Western Pennsylvania’s response to the battles at Lexington and Concord – the West Augusta and Hanna’s Town meetings

On May 16^th 1775, the Virginia inhabitants of the West Augusta District (that part of Western Pennsylvania which then was claimed by Virginia) met in Pittsburgh to discuss alarming news of the battles at Lexington and Concord, word of which had recently reached the frontier. A committee was formed consisting of twenty-eight men, including prominent local leaders such as George Croghan, John Gibson, William Crawford, and John Nevill, who drafted a set of resolutions to express support for the Massachusetts colony and to organize the West Augusta militia in order to oppose this threat to American freedom:

Resolved unanimously, That this Committee have the highest sense of the spirited behaviour of their brethren in New-England, and do most cordially approve of their opposing the invaders of American rights and privileges to the utmost extreme, and that each member of this Committee, respectively, will animate and encourage their neighbourhood to follow the brave example.

The imminent danger that threatens America in general, from Ministerial and Parliamentary denunciations of our ruin, and is now carrying into execution by open acts of unprovoked hostilities in our sister Colony of Massachusetts, as well as the danger to be apprehended to this Colony in particular from a domestick enemy, … added to the menaces of an Indian war, likewise said to be in contemplation, thereby thinking to engage our attention, and divert it from that still more interesting object of liberty and freedom, that deeply, and with so much justice, hath called forth the attention of all America; for the prevention of all, or any of those impending evils, it is

Resolved, That the recommendation of the Richmond Convention, of the 20th of last March, relative to the embodying, arming, and disciplining the Militia, be immediately carried into execution with the greatest diligence in this County, by the officers appointed for that end; ... to collect from their constituents, … so much money as shall be sufficient to purchase half a pound of gunpowder, and one pound of lead, flints, and cartridge paper, for every tithable person in their County, be likewise carried into execution.  …

The committee also chose a seven-man standing committee who were directed to acquire arms and ammunition:

 

Ordered, That the Standing Committee be directed to secure such Arms and Ammunition as are not employed in actual service, or private property, and that they get the same repaired, and deliver them to such Captains of Independent Companies as may make application for the same, and taking such Captain' s receipt for the arms so delivered. …

For the complete resolutions of the meeting, see American Archives, Series 4, Volume 2, pp. 612-614: https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A80211

Likewise, on the same day, the Pennsylvanians of Westmoreland County met at Hanna’s Town to also draft a set of resolutions expressing support for Massachusetts and for organizing the Westmoreland militia. In the resolutions, they held the British Parliament responsible for recent events and reaffirmed their loyalty to the King.  These resolutions became known as the Hanna’s Town Resolves:

Resolved unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several late acts, have declared the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to be in Rebellion, and the ministry, by endeavoring to enforce those acts, have attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before existed in any state or country. Not content with violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and unpunishable sport of licentious soldiery, and depriving them of the very means of subsistence.

Resolved unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt that the same system of tyranny and oppression will (should it meet with success in Massachusetts Bay) be extended to every other part of America: It is therefore become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who has any public virtue or love for his country, or any bowels for posterity, by every means which God has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execution of it; that for us we will be ready to oppose it with our lives and fortunes. And the better to enable us to accomplish it, we will immediately form ourselves into a military body, to consist of companies to be made up out of the several townships under the following association, which is declared to be the Association of Westmoreland County.

Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty, King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful King, and who we wish may long be the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British Empire; we declare to the world, that we do not mean by this Association to deviate from that loyalty which we hold in our bounded duty to observe, but, animated with the love of liberty, it is no less our duty to maintain and defend our just rights (which, with sorrow, we have seen of late wantonly violated in many instances by a wicked Ministry and a corrupted Parliament) and transmit them to our posterity, for purpose which we do agree and associate together:”

1st. To arm and form ourselves into a regiment or regiments, and choose officers to command us in such proportions as shall be thought necessary. …

For the complete Hanna’s Town Resolves, see this article from the Westmoreland Historical Society: https://westmorelandhistory.org/history-of-the-hannas-town-resolves/

The Pennsylvania-Virginia Border Controversy

Many may not know that the area currently defined as southwestern Pennsylvania was also claimed by Virginia during the American Revolution.  This region included the highly valued “Forks of the Ohio” where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers merge to form the Ohio River, site of present day Pittsburgh. Virginia’s claim to this region began in 1749 when the Ohio company was awarded a grant of land stretching between the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers.  In early 1754, a company of Virginians under William Trent began building Fort Prince George at the forks, but were forced to surrender to a superior French force.  George Washington’s expedition into the area commanding a force of Virginia militia in the summer of 1754 resulted in the battles at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity, igniting the French and Indian or Seven Year’s War.

