They Came From Ireland
by
F.W. Thorlton
1996

The first white traders came to the Juniata Valley as early as 1740, but always left when they had completed their trapping, and trading. In 1741 the first white settlers began to enter the eastern portion part of the valley. These people were nearly all Scotch-Irish and professed no love for the proprietary government. William Penn, whose policies were so appealing to the Scotch-Irish was now dead. The present proprietors, William Penn's sons, were looked on by the Scotch-Irish, as charlatans, and considered them usurpers of the land. They despised the pomp and circumstance of their feudal prerogatives to the land and refused, in many cases, to pay the quit-rents. They also believed the Penn's purchases of the land from the Indians were nothing more than a sham to cheat the Indians of their home. They reasoned; if the Penns could claim, through craft and cunning, lands on such a grand scale, then they at least had a right to claim enough land on which to raise their families, and had no responsibility to the Penns.

For these reasons there existed a running confrontation from Marsh Creek in Lancaster County, to the Banks of the Juniata, and down Aughwick Creek. To many, the Scotch-Irish came to be known as, "those squatters," with many refusing to pay the land warrants or the rents. They moved into the valley and built their cabins and cleared their fields, believing the land should be open to all, a gift from God, and not a proprietary right of one family.

From the counties of Chester and Lancaster they slowly moved west through the Kittatinny valley and finally into the Juniata Valley where the Caldwells would later arrive. Here the proprietors would probably have been content to allow them to remain, for they knew little of the land that far west and cared even less. They were quite content, as it were, to be rid of their main antagonizers, those "Scotch-Irish troublemakers."

But the Delawares, (the Lenni Lenape Confederation), and the Six Nations of Iroquois, made many complaints to the proprietors. "The whiteman," they complained, "are encroaching on our lands without payment, and if nothing is done we will take up the hatchet, and drive them from our hunting grounds." The Delawares, or the Lenni Lenape, "the real men," or "the original people" were made up of three principal tribes: the Munsee, the Unami, and the Unalachitigo. In long years past, the Delaware tradition united the Delaware, the Shawnee, and the Nanticoke as one people. After separating, the Shawnee traveled into what would become the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee and to South Carolina. The Delaware tribes were spread from present day Philadelphia, to the Susquehanna river, with a few bands in New Jersey. After signing the treaty with William Penn, around the council fires at Shackamaxon, just outside Philadelphia, in 1682, they were slowly forced back into western Pennsylvania.

In 1720 they began mixing into the lands of the Iroquois Nation. They were assimilated into their laws, and were ruled under their jurisdiction. The Delawares were never pleased this situation. The original Five Nations of the Iroquois: the Cayuga, the Mohawk, the Oncipa, the Onondaga, and the Seneca, now with the addition of the Delaware, became six.

The proprietors having rid themselves of the Scotch-Irish, at first did not heed the Indian's complaints, and very little was done, save a few written warnings, which they probably had very little intention of enforcing. However with persistent encroachments, and the continuing complaints of the Six Nations, the Proprietors became convinced the Indians had best be appeased to avoid trouble. So on Tuesday the 15th of May 1750 Secretary Richard Peters with a band of magistrates comprised of: Matthew Dill, George Croghan (Croghan's Fort), Benjamin Chambers (Chambersburg), Thomas Wilson John Finley, and James Galbreath, with five Indians, three Onondagas, two sons of Shicycalamy (an Iroquois chief), proceeded to a point twenty miles from the mouth of the Juniata River to a place known as the Blue Hills (the Kittanning Mountains) where they arrived on the 22nd of May. They found five cabins owned by William White, George Cahoon, David Hiddleston, George and William Galloway. Three of these men were taken into custody. But two of them, the brothers, George and William Galloway resisted, and escaped saying;

"......you may take our lands and houses, and do what you please with them; we deliver them to you with all our hearts, but we will not be carried to jail."

