I 
 
 Donegal in the Revolution 
 
 Patriotism and Piety 
 
 AN ADDDRESS 
 
 At the Unveiling of a Monument to the Memory of the Revolutionary 
 
 Soldiers of Donegal, Lancaster County , Pennsylvania, erected 
 
 fay the " Witness Tree Chapter," Daughters of 
 
 the American Revolution, 
 
 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1899 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. MARRIOTT BROSIUS 
 
 Press op 
 
 The New Eea Printing Company 
 
 Lancaster, Pa. 
 
.<SfoN OF PRffiggV 
 JAN 22 1932 * 
 
 Donegal in the Revolution 
 
 Patriotism and Piety 
 
 AN ADDDRESS 
 
 At the Unveiling of a Monument to the Memory of the Revolutionary 
 
 Soldiers of Donegal, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, erected 
 
 if 
 
 by the " "Witness Tree Chapter/* Daughters of 
 tlje American Revolution, 
 
 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1899 
 
 BY // 
 
 HON. MARRIOTT BROSIUS 
 
 Press of 
 
 The New Era Printing Company 
 
 Lancaster, Pa. 
 
DONEGAL IN THE REVOLUTION 
 
 PATRIOTISM AND PIETY 
 
 That the patriotic women of "Wit- 
 ness Tree" Chapter, Daughters of the 
 A.merican Revolution, had their inter- 
 est engaged and their exertions stimu- 
 lated by the work of erecting the com- 
 memorative shaft which has just been 
 unveiled is due to their profound ven- 
 eration for the sterling patriotism and 
 heroic character of the citizens of 
 Donegal whose illustrious example and 
 salutary lessons in the struggle for in- 
 dependence are to be perpetuated in 
 the remembrance of mankind by this 
 simple, chaste and beautiful memorial 
 monolith. 
 
 It is a noble testimonial and an honor 
 to its projectors. It has the sanction 
 of an age-long custom. History does 
 not record a time when monuments 
 were not the customary means of 
 commemorating great events, historic 
 occasions and distinguished services. 
 
 Standing in the midst of your people, 
 on a central and commanding site, in 
 the shadow of your ancient church, this 
 shaft will arrest the eye, awaken the 
 admiration and stimulate the devotion 
 and loyalty of the generations that 
 shall come and go while its enduring 
 granite resists the tooth of time. 
 
 Out of a seething human caldron in 
 which singularly diverse race elements 
 had boiled together there came one of 
 the sturdiest of races — the Scotch-Irish. 
 Subjected to persecution which aimed 
 at the overthrow of their Presbyterian- 
 ism, they accepted William Penn's 
 gracious invitation and sought freedom 
 
(4) 
 
 of worship in the wilds of the new 
 world. By 1750, twelve thousand 
 Scotch-Irish had come over, most of 
 whom found homes in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Among these newcomers were the 
 Galbraith brothers, John and James. 
 The former tarried in Philadelphia, but 
 James sought the inviting lands beyond 
 the Conestoga. As soon as he had 
 sheltered his family under a home roof 
 he organized a church. In less than 
 two years, it is said, a meeting house 
 stood upon the sweetest spot in Penn- 
 sylvania, a pleasant wooded hill, with 
 a perennial spring bubbling up its cool 
 water for man and beast. In this cabin 
 church they worshiped God and re- 
 joiced in their new freedom. 
 
 This little Donegal meeting house 
 near the spot where we are now as- 
 sembled became the nursery of Pres- 
 byterianism for the colonies. Andrew, 
 son of Jas. Galbraith, was one of the 
 first elders of the church, as well as the 
 first coroner of the county. Later he be- 
 came a Justice of the Court of Common 
 Pleas and was a member of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly for seven consecutive 
 years. 
 
 James, the brother of Andrew, was 
 visibly touched by the charms of the 
 daughter of the new minister just 
 called to the Derry Church. She was 
 beautiful and accomplished and besides 
 had expectations through her mother, 
 Elizabeth Gillespie, who was heiress to 
 a handsome estate in Edinburg. It 
 shortly came to pass that Elizabeth 
 Bartram, daughter of Rev. - William 
 Bartram, became the wife of James 
 Galbraith, Jr. 
 
