THE RAT. unlit i t. . t S ii'' , rt ; n ' i , . . T . 1. 1 : I liavo sworn upon the Altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of Tyranny over the Wind, of Mail." Thomas Jcflereon. PIUNTED Atfb PUBLISHED BV II. WEBBl Volume It. ' feliOOMSiSijiiGJ-, COLUMBIA boVNTT, i?A. SATIIXtllAY ffdlHESaiBER 10, 1838. Number 39. nmiifro nn rmrt Titt arnnn Alt urriun w r iiiu iuiuuvjulii INK XT DOOR TO 1V0M30N 3 OTAOK UFFICli. f 1 ') tE&MS : , .., tTAe COLUMBIA DEMOCRAT will be published every Aatfaday morning, at .TWO D OLL4R.S per "annum, payable half yearly in advarf.e, or) Two Dollars , Fifty Cents, if not paid within tilt year. 'No .suuscripfionw'itl e taken for a shorter ftyriout(iqn sip mom nsj, nor any mcon tXr.uanc.eJpermittetU iinlU'all arrearages are discharged. 'ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding a square will be conspicuously inserted at tOnc Dollar for Jhe first thrcc.inscrtions, tand Twenty-five cents fpr every subse quent nsertion $pA liberal (discount made to those wfio advertise by fiie year. 'LETTERS, addrisiid oh business, VlUSt be post paid. 'A Mriutivk otiie pennsyl- VANIA FllONTIEK. iT.he follpwing, narrative, sc'o.t last winter Vi Congfpssaccompajniieil by a petition for lieation by a cliMinpiisbeu member of the Bouse of representatives. , . . That an old soldier who remembers when ns Susquehanna was the western frontier of our country should be still living-, and a ble to Write so stirring and account of his rematkatilo adventures, is matter for curious refraction. ,We aro assured that lie is en tirely worthy of credence, and that the , .whole story fa ..true. The language we hare merely altered, a little in its grammar and, spelling, lt,(is 'with pleasure we re tard that the old veteran's Application for a pension was succes'sful.Jcf. Library. Narrative if Lieilienant Moses Fpn Cam pen during the 'Jar of the Revolution. , , . WRITTEN BV h&SELfV v My first service was in trie year 1777, when I served three months under Col. John Kelly, who, stationed us at Big Isle, on the west branch of the Susquehanna. Nothing particular transpired during that tjno,and in March, 1778, 1 was appointed liautsnant of a comnanv of six-mnnths men. Shortly afterwards, I was ordered ,by Col. Samuel Hunter to proceed with a boutWenty men to Fishing Creek',, (w)iich empties into the north branch of tKe Sus quehanna abovt twenty miles from North umberlatyd.and to build a fort about three relies from its mouth, for the, reception of the inhabitants in case of art alarm from the Indians. In May, my fort being, nearly completed our spies discovered a large par ty of Indians making their way towards the fort. The, neighboring residents had bare ly time to fly , to tfic.fprtfor protection, leav ing their goods tieliitid'. t The Indians soon made their appearance', and Having plunder led and burnt the houses, attacked the fort, keepinga steady fire upon us during the day. At night they withdrew, burning and destroying ever; thing in their route. , "What loss thoy sustained w.c 'could npt ascertain, as tney carried ol all the dead and woun ded, though, from the marks of blood oil the .ground it must have be'eil considerable. The inhabitants that took slieUer n the fort liad built a yard for their cattle at the head "of a erapll flat at a short distance from the fort, andne evening in the month of June, jtiat as they were milking them, my senti nel called my 'attention to some mov'eirient In the brush, whidh I soon discovered to be Indians-, making their way to the cattle yard. There was no time to bo lost; I im mediately selected ten of my sharpshooters, and duller cover of it rise of land,got between them 2'rid,.the milkers, On ascendeng the ridge wo found ourselves within pistol-shot J)f therrii I fired first, and killed the leader, tut a .volley from my men did no further execution, the Indians running off at once. In the mean time, .the milk pails flew in 'every direction, and the best, runner got to Jhe fort first. As the Season .advanced, Indian hostilities increased; And ndtwith- fyroroJcbnstarilv out, houses were burnt and families rHilrtlercd. Iii the summet of 1778 'occurred the great massacro of Wyotning, after which the .governors of