4 MAR--This Day in US Military History

2015-03-04T09:54:49-05:00

1681 – The Quaker leader William Penn signed a peace treaty with Tammany, leader of the Delaware tribe, beginning a long period of friendly relations between the Quakers and the Indians.

Additional treaties between Quakers and other tribes followed. Before the Commonwealth was settled by Europeans, the area was home to the Delaware, Susquehannock, Iroquois, Eriez, Shawnee, and other American Indian Nations.
On February 28, 1681, Charles II granted a land charter to William Penn to repay a debt of £16,000 (around £2,100,000 in 2008, adjusting for retail inflation) owed to William’s father, Admiral William Penn. This was one of the largest land grants to an individual in history. It was called Pennsylvania. William Penn, who wanted it called New Wales or Sylvania, was embarrassed at the change, fearing that people would think he had named it after himself, but King Charles would not rename the grant.
Penn established a government with two innovations that were much copied in the New World: the county commission and freedom of religious conviction. What had been Upland on what became the Pennsylvania side of the Pennsylvania-Delaware Border was renamed as Chester County when Pennsylvania instituted their colonial governments on March 4, 1681. The treaty of William Penn was never violated.

https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/march-4/

March 4

4 March 1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what is now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean. 1628 – The Massach...

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2015 8:35 PM

2015-03-04T20:35:15-05:00

Now that's some serious history, MSG Private RallyPoint Member! Going way back ... before the founding of our nation. That hits "home" for me because I grew up in upstate New York, where a lot of Native Americans (Iroquis, I believe) were living at the time. In the woods behind the house where I grew up, we had stone walls that dated from these times.