Pennsylvania State Armories, 1777-1779: Philadelphia and Allentown

[spgordon]

Eric Kettenburg has brilliantly used the records published in the Pennsylvania Archives to recover the story of the Allentown armory (http://www.erickettenburg.com/allentown-1777-1779.html). These Pennsylvania Archives, though, I think, published only one Return of arms (arms received into the Allentown armory from October 15 to December 4, 1777). More Returns survive, for the Allentown factory and for the Philadelphia factory that John Tyler supervised before it was moved to Allentown in early October 1777. These returns have two parts, itemizing first arms "received" into the factory and then itemizing arms "delivered out" the factory. (Both parts don't survive in each case.) But here are the returns that survive at the State Archives in Harrisburg. All, I think, were produced by John Tyler.

1. Return of Arms delivered out of the Philadelphia Armory from May 14, 1777 to July 14, 1777. Labeled #1. Note that the return indicates that Tyler "commenced" his work (or was appointed) on April 17, 1777.




2. Return of Arms received into the Philadelphia Armory from August 2, 1777 to September 13, 1777. Labeled #3.




3a. Return of Arms received into the Allentown Armory from October 15, 1777 to December 4, 1777. This is the one published in the Pennsylvania Archives (2 PA Archives 3: 132).




3b. Return of Arms delivered out of the Allentown Armory from October 15, 1777 to December 4, 1777.




4a. Return of Arms received into the Allentown Armory from October 15, 1777 to January 7, 1778.




4b. Return of Arms delivered out of the Allentown Armory from October 15, 1777 to January 21, 1778.




5a. Return of Arms received into the Allentown Armory from January 22, 1778 to May 9, 1778.




5b. Return of Arms delivered out of the Allentown Armory from January 22, 1778 to May 9, 1778.




6a. Return of Arms received into the Allentown Armory from May 9, 1778 to August 17, 1778.




6b. Return of Arms delivered out of the Allentown Armory from May 9, 1778 to August 17, 1778.




7a. Return of Arms received into the Allentown Armory from October 15, 1777 to January 27, 1779. This seems like a summary of all the work at this factory.




7b. Return of Arms delivered out of the Allentown Armory from October 15, 1777 to January 27, 1779. This seems like a summary of all the work at this factory.

[spgordon]

The lot where the factory was was sold on January 28, 1779.

[WESTbury]

Scott,

These documents are just outstanding in every way.

Over the weekend I read Eric's papers on Marshall and Tyler, so this could not not have come at a better time for me to wrap everything up in a nice neat package.

This forum (and "history geeks" like me) are fortunate to have you as a contributor.

Kent

[spgordon]

Note: the William Henry mentioned frequently in these documents, and in some of the correspondence related to this Allentown armory, is not William Henry of Lancaster (1729-1786). He is another William Henry ("of Philadelphia"), who was appointed one of the City Lieutenants of Philadelphia on June 6, 1777.

On March 17, 1777, PA legislators passed a law that compelled all men between the ages of eighteen and fifty-three to enroll in the militia and, to enforce this statute, they created "lieutenants" and sub-lieutenants in every county and in the city of Philadelphia.

William Henry resigned from his city lieutenant position only in September 1790 (long after WH of Lancaster had died). He was a colonel and is always referred to as "Col. William Henry." (WH of Lancaster did not have a military title.)

This information is needed to understand this letter (also published in 2 PA Archives 3: 139). Colonel William Henry (City Lieutenant of Philadelphia) is concerned with the Allentown armory because it had been under his jurisdiction in Philadelphia (before it moved to Northampton County).

[WESTbury]

Scott,

It is interesting, at least to me, that all of the rifles were shipped to either Lancaster or Reading.

Were all of the rifles issued to units from those two towns?

Kent

[Eric Kettenburg]

#@!! $#@*!!!  Need to set aside some time to really read through all this! 

A HUGE THANK YOU for digging it up and posting it.

[spgordon]

#@!! $#@*!!!

I don't know what that means. 

[spgordon]

It is interesting, at least to me, that all of the rifles were shipped to either Lancaster or Reading.

Were all of the rifles issued to units from those two towns?

