RESTORATION OF THE SCHUYLKILL GUN TO "THE STATE IN SCHUYLKILL," APRIL 23D, 1884. A piece of artillery of considerable size, bearing upon it an inscription of historical interest, lay for a long time on the grounds at Fort Mifflin. By order of the Department of War it was removed thence to the grounds of "The State in Schuylkill," known as "The Fish House Company," situated on the Schuylkill below Gray's Ferry. The ceremonies that accompanied the formal delivery of the gun by the United States to "The State in Schuylkill," were as follows. On the 23d of April, 1884, the citizens of "The State in Schuylkill," together with a number of invited guests, met at the Castle of the "State," on Rambo's Rock, on the left bank of the Schuylkill, about a third of a mile below Gray's Ferry Bridge. The citizens were: Robert Adams, Alexander E. Harvey, George Cuthbert, A. Loudon Snowden, John Hockley, Jr., William Redwood Wright, Ellicott Fisher, Robert Adams, Jr., H. Carlton Adams, Members; James M. Whelen and Rodman Wister, Apprentices; and James C. Fisher, Honorary Member. Guests: Lt. Col. M. S. Ludington; Capt. W. H. Gill, Capt. O. E. Michaelis, and Thomas Valentine, of the United States Army; James R. Gates, President of Select Council; Charles Lawrence, President of Common Council; Samuel C. Perkins, Samuel L. Smedley, William S. Stokley, Frederick G. Wolbert, and Edward C. Knight, of the Fairmount Park Commission; Thompson Westcott, William Brooke Rawle, J. Edward Carpenter, Frederick D. Stone, and Townsend Ward, of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Captain Michaelis, on behalf of the War Department, addressed Ex-Governor Adams in a few eloquent remarks, and delivered to him, for the "State," the antique piece of artillery formerly known as "The Schuylkill Gun." The Ex-Governor detailed citizen Col. A. Loudon Snowden to reply to Capt. Michaelis, which he did in a felicitous manner. Mr. Townsend Ward, one of the guests, was then called upon, and read the following statement: On the 15th day of May, 1880, the Council of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, having accepted the courteous invitation of Col. William Ludlow, U. S. A., now the Superintendent of the Water Department of Philadelphia, to visit Fort Mifflin, took passage in his steam-yacht, for at that time he had in charge the improvement of the waters of the Delaware under the Federal Government. Soon after passing the mouth of the river Schuylkill, we landed at the fort, and viewed with interest the relics of the olden time that were strewn about its grounds. One of these relics, as will be shortly seen, greatly interested us. A thorough survey of the fortifications was made, and then, on the ramparts of the fort, a meeting of the Council was held, and Col. Ludlow was elected a member of the Historical Society. The relic of the past that had so particularly arrested our attention was a thirty-two-pounder gun that lay idly on the ground, its trunnions broken, its cascabel gone, and upon the swell of the muzzle the dent of a well-directed British solid shot. The gun is not of English, French, or Spanish inception, but was the result of our colonial thought of an early day, for it bears upon its face, cast in its enduring iron, words of a language foreign to that of these then dominant nations. The inscription is "Kawania che keeteru Schuylkil." A royal crown surmounts this, and underneath it, in a monogram, are the letters "W.P." Delaware Indian words on the cannon appear quite naturally in connection with the "Colony in Schuylkill." In their earliest days, as tradition tells us, a council of the colonists was held in the forest, and some chieftains of the Lenni Lenape attended it. In the name of their tribe and by its authority these chieftains granted to the colonists and to their successors forever" the right and privilege to hunt in the woods and to fish in the waters of the Schuylkill." While the idea of the gun, with its remarkable inscription, was undoubtedly conceived here, it is most probable the cannon was cast in England, or possibly at Oxford Furnace, New Jersey. Mr. Thompson Westcott writes: "Among the items of intelligence connected with the history of 1747 is one which states that the Schuylkill Fishing Company made a present to the Association Battery of a new thirty-two-pounder." The battery was on the Delaware at the site of the late Navy Yard. It is in evidence that the gun remained there many years, for, on an alarm in the early days of the Revolution that a British vessel of war was coming up the river, Capt. John Cadwalader's Green Light Infantry, or the "Silk Stocking Company," as it was called, was ordered there for defence. One of that company writes in his reminiscences of "having stood sentinel two hours at the Schuylkill Gun." When the American forces withdrew from Philadelphia, the gun, no doubt, was transported to Fort Mifflin, to bear its part in the memorable siege which terminated by the Americans evacuating the fort at midnight on the 15th of November, 1777. The trunnions of the gun may have then been broken, and the gun may have lain there useless and little noticed until our day. The late John William Wallace, in his valuable memoir of An Old