A sample of currency issued to support the Revolutionary War effort. The particular item pictured here was issued at Philadelphia in 1775 with the face value of twenty dollars.
During the American Revolution, the area presently known as Dauphin County was part of Lancaster County. Many men identified by Dauphin County historians as Revolutionary War veterans served in Lancaster County militia regiments. There were settlements in the Dauphin County area and historians such as George H. Morgan have attempted to describe the effect of those residents, including in financing the war by taxes and donations as well as in the recruiting of men to serve in the militia.
The text below is from George H. Morgan‘s Centennial of the Settlement, Formation and Progress of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, from 1785 to 1876, published in 1877 by the Telegraph Steam Book and Job Printing House. The book is available as a free download from the Internet Archive.
In this post, the chapter “The County During the Revolution” is presented. The chapter concludes quickly with the author deferring to Egle’s writing which he includes in his Appendix and therefore is not presented as part of this post.
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THE COUNTY DURING THE REVOLUTION
The first murmurings of British exaction from Boston excited our population to action, and in nearly every settlement of Lancaster County, meetings of sympathy were held, and strong resolves adopted, responsive to the Boston complainings. The tax on tea and the stamp duties were trifled. The people of this county knew nothing of them, and probably cared no more. The principle of the movement was deeper — more fundamental; the love of self-government; “the glorious privilege of being independent.” The excitement was general throughout the county. Individuals opposed it, and from different, though equally pure, motives. Some supposed resistance to the laws to be hopeless at that time, and advised to wait for more strength and resources; others were influenced by religious considerations, just as pure and as potent as had influences their fathers aforetime. But the county was nearly unanimous in its resistance to British claims, and saw them in the commencement of a colonial servitude, degrading and threatening the future progress of the country in its destined path to wealth and glory.
The remote position of the county from the scenes of strife, and the march of armies, preclude the writer from describing battle-fields, victories won, or villages sacked, anywhere within its limits. We have no means of determining the amount of force in men or money furnished by the county in aid of the was. From the tone of the votes and resolves passed at the various meetings, and from the number of officers and men, continental and militia, who joined the army, we may venture the assertion, that no county in the State, of no greater population than this, gave more efficient aid in various ways, or manifested by its acts more devoted patriotism.
At an assembly of the inhabitants of Hanover, Lancaster County, (since Dauphin), held on Saturday, June 4, 1774, Col. Timothy Green, chairman, to express their sentiments on the state of affairs, it was unanimously resolved.
1st. That the recent action of the Parliament of Great Britain is iniquitous and oppressive.
2d. That it is the bounded duty of the people to oppose every measure which tends to deprive them of their just prerogatives.
3d. That in a closer union of the Colonies lies the safeguard of the people.
4th. That in the event of Great Britain attempting to force unjust laws upon us by the strength of arms, our cause we leave to Heaven and our rifles.
5th. That a committee of nine be appointed who shall act for us and in our behalf as emergencies may require.
The committee consisted of Col. Timothy Green, James Carothers, Josiah Espy, Robert Dixon, Thomas Copenheffer, William Clark, James Stewart, and John Rogers.
These individuals were all prominent men in Hanover Township, and with the exception of Captain Copenheffer, they were all Scoth-Irish. James Carothers served under Col. Armstrong at Kittatinny, and was wounded. His family emigrated to the west. The descendants of Josiah Espy yet reside in the county. Clark, Stewart and Barnett, it is thought, removed shortly after to the Buffalo Valley, and took a prominent part in the struggle for Independence.
We have this minute of another meeting:
July 25, 1776. This is to certify that we, the associators of Derry Township, in Lancaster County, province of Pennsylvania, in the Fourth Battalion, commanded by James Burd, Colonel, do bind ourselves in all the rules and regulations, made by the honorable Congress for the militia of the Commonwealth.
Derry Township, July 25, 1776. We, the undersigned, are willing to serve in the Fourth Battalion, commanded by Col. James Burd, agreeable to order of Congress, and agree to serve until the first day of November, 1776, in the land service of the country in favor of the flag of liberty.
Frederick Hummel, Alexander Montgomery, David Hummel, Philip Blessing, Philip Fishburn, Henry Miller, Nicholas Zimmerman, Samuel Ramsey, Peter Grove, Mathias Hoover, John McFarlane, George Lauer, Thomas Rowland.
Frederick Hummel was afterwards captain of this company.
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Contributions in support of the war were not confined to the payment of heavy taxes, but voluntary aid came from associations and individuals in every quarter.
John Harris, the first settler, and father of the founder of Harrisburg, was one of those who when independence was agitated thought the Declaration premature. He feared that the Colonies were unequal to the task of combatting with Great Britain. But when Independence was formally declared, he read the Declaration from a Philadelphia newspaper to his wife in the presence of their son. When he had concluded it, he remarked:
The act is now done, and we must now take sides wither for or against the country. The war in which we are about to engage cannot be carried on with without money. Now we have £3,000 in the house, and if you are agreed I will take the money to Philadelphia and put it into the public treasury to carry on the war. If we succeed in obtaining our independence we may lose the money — as the government may not be able to pay it back — but we will get our land.
She consented, and he carried the money to Philadelphia and deposited it in the treasury, taking certificates in return. After the war he sold these certificates for 17s. 6d in the pound. After the debt was funded, certificates rose to 25s in the pound.
A number of additional facts bearing testimony to the patriotism of our citizens during the revolution will be found, in Dr. Egle’s Historical Sketch in the Appendix.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.