270 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1763. 



change for Colonial independence. A treaty of peace between 

 England and France was concluded towards the close of this 

 year, but was not proclaimed in Philadelphia till the 26th of 

 January, 1763. Peace with Spain soon followed, leaving our 

 ancestors none but Indian enemies to contend with. 



John Penn arrived at Philadelphia on Sunday the thirteenth 

 of October, having been appointed to supersede James Hamilton, 

 as Lieut. Governor. The day of his arrival is distinguished 

 " by the occurrence of a severe shock of an earthquake, accom- 

 panied with a loud roaring noise, which greatly alarmed, not 

 only the inhabitants of Philadelphia, but of the surrounding 

 country. Most religious congregations were assembled for 

 worship at the time, and much confusion, but little injury hap- 

 pened from their efforts to escape from the buildings, which 

 they feared would fall upon them."^ 



The interior inhabitants of Pennsylvania had suffered so 

 severely from the Indians during the war, and their feelings 

 against the whole race had become so much excited, that they were 

 unable or unwilling to draw any distinction between those who 

 had been hostile to the English and those who had acted as 

 their allies. The latter were suspected of communicating in- 

 telligence to the former. Under this unjust suspicion, a number 

 of armed men from Paxton and Donnegal townships in Lan- 

 caster County, inhumanly murdered six Indians of Conestogo 

 Village, and subsequently fourteen of the same tribe who had ■ 

 been placed in the workhouse of Lancaster for safety. Em- 

 boldened and hardened by their successful butchery, these ex- 

 cited but deluded men, threatened to proceed to Philadelphia 

 and destroy the Moravian Indians, 140 in number, who, upon 

 the news of theLancaster outrages, repaired to that city for 

 safety. To render them more secure, the Governor had re- 

 moved them to Province Island at the mouth of the Schuylkill. 

 Becoming alarmed, however, at the reported fury of their ene- 

 mies, they, with their two Moravian ministers, petitioned the 

 Legislature to send them to England. This being impracticable, 

 the Governor sent them to New York, in order to be placed 

 under the protection of Sir Wm. Johnson, who had charge of 

 Military affairs in the Colonies ; but Governor Coldcn of New 

 York declined to admit them into that Province, and they re- 

 turned back to Pennsylvania under an escort of two military 

 companies. The return of these Indians again aroused the fury 

 of their enemies, who in great numbers immediately marched 

 towards Philadelphia. The Indians, in the meantime, had been 

 lodged in the barracks, which were well fortified, and a formi- 

 dable array of soldiers went out to meet the insurgents. Find- 



1 Gordon's Hiat. Penna. 413. 



