National Pike, Road of History, Romance

Tuesday, April 5, 1955 page 3 of The Washington Reporter, Washington, Pennsylvania by Earle R. Forrest

(Continued From Yesterday)

	The greatest event in all the years of Washington’s history, even 
down to the present, was the visit of General LaFayette on May 25, 1825. 
Fortunately, we have detailed accounts of his reception from The Examiner of 
May 28, 1825 and The Reporter of June 6, 1825.. These old accounts state 
that fully 20,000 people gathered in Washington to see the famous Frenchman, 
who had done more to win American Liberty on the battlefields of the Revolution 
than any other man—except General Washington.
	A platform was erected in front of the Globe Inn. A reception committee 
composed of Honorable Thomas M. Baird, Thomas McGiffin, T.M.T. McKennan, Esq., 
Thomas Morgan, and Daniel Moore, met the general at Wheeling on May 24th. The next 
day he started for Washington “in an elegant Barouche” furnished by the committee 
for his use. LaFayette was seated beside Mr. Moore, and following them 
were George Washington LaFayette, the general’s son, with Judge Baird, Mr. Vasseur, 
LaFayette’s secretary, and other members of the committee.
	“He was received in a handsome and becoming manner by the citizens of 
West Alexander, with whom he partook of refreshments.” At Claysville, he again 
partook of refreshments in the old Calohan Tavern, where he was met by an escort 
of cavalry from Washington. Before reaching here LaFayette and his escort 
stopped at Kelly’s “S” Bridge Tavern for more refreshments and to water the 
horses. There is an interesting story of LaFayette’s lost letter seal connected 
with this stop, which will be given in detail in the history of this tavern.
	As the cavalcade neared Washington a signal gun was fired by Captain 
Squire’s Artillery, and the Troops and citizens hastened to meet the distinguished 
guest about a mile west of town.
	“The artillery under command of Major-General Finley, was posted in open 
column on platoons next to and facing the town; west of them, the revolutionary 
officers, and soldiers; the Masonic Fraternity (of which LaFayette was 
member); the clergy; physicians; officers of the court, members of the bar; 
magistrates; officers of the court; members of Congress; and members of the 
state legislature; and other citizens, in two lines facing inward on each 
side of the road.”
	That was the most imposing reception that ever welcomed any famous person 
to Washington.
	“Two trumpeters with their war-cheering and thrilling instruments 
announced the general’s approach, and as he passed through the lines of the 
civic part of the procession, he appeared to receive their salutations with 
great and touching expressions of the warmest feeling. When he reached the rear 
of the military, the line march was taken up, and the military in front, entered 
the borough about 6 p.m. When the General arrived at the public square in front 
of the Courthouse, he halted and was received by the young ladies, who had 
formed at that place in two lines, headed by three married ladies, forming on 
each side of the street, thirty young ladies, bearing handsomely ornamented standards, 
representing the States, Territories, and District of Columbia, with suitable 
emblems.”
	As the general approached, the young ladies sang “a soul-stirring song written 
by a gentleman of this place,” entitled “LaFayette.” “As the General passed 
through the lines formed by “the Future Defenders of American Liberty” they 
gracefully bowed, and their ensign, Andrew Jackson Dunlap, waved their flag.”
	When the procession reached the Globe Inn, LaFayette, his son, and the 
committee of arrangements ascended the platform, and Hon. Thomas H. Baird delivered 
a long address of welcome. Long speeches were considered proper in those days.
	“From the moment the barouche in which the General rode, appeared at the 
top of Wheeling Hill, (West Chestnut street hill today), approached the 
town, until he ascended the platform at Mr. Morris’. which was about an hour, 
minute guns were fired from Captain Squire’s Corps of Artillery, who were posted 
on a distant eminence in full view of the moving procession.”
	After Judge Baird’s speech the General retired to the inn, “where he 
was addressed by William Duane Morgan, a little boy chosen for that purpose by 
“The Future Defenders of American Liberty,” in form of an Acrostic,.” The 
General then returned to the platform from which he reviewed the troops, and 
expressed “his appreciation in very flattering terms of their marital appearance 
and good discipline.”
	The General again retired to his apartments where a reception was held 
until supper was announced. This was served in the long room of the tavern, and 
one can well believe that Mr. Morris outdid himself in the meal. The Washington 
County Historical Society had the tea set that was used on that occasion or as 
much of it as is preserved today.
	When his health was drunk at the conclusion of the meal the General made 
some remarks and gave a toast. “The County and Town of Washington, May 
their prosperity forever go hand in hand with the glory of the name.”
	Before he retired he gave a volunteer toast to: “The ancient representative 
from Greene and Washington counties, who has proved himself equally eminent 
in the National Congress, in the cabinet, and in American transatlantic 
diplomacy.”
	Who was this “ancient representative? “He must have referred to none 
other than Albert Gallatin, whom he visited two days later at his home at 
Friendship Hill, near New Geneva.
	The next morning, May 26, LaFayette went on over the pike to Uniontown, 
stopping for breakfast at Hills Stone Tavern, at Hillsborough, as previously 
related.

