Christian Post, Moravian Missionary and Messenger, Died April 29, 1785

Christian Frederic Post, who has been denominated “the great Moravian peace-maker,” was a simple uneducated missionary of the Moravian Church. He was born in Polish Prussia, in 1710, and at an early age came under the influence of the Moravians. He emigrated to this country as a member of the “Sea Congregation,” which arrived on the Catherine, at New London, Conn., May 30, 1742. Post, with the other members, joined the congregation at Bethlehem, Pa., three weeks later.

From that time until his death, at Germantown, April 29, 1785, he performed many hazardous missions for his church and the Provincial Government of Pennsylvania, and many times was in imminent peril. The first several years of his residence in Pennsylvania he was employed as a Moravian missionary, but afterwards was almost constantly performing important services for the Province in its Indian dealings.

Some of the journals of Post, which appear in the Archives of Pennsylvania, and have been republished elsewhere, are valuable for the intimate history of the peoples and the country through which he traveled. One of the editors who republished his journals, wrote as follows concerning the missionary and mediator: “Antiquarians and historians have alike admired the sublime courage of the man and the heroic patriotism which made him capable of advancing into the heart of a hostile territory, into the very hands of a cruel and treacherous foe. But aside from Post’s supreme religious faith, he had a shrewd knowledge of Indian customs, and knew that in the character of an ambassador requested by the Western tribes his mission would be a source of protection. Therefore, even under the very walls of Fort Dusquesne, he trusted not in vain to Indian good faith.”

When Conrad Weiser visited Shikellamy at Shamokin, May, 1743, he wrote: “As I saw their old men seated on rude benches and on the ground listening with decorous gravity and rapt attention to Post, I fancied I saw before me a congregation of primitive Christians.”

In 1743 Post was married to a converted Indian woman, and endeared himself to all the Indians. But all was not smooth, for the Brethren were persecuted and humbled before their converts. Post, who had been on a journey to the Iroquois country, in March, 1745, was arrested at Canajoharie and sent to New York, where he was imprisoned 303for weeks, on a trumped-up charge of abetting Indian raids. He was released April 10.

In 1758 it became a matter of importance with Governor Denny and Sir William Johnson, that a treaty of peace be secured with the Western Indians. Post was selected to convey to them the white belt of peace and reconciliation. Tedyuskung, the Delaware king, protested against his going, declaring he would never return alive, but the bold and confident Christian said it was a mission of peace, that God would protect him, and that he must go.

On July 15, 1758, Post departed from Philadelphia with five Indian guides. He carried with him copies of the treaties made with Tedyuskung, belts of wampum and messages from the Governor. He made his trip by way of Bethlehem, Shamokin, Great Island, Chinclamoose, etc.

It was a perilous journey. Twice he got lost in the woods, and one of his guides strayed away and could not be found. Without food and drenched with rain, night after night he slept on the cold, wet ground. He was frequently very near the French. Finally he arrived at King Beaver’s, who ruled over the Delaware in the West. These Indians remembered him when he preached the gospel at Wyoming, and were glad to see him. They gave him a public dinner, to which they invited the surroundingsurrounding tribes.

The French sent spies to watch him and to induce him to go to Fort Duquesne. Post refused to be trapped, but instead succeeded in making arrangements for kindling a great council-fire at Easton in October following.

Post now set out on his return and had not proceeded far when he heard the thunder of nineteen cannon discharged at the fort. Under the very mouths of these guns he had, singly and alone, with the full knowledge of the French, laid a plan which rent asunder the alliance between them and their Indian allies.

Post succeeded in his mission, and the French at the fort, finding themselves abandoned by their allies, fired it and fled, as the invalid general, John Forbes, and his army made their appearance.

Frank Cowan, poet of Southwestern Pennsylvania, tells the story in one of his songs, of which the following is a verse:

“The Head of Iron from his couch,

Gave courage and command,

Which Washington, Bouquet and Grant

Repeated to the band;

Till Hark! the Highlanders began

With their chieftain’s word to swell,

‘Tonight, I shall sup and drain my cup

In Fort Du Quense—or Hell!’

But the Man of Prayer, and not of boast,

Had spoken first, in Frederic Post.”

304Again, in 1761, he proceeded to the Muskingum and built the first white man’s house within the present State of Ohio. He had made previous trips into this country, and always succeeded in persuading the Shawnee and Delaware to “bury the hatchet” and desert the French. He did this with a heavy reward upon his scalp, and while his every footstep was surrounded with danger.

In 1762 the Reverend John G. B. Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary and writer, especially among the Delaware, was an assistant to Post.

Toward the close of his eventful life Post retired from the Moravian sect and entered the Protestant Episcopal Church. He died at Germantown on April 29, 1785, and on May 1 his remains were interred in the “Lower graveyard of that place, the Reverend William White, then rector of Christ Church,” conducting the funeral service.