opposite to them, they fired upon us, at this short distance, and killed my fellow-traveller; yet their bullets did not touch me. But my horse, making a violent start, threw me; and the Indians immediately ran up and took me prisoner. The one that laid hold on me was a Conestauga; the other two were Delawares. One of them could speak English, and asked me if there were any more white men coming after. I told them, Not any near, that I knew of. Two of these Indians stood by me while the other scalped my comrade. They then set off, and ran at a smart rate through the woods, for about fifteen miles; and that night we slept on the Allegheny mountain, without fire.

Smith was carried by the Indians to Fort Duquesne, where he was compelled to run the gauntlet through two long lines of Indians, beating him with clubs, throwing sand in his face, and scarcely leaving the breath in his body. He was there at the time of Braddock's defeat, and witnessed the horrid cruelties inflicted by the Indians upon the prisoners taken at that time. He was afterwards taken into the Indian country west of the Ohio, and there, with a grand ceremony of painting, hairpulling, and washing in the river by the hands of copper-colored nymphs more kind than gentle, he was adopted as one of the Caughnewago nation. He remained with them in all their wanderings for several years, until, by way of Montreal, he was exchanged with other prisoners, and returned home in 1760. He afterwards was conspicuous in the history of Bedford county, as will presently be seen.

Three years after Braddock's defeat, under the vigorous administration of William Pitt, in 1758, it was determined to send a formidable force to expel the French from the valley of the Ohio. Lord Amherst appointed Gen. John Forbes to the command of the forces from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, against Fort Duquesne. There were brisk times that summer along the Raystown valley. Washington was appointed to the command of a regiment of Virginia troops, with the rank of colonel. He strenuously urged upon Gen. Forbes, through Col. Bouquet, the importance of taking Braddock's road, which was already opened, and would save the delay and dangers attendant on cutting out a new road through the wilderness; he feared that if they wasted the summer in making the road, the only laurels they might gather would be those that covered the mountain. The Pennsylvanians, however, jealous of the claims of Virginia upon the region on the Monongahela, were determined not to lose this opportunity of opening a communication exclusively through their own province. Their counsels, backed by those of Bouquet, prevailed with Gen. Forbes. The whole force amounted to 7,850 men, of whom there were 350 royal Americans, 1,200 Highlanders, 2,600 Virginians, 2,700 Pennsylvanians, 1,000 wagoners, sutlers, &c. &c. Col. Bouquet, with a part of the forces, was posted at Raystown for some time, waiting for the main body to arrive under Gen. Forbes, who had been detained by illness at Carlisle. On his arrival at Raystown, about the middle of September, Bouquet was advanced with a force of 2,500 men, to cut out the road. The main body of the army was detained at Raystown, until near the end of October, when it marched to Loyalhanna. Gen. Forbes, more wise than his predecessor, Braddock, better appreciated the talents and experience of Washington, and did not fail to seek his counsel, together with that of the other colonels, in regard to the movements of the army. Washington, on the other hand, although he had been chagrined at the choice of a route, still took a lively interest in the campaign; and drew up an able plan, illustrated with a diagram of his own drawing,

for the proper disposition of the troops in line of march. Washington was also careful to solicit an advanced position for his own corps, in cutting out the road beyond the Loyalhanna; which was assigned him, with the temporary rank of brigadier.

The movements of the army were closely watched by the Indians, and two skirmishes occurred on the route. Col. Bouquet was attacked in his camp by the French and Indians, at Loyalhanna, but repulsed them after a warm combat. The lessons learned at Braddock's defeat were successfully practised, The provincial practice of fighting Indians, when in the woods, from behind trees, was adhered to; and from the testimony of Capt. Smith, there is good reason to believe that this practice not only foiled the enemy in their skirmishes, but also induced the Indians to abandon all hopes of success, and quit their French allies. They could contend, they said, successfully with regular troops, but could not conquer the Long-knives, as they termed the Virginians. Thus deserted, the French could do no otherwise than abandon and destroy the fort, and escape down the river; leaving to Gen. Forbes an almost bloodless conquest.

In 1763, Col. Bouquet again passed along the Raystown road, with two regiments of regulars and a large convoy of stores and provisions, to relieve the beleaguered garrison at Fort Pitt. It appears that the fort at Raystown had already received its name of Fort Bedford-probably soon after Gen. Forbes' expedition. This fort, then the principal deposit of military stores between Fort Pitt and Carlisle, was still in a ruinous condition, and weakly garrisoned, although the two small intermediate posts at the crossing of the Juniata and of Stoney creek had been abandoned to strengthen it. Capt. Ourry commanded the garrison here at that time.

