CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 33 



The situation is in the centre of a valley with moun- 

 tains to the north and south at a distance of seven miles. 

 In 1753 there were five dwellings, and a log cabin used 

 as a county Court House, with a garrison of twelve men 

 to preserve order and impress the Indians who had a 

 village near Great Beaver Pond at no great distance. 



The agents of the Proprietaries were especially directed 

 to encourage the settlement of the Scotch-Irish in Cumber- 

 land County, as it had been found that a mixture of 

 races in Lancaster County had resulted in serious disorder 

 at elections. 



In 1764, the Indians were thoroughly subdued by 

 forces under Colonel Boquet and many captives were 

 restored to their families, poignant situations in some 

 cases resulting from the fact that female children had 

 grown up and married among their captors, and the 

 necessity for decision between their husbands and children 

 on the one hand, and parents and other relatives on the 

 other. 



Carlisle people were strongly patriotic at the out- 

 break of the Revolutionary War and many joined the 

 American forces. The town was made an important 

 rendezvous for the troops and, in consequence of its 

 distance from the theatre of war, British prisoners were 

 frequently sent there for secure confinement. Among 

 these, in 1776, were Lieutenant Despard (executed for 

 high treason at London in 1803) and the well known 

 Major Andre, who had been taken by Montgomery near 

 Lake Champlain. 



The town was incorporated in 1782, and a charter 

 supplied in 1814. Five years after the Baird family 

 settled there, there was a population of 4350, and the 

 Cumberland Valley Railway passed through the centre 