Connecticut, New Yorkand Perihsyljrania petitioned con gress to adopt speedy measures for the pro tection of the western frdritic'rj which sub ject was referred to a conimitteo of con gress and GenerM Washington1. The com mittee recommended that the war sljoiild bo 'carried into the enemy's country and a com- Jiany of rangers raised for the defence of the trnntier. in 1770 Uen. Sullivan was lent with an army into their country. The irovisions for the supply of the army were mrchased in the settlements along the wa rs of the Susquehanna, and deposited in store-houses, I was appointed under the iitle of quarter-master, to superintend this bdiiiicss, and about tile middlo of July, by Means of boats, (jiad collected all the pro visions at Wyomingj, where Gen.. Sulliyan .with his army lay waiting for them. About the jast of July our army moved for Tioga JloVtit, while a fleet of boats ascended,, the rjypr parallel with. the army!,, We reached there early, in August, where, we halteu for Gen. Clinton, to join us with his brigade, winch cai'ne b,y the way of the Mohawk river, and. so fn.t'd Lake Otsego. During this time tfio Indians, wore collecting incon siderable frce at ?i).)ndian village about miles distant As they became very trouble some neighbours, Gen. Sullivan contempla ted a,n attack upou them, biwished to as ceraTn their,, oumbers(,and s(tu'ation, and se le'cte'cj me for that dangerous, '.enterprise. I prepared mysejf an Jijdian dress", breech cloth, Icggius, and mocasins. My cap had a good supply of feathers, and being paint ed in style. I set off with one man(llres sed in the sa'ijie manner. , 'lcft the camp after dark, and proceeded with much c'aa tion until we came to the Chemung, which we. suppossed would be strongly guarded'. We ascending the mountain.'j crossed over it, and .came in. view of th'pir fire., vhen haing descended the hill, we waited quiet ly uptil they lay down and got to sleep.- Ve tl)en walked, round their camp, counted the tijes, and theumber of Indians at some of the fires', tVius .'formed an estimate of their nunibei,. which-1 . took to be about six or seven hundred. . l.yeturnejl, and having made my report tp(J)ie general early ljext morning, I went to my tc)t",. spread down my blanket, and Itaij.a. relfresliing sleep'. In the afternoon Major, Aflam Hooper, one of Iho general's aids, requested mo to wait upon the general, which l obeypd. Th.o latter requested, as I had learrit tfie, ivay.,to Chemung, lhat I would lead the advance', he having selected Gen. Samuel Hand, of the Pennsylvania line, to make them a visit with eleven hundred men. I accepted the the . rervicc, and we took, up our line of march after sundown. When, we came to the Pf arrows I halted", according to order, unn tn'q, main bodyi c;ime up", when the general ordered us (to enter the Narrhvs, obscrving,"Soldierstciit yotir, way tl'irougli,'' We did so, tand entered the Indian, village and ca"qin at. day-b'reak, but found that the birds had flown. We halted a few minutes for our men to refresh', apt fire to their vil lage, and having discovered from their trail that they had gone up the river, followed it about two miles. Hero our patji lay up a narrow ridge, called Hogback Hill, which we remarked seemed formed by nature for an Indian ambuscade. Accordingly", every eye was fixed on the hill, and as we began to ascend, we saw the bushes tremble, and immediately rifles were presented' and we received a deadly fire' by which sixteen or seventeen of the advance were killed or wounded. We that .stood sprang unUer cover of the bank, and for a moment reserv ed our fire. Six or seven stout fellows rushed out with tomahawk aii'd knife to kill and scalp our comrades It was ii'b.tv our turn to fire: every ehot counted one!,, they fell. Gerj". Hand now came on at "quick step, advanced within a few. rpds of themi and ordered hitmen to fire and. then charge them at. ho point of the bayonet; they wpre soon routefl artel put to fligjjt. We return ed with bur dead and wounded the same night to our former camrK Wo had nil further opportunity of corning to a brush with them) until wo were joined by our whole force under tien. Clintqii, We were opposed by the enemy's whole force, con sisting of