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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Around 1760, Jacob Stroud, fresh from a five-year stint in the English Army, returned to his home in Lower Smithfield Township north of Blue Mountain.1 A few years later the veteran of the Battle of Quebec opened a general store and tavern at a major trail head on the edge of the frontier. For travelers headed to and from Pennsylvania’s wilderness, Stroud’s place became a welcome landmark.2 The short, thickset, teetotal storekeeper soon became the unofficial leader of the region—a sort of baron, many inhabitants would have agreed.3 Hence, when the County Committee organized the Northampton militia in 1775,forty-year-old Jacob Stroud was named to lead the battalion mustered north of Blue Mountain. To assess Northampton’ s readiness for war, the County Committee requested Stroud to verify the number of men and equipment under his command . The colonel gathered the information, but he may have misinterpreted the Committee’ s directive; he mistakenly delivered it to the Committee of Safety in Philadelphia. More likely, however, Stroud ignored the local chain of command so that radical leaders in Northampton and Philadelphia would understand that, north of Blue Mountain, he was in charge.4 On July 8, 1776, Northampton’ s inhabitants elected eight militia officers , Jacob Stroud among them, to represent the county at Pennsylvania’s Constitutional Convention. In Philadelphia, convention delegates nominated Stroud to sit on two key committees, one of which prepared an essay on human rights while the other created a frame of government. Some historians have argued that the political theories of Locke, Harrington, Hume, Montesquieu, and Blackstone influenced the delegates who drafted Pennsylvania ’s Constitution of 1776.5 It is doubtful, however, that the sermoniz- ing of these philosophers affected Stroud, whose view of the world faded at the end of his own lane. From the onset of the Revolution, inhabitants north of Blue Mountain lived in fear of attacks by Indians and Tories.6 Stroud believed that, in an emergency, settlers should abandon their isolated homesteads and run for safety to his place, which stood in the shadow of Fort Penn. But talk did not lead to preparation. In July 1778, settlers perished when Indians and Tories struck the region of northern Pennsylvania framed by the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers. Stroud informed Lieutenant Wetzel, head of the Northampton militia, that “Coshishton [Cochecton] was entierly cut off yesterday morning by a parcell of torys and Indians, massacreing all Men, woemen, and children. I beg a line from you directing me what to do, whether to retreat with the inhabitants or stand with a handful of men to be destroyed .”7 There is no evidence that Wetzel responded to Stroud’ s cry for help; indeed,it appears that the lieutenant took no action of any kind to aid inhabitants north of the mountain. Giving voice to the anger of his people, Stroud informed the Council that Fort Penn would be the best line of defense for settlements along the Delaware River. Study a map, he advised the leaders in Philadelphia. “If it can be thought Best not to have the frunteer heare,” he said, “I could wish the Councyl in their wisdom would point out the place.”The colonel closed his letter with a parting shot at Northampton authorities. “Wee have our Eyes on you [Council],”Stroud said,“as wee have no other place to apply for Relief.”8 In the spring of 1779,Indian and Tory war parties renewed their attacks on inhabitants of the Northampton frontier. Wetzel ordered militiamen north of Blue Mountain to engage the enemy, but those men took orders only from Colonel Stroud.Wetzel laid this problem before President Joseph Reed, who reminded Stroud that a well-regulated militia was the only proper and effectual force against the enemy. “As you therefore possess a good share of the esteem and confidence of the people, I shall hope and do recommend it to you as the best service you can perform to your bleeding country to do away as far as possible the effects of former opinion and strive by a general concurrence with the other gentlemen in the militia to give them vigor and efficacy.”9 While this letter was in the post, Reed received another message from Wetzel, who now accused Stroud of insubordination .10 An angry president summoned Stroud to appear before the Council to answer charges of inciting the people to oppose the authority of the . . . . . . . . . [18.222.23...

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