Here the distressed families, scattered for twelve or fifteen miles round, fled for protection, leaving most of their effects a prey to the savages. All the necessary precautions were taken by the commanding officer to prevent surprise, and repel open force, as also to render ineffectual the enemy's fire-arrows. He armed all the fighting men, who formed two companies of volunteers, and did duty with the garrison till the arrival of two companies of light infantry, detached as soon as possible from Col. Bouquet's little army.

These two magazines being secured, the colonel advanced to the remotest verge of our settlements, where he could receive no sort of intelligence of the number, position, or motions of the enemy-not even at Fort Bedford, where he arrived with his whole convoy on the 25th of July ; for though the Indians did not attempt to attack the fort, they had by this time killed, scalped, and taken eighteen persons in that neighborhood-and their skulking parties were so spread, that at last no express could escape them. In this uncertainty of intelligence under which

the colonel labored, he marched from Fort Bedford the 28th of July, and as soon as he reached Fort Ligonier he determined, prudently, to leave his wagons at that post, and to proceed only with the pack-horses.

(See the further details of this march under Westmoreland county.) In the ensuing year Col. Bouquet commanded another expedition against the Indians on the Muskingum, by which he concluded a treaty of peace, and restored a great number of prisoners, who had been carried away by the Indians, to their homes. Col. James Smith was in that expedition, and after his return home, he says—

Shortly after this the Indians stole horses, and killed some people on the frontiers. The king's proclamation was then circulating and set up in various public places, prohibiting any person from trading with the Indians until further orders.

Notwithstanding all this, about the 1st of March, 1765, a number of wagons, loaded with Indian goods and warlike stores, were sent from Philadelphia to Henry Pollens, Conococheague; and from thence seventy pack-horses were loaded with these goods, in order to carry them to

Fort Pitt. This alarmed the country, and Mr. William Duffield raised about fifty armed men, and met the pack-horses at the place where Mercersberg now stands. Mr. Duffield desired the employers to store up their goods and not proceed until further orders. They made light of this, and went over the North mountain, where they lodged in a small valley called the Great Cove. Mr. Duffield and his party followed after, and came to their lodging, and again urged them to store up their goods. He reasoned with them on the impropriety of their proceedings, and the great danger the frontier inhabitants would be exposed to if the Indians should now get a supply: he said, as it was well known that they had scarcely any ammunition, and were almost naked, to supply them now would be a kind of murder, and would be illegally trading at the expense of the blood and treasure of the frontiers. Notwithstanding his powerful reasoning, these traders made game of what he said, and would only answer him by ludicrous burlesque.

When I beheld this, and found that Mr. Duffield would not compel them to store up their goods, I collected ten of my old warriors, that I had formerly disciplined in the Indian way, went off privately after night, and encamped in the woods. The next day, as usual, we blacked and painted, and waylaid them near Sidelong hill. I scattered my men about forty rods along the side of the road, and ordered every two to take a tree, and about eight or ten rods between each couple, with orders to keep a reserved fire one not to fire until his comrade had loaded his gun : by this means we kept up a constant slow fire upon them, from front to rear. We then heard nothing of these traders' merriment or burlesque. When they saw their pack-horses falling close by them, they called out, "Pray, gentlemen, what would you have us to do?" The reply was, "Collect all your loads to the front, and unload them in one place; take your private property, and immediately retire." When they were gone, we burnt what they left, which consisted of blankets, shirts, vermilion, lead, beads, wampum, tomahawks, scalping-knives, &c.

The traders went back to Fort Loudon, and applied to the commanding officer there, and got a party of Highland soldiers, and went with them in quest of the robbers, as they called us; and without applying to a magistrate, or obtaining any civil authority, but barely upon suspicion, they took a number of creditable persons, (who were chiefly not any way concerned in this action,) and confined them in the guard-house in Fort Loudon. I then raised three hundred riflemen, marched to Fort Loudon, and encamped on a hill in sight of the fort. We were not long there, until we had more than double as many of the British troops prisoners in our camp, as they had of our people in the guard-house. Capt. Grant, a Highland officer, who commanded Fort Loudon, then sent a flag of truce to our camp, where we settled a cartel, and gave them above two for one, which enabled us to redeem all our men from the guard-house, without further difficulty.

After this, Capt. Grant kept a number of rifle guns, which the Highlanders had taken from the country people, and refused to give them up. As he was riding out one day, we took him prisoner, and detained him until he delivered up the arms; we also destroyed a large quantity of gunpowder that the traders had stored up, lest it might be conveyed privately to the Indians. The king's troops, and our party, had now got entirely out of the channel of the civil law, and many unjustifiable things were done by both parties. This convinced me more than ever I had been before, of the absolute necessity of the civil law in order to govern mankind.

