THE LAUFFER HISTORY

1906 Publication

                         RELATIONS TO CHURCH AND STATE.

The oldest Lauffers belonged to the Reformed Church, and were loyal to the God of their Fathers. This was the State Church of the Palatine. They have been a churchly people, and those not in the Reformed church have united with other protestant denominations, as Lutheran and Presbyterian ; they are known

as a God-fearing and a Church-loving people.

Christian Laffer was a zealous patriot; his son Adam served under Washington, and Peter, being too small of stature to bear arms in the service, was set to work during his term of enlistment serving his country as a shoe maker. Henry is enrolled among the "Rangers of the Frontiers" 1778-1783 for Westmoreland County, (Penn'a Archives Vol. XXIII. p, 226, 3rd series).  John was under Captain Bonnet, of Mt. Pleasant, and joined in pursuit of Indians who had murdered families along Beaver Run.  Christian Jr., and Barthol (who preceded Christian the pioneer, into Westmoreland County), were among the defenders of the Drumm Block, House, south of Greensburg. The whole family was concerned in the fight for freedom. And in the War of 1812, the Mexican and Civil Wars, there were many to respond.

The power of the Indians was broken on August 5th, 1763, near Harrison City, Westmoreland Co., by Colonel Boquet. The Indian Chief Pontiac in that year led the tribes north of the Ohio against the English forts from Detroit to Ligonier. Col. Boquet was sent to the relief of the forts of Western Penna. and having raised the siege of Ft. Ligonier, he marched with a force of 500 Scotch Highlanders and Colonial Volunteers to the relief of Ft. Pitt. En route he was drawn into an Indian ambuscade, Darkness saved the army from terrible defeat. Next clay he feigned retreat, and drew the Indians into an ambuscade, and finally routed them with great slaughter. The mighty Pontiac's grand dream of Indian Empire was rack& w3en his army was crushed and scattered at Bushy Run.

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Yet petty Indian incursions, murders and theft, were rife until after the War of 1812.

In 1871 the British in Canada projected an expedition against Ft. Pitt. They were accompanied by Indians and Tories. Reinforcements for Ft. Pitt deterred them from attacking that stronghold, but they divided into small parties, and these detached bodies fell on defenseless points along the western frontier. One such

mongrel band, numbering about I00 Tories and Indians was sent against Hannastown, July 13, 1782. The settlers escaped within the palisades of the fort, but the town was burned. This was then the county seat of Westmoreland.

Gen. Harmer was defeated in Ohio in 1790. Col. Christopher Truby, of Greensburg, accompanied him - the latter a relative of the Lauffers. Gen. St. Clair on Nov. 4, 1791, was defeated in the battle of the Wabash. "Waynes victory at the battle of Fallen Timber, 1795, forever broke the Indian power and gave peace to the Westmoreland frontier."

We can be proud of our hardy pioneer ancestors, who crossed the Alleghenies to hold the marauding Indians in check, to build homes and protect the western outposts in the troublous days of the American Revolution.  Historians are slow to realize what strategic work these Germans did, for the and  of their adoption, in the throes of its birth. their industry and enterprise cleared

farms and built homes, and produced provisions for themselves and the inhabitants of the fort towns. And their bravery helped crush the Indian power ; Gen. Boquet was Swiss-German, as were many of the men under his command. They helped defend Ft. Ligonier, Fort Drumm, Fort Walthour, Fort Hannastown, Fort Pitt from the merciless savages and Tories in the British Service.  Had these outposts been lost in the American Revolution, our country's claim to the Ohio and Mississippi would have been less valid. For their retention, some honor is due our hardy German ancestors.

The Lauffers of the past have been aggressive in business, prudent, industrious, honest. They have been useful in church and state. It is up to us to prove ourselves worthy scions of noble ancestors.