The Legend of the Daring Ride of Rachel Silverthorn, 1778

A photograph of the 1938 public works painting by John W. Beauchamp, titled “The Ride of Rachel Silverthorn.” The painting hangs in the Muncy Post Office, Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.

During the depression years, the U. S. Government commissioned artists to create works of art in public buildings. Beauchamp, a Massachusetts artist, got a commission to do a painting for the Muncy Post Office, and after researching and consulting with a local historian, decided to make Rachel Silverthorn the subject of his work.

The painting he created depicts Rachel Silverthorn on horseback alerting a group of settlers to some impending danger.

The story of Rachel Silverthorn is as follows:

On a warm afternoon in July 1778, a group of settlers on the east bank of the Susquehanna River near the Muncy Creek were preparing to travel by boat down to Sunbury, leaving another group behind.  Word then came of a massacre that had taken place in the Wyoming Valley, and the advice was given for all settlers north of the Muncy Creek to take shelter at Fort Augusta in Sunbury.

In early August 1778 there was a group of men working in the fields near the Loyalsock Creek, when they were alerted by sentinels of an Indian attack.  James Brady, the son of Capt. John Brady, was in charge of the men, but he was almost immediately killed and scalped.  Several others were wounded.

Capt. Brady, who was at Muncy, received word of the attack and asked for a volunteer to war other settlers of the impending danger.  After several pleas the captain, no one came forward, but eventually Rachel Silverthorn volunteered.

The story was told in greater detail in the 1873 Atlas of Lycoming County:

“I captain I will apprise them all of their danger,” said a gentle voice on his right. I know the trails full well I can make the circuit of the Gortners, Jacob Alwood the Shaners, David Aspen and the Robbs, and suiting the action to the word Rachel Silverthorn grasped the reins of the faithful animal that stood ready like herself to be sacrificed if necessary in the interest of humanity. 
 
And before the soldiers had time to recover from their astonishment and chagrin she was mounted and flying with the speed of the wind to the nearest cabin on the creek which was on the farm now owned by the heirs of Colonel John Gortner, thence to Alwood’s Shaner‘s and Aspen who lived on the farms now owned by the descendants of Baltser Steck.
 
Her path then led over the land now occupied by the town of Hughesville to a settlement made and occupied at that time by the ancestors of the Robb family then back to the fort. 
 
She returned in so short a time that the garrison was as much astonished as they were at her departure. But the heroism necessary to undertake so perilous an undertaking was a sufficient guarantee that the work would be well done.
 
And it was well done for we are told that under cover of the dark night that followed every exposed settler in the district was safely housed in the fort. The timely warning given by the brave and beautiful Rachel Silverthorn no doubt saved some of her friends from the cruel tomahawk and scalping knife, and one perhaps in whom she had a double interest as tradition hands down to us the fact that her affianced was among the exposed. 

However, from an early history of Lycoming County, the story was more briefly told, as follows:

Incidents of Early History. — There is much thrilling and interesting history relating to this township, that it would be a work of supererogation to repeat it in detail here.  As far as is known David Aspen was the first settler within the limits of Wolf.  The exact time is not known, but it must have been as early as 1777, as on the 8th of August, 1778, Rachel Silverthorn was despatched to warn him of the approach of the Indians.  His cabin stood on or near the southern boundary line of the borough of Hughesville.  Aspen took refuge at Fort Muncy, where he remained a few days, and then return to look after his effects.  Not returning a searching party started out to look for him.  Near his cabin his dead body was found.  He had been shot and scalped by the Lurking savages.  Until within a few years a pile of stones where the chimney of his cabin stood was pointed out, and an old apple tree still marks the place.  Whence he came, his age, and whether he had a family, are, like his burial place, unknown.

It is not known whether the Legend of Rachel Silverthorn is true or, if true, whether it has been embellished over the years – particularly with the depiction in the Beauchamp painting.

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With help from Valley Girl. The painting photo is from Wikipedia and is in the public domain.

Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.

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