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HISTORICAL ADDRESSES 
AT CARLISLE. PA. 



At Unveiling of Molly Pitcher Monument 
June 28, 1916 

2. In First Presbyterian Church 
July 4, 1915 



-By- 

Hon. Edward W. Biddle 




Published Under the Auspices of the Hamilton Library Association 

1916 



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HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

AT THE 

UNVEILING OF MOLLY PITCHER MONUMENT 

IN CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA 

JUNE 28, 1916 



-By- 
Hon. Edward W. Biddle 




It is certainly a great 
honor to have been select- 
ed on hehalf of the people 
of Carlisle to voice their 
appreciation and grati- 
tude to the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania, for the 
erection of this beautiful 
monument. With the re- 
ception of it into our ven- 
erable comnmnity grave- 
yard, which was a gift 
from the Penns, there nec- 
essarily comes to us a 
sense of high responsibil- 
ity that it shall be scrupu- 
lously cared lor and main- 
t c- in e d throughout all 
time. That this responsi- 
bility will be discharged in the fullest measure is 
amply guaranteed by the patriotic spirit of our citi- 
zens, as shown throughout the past 165 years. 

According to current accounts, a Ger- 
MOLLY man girl named Mary Ludwig came to 

PITCHER Carlisle from New Jersey in the early 

part of 1769 as a domestic servant, and 
on Julv 24 of that year was married to a young barber 
named John Hays, whose shop was adjacent to her 



li^:% 




l)laee of employment. On DocomlxM- 1, 177.'), her luis- 
l)nnd enlisted for one year as a gunner in Proetor's 
Artillery, and in January, 1777, re-enlisted as a private 
in an infantry regiment eommanded by Colonel, after- 
wards (leneral, William Irvine of ( arlisle. This re,i;-i- 
menj was at \'alley Foi-ge durino- the dreadful winter 
of 1777-78, and it marched from there under Washing- 
ton in June, 1778, to take part in the battle of Mon- 
mouth. Mi-s. Mary Hays, now famous as Molly 
l^itehei'. wlio was then unknown to fame, remained in 
Carlisle until some time after the beginning of the 
Revolution, and then went back to her home in New 
Jersey and later became connected with the battalion 
in which her husband was serving. Where and wlien 
she joined the troops is not stated. 

The prevailing story of her par- 
ON FIELD OF ticii)ation in the battle of Monmouth, 
MONMOUTH which took place on June 28, 1778, ex- 
actly 138 years ago, is known throughout 
the le.-igth and breadth of the United States. 
It was an extremely hot Sunday, and many of 
the soldiers of both armies perished from exhaustion 
and thii-st. While the battle was going on Molly car- 
ried water to the Continental troops from a welfin or- 
der to relieve their thirst, and the constant passing to 
and fro with a pitcher in her hand is what has given 
her the sobriquet by which she is known in history. 
Tlie underground spring from w^hich the water was ob- 
tained was conspicuously marked some years ago by 
two wooden signs erected beside it, on eacH of which 
was painted "Mollie Pitcher's Well. " 

Perhaps her services as water-carrier would soon 
have been forgotten if she had done nothing more on 
that day in aid of the great cause, but an even larger 
service was yet to come. As the fight raged, she dis- 
covered that her husband had been wouncied and that 
there was no one to serve the cannon to which he had 
been detailed. vShe at once took his place at the gun 
and for the balance of the day, so long as needed, acted 
as cannoneer. In commemoration of her heroic be- 
havior, upon one of the l)ronze tai)lets on tlie base of 
the handsome monument which has been placed on the 
battlefield, she is represented in the act of charging a 
cannon . 

2 



In four respects the battle was a notable 
A NOTABLE one. i^'irst, it was of greater magnitude 
BATTLE than any that succeeded it during the 

war down to the surrender of Cornwallis 
at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, although the losses in 
killed and wounded were surprisingly small. Second, 
it was then and there for the first time that the Ameri- 
cans were prepared to fight as well-disciplined troops, 
for previously they had been compelled to go into con- 
flict with little or no training. On Fe'bruary 23, 1778 
there came to the forlorn and ragged soldiers at Val- 
ley Forge a splendid disciplinarian, Bar- 
BARON on Steuben, who had served under Fred- 

STEUBEN erick the Great during the Seven Years' 

War and had sailed to America to proffer 
his assistance to the struggling colonists. Congress 
promptly recognized his talents and appomted him In- 
spector General of the army, and he forthwith be- 
gan his work at Valley Forge by instructing the officers 
in tactics and requiring the soldiers to be constantly 
drilled. It was the incessant training instituted by 
the Baron that made possible the effective figliting of 
the Continentals on the plains of Monmouth, where for 
a time he personally commanded the left wing of the 
army . 