Probably the key thing to know here--which I don't know, offhand--is where the PA rifle regiments were from. I'd think the rifles were sent to officers in those companies.

I know rifles were sent to the frontiers--maybe Northumberland or Westmoreland County?--at some point in spring 1778, I think, because of the need to protect against attacks from indigenous groups. I'll try to post something another day about that.

These returns just track the arms (muskets, rifles, etc.) received & then disbursed from Philadelphia & Allentown. Companies also received rifles via other means and from other places.

[WESTbury]

Scott,

Thanks for the update.

Kent

[Karl Kunkel]

Scott,

IIRC there were two Companies from Cumberland, and two from York County, then one each from Bedford, Berks, Lancaster, Northumberland and Northampton. They made up the 1st PA Regmt. I believe PA was originally asked to provide six companies, but Cumberland and York had so many volunteer they formed two companies each.  Later a ninth company was added (Bedford?). 

Somebody fact check me.

[WESTbury]

Karl,

Great information.

Do you know which company from Berks county was in the regiment?

My direct 5 times great-grandfather Jacob Becker was in the 1st Company in 1777-78 under Capt. Folck and in 1781 was in the 4th Company under Capt. Feager. But, these were Militia companies.

Kent

[WESTbury]

For those that are interested, here is a link to a site that has some info on the 1st Pa Rifle Regiment.

https://www.revwartalk.com/1st-pennsylvania-regiment/

[spgordon]

My direct 5 times great-grandfather Jacob Becker was in the 1st Company in 1777-78 under Capt. Folck and in 1781 was in the 4th Company under Capt. Feager. But, these may have been Militia companies.

Probably militia. 

This image is from 27 May 1780 Return of Officers etc. in the Berks County Militia. Looks like Paul Feager was the Captain of the 4th Company of the Sixth Battalion of Berks Militia.



This image is from the 17 May 1777 Return of Officers etc. in the Berks County Militia. Looks like George Focht was the Captain of the 4th Company of the First Battalion of Berks Militia. But, as you can see, there's also a Lieutenant (Christopher Folick) in the 1st Company of the First Battalion.

[Shreckmeister]

What, if anything is known of gunsmith Ebenezer Cowell?

[spgordon]

What, if anything is known of gunsmith Ebenezer Cowell?

Rob--I've been finding a lot related to him in these microfilms I'm working my way through. Eric wrote about him in the article I've linked to above. He first secured a contract for gunlocks (9 March 1776), supervised with John Tyler the Allentown factory (October 1777-January 1779), and he continued to repair arms back in Philadelphia during 1779 and 1780. Here are a couple of petitions he wrote after the Allentown factory closed:

[WESTbury]

Scott,

This is what I have on Jacob Becker's service record.

Thanks for all of the officer rosters.

Kent

[spgordon]

Kent: The 1780/81 information that was sent you matches the documents.

The May 1777 document indicates that, at that time, Christopher Folck/Foulk/Folick was a Lieutenant (not Captain) in the 1st company of the 1st Battalion of Berks militia in May 1777.

The Pennsylvania Archives, though (2nd series, volume 14, p. 276), says that by 1778 Christopher Foulk was a Captain in the First Battalion of the Berks militia.

So I guess Chris got promoted!

[WESTbury]

Scott,

Can't stay a Brown Bar Lieut. forever I guess.

In 1777, Jacob Becker was 51 years old which was near the upper age limit per the Militia Act. He did his duty though, like so many others.

Kent

[spgordon]

Putting this here so it'll be with all the other stuff, even though this thread is nearly exactly a year old!

This seems to confirm the date that the property for the Allentown factory was purchased from John Miller: 10 October 1777.



As per above, as early as 15 October 1777 arms were being received for repair in Allentown.

The timing is clear. But the financials are hard to figure out. Eric's article indicates that John Tyler purchased a lot from John Miller a year later the same amount (£285). It's got to be the same lot. Haven't figured that out yet.

[spgordon]

Also: back in January 2012 I took this photograph. It is one of the missing "returns" from the sequence above. It begins on 16 August 1778, so would come after #6b above and before #7. But I have no idea where I took this photo and have never come across this document again!