William White, David Hiddleston, and George Cahoon were fined and executed bonds, and were made to admit openly, that they were trespassing and had no right to the land. The band of evictors then went to the houses of all the offenders, removed their possessions and burned the cabins. The next day, May 23, they went to the cabin of Andrew Lycon at the mouth of the Juniata, and dispossessed him. When they arrived, they found only the children home, so they returned on the the next day. But Mr. Lyon was not as passive as his neighbors. He welcomed them with a loaded gun saying he would not be removed from this land on which he had built his home. He was however very quickly disarmed, taken into custody, and his cabin burned. Benjamin Chambers and George Croghan then rode to Sherman's Creek, on the Little Juniata, about six miles over the Blue Mountains. There they found: James and Thomas Parker, Owen McKeib, John McClare, Richard Kirkpatrick James Murray John Scott, Henry Gass, John Cowan, John Kilough, and Simon Girty. The settlers were fined £100 and ordered to appear in court. All the cabins in which the families were not large and had not been improved, were burned, this being somewhat less stringent than the penalty imposed on the settlers farther to the west.

A driving rain stalled the magistrates for two days. However, on the 30th of May they entered Path Valley just northeast of where Fort Littleton would later locate. There they found the homes of: Abraham Sleach James Blair Moses Moore, Arthur Dunlap, Alexander and Adam McCartie, David Lewis, Felix Doyle, Andrew Dunlap, Robert Wilson, Jacob Pyatt Jr., William Ramage, Reynolds Alexander, Robert Baker, John Armstrong, and John Potts. Like the others, they were convicted of trespass, and all eleven of the cabins were burned to the ground. At Aughwick Creek they found: Peter Falconer, Nicholas De Long, Samuel Perry, and John Charleton. Of the four only one cabin was completed, and it was burned. Near the path on which the Caldwells would travel in four more years, they found the cabins of: Andrew Donaldson, John MacClelland Charles Stewart, James Downy, John MacMean, Robert Kendall, Samuel Brown, William Sheppard, Roger Murphy, Robert Smith, William Dickey, William Millican, William MacConnell, James Campbell, William Carrell, John Martin, John Jamison, Hans Patter, John MacCollin, and James and John Wilson, they too were burned out. This ended the dispossession's, and on the map of Pennsylvania today you will find the town of Burnt Cabins, named to mark for history, this incident. On a modern map of Pennsylvania, follow the Pennsylvania Turnpike Route 76 east from Harrisburg 63 miles to Route 522, then follow 522 north 4 miles, you'll come to the little town of Burnt Cabins.

These actions did little to deter these stubborn men in search of a home. Of the dispossessed settlers: Arthur and Andrew Dunlap, John Armstrong, Andrew Donaldson, Robert Smith, William Dickey, James and John Wilson would later join Robert and Charles Caldwell, on the banks of the Juniata River. Many if not all of their descendants, would return to other places within the valley.

The Provincial Government was strong enough to eject the trespassers from the Valley, but they knew that they would not be able to keep them out. Besides there were still the disputes with Virginia over the boundary line, and these settlers might well prove useful as a human barrier. Virginia and Pennsylvania were each laying claim to the territory around the "Forks of the Ohio." While the Pennsylvania Proprietors probably could restrain their settlers in Pennsylvania, Virginia saw nothing wrong with issuing warrants to settlers moving up from the south.

Rich Virginia land owners, and speculators like the: Fairfax family, the Fitzhughs, the Lees, and George Washington were pushing hard to establish Virginia's claim to Western Pennsylvania, and the presence of these Scotch-Irish settlers would strengthen Pennsylvania's boundary claim. In June of 1754, Thomas and Richard Penn sent representatives to meet with the Sachems, (The Tribal Chiefs) of the Iroquois at the Albany Congress.

This Congress was called by the English government and was attended by representatives, James Delancey from New York, Thomas Hutchinson from Massachusetts, Stephen Hopkins from Rhode Island, William Pitkin from Connecticut, and John Penn, and Benjamin Franklin, from Pennsylvania. Their purpose was two fold: first a war with France was perceived to be imminent and it was imperative the English secure the loyalty of the Iroquois Nation. Second, it was important to establish some policy concerning the Indian management, and the governing of things of mutual interest to all of the colonies.

