98 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



patriotic fathers. It must lie admitted that one of 

 the most serious evils which have sprnn? up with our 

 marvelous growth iu the last half of the century of 

 our existence, has been a fondness for display, the 

 ea2;er desire fortlie ra])iil accumulation of wealth and 

 the love of luxury. It was these which bred decayin 

 the old nations of the Eastern continent. Let us then 

 as citizens of a city whose prosperity, solid wealth, 

 and quiet conservatism are guarantees of its future 

 prosperity, still more a6sidu6u.sly cultivate the habit 

 of thrift, prudence and sturdy honesty, as the highest 

 and noblest traits of true Americanism. Let us re- 

 joice to-duy with Americans everywhere assembled, 

 that, under a kind Providence, our country has been 

 permitted to reach and litly celebrate its Centennial 

 Fourth of July. Let us educate our children in those 

 principles which shall lit them for the discharge of 

 the duties of eitizenshiii which they must assume in 

 the coming yeaa's of our second century. Profiting 

 by the experience of the past, correcting abuses in 

 every form of government, national, State and muni- 

 cipal, we can in the coming years not only perpetuate 

 but improve and strengthen our institutions. 



Lancaster, during the last decade, has steadily 

 kept pace with the progress of the country, and 

 standing to-day where the first century of our nation 

 passes into history and the new century dawns upon 

 us full of bright hopes and promises, we feel safe in 

 predicting that Lancaster has. within herself those 

 elements which shall make her always a lovely queen 

 enthroned amid the green fields and fertile valleys of 

 our matchless county. 



Hon. ,S. H. Keyiidlds read the Declaration 

 of Iiulepeudeuce, i)refacliig the reading with 

 the following patriotic 



Prologue. 



Mt Fellow Citizens : I have been chosen by 

 your committee to read to you on this Centennial An- 

 niversary of American Independence, the Vcclara- 

 tioti which announced to the world tlic birth of a Ec- 

 publicj ^^ Ihfi Qoininf] aovcreignty of the people^^' and 

 the establishment of a National Government, free 

 and ijulepeuiUnt, absolved from all allegiance to 

 kings, i)rinces, and potentates. A paper which one 

 hundred years ago as now was " the genuine eBusion 

 of the soul of the country," promulgating a bill of 

 rights older than human institutious,''uot conceded by 

 monarchy, but drawn fresh from the fount of eternal 

 justice as the rightful, the exalted heritai/e of man ; 

 expressing sentiments and ideas in unison with all 

 humanity, raising millions to a new sense of freedom 

 which has pressed onward toward the goal of liberty 

 until the whole world is nearly free. 



Before I read, let us contemplate for a moment the 

 disinterested and heroic forgetfulness of self which 

 characterized its authors, the founders of our repub- 

 lic on the 4th day of July, 1770, that dark and peril- 

 ous day, when the foundation was laid, the super- 

 structure of which was to be the home for the 

 persecuted of every land — a terror to tyrants, and 

 the barrier between liberty and European bondage. 



The eflbrts of a life, nay not even the beautiful 

 rhetoric nor the elegant diction of the distinguished 

 oratoi- who is to follow me, can paint out tliis"j)icture 

 in all its a.stonishing incidents, " in all its mingled 

 colors of sublimity and woe, of agony and triumph." 

 On that day our fathers began a great and arduous 

 adventure, of which they were to encounter the risk, 

 anil we to enjoy the benefits. They well knew the 

 toil and blood and treasure it would cost to maintain 

 indeiiendenee and defend the States. Yet on that 

 memorable day no one faltered. Hope filled every 

 breast, and, in the very front of tyranny, a revenge- 

 ful army, war inevitable, and adonhtful future, the 

 patriots of Seventy-Six assumed the responsibility. 