BLACK HAWK
	On April 16, 1833, a stagecoach carrying Black Hawk and five of his 
principle chiefs, fresh from the battlefields of the Black Hawk War in the Northwest, 
arrived at Washington. Ten passengers were in the vehicle, including the 
six Indians and Lieutenant T.L. Alexander, Infantry; Sergeants Greene and Meredith, 
Sixth Cavalry, and Mr. St. Vrain, the interpreter. The old newspaper accounts 
state that when the chain on the tongue broke in going down South Main street 
hill, the horses became unmanageable. The heavy coach plunged down the incline 
at a rapid rate, and the driver was thrown from his seat (or probably jumped). 
The Six horses kept in the street, but when they attempted to turn the corner 
into West Maiden street, where the stage stables were located in the rear of the 
Washington House, now the Auld, the coach upset and crashed onto the sidewalk in 
front of the Round Corner (still standing  [and still in 2000] ). Fortunately 
the horses stopped, for if they had dragged the stage on its side some of the 
occupants might have been killed.
	As it was Sergeant Greene’s left arm was broken and his left hand badly 
smashed. Black Hawk’s left wrist and shoulder were painfully injured, his son 
was bruised on the forehead and on shoulder, and the son of the Prophet received 
a blow on the forehead. However, only the sergeant was seriously injured.
	The entire party was taken to the Globe Inn, where the injured were given 
medical attention, and remained two days to recuperate. We can well imagine that 
these wild Indians, fresh from the warpath, were objects of great curiosity, 
and the people crowded the tavern to catch a glimpse of them. On the 18th the 
journey was resumed, but Sergeant Green was left behind in charge of a 
surgeon.
	While The Examiner account does not mention the name of the driver, Searight 
states that he was Daniel Leggett. No further mention has been found of Sergeant 
Greene.
	There is an old tradition that the driver of this stage before he left 
Wheeling that he intended to upset the coach and kill Black Hawk because of the 
number of white people he had killed during the war. This is very doubtful; 
for there were many other better places where he could have turned the coach 
over with better chances of success. However, those old-time drivers were 
pretty wild and reckless.
	David Morris died at the Globe Inn on January 1, 1834, aged 68, of a 
stroke of paralysis. He had married twice, his first wife, Mary Fulton Morris, 
having died 20 years before. His widow continued to operate the tavern, but the 
old glamour and popularity seemed to have died with Morris, and on April 27, 1835, 
the property was sold by the sheriff to Thomas Morgan, the postmaster, who 
removed the post office to the building. Its days as a tavern were over, and 
never again did its halls ring with the good fellowships of the most glamorous 
years of the National Pike. In 1889 it was razed by T. and S. DeNormandie, who 
erected the present building.