Indians, British, and Tories, to whom we gave battle a little below New town Point, dur loss was trilling. On the return of,, the army I was taken with the camp fever; ( and was rcrrloyed to the for J which I had b'uilt in '78, where my father was still living. In the course qf the winter I recovered my health, and my father's .house having; been burnt in '78 by tho party which attacked the before-mentioned fort, rny father ..requested me to' go with him and a younger brother to our farm, about four miles distant,, to make prepara tions for building another;, and raising some grain. But little apprehension was enter tained of molestations from the Indians this season, as they had been so completely routed the year before. Wo lcf the .fort about the last of March, accompanied by my uncle and his son, about twelve .years did, afju o'rie Peter Pence. Wo had been on our farms about four orfiive days, wh'en on the niorning of tho 30th of March, iyp were surprised, by a party of ten Indians.'- My father was ldriged through with a war spear; his throat was cut and ho was scalp ed, while my brother Was tomahawked,' scalped; $trtd thrown in,tp the fire before my eyes. While I was.s(ruggling with a war rior, the fellow who had killed my father, drdw his spear from liis body and mado a violent thrust at me. J, shrunk from the spear, and the savage wjio had hold of mo turned it with his hand so that it only pene trated, ray vest and shirt. They were then gatisfisd with taking mo prisoner, as they had tho same-morning taken my uncle's lit tle son and Pence, though llicy killed my uneje. The same party, before they reach ed U3, had touched on the lower settlements of Wyoming, and killed a, Mr. llpspn, and took a boy prisoner of tho name of Rogers. ,Ve :vere now marched oft" tip Fishing Ci;eek,. and in tho afternoon of the same day we,.came to Huntingdon, where. the In dians found four white men at a sugar camp, who fortunately discovered tho Indians and fled to,, a house;- the Indians only fired on lhpni..and wounded a Capt. Ransom, when they, continued their course, till night. Hav ing phcamped and made Iheir fire, we, tho prisdtjcrs,. were tied and well secured, five Indians lying on one side of us and five on the other; in the morning they pursued their course, and,' .leaving, the waters of Fishing Creek, touched, the head quarters of Hem lock Creek, were ! they found-one Abraham Pike, his wife and cjihd. Pjke was .made prisoner, but his wife and .rhild they paint ed and told .logo, squdwj go home. They continued their course that day,, and en? patjiped the same night in the same manner as the previous. It came into ,my mind that sonjcfjnies individuals perforrjic'd won dcrrulfactinnaand surmounted the, greatest dangers. J then decided these felloymust die; and thought of the plan to despatch tlic.m. - I -i ,The n,cxt day I liad an opportunity to communicate my plan tqjpy fellow-prisoners;, they .treated, it as a visidlary scheme for thrca men, to attempt to despatch ten Indi ans. , J spread before them the. , advantages that three menvould have over ten when a slecp; fc tiiat wq.would be the, first prisoners that would betaken into (heir .towns, and vdlages after our army had destroyed .their cqrn, that we should be, tied to the stalfp andsuffyr aprue) death;, (wc had now. tin inch of rouml to fiirlit nn. nnil if u-fi fnilpil It would only be .dcath.and we miirh'tas well die one wpy as another. ,,'J'hat.day passed away, andjiavh'g.cncnmpcd for the night, we lay as before. In the morning we came to the rlvc! ; and saw .their canoes; thev had descended-itho river and run their canoes up Little TuhLmnouk Creek, so caucu; uiey crosseu me jivqr(anu sp; ineir canoes adrift. I renewed my, suggestions to rn.y companions to - despatch lem that night, and urged that they must decide,, the question. They agreed to mafte the trial; but Jiow shqil wo do it was the queslib'n. Disarm them and each take a tomahawk and come to clos.o.Vqrk at once. There are three, of 'us; plapt, our blows with judge ment and .three limes, thrpo will mako nine, and the tepth one, we can k.ill at our leisure. They agreed to chsarm them afid,( after that one take possession of, tho guns and fire at the one side of tho