Third, In view of the recent alliance 
FRENCH with France and the fact that a French 

ALLIANCE fleet of 15 vessels was daily expected in 

the Delaware with 4,000 soldiers on 
board, it was a matter of supreme importance that the 
Continentals should conduct themselves in such a way 
as to inspire their now colleagues with confidence in 
ultimate victory. For over a year our people had 
looked with longing and hope to France for the assist- 
ance it was now sending, but in order to retain its 
friendship and active co-operation it was necessary to 
demonstrate the prowess of our troops. Priceless in- 
deed was the aid that France gave, and words cannot 
adequately express our obligations to that nation, which 
was destined to become a sister Republic, for the sol- 
diers and money she furnished to America in time of 
direst need. 



Fonith, Major General Chai'les Lee, 
GENERAL LEE lu'ct ill lank to Wasliinotoii, was imme- 
DisMissED (.lately removed fi'om tlie army and his 
baleful and exeeedini>-ly dangerous influ- 
ence brought to an end. It was only the timely ar- 
rival of Washington in the midst of the retreating 
troops of Lee, and his ordering their commander to the 
rear, that kept the Bntisli from scoring a signal vic- 
tory. General Lee, who was a "soldier of fortune", 
was court-martialed within a few weeks for his mis- 
conduct and suspended from command for a year, and 
was later dismissed. The evidence taken plainly in- 
dicated that he desired the battle to be lost and the 
blame laid on his superior officer, of whom he was jeal- 
ous, in order that perhaps he (Lee) might be chosen to 
replace him. 

Bancroft states that 229 Americans, 
RESULTS and over 400^ British, were killed and 

OF BATTLE wouuded in the engagement which lasted 

nearly all day, and more than 800 men 
deserted the latter 's standard during their marcn 
through the Jerseys. The battle was a stand-off in 
results; yet when night came the British silently 
marched away, showing that they were unwilling to 
hazard further conflict en the morrow, and there was 
great rejoicing in Congress and throughout the land. 
Colonel William Irvine of Carlisle, in whose house 
Mary Ludwig is said to have lived prior to her mar- 
riage, was in command of a regiment during the day 
and acquitted himself with his usual gallantry. After 
the war closed he moved elsewhere, and is not buried 
here . 

It is reported that another officer from 
THE Carlisle so distinguished himself in the 

CUTLERS fight that he was thanked on the field by 

General Wayne for his services, as pre- 
viously he had been thanked by General Washington 
at Brandywine. This was Cai)tain Tliomas Butler, 
one of five brothers whose father conducted a gun 
shop in a little- stone house which is still standing on 
Dickinson Avenue in this town, all of whom served in 
the Bevolution and were spoken of as "The fighting 
P)iitlers. " Four of them were officers in the battle of 
Monmouth. After the l)Ovs had enlisted and started 



to the front, the father conceived that he likewise ought 
to go, and when some of the neighbors remonstrated, 
his wife replied: "Let him go; the country needs every 
man who can shoulder a musket," whereupon the elder 
Butler also enlisted. Apropos of this, it is recorded 
that on one occasion General Washington at his own 
table, in company with a group of officers, gave as a 
toast: "The Butlers and their Five Sons. " You will 
notice that the toast applied not only to the father and 
his five boys, but also and properly included the Spar- 
tan wife and mother, who unhesitatingly offered all 
that she held most dear on the altar of her country. 
That is the type of people who lived in C^arlisle in revo- 
lutionary days. Upon the many persons of like spirit 
who reside here now and upon their descendants and 
successors, the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
may implicitly rely for the protection and proper 
maintenance of this monument forever. 

