Battle of Sideling Hill
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The Battle of Sideling Hill (sometimes written Sidling Hill) was an engagement in April 1756, between Pennsylvania Colonial Militia and a band of
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
warriors who had attacked Fort McCord and taken a number of colonial settlers captive. The warriors were taking their captives back to their base at Kittanning when they were ambushed by the militia, but with the help of reinforcements, the Lenape fought off the militia and escaped.Clarence M. Busch, ''Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania,'' Vol. 1, State Printer of Pennsylvania, 1896
/ref> The battle is significant because it was the first engagement involving Pennsylvania Militia after Braddock's defeat.Jim Wilks, "The Battle of Sideling Hill," PBWorks, 2009
/ref>


Background

In 1753 William McCord obtained a land grant from the Penn family, on the western frontier of what is now Franklin County. This land and the surrounding area had been a favorite hunting ground for the
Lenape people The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
for centuries, and they had built temporary shelters in the area for use on hunting trips. McCord reportedly told them they were no longer welcome, and that they should stop roaming the land near his home. The Lenape assured him they would not cause him or his neighbors any problems and ignored his warning. McCord proceeded to burn their lodgings. The Indians withdrew from the area, but the attack in 1756 may have been motivated by this conflict. Fort McCord (often referred to in contemporary documents as "McCord's Fort") was built in early 1756 near the base of the
Kittatinny Mountain Kittatinny Mountain (Lenape: Kitahtëne) is a long ridge traversing primarily across Sussex County in northwestern New Jersey, running in a northeast-southwest axis, a continuation across the Delaware Water Gap of Pennsylvania's Blue Mountain ...
, north of
Parnell Knob Parnell Knob is a mountain in the Ridge and Valley Appalachians region of south central Pennsylvania. This knob rises above the village of St. Thomas, where Front Mountain and Broad mountain come together. It is a feature sculptured by the hard ...
in western
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The fort was the fortified home of William McCord, and probably consisted of a
stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...
surrounding the farm buildings and a two-story
blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...
with loopholes through which to fire at attackers.


Attack on Fort McCord


Jean Lowry's account

A first-hand account of the attack on the fort and of the subsequent battle was written by Jean Lowry, William McCord's younger sister. She reports that most of the men had left the stockade during the day to engage in farming, and only Lowry's husband stayed there as a guard. On 1 April 1756, a band of Delaware (
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
) Indians under the command of either
Captain Jacobs Tewea, better known by his English name Captain Jacobs, (d. September 8, 1756) was a Lenape chief during the French and Indian War. Jacobs received his English name from a Pennsylvanian settler named Arthur Buchanan, who thought the chief resembled ...
or
Shingas Shingas ( fl. 17401763), was a Lenape chief and warrior who participated in military activities in Ohio Country during the French and Indian War. Allied with the French, Shingas led numerous raids on Anglo-American settlements during the war, for ...
, attacked the fort, killed Lowry's husband and set the blockhouse on fire, forcing the women and children inside to surrender. They captured 27 settlers (Lowry says there were 21 captives, indicating that some had been killed). The Lenape then forced the captives to travel through the mountains for three days before stopping to rest. At dawn on 4 or 5 April, a group of Pennsylvania Militia, including many of Lowry's "friends and neighbors," attacked and were able to rescue the captives. According to Lowry, "only one Indian was killed and another wounded, upon which they all fled." Within a few minutes, however, the Lenape returned, killed a number of the militia, and recaptured the survivors of the Fort McCord attack. One of the male prisoners, probably a soldier, was tortured to death. Lowry and the other prisoners were then taken on to Kittanning.Jean Lowry, "A Journal of the Captivity of Jean Lowry and Her Children, Giving an Account of her being taken by the Indians, the 1st of April 1756, from William McCord's, in Rocky-Spring Settlement in Pennsylvania, With an Account of the Hardships she Suffered, &c." Oxford Text Archive, University of Oxford, 2014
/ref>