four,, and the othpj two take tomahawks on the .other side&dc.spatuh thcm.I observed that would fie a an uncertain way; tho first shot fired wouid discijver it to bo the prisoners, ahd might defeat us, I had to yield to their plan. Peter Pence was chosen to fire the guns, Pike tind myself to tomahawk; we cut and carried plenty of wood to give them ja good fire;(the prisoners were.tiqd and laid in. their places after I ujas laid down, one of lhem had occasion to .use (lis knife; he dropped.it at rqy feet; I turned my foot over it, and concealed it they all lay down and fell asleep , Abdijt midnight I got up and found them in sound sleep. I slipppd to Pence who rose; I .cut him loose; and lianded turn thp.unife; he did the, samo for rhc, and I in turn took the knife and cut Piko Joose; in a miiuite we disarmed them. Pence took his statibn at tho guns. Piko and myself with dur tomakawks tdpk our stations;! was tQ, kill three on the right wing, and Pike two on, the left, That moment Pike's ,two awpke, and ,wcre getting up; hero Pike proved a coward, and laid down. Jt was a critical moment. Isa,v thcirwas.no tlniei t.o be lost; their Heads', turned fair; I despatched them in a irlomentj -and turnc.d to my lot as per agreement, and as I w.as a bout to despatch th,oIast.on my side, of the fire, Penco he shot, and. did good exe cution; there was pnly ono at the ofl wing that his ball did not reach; ,jis name was Mohawkc, a stout, hold daring fellow. , In the alarm hbjumped oft" about three rod1, from the firp;, ho saw itwas the prisoners that mado the attack., and giving the war whoop, ho darted to take possession of the guns; I was as quick, to prevent him: the contest, was then between hint and myself, as I raised my tomahawk, he turned quick to jump from me; I foljqwpd him struck ,at him, but missing his liead, my tomahawk stuck in his shoulder, or rather the hacc of his neck; ho pitched forward and fell, a,t th,e same time my foot slipped, and I fell by Ils side; we clinched; his arm was naked; hfi caught me around my neck, at th.esapie time I caught him with my left arm around the body, and gave hjm a elosq hug, at. the samo time feeling for his knife, but could not reach it. In our senile my tpmahaw.k dropped out. My head was under the wounded shoulder,; and almost suffocated mo with his blood. I made a violent spring, and broke from his hold; w.p both rosp,,at tlip.sanp time,,anil he ran.j it took mp ?pme time, lo clear the blood from, my eyes; nVy,tnmaha,w,l,.,got .icovercd up and, I could notJind itin tirpo to overtake lum; ho was the only one of the prartv lhat cspaped. Pike was np,werjc$s. I always have had a deference for Christian, devotion. Pike was trying to pray, and Pence swear; ing at him, charging him with., cowardice, and saying it was no time to pray )c ought to fight; we were masters of lho.groqpd, and in possesion .of all their gunB,.tblankct9, match coals, fec. I then turned m,y atten tion to scalping them, and recovering the scalps of my father, brother, and osiers, I strung them all on my belt for safe keeping We kept our ground till morning, and built a raft, it being nc.ar the bank of the river where they had enqamped, about fifteen nules below Tioga Pojnt; we got all oui pluudcr on it, and sctsn;l for Wyoming, the nearest settlement. Our, raft gave way, when we made for land, bdl we lost consid erable property, though wp, saved our guns and ammunilion, and took Jo land; we reach ed Vyalusing late in the. -afternoon. Came to the .narrows; discovers a spiokp helotv, .-,.'! . r. i . .1. -1 I . -k 1 anu a.ran lying ai inenorc, uy.wnicn wjc were certain that a party of Indians had passed us in the course of, the day, and halted-for the niht. There was no.alternativc for, us I) ut to rout them or go over the moun tain; the snow on uie north side of the hill was deep; wp.knev from tho appearance qf t'io raft that thc.narty must, he small; wc hid two rifles each; mv only fear was of Pike's cowardice. To know tho worst of it wo agreed that I should- ascertain their number and give the signal for the attack; I crept down tho side of the hill, so near as lo see their fires and back, but saw no Indi ans. I concluded they had gone hunting- Ipr meat, and that this was a good opportu fjify for us to make off with, their raft.to the .opposite side of the river! 