This is probably the affair that gave name to Bloody run. The account of it published at the time in London, says, "the convoy of 80 horses loaded with goods, chiefly on his majesty's account as presents to the Indians, and part on account of Indian traders, were surprised in a narrow and dangerous defile in the mountains by a body of armed men. A number of horses were killed, and the whole of the goods were carried away by the plunderers. The rivulet was dyed with blood, and ran into the settlement below carrying with it the stain of crime upon its surface." The extract from Capt. Smith is a graphic picture of the lawless usages on the frontier at that period. Col. Smith says again—

In the year 1769, the Indians again made incursions on the frontiers; yet the traders continued carrying goods and warlike stores to them. The frontiers took the alarm, and a number of persons collected, destroyed and plundered a quantity of their powder, lead, &c., in Bedford county. Shortly after this some of these persons, with others, were apprehended and laid in irons in the guard-house in Fort Bedford, on suspicion of being the perpetrators of this crime.

Though I did not altogether approve of the conduct of this new club of black boys, yet I concluded that they should not lie in irons in the guard-house, or remain in confinement, by arbitrary or military power. I resolved, therefore, if possible, to release them, if they even should be tried by the civil law afterwards. I collected eighteen of my old black boys, that I had seen tried in the Indian war, &c. I did not desire a large party, lest they should be too much alarmed at Bedford, and accordingly be prepared for us. We marched along the public road in daylight,

and made no secret of our design: we told those whom we met, that we were going to take Fort Bedford, which appeared to them a very unlikely story. Before this, I made it known to one William Thompson, a man whom I could trust, aud who lived there : him I employed as a spy, and sent him along on horseback before, with orders to meet me at a certain place near Bedford, one hour before day. The next day, a little before sunset, we encamped near the crossings of Juniata, about fourteen miles from Bedford, and erected tents, as though we intended staying all night; and not a man in my company knew to the contrary, save myself. Knowing that they would hear this in Bedford, and wishing it to be the case, I thought to surprise them by stealing a march.

As the moon rose about 11 o'clock, I ordered my boys to march, and we went on at the rate of five miles an hour, until we met Thompson at the place appointed. He told us that the commanding officer had frequently heard of us by travellers, and had ordered thirty men upon guard. He said they knew our number, and only made game of the notion of eighteen men coming to rescue the prisoners; but they did not expect us until towards the middle of the day. I asked him if the gate was open? He said it was then shut, but he expected they would open it, as usual, at daylight, as they apprehended no danger. I then moved my men privately up under the banks of the Juniata, where we lay concealed about one hundred yards from the fort gate. I had ordered the men to keep a profound silence until we got into it. I then sent off Thompson again to spy. At daylight he returned and told us that the gate was open, and three sentinels were standing upon the wall-that the guards were taking a morning dram, and the arms standing together in one place. I then concluded to rush into the fort, and told Thompson to run before me to the arms. We ran with all our might, and as it was a misty morning, the sentinels scarcely saw us, until we were within the gate, and took possession of the arms. Just as we were entering, two of them discharged their guns, though I do not believe they aimed at us. We then raised a shout, which surprised the town, though some of them were well pleased with the news. We compelled a blacksmith to take the irons off the prisoners, and then we left the place. This, I believe, was the first British fort in America that was taken by what they call American rebels.

Smith was arrested for this affair; and in the scuffle attending the arrest, a man was accidentally shot. Smith was charged with murder, and tried for his life at Carlisle, but very justly acquitted. He afterwards became a representative in the assembly, a colonel in the revolutionary army, and, after the peace, a commissioner of Westmoreland county. He emigrated to Kentucky, where he passed the later years of his life. His interesting narrative, originally published by himself or his friends, is copied at large in the "Incidents of Border Life." While connected with the army he fought in the Jerseys; and was afterwards engaged with Gen. McIntosh in 1778, against his old friends the Ohio Indians. He much preferred the adventurous career of a frontier ranger to the stricter discipline of the army.

The following incidents in the history of Bedford county were kindly collected from traditionary sources, and transmitted to the compiler by the Hon. George Burd, and John Mower, Esq., of Bedford.

The co. contained within its present limits, at a very early day, a number of forts, erected by the inhabitants for their protection. The first, and principal, was Fort Bedford, although that name was only given it when it began to assume the appearance of a settlement. The others were Fort Littleton, Martin's fort, Piper's fort, and Wingawn's, with several other unimportant ones. Bedford was the only one ever occupied by British troops; and about 1770, the earliest period of which we have any traditionary account, the walls of the fort were nearly demolished, so that it must have been erected many years before.

The first settlement, it is conjectured, must have been made prior to the year 1750, how long before, cannot be stated with any thing like accuracy; but I not long since conversed with a very old man, named John Lane, who told me that he was born within the present limits of the co. His age fixed his birth about 1751, and from the account he gave, settlements must have been made several years previous to that. It was also before that time that the Indians had made complaints of the encroachments of the whites upon their hunting grounds, and particularly in the neighborhood of the Juniata.

