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THE "SQUAW CAMPAIGN" NEARBYIn 1778, the volunteer Westmoreland Militia, composed of settlers from southwestern Pennsylvania, was dispatched to Cuyahoga (Cleveland, Ohio area) to seize supplies stocked there by the British. The troops evidently moved through the Mahoning Town sector as they traveled up the Mahoning and Grand River Valleys. Shenango and Pymatuning Towns were thought to still be occupied by Indian people at this time. The following account is excerpted from The Herald, Sharon, Pa., Tuesday, June 29, 1976: Mercer County had only one involvement in the Revolutionary War that won the 13 colonies their independence from Great Britain. The county was wilderness during the war of 1775-1781, inhabited only by Delaware Indians whose main villages were Pymatuning and Shenango Towns. Therefore it could be involved only as those Indians, its first citizens, were involved. There was only one incident--the Squaw Campaign. Because of it, the Delaware Nation, led earlier by Chief Custaloga, about whom two other articles in this edition are included, turned hostile toward the Americans in the Revolution. The Delawares then were under the influence of Captain Pipe, whose family suffered in the affair. Capt. Pipe was designated in 1774 to succeed Chief Custaloga, one of the three chief men of the Delaware Nation. The others were the Newcomer of the Turtle Clan and the Beaver of the Turkey Clan. Custaloga headed the Wolf Clan. These were the three hereditary divisions of the tribe. Indians asked to stay neutral When the war between the Americans and British broke out, the Indians were asked by both sides to remain neutral. But neither side heeded their own advice and the Indians were caught in the middle. The British tried to turn the Indians against the Americans by reminding them of their grievances toward them and stirring up fears among them. The Americans tried to woo the Indians to their side by offering to form a 14th. state (to be Indian-governed) in the new nation if the Indians would support them in the Revolution. For a while, the Indians did remain neutral. Then the Delawares, who had been friendly to the Americans, were aggravated by the "Squaw Campaign." A wave of anti-American sentiment swept over the Delaware Indian councils as a result of that incident. This campaign started in February 1778 when an American militia, because of heavy rains, failed to take some British stores at Cuyahoga. They satisfied themselves with shooting up and plundering friendly Delaware camps on the Shenango River near New Castle and on Mahoning Creek at the Salt Spring (Niles, Ohio). William A. Hunter, chief of the history division of Pennsylvania Historical Museum, Harrisburg, made available to The Herald all information written about the Squaw Campaign. Most of it is from "Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio, 1777-78," by Reuben Gold Thwaites and Louise Phelps Kellogg, Madison, Wisconsin Historical Society, 1912. The work includes a letter from Gen. Edward Hand to Col. William Crawford, dated Feb. 5, 1778, and describing the reason for this campaign. Hand wrote to Crawford: "As I am credibly informed that the English have lodged a quantity of arms, ammunition, provision and clothing at a small Indian town about 100 miles from Fort Pitt to support the savages in their excursions against the inhabitants of this and the adjacent counties. I ardently wish to collect as many brave active lads as are willing to turn out, to destroy the magazine. Every man must be provided with a horse, and every article necessary to equip them for the expedition, except ammunition which, with some arms, I can furnish." Money was lure Hand assured Crawford everything the American "lads" would take from the British store would be sold at public venue for "the sole benefit of the captors, and the money equally distributed among them" But, aside from the money, he assured Crawford there would be satisfaction other than the monetary gain as "a sense of the service they will render to their country, will operate more strongly than the expectation of gain." The Westmoreland Militia to conduct the campaign was ordered out to Indian country by Brig. Gen. Hand, commanded by Col. Alexander Barr, from Feb.10-March 10,1778. Barr was colonel of the First Battalion with John Pumroy as his lieutenant colonel and Adam Guthrey as quartermaster. The First Battalion had 125 men, divided into seven companies led by Capts. Charles Foreman, Robert Knox, John Hinkson, Richard Williams, Lt. Edward McDowell, Capts. Andrew Lovars and William Love. The 112 men in the five companies of the Second Battalion were led by Capts. John McClelland. David Marchand, Hugh Martin, Christopher Truby and James Clark. In the Third Battalion were four companies of a total of 86 en with Providence Mounts as lieutenant colonel; John Brannon as adjutant, James Leetch, David Vance, John Christy and Hugh Mitchell as captains. Capts. William Sparks and John Kyle led the two companies of 34 men in the Fourth Battalion. |
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