Homeland Security in the Pennsylvania Backcountry, 1777–1778: The Example of the Reverend Mr. Daniel Batwelle, SPG

Throughout the Revolutionary War, the Associated Loyalists of southcentral Pennsylvania conspired either to destroy or to seize weapons from the US arsenals in Carlisle, York, and Lancaster.¹ The names of several residents of Cumberland, York, and Lancaster Counties, some openly known to be Loyalists, others clandestinely working for the British, recur in correspondence, depositions, and other documents of the period.² The purpose of this essay, however, is not to rehearse the history of those known to be working against the patriot cause. Rather, it will focus on the Reverend Mr. Daniel Batwelle, Anglican missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), who was accused and imprisoned, but never tried, for allegedly participating in one such plot. Batwelle’s case reveals the strenuous efforts by radical patriots in Cumberland and York Counties to enforce ideological conformity on American citizens dwelling “over Susquehanna.” As spiritual leader of a religious group whose members generally advocated either reconciliation with Great Britain or resistance to the new nation born of revolution, and as one who knew several Associated Loyalists, Batwelle was identified early on as a potential enemy of the United States precisely because of his importance to the Anglican community in these two counties.

Batwelle’s ordeal began in September 1777, at the glebe house of Christ Church, Huntington Township, then York (now Adams) County, where he was serving as minister. His seizure by patriot forces marks an episode in Loyalist history extraordinary even for those times. In part, the convergence of two other occurrences in 1777 helps us appreciate the forces that produced so remarkable an event—first, the precipitous rise to power of Pennsylvania’s radical Constitutional Party and, second, General Sir William Howe’s invasion of the state, followed by his decisive defeat of Continental forces in two battles, which opened the way for his occupying Philadelphia. In short, September 1777 released upon Pennsylvania’s new regime a threat which the zealous patriots—at least those firmly rooted in Cumberland and York Counties—endeavored to meet with extreme extralegal and antilibertarian countermeasures.

Here is Batwelle’s terse but poignant account of the episode, taken from a letter he wrote on October 1, 1777, to John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, then meeting in York-town, Pa.: “In the Night between the 23^rd and 24^th of September I was seized in my Bed in a dangerous sickness, and being unable to stand, or help myself, was put with my Bed into a waggon, and conveyed to York Prison, where I have since lain in a most languishing Condition.”³ He concludes by

protesting (as I do in the most solemn manner) my absolute Innocence of the Crimes laid to my Charge [i.e., principally, that he had conspired to destroy the U. S. arsenals in Carlisle, York, and Lancaster, and had communicated with the enemy], I petition that the Hon ^ble. Congress would be pleased to enquire into the matter, and either discharge me out of Prison, or admit me to Bail, as my Situation is such that if confined longer, I must be lost for want of proper Assistance.

Batwelle reinforced his appeal with an affidavit from Dr. David Jameson “that he must sink under [his fever] unless he is allowed a better air than what the Goal [ sic ] of York County affords.”⁴

Congress immediately referred Batwelle’s appeal to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council for action, recommending that he be granted “every indulgence necessary for the preservation of his health and the safe keeping of his person.”⁵ Subsequent petitions from Batwelle, resolutions from Congress, interpretations by General Daniel Roberdeau (a radical patriot and one of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegates), and lack of documentation (whether destroyed or lost) recording Pennsylvania’s feelings and actions make it very difficult to appreciate exactly what happened to Batwelle during the five months leading to his being allowed to leave Pennsylvania at the end of February 1778. The following summarizes the somewhat confusing events...