To the broader problem of colonial unity Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan, under which each colony would send two to seven representatives to a grand Council. They would levy taxes, raise militia, and regulate trade with the Indians. Although this plan would have been more effective than the later Revolutionary "Articles of Confederation" they were rejected by both the Colonies and the English government. The British Board of Trade offered a substitute plan which was also rejected. With no unified plan to guide their actions the bickering colonists were left to their own devices, and their decisiveness. Most colonies however overcame their jealousies and responded reasonably, except for the Quaker run Pennsylvania government. For more than ten years they vacillated while Scotch-Irish blood, soaked the frontier.

The colonists failed to gain the full support of the Iroquois, who chose to remain neutral. To the question of encroachment of the Iroquois land the Pennsylvania representatives negotiated for a very large piece of land which included the Juniata Valley, and settled on a price of £400. This trifling amount angered the Chiefs of the tribes not present at the meeting, and they felt swindled. Later in arguments over the treaty the Indians contended they were unable to distinguish the differences in the points of the compass. What is more if they had understood the boundary lines, they would never have given up their lands along the west branch of the Susquehanna. They also argued: the land where the Shawnee and the Ohio Indians lived, and the hunting grounds of the Delawares, the Naticokes and the Tutelos were included and should not have been. So intense was the wrath of the Indians, the proprietors were forced in, October 1758, to cede back to the Indians, all the land lying north and west of the Allegheny Mountains within the province. But is was to late, for by then the French and Indian War had begun, and the Indians were already taking scalps, and their revenge on the frontier settlers.

Much of the land west of the Alleghenies was too mountainous and infertile for white man or Indian. But even this did not stop their further encroachments onto the last Indian lands in the province of Pennsylvania. On the settlers came staking out land, and building farms until once again the whiteman was in the midst of the Indians. The situation became so intolerable that for a time the proprietary government issued a "penalty of death, without benefit of clergy," ordered on all trespassers. This law however was never enforced and was later replaced with one less severe. Except for a few hardy pioneers like the Caldwells, settlement in the upper part of the valley did not come until the years 1765-1770, and even then it was sparse, being to close to the Kittatinny Path and the ever present danger from Indian attack.

There were, in those days, men who traveled everywhere with little fear of Indians, for they were more Indian than the Indians, in all but blood. One of these was a man named, John Hart a German trapper and trader. After Hart received his license in 1744, he roamed the woods of Western Pennsylvania with his pack horses plying his trade, living wherever he lit his camp fire. He stayed, for a while, on the Juniata River at the future site of the Caldwell farms. It is unclear how long John Hart occupied this place, but it was long enough to become known as "John Hart's Sleeping Place" or "John Hart's Watering Place" by other trappers and traders. Here, after building a make shift cabin, John Hart cut down a large tree and hollowed out the inside, creating a trough to feed and water his pack horses. Trappers and traders began calling the spot, "Hart's Log." The name immediately took hold and the place was, from then on, known as "Hartslog."

John Hart was, in 1750 a very old man, and near the end of his career. A traditional story, undocumented, but interesting, was told;

"On one occasion during this time he returned to his "Sleeping Place" and found in a log, a tomahawk, painted red, with Indian hieroglyphics consisting of an Indian with a pack on his back. Over his head were seven strokes, and on his waist were scalps. In front of the drawing was the sun rising, and behind, a picture of the moon. Hart was well acquainted with the Indian language, and signs, and knew that the hatchet meant that the Indians were about, but that far as he was concerned, they had laid down the hatchet. The rising sun, and strokes meant there were seven Indians traveling east. The scalps meant that they were on a murder raid, and the moon told him they would return at night. John Hart had always felt safe among the Indians, but as a precaution he left the following sign for the Indian's return. A heart with a pipe along side. Very simply the sign said that John Hart smokes the piece pipe with you."

It was not long after this, following the "Albany Purchase" of 1754, that John Hart left the area and moved west into the Ohio Valley.

With the opening of this new territory, under the provisions of the Albany Purchase, the Western Frontier moved to Fort Duquesne, or the English name of Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), on the Forks of the Ohio, and the new territory was opened to the land hungry settlers. In the summer of 1754, Robert and Charles Caldwell left Middleton Township just west of Carlisle and entered this new wilderness, exploring the upper Juniata Valley.