It is a striking and most impressive 
THREE fact thtit within a short distance of this 

GENERALS spot lie the remains of three celebrated 
Generals — two of the Revolution, and 
one who won his laurels in the Revolution and became 
a General in the War of 1812 — John Armstrong, Wil- 
liam Thompson and Henry Miller. As early as 1756 
Armstrong as Lieutenant Colonel conducted an expedi- 
tion against the Indian village of Kittan- 
GENERAL uiug ou the Allegheny river, which was 

JOHN a depot containing large supplies of am- 

ARMSTRONG muuitiou and provisions for the hostile 
savages, and by means of a surprise at- 
tack in the early morning succeeded in burning the 
town and its contents, and in killing almost all of its 
defenders. The county of Amistrong was created 
and named in his honor in 1800, with Kittanning as the 
county seat. He took an active part in the Revolu- 
tion dui'ing its early months, but in 1777 resigned his 
commission as Major General and retired to civil life. 
He was a deeply religious man, and it was truly said of 
hita by one who was familiar with his character and 
deeds, and the saying has often been repeated: "He 
was resolute and brave, and though living habitually 
in tlie fear of the Lord, he feared not the face of man." 



General William Thompson ])(\<?an his 
GENERAL military career by serving- under Arm- 

wiLLiAM strong in the Kittanning expedition in 

THOMPSON 1 ?.")(), and two years later was a])i)ointed 
Captain of a troop of light horse. On 
.June 25, 1775, Congress issued to him a commission as 
"Colonell of the Battalion of Rifle Men Rais'd in the 
T'rovince of Pennsylvania, in the army of the Ignited 
Colonies," whicli is said to have been the earliest Colo- 
nel's (Commission issued by that body, and was subse- 
qiu'ut only ten days to the election of Washington as 
(^ommander in Chief. It is signed by John Hancock, 
President, and now han^s on the walls of The J.Herman 
Boslcr Memorial Library in Carlisle. His battalion 
was the first to be mustered in by order of Congress, 
and tlie earliest to reach Boston from west or south of 
the Hudson River. On March 1, 1776, he was com- 
misioned as Brigadier General, and was captured in the 
following June at Three Rivers, Canada, and held as 
a prisoner until 1 780 . His wife was a sister of George 
Ross, one of the signers of the Declaration of Indejiend- 

GENERAL General Henry Miller was First Lieuten- 

HENRY ^nit of one of the companies that com- 

MiLLER i:)osed Thompson's Battalion, and he 

reached Boston with his men on July 25, 
1775. In 1778 he had risen to the position of Lieuten- 
ant Colonel, but in the following spring for family reas- 
ons was ol)liged to resign his commission. In the War 
of 1812 he was appointed Brigadier General of the 
militia of the United states, and was stationed at Balti- 
more and charged with the defence of Port McHenry 
and its dependencies According to a companion-in- 
arms who wrote of him in 1801, he had participated in 
fifty or sixty fights, one of which was the battle of Mon- 
mouth. His conduct on that occasion is interestingly 
referred to in an article which ai)peared in the Lancas- 
ter Examiner in 1830, as follows: "At the battle of Mon- 
mouth, he displayed most signal bravery. Two horses 
were, during the conflict, successively shot from be- 
neath this yontliful hero and ])atriot; but nothing de- 
pressed the vigor of his soul, for mounting a third he 
was in the thick of the battle." The modest marble 
shaft which surmounts liis gi'ave is within thii'tv vards 



/ 



of this monument, and tlie speaker cannot but feel a 
sense of pride that he is fortunate enough to be one of 
his great-grandsons. 

Lately a newspaper contained the fol- 
OUR lowing quotation from an early Greek 

ANCESTORS writer: "It is indeed a desirable thing 
to be well descended, but the glory be- 
longs to the ancestors." which statement is true. Yet 
looking at the subject from another standpoint, all 
will agree with the following observations made by 
Edward Gibbon at the beginning of his Memoirs: "A 
lively desire of knowing and of recording our ancestors 
Fo generally prevails, that it must depend on some com- 
mon principle in the minds of men. We seem to have 
lived in the persons of our forefathers. * * Fifty or an 
lumdied years may be allotted to an individual, but we 
step forward beyond death with such hopes as re- 
ligion and philosophy will suggest, and we fill up the 
silent vacancy that precedes our birth by associating 
ourselves to the authors of our existence. * * The 
satirist may laugh, the philosopher may preach, but 
Reason herself will respect the prejudices and habits 
which have been consecrated by the experience of man- 
kind. " Because of the existence of such a sentiment, 
some men become deeply absorbed in studying the af- 
fairs of antiquity, iiTespective of any direct connection 
with its persons or events. Out of this absorption 
springs an ins]iiration to the historian, who bends to 
his self-appointed toil and is able to discover in the ar- 
chives of the past a storehouse of treasures that are 
limitless in variety. 

