George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 1 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja jbanja@comcast.net USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities, when written permission is obtained from the contributor, so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ________________________________________________ HTML with illustrations: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/peckwyo/peck-wyo.htm WYOMING; ITS HISTORY, STIRRING INCIDENTS AND ROMANTIC ADVENTURES. By GEORGE PECK, D.D. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE, 1858 ITS HISTORY. 11 WYOMING. ZINZENDORF PROVIDENTIALLY DELIVERED. [illustration] I. ITS HISTORY. Among the mountains which lift up their heads, in countless numbers and in all shapes, between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, on the banks of the winding Susquehanna, lies the classic vale of Wyoming. It is not so much distinguished for its magnitude as for its beauty, its mineral wealth, and its historical incidents. WYOMING is a corruption of the name given to the locality by the Indians. They called it Maughwauwame. The word is compounded of maughwau, large, and wame, plains. The name, then, signifies THE LARGE PLAINS. The Delawares pronounced the first syllable short, and the German missionaries, in order to come as near as possible to the Indian pronunciation, wrote the name M'chweuwami. The early settlers, finding it difficult to pronounce the word correctly, spoke it Wauwaumie, then Wiawumi, then Wiomic, and finally, Wyoming. The valley of Wyoming lies northeast and southwest, is twenty-one miles in length, and an average of three miles in breadth. The face of the country is considerably diversified. The bottom-lands along the river overflow at high water. The plains are in some places perfectly level, and in others rolling. The soil 10 WYOMING. is exceedingly productive, being suited to all sorts of grain and grass. Two ranges of mountains hem in the valley, the eastern range being of an average height of one thousand feet, and the western about eight hundred. The eastern range is precipitous and generally barren, but is strikingly diversified with clefts, ravines, and forests, and presents a most picturesque view. The western range is rapidly yielding to the process of cultivation. There are several charming points of view which invite the attention of the lovers of the beautiful and the grand in nature: Prospect Rock, west of the old town of Wilkesbarre, being the easiest of access from the town, and the most frequently visited, is the most celebrated in the annals of travel. From this point the valley, with the slope of the west mountain, presents the appearance of a beautiful ascending plain, with the remotest border merged in the clouds, or bounded by the blue sky. A more charming landscape can not be imagined. The view from the mountain side west of Forty Fort gives you a more extensive prospect of the northern and southern extremities of the valley. From this point you have a fair view of the northern gap through which the Susquehanna forces its way - of the Lackawanna Valley, Pittston, Wyoming, Wilkesbarre, Kingston, Newport, and Jacob's Plains. Campbell's Ledge is becoming a favorite point of view for the romantic and athletic. This high peak is situated at the head of the valley. The ascent is laborious, but the sublimity of the scene amply rewards the toil of the traveler. Torrents gush through deep gorges in the mountains on either side, slackening their speed as they enter the valley, and sluggishly meander through the ITS HISTORY. 11 level plains and flats until they find their way to the river. These creeks are each dignified by the name of some Indian chief who dwelt on its banks, and figure considerably in the history of the country. From whatever point the valley is surveyed, the noble Susquehanna is one of the many beautiful objects which present themselves to the gaze. Such are its windings, and such the variety which characterizes its banks, that you have no extended view of it. It is only seen in sections, varied in size and form by the position occupied. Now it hides itself among the bowers of willow, sycamore, and maple which fringe and beautify its borders, and now it throws open its mirror bosom to the kisses of the sunlight, and reflects the forms of beauty and grandeur of the surrounding scenery. "The Large Plains," when first visited by the whites for purposes of settlement, were in the possession of the Delaware Indians. The Delawares had once been a powerful tribe, but had been subjected by the Iroquois, or the six confederated nations, and by them were ordered to leave the country on the Delaware, east of the Blue Ridge, and occupy Wyoming. The Nanticokes had settled on the lower extremity of the valley, on the east side of the river, and the Shawanese were located on the flats immediately over against them on the west side. But these tribes finally removed - the Nanticokes up the river, and the Shawanese to Ohio. How the Delawares became sole masters of the valley may be learned from the following interesting relation: "While the warriors of the Delawares were engaged upon the mountains in a hunting expedition, a number of squaws, or female Indians, from Maughwau- 12 WYOMING. wame, were gathering wild fruits