a charge it lost 70 men and met with repulse.
On the 28th of March, 1865, the regiment moved on its last campaign, proceeding directly to the Boydton Plank-Road, where, on the 31st, it was briskly engaged. The Fifth Corps was now actively employed in pushing the enemy from his foot-hold about Petersburg, and in this the Second Corps was called to its aid. In the operations at Five Forks the regiment joined, charging the enemy's lines, driving him in confusion, and taking possession of a portion of the South Side railroad. In this engagement Major Pifer led the 53rd, Colonel Mintzer having been placed temporarily in command of a detachment skillfully deployed to deceive a division of the enemy and prevent him from changing his posi- tion. For the success attained in this service Colonel Mintzer was pro- moted brevet brigadier-general. Following up the retreating enemy, the regiment participated in the capture of his wagon-trains at Deep Creek, on the 6th of April, and was at the front on the day of the surrender of the rebel army. Encamping for a short time near Burkesville, it pro- ceeded from thence, through Richmond and Fredericksburg, to Alex- andria, participated in the grand review of the armies at Washington, on the 23rd of May, and was finally mustered out of service on the 30th of June, 1865.
The 68th Regiment was recruited in Philadelphia and in the adjacent counties of Montgomery and Chester during the summer of 1862, the first company being mustered in on the 4th of August, and was fully organized by September. A camp was established at Frankford, a sub- urb of Philadelphia. The field officers were: Andrew H. Tippen, col- onel , A. H. Reynolds, lieutenant-colonel ; Thomas Hawksworth, major. Though above the minimum, its ranks were not up to the maximum standard, and the men were only partially uniformed and equipped. It broke camp on the evening of September ist and proceeded to Wash- ington. The army was just then falling back to the heights around the capital. The regiment was immediately ordered across the Potomac, and went into camp at Arlington Heights. Here it was armed, and fur- nished with a complete outfit for an active campaign. It was assigned to Robinson's brigade of Stoneman's division. Soon after the battle of Antietam the regiment moved from camp, and passing through George- town, proceeded to Poolsville, arriving on the loth of October, the day on which the rebel Generals Stuart and Hampton, with a force of cav- alry, made their famous raid on Chambersburg, and a complete circuit of the Union army. Intelligence soon spread of the daring ride, and the regiment was marched rapidly to Conrad's Ferry, in expectation that the bold raiders would attempt to cross the Potomac, on their return into Virginia, at this point. But they made for a ford considerably lower down the stream, and passed over without opposition. After remaining several days in the vicinity of the ferry, it rejoined the brigade and
74 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
proceeded southward with the rest of the army. While on the march the rebel cavalry under White suddenly dashed in upon the train moving with the brigade, and captured wagons belonging to the 68th, contain- ing officers' baggage, books, papers and camp and garrison equipage, overpowering and making prisoners of the feeble guard which had it in charge. About forty of the 68th were taken, who were sent to Richmond and kept in confinement several months.
This regiment was in the movement against Chancellorsville and the operations below Fredericksburg. It captured thirty-five officers and men of the loth Virginia Regiment, with the colors and color-guard. At the opening of the battle of Gettysburg, July i, 1863, the regiment was at Emmettsburg, but rapidly moved forward, hearing the heavy firing in the distance. Its position was between Seminary and Cemetery ridges, finally at Peach Orchard, and there encountered heavy fighting, this point being the real key to the position. Colonel Tippen made this record of the part his command took in that memorable fight — possibly the turning point in the Rebellion : "It was a terrible afternoon, and all were anxious for the Fifth Corps to come up, as we were being deci- mated by the artillery. In that orchard the lieutenant-colonel and major were wounded and ten other officers killed or wounded, leaving with me but four to bring the regiment out of the fight, having had in all but seventeen present for duty. Just at sunset the rebel infantry charged upon the position and the brigade, weakened by its losses, was forced to yield, yet contesting every inch of ground." On the third day the regi- ment was held in reserve on the lower part of the entire field, exposed to a terrible fire from the enemy artillery. Colonel Tippen had his horse shot from under him and killed on that day. The loss here was about sixty per cent, of the number engaged. The regiment went into winter quarters at Brandy Station, and early in January, 1864, the few left in the command reenlisted. April 18, 1864, the regiment was ordered to General Meade's headquarters, where it was placed under command of General Patrick, Provost-Marshal General of the army, and employed in guard duty, continuing until the end of the war. After the return of the regiment to Virginia for the last fall campaign, in a sharp turn made by General Meade, Colonel Tippen was taken prisoner and confined in Libby prison for almost nine months. He was exchanged June 25, 1864, and resumed command of his regiment.
Colonel Tippen, of Montgomery county, commander of the brigade, having just got out of prison, in his report says :
The brigade was under my command. Among the prisoners were Lieutenant General Ewell, Major-Generals Custis Lee, Kershaw and other prominent generals of the rebel army, together with about six hundred officers of lesser grade. At a point on the route where we all rested for a short time, I received a dispatch that General Lee had sur- rendered. I communicated the intelligence to Generals Ewell and Custis
MILITARY OPERATIONS 75
Lee, but both doubted its truthfulness. They could not think it possible. In a very short time, and before leaving our resting-place, General Ben- ham came up with his engineer brigade, and gave the terms of sur- render. Young General Lee dropped his head on his breast, and General Ewell threw up his arms, exclaiming, "The jig is up."
