Col. John Kelly, The Revolutionary War Hero Who "Shot The Last Buffalo In Lewisburg"

 Col. John Kelly was the commanding officer who covered the retreat of General Washington and his staff following the Battle Of Princeton.  

A Major at the time, Kelly was in charge of  burning a bridge after the commander and his chief passed over, keeping the enemy from following.  Kelly remained on the bridge until the last timber fell into the river, landing in the water himself, along with the burning logs. When he came ashore and reported to the Continental Camp, he had a Hessian prisoner with him.

Historical Marker Located at 40° 59.364′ N, 76° 58.892′  on Col. John Kelly Road just west of Red Ridge Road in Lewisburg.

"Outstanding Indian fighter of Buffalo Valley. Settled here about 1769; built log house to the north, now weatherboarded in 1775. Col Kelly served with distinction at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He died in 1837. Buried at Lewisburg."

According to the Sunday News, April 1932, "Colonel John Kelly was six feet tall, vigorous and muscular, with body to inured to labor as to be almost insensible of fatigue, and with mind so accustomed to danger that danger had ceased to excite alarm."

John  Kelly was born February 11 1744 in Donegal Twp, Lancaster County Pennsylvania, the son of John & Mary (Spencer) Kelly.

When John's father died in 1758, John went to York to live with his sister Elizabeth.  Ten years later, at age 24, John went to the Buffalo Valley.  

In 1771, at age 27, John became a captain in Col. James Potters Battalion.  In 1775 he marched in the Plunket expedition against the Wyoming settlers.  

John Kelly married Sarah Poak about 1773.

In 1775, Col. Kelly built his "mansion house", which had 9 fireplaces,  "north east of Mazeppa along Spruce Run, with Buffalo Mountain to the north"  (These were later removed by a later owner and used for concrete work about the barn.)

In 1776, Kelly was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the new Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

During the Battle of Princeton, Washington ordered Colonel Potter of Centre County to cut down the bridge at Worth's Mill over Stony Brook in order to delay Cornwallis from giving Mawhood support. Colonel Potter asked Major Kelly to send a detail to take care of the task, but Major Kelly picked his own detail and went with the men. As they were cutting down the bridge, Cornwallis appeared and started firing. Major Kelly ordered his men back to safety as he stayed underfire to cut the final key log. The bridge gave way and took Major Kelly with it. The detail left figuring Kelly dead, but he fought through the ice and logs reached the shore and started heading back to camp. On his way back he managed to capture a British Scout. Had Cornwallis been able to cross the bridge and reinforce Mawhood at Princeton, the American Revolution would have been ended.

"By great exertions he reached the shore through the high water  and floating timbers, and followed the troops. Incumbered, as he  was, with his wet and frozen clothes, he made prisoner of an  armed British scout, and took him into camp. Colonel Kelly used to tell that during this  tour, for three days at one time there was no service of  provisions, and during the march before and after the battle,  they were thirty-six hours under arms without sleep."

In 1777, General Washington ordered Major Kelly to return home and assist the settlers in resisting the Indians on the frontier. Major Kelly took with him Captain John Brady (Muncy ), Captain Hawkins Boone (Milton), and Lieutenants John and Samuel Dougherty, Major Moses VanCampen (Great Island, near Lock Haven). They garrisoned at Fort Reid (Lock Haven).

Kelly was appointed Justice Of  The Peace for Northumberland County on August 2, 1783.

At a meeting held in Milton on March 4, 1801 celebrating the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson, Col. Kelly had the distinction of proposing the following toast: "May this be the happy day to unite the hearts of all true Americans in their duty to God and our illustrious President."

He died February 8 1832. At the time of his death, he owned over 3000 acres of land in Pennsylvania.

Col Kelly , a member of the Buffalo Crossroads Presbyterian Church, was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery  in 1832.  At the time, this cemetery was located along market street in Lewisburg, where the Presbyterian Church stands today. 

On April 8, 1835, a monument was erected in his memory in the English (Presbyterian) Cemetery on Market Street in Lewisburg with appropriate pomp and an imposing military and civic parade. James Merill, Esq, was orator of the day. His remains and marker were moved to the Lewisburg Cemetery in the spring of 1856,  when the Presbyterian church was built on the site of the early cemetery.

From The Annals Of The Buffalo Valley By Linn:

"April 8, the monument to the memory of Colonel John Kelly was erected with impressive ceremonies, in the Presbyterian burial-ground, in the borough of Lewisburg. A company of cavalry from Northumberland county, one from Union, with three infantry companies, participated. Abbot Green was grand marshal, with Michael Brobst, General R. H. Hammond, Colonel Philip Ruhl, and Doctor J. S. Dougal as aids. The procession was formed by the adjutant, Colonel Jackson McFadden, with the military, in front, followed by the revolutionary soldiers and citizens; after whom came the monument, drawn by four gray horses, flanked by cavalry; then the marshal and aids, preceding the orator, clergy, and relatives lastly, the ladies, and a section of cavalry brought up the rear. On its arrival at the ground, the cavalry were stationed outside the burial-ground, and the infantry formed a square about the grave, inclosing the relatives, clergy, &c. The monument was set by the architects, William Hubbard, F. Stoughton, Samuel Hursh, and Charles Penny; after which the grand marshal performed the rites of dedication, and James Merrill, Esquire, delivered an oration.

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Shot The Last Buffalo

In Union County

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There's a lot of discussion about whether or not Buffalo roamed union county.  In 2023, WVIA hosted an event at the Campus Theater, for the Ken Burns documentary on Buffalo.  As part of the event, Kim Mattern gave a completely convincing talk on why bison, or buffalo, never lived in this area.  I find it very  difficult to disagree with him.  

However -  according to an 1877 report of the United States Geological and & Geographical Survey Of the Territories, they did indeed exist in the valley at one time. And in that record, it states that Col. John Kelly shot the last one seen in the area.  Note that the document, although it sounds very official, appears to rely on a good deal of hearsay evidence... 

If you need to add a little more doubt to that story,  Henry Shoemaker, local folklorist known for placing a number of bogus historical markers,  also mentioned Kelly shooting the last Bison, in an article published in 1932:

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Find More Stories & History Of Lewisburg Here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/lewisburg-pa.html

And More Stories & History From Surrounding Towns Here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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READ MORE
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Colonel John Kelly

The following sketch of him is taken from an address made by James 

Merrill, Esquire, on the 8th of April, 1835, when the monument, 

purchased by his relatives, was put in position with public ceremony.

Colonel John Kelly was born in Lancaster county, in this State, in 

February, 1744.  After the purchase from the Indians of 1768, and 

before the opening of the land office in 1769, he came to Buffalo 

Valley, then a part of Berks county.  Here he suffered all the 

hardships and privations, which are inseparable upon the first settle-

ment of a new country.  He was tall, about six feet two inches in 

height, vigorous and muscular, with his body so inured to labor as to 

be almost insensible to fatigue, and a mind so accustomed to dangers, 

that dangers ceased to alarm.  In the prime of manhood, and in the 

vigor of health, with intelligence to understand correct principles, 

and with firmness to adhere to them, it may well be supposed that he 

took a commanding position among his fellows.  He was a captain, and a 

major at twenty-seven years of age, and when his country called on 

her sons to save her from the fangs of a tyrant, he was ready.  At the 

very darkest period of the revolutionary war, when all was lost, but 

honor and hope, and when hope was almost buried in despair, in the 

fall of 1776, he volunteered to assist in the protection of New 

Jersey.  He was present at Trenton, when the Hessians surrendered, and 

assisted in that most masterly movement on Princeton, by which the 

chain of communications of the enemy was broken, all their plans 

deranged, and their army compelled to return to New York and its 

neighborhood, and to leave New Jersey free to avenge her wrongs. 

When we consider the depression of public spirit, how public 

confidence in the final success of our cause was shaken by the battle 

of Long Island, and the losses of Fort Washington and Lee, with most 

of our military stores; when we consider that at onetime the American 

army numbered less than two thousand men, we would 

not think it wonderful if all should have been given up for lost - and 

so it would, if the stake had been less.  But our people believed that 

they had no right to abandon their cause of liberty.  They were bound 

to protect it for themselves, and upon their success depended the 

freedom of their posterity.  They must decide, whether or not, their 

children should be slaves.  They must decide whether all people must 

bow their necks to the iron yoke of despotism, or whether they might 

anticipate a time when free institutions should prevail through the 

world.  Our friend and his confederates of that day might have retired 

into an ignoble and contemptible security. They might have said, what 

is New Jersey to us? We have homes and firesides, which may be 

endangered.  But they argued better: if we refuse to come to the 

rescue, we cannot expect security.  We cannot propitiate the monster 

tyranny, by shrinking from our duty. Influenced by these 

considerations, our friends went to the rescue of our sister State.

Our friend joined the army fully resolved to do his duty.  Then was 

the time to test his vigor of body, as well as the firmness of his 

mind.  For three days at one time, there was no regular service of 

provisions, and for more than thirty-six hours, at another time, they 

were constantly on the march, or in action, without a moment's sleep or 

giving up their arms.  In the course of one of their retreats, the 

commander-in-chief, through Colonel Potter, sent an order to Major 

Kelly to have a certain bridge cut down to prevent the advance of the 

British, who were then in sight. The major sent for an axe; but 

represented that the enterprise would be very hazardous.  Still the 

British advance must be stopped, and the order was not withdrawn. He 

said he could not order another to do what some might say he was 

afraid to do himself; he would cut down the bridge.

     Before all the logs on which the bridge lay were cut off, he was 

completely within the range of the British fire, and several balls 

struck the log on which he stood.  The last log broke down sooner than 

he expected, and he fell with it into the swollen stream.  Our 

soldiers moved on, not believing it possible for him to escape.  He, 

however, by great exertions, reached the shore through the high water 

and the floating timber, and followed the troops. Incumbered, as he 

must have been, with his wet and frozen clothes, he, on his road, made 

a prisoner of a British scout, an armed soldier, and took him

into camp.  What did Curtius do more than this? If such an instance 

of devoted heroism had happened in Greece or Rome, the day would have 

been distinguished from all other days.  A medal would have been 

struck, and every means used to secure the everlasting remembrance of 

such a deed.  In England such a man would have been made a knight or a 

lord, with the thanks of Parliament.  In our poor devoted land such 

instances were too common to receive especial notice.  History 

mentions that our army was preserved by the destruction of that 

bridge; but the manner in which it was done, or the name of the person 

who did it, is not mentioned.  It was but one of a series of heroic 

acts, which happened every day, and our soldiers then were more 

familiar with the sword than with the pen. As we have met to erect a 

marble tomb over the remains of that individual, it is right for us to 

bring out this act into more bold relief.

     Let it be borne in mind, that at this time no arrangement had been 

made respecting prisoners; that the British commanders only admitted 

that they arrested rebels, and not that they took prisoners of war. 

Thus all who fought on our side, in addition to the common dangers of 

war, might expect, if taken, to suffer an ignominious death. After his 

discharge, Major Kelly returned to his farm and his family, and during 

the three succeeding years the Indians were troublesome neighbors to 

this then frontier settlement.  He became colonel of the regiment, and 

it was his duty to keep watch and ward against the incursions of 

hostile Indians, through our mountain passes.  At one time our people 

were too weak to resist, and our whole beautiful country was 

abandoned.  Colonel Kelly was among the first to return - for at least 

two harvests reapers took their rifles to the fields, and some of the 

company watched while others wrought.  Colonel Kelly hid the principal 

command of the scouting parties in this Valley, and very often he was 

out in person.  Many and many nights has he lain among the limbs of a 

fallen tree to keep himself out of the mud, without a fire, because a 

fire would indicate his position to the enemy.  He had become well 

skilled in their mode of warfare. One circumstance deserves 

particular notice.  The Indians seem to have resolved on his death, 

without choosing to attack him openly. One night he had reason to 

apprehend that they were near.  He rose in the morning, and, by 

looking through the crevices of his log-house, 

he ascertained that two, at least, if not more, were laying with their 

arms, so as to shoot him when he should open his door.  He fixed his 

own rifle, and took his position, so that by a string he could open 

the door, and watch the Indians.  The moment he pulled the door open, 

two ball came into the house, and the Indians rose to advance. He 

fired and wounded one, and both retreated.  After waiting to satisfy 

himself that no others remained, he followed them by the blood; but 

they escaped.

     For many years Colonel Kelly held the office of a magistrate of the 

county.  In the administration of justice, he exhibited the same 

anxiety to do right, and the same disregard of self gain, which had 

characterized him in the military service of the country. He would at 

any time forgive his own fees, and if the parties were poor, pay the 

constable's costs, to procure a compromise.  While, by industry and 

economy, his own pecuniary circumstances were comfortable and easy, he 

seemed to desire the prosperity of all men, and most anxiously to 

desire, that all neighbors should be friends.  No man ever in vain 

sought his interposition to reconcile conflicting interests, to soothe 

angry passions, to stand, as the defender and protector of the poor 

man, the widow, and the orphan.

     He obeyed the injunction, "be given to hospitality."  There are few 

middle aged men in this country, who have not experienced the cordial 

welcome, which every friend received at his house.  It is true, that 

so general is the hospitality of his neighborhood that the want of it 

would be considered a great vice; but in him it was a part of the same 

character, indicating a freedom from selfishness, an inability to 

enjoy fully God's bounties alone; a feeling that a good thing is 

rendered far more valuable by participation; and a conviction that the 

diffusion of happiness is not merely right in itself, but the source 

of great joy to every well-regulated mind.

     Colonel Kelly was an affectionate husband, and a kind and judicious 

father, as well as a friendly and hospitable neighbor.

     Thus have we seen our venerable friend performed his domestic, 

social, military, and political duties in such a manner as to entitle 

himself to the love and esteem of his neighbors, and to the thanks and 

honors of his countrymen and of posterity.  It may be asked, could a man 

so punctiliously perform all those duties, and leave out of his regard 

his obligations to his Maker? No, indeed, my friends,

he did not lack that crowning virtue.  He was a sincere and an 

exemplary Christian, and he adorned all his other virtues by exhibiting 

a pattern of humility well worthy of imitation.  Having no anxieties 

who should be greatest in the kingdom of Heaven, he had no striving 

who should be greatest in the Church on earth, his profession of 

religion was well sustained by his practice.

     Towards the end of a long and active life, Colonel Kelly became, 

by disease, incapable of much motion, and seldom left his home. He 

seemed to be retiring from public view, and preparing to leave this 

world when he should be called.  He had that true characteristic of 

bravery, an indisposition to fight his battles over again, and that 

feeling of humility, that where a man has only done his duty, boasting 

has no place.  It is in some measure owing to this reserve that our 

notice of his life must be so brief and so imperfect.  He seemed not 

to know, that other men would have done differently from him; but to 

believe that whatever distinguished him from others, arose mainly from 

the circumstances under which he acted.  We are of another 

generation, and his contemporaries have either gone down to the grave, 

or through lapse of time and failing faculities, are unable to give 

particular details.  From himself, but a few gleanings from a life 

long and full of incidents, have been obtained.

     His last end proved his character to be consistent.  He met the 

grim messenger calmly; "for he knew in whom he had trusted;" and he could 

"walk through the valley and shadow of death, fearing no evil."  Age 

brought its weakness, no doubt.  The frame was bent, and the muscles 

relaxed; but the mind - the immortal mind -could not be obscured.  It 

brightened more and more "unto the perfect day."  He has passed beyond 

"that bourne, whence no traveler returns." He has gone, we humbly 

trust, to that Heaven where "there remaineth a rest for the righteous, 

and where the wicked cease from troubling."  Emphatically may it be 

said, that after a life well spent, and in firm hope of a resurrection 

to immortal glory, at the age of eighty-eight years, he departed, 

leaving his memory to our care and his virtues for our imitation - James 

Merrill, Esquire's, Address.

     Colonel Kelly's children were: James, who moved to Penn's valley, 

and died there.  He was the father of Honorable James K. Kelly, United 

States Senator, of Portland, Oregon; John, who also

moved to Penn's valley; William, who married a daughter of Archibald 

Allison, of Centre county, and died, January 27, 1830; Andrew, a 

bachelor, who was born 1783, and died on the old place, September 24, 

1867, aged eighty-four; Samuel Kelly, of Armstrong county, 

Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, married to Simeon Howe; Maria, married to 

John Campbell, of Lewisburg; Robert, who died April 12, 1865, aged 

seventy-seven; Joseph, died March 2, 1860, aged sixty-six; David H. 

Kelly, Esquire, deceased, late county commissioner of Union county.

I note, also, the death of Reverend Thomas Smiley, aged seventy-three, 

born (in Dauphin county now) in 1759, of Scotch-Irish parentage. 

Served in Colonel Curtis Grubb's battalion of militia. Ordained in 

December, 1802.  Settled in White Deer in 1808, where he established 

the first regular Baptist church within the bounds of Union county.

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 The present Presbyterian Church was dedicated June 14

1857. The adjoining Himmelreich Library was built in 1902 and the hall was built in 1995. 

"January 3, was fought the battle at Princeton, in which Colonel 

Potter's battalion took part.  Washington, it will be recollected, 

slipped away from Cornwallis at Trenton, made a forced march on 

Princeton, and had already won the battle there, when Cornwallis, having 

made a forced march, arrived near Stony Brook.  Washington sent an order 

to Colonel Potter to destroy the bridge at Worth's Mills, on Stony 

Brook, in sight of the advancing British.  Colonel Potter ordered Major 

Kelly to make a detail for that purpose. Kelly said he would not order 

another to do what some might say he was afraid to do himself.  He took 

a detail and went to work. The British opened upon him a heavy fire of 

round shot.  Before all the logs were cut off, several balls struck the 

log on which he stood, and it broke down sooner than he expected, and he 

fell into the stream.  His party moved off, not expecting him to escape.

By great exertions he reached the shore through the high water 

and floating timbers, and followed the troops. Incumbered, as he 

was, with his wet and frozen clothes, he made prisoner of an 

armed British scout, and took him into camp. (Lossing, in his 

Field Book of the Revolution, says he was taken prisoner.  This 

is a mistake.) Colonel Kelly used to tell that during this 

tour, for three days at one time there was no service of 

provisions, and during the march before and after the battle, 

they were thirty-six hours under arms without sleep." Linn's Annals

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Mrs. Sarah Kelly, wife of Colonel John Kelly, 2d January.  She went 

to bed in her usual health the night before; got up in the night and 

made herself a cup of tea; was heard to groan, and complained of pain in 

her stomach.  By the time the family were awakened she was dead.  She 

was a daughter of James Poak, sister of Mrs. Darraugh.

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