388 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



limits of liis Mission large numbers of the communion of the Church of England in 

 Shippensburg, and some four or five other settlements in that region, he determined to 

 visit each of those places four times a year, to jjrei^are them for the Sacrament of the 

 Lord's Supper, and to baptize their children. 



Scarcely had Mr. Barton commenced his labors, before his attention was drawn to the 

 wretched condition of the poor Indians, some of whom resided at no great distance from 

 him; and, having heard that a number of them had come down from the Ohio to Carlisle 

 to dispose of their fur and deer-skins, he took occasion to go among them, and to en- 

 deavor to secure their good will, in the hope of making himself useful to them. He 

 invited them to church, and such of them as had any knowledge of English, came, and 

 seemed very attentive. These, subsequently, brought their brethren to shake hands with 

 him; and the result of the interview was that he had great hope of being able to bring 

 them under the influence of Christianity. But, just at that time, the tidings came that 

 the forces under the command of General Braddock had been defeated, as they were 

 marching to take Du Quesne, a French fort upon the Ohio ; and this was soon succeeded 

 by an alienation of the Indians, which put an end to all hope of prosecuting successfully 

 any missionary eftbrts among them. 



Mr. Barton, now finding himself exposed to the incursions of the French and the In- 

 dians, was compelled to organize his own people for defence against their enemies; and 

 such were his zeal and activity, that he even put himself at the head of his congrega- 

 tions, and marched, either by night or by day, whenever there was an alarm. In 1758, 

 the young men within his Mission ofiered to join the army if Mr. Barton would accom- 

 pany them ; whereupon he proposed himself to General Foi-bes as Chaplain of the troops, 

 and his services were thankfully accepted. He was, however, absent from his ordinary 

 duties but a short time, though it was long enough to give him the opportunity of making 

 tlie acquaintance of Washington, Mercer and other distinguished ofiicers in the army. 



For nearly twenty years, Mr. Barton resided at Lancaster, and was Rector of St. James' 

 church there; but he divided his Sunday labors between that church and two other 

 churches — one at Carnarvon, about twenty miles from Lancaster, the other at Pequea, 

 nearly the same distance in a diflerent direction. In addition to these stated duties, he 

 officiated occasionally at the churches of New London and White Clay Creek — the one 

 distant thirty-five, the other sixty miles from his residence. So great was the amount 

 of labor that he performed, and such the fatigue and exposure to which he was sub- 

 jected in his missionary excursions, that he became sensible that his constitution was 

 greatly impaired; but lie still kept on laboring to the extent of his ability; and the 

 letters which, from time to time, he wrote to the Venerable Society, show that he was 

 resolved to persevere in his labors until his health should entirely fail, or Providence 

 should, in some other way, hedge up his path. 



Mr. Barton had never lost, in any degree, his interest in the Indians; and was ac- 

 tually planning an excursion of a few months among them, in or about the year 1764, 

 when his hopes were again blasted by the breaking out of the Indian War, which ren- 

 dered any approach to them utterly hopeless. 



In 1770, Mr. Barton received the Honorary degree of Master of Arts, from King's 

 College, New York. 



As the War of the Revolution came on, Mr. Barton found himself not a little impeded 

 in the discharge of his ministerial duties, and was ultimately obliged to retire from his 

 field of labor altogether. In a letter dated November 25, 1776, he thus describes his 

 situation : 



"I have been obliged to shut up my churches, to avoid the fury of the populace, who 

 would not suffer the Liturgy to be used, unless the Collects and Prayer for the King 

 and Royal Family were omitted, which neither my conscience nor the declaration I 

 made and subscribed, when ordained would allow me to comply Avith; and, although I 

 used every prudent step to give no offence even to those who usurped authority and 