The only routes open to the early settlers were: buffalo trails, and Indian paths. Rivers and streams were not the favorite mode of transportation even when their locations were in close proximity to the desired course of travel, for more often than not the early traveler would find himself a victim of nature. For many weeks in the winter, the lessor streams were frozen and the larger streams clogged with ice. Other times many rivers were to shallow for any thing except a canoe. Add to this the fact that the rivers and streams often did not flow in the right direction. If they were used on a trip going out, coming back could be very difficult. George Washington returning from his conference with the French, on no less than the Allegheny River was compelled to leave his canoes and return on foot. On the other hand the trails of the Indians, after years of proven service, now beckoned to the pioneer.

These trails often blocked by fallen trees, and tangled vines, and in places offering visibility of only a few yards, were generally no more than eighteen or so inches wide, but still they offered better advantage than the streams. Like their counterpart, the buffalo trails, they clung to the high ground mounting hills on long ascending ridges, and offered to the pioneer a safe passage through the heart of the wilderness. To what degree the buffalo trails became the trails of the Indians would be difficult to determine. The buffalo always found, with infallible accuracy, the route of least resistance, so it is most probable that the Indians simply followed the buffalo, and the pioneer followed the Indian.

It was however easy to become lost even with these trails leading the way. Unlike the buffalo trails which were sometimes six or so feet deep the Indian trails would be less deeply formed. The Indian always traveled in single file whether on foot or horseback. The moccasin footed Indian left less in the way of markings. At some places, such as rocky ridges, the path would sometimes disappear. It then required great effort and skill to relocate the trail. There were however other places where the paths were worn so deep that they are still visible today. The old Braddock Road for instance, has left great gorges five feet deep in places, plowed by hundreds of wagons carrying thousands of hopeful pioneers on their trek west. On a hundred hilltops can be found gently rounded depressions that can still be followed for miles.

With many trails crisscrossing, entangled in undergrowth, and so clogged that it was necessary at times, to crawl on all fours to pass, and sometimes literally disappearing, a great degree of experience was required to traverse them successfully. Through all the Indian and pioneer history the chief talent required to survive a trip into the wilderness, was the ability to know the location of the trails, and the knowledge to read them: To know which trail to use in which season. Had it been damaged by a passing storm? Had a recent flood obliterated the way? Had a recent forest fire erased the trail? And what of the passage across the streams that caused so many a traveler nightmares? Were there to be bogs, morasses, swift currents, quicksand, hidden rocks, sandbars or any of a number of other uncertainties at their chosen "fording place?" After years of experience the buffalo, and the Indian knew the best trail, and it was these trails the pioneers learned, and followed.

The Caldwells traveled southwest from Carlisle, along the road to Shippensburg, thirty miles from Carlisle. They passed Shippensburg, near the mill of Benjamin Chambers and his three brothers. At Chambers Mill they turned west and followed the road to Fort Loudon where they came upon the Tuscarora Path which ran through the wilderness to the Kittanning Path, which ran by way of: Burnt Cabins, Shade Gap, Black Log, Croghan's Fort, Jack's Narrows, and Standing Stone, and crossed the Juniata at what would come to bear brother Charles name, "Charles Ford." Here they selected land for themselves and their families in what was to become the "Hartslog Settlement." Charles settled on the south side of the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River, while Robert chose a site to the north, on the south bank of the Little Juniata River, some 2 miles north of his brother.

Alone in this frontier wilderness, they began at once to construct rude log huts. These huts were mostly one room dwellings with dirt floors. The cabin was placed, if possible at a location that seemed convenient to the frontiersman, often in a sheltered nook toward the bottom of the hill so the higher ground might afford protection from winter winds.