along the margin of the river, below the town, where they found a number of Shawanese squaws and their children, who had crossed the river in their canoes upon the same business. A child belonging to the Shawanese having taken a large grasshopper, a quarrel arose among the children for the possession of it, in which their mothers soon took a part, and, as the Delaware squaws contended that the Shawanese had no privileges upon that side of the river, the quarrel soon became general; but the Delawares, being the most numerous, soon drove the Shawanese to their canoes and to their own bank, a few having been killed on both sides. Upon the return of the warriors, both tribes prepared for battle, to revenge the wrongs which they considered their wives had sustained. "The Shawanese, upon crossing the river, found the Delawares ready to receive them and oppose their landing. A dreadful conflict took place between the Shawanese in their canoes and the Delawares on the bank. At length, after great numbers had been killed, the Shawanese effected a landing, and a battle took place about a mile below Maughwauwame, in which many hundred warriors are said to have been killed on both sides; but the Shawanese were so much weakened in landing that they were not able to sustain the conflict, and, after the loss of about half their tribe, the remainder were forced to flee to their own side of the river, shortly after which they abandoned their town and removed to the Ohio." - Chapman's History of Wyoming. The ancient fortifications which are found scattered over the country, and prove that it was once peopled by warlike tribes or nations which had made consid- ITS HISTORY. 13 Erable advances in civilization, were found in Wyoming. One of these was situated on the eastern branch of Toby's Creek, below the old Esquire Pierce place, or the place occupied by the late Pierce Butler, Esq. There are persons still living who recollect this ancient monument of an extinguished race, but every trace of it is now obliterated. Another of these ancient relics was situated on the east side of the Susquehanna, opposite Forty Fort. We explored this ground some twenty years since, in company with the venerable historian of Wyoming, Hon. Charles Miner. At that time, a lane running along the side of one of the embankments had protected it from being leveled by the plow. It was then in a good state of preservation, several feet in height, with a corresponding ditch. When the whites first visited the valley, there were large pine and oak trees growing on the embankments of these ancient forts, and the oldest Indians could give no account of their origin, or the purposes which they were designed to serve. It was missionary zeal that first penetrated this secluded region. Count Zinzendorf is believe to be the first white man who set his foot upon The Great Plains. In 1742 he came with an interpreter, and erected his tent near the Indian Village, and proposed a talk. He was a messenger sent from the Great Spirit, sent to teach the red man the true worship. He had crossed the seas upon this benevolent errand, without the hope of earthly gain. The savages could not comprehend the fact that he had taken so much pains to visit them with no selfish motive. Concluding that it was the object of the pale faces to take their lands from them, they resolved to terminate the enterprise by their immediate 14 WYOMING. COUNT ZINZENDORF [illustration] Destruction. A few warriors selected for the purpose stealthily approached the tent of the unsuspecting stranger by night to accomplish their designs, when a strange providence interfered. Peeping through an opening of the tent, they saw a huge rattlesnake crawl over the feet of the strange visitor without interrupting his composure, as he sat upon a bundle of weeds engaged in writing. Considering that he was protected by the Great Spirit, they departed without offering him the least molestation. To this circumstance has been attributed the success of the Moravian missionaries among the Delawares, or at least their first favorable reception among that savage people. As early as 1750, a few daring adventurers from New England had crossed the mountains, and pushed their way toward the setting sun, until from the heights ITS HISTORY. 15 Of the Susquehanna range they gazed upon the most lovely natural landscape which the eye ever beheld. The primeval forests covered the slopes of the mountains, while the plains and river-bottom were here and there imperfectly cultivated by the Indians, who as yet held undisputed possession of the country west of the Delaware. Wild fruits and flowers garnished the hill sides, the deep ravines, and the river banks. The wild grape hung in clusters upon the vines, which clung to the branches of the trees and waved in the breeze. Vegetation of all kinds flourished in wonderful luxuriance. "So on he fares, and to the border comes Of Eden, where delicious Paradise, Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green, As with a rural mound, the champaign head Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild: * * * and overhead up grew, Insuperable height of loftiest shade, Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, A sylvan scene; and as the ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woody theatre Of stateliest mien. * * * * * * * * * * * Another side, umbrageous grots and caves Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps Luxuriant: meanwhile murmuring waters fall Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake, That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams." MILTON. The mountains and the vales were thickly inhabited by an endless variety of wild game, which had not yet learned to fear the white man and to elude his arts; the waters were stored with an abundance of fish; and 16 WYOMING. [illustration] the air was made vocal with the songs of the feathered tribes that discoursed the sweet music of nature. "Then, when of Indian hills the daylight takes His leave, how might you the flamingo see Disporting like a meteor on the lakes - And playful squirrel on his nut-grown tree: And every sound of life was full of glee, From merry mock-bird's song or hum of men; While hearkening, fearing naught their revelry, The wild deer arched his neck from glades, and then, Unhunted, sought his woods and wilderness again." CAMPBELL'S Gertrude of Wyoming. These adventurers returned to the rocky hills of Connecticut and Massachusetts with the most wonderful tales of a sort of "Paradise" which lay away among the western mountains. To the visitors themselves, ITS HISTORY. 17 the imagery, which lingered in their memory seemed like a vision of celestial scenery; and to those who listened to their vivid descriptions, the whole seemed a mere romance. New parties followed "to spy out the land," and they returned with something more than a mere confirmation of the reports of their predecessors. The whole country was filled with wonder, and a desire naturally sprung up many in minds to see the glories of the goodly land for themselves. Plans were formed for early emigration to "Wyoming on the Susquehanna," and many hearts beat high, and many strong arms were ready for the hazards of the enterprise. The mountains and rivers could be crossed, the wilderness could be threaded, the wild beasts could be driven from their lairs; but there was still a difficulty which seemed insuperable - it was the ownership and occupancy of the soil by the Indians. This obstacle must be overcome by negotiation, by purchase, by kind treatment, if possible; but if not, by the appliances of war. The settlement of Wyoming by the whites was a foregone conclusion, and the only question about it was that of time. The country was visited every season by small parties, whose object was to test the state of the savage mind, and to determine the question of the safety of white settlers in the neighborhood of the Indians.* _______ *In 1754, Conrad Weiser, a famous Indian interpreter, and agent for the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, on a visit to the Indians at Shemokin, reports: "The Indians in Susquehanna and about Shemokin saw some of the New England men that came as spies to Woyomock last fall; and they saw them making drafts of the land and rivers, and, are much offended about it. They asked me about them. I told them we had heard so much as that, and that we had intelligence from New England that they came against the advice of their superiors as a parcel of headstrong men, and disturbers of the peace. They, the Indians, said they were glad to hear that neither their brother Onos nor their own chief men had sent them, and they hoped they would not be supported by any English government in their so doing." - Letter to the Governor: Colonial Records, vol. vi., p. 35. This was the first attempt which was made to sketch a rude map of the country preparatory to the formation of a settlement. It is believed by their descendants that the elder John Jenkins and Thomas Bennet were in this company. 18 WYOMING. The conflicts which occurred between the people of Connecticut and Pennsylvania in relation to the right of settlement and jurisdiction constitute so prominent a part of the early history of Wyoming, that it will be proper here to notice the grounds of their respective claims. "King Charles II, by letters patent, under the great seal of England, granted a tract of land in America to William Penn, Esq., his heirs, and assigns, and made him and them the true and absolute proprietors thereof saving always to the crown the faith and allegiance of the said William Penn, his heirs and assigns, and of the tenants and inhabitants of the premises, and saving also unto the crown the sovereignty of the said country." The country was "thereby erected into a province and sovereignty, and called Pennsylvania." "And thereby granted free, full, and absolute power unto the said William Penn and his heirs, and to his and their deputies and lieutenants, for the good and happy government of the country, to ordain, make, enact, and, under his and their seals, to publish any laws whatsoever." - See Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ii., p.100, 101. Under this charter a government was instituted, consisting of a governor and council, but the Penns ITS HISTORY. 