"There is a consecrating power in time; 

And what is gray with years, to man is godlike." 

The name of Colonel Robert Magaw 
COLONEL also shines in military annals with un- 

ROBERT usual lustre . He was appointed Major 

MAGAW of the battalion of riflemen of which 

William Thompson at the same time was 
appointed Colonel, therefore his commission doubtless 
bore the same date as that of the latter (June 25, 1775) 
and was the earliest Major's commission issued by Con- 
gress. Prior to entering the army he was a lawyer 
of Carlisle with a large practice. After serving under 



'I'lioinpson ill the vicinity of I»ostoii, lie was appointetl 
on January (), 1776, Colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania 
Battalion, and later was ordered to New York and in 
() 'tober was ])laced in command of the newly erected 
Fort Washington. 

The fort was viilneral)le l)otli by land and water, 
and sh')iild liave been evacuated without a lii>,ht when 
the other parts of the island were abandoned. How- 
ever, his commanding general ordered otherwise, and 
after one of the most sanguinary battles of the war, in 
which more than 800 of the enemy were killed or 
wounded and Colonel Magaw displayed great bravery, 
he held a council with his officers and it was deter- 
mined to surrender. His name is inscribed on the 
])illnr of fame, and when the monument on the site of 
the fort was dedicated on November 16, 1901, one of 
the speakers said: "The most gallant figure of the 
Revolution to my mind is Colonel Magaw." After 
being held in captivity for four years, he returned to 
his old home and died here in January 1790. His 
funeral, as described in a contemporary newspaper, 
was probably the largest and most imposing that had 
ever taken place in Carlisle. Some time ago a ques- 
tion arose as to whether he was buried in this grave- 
yard or at Meeting House Springs, two miles away. 
In an able and carefully prepared paper on the 
subject recently puhlished by Dr. Charles F. Himes, 
it is clearly proven that his remains are interred here, 
although by some mischance there is nothing to indi- 
cate their location. 

Of the soldiers of that period who are 
CAPTAIN buried nearby, there is time to mention 

JOHN only one more, and he cannot with i)r()- 

STEEL priety be omitted. Captain John Steel 

was a Presbyterian minister in this sec- 
tion from 1752 until his deatli in 1779, the last 20 years 
having been spent in Carlisle. He was a natui'al 
leader and fighter, having come from Ii-elaiid, and he 
w;is at times referred to as The Fighting Parson. 
When he was officiating in what is now Fi-anklin 
C^ounty a number of his parishoners were brutally mur- 
dered by the Indians, and it became customary for him- 
self and his congregation to go to church with loaded 



muskets, prepared for an attack. In 1755 lie was 
coininissioned as Captain of provincial troops, and as 
SLicli conducted several expeditions against the Indians 
and was in command of one of the companies under 
Annstrong which attacked and destroyed Kittanning- 
in 175G. At the outbreak of the Revolution he prompt- 
ly ]"aised a company, liut on account of age was com- 
pelled to confine his efforts principally to organizing 
and equipping the men. 

Are there 100, 200, 500 revolutionary 
UNKNOWN soldiers buried here? No one can tell, 

DEAD Few of their graves were ever marked, 

and fewer still are marked today, hence 
there are no data on which to base an estimate in re- 
ply to said query. A large number of men who be- 
came eminent in civil life likewise lie at rest in this 
ancient l)urying ground, yet owing to lack of time they 
^annot be referred to individually. Mention, how- 
ever, should be made of an apparently fragile upright 
stone, the oldest in the graveyard, upon which is re 
corded the death of Thomas Robb on May 2, 1757. For 
159 years it has successfully resisted the inroads of the 
elements, and has stood erect during that long period 
in the performanec of the mission for which it was de- 
signed; yet in the meantime several generations of 
humanity have come and gone, have passed into eterni- 
ty in an ever-flowing stream and are for the most part 
classed with the unknown dead. 