 James was a man of light and lead- 
 ing in the Donegal community. He 
 was twice Sheriff of the county, was 
 Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, 
 Captain in the "Associators" and Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel in the French and In- 
 dian War. In 1777 he was appointed 
 Lieutenant of Militia. He died at the 
 age of eighty-three years after seeing 
 
(5) 
 
 all his sons officers in the War of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 From the union of Galbraith and 
 Bartram there came Bartram Gal- 
 braith, whose name appears conspicu- 
 ously upon this monument. This dis- 
 tinguished citizen and soldier did more 
 perhaps than any other to rouse Done- 
 gal to arms and organize her battalions 
 for the war. He had been an officer in 
 the French and Indian War and was 
 an early and strenuous advocate of the 
 independence of the Colonies. In the 
 first movement toward the organization 
 of the county for defence he was elect- 
 ed a member of the Committee on Ob- 
 servation and Correspondence; he rep- 
 resented Donegal in a provincial con- 
 vention held in Philadelphia in 1775; 
 he was Lieutenant of Lancaster county 
 and as such was charged with grave 
 and responsible duties in connection 
 with the military organization of the 
 county and the safe-keeping of the 
 British and Hessian prisoners in the 
 barracks at Lancaster; he was a mem- 
 ber of the Provincial Conference in 
 Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, in June 
 1776, a conference called in pursuance 
 of a resolution of the Continental Con- 
 gress to make provisions for a suitable 
 frame of government; he was also a 
 member of the Provincial Conven- 
 tion which met in pursuance of the 
 agreement of the previous conference 
 to draft the constitution of 1776; he 
 commanded one of the Pennsylvania 
 battalions, recruited largely in Done- 
 gal township, and was engaged in the 
 New Jersey campaign, in the summer 
 of 1776. While at Bordentown, three 
 or four of his companies were assigned 
 to the "Flying Camp," a body of troops 
 authorized by Act of the Continential 
 Congress, and which rendered valuable 
 service in the battles of King's Bridge 
 and Long Island in the fall of 1776, 
 sustaining heavy losses in killed ard 
 wounded. 
 
 Colonel Galbraith, after the war, fol- 
 
(6) 
 
 lowed his profession, that of a surveyor, 
 at Bainbridge, where he resided for 
 many years. He died in 1804, at the 
 age of sixty-six years — "beloved in life 
 and lamented in death." 
 
 Colonel Alexander Lowerycame from 
 the North of Ireland. His father, 
 Lazarus Lowery, with his family, set- 
 tled in Donegal in 1729. He was an In- 
 dian trader, as were his sons 
 after him. Alexander was a man of 
 great physical strength and prowess. 
 No Indian could outrun him. He was 
 thrifty in business and accumulated 
 wealth, becoming the owner of large 
 tracts of the best land in Donegal. He 
 was, in every sense, a leading citizen, to 
 whom the community looked up with 
 implicit confidence and great respect. 
 
 When the struggle for independence 
 commenced, he took an active and ef- 
 fective part on the side of the colonies. 
 As early as 1774, he was a member of 
 the Committee on Correspondence, 
 which met in Philadelphia July 15, 
 1774. He was Colonel of the Third 
 Pennsylvania Battalion, was a member 
 of the State Assembly in 1775-1776, and 
 again in 1778-1780. For a short period 
 he was a member of the State Senate. 
 He was also a member of the conven- 
 tion which framed the first constitution 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 He was a brave and accomplished 
 soldier. His battalion, mostly Donegal- 
 ians, joined Washington's army and 
 won distinction for bravery at Brandy- 
 wine and Germantown. In the former 
 battle, his command suffered heavy 
 losses. It will be remembered that sev- 
 eral hundred of the wounded at the bat- 
 tle of Brandywine were removed to the 
 Cloister Hospital at Ephrata, where 
 more than one hundred and fifty died 
 and were buried at Mount Zion. 
 Whether any of the Donegal boys were 
 among these still unmonumented 
 heroes we may never know. 
 
