1763.] CONSTERNATION OF THE SETTLERS. 85 



principles of non-resistance j and refused to bear 

 arms.^ 



It was upon this mingled population that the 

 storm of Indian war was now descending with 

 appalling fury, — a fury unparalleled through all 

 past and succeeding years. For hundreds of miles 

 from north to south, the country was wasted with 

 fire and steel. It would be a task alike useless 

 and revolting to explore, through all its details, 

 this horrible monotony of blood and havoc. ^ The 



1 For an account of the population of Pennsylvania, see Rupp's two 

 histories of York and Lancaster, and of Lebanon and Berks Counties. 

 See also the History of Cumberland County, and the Penn. Hist. Coll. 



2 " There are many Letters in Town, in which the Distresses of the 

 Frontier Inhabitants are set forth in a most moving and striking Manner ; 

 but as these Letters are pretty much the same, and it would be endless to 

 insert the whole, the following is the Substance of some of them, as near 

 as we can recollect, viz. : — 



" That the Indians had set Fire to Houses, Barns, Corn, Hay, and, in 

 short, to every Thing that was combustible, so that the whole Country 

 seemed to be in one general Blaze — That the Miseries and Distresses of 

 the poor People were really shocking to Humanity, and beyond the Power 

 of Language to describe — That Carhsle was become the Barrier, not a 

 single Individual being beyond it — That every Stable and Hovel in the 

 Town was crowded with miserable Refugees, who were reduced to a 

 State of Beggary and Despair ; their Houses, Cattle and Harvest 

 destroyed ; and from a plentiful, independent People, they were become 

 real Objects of Charity and Commiseration — That it was most dismal 

 to see the Streets filled with People, in whose Countenances might be 

 discovered a Mixture of Grief, Madness and Despair ; and to hear, now 

 and then, the Sighs and Groans of Men, the disconsolate Lamentations of 

 Women, and the Screams of Children, who had lost their nearest and 

 dearest Relatives : And that on both Sides of the Susquehannah, for some 

 Miles, the Woods were filled with poor Families, and their Cattle, who 

 make Fires, and live like the Savages." — Penn. Gaz. No. 1805. 



Extract from a MS. Letter, signature erased — Staunton, July 26 : — 

 " Since the reduction of the Regiment, I have lived in the country, 

 which enables me to enform yr Ho"'' of some particulars, I think it is a 

 duty incumbent on me to do. I can assert that in eight years' service, I 

 never knew such a general consternation as the late irruption of Indians 

 has occasioned. Should they make a second attempt, I am assured the 