 They felt that Providence had assigned to them the 

 task ; that they were elected to strike the blow for 

 which the friends of freedom for two centuries had 

 been making slow but sure preparation, and with a 

 singular unanimity, " which was the aurora of their 

 enduring fame," ihey declared, that " When," etc — 



[Here followed reading the Declaration.] 



He was frequently a]iplaudert during the 

 reading, and at its conclusion made the fol- 

 lowing tine 



Peroration. 



How nobly they did their work, a nation's joy ex- 

 pressed in sweetest strains of patriotic song, the wild 

 huzza, the booming gun, and the appropriate fes- 

 tivities here and everywhere, on this 100th anni- 

 versary, attest. 'W'ell may we sing loud anthems of 

 exultation, well may we raise our voices to pay fitting 

 honors to the memory 6f the illustrious dead, and 

 celebrate with grateful hearts the anniversary of 

 their sacrifice. 



We need not erect monuments carved by the artist's 

 chisel to perpetuate their glory. The principle of 

 free government, our liberty achieved by hard-fought 

 battles, this gie.at family of States which they bound 

 together in fraternal confederacy, our most exquisite 

 political fabric, the unexampled prosperity of our 

 country — these, my fellow-citizens, proclaim in lan- 

 guage more emphatic than monumental granite or 

 sculptured marble, the worth and the memory of 

 men, 



' Who Bowed iu weakness the harvest we raise in power." 



Dr. Thomas C. Porter, Professor of Natural 

 Sciences at Lafayette College, Easton, then 

 read the following hist-orical sketch of the city 

 and county of Lancaster : 



Historical Sketch of Lancaster. 



Citizens of Lancaster City and Countt — I 

 had almost said Fellow Citizcm ; for, although it is 

 well nigh ten years since I had a right to use that 

 word, as I stand here to-day and see around me so 

 many familiar faces, changed somewhat, perchance, by 

 the touch of time, but still the same, old memories re- 

 vive, and I feel as if I had just returned from a king 

 exile and were breathing again the atmosphere of 

 home. And I am proud to know that you do not re- 

 gard me as an alien or a stranger. The Mayor and 

 Councils of your city, in obedience to a general call 

 from the Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth, 

 have honored me with an invitation to prepare a 

 summary of the history of the county for the past 

 century, reaching down from the year 1770 to the 

 present year of grace, lS70^this summary, when 

 completed, to be deposited in the Archives of this 

 county. State and nation. The task, which might 

 have been entrusted to abler but not more willing 

 hands, is not an easy one, and cannot be performed 

 without the collection of material, research and care- 

 ful study. And as scarcely six weeks have passed 

 since the invitation was received and accepted, all I 

 can now do is to offer some desultory thoughts upon 

 the subject in the shape of a brief address. 



Going back one hundred years, beyond the recol- 

 lection of your most aged patriarch, we come to the 

 birthday of the nation, the memorable epoch when 

 the tie which bound the American colonies to the 

 mother country was broken forever. The rupture 

 was sudden. The war, begun at Lexington and Con- 

 cord, had raged for a year before separation was se- 

 riously dreamed of. At length the idea entered thL' 

 minds of some of the heroic statesman in Congress, 

 and in a few short months the world was startled by 

 the Declaration of Independence. The act was both 

 bold and wise, for the fullness of time had come. 

 With the rapidity of wild-fire the tidings traveled to 

 the remotest corners of the land, and was hailed with 

 joy by the shouts of gathered multitudes, the pealing 

 of bells and the blazing of bonfires. Never, since 

 then, has the popular heart been so widely and so 

 deeply stirred by any event, save the lowering of the 

 nation's flag on the ramjjarts of Fort Sumter. And 

 there was good reason for it. Every patriot saw and 

 felt that the struggle had undergone a radical change. 

 No longer merely defensive, a revolt against oppres- 

 sion, it had become from that moment aggressive, 

 revolutionary— a contest for complete deliverance 

 from foreign rule. 