A factor contributing to this land dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia was an incomplete survey of the now famous Mason-Dixon line. The original land grant charter to William Penn in 1681 defined Pennsylvania’s western border at 5 degrees of longitude west from the Delaware River (the present day Pennsylvania border). However, in 1767 Mason and Dixon halted their survey about 21 miles short of this point, being unable to proceed due to their Iroquois guides refusing to proceed past the Catawba Path and into territory claimed by the Delaware and Shawnee.  By the 1770s, Virginia’s expansive western county of Augusta had encompassed this region, which included the present day western Pennsylvania counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Greene and parts of Allegheny and Beaver. 

Western Counties of Virginia - 1775

In order to counter Virginia’s claim and solidify their own, Pennsylvania established Westmoreland County in 1773, carving it from what was then the western section of Bedford County. At that time, Westmoreland also included land that would become the counties of Fayette, Washington, Greene and part of Allegheny and Beaver, overlapping the region claimed by Virginia. The Westmoreland County seat of government was established at Hanna’s Town, a settlement along the Forbes Road near present day Greensburg, PA.  In early 1774, Virginia created the District of West Augusta to aid in the administration of the far reaches of Augusta since the county seat was located in Staunton, Virginia, over 200 miles from Pittsburgh. 

Tensions escalated in 1774 and 1775 between the Pennsylvanians at Hannastown under Arthur St. Clair and the Virginians at Pittsburgh, led by Dr. John Connolly.  Virginia Governor John Murray, known as Lord Dunmore, had commissioned Connolly “Captain Commandant of the Militia of Pittsburgh and its Dependencies” to enforce Virginia Law at Fort Pitt, which was renamed Fort Dunmore.  In response, Arthur St. Clair had Connolly arrested and sent to the jail at Hanna’s Town. Connolly was soon released and promised to appear back in court at Hanna’s Town in April, which he did along with two hundred armed men. The Westmorelanders refused to back down from their territorial claim and the Virginians soon responded by arresting three of the Westmoreland magistrates and sending them to Staunton. With the onset of the American Revolution, the tension between the two factions somewhat subsided, but the controversy was not close to being settled.  In 1776, Virginia divided the District of West Augusta into three counties: Ohio, Monongalia, and Yohogania.

Western Counties of Virginia - 1776

 

Ohio, Monongalia, and Yohogania counties in the District of West Augusta

After numerous attempts to resolve the dispute, the border was finally settled in 1780 when Pennsylvania and Virginia agreed to the western boundary of Pennsylvania being at 5 degrees longitude from the Delaware River, per the original land grant charter to William Penn.  In 1784, surveyors David Rittenhouse and Andrew Elliot extended the Mason-Dixon line westward to 5 degrees longitude establishing the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Most of the Virginia county of Yohogania was then located within the state of Pennsylvania and was dissolved. Ohio and Monongalia counties survived and are now part of West Virginia.

For more information on this little known, fascinating story, see the presentation given by NPS Park Ranger Robert Dunkerly, who provided a great overview of this topic for the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia:

Border Wars: The Pennsylvania/Virginia Boundary Controversy - Frontier Culture Museum Lecture Series

Additional references for more information:

Yohogania County and The District of West Augusta

The boundary controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia; 1748-1785. Minute book of the Virginia Court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh) for the District of West Augusta, 1775-1776

Minute book of the Virginia court held for Yohogania County: first at Augusta town (now Washington, Pa.), and afterwards on the Andrew Heath farm near West Elizabeth; 1776-1780. v.1

Minute book of the Virginia court held for Yohogania County: first at Augusta town (now Washington, Pa.), and afterwards on the Andrew Heath farm near West Elizabeth; 1776-1780. v.2