TRAVELLERS INN AND STAGE OFFICES (AULD HOUSE)
	This building is the only hotel left in Washington that was in operation 
during the National Pike era. Built by Daniel Moore in 1818, it has been a public 
house for 136 years. Just how long a tavern was kept on this site is not known 
definitely. From 1797 to 1813, James Workman conducted an inn in Washington, but 
the location is not known. He may have been for a time, at least, on this 
site. He left Washington in 1813, and when he returned in 1816, he embarked in the 
hotel business, at “The Sign of General Andrew Jackson.” This was shortly after 
“Old Hickory” had defeated the British at New Orleans, and he was very popular. 
Workman’s hotel in 1816 was on a lot owned by Daniel Moore, and it was probably 
at this location.
	Daniel Moore was a merchant and stage line proprietor, and when it was 
certain that the pike was coming through Washington, he made plans for a large 
hotel at this location. When completed he named it “The Travellers’ Inn 
and Stage Office,” and operated it until May, 1821, When Samuel Dennison took charge. 
In The Reporter of May 28, 1821, Dennison announced from Greensburg, “and 
has commenced keeping a PUBLICK HOUSE, in the new and elegant BRICK HOUSE, corner 
of Main and Maiden streets, opposite where the United States Turnpike road 
enters Main street from the East.”
	In January, 1823, Dennison was succeeded by James Briceland, a tavern 
keeper for several years at Briceland’s Cross Roads, now Florence,” but when 
General Jackson stopped there on the night of November 29, 1824, Briceland immediately 
changed to “The Sign of General Jackson.”
	This visit was an important event in the life of General Jackson, the peoples’ 
candidate for President in 1824. At that election, he received the greatest number 
of popular votes as well as the largest electoral votes in a field of four 
candidates; but not a majority of the total electoral vote. This left it up to 
Congress to select the President, and Jackson was on his way to Washington City 
fully expecting that, as he had the largest number of votes, he would be the 
choice. However, Congress gave the election to John Quincy Adams, who had 
received 84 electrical votes to 99 for Jackson. Politics was a rotten game in 
those days, too.
	General Jackson again stopped at Briceland’s Tavern on March 21, 1825, 
while on his way back to his home in Tennessee, and the change of name to “The 
Sign of General Jackson” must have tickled him. Washington was evidently a 
Jackson town, for the old newspaper accounts state that he was met by “a number 
of citizens, who escorted him to his lodgings, where he cordially 
received the respectful attention of an immense number of persons who 
called to see him. After partaking of a public supper (the evening meal 
was supper in those days) given him by the citizens of this place, the 
General retired leaving the most favorable impression on the minds of all 
who had seen him. At six o’clock in the morning on the 22nd he set out, on his 
journey, accompanied by a number of citizens as far as West Alexander on the 
Virginia line.”
	A short time later, the notorious “Nashville Letter” was published in 
The Nashville Whig, and newspapers all over the country that had opposed 
Jackson copied it. “H.”, the writer of this letter, claimed to be an army officer 
and a personal friend of Jackson; and he claimed to have met the General at 
Briceland’s Tavern in Washington on November 29, 1824. This mythical army 
officer declared that Jackson asked him if he did not believe a majority of the 
citizens of the United States were at all times ripe for revolution, and 
when “H.” answered in the negative, he declared that Jackson arose to his feet 
and “gesticulated with great earnestness.” He then quoted Jackson as saying,” 
“The mass of the people are ripe, always ripe, for novelty and innovation—but they 
do not know it. They may have pure hearts and real patriotism. But a mere name—a 
hero can wind himself among the multitude, captivate the imagination, and 
lay their judgment asleep. A popular hobby will carry him to the highest destiny 
known to the construction, and as much higher as his ambition may prompt him to 
go. I have little faith in the stability of republics. They fall an easy prey to 
passions of ambitious rivals for power. I was once tempted by the insolence of 
Governor Rabun of Georgia, to march a hostile army into that state. Had I done 
so it would have been in pursuit of personal revenge, I should have had no other 
motive. But, if the work of revenge had begun, other enemies and other motives 
would have arisen out of the contest. Heaven only could predict the catastrophe.”
	That this statement, from the mythical officer was a political lie, 
designed to harm General Jackson in the eyes of the nation, was proven by the 
following affidavit, made by five prominent citizens of Washington, who 
had paid their respects to the General that night when he was supposed to have 
made this statement in Briceland’s Tavern to the army officer “H.”

	We do hereby certify, that on the evening of General Jackson’s arrival 
in this place, last fall, we had an interview with him at Briceland’s where 
he put up for the night—that we saw no one about his person, on that occasion, 
who could possibly have held the conversation with him as represented in the 
supposed letter published in The Democratic Press: particularly, that 
no person could have held such a conversation, After he retired to his “private 
apartment,” as some of us were introduced to him After he had retired, and 
the company which was admitted to his “private apartment”
All left together.
Andrew Wylie,
Thomas Noge, [possibly Hoge]
S. Murdock,
John Wishart,
Obediah Jennings.
		Washington, Pennsylvania. April 5, 1825.
 	To this statement James Briceland, proprietor of this tavern, added 
his affidavit:
		I do hereby certify, that when General Jackson lodged with me 
last fall on his way to the 
		City of Washington, that no officer or person of distinction was 
in my house travelling
		West, and that no person but those in his suite, and the citizens 
of the town could have
		Held any long private conversation with him, as the Rev. Obediah 
Jennings, Rev. Andrew Wylie, and some other citizens of the place were the 
only persons admitted to his “private apartment.”                       Jas. Briceland.
		Washington, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1825.


