Miscellaneous Papers Relating to Anthropology/Antiquities of Southwestern Pennsylvania
ANTIQUITIES OF SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.
By Rev. Horace Hayden, of West Brownsville, Pa.
In view of the fact that in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and especially Wisconsin, ancient remains have been so carefully investigated, it must appear strange that the many indicia of a prehistoric race in the western part of Pennsylvania and in the State of West Virginia should be so little known. At the present date these indicia have been largely decreased by vandalism and by the action of the elements. Many mounds have been plowed down to the surface of the surrounding ground or leveled to make way for towns. Many of the remarkable sculptured rocks have been used for building purposes or are lying below the surface of the Monongahela River, even at low tide, the river being higher now at all seasons by reason of the slack-water improvements than it was forty years ago. The second geological report of Pennsylvania contains nothing on the subject of antiquities;Dr. Creigh, in his "History of Washington County," is entirely silent as to the numerous mounds, &c., which are found in the county limits; and the centennial volume of the "Resources of West Virginia," by Prof. M. F. Maury, ignores the many and exceedingly interesting remains in that State. I shall here, however, give simply an account of the antiquities of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and, in another paper, of those in parts of West Virginia. This account will necessarily be taken largely from an unpublished work by Hon. James Veech and Freeman Lewis, the latter an old and experienced surveyor of Brownsville, Pa. Remains of embankments or "old forts" are numerous in Fayette County. The Indians known to us could give no satisfactory account of them. While the trees of the surrounding forests were chiefly oak, the growth upon and in the old forts was generally of large black walnut, wild cherry, and locust. Some indicate an age of three hundred to five hundred years, and some stood around the decayed remains of others. Judge Veech thinks they were originally composed of wood, as their débris is generally a vegetable mold, no stone being used in their construction. Old pottery, made of clay and mussel-shells, is always found among these ruins. The old forts were of various forms, square, oblong, triangular, circular, and semi-circular. Their sites were generally well chosen in reference to defense and observation, and, what is a singular fact, they were very often, generally in Fayette County, located on the highest and richest hills, and at a distance from any spring or stream of water.
One of these "old forts" was on the land of William Goe, near the Monongahela River, and just above the mouth of Little Redstone, where afterwards was a settlers' fort, called Cassell's or Castle Fort.
Another was situated at the mouth of Speers Run, where now stands the town of Belle Vernon. Two or three are found on a high ridge southwardly of Perryopolis, on the State road, and on land lately owned by John F. Martin.
Another noted one is on the west bank of the Youghiogheny River, nearly opposite the Brood ford, on land lately owned by James Collins. There are several on the high ridge of land leading from the Collins fort south westwardly towards Plumsock, on lands of James Paull, John M. Austin, John Bute, and others, a remarkable one being on land lately owned by James Gilchrist and the Byers, where some very large human bones have been found.
There is one on the north side of Mountz Creek, above Irishman's Run. A very large one, containing 6 or 8 acres, is on the summit of Laurel Hill, where the mud pike crosses it, covered with a large growth of black walnut.
One especially noted as containing a great quantity of broken shells and pottery existed on the high land between Laurel run and the Youghiogheny River, on a tract formerly owned by Judge Young, and remains of the fort are to be seen. There are yet distinct traces of one on land of General Henry W. Beeson, formerly Colonel McClean's, about miles east of Uniontown.
There was one northeast of New Geneva, at the locality known as the "Flint Hill," on land now owned by John Franks.
Two miles northeast of New Geneva, on the road to Uniontown, and on land late of William Morris, now Nicholas B. Johnson, was one celebrated for its great abundance of mussel-shells. In the high ridge southwardly of the headwaters of Middle Run several existed, of which may be named one on the Bixler land, one on the high knob eastwardly of Clark Breading's, one on the Alexander Wilson tract, and one on the land of Dennis Biley, deceased, formerly Andrew C. Johnson's. Judge Veech also states that "a very noted 'old fort' and of most commanding location was at Brownsville, on the site of Fort Burd, but covering a much larger area. Even after Colonel Burd built his fort here, in 1759, it retained the name of the 'Old Fort,' Redstone Old Fort, or Fort Redstone." I am quite sure that Judge Veech is in error in locating this old fort on the site of Fort Burd.
