Militia & Associated Companies of Bucks County Pennsylvania
Captain Jacob ORDNT's Company
In late 1755, concerns were rising about hostilities with the Indians along the frontier. In November, Indians were know to have crossed the Blue Mountains and into Berks county, engaging in acts of murder and mayhem. Following the massacre at Gnadenhutten, on November 24, a company of men under a Captain WILSON was sent to relieve Bethlehem. Soon after, some eight-hundred men were mustered into service, under the command of Benjamin FRANKLIN, who was then colonel of a Philadelphia regiment and a provincial commissioner on frontier defenses, given charge of defensive operations from the Delaware to the Susquehanna. At this time a Captain HAYS, commander of a small company on the frontier, came to Bucks county to secure recruits to aid Col. FRANKLIN. The first Bucks county company to join this force was that of Captain James McLAUGHLIN, but additional troops soon followed. On January 14, 1756, writing from Bethlehem, Col. FRANKLIN sent the following message to the governor:
"As Hays, I hear, is not likely to soon recruit his company, I have ordered ORDNT to come up from Rockland in Bucks county to strengthen this part of the province."
Captain Jacob ORDNT's company initially served in Northampton county, building forts and as garrison. First stationed at Fort Norris, on Big Creek, the company was later transferred to Fort Allen, on the Lehigh, in October of 1756. The Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, Volume III, records the following officers and troop strength for the company as of November 4, 1756: Captain Jacob ORNDT; Lieutenant Anthony MILLER; Ensign Nicholas CONRADE; Sergeants - 2; and Privates - 33.
Capt. ORDNT was a popular and energetic officer who rose to the rank of major, and remained in service until the end of the war with the French. In 1758 he was placed in command of the eastern frontier, with headquarters at Easton, and later served as a member of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council during the Revolutionary War. He died, at Easton, in 1805.
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