children, Penn Twp, Cumberland Co., PA– 10

–10 Baer, et al. The Stump Massacre. Susquehanna Univ., Central Susquehanna Valley History Proj.

–10 Godcharles. “Today in Pennsylvania History…” Altoona Mirror, PA, 1-10-1924, p. 11.

–10 PA Colonial Records. Minutes…Provincial Council of Pennsylvania…Vol. IX, 1852, p.420.

–10 Rowe. “The Frederick Stump Affair, 1768…” Pennsylvania History, 49/4, Oct 1982, p.259.

–10 Volwiler. George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741-1782. 1926 & 1971, p. 217.

Blanchard note: There are varying accounts of location. We rely on Rowe for the placement of this atrocity given that Penn Township is relatively close to Carlisle, where Stump was jailed.[1]

Narrative Information

Godcharles: “….Frederick Stump…was a notorious character. He was born in 1735 in the neighborhood of Stumpstown,[2] and in 1768 was living near the mouth of Middle creek in what is now Snyder county.[3] On Sunday morning, Jan. 10, 1768, six Indians went to the house of Frederick Stump…They were White Mingo, Cornelius, John Campbell, Jones and two squaws. They were in a drunken condition and behaved in a suspicious manner. Stump endeavored to get them to leave, but without success. Fearing injury to himself, he and his servant, John Ironcutter, killed them all, dragging their bodies to the creek, where they cut a hole into the stream. Then fearing the news might be carried to the other Indians, Stump went the next day to their cabins, fourteen miles up the creek, where he found one squaw and two girls and one child. These he killed and threw their bodies in the cabin and burned it.

“The details of these murders were told by Stump to William Blythe, who found the charred remains of the four in the cabin ruins. Blythe testified to these acts before the Provincial authorities in Philadelphia, Jan. 19, 1768.

“One of the bodies which Stump pushed through the hole in the ice floated down the Susquehanna until it finally lodged against the shore on the Cumberland county side, opposite Harrisburg, below the site of the present bridge at Market street. The Indian had been killed by being struck on the forehead with some blunt instrument, which crushed in his skull. His entire scalp, including his ears, was torn from his head. In inquest was held Feb. 28, 1768, at the spot where his body was found. John Balir Linn, in his ‘Annals of Buffalo valley,’ places the scene of this crime on the run that enters the creek at Middleburgh, known by the name of Stump’s run to this day….

“Captain William Patterson led a score of his neighbors to assist in arresting Stump and Ironcutter. On their approach Stump fled to the woods, but Patterson pretended that he wanted Stump to accompany him to Great Island to kill Indians. This appealed to Stump, who returned to the house, when Patterson arrested and bound him and took him and his servant to Carlisle, where they were lodged in jail, Saturday evening, March 23, 1768.

“But justice was to be cheated. The magistrates fought over the place of Stump’s trial, and it was decided to try him in Philadelphia. On Monday morning following his arrest, the sheriff proceeded to do his duty, but was restrained by the magistrates. On Wednesday, forty of the country people assembled on the outskirts of Carlisle, and sent two messengers to the jail, but when they learned Stump was not to be sent to Philadelphia for trial, they dispersed.

“On Friday a company from Sherman’s valley, where Stump had lived, marched toward Carlisle, about eight entering the town. Two of them went to the jail and asked the jailer for liquor. As he was serving them the others entered with drawn cutlasses and pistols and demanded he make no outcry. Sixty others now surrounded the jail. Stump was taken from the dungeon, the handcuffs removed and he was released.

“The sheriff, Colonel John Armstrong, and others attempted to restrain the mob, but in the struggle which ensued Stump made his escape, as did his servant Ironcutter.

“The governor was angered at this escape and issued instructions for his re-arrest and then a formal proclamation offering a reward of £200 for Stump and 100£ for Ironcutter.

“After their rescue from the Carlisle jail both Stump and Ironcutter returned to the neighborhood of their bloody crime, but as their presence was no longer agreeable to the inhabitants, Stump soon left and went to the residence of his father at Tulpehocken and Ironcutter was spirited away by friends.

“They were never again arrested, for the settlers generally sympathized with them, but Stump and his servant both went to Virginia, where it is known that Stump died at an advanced age.” (Godcharles. “Today in Pennsylvania History. Old Stumpstown and Its Founder, Frederick Stump, Who Murdered Ten Indians, Jan. 10, 1768.” Altoona Mirror, PA, 1-10-1924, p. 11.)

