a SIGNIFICANT french and Indian war letter of GENERAL JOHN ARMSTRONG wherein he refers
to A DELAWARE INDIAN MAN & BOY being :
“...KILLED AT THEIR WIGWAM …
WITH …TOMAHAWKE… BOTH SCALPED
… A WICK'D AND ILL JUDG'D ACT”

ARMSTRONG, John. (1717-1795). American pioneer, civil engineer, major general in the American Revolution, and a member of the Second Continental Congress. Autograph Letter Signed, “John Armstrong.” Two pages, folio. February 14, 1760. fold separations, portions of which have been silked. First fold has almost completely separated, edges lightly chipped, ½” hole in top right third, and a few other tiny holes; no defects affect signature save for paper toning; To “Dear Sir.” Armstrong writes:

“Dear Sir, a few days agoe [sic] I had the pleasure of yours by Mrs. Lowry, & have given her a return of her Husbands Land Directed to you, but without date of Warr't or Survey, which may rather Assist your friendly intentions (in regard of the Commensement [sic] of Quit Rent & Interest) then otherwise. I imagined [sic] I have Sometime agoe [sic] taken out her Warrt yet as her husband left her money in my hands at different times, it may yet be omitted, which I will not fail to be Answerable for, only wou'd [sic] be Sure that I may not pay the Money twice.--in regard of a Certain Jonathan Holmes of whome [sic] you wrote me, 1 refer you to Mr. Peters, at whose [sic] particular instance the return was delay'd [sic], which Holmes very well knew, and had he been Steel to the back, he wou'd [sic] have told it you. ' a thick Succession of hurry, of which I'm but a few days got rid, has a long time prevented me the pleasure of writing you, tho' I have often done it in imagination [sic] & intention--at present, no -thing occurs but the following disagreeable relation. Yesterday I was present when the Coroner of this County held an inquest on the dead Bodies of an Indian Man & Boy, the latter about Fourteen Years old, who had been Kill'd at their Wigwam on the North Side of Canidogwinet Creek, nearly opposite the Mouth of Letortes Spring: this Indian had a Wife and Childe with him, but. whether they have Shar'd the Same Fate is not yet known as their bodies are not found. I saw the bodies pul'd out of the water & the Mortal wounds in the heads as well as the bodies of Both, have been made either with a Narrow Axe or Tomhawke; they were also both Scalp'd. the Man was a De1aware & Commonly known by the name of Doctor John,--I have been told by an old Trader he never was lik'd by his Nation, being by Some of them acounted a Wizard-he generally lived among the White people until the Indian irruptions happened, when he be took him to his Tribe & has been much engaged against our Frontiers during the late War - amongst the White people he always had the Character of a Sassey [sic] insolent fellow. upon this Occasion various conjectures arise--Some imagine the Squaw in a Drunken fit might do it, Others are ready to alledge an Indian man who but a few days before was seen with them but said he wou'd leave their fire and go Over the Hill, might have return'd & Kill'd them in the Night. Others are of Opinion that some of Our White people either from resentment of past, or fear of future punishment injuries has done the deed. it was at best, a wick'd and ill judg'd act, and what may be the Consequence, is not easy to1d. I am dear Sir, with much affection and respect Your most Obedt Humble Servt. John Armstrong.”

Before swelling into an international conflict, the French and Indian War began as a battle between European-American settlers and Native tribes for control of Pennsylvania’s Ohio County. Following George Washington’s surrender at Fort Necessity in 1754, and the British defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela the following year, settlers in Pennsylvania found themselves without professional military protection as they scrambled to organize a defense. With a small troop under his command, Lieutenant Colonel John Armstrong marched upon Delaware and Shawnee warriors at the village of Kittanning with orders from colonial governor John Penn to destroy the village and rescue all European prisoners held by the natives. The raid proved successful, and earned Armstrong life-long fame as the "Hero of Kittanny." For his service for the colony, a commemorative medal, the very first minted in America, was struck in his honor. Smaller skirmishes and raids continued on the western frontier of Pennsylvania, and, that same year, the governor authorized that £130 would be paid for the scalp of native male above the age of ten. Even with their loss of the Kittany and the newly imposed bounty, native warriors would not be deterred, in response the Armstrong’s raid, nearly 200 settlers were killed and hundreds of other settlers fled Pennsylvania’s Cumberland County in fear for their lives. Carlisle quickly became the western limit for settlers. Violent altercations between settlers and native continued over the subsequent years. Then, just over a year before Armstrong wrote this letter, a breakthrough occurred at ongoing peace negotiations. With five hundred Natives in attendance at the third Easton conference in late 1785, the Pennsylvania government and the Shawnee, Delaware, and Iroquois people agreed to establish a boundary between tribal and colonial territories; it appeared that hostilities between the two groups were nearing an end. As these negotiations progressed, further brutalities, like the unsolved murder related by Armstrong and noted in Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania (1857) occurred frequently on the frontier, and the scale of hostilities increased once again as the Indian War of 1763-64 immediately succeeded the French and Indian War.

A superb letter boldly signed by one of the colonial period’s greatest heroes. All in all Very Good Plus.

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