SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN Vol. 75 No. 26 July 2, 1975 4 § -oNy dep cto Joy, Pa. Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA. Marietta Jaycees plan "2M-Zo gala, glorious Fourth Rangers take aim with unerring Pennsylvania Rifles Donegal Rangers come back to life 200 years later, July 4, 1975 The Donegal Rangers, first organized during the French and Indian War, are still going strong here. During the American Re- volution the Rangers were absorbed into Captain Matthew Smith’s Company, part of Thompson's Batal- lion. They marched from here to Boston during July, 1775. The first Pennsylvanian to die in the Revolution, William Simpson, was in Smith’s Company. His heel and ankle were shattered by a cannonball at Bunker Hill. He lingered for several days and was visited by General Washinton before he died. Another member of Smith’s Company, John Joseph Henry from Lancas- ter, was only sixteen. He survived the war and be- came a judge in Lancaster County. He was to write his memoirs of the war which included some unflattering comments about his Cap- tain, Matthew Smith. Smith’s Company went to Quebec in the fall and took part in the unsuccessful siege there under the command of Benedict Ar- nold. This fall, 200 years later, the present Donegal Ran- gers are going to Quebec to take part in the re-staging of that battle, and will attempt to take the fort from a British garrison there. They will fight under the original batallion flag which contains the Latin words: “Domari nolo” (‘I am unwilling to be tamed’). They will go on foot like the Rangers of 1775 from Portland, Maine, to Quebec, sleeping out as their fore- bears did. Present membes of the Donegal Rangers are: Lewis D. Bechtold, William Best, Pat Boas, Michael D. Cohan, Dennis Doyle, Charles Heistand, Reaves Gehring, William B. Landis, James Landis, and Thomas Willis. The Rangers will march in the July Fourth parade in Marietta, bearing their au- thentic Pennsylvania Rifles, made by Charles Heistand. On September 14 they will participate in the Maytown Open House Tour. Ranger Cohan has issued a warning to Maytown residents, not to be suprised if they see some British redcoats about town on that day. In December, the Rangers wearing their gray coats with the white fringe will be in the Candlelight Tour sponsored by the Marietta Restoration Associates. And next spring, they will attend the Bicentennial Ball. The Revolution had just begun in the summer of 1775, and the Rangers were looking for recruits. The Bicentennial has barely be- gun, and today’s Rangers are also looking for recruits. Persons interested in join- ing this organization tracing its history back more than two hundred years should call Ranger Cohan at 1-252-3477, Wrightsville. Bulletin takes a vacation Twice a year, the staff of the Susquehanna Bulletin takes a vacation - July 4 and Christmas. The Bulletin will not come out next week, Wednesday, July 9. Weekly publications will resume with the Wednes- day, July 16, issue March to Boston Ranger Cohan inspects team of Conestoga wagons before The Marietta Jaycees are sponsoring a flea market along with the Fourth of July celebration at Marietta War Memorial Park. Anyone with something to sell can rent space in the park from the Jaycees on the 4th and Sth, and set up a stall beneath the rocket’s red glare. Entertainment in the park will include music by ‘Whisley Train’ on Friday What was evening ( the 4th) starting at 6.30 p.m.. The fireworks will go off Saturday ( the Sth) at 10.30 p.m.. The ‘Fat Cats’ will provide music Saturday afternoon. If you would like to set up a stall, call Don Simmons, who is in charge of arrang- ments. Jim Yeaglin is chairman and publicity manager for, the event. happening here on July 4, 17752 MAYTOWN,PA., July 1, 1775— Capt. Matthew ‘Smith, Paxtang, has organ- ized a military company of many volunteers from Donegal township, includ- ing members of the Donegal Rangers. Meanwhile, in Lancaster, Capt. James Ross has formed a similar company. Both groups were formed in response ta the June 14 call from the Continental Congress to raise companies of expert rifleman. In the Donegal area there are now two military com- panies, the other being the one formed this May by Capt. Jacob Cook, after news had reached here of the battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, fought on April 19. Smith and his men are reported ready to make the long trek immediately to Boston, to help their be- leaguered countrymen Jy Dew: has arrived here that the Bostonians suffered losses on June 16 at Bunker Hill. A few citizens have voiced disapproval of Smith's cap- taincy. He is remembered by some as a member of the Paxton Boys, who in De- cember, 1763, raided first the reservation of the Conestoga Indians at Turkey Hill and then the workhouse on Prince and King Streets in Lancaster, where the few remaining Indians had taken refuge. The Paxton Boys killed and scalped every Indian left in Lan- caster County, women and children included. Later, the Boys set out for Philadelphia to do away with Christian Indians protected there by Quakers. The Boys were met outside Philadel- phia by the militia headed by Dr. Benjamin Franklin, famed printer, inventor, physicist, postmaster, and diplomat, who talked them into returning home without additional scalps. The Paxton Boys justified their massacre of the Con- estogas as retaliation for the many frontier scalpings by Delawares of white families, relatives of the Scotch-Irish Paxton Boys. They espec- ially wanted to get Bill Sock, a Conestoga who they suspected of spying for the Delawares. Sock died at their hands in the Lancaster workhouse. But most people in the present crisis with England are willing to forgive and forget the past. Smith enjoys a reputation as a fightng man, and as a Scotch-Irishman, a sworn enemy of England. Ever since Lexington and Concord, martial enmity to Britian is the spirit of the American colonies. Ten Cents Ghewatok and Wanhulta in fatal plunge from Chiques Rock Wittell tells of tragic leap A legend about a lovers’ leap from Chiques Rock has persisted for many genera- tions, but nothing very definite has been known about it. Now thanks toCheste Wittell, composer, poet, and Arabic scholar who lives in Mount Joy, the Susquehan- na Bulletin can publish the tragic story of the love of a Susquehannaock Indian brave, Ghewahtok, for the Indian maid. Wanhulta. Wittell did considerable research on the legend and then recorded it in the form of a narrative poem included in his work of Saga of the Susquehanna. The moving story is best told in Wittell’'s rhyme and metre. Mr Luther Heisey, President Emeritus of the Lancaster County Historical Society, has described the poem as ‘brilliant and most successful’’ in rescuing ‘“from utter oblivion one of the most moving and pic- turesque episodes related to the past history of our locality. Although the thread of tragedy runs through it all, it is permeat- ed throughout by sustained romantic interest which must appeal to all readers, whether they like poetry or not.”’ Wittell’s poem appears on pages 10 and 11 of this: week’s Bulletin, with illus- trations by Ramona Sell.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers