Widow Smith's Mill Destroyed by Indians on July 8, 1779

Noted historian, author, and politician Frederic Antes Godcharles, who was born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, wrote a book entitled Daily Stories of Pennsylvania in 1924. In it, he chronicled import events in the state’s history. Godcharles, who also served as director of the State Library of Pennsylvania and State Museum of Pennsylvania, had his stories published in newspapers across the state. His July 8^th offering shines the spotlight on a Revolutionary War heroine from Union County, Pennsylvania.

“During the year 1774 Catherine Smith, widow of Peter Smith, commenced building a large grist mill near the mouth of White Deer Creek, in the present Union County, which she completed the following year. When Peter Smith died in the fall of 1773, he left his widow and ten children with no estate to support his family, except a location for three hundred acres of land, including the mouth of White Deer Creek, whereon was an excellent mill seat. His widow was of the type who did not sit idly by and let her neighbors help support her family but realizing that a grist and sawmill were both much wanted in that new country at that time and being urged to erect these mills, she set about the task. The widow Smith was able to borrow some money and by June 1775, she had both mills in operation. They served the inhabitants in the White Deer Valley and for many miles on the east side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna.

During the summer of 1776, there was an urgent demand for rifles for the Continental Army and for the use of the old men and boys who remained at home to protect the women and children from the sudden attacks of the Indians, while they were doing the work about the farm and the fireside. So, Catherine Smith installed a boring mill, and the records show that a great number of gun barrels were bored in this mill. She also added a hemp mill. Her eldest son went to the army and this made her work the heavier, as he was her best help. He was killed in the service. The Indians became active following the great Wyoming massacre, July 3, 1778, and after Colonel Thomas Hartley had chastised them during his successful expedition in the late autumn of 1778, they again became bolder when the soldiers were withdrawn and the year 1779 was one of the most terrible along the frontier of the Susquehanna Valleys. Nearly all the inhabitants had left during the "Great Runaway," in July 1778, and only the most venturesome had returned. The militia were recruited locally and were under the command of Colonel John Kelly.

The Widow Smith's mills were now the frontier and the only place of refuge except a small stockade named Fort Meninger, which was built about eighty rods from the river, on the north bank of White Deer Creek, covering Widow Smith's mills. The fort and mills were abandoned at the time of the Great Runaway, July 1778, and the fort and mills were burned by the Indians, July 8, 1779. One man was killed in the attack. Widow Smith returned to the ruins in 1783. and was urged to rebuild the grist and saw mills, which she accomplished with much difficulty. Ejectments were brought against her by Messrs. Claypoole and Morris, and she did not have the means to support actions at law and lost her improvements. She is said to have walked to Philadelphia and back thirteen times in this business. The distance she traveled was no less than 160 miles each way. How long the litigation continued is not a matter of record, but in 1801, Seth Iredell took possession of the premises as a tenant of Claypool & Morris.”

In 1925, a select committee in Harrisburg, honored Catherine Smith and the part she played as a Revolutionary War heroine, providing gun barrels during the conflict. The name was selected in 1925 by a board called the State Geographic Committee. It was submitted by Herbert Walker, editor of the Altoona Tribune, and secretary of the Pennsylvania Alpine Club. Catherine’s Crown was among several suggested to the committee.

Catherine’s Crown rises 1929 feet in the Bald Eagle State Forest, White Deer Township, Union County. By a strange coincidence, a high peak at the other end of the same mountain range is Mount Nittany. According to folklorist and author Henry W. Shoemaker in his 1916 book Juniata Memories, Nit-an-nee was an Indian maiden who lived near the mouth of Penns Cave in Centre County.

In 1925, Mount Nittany and Catherine’s Crown were the only mountains with women’s names in Pennsylvania.

Several hiking websites report Catherine’s Crown can be reached along a 6.6 mile out and back trail in the Bald Eagle State Forest, accessible via Kettle Hole Trail in Union County. The website AllTrails reports Catherine’s Crown “is great for hiking, and it's unlikely you'll encounter many other people while exploring.” (There's a trail called Nittany Mountain Trail leading to the summit.) AllTrails indicates it will take some three-and-a-half hours to complete.