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.