The log cabins, preferred by the Scotch-Irish, were never used in the British Isles, and was unknown in America to the first settlers, and to the primitive Indians. Some of the tribes did build dwellings of brush, poles, and bark, but not of horizontal logs. In fact it seems that not all early pioneers built cabins. Daniel Trabue wrote in his journal of his grandfather's house in Virginia; The houses they built were posts in the ground made of post oak which lasted a long time and sills framed to these posts and studs in the sill to the upper beam, or plate and weather boarded with clap boards. I have seen some of the houses they built, almost the first that was built. They framed wooden chimneys and inside they daubed with mortar so they done very well. The body of their houses was clap boards nailed on the out side, the inside lathed and filled with mortar so that they were quite comfortable." The Scandinavian countries did, however, use a log house and the Swedish settlers were probably the first to use them in the new world, or it is even possible they evolved in America out of simple necessity, and the ingenuity of man. The first English settlers built houses of wattle (interwoven sticks and twigs) or planks placed in an upright fashion. These progressed to frame and finally to stone and/or brick. In any case, by the time the Caldwells arrived in Pennsylvania, the log cabin was well established as the dwelling of choice, and the techniques for their completion was well known to the pioneers. The tools for building these cabins were always part of the equipment carried over the trails, and into the wilderness. The earliest log cabins were constructed of materials found in the nearby forest. All that was really needed was an axe and a knife. Logs were notched at the ends and fitted together in an overlapping fashion, so that neither nails, nor any other kind of fastener was required. The roofs were not shingled, as this would have required nails. Rather they were clapboarded, with the overlapping clapboards held in place by "weight pole" running the length of the roof. The lowest pole was supported by notches in the top logs of the cabin walls. The other poles kept from rolling off by "knees," short billets of wood placed at right angles between the poles. The door, which was built of clapboards, was fastened by wooden pins to strong oak cross pieces. They were hung on massive hickory hinges and were fastened on a strong wooden beam inside. During the day, a latchstring passing through a hole in the door, was left out. Windows were few, and when they were present they were nothing more than oiled paper.

After completion of their cabins the Caldwells left to return to the Middleton, where their wives waited. There they gathered their belongings and began the trek back into the wilderness, and to their new homes on the Juniata River, near John Hart's Sleeping Place. Some immigrants used pack horses, while others transported all their goods on wheelbarrows, or pushcarts. The Caldwells were fortunate to own pack horses, however, they walked beside their loaded horses, back to the Juniata Valley. Wagons were not generally in use, in the 1750's, due to the condition of the roads, or the lack of them. The Tuscarora Path, the route the Caldwells followed, was narrow and treacherous it snaked past the Conococheague Ridge, the Black Log Ridge, and through the Tuscarora Mountains. They passed the burnt cabins of their predecessors, ousted by the proprietors a year earlier. They saw the black ashes that were once the homes of their fellow Scotch-Irish.

They then passed through Black Log, then passed George Croghan's Fort, near Aughwick, built in 1754 by George Croghan. Croghan was well known in frontier Pennsylvania, and was often called on by the proprietors as an authority on Indian affairs on the Pennsylvania frontier. Croghan was a Scotch-Irishman who had come to the colony from Dublin Ireland about 1742, and became an Indian trader, and he accompanied Major Robert Rogers on his expedition Detroit. His long residence among the Indians gave him knowledge of the Indian language and character that would prove invaluable to the proprietors. He was familiar with both the Shawnee and the Delaware. And would later serve as a Captain of the Indians with General Braddock, and was with him at his defeat. Mr. Croghan was deeply loyal to the proprietary government and he served in many capacities: from a guide, to commanding a company of Indians that he outfitted at his own expense. He would later serve as deputy-agent of Indian affairs. After the French took Fort Duquesne, in 1758, Croghan resided for a while at the Fort. From there he went down river, and was taken prisoner by the French, and removed to Detroit. Later freed, he died in obscurity in Pennsylvania, in 1782.

Once the Caldwells reached Aughwick Creek, the path followed that creek until they came to the place where Fort Shirley was under construction. The fort was ordered built by Governor Morris, on a high piece of ground on the east bank Aughwick Creek. The location gave a commanding view of the surrounding country. Just north, was a ledge of rocks where the settlers honed their skills of rifle shooting at "a mark on the rocks." Just outside the fort was the Kittanning Path running to the Indian town of Kittanning. From Kittanning the path continued on into the Ohio Valley to the west. From the fort it also traveled east to Carlisle and beyond. It was one of the important Indian paths of the time. From Fort Shirley the brothers and their families took the Kittanning Path across Aughwick Creek and followed the path north until they came to Jacks Narrows on the Juniata River. It was here that John (Jack) Armstrong was murdered by a Delaware Indian named Musemeelin and two companions, over an argument concerning a debt owed to Armstrong by Musemeelin. The story goes that Musemeelin owed Mr. Armstrong some fur pelts. After demanding payment of the debt Armstrong seized Musemeelin's horse in lieu of payment. The next winter Musemeelin saw Armstrong and paid him all but twenty shillings, and offered a neck belt in pawn for the remainder. He asked for the return of his horse and gun. Armstrong refused, and sometime later Musemeelin saw Armstrong on the Juniata, near the place now known as Jacks Narrows. Musemeelin then murdered Armstrong in a moment of anger, and took back his horse. Musemeelin was later captured and taken to Philadelphia for trial but, the verdict was not recorded.