1 1 .1 gave, the signal; they came and threw their packs on to the raft, which.was made .of small, dry pine timber; with.poles and,,, paddles wfe drpvp her briskly across the river, and had got nearly out of reach of shot, when two o",'thcm came in, they fired, their shots did no .lniurv: we soon irot under cover of an island,- and went several miles; we;had wai ded deep,, creeks through the . day, the night was cold; we landed on an island and found a sink hole m which we made our m afhjr, warmin(g.ve were alarmed by a cracking in the crust; Pike supposed the In dians had.gpt on.lo the island, and was for calling for quarters; to keep, him quiet we threatened him with his life;, the stepping grew plainer, and qcqnicd coming directly to the fire; I kept a watch, and aopn a noble racoon came under the light, l.shot t he raccon, when Pike jumped up pnd .called out, "Quarters, gentlemen, "i took my gamo by tho leg and threw it down jto the fjre, "Here, vou cowardly rascol," I cried. "skjn that and givs us a roast for supper,',' The next night we reached Wyoming, and there was much joy to see us; wo rested one day, and. it being not sale to go to iNortn umberiandib.y land, wc procured a canoe, and with Pence and lyiy little cousin, we de scended the river by(night we came to Fort Jenkins bofore day, where I found Col. Kel ly and about one hdndred mqn, e,hcampcd out of the fort, he. pame acroi from the west branch, by the .heads of Chihsquaque to Fishing Creek, the end of the Nob Moup tain, so called at that day, where mv fathor and brother were killed; he had buried my father and unclcj my brother was burnt a small part of him -.only was to bo found, pol. Kelly informed me lhat my mother lind lier children were in the fort, and it wjns thought that I was killed likevyUp. Col. Kelly went into tho fort to piepare.ji,er mind to, sec me ;,I took oT, my belt of.scaips and handed thctp to an officer to keep! Human nature was, not suflicient to stand, the inter view. Slfe had just lpst a husband and a son, and- one had returned, to tako her by, the hand; and one tobi that she supposed wasijsilled; . -,., ; , , , ,,, , i The day after, I went to Sunbury, where I wrs received with joy; my scalps werq exhibited, the cannon were fired, ifec. , Jler fore my rqlurn a commission had been sent me as ensign of a ppmpany tq b command ed by Capt, .Thomas Robinsont this wps.as Iitmdprstood, a part of the qnb't11,,vhiuh Pennsylvania had to raise for the continent tal line. . .Ope Joseph Alexandfar was com missioned as lieutenant, but did not accopt his comissioiu, Tho sunimcjr of 1780 vas spent in the recruiting service ourcompany was organised, and was retained for the de fence o,f the frontier service j In February 1787, 1 was promoted to a lieutenancy, and entered upon thp activq duty of an officer by heading scoqts and as Capt. Robison was no woodsman not; marksman, ho pro ferred that I should encounter the danger and head the scouts, wo kqpt up a constant chain of scouts around the frontier settle ments, faom the north tq the west branoji of the Susquehatmaf by the way of tho head TVators .of Little Fishing Creek, Chilis-" quaquo, &,M un,cy, &c, In tho pring of 1781 wo built, a, fort dn .the widow. Mc Clure's plantatatipn called JSi'Ohira'fl fort where our provisions, wpre, stored In tho summer of 1781 a man, was taken, prisoner in.Juflalo Va,llcy, hut ma.de his escape; ho came in and, reported there werc,;ibout three I I , !.,!-.. r, ' . . . . , nu;igreu inoians on oinnemanoning, nuni ing and laying in a store of provisions, aii4 would make a descent on the frontiers; that they would divide into BmaU parties, and attack ,the wholo chain of tho frontiers at the same time on the same day. Cjal. jfjam uel Hunter selected a company q!" f'v-5 torct connoitrc; viz: Capt.. Carnpbell( Vetor and Rlichaci Groves, Lieut. Cjamerand myself; the paily was called the. Grove party. Wo carried with us three week's provisions, and, proceeded up tho w.est, branch . with much cauljon and care; we rr-achcd-.tilp Slnncma honing, but mado no discovery . pxpept old tracks; we marchpd up the Sinncmahnping so fr that we wcrfysatisfied it was a falrfo report. Wc returned, and a little below the Sihnemahoning, neap night, we discovv ered a smoke; we wore Confident it was a party of Indians, which we must have pass-, ed by or thqy got there sorrie other way; wo disr,pverd tharc was a large patty, how ma ny we could nb'l tell, but prepared for tin at tack.,. As soon fls., it was dark,,, we new. primed our ri(lcs,('aharpencd our flints, ex? amined jour, tpinaia.'