The noble part -which your forefathers played in 

 the mighty struggle is best told by the statement of 

 a few facts of special interest. Even before the out- 

 break of the war the people of Lancaster stood in full 

 sympathy with the movement. In this ancient bor 

 ougli the prohibition against the sale of tea, which 

 had paid duty to the British Government, was rightly 

 enforced, and several merchants were required to 

 answer the charge of having violated the ordinance. 

 When the harbor of Boston was closed by the Port 

 Bill, considerable sums of money were raised here for 

 the relief of the inhabitants of that city. A single 

 incident shows in a clear but amusing light the ear- 

 nest spirit of the period. A dancing-master who had 

 opened a school in a room perhaps not far from this 

 very square, was compelled by the authorities to 

 abandon his vocation. The time to dance had gone 

 by; the time to fight had come. The instruction 

 needed by the young men was not how to " trip jt on 

 the light, fantastic toe," but how to handle the mus- 

 ket and march in the ranks. Powder, lead and fire- 

 arms were gathered together from all quarters. Mili- 

 tary organizations went on vigorously. 



On the -ith of July, 1770, a crowded convention of 

 delegates from the so-called " associators,'' or militia, 

 of the counties of Northampton, Bucks, Philadel- 

 jihia, Chester, Berks, Lancaster, York, Cumberland, 

 Northumberland and Westmoreland, assembled iu 

 this city iu order to elect two brigadier-generals to 

 command the forces of Pennsylvania. The resolu- 

 tion was adopted " to march to the assistance of all or 

 any of the free and indepetident States of America." 

 The president of the convention was Col. Geo. Boss, 

 of Lancaster,' who was also member of Congress from 

 the district and a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence. His presence here on that day is thus 

 explained : The instrument at first bore only the 

 names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson, the 

 jircsidcnt and secretary of Congress, and the other 

 names were added on the second'of August following. 



Lancaster county raised no less than nine regiments 

 of troops lor the Continental Ariny, and her sons be- 

 haved with distingv.ishcd valor in some of thejbloodiest 

 battles of the war. By an examination of the records 

 it appears that a goodly proportion of the ollicers and 

 soldiers were of German descent, notwithstanding so 

 many of the German fanners, then as now, were non- 

 resistants from religious principle. Yet these men 

 were far Irom being tories. They accepted the new 

 government, obeyed its decrees in all things, except 

 in the matter of personal military service, and gave 



neither aid nor comfort tothe enemy. Tories existed 

 here, it is true, as they did everywhere ; but their 

 number was so small and the common sentiment of 

 loyalty to the new-born Republic so strong, that they 

 were able to work no serious mischief. And I may 

 now say that the magnitude of the service rendered 

 by the Pennsylvania liermans at home, in the public 

 councils, and iu the field during the great war of Inde- 

 pendence, lias been strangely overlooked. It deserves 

 to be rescued from oblivion and set forth in its true 

 colors. The forces of the State were largely com- 

 posed of this element, and Washington recognized its 

 value. 



The last of the veterans who made the starry ban- 

 ner a glory in tlie world' has been laid in the grave, 

 but some of us have seen and talked with them before 

 they descended into the land of shadows. The vener- 

 able form of fine whom I met years ago, rises to 

 memory. In which of these eastern counties he was 

 born I know not, but bis bonie then was Harrisburg, 

 and there he died and was buried with military hou-' 

 ors, and there his descendants still live. His name 

 was Leonard Uubbs. My grandfather drew his pen- 

 sion for him, and I used to visit him, and loved to 

 listen tobis talcsof the olden time. He was a drum- 

 mer under Gen. Wayne, at the battle of Stony Point, 

 and here is the story, which I have no doubt is true 

 to the letter, as it fell from his own lips : " That 

 night when the boys climbed the hill we was in front, 

 but dares'nt tap a drum-head, till we got inside of 

 the fort, and then we rattled away all together. 