Battle of Sideling Hill


Report from the ''South Carolina Gazette''

On 12 April 1756, the ''
South Carolina Gazette The ''South Carolina Gazette'' (1732–1775) was South Carolina's first successful newspaper. The paper began in 1732 under Thomas Whitmarsh in Charlestown (now Charleston), but within two years Whitmarsh died of yellow fever. In 1734 anot ...
'' published a letter describing the battle: :"In our last we gave a short account of an engagement between some of our men and the Indians on our frontiers, since which we have the following account in a letter from Shippensburg, dated April 12. The morning after McCord's fort was taken, 31 of our people went in pursuit of the enemy, under the command of Capt. Culbertson, who was joined at Fort Littleton by Ensign Jemison, with 19 men, making in all 50 men. On Saturday evening they came in sight of the enemy's fire, and about break of day on Sunday morning they attacked the enemy at their fire, who immediately fled. Some of the captives then made their escape, and Mary McCord was shot by the fire of our men. Our people then came up and loosed the captives, and retired to the top of a hill, where the enemy returned and attacked them. Our men fought bravely for near 2 hours, but the enemy being reinforced by a fresh party, they surrounded our people and killed many, so that they found it necessary to break free and make their escape, in doing which we lost several men. The enemy then recovered some of their prisoners again, but 5 made their escape and got to Fort Littleton. By the best account we can get we killed 15 of the enemy, among which they are confident Capt. Jacobs is one. Capt. Culbertson was killed, with 18 others, and 13 wounded, one of which is since dead."


Edward Shippen's account

On 24 April 1756,
Edward Shippen III Edward Shippen III (July 9, 1703 – September 25, 1781) was an American merchant and mayor of Philadelphia. Biography He was born on July 9, 1703, in Boston. Shippen entered into mercantile pursuits with James Logan, with whom he was in busi ...
wrote to Governor Morris to report hearing an eyewitness account of the battle: :"The following story...was told to me two days ago by Mr. Benjamin Blythe...who was also in the battle: He says that our men gave the first fire, but without any success, that then the Indians ran from their fireplace with their arms and ammunition, and in less than ten minutes our men found themselves Surrounded, which they did not discover before the Indians fired upon them, that notwithstanding our men were So exposed to the Enemy's fire, and dropping every now and then, they fought about two hours and a half by his watch, and then perceiving a reinforcement from Shingas's Party, they unanimously agreed to endeavor to break the enemy's Circle...in order to make their retreat, in which they luckily succeeded. He says they killed but three of the Indians to the best of his knowledge, and that he doubts whether Captain Jacobs was one of them."


Reports from other sources

Other sources report that, following the attack on Fort McCord, three companies of militia under the joint command of Captain Hance Hamilton (then commander at
Fort Lyttleton The Fort Lyttleton Site, located in Beaufort County, South Carolina, is significant for its rich and layered artifacts and structural remains., These provide a composite view of land use since colonial times. In the 18th century and early into t ...
), Captain William Chambers, and Captain Alexander Culbertson, had been sent in pursuit of the Lenape and their captives.Archibald Loudoun, ''A Selection of Some of the Most Interesting Narratives, of Outrages, Committed by the Indians, in Their Wars with the White People,'' A. Loudoun Press, Carlisle, 1811; pp. 181-186
/ref> Culbertson's company, reinforced by nineteen men from Fort Lyttleton, caught up with the Lenape three days after Fort McCord was attacked, and ambushed them at dawn, as described in Jean Lowry's account. In a two-hour engagement, both sides suffered heavy casualties, but the colonists were driven off by the arrival of reinforcements under the command of Shingas.William H. Koontz, ed. ''History of Bedford, Somerset, and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men,'' Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1884
/ref> Captain Culbertson was killed and most of his men were killed or wounded before they withdrew from the battlefield.B. F. M. MacPherson, "Some History on Col. Hance Hamilton, part 1 of 2," in ''The Gettysburg Times,'' Saturday, 22 Feb, 1958, Page 6
/ref> Five captives, including two of William McCord's daughters, escaped and made their way to Fort Lyttleton. Another captive, Mary McCord, William McCord's sister-in-law, was accidentally shot and killed by the militia.


