Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-07-26
SELECT.
The Burning of HannastOwn.

of Hannastown, then the seat of justice
OF Westmoreland county, by band OF
Indians, under the command of the
famous Seneca chief, Guyasutha, is
taken from the detailed account of the
affair in the Greensburg Argus of 1886.
The burning of Hannastown and the
massacre that followed took place July
Is, 1882. The centenary was observ-
ed with appropriate ceremonies at the
scene of the terrible occurrence, and
this account of that terrible day will
be read with interest. 1t is as follows:
About three miles from Greensburg,
on the road to New Alexandria, there
stands two modern built log tenements,
to one of which is q sign-post and a
sign appended, giving due notice that
at the "Seven Yellow Stars" the way
farer may partake of the good things
of this world. Between the tavern
and the Indian gallows hill on the west
once stood Hannastown, the first place
west of the Allegheny mountains where
justice was dispensed according to the
legal forms by the white man. The
county of Westmoreland was establish
ed by the provincial legislature on the
26th of February, 1873, and the courts
directed to be held at..Hannastown. 1t
consisted of about thirty habitations,
some of them cabins, but most of them
aspiring to the name of houses, having
two stories of hewed logs. There were
wooden court house and a Jail of the
like construction A fort, stockadcd
with logs, completed the civil and mill
tary arrangement of the town. The
first Prothonotary and Clerk of the
Courts was Arthur st. Clair, Esq,
afterwards General in the Revolutions
ry army. Robert Hanna, Esq. was
the first presiding justice in the courts;
and the first Court of Common Pleas
was held in l773. Thomas Smith,
Esq, afterwards one of the Judges on
the Supreme Bench, brought from the
east the most abstruce learning of the
profession, to puzzle the backwoods
lawyers and it was here that Hugh
Henry Breckenridge, afterwards also
Judge of the Supreme Bench, made his
debut in the profession which he after
wards illustrated and adorned by his
genius and his learning The road
first opened to Fort Pitt by Gen. Forbes
and his army passed through the town.
The periodical return OF the court
brough together hardy, adventurous,
frank and open-hearted set of men from
the Redstone, the Georges creek, the
Youghiogheny, the Monongahela, and
the Catfish settlements, as well as from
the region, now in its circumscribed
limits, still called "Old Westmoreland.
1t may as well be supposed that on
such occasions there was many an up
roarious merry making. Such men
when they occasionally met at courts,
met joyously. But the plough has
since gone over the place of merry
making and no log or mound of earth
remains to tell where justice had her
scales
On the 18th of July, 1882, q party
of the townsfolk went 10 O'Conner's
fields, about mile and half north of
the village, to cut the harvest of
Michael Huffnagle.
The summer of '82 was sorrowful
one to the frontier inhabitants. The
blood of MANY a family had sprinkled
their own fields. The frontier north
west of the town was almost deserted !;
the inhabitants had fed for safety and
repose toward the Sewickley settle
ment. At this very time there were a
number of families at Miller's station,
about two miles south of the town.
There was, therefore, little impediment
to the Indians, either by way of resist
ance, or even in giving warning of
their approach. When the reapers had
cut one field, one of the number who
had crossed to the side next the woods,
returned in great alarm, and reported
that he had seen a number of Indians
approaching. The whole party ran
for the town, each intent on his own
safety. The scene which then present
itself may be more readily conceived
than described. Fathers seeking for
their wives and children, and children
calling upon their parents and friends,
and all hurrylng In state OF conster-
nation to the fort. Some criminals
were confined in Jail, the doors of
which were thrown open. After some
time it was proposed that some person
should reconnoiter, and relieve them
from uncertainty. Four young men,
David Shaw, James Brison, and two
others with their rifles, started on foot
through the highlands, between that
and Crabtree creek, pursuing a direct
course towards O'Conner's fields
whilst Capt. j.. who happened tc
be in the town, pursued more cir
cuitous route on horseback
The captain was the first to arrive
at the fields, and his eye was not long
in doubt, for the whole force of the
| savapas was there muStared He turn