As early as 1770, the whites had made considerable settlements at a distance from the fort at Bedford, as far as twelve and fifteen miles, particularly on Dunning's cr., and on the Shawanee run, near the Allegheny mountains, where the tribe of Indians of that name once had a town. The principal building at Bedford, at that day, of which there is any account, was a two-storv

log-house, called the "King's House." It was occupied by the officers of the fort until the marching of the English troops at the breaking out of the revolution. It is still standing, and is now, with two additions, one of stone, the other brick, occupied as a public house. At the time Bedford co. was erected, the only building in which the court could sit was a one-storied rough log-house. It was for some time also occupied as a jail. It stood until a few years since.

The town of Bedford was laid out, by order of the governor, in June, 1766, by the surveyorgeneral, John Lukens. The settlement was originally called Raystown, but at the time of laying it out, it was called Bedford. This, Mr. Vickroy says, was in consequence of some similarity in its location to a place of the same name in England. [But more probably derived from the name of the fort, which was supposed to be named in honor of the Duke of Bedford.-D.]

For a considerable time after the town was laid out, the inhabitants had to go upwards of 40 miles to mill. It was then an undertaking that occupied sometimes two weeks, those taking grain having to wait until others before them were accommodated. The first mill was built near the town by an enterprising man named Frederick Naugle, a merchant, doing what was, at that day, called a large business.

For many years Bedford was the principal stopping-place for all persons, and particularly packers going from the east to Fort Pitt. All government stores, as well as groceries and goods of every description, were for a long time carried west on pack-horses. One man would sometimes have under his control as many as a hundred horses. For the protection of these, guards had always to be supplied, who accompanied them from one fort to another. Bedford always furnished its guards out of that class of the militia in service at the time they were required. These guards travelled with the packers, guarded their encampments at night, and conducted them safely across the Alleghenies to Fort Ligonier, west of Laurel hill.

At the commencement of the revolution, the co. of Bedford furnished two companies, who marched to Boston; and although but a frontier co., at a distance from the principal scenes of excitement and points of information, contained as much of the patriotic spirit of the day as could be found anywhere. A meeting was held, composed of farmers and the most substantial citizens, who, entering fully into the spirit of the revolution, passed a number of resolutions, prohibibiting the introduction and use of every article of foreign manufacture.

The prominent men of that day who lived at and about Bedford, were Thomas Smith, who held several appointments under the government, and was afterwards a judge of the supreme court, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who was the first prothonotary of the county, George Woods, county surveyor, under whose instructions the city of Pittsburg was laid out, Thomas Coulter, Col. Davidson, and Thomas Vickroy, who afterwards, in 1783, laid out the city of Pittsburg. He is still living.

Although the inhabitants were from the time of the first settlements constantly on their guard against the Indians, yet the principal troubles commenced at the breaking out of the revolutionary war. A frontier life at that time was one constant scene of strife and danger. Bedford co. was at that time the Allegheny frontier, and her inhabitants were, consequently, exposed to the full force of savage fury, and severely did it often fall upon them. The following incidents of

those times are well authenticated.

In the year 1777, a family named Tull resided about six miles west of Bedford, on a hill to which the name of the family was given. There were ten children, nine daughters and a son; but at the time referred to, the son was absent, leaving at home his aged parents and nine sisters. At that time the Indians were particularly troublesome, and the inhabitants had to abandon their improvements and take refuge at the fort; but Tull's family disregarded the danger and remain. ed on their improvement. One Williams, who had made a settlement about three miles west of Tull's, and near where the town of Schellsburg now stands, had returned to his farm to sow some flax. He had a son with him, and remained out about a week. The road to his improvement passed Tull's house. On their return, as they approached Tull's, they saw a smoke; and coming nearer, discovered that it arose from the burning ruins of Tull's house. Upon a nearer approach, the son saw an object in the garden which by a slight movement had attracted his attention, and looking more closely, they found it was the old man just expiring. At the same moment the son discovered on the ground near him an Indian paint bag. They at once understood the whole matter, and knowing that the Indians were still near, fled at once to the fort. Next day a force went out from the fort to examine, and after some search found the mother with an infant in her arms, both scalped. A short distance further in the same direction, they found the eldest daughter, also scalped. A short distance from her the next daughter in the same situation, and scattered about at intervals the rest of the children but one, who, from some circumstances, they supposed had been burned. They all appeared to have been overtaken in flight, and murdered and scalped where they were found. It seems the family were surprised early in the morning when all were in the house, and thus became an easy prey to the savages.

About Dec. of the same year, a number of families came into the fort from the neighborhood of Johnstown. Amongst them were Samuel Adams, a man named Thornton, and one Bridges. After their alarm had somewhat subsided, they agreed to return for their property. A party started with pack-horses, reached the place, and not seeing any Indians, collected their property