Aftermath

In a letter from Captain Hance Hamilton to Captain Potter, dated
Fort Lyttleton The Fort Lyttleton Site, located in Beaufort County, South Carolina, is significant for its rich and layered artifacts and structural remains., These provide a composite view of land use since colonial times. In the 18th century and early into t ...
, 4 April 1756, he says: :"These come to inform you of the melancholy news of what occurred between the Indians, that have taken many captives from McCord's Fort and a party of men under the command of Captain Alexander Culbertson and nineteen of our men, the whole amounting to about fifty, with the captives, and a sore engagement, many of both parties killed and many wounded, the number unknown...Captain Culbertson and Doctor Jameson is thought to be killed."Sipe, Chester Hale. ''The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania: An Account of the Indian Events, in Pennsylvania, of the French and Indian War, Pontiac's War, Lord Dunmore's War, the Revolutionary War and the Indian Uprising from 1789 to 1795; Tragedies of the Pennsylvania Frontier Based Primarily on the Penna. Archives and Colonial Records.'' Telegraph Press, 1931.
/ref> Doctor David Jameson, the surgeon at Fort Lyttleton, was seriously wounded and was left for dead on the battlefield, but he was able to return to the fort the next day. Hamilton gives a partial casualty list of eight soldiers killed and seven wounded. Chester Sipe reports that the Lenape suffered 17 killed and 21 wounded, "according to the statement of one of their number who was captured." Sources state that 20 militia were killed and 12 or 13 wounded, although reports differ on this point. Captain Jacobs was reported killed during the battle, however this was later proved untrue. He was killed during the
Kittanning Expedition The Kittanning Expedition, also known as the Armstrong Expedition or the Battle of Kittanning, was a raid during the French and Indian War that led to the destruction of the American Indian village of Kittanning, which had served as a staging p ...
on 8 September 1756.William Albert Hunter, "Victory at Kittanning", ''Pennsylvania History'', vol. 23, no. 3, July 1956; pp 376-407
/ref> Within a week of the battle, Governor
Robert Hunter Morris Robert Hunter Morris ( – 27 January 1764), was a prominent governmental figure in Colonial Pennsylvania, serving as governor of Pennsylvania and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Early life and education Morris was born in ...
issued a formal
Declaration of War A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state (polity), state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a nationa ...
against the Delawares and established a
bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...
for the scalps of Indians. On 15 April a law was passed regarding the organization and behavior of the Provincial Militia, including punishment for desertion or mutiny by soldiers.


