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ber 7, 1766, to Mr. Tilgham, he says in acknowledgment: "I desire you will return my thanks to Colonel Francis for his services in removing the intruders that were settled on the Indian's land, and for the piece of coal which we shall have examined by some persons skillful in that article, and send their observations on it."

The next mention we have of coal is on the original draft of the Manor of Sunbury, surveyed in 1768 by Charles Stewart in the Proprietary's interest, where appears the brief notation "stone coal," without further explanation. The location on the draft is near the mouth of Toby's Creek, and not far from where the Woodward breaker is located.

The next mention of coal is as follows: During General Sullivan's march through Wyoming, in 1779, Major George Grant, one of his officers, wrote of the valley: "The land here is excellent, and comprehends vast mines of coal, pewter, lead and copperas." The last three named have never been found here.

The next mention of coal is as follows: John David Schopf, in his Travels, mentions a visit he made in 1783 to a bed of brilliant black coal, a mile above Wyoming, which on handling leaves no taint, and burns without emitting an offensive odor. That it was so abundant as to be obtained without any charge. He further tells us that a smith had erected workshops near it, and who spoke highly of its value. He noticed the

numerous impressions of plants between the shale and the coal, which he believes proves its origin and great antiquity. It is found here on both sides of the river, and in various parts of the valley.

We here conclude the notice of coal with one further mention. Joseph Scott, in his "Gazetteer of the United States," published in 1795, in his remarks on Luzerne county, says: "Wilkes-Barre, the county seat, contains forty-five dwellings, a court house and jail, and several large beds of coal are found in the townships of Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Exeter and Plymouth."

It is impossible to state when the consumption of Wyoming coal began. It is possible that the Indians at Wyoming had some knowledge of the combustible nature of anthracite coal. Two chiefs from the valley, in company with three others from the country of the Six Nations, visited England in 1710, and it is presumed they witnessed the burning of coal, then in general use in the cities of England for domestic purposes. The consumption of black stones instead of wood could not fail to make a deep impression on their minds, and they would naturally infer that this fuel was nearly allied to the black stones of their own country. The appearance of anthracite had long been familiar to their eyes. The forge, or seven feet vein of coal, had been cut through and exposed by the Nanticoke creek, and the seven feet vein of

Plymouth had been laid open to view by Ransom's creek. The Susquehanna had exposed the coal at Pittston, and the Lackawanna at several points along its banks. If the Indians at that day were ignorant of the practical use of coal, they were at least acquainted with its appearance, and not improbably with its inflammable nature. That the Indians had mines of some kind at Wyoming, the following account fully establishes:

In 1766, a company of Nanticokes and Mohicans, six in number, who had formerly lived in Wyoming, visited Philadelphia, and in their talk with the governor, said: “As we came down from Chenango we stopped at Wyoming, where we had a mine in two places, and we discovered that some white people had been at work in the mine, and had filled canoes with the ore, and we saw their tools with which they had dug it out of the ground, where they made a hole at least forty feet long and five or six feet deep. It happened that formerly some white people did take now and then only a small bit and carry it away, but these people have been working at the mine and filled their canoes. We inform you that there is one John Anderson, a trader now living at Wyoming, and we suspect he or somebody by him has robbed our mine. This man has a store of goods, and it may happen that when the Indians see their mine robbed they will come and take away his goods," etc. The substance alluded to by the In

dians had been carried away in small quantities for some time, by the whites, perhaps to test its qualities, aud it is highly improbable that it would have been afterwards removed by canoe-loads unless it had been found to be a useful article. What could that useful article have been but coal? There were settlements of whites on the Susquehanna, a little below the site of the town of Northumberland, several years before the period when these Indians had their talk with the governor, and the coal may have been taken there for blacksmithing purposes. The Indians who had their guns repaired at Christian Spring certainly had knowledge of the value of coal for combustible purposes.

Obadiah Gore, who represented Westmoreland county in the legislature of Connecticut, in 1781 and 1782, and subsequently one of the judges of Luzerne county, and in 1788, 1786 and 1790 a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, emigrated from Plainfield, Conn., to Wyoming in 1769, and began life in the new colony as a blacksmith. Friendly with the remaining natives, from motives. of policy, he learned of them the whereabouts of black stones, and being withal a hearty and an experimenting artisan, he succeeded in mastering the coal to his shop purposes the same year. He, in connection with his brother, Daniel Gore, also a blacksmith, were the first white men in Wyoming to give practical recog

nition and development to anthracite as a generator of heat. In the few blacksmith shops in the Wyoming Valley and the West Branch settlemonts coal was gradually introduced after its manipulation by Mr. Gore. Mr. Pearce, who differs from most of the historians of the valley, says: "We do not believe, as do some, that the Gores were the first whites who used anthracite on the Susquehanna for blacksmithing. Stone coal would not have been noted on the original draft of the Manor of Sunbury if it had not been known to be a useful article. Hence, when the first settlers came into our valley the evidence inclines us to believe the knowledge of the use of anthracite coal was communicated to them by the Indians, or by some of their own race." Jesse Fell used anthracite coal in a nailery in 1788. He says: "I found it to answer well for making wrought nails,

and instead of losing in the weight. of the rods, the nails exceeded the weight of the rods, which was not the case when they were wrought in a charcoal furnace." When the struggle for American independence began in 1775, the proprietary government of Pennsylvania found itself SO pressed for firearms that under the sanction of the supreme executive council, two Durham boats were sent up to Wyoming and loaded with coal at Mill Creek, a short distance above Wilkes-Barre, and floated down the Susquehanna to Harris Ferry (Harrisburg), thence drawn upon wagons to Carlisle, and employed in furnaces. and forges to supply the defenders of our country with arms. This was done annually during the revolutionary war. Thus stone coal, by its patriotic triumphs, achieved its way into gradual use.

"SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI."

FIRST MILITARY ASSOCIATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

THE military school at West Point and the Society of the Cincinnati, may both be traced dirctly to the dangerous discontent that prevailed in the army of the Revolution, during the six months preceding its final dissolution, the objects of both being not altogether dissimilar-the first to educate soldiers for the defense of the nation, and the other "An unalterable

determination to promote and cherish between the respective States, that union and national honor so essentially necessary to their happiness and the future dignity of the American empire."

The lofty patriotism of Washington never had a nobler exemplification than in his conduct at Newburgh, upon the Hudson. The universal es

steem and veneration of the army had induced it, in the midst of its calamities, to turn to Washington as its deliverer through the forms of constitutional monarchy. This he spurned with sorrow and indignation. Warding off this evil, he turned to face one still more appalling-the army disposed to seek self-protection, and in anonymous letters incited to "suspect the men who would advise to more moderation and longer endurance."

This discontent was grounded in the indifference of Congress to the wants of that noble army. With its pay withheld and its dissolution nigh, the army grew restless, wrathful, mutinous. Washington heard the mutterings of the storm. The following letter to the Secretary of War shows how imminent was the peril:

"Under present circumstances, when I see a number of men goaded by a thousand stings of reflections on the past and anticipations of the future, about to be turned on the world, forced by penury, and what they call the ingratitude of the Republic, involved in debt, without one farthing to carry them home, after spending the flower of their days, and many of them their patrimonies, in establishing the freedom of their country, and suffering everything this side of death-I repeat it when I consider these irritating circumstances, without one thing to soothe their feelings or dispel their prospects, I can not avoid apprehending that a train of events will follow of a very serious and distressing na

ture.

You may rely upon it, the patriotism and long suffering of this army are well nigh exhausted, and there never was so great a spirit of discontent as at present."

On the morning of November3, 1783, the Revolutionary army broke ranks for the last time. The joys of peace were swallowed up in the sorrows of that last parting, and "the last of the glorious army disappeared from sight. for ever, but yet to live in the memory and affection of the country they saved. The scene that followed was heartrending. Many a gallant officer whose sword had flashed along the line in the smoke of battle must now give it up, and, penniless, beg his way as a pauper to his long-abandoned and impoverished home. The inmates of the same tent for seven long years grasped each other's hands in silent agony, to go, they knew not whither; all recollection to thrive by civil service lost, or to the youthful never known; their hardearned military knowledge worse than useless, and to be cast out into the world by them long since forgotten; to go in silence and alone and poor and helpless."

The notion of forming a union. among the officers themselves to endure beyond this separation, and to provide against the evils arising from the indifference of Congress, was awakened by this exciting condition of things.

The first meeting was held May 10th, 1783, at Baron de Steuben's quarters, at which the Baron presided.

The

matter was referred to Major

should have obtained. Suffice it to

General Knox, Brigadier-General say that the general meeting in 1784 Huntington, Brigadier-General Hand

and Captain Shaw, a highly accomplished officer of Washington's military family. At the next meeting, May 13th, 1783, the society was formally organized. It became popular at once. It soon embraced a membership which extended from Washington down to all his noble and generous subalterns. The French officers gladly embraced it, and "the eagle of the Cincinnati dangled beside the grand cross of the royal and military order of St. Louis, and upon the breasts of the most noble and elevated French service."

But this popularity did not continue long. There were those who had not forgotten the army for menacing Congress in demanding its pay; those who could not, or would not, tolerate remembrance of loyalty, in the suggestion of an aristocracy, by the motto, Esto perpetua; and there were statesmen and philanthropists who could not reconcile its existence with "that free and equal station" to which all had been leveled alike under the wheels of the revolution.

Therefore, envy, malice and mistrust opened fire. And the war

came.

We have neither space nor inclination to enter into the details of this warfare against an institution thus founded and composed.

It is a curious and incredible phase in our revolutionary history that it

sought ineffectually to remove the objectionable hereditary cause.

The society of the Cincinnati still lives-but only in the association together, under its primitive constitution, of the descendants of its illustrious and patriotic founders.

The name was given to perpetuate the remembrance of the revolution; the friendships formed under the pressure of common danger, and, in frequent instances, cemented by the blood of the parties. They, therefore, first united under the name of the SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, "to endure as long as they shall endure, or any of their eldest male posterity."

It was because of the veneration these officers had for the character of LUCIUS QUINTUS CINCINNATUS, and because they had resolved to follow his example, by returning to their citizenship, that they thought they could, with propriety, denominate themselves "The Society of the Cincinnati."

That which the name commemorates, therefore, may be found in the following extract from the constitution:

"An incessant devotion to preserve inviolate those exalted rights and liberties of human nature for which they have fought and bled, and without which the high rank of a rational being is a curse instead of a blessing.

"An unalterable determination to

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