	The entire “Nashville Letter,” which is very long, together with 
these affidavits and a full account of the whole affair were published in 
The Examiner of April 9, 1825, a Democratic paper.
	Jackson was vindicated for years later by being elected President by an 
over whelming majority. On December 23, 1823, at a public meeting held in 
the courthouse, resolutions of congratulations were drawn up and sent to General 
Jackson.
	I have given the details of this affair at some length as it was an 
important event in Jackson’s political career, that occurred right here in 
Washington.
	In this connection, it is interesting to note that the Rev. Andrew
 Wylie was President of Washington College, John Hoge, was a son of David Hoge, 
who laid out Washington, and in 1785 conveyed the plan to his two sons, 
John and William Hoge, John Wishart was a well known physician, and the Rev. 
Obediah Jennings was pastor of the Presbyterian church, not the First Presbyterian.
	S. Murdock was Dr. Samuel Murdock, a physician and prominent citizen. 
His brother Alexander Murdock, great-grandfather of Mrs. Margaretta D. 
Stewart, President of the Observer Publishing Company. Doc. Murdock was one 
of the founders of Templeton Drug Store. It was Dr. Samuel Murdock who 
brought the first tomatoes to Washington. The Reporter of June 17, 1880, and 
again on February 2, 1882 notes that in either 1816 or 1818, he brought the seed 
here from Louisiana. At that time the tomato was considered to be poisonous. The 
fruit was called “Love Apples” and “Jerusalem Apples.” They were grown for their 
beauty, and the big red tomatoes were placed on mantels as ornaments. From 
this it is quite evident that they were not found in many sections of the 
United States at that time, perhaps only in Louisiana, and Dr. Murdock may have 
been the person who introduced to the north and east. It would be interesting 
to know the name of the first person who dared to taste one, probably some 
boy—and living to tell the tale to his grandchildren.
	Jackson’s next visit to this hotel was on January 21, 1829, while on 
his way to Washington, D. C., for his first inauguration. He left on February 
2, and as far as records in old newspaper files show this was the last time he 
was in Washington.
	On April 9, 1825, James Dunlap came from his Mount Vernon Tavern 
at Pancake, and succeeded James Briceland as proprietor of “The Sign of General 
Jackson,” but he only remained until September 12, when John Sample took 
charge.
	On April 1, 1826, John Irons took over the management, and changed the 
name to Washington House,” by which it was known until April 1, 1836, when James 
Searight, took charge. Irons was the father of Lieutenant Joseph F. Irons, who was 
mortally wounded in the Battle of Churusbus County, Mexico, August 20, 1847, 
and died in Mexico City August 26. He was the first Washington County soldier 
in record to die fighting in a foreign land. There may have been some others 
killed in Canada during the War of 1812, but we have no records.
	Searight changed the name to the “National House,” Just how long he 
remained is not known, but when he went to Zanesville, Ohio, Daniel Valentine 
took charge-Advertisements in The Reporter during 1843 show that Valentine 
was the proprietor at that time. 
	Major George T. Hammond succeeded Valentine. The length of his management 
is not known.
	Edward Lane, the next proprietor of whom there is a record, changed 
the name to the “Railroad House,” by which it was known for many years. This change 
was brought about by the Hempfield Railroad. Now the Baltimore and Ohio, which 
was built from Wheeling to Washington in the 1850’s, the first passenger train 
arriving here on the night of September 20, 1857.
	Lane’s successor is not certain, but Michael Dugan was proprietor in 
the 1860’s, but that time the stagecoach had been replaced by the “Iron Horse,” 
the “toy and plaything,” of the 1830’s
	The property was sold by D. Moore Stockton and Lucius W. Stockton, Jr., 
on March 29, 1853, to William Workman and James W. Knutz, the latter a returned 
Forty-Niner; and on February 24, 1860, Workman sold his interest to Joseph Henderson, 
who sold to Kuntz on December 20, 1862.
	Adam C. Morrow purchased the property from Kuntz in March 1870, and 
operated the “Railroad House” until January 31, 1880, when he sold the building 
to James Auld. The new owner changed the name to the “Auld House,” by which 
it has been know for almost three-quarters of a century.
	In 1881 A. Sargent became manager, and for a brief period in the 
1880’s James Auld operated the hotel. James Wright was another proprietor of that 
time, and prior to April 1, 1892, it was conducted by Henry Borschett.
	It was on April 1, 1892, that Imri H. Taylor came from the “Bell House” 
at Claysville, and under his management, the old hotel regained its former prestige 
as one of the leading hostelries in Washington. Much of this success was due to 
Mrs. Taylor, who had charge of the kitchen and dinning room, and her cooking was 
unexcelled. On April 1, 1899, A. Stockton succeeded Taylor, and several years 
later George Guinn took charge.
	James Auld died February 5, 1893, and on April 1, 1902, Mrs. Sarah A. Auld, 
his widow, sold the property to G.G. Hallam, J.R. Hallam, Clifford M. Hall, 
and John F. Bertel. The next owner was Eugene A. Kelley, one of the founders of the 
old Beaver Refining Company, at Oak Grove, during the early oil excitement of the 
1880’s. He bought the property on March 22, 1913, and operated the hotel until 
his death on June 22, 1920. The present owners, I. Richmond and Company purchased 
the property on April 12, 1923, from Mrs. Mary A. Kelley, of Chagrin Falls, 
Ohio, and have been operating the hotel ever since.
(To Be Continued)

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