Frontier Rebels by Patrick Spero

Author:Patrick Spero
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2018-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

Pennsylvania Frontier

1766–1768

Meanwhile, as imperial visions of the Empire in the West came together and peace seemed at hand, things in the Conococheague got worse. Penn’s alliance with frontier people began to crumble shortly after the return of the guns. Reports of William Smith’s continued involvement with the Black Boys arrived on Penn’s desk in early 1766. He finally had enough with his justice of the peace and recalled Smith’s commission in February 1766. Penn also received stern orders from imperial officials to stop colonists from settling on Indian land. And in a rare moment of compromise, he and the Assembly agreed to pass one of the harshest anti-squatting laws ever: any illegal squatters occupying Indian lands could receive the death penalty. This law, it was hoped, would finally reduce the numbers of colonists taking lands in Indian Country, which could breed the same frustration that had led to Pontiac’s War.14

The tipping point for Penn’s break with his frontier colonists came with a brutal mass murder of Indians in 1768. On a cold winter night, Frederick Stump, a Pennsylvanian who had already been cited for squatting on Indian land, his German servant, and some Indians were enjoying the warm hearth of his cabin outside of Carlisle. There was drinking, gambling, and frivolity. Then there was murder. At some point in the night, a drunken Stump killed his Native American companions for reasons that remain unknown. In the sober morning air, he decided to hide his crime. He carted the bodies to a frozen creek, chipped a hole in the ice, and dropped his victims in. But he soon realized that these men probably had close relations in the area who would notice their absence. So he raced to their homes nearby, murdered all the women and children he found, and then burned their cabins down. All along the way, his servant John Eisenhauer helped him do his dirty work. It was a shocking crime.15

But what happened next was even more shocking to officials in Philadelphia. Things started out well for the government. After offering a large reward for Stump’s arrest, a local militia enticed by the offer of pay found and arrested him. Newly confident officials considered bringing Stump to Philadelphia for trial because many in government circles feared his peers in Carlisle would acquit him. But then things went downhill. Before they could send Stump to Philadelphia, local events overtook them. After Stump had been placed in Carlisle’s prison, popular opinion among frontier people began to turn in his favor. Fearing that a trial in Philadelphia would set a dangerous example, they formed a competing militia to spring him from jail. They marched into town, broke into the jail, and hid Stump in the woods, where he and his servant vanished. The militia may have operated under the banner of the Black Boys, because James Smith’s memoirs make reference around this time to Black Boys activities of which he disapproved.16

John Penn came down hard on the Cumberland County officials. He sent a group of prominent Philadelphians to investigate the jailbreak.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.