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History of Bedford and Somerset Counties
CHAPTER 1
THE INDIAN OCCUPATION - INDIAN TRAILS AND PATHS - FIRST WHITE MEN
IN SOMERSET COUNTY - WASHINGTON IN SOMERSET COUNTY
THE INDIAN OCCUPATION
Very little in the way of history, whether written or by tradition,
that has come down to our time tends to show that there had ever been any very extensive permanent
aboriginal or Indian occupation of the territory that is embraced within the limits of what is
now Somerset county. It seems to be a generally accepted fact that this region of country was
simply a hunting ground for tribes whose permanent seats were farther west, along the Ohio river
and its larger tributary streams, and that any Indian villages or encampments were simply temporary
hunting camps, which shifted and changed as game was plenty or scarce. Against this view not very
much evidence can be offered. If there ever was any Indian occupation of a more permanent character,
it must be admitted that it was not on any very extensive scale. As a hunting ground, these numerous
valleys, these steep and lengthy mountain sides, abounding with all manner of wild animals, plentiful
even at the time of the coming of the white man, the table lands and glades with their swiftly
flowing streams, teeming with fish, must indeed have been a hunter's paradise.
That there was an Indian occupation more or less extensive and permanent
we think is abundantly proven by the finding, even at the present day, of flint arrow heads, stone
hatchets and implements in many parts of the county, as well as by the fact of the Indian traders
who first penetrated these mountain wilds having found not only roving bands of Indians, but also
at least a few Indian villages more or less permanent in their character. These Indians appear
to have been of different tribes. Among them were a few of the Iroquois or Confederacy of the
Six Nations, whose principal seats were in the state of New York. These were also known as Mengwees,
finally corrupted into Mingoes. They were looked upon as being the rightful owners of the soil,
and with them were made the treaties for the final extinguishing of the Indian title to this region.
Others of the Indians first found here were of the Lenni-Lenape, or Delaware tribe. Their occupation
of the region of country now known as western
Pennsylvania was by sufferance on the part of the Iroquois, the real
owners. They were divided into several bodies, the largest of which had settled along the Atlantic
coast from the Potomac river in the south to the Hudson river in the north. Their principal seat
was on the Delaware river, to which noble stream they have given their name. Upon the coming of
the white man they were speedily pushed to the westward by the ever-encroaching tide of civilization.
The Shawnees are said to have come from the south, and appear to have
been of a wandering character, as well as of a cruel and treacherous disposition. These were the
Indians mostly found in these parts by the white men who first penetrated this part of the country.
It is known that there was an Indian village on a farm in Jenner township that at one time was
owned by Daniel Weaver. This Indian village was called Kickenapaulins old town. It is mentioned
in the journals of the first white men who are known to have penetrated that part of the county.
Joseph Johns, of Conemaugh township, has in his possession a deed which was recorded on page 341,
book A, deed record of Bedford county, on the 10th day of June, 1779. This early deed makes mention
of "Kickenapaulins old town."
There was also an Indian village at the junction of the Castleman's
river and Laurel Hill creek with the Youghiogheny river, where the town of Confluence now is;
in short, in the Turkeyfoot itself. That there was such a village there cannot well be doubted,
because the information concerning it has been derived from persons who had actual knowledge.
Many Indian relics have also been found in that locality. In Elk Lick township there is also evidence
of Indian occupation. There must have been an Indian village; there certainly was an Indian burial
ground.
Its location is on the Grantsville road, a short half-mile below the
Cross Road schoolhouse. Here there is a narrow valley, watered by a small stream that comes in
from the southwest. In this valley, and near the Mennonite church, a half dozen or more Indian
graves have been opened and examined by Daniel J. Miller, a well-known citizen of the township.
Mr. Miller says that the bodies were placed in a sitting posture, with the hand thrown over the
knees. He also exhibits teeth and fragments of bones that were taken from these graves. He further
says that a few miles south of the Maryland line there is abundant evidence of Indian occupation.
Grandsons of Peter Livengood, one of the first settlers in this region, who were born about 1804,and
who remembered their grandfather quite well, informed the writer that when he settled there he
found an Indian clearing on his farm. Just outside of the corporate limits on the south side of
Salisbury is a long and rather narrow plat of ground having an area of about two acres that is
entirely free from trees and brush. In the woods, a few steps from its south end, a spring famous
for its good water issues from the hill above.