But what of Mrs. Mary Hays after the 
AFTER THE battle of Monmoutlif It appears by tho 
REVOLUTION tax list that at the close of the Revolu- 
tion she and her hushand, who was tlioQ 
William (not John) Hays, were domiciled in Carlisle. 
Up to that point the account of her rests on tradition 
and legend, but her subsequent career can be traced 
with the aid of various records in the courthouse. In 
1787 the husband died and about 1792 she married 
John McCauley, whose surname has been spelled in 
several different ways, who also died in the course of 
ten or twelve years. Left a widow at least a second 
time, she earned a living by hard manual work. In 
an old book in the County Commissioners' office con- 
taining entries of tlie daily payments made l^y the 



Coiinty Treasurer, the followin<»- items of credit were 
f 01111(1 several years ac^o: Under date of March '29, 1811, 
"Molly ^Ic( 'alley, for wasliiiii;' and scrnl)i)iii,i>" the court, 
house,, in i)art — $15.00." Five days later she was 
paid the balance of her bill, amounting to $1.03. On 
August 5, 1813, an order which was duly ])aid was 
drawn in favor of "Molly ^IcC^awley & others, for 
cleaning, washing and whitewashing the public build- 
ings — $22.36." These items furnish authentic infor 
mation concerning her manner of obtaining a liveli- 
hood at that period of her life. 

On February 21, 1822, an act of the 
PENSION Legislature of Pennsylvania was ap- 

GRANTED proved, entitled "An act for the relief 

of Molly M'Kolly for her services during 
the Revolutionary War," granting to her out of the 
Ktate treasury $40 immediately, and an annuity of $40 
payable in half-yearly instalments. Numerous 

widows of soldiers were awarded pensions of a similar 
amount, but Molly is the only woman who was ever 
placed on the pension rolls of Pennsylvania because of 
her own services. She drew the annuity from the 
time it was granted until January 1, 1832. 

Her death occurred on January 22 
NEWSPAPER 1832, and a notice of it appeared in each. 
NOTICE of the tlij-ee Carlisle newspai)ers, that 

in the American ^"olunteer in its issue of 
Jc'inuary 26, 1832, being as follows: 

DIED, on Sunday last in this borough, at an advanced 
age. Mrs. Molly M'Cauley. She lived during the days 
of the American revolution, shared its hardships, and 
witnessed many scenes of "blood and carnage." To 
the sick and wounded she was an efficient aid; for 
which, and being the widow of an American hero, she 
received during the latter years of her life an annuity 
from the government. For upwards of forty years she 
resided in this borough, and was during that time rec- 
ognized as an honest, obliging and industrious woman. 
She has left numerous relatives to regret her decease ; 
who, with many others of her acquaintance, have a hope 
that her reward in the world to which she has gone, will 
far exceed that which she received in this. 



10 



Almost forty years have passed since 
FORTY yonder tombstone, erected to Molly 

YEARS AGO Jr^itclier on July 4, 1876, was dedicated 
with ela'borate ceremonies. When the pro- 
ceedings here were concluded, the assemblage of sev- 
eral hundred people marched out to the fairground to 
partake of a lunch which had been prepared for them. 
In the afternoon there were patriotic services, a part 
of whif'li consisted in my reading the Declaration of 
Independence. Many who are present now were not 
torn at that time, and singular indeed it seems that one 
who participated in the exercises at such a remote date, 
should be taking part today in another Molly Pitcher 
celebration. A second demonstration of the same 
kind occurred on June 28, 1905, when a cannon, flagstatf 
and flag were placed at her grave 'by the P. 0. S. of 
A. of Cumberland County, consequently this is the 
third occasion upon which public tribute has been paid 
to her memory. 

This monument which Carlisle re- 
MOLLY ceives from the Commonwealth of Penn- 

PITCHER sylvania is a splendid and lasting recog- 

nition of the lofty virtue which we call 
courage. During the past fifty years Molly Pitcher has 
come to be accepted as America 's most conspicuous ex- 
ponent of feminine valor, notwithstanding that the 
unique position accorded her has been frequently and 
vigorously assailed. Critics have denied the whole 
story concerning her — have questioned the very foun- 
dation on which it stands — ^but up to this time their 
criticisms have had little effect on the popular belief. 
On the other hand, writers of stories and of verse have 
spread the narrative concerning her broadcast over the 
land, until it has become lodged in the hearts of the 
people; there probably it will be cherished so long as 
interest in the American Revolution endures. 