19 owned the soil in fee. Their policy was to lay out all the best lands into manors, and settle them by tenants under leases. Thus some of the most objectionable features of the old feudal system were established in Pennsylvania. The proprietaries, of course, were opposed to emigrations from other states to their lands, except to such of them as were worthless. Settlers were, consequently, often driven off by force, and their houses burned. In 1754, Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, wrote to Governor Wolcott, of Connecticut, remonstrating against the scheme of some of the Connecticut people to settle Wyoming. At the same time, he offered them lands "in the western parts of this province," or to use his good offices to procure them the privilege of settling in "Virginia." Governor Wolcott made a very cautious but pertinent answer, taking special pains to urge that wherever settlers were permitted to take possession of lands in Pennsylvania, they should be made "freeholders." He suggested that, in the event of war with the French, "the resolution of the soldier will be very much in fighting for his country, according to his interest in it." "If I must go out," says he, "let me have an army of freeholders or freeholders' sons." He then proceeds to give the result of his experience in the case of "the siege of Louisburg, " and then continues: "Whenever the war commences with you, I think a small army of such men, well appointed and disciplined, will soon convince the French of their error in provoking and insulting of you; I think a few of them will be more than a match for a multitude of their plebs, brought up in slavery, and who have nothing to fight for of their own. 20 WYOMING. "This brings to mind, a story a gentleman told me, that he went in to see his negro man, then dying; and seeing him just gone, said to him, 'Cuffy, you are just going; are you not sorry?', 'No,' says the fellow; 'master, the loss won't be mine.'" The Pennamite and Yankee wars were not merely a conflict between the proprietaries of Pennsylvania and the Susquehanna Company for the jurisdiction of the country - it was not a mere question of boundary, but a question between landlord and tenantry. The question was one in which the tenantry of Pennsylvania generally were interested, and, consequently, the cause of the proprietaries was never popular with that class. Wyoming was the battle-field where the question was to be settled whether the people who cultivated the soil should be serfs or freeholders. We do not pretend that this was the open ostensible issue made, but it is beyond a doubt that this question lay at the bottom of the controversy, and had much to do with its progress and termination. If the laborers and producers were to be made freeholders, it could make but little difference whence they came; but if they were to be mere tenants, it would be somewhat important that they should not have been educated in the spirit of freedom and independence, but should have the views and feelings of servants rather than those of citizens. The New England people might be allowed to settle in the Alleghanies, to constitute a sort of breakwater against the overflowing of the French arms, but it would never do to give them possession of the fertile plains and valleys along the Delaware and Susquehanna. The Yankees were not likely to be the pliant tools suited to the objects and policy of the aristocratic proprietaries. They had trouble enough with ITS HISTORY. 21 those whom they had trained to their hand, and the tide of Yankee emigration which was setting in from the east bid fair to result in more general discontent, if not in revolution. Hence the diplomacy of the proprietaries had for its object, not the settlement of the northern boundary of the province, but preventing emigration (from the east; and, as will be seen as we proceed, the quasi civil, but really military proceedings with the settlers was not designed to secure their recognition of the civil jurisdiction of the proprietaries, but nolens volens to expel the intruders from the country. The charter granted to "The Plymouth Company" by James I. covered the territory "from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean." This charter was granted under the great seal of England, on November 3, 1620, to the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buckingham; the Earl of Arundel and Warwick, and their associates, "for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New England, in America." The charter of Connecticut was derived from the Plymouth Company, of which the Earl of Warwick was president. This grant was made in March, 1621, to Viscount Say and Seal, Lord Brooke, and their associates. It covered the country west of Connecticut "to the extent of its breadth, being about one degree of latitude from sea to sea." This grant was confirmed by the king the same year, and also in 1662. "The New Netherlands," or New York, being then a Dutch possession, was excepted in these grants under the general limitation of such portions of territory as were "then possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or state." - See Col. Stone's History of Wyoming. By the terms of this charter, the people of Connecti- 22 WYOMING. cut very reasonably considered themselves entitled to the territory within the latitudes above specified, west of "the New Netherlands," and began to cast a longing eye upon the fertile lands lying upon the Delaware and Susquehanna. About fifty years after the charter to Lords Say and Seal, and Brooke, the crown granted a charter to William Penn, which covered a portion of the grant