The writer's own recollection of this "Long Field," as it
is called, goes back for a period of about sixty years. At that time it had all the appearance
of a fallow field, surrounded on all sides by the forest primeval. Except that the wood on the
west side has been somewhat thinned out, it is so at the present time. The oldest people of the
community, born and reared in the vicinity, and themselves long since gone, always said that this
" Long Field" was in the same condition that it now is when the white man first settled
in the valley of the Castleman's river. They further said that the very first settlers who were
still living in their time, all said the clearing of this field was not the work of the white
man. Had it been the work of any settler, there certainly would have been traces of his house
existing within the memory of old people who were living fifty years ago. We believe, also, that
it is a part of a tract of land which never had any improvements of any kind until within a very
recent period. The "long field" has always been looked upon as the work of a people
who preceded the white man.
INDIAN TRAILS AND PATHS.
There had from the earliest times been more or less intercourse between
the western Indian tribes and those who dwelt on the eastern slope of the continent. and along
the Atlantic coast, as well as between those who dwelt in the north and the south. This was particularly
the case where the several tribes were the offshoots of a common stock.
At the time of the coming of the white man into eastern Pennsylvania
there were numerous and well defined Indian trails leading westward across the country. Of these
the principal ones were the Kittanning path and Nemacolin's trail. The Kittanning path was to
the north. It does not pass through any part of Somerset county as it now exists, and is only
mentioned because it is one of the best known of these old Indian trails. Nemacolin's trail was
to the south, and it takes its name from a Delaware Indian chief, who pointed it out to Colonel
Michael Cresap, of Old Town, Maryland, as being the most feasible route for a packer's trail to
the junction of the headwaters of the Ohio river. It must, however, have been a traveled Indian
path for ages before the time of the Indian whose name it bears. This was in 1749. At that time
the province of Virginia laid claim to a large part of western Pennsylvania. It is quite probable
that most of the Turkeyfoot region was included in this claim.
In 1749 a company known as the Ohio Company had been formed in Virginia
for the purpose of trading with the Indians along the Ohio river. To Colonel Cresap, as agent
of this company, had been deputed the business of finding the best way of reaching the Ohio river,
and he adopted the suggestions of the Indian chief. In a general way it may be said that this
Indian trail, as made known by the Indian chief, presently became the route for Braddock's road.
Nemacolin's trail only crosses the extreme southwest corner of Somerset county, passing through
Addison township for a distance of about a half-dozen miles. But nowhere between the Youghiogheny
river and Fort Cumberland does it appear to have been more than a few miles distant from the southern
boundary of the county.
The Catawba trail, from the south, passed through Bedford county.
From some point in that county a branch of it diverged in a southwest direction and across the
Allegheny mountains, toward the Youghiogheny river, which it crossed near Somerfield. Between
Nemacolin's trail and the Kittanning path other trails passed from the east to the west. One or
more passed north through the valley between the Negro mountains and the Laurel hill. In later
times these Indian trails became the natural routes for the wagon roads and turnpikes of civilization.
The Forbes road followed such a path in the north of the county, while the famous Glades road
followed a similar one through the central part of the county. It is also said that a similar
trail diverged from this last in the vicinity of Somerset, passing where Simon Hay afterwards
built his mill, to Fort Cumberland.
THE FIRST WHITE MEN TO PENETRATE INTO SOMERSET COUNTY.
It was by the Indian trails or paths that the first white men penetrated
into and through the wilderness that then covered Somerset county. These, it may safely be said,
were Indian traders, who were probably guided by friendly Indians. But who the first were to make
this then perilous journey, or when it was made, are questions that probably can never be answered.
It may have been very early in the first half of the eighteenth century. Among these early traders
were George Croghan, John Frazer, John Harris, Rea or Ray, Denning or Dunning, and Ferguson. It
may be accepted to a certainty that at one time or another all of these men passed through this
region prior to 1755, and they may even have been preceded by others. But none of these traders,
or any before them, have left any impress on the history of this county.