11 



PART II 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

IN 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. CARLISLE, PA. 
JULY 4. 1915 

-By- 

Hon. Edward W. Biddle 



The address to wliich your attention is invited this 
mornin<?; will refer to the early days of this time-hon- 
ored church, and will note a few of the memorahlo 
events which occurred here and the most prominent 
men who participated in them, but the sketch neces- 
sarily will be brief and incomplete. That the first 
stones for the building were hauled on July 1, 1757, is 
indicated in a letter written by Colonel 
ARMSTRONG'S (afterwards Major General) John Arm- 
LETTER strong-, a leading citizen of Carlisle, 

which is printed in the Pennsylvania Ar- 
chives, First Series, vol. 3, pp. 191-3. The letter was 
written on June 30, 1757, to an official whose name is 
not given, and concluded as follows: 



"To-morrow we 
begin to haul the 
Stones for ye build- 
ing of a Meeting 
House on the North 
Side of the Square, 
there was no Other 
convenient place; I 
have avoided the 
iJace you Once 
r. • L . L r, , ,. r^ pitched for a 

Drawing by John B. Landis, Esq. ( Mi n i p li T ll P 

Stones are rais'd Out of Colo'l Stanwixes entrench- 
ment; we will want help to this Political as well as Ro- 
l'2:;ous work. " 




Tiiis 0('('iiit(h1 when the town was veiy small, an. I 
CoU)!!!'! Staiiwix of the British anny was en^i-'a.ned iu 
digiiiiiii' ciiti-eiiclnnents in its northeastern portion near 
where tlie Carlisle Shoe Factory now stands, in the 
course of which enter]H-ise he took out 
STONES FOR some laro-e stones. Evidently the de- 
CHURCH cision had been reached to utilize these 

in the construction of a commodious 
"meeting house", as the place of worship for Presby- 
tei-ians was called in those days, and until 188.') it was 
accepted as an estahlished fact tliat the stones had been 
hauled here and at once put in the walls of a new edi- 
five. However, in January of 1883 Rev. Joseph A. 
Murray delivered an address which was published in 
1905, in which he cited conclusive evidence that the ac- 
tual erection of the church was not begun until 17G9, 
and that it was not under roof until a few 3^ears later. 
Although explanations of this apparent discrepancy 
have been suggested, the true solution is still a matter 
of conjecture. Originally there was no excavation be- 
neath tlie building, but after the lapse of about a cen- 
tury a small cellar was dug under its easteni end for 
the accommodation of a furnace. 

The closing words of the letter vrere 
POLITICAL striking and significant: "We will warn; 
PURPOSES help to this political as well as religious 
work." Thus it was expressly stated 
at the outstart that the new structure which Armstrong 
had in mind would be needed for two purposes, and 
useful indeed has the present building l)een in both re- 
spects- using the word political in the broad and prop- 
er sense of "pertaining to the conduct of government. " 
The speaker recently gave the following estimate of 
the writer of that letter: "Uncpiestionably he was the 
most commanding figure in this section of the State 
prior to 177G, due to his upright and forceful character 
and the great services he rendered to the people of the 
colony . ' ' 

But he was only one of a group of ]n'ominent men 
who clustered around the infant meeting house, most 
of whom were not connected with it by the tie of mem- 
liership. Patriotic assemblages were held iii this 
room fiom the time it was ready for occupancy, which 

2 



sliows tliat the Scotch-Irish pioneers did not desire that 
its use should be confined to conventional religious ser- 
vices. The first pastor, known as Cap- 
CAPTAiN tain John Steel, who was occasionallv 

JOHN STEEL stvled The Fighting Parson, performed 
military duty as captain of a company 
at various times from 1755 to 1777, when old age 
caused his retirement. One of the meeting houses un- 
der his care in the western part of the county was sur- 
rounded with a stockade, and the pastor and parishon- 
ers took their arms and ammunition with them to the 
services, that they might be prepared for a sudden at- 
tack by the Indians. It has been said of the churches 
.of that day that whilst they had rough wooden pulpits, 
they had golden ministers, and this expression is par- 
ticularly applicable to Captain John Steel. 

