224 The Winning of the West 



Pennsylvania, especially Fort Pitt and the valley 

 of the Monongahela, and, in 1774, proceeded boldly 

 to exercise jurisdiction therein. 1 Indeed a strong 

 party among the settlers favored the Virginian 

 claim; whereas it would have been quite impossible 

 to arouse anywhere in Virginia the least feeling 

 in support of a similar claim on behalf of Pennsyl- 

 vania. The borderers had a great contempt for the 

 sluggish and timid government of the Quaker prov- 

 ince, which was very lukewarm in protecting them 

 in their rights or, indeed, in punishing them when 

 they did wrong to others. In fact, it seems probable 

 that they would have declared for Virginia even 

 more strongly, had it not been for the very reason 

 that their feeling of independence was so surly as 

 to make them suspicious of all forms of control; 

 and they therefore objected almost as much to Vir- 

 ginian as Pennsylvanian rule, and regarded the 

 outcome of the dispute with a certain indifference. 2 

 For a time. in the early part of 1774 there seemed 

 quite as much likelihood of the Virginians being 

 drawn into a fight with the Pennsylvanians as with 

 the Shawnees. While the Pennsylvanian commis- 

 sioners were trying to come to an agreement con- 

 cerning the boundaries with Lord Dunmore, the 



1 "American Archives," 4th series, Vol. I, p. 454. Report 

 of Penn. Commissioners, June 27, 1774. 



8 Maryland was also involved, along her western frontier, 

 in border difficulties with her neighbors; the first we hear of 

 the Cresap family is their having engaged in a real skirmish 

 with the Pennsylvanian authorities. See also "Am. Arch.," 

 IV, Vol. I., 547- 