From here the path took the Caldwells northwest along the north bank of the Juniata River until they arrived at Standing Stone (the future site of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.) Standing Stone was in the early days an important Indian location. At the mouth of Standing Stone Creek, once stood a rock, believed to be erected by one of the tribes of the Iroquois, probably the Seneca. The Seneca occupied the valley, before they migrated to New York. It was reported in 1754, that the stone stood 14 feet high. Other names for the stone were; Achsinnik "where there is a large stone," or "the place of the large stone." The Seneca name was Tyu-na-yate "projecting rock." It was from this that the Juniata River probably received its named. (a corruption "yu-na-yate" which would later become Juniata) The "Standing Stone" was built by the Indians as a meeting place when they returned from war expeditions in the south. Here they would celebrate their victories over their enemies. The stone was at the intersection of many Indian trails. These trails led from the Susquehanna to the Ohio, and from the West Branch and the North Branch the trails led southward across the state by way of the Warriors Path. It ran along the foot of Warriors Mountain to Old Town Maryland where it crossed the Potomac River, and ran south onto the Carolinas. Also meeting at the stone was a trail leading to Bald Eagle Valley, to Shamokin, and down the Juniata, across the Cumberland Valley, to the Potomac, to Kittanning, and to Raystown (Bedford). All the trails met here. This was the central point of all the great Indian pathways into the wilderness. From here any point in the entire system could be reached. The original stone was removed when the Penns purchased the land in 1754. A memorial now stands in its place, on which is inscribed; Onojutta Juniata Achsinnik Erected September 8, 1896 as a Memorial of The Ancient Standing Stone, Removed by the Indians 1754. It is believed the spot was a neutral ground for all the tribes. For there has never been found, any evidence of an Indian village ever being here. From this place the Caldwell trail took them west about 8 miles to a crossing of the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River. The crossing would later be known as "Charles' Fording," named for my 4th great-uncle Charles Caldwell.

Here they settled on the land which, for the next forty-five years they would toil, sweat, fight Indians, and nature, while building their homes in this land of freedom they had sought. And so Robert and Charles Caldwell were the first permanent white settlers in Juniata Valley west of Aughwick, or Fort Shirley. Although there had been white men here before them, they were not permanent settlers but rather, they were trappers or traders, such as John Hart. The land purchase of 1754 was misunderstood by most of the settlers, and probably due to this, Charles Caldwell lost claim to the land he settled, on the north side of the Juniata. When he first settled on the land he built his home on the south side of the river, but worked both sides. The first land warrants were issued in Huntingdon County, on Monday, February 3, 1755. Warrant Number 43 was issued to a James Sterrat, of Carlisle for 400 acres of land including the bottoms at the "Sleeping Place, called Hartslog," on the waters of the Juniata, across from Charles' home. Charles Caldwell did not record a deed for the land on the north side in time. On the subject, a legal deposition was taken from Charles Caldwell in which he stated;

"Concerning the tract of land known by the name of Hartslog that in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty four in the faul (fall) Adam Torrans improved on said tract at a spring by the name of Torranses spring. Built a cabban (cabin) and cleared a piece of ground for a garding (garden) and was drove off by the Indians in the year one thousand seven hundred fifty five and that said Caldwell lived with the said Torrans and wrought (worked) with him during the stea (stay)."