The first political meeting known to 
POLITICAL have been held here was so very import- 
MEETING ant in its consequences, direct and indi- 

rect, that it has become an historic land- 
mark . It was the outcome of the famous incident that 
occurred in Boston on December 16, 1773, when a party 
of citizens disguised as Indians went upon three Eng- 
lish vessels lying in the harbor, and threw the contents 
of a number of chests of tea into the water, because 
of an import duty imposed thereon to enrich the 
British treasury. To punish this "outrage", as it 
was called. Parliament passed what has since been 
known as the "Boston Port Bill", under which Bos- 
ton's port was closed and its custom house transferred 
to Salem. The enforcement of that law would have 
paralyzed Boston's trade, hence her citizens at once 
sent an appeal to the people of all the colonies to unite 
with them in refusing to receive any importations 
whatever from Great Britain or the West Indies until 
the act should be repealed. The day upon which the 
law was to go into effect, June 1, 1774, was adopted 
throughout the countiy as one of fasting, humiliation 
and prayer, and later a convention of delegates from 
all the counties of Pennsylvania was called to meet in 
Piiiladelphia on July 15, 1774, to take appropriate ac- 
tion in the premises. 



In pursuance of said call, a mooting: of citizens of 
Cumberland County was held in this room on July 12, 
which endorsed the action of the people of Boston and 
])roffer.:^d them financial assistance; also appointed a 

committee of thirteen "to co-operate in 
COMMITTEES evcrv proper measure conducing- to the 
APPOINTED welfare of British America", and at the 

same time named three delegates to at- 
tend the Philadelphia convention on July 15. James 
W'lson, a practicing lawyer of C^arlisle, was placed at 
the head of both of these bodies, which immediately 
set out earnestly to accomplish the ends for which they 
were selected. Seven of the committee of thirteen 
were particularly eminent in their day and generation, 
and history records the services they rendered to their 
country. They were: James Wilson, who will be 
spoken of in a few minutes; General John Armstrong, 
already mentioned; John Montgomery, a strong power 
in civil affairs, who presided at the meeting and was 
an elder of the congregation; Generals William Irvine 
and William Thompson and Colonel Robert Magaw, 
' tinguished officers in the Revolution; and Elphraim 
Blaine, Commissary General of the Continental army. 

Of these men, each of whom is worthy of 
JAMES a separate notice, there is time only to re- 

wiLSON fer specially to James Wilson, who was 

launched into public life at the meeting 
of July 12, and who afterwards became the most illus- 
trious man that has ever dwelt within the limits of this 
town. He was one of the immortal Signers of the 
Declaration of Independence; eleven years later he 
helped to frame and signed the Constitution of the 
United States: three years after that he performed the 
same service in connection with Pennsylvania's Con- 
stitution of 1790, having in the meanwhile in 1789 been 
a]»])ointed by Washington a member of the Suju'cme 
C^ourt of the United States. He had the high distinc- 
tion of being one of only six men who signed both of 
the first-named documents, and ]XM'haps the still higher 
di'-:t"nction of being the only man who signed all three. 
Tlie Declaration as is well known was largely the pro- 
duct of one mind, that of Thomas Jetferson, and it re- 
ceived merely some verbal changes at the hands of his 
colleagues; but the two constitutions, l)oth in substance 

4 



and in expression, severally represented the result of 
the thought and debate of many delegates during the 
period of ahout four months in the one case, and three 
months in the other. Of the splendid convention of 
men that prepared the Federal Constitution, it is be- 
lieved that Wilson was the best equipped for the tasK 
before them because of his previous profound study of 
the underlying j^rinciples of government, and that 
probably he exercised more influence than than any 
other over the deliberations. In the work of the State 
convention, his was the dominating intellect. 

It will be apijropriate in this connec- 
GECOND tion to mention an interesting ceremony 

BURIAL which the speaker attended in Philadel- 

phia. In November, 1906, the remains 
of James Wilson were brought to that city from Eden- 
ton, North Carolina, where pursued by creditors he 
was reported to have died of a broken heart in 1798. 
The casket containing his ashes was deposited in state 
for a portion of two days in Independence Hall, the 
scene of his greatest triumphs. It was there that as 
Congressman for several terms he frequently had made 
the walls resound with his impassioned oratory — there 
he had signed the Declaration of Independence — there 
he had debated and appended his name to the Consti- 
tution of the United States. In the afternoon of the 
second day he was conveyed to Christ Church, with the 
Supreme Court of the United States acting as honorary 
pallhearers, followed by a long procession of noted 
men. After the delivery of high tributes to his learn- 
ing and the inestimable services he had rendered to his 
adopted country, his body was lowered into a grave in 
the old churchyard by the side of his wife. Those 
who marched to Christ Church on that bright Novem- 
ber afternoon in 1906, to pay tardy homage to the mem- 
ory of the eminent statesman and jurist, composed one 
of the most distinguished bodies of men ever assembled 
in this country. 