 After some days Gen. Washington came, and he and 

 Gen. Wayne rode along the line, and they stopped 

 where I was, and Gen. Wayne ordered me forward. 

 I stepped out, took otf my cap, and gave the salute, 

 and (ien. Wasliington said — ' Make that honest Dutch 

 boy drum-major,' and I'll be bound I was sassy." 



Alter the disastrous battle of Brandywine, .500 

 wounded American soldiers were carried in wagons 

 to Ephrata and put in charge of the Society of the 

 Seventh Day Baptists, at that place ; but, in spite of 

 all the care bestowed on them, 150 died and were 

 buried on a little eminence called Mount Zion. In 

 1845 a plain sandstone monument was erected on the 

 spot, as a memorial to these forgotten patriots, mainly 

 through the exertions of the late Joseph Konigmachcr. 

 In the gloomy winter of 1S77-78, while Washington 

 lay at Valley Forge with his suffering troops, two 

 Pennsylvania brigades, commanded by Gen. Wayne, 

 endured like hardships, encamped near the village of 

 Mount Joy. When the British under Howe took pos- 

 session of Philadelphia, Congress fled hither, sat here 

 for a single day, and then passed on to the borough 

 of York. 



During the war many prisoners were quartered in 

 barracks here and in other towns of the county. One 

 incident in this connection is worthy of note. The 

 unfortunate Major Andre, whose sad fate still awak- 

 ens pity in the hearts of the youthful reader, was 

 captured in Canada by General Montgomery, on the 

 ?>d of Nove^uber, 177.5, and brought to Lancaster 

 with several other English oflieers. He became an 

 inmate of the house of Mr. Caleb Cope, (who prior 

 to the Revolution had filled the post of Burgess), 

 and employed his leisure in giving lessons in drawing 

 to the eldest son of Mr. Cope, a lad of 13 years, and 

 in playing marbles and juvenile games with the two 

 younger brothers. But, perhaps, the crowning gem 

 in this wreath of historical reminiscences is the fact 

 that your city was honored by the presence of the 

 illustrious Father of his Country, and as his stately 

 charger bore him along these streets, no doubt the 

 eyes of multitudes 6f spectators who thronged the 

 sidewalks and filled the windows of the houses, gazed 

 upon him with admiration and reverence, which 

 found expression in the waviug of handkerchiefs and 

 iu loud and hearty huzzas. 



Thirty years later, in the nation's second conflict 

 with her ancient foe beyond the seas, the patriotic 

 spirit of the people of Lancaster was again displayed. 

 And what shall I say of the still mightier and more 

 recent struggle which drenched the land with fra- 

 ternal blood ? In those dark and trying days I was 

 with you, and one of you, and well remember how 

 sensitively the pulse of the entire community throbbed 

 in responsive sympathy with the varying fortunes of 

 the armies of the Union — now depressed by chilling 

 rumors of defeat and anon beating high at the joy- 

 ful news of victory. Here is neither the place nor 

 the time to attempt even a sketch of all that was 

 then said and done. To prove that in loyalty to the 

 old flag, we of the present generation are no degen- 

 erate sons of Revolutionary sires, it is enough to re- 

 mind you of the number of our friends and kindred 

 who marched forth from these peaceful scenes to 

 distant fields of strife, many, to return, alas ! no 

 more ; of the untiring and devoted labors of the Pa- 

 triot Daughters, whose worthy deeds deserve a fuller 

 meed of prai.se than they have i yet received ; of the 

 universal grief which followed the remains of the 

 gallant Reynolds to their last resting-place, just 13 

 years ago this day ; of the cordial welcome home ex- 

 tended to the war-worn remnant of the Reserves in 

 yonder court house ; of the brave and cheering 

 words uttered by the press iu seasons of sorrow and 

 despondency ; and if you ask for further evidence, it 

 stands there before you in the grand, imperishable 

 monument, which speaks alike for the living and the 

 dead. 