.vkjhan(J.lt!s',. nncj all bc ing ready we, waited; with great jmpalicncc and till Cliey all lay down; llie. lime, came, and.,wit)i the .utmost s'iICjIIcb: wo, advanced, traijed.qur rifles ip one han'd and the toma hawk in .the other.. . . M, oij,,., ,(-' The night was warm, wc found some of them rolled in their blankets a rod or two from the fires. Ilaving.got amongst, them r we first handled our tomahawk; jiheyrnse, like a dark cloud; wc now tried our s'.iota, and raised the war-yell; they took Id light jn the utmost confusion, but few takinglime tp pick. l)p their rifles. Wc remained mas-: tors ,dfi.the ground and a their plunder, and took several scalps. It was & parly of twenlyTfive or,, thirty, .which had been ss low down as Perm's .replc, arid had kiltsd and scalped two or three.faipiljes), v,d,found several scalps of difTeritt.agcp ,wriicltlrhcy; had taken, and a4large,,quahtityiqf,dnbc9Ji(s cloth, v.Jiich wc Kfarried p Norlljv.mbfjrlan and gavo,to the distressed whp(had.p!icaped the tomahawk and knife..,) In tjecenih.er'8U our company, was ordered to Lancaster; wo descended tlie.rh'cr jn boats to Middletown, whore ourordern wer3 couuter.manded,fc wc were ordered to Reading,, .Berks counryj where we were joined by a part of the third and fifth Pennsylvania regiments, tand' a company of the Ccngresss tegiment. ..Wo took charge of tho Hessians taken with (eni Burgpynci'In ihe latter part of March, at ti)c,.op.cning,of the campaign of 1782, we. were, ordered by Cq'pgresu to our respeci live stations. ,. I marched Rqhlson's' .compa ny, tpNqrlhumberlAud, whe,rcjMr Thomaq RhambefA joined us, who, -iiad hcen..recent-: ij, commissioned as an-ensigrimof ,oi'r com-; pany. Wejialted at Northtirhberlwld two or three d,ayst for,pur men to wash an rest; from tliencp FJnijign phambprs .andnv?elfr . were ordered to M,uncy, Samuel , Yf'jHia'a plantation, there ,o make a stand. andjrq-: build Fort Muncy, whioh had bp.cn des. troyed by the enemy. -Vfe, reached that station and built a small block-hon.fc qr;,tho storage of our provisions; about the lOth or 1 1th of April, Capt. Robison came on. with Esquire Culbertson, James Dougherty; Yjiham M'Grady, and a Mr. Barklcyj'l was ordered to.selpct twenty or twenty-fivo men with Ucse gentlemen, and to proceed up the West.Brdriph to'lhq llig IslantJ, and thence up tlie Bald Eaglp., Crqcki.ito the place whore a lifr, Culferlso had , been, kil,ed. On the 15th of April, at, nigbti wo rca'cjied the pjacej and encamped for thq night; on the morning of the J Oth wo werq attacked by eighly-five Indians,, It ,,-as a liard-fought Rattle; Esquire Culherlsnn, anil two others rqs'dc their escape; I think, wo had nine kjlled, and p'et rest of us were made prisp'uers. . We. were all stripped, of our clothing excepting our pantaldcxns.. Whpn JJieK look ofr.ni,yi. shirt thej. liscov my cainmjssion, ,w.a,s WtitU-n on,parchment! and, .qarried. in a, silk case 'iu!5' with w ribbon in my bosom; scver-il got Jiold o( it; and one fellow- cut , the ribbon with his knifo, and succeeded in. obtaining it., They took us a little distancA (rom, the . Rattle ground, made thp prisoners .sit down in a &ippliiijg, Ihe Indians farming another a-; round us in close order, pach ayjlh his.riflo and tomahawk in his hand!. ) They brought f up five Indians wp had killed, and laid them' within their circle., ..Each on,Q refleplptl for. himself; our tirae.wuld brobably be short, and respecting myself, looking back to lhv year'80 andlhp party had killedt.it.' lAp" uiscovprei t he that person my case wnuldf bp a hard -ono, Tlipir prophet or chief warrior made a speech; as I was informed, afterwards by the British lieu t e n ajn. tjisv belonged to tho fiarty, he wat4onsuliin0
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