On July 5, 1785, almost exactly 130 
DOCTOR years ago, Rev. Dr. Charles Nisbet, the 

NisEET first President of Dickinson College, who 

had just arrived from Scotland, took his 
oath of office and oath of allegiance to the United 
St ites in this room amidst an enthusiastic demonstra- 



tion. A Inrge delegation oi' civilians, attended by a 
troop of horse, had welcomed liini at Boiling Springs 
and escorted him to town on the evening of the pre- 
vious day, for the i)eo])le were in a state of exuberant 
excitement and joy over this final step in the estahlisli- 
m.^nt of a college in their midst. 

On Sunday, October 4, 1794, General 
GENERAL Washington with his staff attended di- 

WASHiNGTON vine service here during a week's stay 
in Carlisle, while on their way to Pitts 
l)ui-gli to quell the Whiskey Insurrection. They list- 
ened to an admirable sermon by the pastor. Rev. Dr. 
Robert Davidson, printed copies of which are still pre- 
served. On the previous Thursday even- 
GOVERNOR ing Governor Thomas Mifflm, who had 
MIFFLIN come to Carlisle to take part in ])repar- 

ing for the military expedition to Pitts- 
burgh, had delivered an animated address here to a 
large audience, presumably in hehalf of maintaining 
order and sustaining the authorities in the enforcement 
of the law. These few references to some of the con- 
spicuous men and events of the 18th century can read- 
ily be supplemented by any diligent student wlio may 
see fit to pursue tlie subject. 

At the time of Washington's visit and 
JUDGE for many years afterwards one of the 

HAMILTON most forccful men in the community was 
James Hamilton, who was a i)ewholder 
and a steadfast supporter of this church tliroughout 
his whole adult life, in the latter part of which he was 
President Judge of three counties, including Cumber- 
land. Notwithstanding that he was a stern and aris- 
tocratic man, he was ])robably also a credulous and 
timid one, and a tradition has been preserved in Ben- 
nett Bellman's History of the Bar to the effect that a 
certain criminal, having been convicted before him for 
murder, was executed in due form and the corpse de- 
livered to relatives for burial near his home in the 
south mountain. A few days subsequently the sheriff 
re))orted to Judge Hamilton that the man liad been re- 
vived by the jolting he received on the rough country 
roads, and that he was lying in wait in the recesses of 
the mountain to attack the judge who sentenced him, 

6 



when lie passed that way in traveling- the circuit. 
"Plow long was the condemned left hanging?" asked 
the Judge nervously. "Fifteen minutes, your Honor. " 
"That was too short a time entirely", exclaimed 
the Judge with vehemence; "In Ireland they're 
hung for an hour and a half — and then, to make sure, 
they're decapitated. " 

It should he a matter of local pride that this 
church has always been available for metings in the 
interest of the people and that there has been no nar- 
row sectarianism to bar the way. Surrounded as we 
are with the conveniences and luxuries 
UNCERTAIN of modcm life, it is hard to realize the 
OUTLOOK trou'bles and uncertainties that oppress- 

ed the men of whom we have been 
speaking. They did not know, could not know, 
whether a Democratic government would prove last- 
ing — whether the structure they were rearing was 
founded upon a rock or upon sand. Montesquieu, 
who is considered by some to have been the most as- 
tute political thinker of all time, had affirmed that a 
Republic could not long exist in a large country — be- 
cause the difficulties of intercourse were so great that 
the widely separated sections would necessarily di- 
verge from each other in customs and in interests, and 
would inevitably split apart. As conditions then were, 
th:s observation was true; but happily as time went 
on human genius has supplied the links to bind to- 
gether the distant parts, and the locomotives and tele- 
graph lines, in conjunction with the modern printing- 
presses, have facilitated communication to an extent 
that has kept us a homogeneous people and thereby 
doubtless saved from disaster the Great Republic, so 
well begun by our forefathers. 

It is obvious that this is a very suit- 
HisTORic able spot on which to hold an Independ- 

SPOT ence Day celebration, because it was 

so closely associated with the stir- 
ring events which moulded the destiny of our coun- 
try. Let us hope that for generations to come it will 
remain, as it has been in the past, an open forum for 
poMtical discussion; for in that, after all, lies one of the 
prmcipal safeguards of civil liberty. 



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