CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 33 
The situation is in the centre of a valley with moun- 
tains to the north and south at a distance of seven miles. 
In 1753 there were five dwellings, and a log cabin used 
as a county Court House, with a garrison of twelve men 
to preserve order and impress the Indians who had a 
village near Great Beaver Pond at no great distance. 
The agents of the Proprietaries were especially directed 
to encourage the settlement of the Scotch-Irish in Cumber- 
land County, as it had been found that a mixture of 
races in Lancaster County had resulted in serious disorder 
at elections. 
In 1764, the Indians were thoroughly subdued by 
forces under Colonel Boquet and many captives were 
restored to their families, poignant situations in some 
cases resulting from the fact that female children had 
grown up and married among their captors, and the 
necessity for decision between their husbands and children 
on the one hand, and parents and other relatives on the 
other. 
Carlisle people were strongly patriotic at the out- 
break of the Revolutionary War and many joined the 
American forces. The town was made an important 
rendezvous for the troops and, in consequence of its 
distance from the theatre of war, British prisoners were 
frequently sent there for secure confinement. Among 
these, in 1776, were Lieutenant Despard (executed for 
high treason at London in 1803) and the well known 
Major André, who had been taken by Montgomery near 
Lake Champlain. 
The town was incorporated in 1782, and a charter 
supplied in 1814. Five years after the Baird family 
settled there, there was a population of 4350, and the 
Cumberland Valley Railway passed through the centre 
3 