Philadelphian, Colonel William Bradford, the Patriot Printer of 1776, gives, on pp. 213, 214, an account of the gun, and an excellent engraving of it, together with its measurement. These latter were made for him by Ordnance Sergeant Bromley, then in charge of the fort. "It is a thirty-two pounder, ten feet long, four feet eight inches in circumference at the muzzle, and five feet seven and three-quarter inches at the breech." Its bore is six and a half inches, length from muzzle to trunnions five feet five inches, thickness through the re-enforce twenty inches, and at the muzzle fourteen inches. Four inches from the vent is the figure "32." Its weight is between two and three tons. Mr. Swank, of the American Iron and Steel Association, writes as follows: "Cast iron cannon were first made in EngVOL. VIII.-14 land in the 16th century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In this country they were made at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, by Hugh Orr, about 1750; and in Cumberland Township, in the northeastern part of Rhode Island, cast iron cannon were made during the French war of 1755. It is probable that cast iron cannon were made at Oxford Furnace, Warren County, New Jersey, during the French war, as I find that cannon balls were cast at this furnace at that time. I find no statement of the casting of either cannon or cannon balls in Pennsylvania before the Revolution, but there could have been no difficulty in casting them here at the date you mention, 1747, if they had been needed, as we had many furnaces in Pennsylvania at that time. Unless, however, required for the French war, there would probably have been no demand for them at that time. I think it improbable that Pennsylvania cast any cannon before the Revolution." "This is my right; I will defend it" is given as the translation of the Delaware Indian motto Kawanio che keeteru. Fortunately I am able to add somewhat to this. In the library of the Historical Society is a pamphlet of sixteen pages, in verse. Its full title-page is "Kawanio Che Keeteru. | A TRUE RELATION | OF A | BLOODY BATTLE FOUGHT | BETWEEN | GEORGE AND LEWIS | IN THE YEAR 1755 | Printed in the year MDCCLVI." Underneath the 1755 there has been written by some one, long ago, "By Nicholas Scull." The second page is as follows:Title Page, "The words I have chosen at the head of my I am told by a Gentleman skilled in the Indian languages, is very expressive of a HERO relying on GOD to bless his Endeavours, in protecting what he has put under his care. "To form some Idea of its Signification, he says, you may imagine a Man, with his Wife and Children about him, and, with an Air of Resolution calling out to his Enemy, ALL THESE GOD HAS GIVEN ME, AND I WILL DEFend them.” On page 15 the following lines mark the dreadful era when one-half of the territory of Pennsylvania was overrun by a ruthless foe. "Had this been done, our Elders then, The history of this piece of artillery having been satisfactorily established, the gun became an object of much interest to the Fishing Company, the oldest social club, as it is claimed, in the world, having been established in 1732, which antedates by some years the famous Beef-Steak Club of London, recently extinct. In consequence of this interest Dr. After reading the above, Mr. Ward received the following interesting letter: ROE DOWN, May 8, 1884. Dear Sir: In reply to yours of the 3d inst., I would say that I regret that Dr. Cheston is right in supposing that we have no positive data as to the time of the organization of the South River Club, but there can be little or no doubt that it existed quite a number of years prior to 1740. The record-book is in my possession, and the first entry, which appears to be simply a continuation of the records or minutes of proceedings of each meeting, is dated February 11, 1742. At this meeting a committee was appointed "to collect the names of the members that have ever belonged to this society, to the best of their memories, inasmuch as the present list appears very defective." I have an extract from the Maryland Gazette, of July 15, 1746, in which it is spoken of as the Ancient South River Club. The occasion was a dinner given by the members of the club to commemorate the victory of the Duke of Cumberland over the Pretender. The club was organized solely for social and convivial meetings, each member in turn serving a dinner at the club-house on the first Thursday of every month. The dinner was plain and inexpensive, no side dishes, only three meats, no wine of any sort; whiskey and brandy, one gallon of each, and the rum to flavor the punch, clean pipes and tobacco; no gambling of any sort; no religious or political discussions ever permitted; and no mixed liquors after six o'clock in summer or four in winter. There are but four members now, and they are so scattered that we never meet. The house and the half acre of land surrounding it are yet in the possession of the club, and the dining-table and the chairs, some of them at least, are the same that were first used. I have endeavored once or twice to revive the club, but so far to no purpose, and fear that it has nearly ceased to exist. TOWNSEND WARD, ESQ. Yours truly, H. H. BROGDEN. |