He also said that he had intended to claim that section, but Mr. Sterrat obtained an earlier deed. James Sterrat never attempted to live on the land. Later his heirs would build on this tract, then known as "Hartslog," the present day town of Alexandria Pennsylvania. Robert Caldwell, my 4th great-grandfather, settled to the north of brother Charles, on 300 acres of land, along the Little Juniata River. Robert's land extended along the south side of the river from Barree southeast toward the Frankstown Branch, of the Juniata River.

The Indians found in the valley when the Caldwells arrived, in addition to the Iroquois, belonged to perhaps four tribes: the Delaware, the Shawnees, the Monseys, and the Tuscaroras, all of whom, with the exception of the latter, were members of one of the eight great Indian confederations scattered over the land the Indians called "the land of the rising sun." These Indians called themselves the Lenni Lenape, "the original people." Of these tribes the Delaware and the Monsey were the most numerous.

The Shawnees, a restless, lawless, and ferocious tribe, were threatened with extermination by a powerful Florida foe when they come to Pennsylvania. They asked for the protection of the Lenni Lenapes, which they were granted. They were allowed to settle on the land of the Delawares. The Delawares soon learned of the nature of their new neighbors, and the Shawnees were given notice to leave. They then moved to the flats of the Susquehanna, near Wilkes-Barer, and from there they found their way to the Juniata. They were the first and foremost murders, and plunderers during the French and Indian War, as well as later in the American Revolution.

The Tuscaroras (Skarue-Hemp Gatherers), did not claim to belong to the Lenni Lenape confederation, yet a large number of them lived in the valley. They came from the south, fleeing the Carolinians who had engaged in the practice of stealing their people for slave labor. The Tuscaroras were first encountered by the whiteman around the Roanoke, Neuse, Taw, and the Pamlico Rivers of North Carolina. The Tuscaroras were part of a federation of three tribes: the Katenuaka the Akawentcaka, and the Skarure (Tuscaroras). A writer named Lawson described the Tuscaroras as;

"...not, of so robust and strong bodies as to lift burdens and endure labor . . . They were dexterous and steady, and collected in the use of their hands and feet; their bearing was sedate and majestic; their eyes were commonly full and manly, being black or dark hazel in color, and the white of the eye was usually marbled with red lines; their skin was tawny and somewhat darkened by the habit of anointing it with bear's oil and a pigment resembling burnt cork. When they wished to be very fine, they mixed with the oil a certain red powder made from a scarlet root growing in the hilly country . . . "

He continued, saying they enjoyed gambling, singing, dancing, and games. They assembled at feasts to which came visiting tribes from as far away as sixty miles. It was reported that in 1708 they possessed fifteen towns, with about 1,200 warriors. At first, friendly to the early settlers, the Surveyor General of North Carolina said of them;

"They were really better to us than we have been to them, as they always freely give us of their victuals at their quarters, while we let them walk by our doors hungry, and do not often relieve them. We look upon them with disdain and scorn, and think them little better than beasts in human form; while with all our religion and education, we possess more moral deformities and vices than these people do."

The settlers then began an assault against the Tuscaroras and their land. Their towns were taken, their people stolen and sold into slavery as far north as Pennsylvania. Frustrated and angry, the Tuscaroras, in 1710 petitioned the Provincial Government of Pennsylvania, through eight Wampum belts, attempting to secure their rights.

The origin of the word Wampum was from the Indian word, wampumpeak, which meant white string of beads. They were used between whites and Indians as a medium of exchange of money and notices. The eight Wampum Belts sent to Pennsylvania were sent asking for: friendship and peace, freedom from enslavement, and peace with the people of Pennsylvania, and an official path of communication between the Tuscaroras and the people of Pennsylvania.

The continued stealing of their people and lands, finally brought things to a head. Between 1711 and 1713 they fought two wars with the North Carolinians. On September 22, 1711, 130 colonists were killed by the Tuscaroras on the Trint and Pamlico Rivers. There then followed heavy bloodshed, and depravities on both sides.

In 1714 the Tuscaroras received permission from the Iroquois Nation to move their tribe to Pennsylvania. On September 25, 1714 the Five Nations informed the officials of Pennsylvania and New York;

"The Tuscarora Indians are come to shelter themselves among the five nations; They were of us and went from us long ago, and now are returned and promise to live peaceably among us. And since there is peace now everywhere we have received them . . . we desire you to look upon the Tuscaroras that are come to live among us as our children, who shall obey our commands and live peaceably and orderly."