 After the war Colonel Lowery be- 
 
(?) 
 
 came a Justice of the Peace and admin- 
 istered justice according to tradition in 
 some original ways, but always hold- 
 ing the scales in equal poise. His hos- 
 pitable home in Marietta was a house 
 of entertainment for the distinguished 
 statesmen in transit to and from 
 York, when Congress was in session at 
 that place. After the battle and vic- 
 tory at Saratoga, General Gates and 
 wife were the guests of Colonel and 
 Mrs. Lowery. The entertainment was 
 the best the house afforded, and Mrs. 
 Lowery was not averse to ostentatious 
 hospitality. 
 
 Colonel Lowery possessed, in a 
 marked degree, the strong characteris- 
 tics of his race. His business qualifica- 
 tions gave him a pre-eminence enjoyed 
 by few men of his day. He had a re- 
 markable memory, sound judgment and 
 an upright mind. He stood in such 
 high repute that he was frequently 
 called to remote sections to compose 
 business differences and settle disputes 
 about the title of lands. 
 
 In no respect, however, was he more 
 distinguished than by his sterling love 
 of liberty and loyalty to the cause of 
 independence. He hated tyranny, de- 
 spised royalty, and would not tolerate 
 anything that smacked of imitation of 
 its glitter and show. 
 
 Gail Hamilton records that, when 
 Mrs. Lowery was ordering the trap- 
 pings for her new carriage, in the ab- 
 sence of the Colonel, she innocently 
 bespoke a coat-of-arms. When the 
 Colonel came home and saw the 
 accursed thing, he demanded a hatchet 
 and forthwith hacked off the pretty bau- 
 ble, and buried it with his own hands, 
 "and no man knoweth the place of its 
 sepulchre to this day." Some of the best 
 citizens of this and adjoining communi- 
 ties have the honor to trace their line- 
 age to this good man, this upright citi- 
 zen, this splendid patriot. He died in 
 1805, in the eighty-third year of his 
 age, lamented by all who knew him. 
 
(8) 
 
 Scotch-Irish Character. 
 
 The limits of this occasion will not 
 admit of an inquiry into the lives of 
 others whose names are inscribed on 
 this memorial shaft. This brief sketch 
 of the two most distinguished of Done- 
 gal patriots of the Revolution may 
 serve as an introduction to some re- 
 flections on the character of the race 
 from which these patriotic Donegalians 
 came and which accounts for the record 
 they made in the annals of their coun- 
 try for patriotism and piety. 
 
 It has been said: "Every man at his 
 birth is an epitome of his progenitors." 
 He starts out with the elements of his 
 character drawn from the widest 
 sources w T ith which the problem of 
 every life is concerned. It is not the 
 dome of St. Peter's, but how the hand 
 that rounded it acquired its skill; not 
 the play of "Hamlet," but how the 
 mind that gave it its own wondrous 
 birth was developed, that are the con- 
 cern of history and philosophy. 
 
 That the Quaker and German wave 
 of settlement halted for a time at least 
 at the Conestoga Creek, while the 
 Scotch-Irish pressed forward and pre- 
 empted the fair country lying between 
 the Conestoga on the east and the Sus- 
 quehanna on the west.finds its explana- 
 tion in the character of the races. The 
 sweet temper and non-resistent prin- 
 ciples of the Quaker and the Palatine 
 little suited them to the hardships and 
 the perils of the frontier to which the 
 Scotch-Irish, by their hardihood, 
 aggressiveness, intrepidity and com- 
 bativeness were well adapted. The 
 post of the hardy sons of Ulster was 
 always at the front on the firing line. 
 They were a wall of fire between the 
 savages in the wilderness and the men 
 of peace on the Delaware. They were 
 the advance couriers of civilization and 
 were not deterred when rough surgery 
 was needed to meet the requirements of 
 the situation. They seemed to be equal 
 
(9) 
 
 to any and all situations. It has been 
 said they possessed that one transcend- 
 ent, almost omnipotent quality, the 
 power to shape events by the resistless 
 force of their personality; a quality 
 which some one has likened to the en- 
 chanted bow in the Arabian story that 
 took its strength from the arm that 
 drew it. In a child's hand it was a toy 
 to shoot at birds; in the hand of a war- 
 rior it sent its shaft through shield and 
 cuirass; but when drawn by the arm of 
 a giant sent aloft a shaft that kindled 
 with its swiftness and left a track of 
 fire among the stars. 
 
