Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into Pennsylvania (10 page)

While awaiting reinforcements and supplies, they got a tip from a friendly Seneca chief that hostile French soldiers lurked nearby. Chief Tanaghrisson, whom the British called Half King, wanted the French out of the valley, too—partly because he believed that the British would do more for his people, but mainly because he held the French responsible for the death of his father.

On May 28, Tanaghrisson guided Washington and 40 of his militiamen to what is now known as Jumonville Glen. There, they surprised a sleeping French colonial militia. (It's still debated whether the Frenchmen were a hostile force or only emissaries sent to warn Washington that he was in their territory.) No one knows who fired the first shot, but when the musket smoke cleared, 10 French soldiers were dead and 21 others, including the commanding officer, Ensign Joseph Coulon Sieur de Jumonville, were British prisoners. Then, according to most reports, Tanaghrisson took revenge on the French and scalped Jumonville.

Jumonville had been under Washington's protection as an officer and prisoner of war, though, and Washington expected French reprisals for his death. So in the low-lying, marshy clearing of the Great Meadows, Washington's men hastily constructed Fort Necessity, whose stockade fence was made of white oak posts driven into the ground. Inside the fence were swivel guns—small cannons mounted on posts that could be turned in various directions—along with a shed to hold provisions. Washington notified Dinwiddie about the fort and claimed that it would hold off at least 500 attackers.

Tanaghrisson, however, was unimpressed with Fort Necessity, which he called “that little thing upon the meadow.” Ringed in by higher ground and dense forest, the fort seemed vulnerable to attack. So even though Washington got reinforcements from Virginia and South Carolina on June 12, Tanaghrisson and his men refused to defend the fort. Without their Indian allies, the Virginians had less than 400 men to hold off the enemy.

On the morning of July 3, 600 French troops and 100 other American Indians led by Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers—the half-brother of Jumonville—fired on the fort from the cover of trees. Holding the higher ground, the French and their allies were able to take deadly aim on the troops trapped in the meadow. Washington soon knew he'd made a mistake. Even the weather worked against Fort Necessity: heavy rain swamped the Great Meadow, making it nearly impossible for the militiamen to keep their gunpowder dry and their muskets firing.

By nightfall, almost a third of Washington's troops were dead or wounded. Others raided the fort's supply of rum and became
too drunk for battle. That evening, when the French sent a surrender offer, Washington knew he couldn't refuse.

A Dutchman who was fluent in both French and English translated the French terms, and Washington wearily signed the surrender document.

On July 4, 1754, Washington and his men retreated from the Great Meadow and left Fort Necessity to the victorious French, who burned it down. It was a bleak day for Washington, but it would have been worse if he'd known that the Dutchman had missed translating an important clause: that Washington had assassinated Jumonville.

That charge of assassination haunted Washington, who resigned from the militia before he could be demoted. The French government used the signed surrender as propaganda, and the “Jumonville affair” ignited passions that led to the Seven Years' War in Europe (known as the French and Indian War in North America). The conflict eventually involved all the major powers of Europe—France, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, the Russian empire, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands—as well as their colonies. The theaters of the conflict spanned the globe from Virginia and Canada all the way to India. British statesman Horace Walpole later wrote, “The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire.”

The British won the French and Indian War in 1763, but the conflict still influenced history. The American colonists who'd fought for King George's lands wanted their rights as British citizens. Meanwhile, the king found the defense of the territories to be a drain on the treasury, and imposed high taxes on the
colonists to foot the bill. Taxation, of course, eventually helped spark the American Revolution—a conflict largely directed by a more experienced General George Washington, who never surrendered again.

 

 

Here's a tour of some of Pennsylvania's Erie . . . er, eerie spots
.

The Ghosts:
Elias and Anna Baker

The Story:
In 1836, Elias Baker and his cousin bought an iron furnace near Altoona, and he moved his wife and two sons there from Lancaster County. His daughter Anna was born a couple of years later, and at first, the family lived in a small home near the furnace. But in 1844, Baker bought his cousin out and kept all the profits from the furnace for himself. Now a wealthy man, he spent the next five years building his family a 28-room mansion. With limestone walls, marble fireplaces, and decorations made from the iron produced at the furnace, the Baker home was lavish.