The first white man who is positively known to have crossed the territory
of Somerset county was Christopher Gist, as agent of the Ohio Company, and the time was in the
year 1749. He is known to have traveled by Nemacolin's trail, which led him through Addison township
to what later became known as the Great Crossing. In 1750 he again passed through Somerset county,
this time through the present townships of Shade, Quemahoning and Jenner. Of this journey he left
behind him a journal or diary. Christopher Gist seems to have been a native of North Carolina,
and was a surveyor.
The Ohio Company had a land grant of nearly four hundred thousand
acres along the Ohio river. Gist was to search out and discover these lands. His instructions
were to particularly observe the ways and passes through the mountains, also the courses and bearings
of the rivers and mountains, as well as the nations, strength and numbers of the Indians inhabiting
the country and with whom they traded. He was also to note the quality of the land, and to make
as good a plan of the country through which he would pass as possible, and to make a true report
to the company. He was also authorized to take with him such number of men as he deemed necessary.
Gist set out on this journey from Old Town, Maryland, on Wednesday, October 31, 1750. Old Town
is on the Potomac river, some fifteen miles east of Cumberland. It still preserves its ancient
name, and is also said to justify it in its appearance.
From Gist's journal we find that he followed the old Indian path along
Warrior Ridge, north thirty degrees east, a distance of about twenty-one miles, where he and his
party stayed all night. This was in the present Southampton township, Bedford county. The next
day, Thursday, November 1, they journeyed due north one mile, and north thirty degrees east three
miles. Here Gist was taken sick, and they remained all night at this place. On Saturday they proceeded
north eight miles to the Juniata river, a large branch of the Susquehanna, where they stayed all
night. On November 4 they crossed the Juniata and went up the stream south, eighty-five degrees
west, sixteen miles. By this time the party must have passed the place where Rea, the Indian trader,
located. As Gist makes no mention of him, he must have come in later. On Monday, the 5th, they
continued on the same course, south eighty-five degrees, west six miles reaching the top of a
large mountain called Allegheny. For the second time Gist is now about to enter what is now Somerset
county, but at a different point from his first entrance, and still the first white man who is
positively known to have set his feet on its soil.
On the 6th, 7th and 8th of November there was snow, and the party
remained on the mountain top. Gist had killed a young bear, and there was no lack of provisions.
On Friday, November 9, the journey was resumed, north seventy degrees, west about eight miles,
where they crossed the Stony creek, which Gist supposed to be a branch of the Susquehanna. There
being at the time a heavy rain falling, they entered an old Indian cabin, where they remained
through the night. The bad weather continued on Saturday, and there was no traveling. On Sunday,
the 11th, the journey was resumed, north seventy degrees, west six miles, crossing two branches
of a creek, which must have been the Quemahoning creek, although no name is mentioned. On Monday,
November 12, north forty-five degrees, west eight miles, crossing a great Laurel mountain. From
this it will be seen that Gist and his party spent about four days in traversing the county. From
this record of courses and distances, Gist's route of travel might even at this day be traced
with reasonable accuracy. Having now passed beyond the western boundary of Somerset county, it
is needless to follow his farther movements on this journey. The route was over an Indian trail,
and is substantially the same over which the Forbes road way afterwards opened.
In 1754 John Harris, an Indian trader, made a table of distances over
this same trail, or trader's path, which it had now become. From this we quote: From the Shawnee
cabins (in Bedford county) to the top of Allegheny hill, six miles: to Edmunds' swamps, eight
miles; to Stony creek, six miles: to Kickenapaulin's, six miles: to the Clearfields, seven miles.
This table makes the distance somewhat greater than that given in Gist's diary.
WASHINGTON IN SOMERSET COUNTY.
The great Washington himself must be reckoned on as one among the
earliest white men who are positively known to have penetrated into and traversed any part of
the territory of Somerset county. In all, counting the outward and homeward journeys, "the
father of his country" was within the limits of Somerset county not less than eleven times.