 They were intelligent and thrifty, 
 had wrestled with adverse conditions 
 for generations. Struggle had de- 
 veloped brain and brawn. For cen- 
 turies they had not known purple or 
 fine linen, or downy beds of ease, 
 or sumptuous living. Danger had 
 made them heroic. Their persecution 
 and suffering made them battling men 
 "of grim face, clenched fist and primed 
 rifle." The constant presence of peril 
 and apprehension that kept them in 
 the midst of alarms made them as 
 alert, quick-scented and keen-eyed as 
 the savage himself. They knew their 
 path by day was liable to be ambushed 
 and the darkness of the night to glit- 
 ter with the blaze of their homes. 
 Fathers saw their sons fall victims of 
 the tomahawk. Mothers witnessed 
 the war-whoop wake the sleep of the 
 cradle. But nothing daunted them; 
 westward they forged their way. At 
 that early day they were quite within 
 the witticism of Charles Dickens, that 
 an American would not accept a place 
 in Heaven unless he was allowed to 
 move West. Their posterity inherited 
 the habit and followed the course of 
 empire. Few of their descendants are 
 found here to-day; while the South 
 and West are rich in good citizens, 
 splendid men, noble women, famous 
 preachers and great statesmen, who 
 sprang from the rich "seed bed" in 
 
(10) 
 
 Old Donegal. The President of the 
 UnitedStates proudly traces his lineage 
 to the same invincible stock. In 1770, 
 or thereabouts, James Stephenson lived 
 across the meadow, where iiix-Senator 
 J. Donald Cameron now resides. His 
 daughter, Hannah, married John Gray; 
 their daughter, Sarah, married David 
 McKinley; their son, James, married 
 Mary Rose; their son, William, mar- 
 ried Nancy Allison, and they were the 
 parents of William McKinley, Jr. 
 
 They were the original squatter sov- 
 ereigns, and did not trouble themselves 
 much about the trivial circumstance of 
 title to the land they occupied. Their 
 argument was short, sharp and deci- 
 sive to them. They said: "It is 
 against the laws of God and nature 
 that so much land should be idle when 
 so many Christians want to labor on 
 it." The logic of this plea may not 
 be sound; the Quakers of the East did 
 not think it was, but Scotch-Irish per- 
 tinacity overcame all difficulties, and 
 they remained in Donegal for a time 
 rent free. 
 
 Their combativeness was not limited 
 to the enemies of their race and coun- 
 try. They could quarrel among them- 
 selves. Abraham Lincoln, describing 
 the Scotch-Irish in the Civil War, said: 
 "Both read the same Bible and pray 
 to the same God, and each invoke His 
 aid against the other; for no two men 
 can by logic plus passion and self-in- 
 terest get farther apart than two 
 Scotch-Irishmen." 
 
 In the controversy between Penn- 
 sylvania and Maryland before the line 
 was established, one, Benjamin Cham- 
 bers, was arrested in Maryland as a 
 spy. He made his escape and went to 
 Donegal and collected a number of 
 Scotch-Irish, whom, he said, "would 
 as soon fight as eat." Their fighting 
 proclivities did not cease until after 
 the War of the Revolution. Another 
 has suggested that when the redskins 
 were vanquished they turned their 
 
(11) 
 
 rifles upon the red-coats and did not 
 stop firing until their independence 
 was achieved. 
 
 They were disputatious. They had 
 an instinct for logic. They were meta- 
 physicians, as well as theologians, and 
 argued their way through the intricate 
 problems of theology and philosophy 
 with the same daring as they fought 
 the "red-coats," and harmonized the 
 doctrines of "free will" and the "fore- 
 knowledge of God" as successfully as 
 they could demonstrate the right of 
 the colonies to be free and independ- 
 ent. So the church did not enjoy im- 
 munity from schism. At an early 
 day the "Old Light" and the "New 
 Light" controversy dismembered con- 
 gregations very much as other schisms 
 rend the churches one hundred and fifty 
 years later. 
 