The Tuscaroras were however, slow in coming and did not fully leave their old homes until near the end of century. Part of their exodus brought a band of Tuscaroras to the Juniata Valley in the years between 1714 and 1750. By the time John Armstrong received his warrant on the Juniata River, the Tuscarora Creek was already named and mentioned in his petition. The locals, however called the Tuscaroras "Lackens." A Moravian missionary reported the first time the Tuscaroras saw snow they were so frightened they fled to the safety of the mission. The Tuscaroras lived around the Juniata until the Revolutionary War displaced them.

The Conoy Indians settled in the valley in 1748. They left the Delaware region on the strength of a promise made to them by the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, that they would be paid. There is no evidence however, that this promise was kept. Related to the Nanticokes several generations removed, they lived along the Potomac River in Virginia and slowly migrated north, stopping for a while in the area of what is now Washington, D.C. in 1675. The Conestoga Indians drove them from that home and they moved up the Potomac River, and into Pennsylvania. Here they migrated north along the Susquehanna River until by 1742, they were in and around what is today Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. From there some went north into New York, while others went west along the banks of Juniata River. They were described as;

".......very tall and well proportioned; Their skin is naturally rather dark, and they make it uglier by staining it, generally with red paint, mixed with oil, to keep off the mosquitoes . . . They disfigure their countenances with other colors too . . . either dark blue above the nose and red below or the reverse, and they live to extreme old age without having beards, they counterfeit them with paint by drawing lines of various colors from the extremities of their lips to the ears. They generally have black hair, which they carry rolled in a knot to the left ear, and fastened with a band, adding some ornament . . . "

The writer went on to say that some decorate their heads with copper fish, and adorned the necks with glass beads strung on thread. The children go naked. The men wear an apron around their waists. They had feet with soles so tough they were able to stand on thorns without pain. Very accurate with a bow and arrow, they were reported to be able to hit an arrow thrown in the air. They lived in round houses, with a hole in the top to admit light and expel smoke, from the burning fire in the center of the room. And like most Indians they acknowledged the existence of only one God!

The Nanticokes settled around the mouth of the Juniata about 1748 or 1749, and slowly spread westward until they reached the Ohio. When they first came, they were not very formidable but as they increased in numbers, they increased in ferocity till they were quite powerful. Originally from the Eastern Shore of Maryland on the Nanticoke River, and areas in Virginia the Nanticokes were among the first Indian contacts Captain John Smith as he made in his exploration on the Chesapeake Bay.

The Nanticokes were from time to time called Tocwogh, and Doag Indians in Virginia. The Maryland settlers drove them out and they migrated north in 1722, They stopped for a time at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers. Here again part went north along the Susquehanna and part, west along the Juniata. They were dark skinned and were reported to have;

"......invented poisonous substances by which they could destroy a whole settlement of people, and they were accused of being skilled in the arts of witchcraft."

These fishermen and farmers joined the Iroquois Nation around 1670 when Maryland Governor Cecil Calvert declared war on the Nanticokes and made it legal for any white man to gun any Indian who got in his way. The Nanticokes finally migrated west into the Ohio Valley where they disappeared as a distinct tribe.

A number of Mengues, Mingoe, settled in Kishacoquillas Valley, now Mifflin County around 1755. Of all the tribes in the valley, the Mingoes were probably the most peaceably disposed, having been partially Christianized by Moravian missionaries, although they were quite capable of brave and warlike tendencies when aroused.

The Mingoes were affiliated to the Delawares and the Iroquois but separated themselves before 1750 and settled along the Juniata. Becoming more warlike as time passed, they were frequently hostile to the settlers in the Juniata Valley. They and their cousins, the Delawares, later crossed the Alleghenies into Ohio where they lived for a time, and finally moved to Kansas and lived on the Neosho River, eventually they moved to the Indian lands of Oklahoma.

So here among these tribes, and on this beautiful land, the Caldwell brothers settled. They had crossed the ocean, and now Pennsylvania to arrive here in this wilderness. Not knowing what lay ahead, it concerned them little, for now the most important job at hand, was the building of their new home.

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