Rowe: “In January, 1768, Frederick Stump, a thirty-three year old German settler in Penn’s Township, Cumberland County, methodically killed, or helped to kill, ten Indians: four men, three women, two young girls, and a female infant. In quick succession Stump was captured, incarcerated, and rescued from jail by an armed mob. He was never thereafter brought to justice…. [p. 259]

“By December, 1767, Anglo-Indian relations on Pennsylvania’s western frontier were again tense. Frontier families and “long hunters” persisted in settling lands prohibited to them by treaty. Not only did these aggressive westerners violate treaties with the Six Nations, but also to the great consternation of Pennsylvania authorities and royal officials alike they frequently preyed upon local tribes. Murders were not uncommon…. [p. 260]

“During this tense period six Indians visited the home of Frederick Stump in Cumberland County at the mouth of Middle Creek. Stump, who two years before had become embroiled with John Penn himself over the matter of Indian lands, killed the two Seneca men, their wives, and the two male Mohicans, and scalped at least one of the males. He dragged the bodies to the nearby creek and after breaking the ice which covered it pushed the bodies in. The following day, accompanied by his nineteen year old German servant, John Ironcutter, Stump walked fourteen miles up Middle Creek to several Indian cabins. Finding there a woman, two young girls, and a female child, Stump and Ironcutter killed them, placed their remains in the cabins, and burned the buildings to the ground. They then returned home where they “freely confessed” their exploits to neighbors.

“On January 12, William Blyth, who knew the slain Indians and had entertained them before they visited Stump, heard of the murders. To confirm the details, Blyth went to the grist mill of George Gabriel which Stump was known to frequent. There he found Stump eager to admit the murders but insisting that the six Indians had been drunk and threatening. Fearing for his life and that of Ironcutter, Stump had killed them. He had later slaughtered the four females because he believed they knew of the visit to his home by the first six Indians and might suspect foul play. By slaying them he sought to eliminate any reprisals against himself or the larger community. Once Blyth had received verification of Stump’s account from men he sent to the burned cabins, he hurried to Philadelphia to warn the colony’s leaders of the likelihood of an Indian war….” (Rowe, G. S. “The Frederick Stump Affair, 1768, and Its Challenge to Legal Historians of Early Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania History, Vol. 49, No. 4, Oct 1982, pp. 260-261.)

Volwiler: “….Other causes[4] increased the discontent. Distant tribes found the English trade inadequate and others were dissatisfied with the way in which it was carried on. The English traders and soldiers did not manifest the same tolerant and sympathetic attitude and interest that the French had manifested.[5] Bands of young braves on the war path to attack the Cherokees[6] stole horses on their way through the back country and were attacked by the whites. Instances of murders on both sides occurred. One incident made a deep impression upon the Indians and led to much correspondence among English officials. Stump, a Pennsylvania frontiersman, and his servant were visited by ten Indians — men, women, and children. These Indians were made drunk, killed with an ax, scalped, and their bodies burned. Governor Penn offered a reward of £200 for the arrest of the murderers, but when they were placed in jail a mob of eighty frontiersmen rescued them. Stump was retaken and tried, but the jury refused to convict him.” (Volwiler, Albert T. George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741-1782. Cleveland: 1926; reprinted by MAS Press, Inc., NY, 1971, p. 217.)

Sources

Baer, Rachel, Sean Loftus, Amber Peretin, Derrek Reitz. The Stump Massacre. Susquehanna Univ., Central Susquehanna Valley History Project. Accessed 1-31-2019 at: http://omeka.susqu.edu/HIST324/exhibits/show/stump

Colonial Records of Pennsylvania. Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government, Vol. IX, Containing the Proceedings of the Council from October 15^th 1762, to 17^th of October, 1771, both days Included. Harrisburg: Printed by Theo. Fenn & Co., for the State, 1852, pp. 420ff.

Godcharles, Frederic A. “Today in Pennsylvania History. Old Stumpstown and Its Founder, Frederick Stump, Who Murdered Ten Indians, Jan. 10, 1768.” Altoona Mirror, PA, 1-10-1924, p. 11. Accessed 1-31-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/altoona-mirror-jan-10-1924-p-11/

Rowe, G. S. “The Frederick Stump Affair, 1768, and Its Challenge to Legal Historians of Early Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania History, Vol. 49, No. 4, Oct 1982, pp. 259-288. Accessed 1-31-2019 at: https://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/view/24348

Volwiler, Albert T. George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741-1782. Cleveland: 1926; reprinted by MAS Press, Inc., NY, 1971.

[1] Compiled by B. Wayne Blanchard 1-31-2019 for: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com

[2] Godcharles notes that Stumpstown later became Fredericksburg.

[3] This would be, as far as we can tell, in the Beaver Springs, Middleburg, Selinsgrove area, with Selinsgrove the most easterly location, on the Susquehanna. If indeed the atrocity occurred here, and Stump was taken to Carlisle, that would entail an trip of about fifty-three miles south and past Harrisburg, then southwest to Carlisle. This would be a much longer trip than the one that would be required from Penn Township to Carlisle, about thirty-three miles.

[4] Preceding paragraph concerned “the encroachment upon their lands with daily threats of more invasions of their property for which they could obtain no justice.” (p. 216)

[5] The end of the French and Indian War in 1763, meant a withdrawal of French forces and many French traders. With no official French competition English and colonial attitudes and behavior toward Natives stiffened.

[6] For a very long time, probably pre-historical, the Five Nations of New York traveled south to attack the Cherokee, and the Carolina Cherokee traveled north to attack members of the Five Nations (or Iroquois Confederacy, consisting of the Mohawks, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca, later to be supplemented with the Tuscarora.)