The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-07-17
ARMY AND NAVY.
Historical Address Delivered at the somer.
set County Centennial Celebration.
BY JOHN C. oGLE, Esq.

FELLOW CITIZENS In 1875 that par
of Bedford county lying west of tin
Allegheny mountain was, by Act o
Assembly, created new county anC
called .SoDscrset. Forty years had
elapsed since, on his way To reduc,
Fort Duquesne and drive back the
French and Indians, General Edward
Braddock, at the head of the British
and Colonial forces, with George Wash.
ington as one of his aids, marched from
Alexandria, in Virginia, through that
part of our county now known as Ad-
Olson township, as far west as the pres
ent borough OF Braddock, in Allegheny
county. Arriving at this point the
General fell into the ambush prepared
for him 10y the enemy. The British
and Colonial troops being routed, fled,
bearing with them their commander,
mortally wounded. 1t was not until
lbs that Gen. Forbes, who marched
through the northern part of our coun-
ty, near Stoyestown, finally took the
fort and named it Fort Pitt" in hon
or of the English prime minister. The
city of Pittsburg, occupying the site of
this fort, continues To perpetuate the
name of the great Englishman, Viii
liam Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
Nineteen years after the colonies had
declared themselves free and independ-
ent states in that immortal declaration,
penned 10y Jefferson, adopted by the
Colonial Congress, July4, l776, enforc-
ed by Gen. Washington 1T the head of
the American army. and acknowledged
10y England 10 be true after Lord Corn
wallis had surrendered his sword TO
General Washington at Yorktown, we,
as county, became a separate exist
ence.
The administration of President
Washington had been successfully in
augurated at New York on the S0th Of
April, l7S9. History had already re-
| corded the story of the Whisky Insur-
rection in Western Pennsylvania,
which commenced in 179l and culmi-
mated in 1894 by the dispersement of
the opponents of the excise tax and
the arrest and punishment of the ring
| leaders. Among these were Herman
Husband, who died in custody at Phil
adelphia, and Robert Philson, after
wards released, both of whom were
from what was then Bedford, but now
Somerset county.
Our forefathers were brave and stur-
dy men, well acquainted with the use
of arms. With an axe to hew down a
few acres OF the forest and build him
self cabin, with rifle, little seed
corn, and wife, the hardy frontiers
man was ready for housekeeping.
Arms were necessary for defense
against wild animals a. well a against
the treacherous red-man who took un-
kindly To the westward course of EN-
pire. The rifle was also an important
factor in supplying the table with ami
NAL food. The wild turkey, pheasant,
rabbit, deer, and game of all kinds was
abundant, and familiarity with the use
of the gun was as essential as the
knowledge required to plant seed and
harvest corn.
The state had no standing army at
the time of the formation of our county,
but we had the citizen soldiery-the
militia. The very Act of Assembly
creating the county provided for the
collection of the militia fines.
The system of the countries of Eu-
rope, which required every able-bodied
man TO serve certain number of
years i'm their standing armies, was
very distastefui and burdensome to
many of their citizens, and for that rca-
son, together with love of adventure.
cheap lands and desire to escape from
the severity Of the rule of kings, immi
grafton to America WAS constant, and
was then, as ROW, one its chief causes
of rapid increase in population.
In 1875 the war of the Revolution
had closed bat little more than de-
cade. The military spirit of the true
American was still as ardent rs that
which impelled the battles of Concord
and Bunker Hill, that endured the
hardships of Valley Forge, or enjoyed
the capitulation of Yorktown. He
stood ready To fight for his country at
call.
The country, unable To bear the ex-
pensive burden of a standing army, and
being new and in need of every man
she could put into the forest, field, mill,
workshop and conduct of her infant
industries, the system of the citizen
soldiery was established. An official
enrolment of all men able to bear arms
was made and the state was divided off
into military districts which We're un-
der the command of their proper Major
Generals and subordinate officers.
Hon. Robert Philson was Major
General as early as 1900. Born in Ire
land in 1853, he emigrated to America
and became a citizen of Berlin i'm l1S5.
When this county was organized, he
was made our representative in the
legislature. He was one of our early
associate judges and was elected a
member of the sixteenth congress in
1918. He was the father of the now
vanarabIe Samuel PbiISon of Berlin
Z Alexander Ogle, then a Brigadier
General, was commissioned a Major
General as early as the Sd day of Au-
gust, 1911, by Governor Simon Snyder,
and again a. late as August Sd, 1928,
by Governor ShultZ. He has been de-
scribed TO me as tall man with hand |
some features and much originality of
dress, speech and manner. As the rep
resentatve of Somerset county, in one
of his speeches delivered in the Senate
of Pennsylvania, he referred to his con-
stituents as the FROSTY Sons of Thun-
der" in reference TO the high altitude
of this mountain county. The appel
lation has clung to us from that day 10
this and given us state If not ma
tional reputation. When G. A. r. Post
2l0, from Somerset, appeared in the pa
rade at the National Encsmpment at
Washington in 1898, with the inscrip-
ton the FROSTY Sons of Thunder" on
its banner, il was cheered all along the