"Back at the Gap" BACK AT THE GAP Major General Frank H. Smoker, Jr. (USAF, Retired) Danger rules at Gap during French and Indian War Fourth in a series. Continuing the history of the Gap, let’s focus on the settlers and their uneasy relationship with the local tribes. The settlers were causing unrest among the friendly Indian tribes because they would make their own deals with the local chiefs, some of whom didn't have authority to sell the land. In 1732, the purchase price paid to the Indians for a wide area consisted of twenty brass kettles, 100 blankets, sixty linen shirts, 300 pounds of gun powder, and similar articles were used in consummating the purchase (in contrast, in the early 1930’s, when the land in this area was being bought for the military reservation, the price averaged about twenty to thirty dollars an acre). By the 1750’s, more and more land was being purchased by the white men and the Indians were being pushed farther and farther from their traditional hunting grounds. To make matters worse, the French threatened the Delawares and told them that if they did not aid the French in their fight against the British, they would kill their women and children and burn their villages. The Delawares appealed to the Quakers for guns, powder and lead, saying they’d fight the French for the settlers, but the appeals fell on deaf ears. This sad but interesting fact was confirmed through a conversation I had with Rusty Sherrick, a resident of Elizabethtown, PA, and a direct descendent of the Lenape people who were the original inhabitants of Eastern Pennsylvania. Thus, by 1754, the Delaware Indians had no choice but to become unwilling allies to help the French wage war on the settlers in their attempt to push the English into the Atlantic. These conflicts between Indian tribes and territorial disputes between European nations eventually led to the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763). With the defeat of the British under General Braddock in 1755, the hostile Indians began attacking the settlers on the frontier settlement --- using the passes that existed in the Blue Mountains through Manada Gap, Indiantown Gap, and Swatara Gap. The Blue Mountain formed a natural barrier between the settled area in the rolling hills to the south and the wild mountainous region to the North. By now the settlers realized that the guns they had traded to the Indians for land were being used against them. Even local Indians who had seemed friendly were in the scalping parties, fired up by the white man's rum. Once they arrived at their destination, murder, burning of buildings, theft of animals, and destruction of crops were not uncommon. As these Indian attacks continued, the settlers built block houses, fortified their farms, and posted lookouts to provide security against the Indians. Since the Indians always struck where they were least expected, the provincial authorities not only had soldiers in the forts and blockhouses, but constantly kept patrols of ranger parties all through the Fort Indiantown Gap area. Farmers harvested their crops in groups, under armed guards, but when they returned home they sometimes found their cabins burned to the ground, their wives and children killed. Consequently, the area now encompassing the military reservation had many forts and blockhouses. The three important mountain passes (Manada, Indiantown and Swatara) made this area the "High Water Mark" of the French and Indian War. Since there are many books written on the subject of these forts, it is not my intention to describe them in detail in this report. I should add, however, the primary source for this background may be found in Lebanon County Pennsylvania - A History, Editor Edna J. Carmean, Lebanon County Historical Society, 1976. The need for these forts is readily apparent when you consider that, between 1755 and 1763, the Indians killed 123 people in Lebanon County. In Nevin Moyer’s Historic Facts about IGMR, he estimated during the French and Indian War, there were 134 persons perished and 33 persons were carried off as prisoners from the Lebanon County area. Scores of women and children were carried away as prisoners, some to return eventually to their families, others never to be heard from again. Later, on a wintry day in 1764, Colonel Bouquet asked the settlers to come to Fort Pitt and later to Carlisle and , if possible, identify their captured friends. This action brought about the return of many who had been captured. The stories told by the returned captives were listened to with interest. Colonel Barnett who was in captivity for nine years and James Mackey a captive for about thirty years, told spellbinding stories of their experiences, which are on record today. When the alarming news of the Indians murdering the whites up the Susquehanna River near Shamokin reached the Lebanon area, the farmers assembled with guns, swords, axes, and pitchforks. At one time it seemed as if the Swatata Fort might be annihilated. Many of the farmers were at their own homes and there were not enough soldiers in the fort to stand the storm from the Indians. No man could be spared. Knowing this, Captain Hedrick took a fife and drum (he could play both well), marched out of the fort into the thickets drumming and fifing by turns, then giving commands loud and clear and repeating them until he had scared the Indians away. The Indians thought a large army was moving toward them. At another time, George Miess, who lived on the east side of the Swatara and who had three sons killed by the Indians, saw the Indians about to attack his neighbor's home to which they had already set fire. He ran with his servant boy and made a great noise at the same time. The Indians hearing this and thinking a great number of settlers were coming, ran, leaving behind them a tub of butter and a side of bacon. They drank all the brandy in the spring-house and took several gammons, a quantity of meal and some bread. They killed one of the horses hitched to a plow and dropped a large French knife as they ran away. Had it not been for the bravery of Mr. Miess, the Indians would have attacked the neighbors. In my next column, I’ll describe some of the historical events following the French and Indian War. -- 30 -- Published in the Lebanon Daily News, Wednesday, 31 December 2003 © 2003  Frank H. Smoker, Jr. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the author.   Go "Back at the Gap" Index