 With their brain and their brawn 
 and the general excellency of their 
 character they were not without de- 
 fects, and they were humble and 
 honest enough to own it. It was their 
 own saying: "If we have a bushel fu' 
 of vartues we have a peck fu' of 
 fauts." Their rugged nature expressed 
 itself in the "working words of the 
 language," at times and on provoca- 
 tions; but it was a gross exaggeration 
 to say that "the Scotch-Irish clothed 
 themselves with curses as with a gar- 
 ment." They were not saints, though 
 they had a firm faith in the "perse- 
 verance of the saints." John Duncan, 
 a brother of the jurist, fought a duel 
 with the grandfather of Robert A. 
 Lamberton, LL.D., once President of 
 Lehigh University. It arose, as most 
 duels did, out of some trifling contro- 
 versy about politics. They were dis- 
 posed to resist the collection of a tax 
 on whisky. They had emigrated for 
 liberty, which included freedom from 
 restriction in trade. It was said of 
 them that they could not see why they 
 should pay a duty for drinking their 
 grain any more than for eating it. 
 
(12) 
 
 Their second thought, however, recon- 
 ciled them to the law. If their desire 
 to carry their point and win elections 
 carried them at times into some ex- 
 cesses, it is not believed by candid his- 
 torians that their turbulence at the 
 York election was great enough to 
 justify the order of the proprietaries 
 that no more Scotch-Irish should be 
 allowed to take up land in York 
 county. Much that has been said in 
 disparagement of the Scotch-Irish of 
 the early day has value rather for its 
 humor than its truth. At all events, 
 happier days and sweeter experiences 
 with closer contact with the Quakers 
 and the Palatines, together with the 
 "mighty forces of sweetness and light 
 working in this broad, free and many- 
 blooded Republic, have made the pos- 
 terity of those stern, rugged, fighting 
 ancestors a kindly, gentle and amiable 
 folk." 
 
 Patriotism. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish in Donegal, as well 
 as elsewhere, were thoroughly loyal to 
 two things, the cause of independence 
 and the Presbyterian faith. When the 
 church was without a pastor they 
 would go to "land's end" to find one. 
 When their liberty was assailed they 
 clamored for firearms, powder and 
 lead. They believed the "tyrant's foe 
 the people's friend." They were 
 trained in the school of John Knox, 
 who taught what another has felici- 
 tously expressed, that "resistance to 
 tyrants is obedience to God." Accord- 
 ingly, these pathfinders of our civiliza- 
 tion were foremost in the cause of in- 
 dependence. Bancroft says: "Their 
 training in Ireland had kept the spirit 
 of liberty alive." The same writer is 
 authority for the statement that "the 
 first public voice in America for 
 dissolving all connection with Great 
 Britain came not from the Puritans of 
 New England, nor the Dutch of New 
 York, nor the planters of Virginia, but 
 
(13) 
 
 from the Scotch-Irish of Pennsyl- 
 vania." It was a Scotch-Irish assem- 
 bly that in June, 1774, made the heroic 
 resolve ''that in the event of Great 
 Britain attempting to enforce unjust 
 laws upon us by the strength of arms 
 our cause we leave to Heaven and our 
 rifles." 
 
 It was a singular coincidence that at 
 the moment the Continental Congress 
 was adopting the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, the Scotch-Irish squatter 
 sovereigns of the Susquehanna Valley, 
 in convention assembled, were declar- 
 ing by solemn resolution for freedom 
 and independence. The Pennsylvania 
 Assembly instructed their delegates in 
 Congress to oppose every proposal of 
 separation from the mother country. 
 But the Scotch-Irish of the frontier at 
 the same time petitioned the Assembly, 
 declaring: 
 
 "If those who rule in Britain will 
 not permit the colonies to be free and 
 happy in connection with that King- 
 dom, it becomes their duty to secure 
 and promote their freedom and happi- 
 ness in the best manner they can with- 
 out that connection." They further 
 prayed "that the last instructions 
 which the Assembly gave the delegates 
 from this colony in Congress, wherein 
 they were enjoined not to consent to 
 any step which may lead to separation 
 from Great Britain, may be with- 
 drawn." 
 
