Chester County History Center - Walter Finney Diary Collection

About This Collection

The digitized diaries of Walter Finney consist of three volumes with accompanying typed transcripts and date from 1778 to 1786. The diaries document Walter Finney’s observations and notes during his service in the Revolutionary War, and as a witness to negotiations with Native American tribes after the War. A typed transcription of each diary, which adheres to Finney’s grammar and spelling, has been scanned and is included at the end of each volume in the collection. For ease of use, the order of scanned pages from the original diaries follows the same order presented in the typed transcripts. Walter Finney was born in New London, Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1748, the son of William (1701-1751) and Jean Stephenson Finney (1706-1751). Except for his military service during the Revolutionary War and immediately afterward, he resided on and cultivated his family farm in New London. According to Chester County and its People, by Wilmer W. Thomson, Finney was active in pre-Revolutionary War activities, including a meeting at the Chester County courthouse on December 20, 1774 “for the purpose of choosing a committee to carry into execution the association of the Continental Congress.” The following month he was appointed to a provincial convention in Philadelphia that recommended both the making of salt peter, a component of gunpowder, and the insuring of a proper supply. Eventually, Finney himself learned how to make salt peter and taught others how to do so. Walter Finney enlisted in the American revolutionary army as a Lieutenant, then rose to Captain and Major. As his diaries record, he spent his wartime service in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and several southern states. He suffered a head wound and was captured by the British and served his incarceration on a New York prison ship. After the war, Finney joined the State Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal and hereditary organization founded in 1783 to commemorate the Revolutionary War. Following the Revolution, Finney seems to have taken part in treaty negotiations with Native Americans who had sided with the British. Once home in New London, Finney was a ruling elder of his Presbyterian Church, was named a director of the New London Library Company, and pursuant to the Pennsylvania constitution of 1790, Gov. Thomas Mifflin appointed him an associate justice of the Chester County Court on which he served until his death. Finney married Mary O’Hara, and together they had two sons, Walter Jr. and William. Finney died on September 17, 1820 and is buried at Thunder Hill Cemetery, also known as the Finney Family Burial Ground, in New London. Joseph Lee Boyle, a military historian who worked at Valley Forge Historical Park for more than a dozen years, transcribed the first two volumes of Finney’s diaries and published them with commentary in New Jersey History, vol. 121, nos. 1-4, 2003, pp. 23-81 and South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 98, no. 2, 1997, pp. 126-152.
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Diary of Walter Finney: 1778-1780
Finney, Walter, 1748-1820, Farmers--Pennsylvania--Chester County, United States--Army--Military life, United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, New Jersey--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, New York (State)--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, Connecticut--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, Pennsylvania--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, Washington, George, 1732-1799
The first diary (June 1778 – December 1780) records Walter Finney’s Revolutionary War experiences primarily in the northern states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York. In this volume, Finney rarely mentions doing battle with the British. Instead, he frequently chronicles the movement of American troops from one encampment to another. Additionally, he notes when he saw George Washington, the times he spotted Lafayette, and comments about countless military exercises. In April 1780, in a field near Morristown, New Jersey, such exercises attracted several hundred civilian spectators. A farmer, Finney also writes about the condition of the soil he marched over, sometimes noting how challenging it would be to farm. Finney laments the loose morals and swearing of his fellow soldiers and records instances of punishments for their malfeasance. Lastly, Finney occasionally remarks about cities and towns he passed through. For example, Danbury, Connecticut was a convenient place to conduct trade until the tyrannical British arrived and set it afire. The end of the volume includes two transcribed poems of the day, “The Maid’s Soliloquy” and Thomas Paine’s “Death of General Wolfe.” Joseph Lee Boyle, a military historian who worked at Valley Forge Historical Park for more than a dozen years, transcribed the first two volumes of Finney’s diaries and published them with commentary in New Jersey History, vol. 121, nos. 1-4, 2003, pp. 23-81 and South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 98, no. 2, 1997, pp. 126-152.
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Diary of Walter Finney: 1782-1783
Finney, Walter, 1748-1820, Farmers--Pennsylvania--Chester County, United States--Army--Military life, United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, Virginia--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, North Carolina--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, South Carolina--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, Georgia--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, Slavery
The second diary (February 1782 – June 1783) finds Walter Finney in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia during the Revolution. Themes in the first diary—particularly camp life, topographical comments, and troop movements—carry over into the second. Relating to camp life, he notes one particularly stern punishment of the troops involved Sergeant Gessner, who was executed for promoting mutiny. In June of 1782, he noted thoughts on the arability of South Carolina. Slavery garnered his attention: “Labour of all kinds, mechanical as well as Agriculture, is parform’d by Negroes, this policy being still thought best, evry exertion is Us’d to increase their numbers, it is not uncommon for one man to own Fifty working negroes at once.” Joseph Lee Boyle, a military historian who worked at Valley Forge Historical Park for more than a dozen years, transcribed the first two volumes of Finney’s diaries and published them with commentary in New Jersey History, vol. 121, nos. 1-4, 2003, pp. 23-81 and South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 98, no. 2, 1997, pp. 126-152.
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Diary of Walter Finney: 1785-1786
Finney, Walter, 1748-1820, Farmers--Pennsylvania--Chester County, United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783, Indians of North America--Treaties, Indians of North America--Wars, 1775-1783, Wyandot Indians, Chippewa Indians, Ottawa Indians, Shawnee Indians, Cherokee Indians, Delaware Indians
The third diary (January 1785 – July 1786) documents negotiations with Native American tribes after the Revolutionary War, which Finney either witnessed or actively took part in. Finney provides detailed notes on the January 1785 Treaty of Fort McIntosh between Commissioners representing the United States and the Wyandotte, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa Nations. The first part of the diary records what was said and exchanged during these negotiations, in some cases reading as transcripts of meetings on January 9, 12-13, 15, and 18. This is followed by a transcription of the July 1785 contract for Samuel Osgood, Walter Levingston, and James O’Hara to negotiate with the Shawnee Nation near the Miami River in Ohio. The rest of the diary consists of Finney’s diary entries from September 1785 to Jan. 1786, as well as transcribed copies of letters and documents, including those to and from General George Rogers Clark and Colonel Josiah Harmer. These materials detail specific events leading to increasing tension between the two negotiating parties in 1786.
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