Cresap's War

Background

Pennsylvania's 1681 Charter bounded the colony on the south by a circle twelve miles from New Castle northward and westward to the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude, then by a straight line westward. Later surveys showed New Castle lay twenty-five miles south of the fortieth parallel, creating a boundary dispute. Maryland insisted on the fortieth parallel as specified; Pennsylvania proposed a line near 39°36', which would create a disputed strip twenty-eight miles wide.

Because the fortieth parallel lay north of Philadelphia, Maryland pressed its claim in sparsely inhabited lands west of the Susquehanna River. By the late 1710s, rumors reached the Pennsylvania Assembly that Maryland planned settlements in the disputed area. Pennsylvania responded in 1722 by organizing a proprietorial manor along Codorus Creek, prompting a crisis. A 1724 royal proclamation prohibited new settlements until a boundary was surveyed, but the sides failed to agree, and unauthorized settlement resumed.

In 1726, John Wright and two associates settled near the river, having befriended and converted local Indians since 1724. Wright built two dugout canoes and began an ad hoc ferry business, which grew enough that he applied for a ferry license in 1730.

Outbreak of hostilities

In late October 1730, two men from Pennsylvania attacked Cresap while he worked his ferry. According to a statement Cresap later gave in Maryland, he and one of his laborers were called over by the pair and started ferrying them across the river. About sixty yards out, the passengers aimed their guns at the Marylanders. A struggle broke out, and Cresap tried to defend himself with the oars.

Soon both Cresap and his worker ended up in the water, clinging to the boat to stay afloat. The attackers tried to make Cresap release his grip. When he asked if they meant to kill him, one of them said yes. Cresap only got away when the boat drifted into shallow water near a large rock.

He was stuck there for hours until a Native American who was friendly helped him. Later, it came out that the real target was Cresap’s worker. A landowner from Lancaster County wanted him, likely over some debts, and the worker was taken away by force. Cresap felt the local Pennsylvania magistrate did not take the attack seriously enough.

That official first said he saw no reason Cresap should get justice there, since Cresap lived in Maryland. The Maryland governor later used that remark in a letter to the Pennsylvania governor. Cresap then filed charges in Maryland, accusing Pennsylvania officials of plotting with the attackers and with local tribes to force him out. From then on, he insisted that as a Maryland resident, Pennsylvania law did not apply to him and he had no duty to help its officers.

1732 agreement

In 1732, Maryland’s governor, Charles Calvert, made a temporary deal with William Penn’s sons, drawing a boundary line and giving up Maryland’s claim to Delaware. But later he said the signed document did not match what he had agreed to, so he refused to honor it. By the mid-1730s, settlers who sided with one colony or the other started fighting. This border conflict became known as Cresap’s War.

Resolution

Following Cresap's arrest, Maryland petitioned King George II to restore order. On August 18, 1737, the king issued a proclamation instructing both colonies to cease hostilities. Sporadic violence continued, prompting further petitions. The royal Committee for Plantation Affairs organized negotiations, resulting in a peace agreement signed in London on May 25, 1738, providing for prisoner exchange and a provisional boundary fifteen miles south of Philadelphia.

Each side respected the other's authority on its own side pending Chancery Court action. Because Blue Rock Ferry lay north of the provisional boundary, Cresap did not return after his release. In 1750, the Chancery Court upheld the 1732 agreement, which became the basis for the Mason–Dixon line surveyed in 1767. The conflict area is now part of York County, Pennsylvania.