The family, however, wasn't always happy there. Young Anna Baker wanted to marry a local man whom her father deemed “unsuitable.” He forbade the marriage, and even though Anna was angry with her father, she lived in the house until she died in 1914 in her 70s.

Haunted Happenings:
Today, the Baker mansion is a museum and the site of the Blair County Historical Society. Employees and visitors have reported a number of mysterious sightings—everything from Elias Baker's ghostly form on the stairs to strange orbs showing up in digital photos. One employee even said that she heard someone whispering her name when she was closing up for the night. But the most dramatic occurrences involve Anna Baker's wedding dress.

When her father forced her to cancel her wedding, Anna
packed up her white wedding dress and hid it away. Years later, the historical society put it on display in a glass case. But according to a report the society keeps of all haunted happenings in the mansion, several people said they've seen the dress case shaking and the dress rocking back and forth.

The Ghosts:
Confederate soldiers and various children

The Story:
Peter Marck built the Cashtown Inn, a rest stop for travelers, eight miles outside Gettysburg in 1797. The inn (and later, the town) took their name from the fact that Marck issued no credit and always insisted that patrons pay in gold or silver before he'd give them a room.

In late June 1863, Confederate soldiers under the command of General Ambrose P. Hill took over the inn. Robert E. Lee had gotten word that the Union army was on its way, and he ordered Hill to hold Cashtown, which was situated on one of the Confederacy's supply routes. The inn was the perfect place for the soldiers to stay. It had comfortable rooms, a stable for horses, an oven for baking bread, and a freshwater spring. The inn also served as a Confederate hospital; soldiers wounded at Gettysburg were transported to the inn via carriages and wagons. And about a week later, when the Confederacy was defeated at Gettysburg, the inn acted as a stopping point for the retreating troops.

The Cashtown Inn has changed hands several times over the past 150 years, and at times, it fell into disrepair. (One owner nearly sold the building to a condo developer.) But in 2006, Jack and Maria Paladino bought the place and restored it as a bed-and-breakfast.

Haunted Happenings:
Employees and visitors often report paranormal activity at the inn. One employee claimed that
an invisible figure pulled her ponytail. Others mentioned a rocking chair that moved by itself, doors that slammed of their own accord, and a Confederate soldier who roamed the hallways and knocked on the door of room #4. One guest said someone mysteriously packed his suitcase, and others heard the faint voices of children playing. For their part, the owners say that their dog and parrot seem to simultaneously follow invisible things with their eyes.

In December 2007, the Sci-Fi Channel television show
Ghost Hunters
filmed an episode about the Cashtown Inn. The show's investigators visit supposedly haunted places and try to expose frauds or find nonparanormal explanations for strange activity. But they couldn't explain the happenings at the Cashtown Inn. The group stayed overnight there and reported a variety of bizarre occurrences, including a picture frame that turned over on its own and boot steps on the top floor. One of the investigators also noted that, while he was sitting on a sofa, the cushions moved as though an invisible person had sat down next to him.

The Ghosts:
An unidentified ghost, possibly Lucy Linderman

The Story:
Lucy Packer Linderman died in 1873. In her honor, her wealthy father, Asa Packer, donated $500,000 to Lehigh University to build a library. The original structure went up in 1878, got an addition in 1929, and underwent a renovation between 2005 and 2007.

Haunted Happenings:
An unidentified ghost (whom some claim is Lucy Linderman herself) reportedly likes to haunt the library and tease the people who work there. One of the library's assistants, Gayle Nesbeth, told a story of going to the library's basement and finding about 150 magazines pulled
off of their shelves and restacked in an artful design. Some suspected a student prankster, but the doors were locked when Nesbeth went into the basement. She said, “The designs were just beautiful, like an architect had done them . . . I would love to know who did it if it wasn't a ghost because it must have taken hours to complete.”