In the last charge made upon the enemy's lines at Petersburg, before the final move, the regiment, though employed in provost duty, was of the storming-party. In the sharp conflict which ensued. Major John C. Gallagher was mortally wounded and a number of officers and men were lost.
After the capture of Lieutenant-General Ewell and his forces at Sailor's Creek, this regiment, in conjunction with others then consti- tuting the headquarters brigade, was detailed to guard the prisoners, and proceed with them to City Point. The brigade was under the com- mand of Colonel Tippen, and the order was faithfully executed without the loss of a man. This duty done, the regiment returned to the head- quarters of the army, having in charge about 6,000 recruits that had accu- mulated at City Point. It had been but a short time with the moving column when General Meade ordered it to proceed, in company with the 143rd Pennsylvania, to Hart's Island, near the city of New York, to have charge of rebel prisoners confined there. Here it remained until the 9th of June, when it was mustered out of service.
In the 93rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, the following offi- cers and enlisted men were recruited in and accredited to Montgomery county. The regiment ranked among the veteran organizations of the State, and was among the best volunteer regiments in the service. There being no company organization accredited to the county, we omit the field and staflf roster and the general history of the command. The regi- ment was organized at Lebanon, November 3, 1861.
The 95th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers was organized as the Pennsylvania Zouaves, then as the 45th and finally as the 95th. It was mustered into the service August, 1861, for three years. The regiment served in the army of the Potomac from its organization to the close of the war, and its losses in the service are reported as the most severe experienced by any Pennsylvania regiment in the field.
The io6th Regiment was organized, with the exception of Company K, between the 14th of August and the 31st of October, 1861, in Phila- delphia. Company K was transferred to it from the 67th Regiment on the 28th of February, 1862. A large proportion of officers and men had served in the 22nd Regiment, and previously in the Philadelphia Light Guard, a militia organization of long years standing. The following were field officers : Turner G. Morehead, colonel ; William L. Curry, lieutenant-colonel ; John H. Stover, major. At Yorktown this regiment participated in the engagement and all that season on marches and travel otherwise. This regiment participated at Fair Oaks, where Lieutenant-
76 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Colonel Curry was taken prisoner, taken to Libby prison, and later to Salisbury, where he was illy treated, but after three months was ex- changed. The regiment saw service at Charles City Cross Roads, at Peach Orchard, at bloody Antietam Creek, where in ten minutes time one-third of the entire regiment was stricken down, and at the end of the engagement the dead lay in line as they had stood in the fight. Cap- tain Timothy Clark and Lieutenant William Bryan were among the killed. In all these places named this regiment was known for its bravery.
At Fredericksburg, in the main battle, which was fought on the 13th, the regiment was formed for a charge, with the 69th on its right and the 127th Pennsylvania on its left, and advanced under a terrific fire of artillery to a position within about seventy-five yards of the enemy's works. From midday until nightfall, under a ceaseless fire from two lines of battle, it stood with a coolness and determination rarely paral- leled, and though losing heavily, held the ground until darkness closed in upon the combatants and the sound of battle died away. Retiring after the battle to its former camp, it remained, with unimportant excep- tions, until near the close of April. At the opening of the Chancellors- ville campaign the brigade was taken to Banks' Ford, where it was employed in driving out the enemy and protecting the engineers while laying a pontoon bridge. It was afterwards engaged in guarding the reserve artillery. On the 3rd of May, the regiment crossed the river and advanced to the assistance of Sedgwick, in command of the Sixth Corps, who was struggling against overwhelming odds at Salem Church. Re- turning to the bridge, entrenchments were thrown up, and the position held until Sedgwick's corps had crossed, when it returned again to camp.
In the battle of Gettysburg, which opened on the ist of July, the io6th bore a conspicuous part, arriving with the corps upon the field at a little after midnight of the ist, and taking position on the extreme left of the brigade, behind the low stone wall on the right centre of the line, in front of and to the left of General Meade's headquarters. The fighting commenced on the afternoon of the 2nd, on the extreme left, where Sickles stood, but soon swept around until it enveloped the whole left wing of the army. Fighting in the open field without defensive works. Sickles' men, though contesting the ground with a valor unsur- passed, were forced back, and line after line was crushed. While the conflict was thus raging on the left, the brigade was lying upon the ground in rear of the crest of the little hill which overlooked the field ; but as the wave of battle rolled on towards the right, recognizing the danger to which the left wing was exposed, and seeing that there was a gap in the line to the left. General Webb, in command of the brigade, ordered it to march by the left flank, then by the right, and as it reached the crest beheld the enemy not sixty yards in front, marching on, elated by success, as to assured victory. "Fire! Charge bayonets!" rang out
MILITARY OPERATIONS TJ
from the voice of the commander. A crash as from a single piece was the response, and in the twinkling of an eye bayonets were fixed, and, with a cheer that betokened the determination which fired each breast, the line went forward, striking the enemy upon his extreme left flank, and hurling him back in dismay. The io6th and two companies of the 2nd New York pursued the retreating foe as far as the Emmettsburg road.