Location

The precise location of the Battle of Sideling Hill, and hence the burial site of the militia lost in the battle, has not been determined. Three possible locations have been proposed, based on contemporary documents: Anderson's Grove: A 2003 report by the
Susquehanna River Basin Commission The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) is a federal-interstate compact commission created by the Susquehanna River Basin Compact (Pub. L. 91-575) between three U.S states: (Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland), and the federal government, a ...
proposed that the Battle of Sideling Hill took place near Maddensville (a neighborhood of
Springfield Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania Springfield Township is a township that is located in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 699 at the time of the 2020 census. General information *ZIP Code: 17264 *Area Code: 814 *Local Phone Exchanges: 447, 448 ...
), at the confluence of
Little Aughwick Creek Little Aughwick Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of Aughwick Creek in Fulton and Huntingdon counties, Pennsylvania in the United States.G ...
and Sideling Hill Creek at a place now known as Anderson's Grove.Stephen A. Runkle, "Native American Waterbody Place Names Within the Susquehanna River Basin and Surrounding Subbasins," Publication 229, September 2003; Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Harrisburg, PA
/ref> Juniata Crossing: A few days after the battle, Captain Joseph Shippen wrote to his father,
Edward Shippen III Edward Shippen III (July 9, 1703 – September 25, 1781) was an American merchant and mayor of Philadelphia. Biography He was born on July 9, 1703, in Boston. Shippen entered into mercantile pursuits with James Logan, with whom he was in busi ...
, describing the location of the battle: :"Capt. Culbertson & 30 men were defeated last Sunday (near the Bent of the Juniata where it runs across the New Penn's Road) by Jacob's Party of 36 after being joined by Shingas's Party of 30...We hear that 24 of our men are returned to McDowell's Mill and 8 to Fort Lyttleton, almost all of them very much wounded...Among those that are killed are Dr. Lieutenant Jamison & Captain Culbertson."Balch, Thomas, and Shippen, Edward, ''Letters and papers relating chiefly to the provincial history of Pennsylvania, with some notices of the writers, 1729–1806.'' Philadelphia: Crissy & Markley, printers, 1855.
/ref> Near Waterfall: The Indians may have been returning to Kittanning along the Raystown Path, an ancient Indian trail that runs from Clay Township through
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
(formerly known as Ray's Town) to
Logstown "extensive flats" , settlement_type = Historic Native American village , image_skyline = Image:Logstown1.jpg , imagesize = 220px , image_alt = , image_map1 = Pennsylvania in United States ...
, northwest of Pittsburgh.Charles Augustus Hanna, ''The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path,'' Volume 1, Putnam's sons, 1911
/ref> The battle may have taken place in the gap in the mountains created by Sideling Hill Creek, between the present-day towns of New Grenada and
Waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
on
Pennsylvania Route 913 Pennsylvania Route 913 (PA 913) is a state highway located in Bedford, Huntingdon, and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania. The western terminus is at PA 26 in Saxton. The eastern terminus is at PA 655 in Taylor Township. Route description P ...
."Fort McCord and The Battle of Sideling Hill," ''The Pennsylvania Rambler,'' December 19, 2019
/ref>


Memorialization

A stone monument with a
Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...
, listing the names of the colonists killed and wounded as well as the civilian captives taken by the Indians, was erected in 1914 and can be found on Fort McCord Road in
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Mas ...
. A historical marker at the site of Fort McCord, erected in 1947, lists the names of 20 soldiers killed and 11 wounded at Sideling Hill.Don Morfe, "Fort McCord historical marker," Historical Marker Database, 7 February 2023
/ref>


External links


The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties (Pennsylvania)

The Battles of Fort McCord and Sideling Hill
Brady Crytzer, YouTube Video, September 2023


See also

*
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
*
Fort Lyttleton The Fort Lyttleton Site, located in Beaufort County, South Carolina, is significant for its rich and layered artifacts and structural remains., These provide a composite view of land use since colonial times. In the 18th century and early into t ...


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Sideling Hill
Sideling Hill Sideling Hill, also Side Long Hill, is a long, steep, narrow mountain ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley (or Allegheny Mountains) physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Washington County in western Maryland and adjacent West ...
Sideling Hill Sideling Hill, also Side Long Hill, is a long, steep, narrow mountain ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley (or Allegheny Mountains) physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Washington County in western Maryland and adjacent West ...
Pre-statehood history of Pennsylvania
Sideling Hill Sideling Hill, also Side Long Hill, is a long, steep, narrow mountain ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley (or Allegheny Mountains) physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Washington County in western Maryland and adjacent West ...
Sideling Hill Sideling Hill, also Side Long Hill, is a long, steep, narrow mountain ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley (or Allegheny Mountains) physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Washington County in western Maryland and adjacent West ...
Sideling Hill Sideling Hill, also Side Long Hill, is a long, steep, narrow mountain ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley (or Allegheny Mountains) physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Washington County in western Maryland and adjacent West ...
1756 in Pennsylvania Forts in Pennsylvania French and Indian War forts Lenape 1756 in military history