His first westward journey was made in 1753, leaving Will's creek, or Fort Cumberland, on the
15th of November. His party was composed of four frontiersmen, two of whom are said to have been
Indian traders: one, John Davidson, acted as Indian interpreter: Jacob Van Braam, as French interpreter:
Christopher Gist was the pilot. They traveled over Nemacolin's trail. This was the occasion on
which he visited Venango and the fort at French creek. He returned home by the same route. In
the following year, 1754, he again passed through the county in an attempt to reach the Forks
of the Ohio. This was when he cut the road from Cumberland to the great crossing of the Youghiogheny
river. The road then cut through the mountains is usually known as the Braddock road, although
it is said on good authority that the Braddock road did not at all places follow the exact route
that Washington's road did, although substantially it was the same road improved by Braddock when
his army marched westward. About seven miles of the road are in Somerset county. It crossed the
Youghiogheny river at a short distance south of the village of Somerfield. After reaching the
Great Crossings, Washington, before proceeding further with the road, determined to examine the
river to see whether it might not afford an easier way of reaching his objective point. With a
lieutenant, three soldiers and an Indian guide he embarked in a canoe and began the descent of
the river. At or near the Turkeyfoot, the party met Peter Stuver, an Indian trader.
The Turkeyfoot is the junction of the Castleman's river and the Laurel
Hill Creek, also known as the North fork, with the Youghiogheny river. When at the Turkeyfoot
Washington noted that it would be an advantageous place for the erection of a fort. According
to Washington Irving, the river was explored for a distance of about twenty miles, when, becoming
convinced that an army with its stores could never be moved over so rapid and dangerous a stream,
Washington returned to the Great Crossing. He is said to have had a force of about one hundred
and sixty men, but, as is well known, his expedition ended in disaster, and he returned to Fort
Cumberland by the same road that he had constructed.
In the following year, 1755, he was with Braddock's ill-fated expedition,
and so came within the borders of Somerset county once more. Braddock's army crossed the Castleman's
river, near Grantsville, Maryland, on June 16, 1755. Although the distance is but little over
sixteen miles, it did not reach the Great Crossing (Somerfield) until June 23d. Here, according
to the map with "Orme's Journal," the army encamped on the Somerset county side of the
river. At the Great Crossing Washington became ill, and under the peremptory orders of General
Braddock himself he remained behind. For ten days the future father of his country lay upon a
bed of sickness on the banks of one of our mountain rivers. On July 3d he went forward to rejoin
the main army, while still so weak that he was forced to ride in a wagon.
In 1758 Washington again passed through Somerset county, with the
Forbes expedition, being in command of the First Virginia Regiment. In 1770 he made another journey
to the Ohio river over the Braddock road.
In 1784, after the close of the Revolutionary war, Washington made
his last journey through Somerset county. He traveled over the Braddock road. In his, journal
he says: "Sept. 10, 1784. Left Fort Cumberland. Dined at Mr. Given's, at the forks of the
roads leading to Winchester and the Old Town, distant from the latter about twenty miles, and
lodged at Tomlinson's, at the `Little Meadows,' 15 miles further. "Sept. 11th. Set out half
after 5 o'clock from Tomlinson's, and in about one and a half miles came to what is called the
Little Crossing of Youghiogheny. Breakfasted at one Mount's, on the Mountain 11 miles from Tomlinson's.
The road being exceedingly bad, especially through what is called the shades of Death. Baited
at the Great Crossing of the Yohogheny, on Braddock's Road (Somerfield), which is a large water
distant from Mount's miles, and a better road than between that and Tomlinson's." The Little
Crossings referred to above is not in Somerset county, but in the state of Maryland, about two
and a half miles south of Mason and Dixon's line. The stream is our own Castleman's river, but
in those early days it was also known as the Little Youghiogheny river. Washington did not return
home over this road. Every spot of earth that Washington's feet pressed in the line of duty has
become for all time sacred soil in the eyes 9 of every American citizen. In all communities, places
where he is known to have been or to have visited are pointed out with pride. This, we think,
is a sufficient reason for having said so much about Washington in this history of Somerset county.
With the Braddock expedition were two men, Casper Phillipi and Casper
Harbaugh, who in later years became settlers in Somerset county. It may justly be said of them
that they were the first two known white men who came into Somerset county who finally settled
in it.
[Source: The History of Bedford and Somerset Counties by Blackburn
and Welfley, published in 1906. Chapter 1, pages 1- 9. Transcribed and donated by Batha Karr <batha.karr@gmail.com>.
]
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