The regiment returned to its place in line, but was scarcely in posi- tion when it was ordered to the extreme right, where the Twelfth Corps was engaged. It did not arrive, however, until the fighting at that point had subsided, and soon after was ordered to Cemetery Hill to the sup- port of the Eleventh Corps, where it went into position at ten p. m., on the right of the Baltimore pike, near Ricketts' battery, where it remained under the terrific cannonade of the following day, and until the close of the battle.
On the 3rd of May the regiment broke camp, and after a severe march crossed the Rapidan, and arrived on the 5th on the Wilderness battle- ground. The fighting for three days in the tangled wilds of that ever memorable field was for the most part at close quarters and very severe. From the Wilderness the regiment marched towards Spottsylvania Court House, but before reaching it encountered the enemy, and the contest was renewed. On the afternoon of the nth the brigade withdrew from the breastworks in front of the court house, and marched with the corps to the left of the line, where, at dawn of the 12th, Hancock led his col- umns upon the enemy's works. Delivered in strong force and at an un- expected hour, the charge was successful, the works being taken with numerous captives and guns. The io6th in this encounter suffered severely. Lieutenant-Colonel Curry, in command, was mortally wounded, and Lieutenants Charles S. Schwartz and Joshua A. Gage were among the killed. The regiment was held upon the front line, where constant skirmishing was kept up until the i8th, when another attempt was made to rout the enemy, which was unsuccessful. Again moving by the left flank, the corps encountered the enemy at North Anna and again at Cold Harbor. In the engagement at the latter place the brigade was ordered to charge and drive out the enemy from his intrenchments.
On the 27th of July the veterans and recruits were organized into a battalion of three companies, which was united for field service to the 69th Pennsylvania. The remainder of the regiment was mustered out of service at the expiration of its term, at Philadelphia, on the loth of September, 1864. The battalion remaining in the field participated in the actions at Ream's Station and Boydton Plank-Road and in the spring campaign which closed the Rebellion. It was mustered out of service on the 30th of June, 1865.
78 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
The 129th Regiment only had one company from Montgomery county, Company I. It rendezvoused at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, where on August 15, 1862, an organization was effected and officers elected as follows: Jacob G. Frick, colonel; William H. Armstrong, lieutenant-col- onel; Joseph Anthony, major. By August i8th the regiment went into camp at Alexandria, near Washington. Two companies were detailed to build a bridge over Bull Run. In December, 1862, the division crossed the Rappahannock, and proceeding through the town to a position in full view of the field, awaited the order to enter the fight. It was not long delayed, and again advancing by a main road, the brigade halted in low, open ground, where the men were ordered to lie down. Tempted by the easy range and unprotected situation of the brigade, the enemy opened a destructive fire from his batteries, by which Lieutenant Jacob Parvin, Jr., was mortally, and a number of privates severely wounded. Moving to the left of the road, the division was shortly after formed in line of battle on the crest of the hill, the brigade in two lines, the 129th on the left front. In the hopeless and fruitless charge which followed, made under a ceaseless fire of musketry and artillery from the impreg- nable position which the enemy held, officers and men did everything that true soldiers could do, traversing in good order the lines of dead and wounded left in previous charges, and pressing forward in the gather- ing darkness until they attained position in advance of every previous charge, and from which it was impossible to go farther. In the brief space that it was in motion the regiment lost one hundred and forty-two in killed and wounded. The caps of some were subsequently found close up to the famous stone-wall, and an officer and seven privates of Com- pany D were taken prisoners. Captain George J. Lawrence and Jona- than K. Taylor were mortally wounded. Captain Taylor was shot through the lungs early in the charge, but refused to leave the field, and retired with his command. Captains William Wren, Jr., Herbert Thomas, E. Godfrey Rehrer and Levi C. Leib and Lieutenant A. A. Lukenbach were wounded. Lieutenant Joseph Oliver was wounded and fell into the enemy's hands. The loss in killed was sixteen.
After dark the regiment was again marched upon the field for guard duty, but was withdrawn towards midnight. On the 14th and 15th it remained in the town, losing one man by the shot of a sharpshooter, and on the morning of the i6th, after having spent the night in throwing up a breastwork on the right of the town, recrossed the river and retired again to camp. The knapsacks which had been thrown aside before going into battle had been carefully guarded, but were not recovered. During the cold, rainy days preceding the 23rd of December, when extra clothing and blankets were furnished to supply the place of those lost, the men suffered greatly from exposure, one dying and many being thrown into hospitals. Drill and picket duty, which was at times severe, the Mud March from the 20th to the 24th of January, 1863, and occa-
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sional reviews, filled up the measure of its duty until the opening of Hooker's first campaign.
The regiment marched with the corps on the Chancellorsville cam- paign, though the time of many of the men had already expired, and took part in the fighting of the ist, 2nd and 3rd of May. In the <