 Early in 1774 meetings were held in 
 Lancaster county for the purpose of 
 organizing for the struggle for inde- 
 pendence. These meetings all set 
 forth the duty of opposition to the op- 
 pressive measures of Parliament; advo- 
 cating a union of the colonies and an 
 appeal to arms. Thus, it will be seen 
 that the resolves of the people of Lan- 
 caster county antedated the Mecklen- 
 burg Declaration almost a year, and 
 led the adoption of the Declaration by 
 Congress by more than two years. 
 Nearly all the Scotch-Irish participated 
 
(14) 
 
 in these meetings, joined the liberty 
 associations and held themselves ready 
 to march at a moment's notice. It is 
 believed that nearly every able-bodied 
 male member of the Donegal Church 
 was a soldier either in the French and 
 Indian War or the War of the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 The Continental Congress provided 
 for the appointment of Committees of 
 Observation and Correspondence in 
 each county. Donegal was represented 
 in that committee by Bartram Gal- 
 braith, Alexander Lowery, James Cun- 
 ningham, Frederick Mumma and Rob- 
 ert Craig. The duty of this committee 
 was to attentively observe the conduct 
 of all persons touching the use or sale 
 of interdicted articles, or opposing, in 
 any way, the patriotic efforts of the 
 colonists to free themselves from the 
 oppression of Parliament. If any one 
 was found delinquent in these particu- 
 lars they were declared to be enemies 
 to American liberty, and, thereafter, 
 patriots would abstain from dealing 
 with them. Boycotting was thus early 
 employed to promote patriotism. Few 
 of the Donegalians, however, became 
 amenable to this boycott, for their ag- 
 gressive patriotism urged them to do 
 too much rather than too little for the 
 cause of the colonies, and they fully 
 agreed with Franklin that a cup of tea, 
 the cost of which helped to pay the 
 salaries of tyrants, would choke any 
 decent American. 
 
 During the period of the war of the 
 Revolution there were seventeen citi- 
 zens of Donegal who held the rank of 
 Colonel in the army, not to speak of 
 the great number who filled the field 
 and line offices. It is recorded that so 
 many offered viieir services to Lieu- 
 tenant Miller when recruiting a com- 
 pany that he chalked a small nose on 
 the barn door, and said that he would 
 take only men who could hit that nose 
 at one hundred and fifty yards. "Take 
 care of your nose, General Gage," was 
 
(15) 
 
 the common newspaper salutation of 
 the day. 
 
 My friends, well may we honor and 
 venerate such splendid patriotism, such 
 matchless devotion to liberty, as our 
 ancestors of Donegal exhibited in the 
 days that tried men's souls, and we can 
 not render more suitable homage to 
 this commemorative shaft than in its 
 presence to renew our vows to love of 
 country, and rededicate ourselves to 
 the service of those principles for 
 which they were so willing to do and 
 die. 
 
 Piety. 
 
 To stop here would leave the patriot- 
 ism and other admirab.e traits of our 
 Scotch-Irish progenitors inadequately 
 accounted for. They possessed an- 
 other trait which was a conspicuous 
 factor in all they did and all they were. 
 That was a deep religious feeling, a 
 sterling piety. That was the leaven 
 that leavened the splendid loaf of their 
 character. 
 
 I have alluded to the wide influence 
 of the Donegal Church. It was the 
 nursery of Presbyterianism in the col- 
 onies. The Scotch-Irish were trained 
 to recognize the authority of the 
 church and to do homage to it. Buckle 
 assures us the church exerted more in- 
 fluence in Scotland and Ireland than in 
 any other European country- The 
 log cabin church was erected about 
 1720, very near the spot on which this 
 church stands. The present edifice was 
 erected somewhere near the year 1730. 
 The pulpit was served by a number of 
 ministers, no one remaining longer 
 than two or three years, until Rev. 
 James Anderson came. His incumben v 
 continued until his death, a period of 
 thirteen years. For a few years there- 
 after the supply was precarious and in- 
 termittent. In tne early forties, Rev. 
 Joseph Tate was installed, and re- 
 mained until his death, in 1774. In 
 1775, Rev. Colin McFarquhar, a recent 
 arrival from Scotland, was called by 
 
(16) 
 
 the congregation, and remained for 
 about thirty years. 
 