Of the antiquities immediately around Brownsville no trace at present remains. On the original draught of Fort Burd, made by Major Joseph Shippen in 1759, and now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, can be seen, immediately to the rear of Fort Burd, the old Indian Fort, which is now so entirely obliterated that very few remember where it was located. The fullest description of this earthwork is found in "Travels in America, performed in 1806, for the purpose of exploring the rivers Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi, &c., by Thomas Ashe, esq., London, 1808." In the fifth letter of this work the author says:
"The neighborhood of Brownsville or Bedstone abounds with monuments of Indian antiquity. They consist of fortified camps, barrows for the dead, images and utensils, military appointments, &c. A fortified camp (which is a fortification of a very complete nature, on whose ramparts timbers of 5 feet in diameter now grows) commands the town of Brownsville, which undoubtedly was once an Indian settlement. This camp contains about 13 acres, inclosed in a circle, the elevation of which is 7 feet above the adjoining ground. Within the circle a pentagon is accurately described, having its sides 4 feet high and its angles uniformly 3 feet from the circumference of the circle, thus leaving an unbroken communication all round. Each side of the pentagon has a postern opening into the passage between it and the circle, but the circle itself has only one grand gateway, which directly faces the town. Exactly in the center stands a mound, about 30 feet high, hitherto considered as a repository for the dead, and which any correct observer can perceive to have been a lookout. I confess that I examined these remains of the former power of man with much care and veneration; nor could I resist reproaching those writers who have ignorantly asserted, 'We know of no such thing existing as an Indian monument of respectability, for we would not honor with that name arrow-points, stone hatchets, stone pipes, half-shapen images, &c.'
"The one which I have opened might have been originally a parallelogram 60 feet by 20, and 30 feet high, whose upper surface and angles have been rounded by the long influence of time and accident; for we are not to conceive that the form of ancient works is exactly similar to that which they first possessed. Such, indeed, as are built of stone and have not been exposed to dilapidation do not experience any material change; but all those monuments (and they are by far the most numerous) which are composed of earth must have undergone considerable alteration and waste, and therefore afford a very scanty evidence of their original dimensions, or (except where bones are found) of their purpose. The bones in the barrows of this neighborhood were directed to every point, Without regard to system or order. This surprised me more as I am well convinced that in general most of the ancient aboriginal nations and tribes had favorite positions for their dead, and even favorite strata with which to cover them, as I shall have occasion to explain when on the spot where the primitive Indians resided. Perhaps the irregularities in the barrows of this place may arise from the bones deposited in them, having been those of persons killed in battle, and collected by the survivors in order to be buried under one great mound.' - - - At the same time and place I found in my researches a few carved stone pipes and hatchets, flints for arrows, and pieces of earthenware. I cannot take upon me to say that the workmanship of any of these articles surpasses the efforts of some of the present race of Indians, but it certainly destroys an opinion which prevailed, that the inhabitants in the most remote times had the use of arms, utensils and instruments made of copper, iron, and steel."
Josiah Priest, in his American Antiquities, 1833, p. 85, mentions this ancient fort, but he uses the language of Ashe without giving credit.
Mr. James L. Bowman, who had frequently seen the outlines of the camp, notices it briefly in "Day's Historical Collections" and the "American Pioneer."
Curiously carved rocks are to be seen on many parts of the Monongahela River. At the mouth of Ten-Mile Creek, 12 miles above Brownsville, are the most interesting of these. Some of the rocks there bear the impress of a man's foot, a horse's foot, a hand, a head, a turkey, a fish, birds, beasts, &c.
On the farm of Mr. George. E. Hogg, near Dunlap's Creek Church, 5 miles east of Brownsville, there have been found a vast number of flat stones, soft and friable, which are full of small circular indentations of various diameters, as if made by the attrition of some harder substance, rubbed between the hands. Possibly they were used to produce fire by rubbing pieces of cane in them rapidly between the palms of the hand.