ring. Under his lead a
committee from the Pittsburgh meeting, followed by a large body of the
citizens, went out to the rendezvous. Here they found a motley
assemblage, arrayed in the picturesque campaign costume which the
mountaineers wore when they equipped themselves to meet the
Indians,--yellow hunting-shirts, handkerchiefs tied about their heads,
and rifles on the shoulder; the militia were on foot, and the light
horse of the counties were in military dress. Conspicuous about the
field, "haughty and pompous," as Gallatin described him in the
legislature, was David Bradford, who had assumed the office of
major-general. Brackenridge draws a lifelike picture of him as, mounted
on a superb horse in splendid trappings, arrayed in full uniform, with
plume floating in the air and sword drawn, he rode over the ground, gave
orders to the military, and harangued the multitude. On the historic
ground where Washington plucked his first military laurels were gathered
about seven thousand men, of whom two thousand militia were armed and
accoutred as for a campaign,--a formidable and remarkable assemblage,
when it is considered that the entire male population of sixteen years
of age and upwards of the four counties did not exceed sixteen
thousand, and was scattered over a wide and unsettled country. This is
Brackenridge's estimate of the numbers. Later, Gallatin, on comparison
of the best attainable information, estimated the whole body at from
fifteen hundred to two thousand men. Whatever violence Bradford may have
intended, none was accomplished. That he read aloud the Pittsburgh
letters, taken from the mail, shows his purpose to inflame the people to
vindictive violence. He was accused by contemporary authorities of
imitation of the methods of the French Jacobins, which were fresh
examples of revolutionary vigor. But the mass was not persuaded. After
desultory conversation and discussion, the angry turn of which was at
times threatening to the moderate leaders, the meeting broke up on
August 2; about one third dispersed for their homes, and the remainder,
marching to Pittsburgh, paraded through the streets, and finally
crossing the river in their turn scattered. They did no damage to the
town beyond the burning of a farm belonging to Major Kirkpatrick of the
garrison. The taverns were all closed, but the citizens brought whiskey
to their doors. Judge Brackenridge reports that his sacrifice to peace
on this occasion cost him fou