 An incident in the early ministry of 
 Mr. McFarquhar is so characteristic of 
 the Scotch-Irish, and so illustrative of 
 their sterling patriotism, that I hazard 
 reproducing it in this connection, 
 though it is familiar to most of you, 
 and is under the suspicion of some of 
 being apocryphal. One Sunday morn- 
 ing in June, 1777, Colonel Galbraith 
 sent an express to Donegal to Colonel 
 Lowery to move the battalion of Done- 
 galians to meet the advancing British. 
 The express arrived at the meeting- 
 house during service. The congrega- 
 tion adjourned without waiting for the 
 benediction, and, forming a ring 
 around the old oak tree in front of the 
 church, and placing Mr. McFarquhar, 
 who had been lukewarm in the cause, 
 in the middle, made him hurrah for 
 the Continental cause. The congrega- 
 tion then joined hands and renewed 
 their pledge to the sacred cause of free- 
 dom and independence. The oak tree, 
 that splendid ''monarch" now standing 
 near this church, was witness of their 
 solemn vow, and henceforth was known 
 as "The Witness Tree." 
 
 The Scotch-Irish, like Cromwell's 
 celebrated regiment, put religion in 
 their fighting as well as in their pray- 
 ing. If they had to attend church with 
 rifle in hand it detracted nothing from 
 their worship. They hearkened gladly 
 to prayers an hour long. They listened 
 to sermons from eloquent divines like 
 Duffield and others, who were apt to 
 preach from texts which countenanced 
 war, as that from Hosea, "The Lord is 
 a man of war; ' or from Samuel, "Wh 
 is this that he should defy the armies 
 of the living God." They believed the 
 Colonists as much the chosen and cov- 
 enanted people of God as were the Is- 
 raelites; and that the patriot battal- 
 ions were the Lord's instruments to 
 overthrow the hosts of tyranny and 
 oppression. A young and enthusiastic 
 
(17) 
 
 minister, preaching to a battalion of 
 departing soldiers exhorted them "to 
 be of good cheer, and when the battle 
 came the Lord would make them like 
 Saul and Jonathan, 'swifter than 
 eagles and stronger than lions.' " 
 
 While the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians 
 preached war when that was the last 
 recourse, they countenanced no disre- 
 spect to the Book of books. Their ven- 
 eration for the Bible was deep and 
 beautiful to behold, although it wouid 
 not harmonize with modern higher 
 criticism. They believed it to be true 
 and inspired, every word of it, and to 
 contain the divinely au..uorized rules of 
 life. Rev. Dr. Cathcart preached at 
 Harrisburg on one occasion, and was 
 entertained at the house of an elder. 
 
 The Reverend Doctor desired to pre- 
 sent a neat appearance on Sunday 
 morning, and, having no hone, he 
 strapped his razor on a leather-cov- 
 ered Bible he always carried with him. 
 His eloquent sermon that day so im- 
 pressed the elders that they proposed 
 to give him a call. The elder at whose 
 house he stopped, however, objected 
 very strenuously, saying: "I will have 
 none of him; he strapped his razor on 
 the Word of God." 
 
 Their reverence was deep and holy. 
 They believed that God's hand was m 
 the sorrows of Scotland, the struggles 
 of Ulster, and the distresses of the 
 Colonies; that out of the darkness His 
 Hand was reaching to lead them, and 
 that His Providence accompanied H-s 
 loving children day and night; and 
 they died, some one has said, under a 
 contract with God and in full expecta- 
 tion that He would grant them immor- 
 tal life. So the piety of the Donegal- 
 ians was as conspicuous as their patri- 
 otism; indeed, was the basis of their 
 patriotism; and the union of the two 
 made them good citizens, grand men 
 and women, home builders and State 
 builders, and we can to-day render 
 cheerful homage to the characteristic 
 
(13) 
 
 traits of the Scotch-Irish Revolution- 
 ary fathers of Donegal, for there are 
 no other pillars so well suited to sus- 
 tain the community, the State, the na- 
 tion, as Patriotism and Piety.