to Connecticut, equal to one degree of latitude and five of longitude, which embraced the rich and inviting valley of Wyoming. This was the first ground of the feuds which arose between the Connecticut and Pennsylvania people, and which occasioned much trouble and distress to the early settlers. In 1753 an association was formed in Connecticut, called "The Susquehanna Company," for the purpose of forming a settlement in Wyoming; but, that this company might not come into conflict with the native occupants of the soil, a commission was appointed "to explore the country and conciliate their good- will." The company now embraced about six hundred persons, many of them men of wealth and high respectability. A deputation was appointed to meet a great council of the Six Nations at Albany in 1754, and, if possible, effect a purchase of the land. As the transaction was not secret, Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, sent to Albany a deputation, consisting of "John and Richard Penn, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin," to prevent the purchase by the Susquehanna Company. Notwithstanding this formidable opposition, strengthened as it was by the influence of Sir William Johnson, the purchase was effected. The sum paid was "two thousand pounds, of current money of the province of New York." Colonel Stone has given us, ITS HISTORY. 23 in an Appendix to the second edition of his History, a "copy of the deed of purchase," duly executed by the chief sachems and heads of the Five Nations of Indians, called the Iroquois, and the native proprietors," &c. Among these "chief sachems" is the famous Mohawk chief Brant, who subsequently figured so largely in the war of the Revolution. The names of the purchasers are also embraced, owners of full shares "five hundred and thirty-four in number," and of "half shares" "one hundred and thirty-six;" most of them from "ye colony of Connecticut, in New England," some "of the colony of Rhode Island," some "of the government of Pennsylvania," some "of the province of ye Massachusetts Bay," and some "of the province of New York." The following are the boundaries of the purchase: "Beginning from the one and fortieth degree of north latitude at ten miles distance east of Susquehanna River, and from thence with a northwardly line ten miles east of the river, to the forty-second or beginning of the forty-third degree north latitude, and so to extend west, two degrees of longitude, one hundred and twenty miles south, to the beginning of the forty-second degree, and from thence east to the afore-mentioned bound, which is ten miles east of the Susquehanna River." - Colonel Stone's History, p. 389. Having thus procured what they considered a valid title to the soil, the Susquehanna Company took preparatory steps for the planting of a settlement in Wyoming; but the agitations among the Indians, occasioned by "the French war," prevented them from accomplishing their purposes until the year 1762, when about two hundred men pushed their way into the valley, and commenced clearing farms just below Mill 24 WYOMING. Creek, and at a sufficient distance from the Indian town, which was situated on the flats below the present town of Wilkesbarre. They felled the timber, and constructed buts, and, before winter set in, had sown extensive fields of wheat. They secured their implements, and returned to Connecticut to winter. In the spring they returned with their families, cattle, furniture, &c., but little meditating the dreadful fate which awaited them. "The season had been favorable; their various crops on those fertile plains had proved abundant, and they were looking forward with hope to scenes of prosperity and happiness; but suddenly, without the least warning, on the 15th of October, a large party of savages raised the war-whoop, and attacked them with fury. Unprepared for resistance, about twenty men fell and were scalped; the residue, men, women, and children, fled, in wild disorder, to the mountains. Language can not describe the sufferings of the fugitives as they traversed the wilderness, destitute of food or clothing, on their way to their former homes." - Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 54. After this massacre, the Indians, anticipating a military movement against them on the part of the governor of Pennsylvania, left the valley, the Christian portion of them removing east to the Moravian town, Gnadenhutten, and the others north to Tioga. Six years now intervened before the Connecticut people made another attempt to settle Wyoming. But in the mean time "the proprietaries of Pennsylvania" availed themselves of an Indian council assembled at Fort Stanwix in 1768, and purchased the disputed territory from some of the chiefs. A deputation of four chiefs from the Six Nations had been sent to Hartford in ITS HISTORY. 25 1763 to disclaim the sale made to the Susquehanna Company, and in the talk of the speaker, he asserted that the Six Nations knew nothing of the sale of this land, and furthermore remarked, "What little we have left we intend to keep for ourselves." This was a mere ruse, as is evident from their selling the same land five years subsequently to the proprietaries of Pennsylvania. They were, in fact, ready to sell land whenever they could find purchasers; and as to any conflict which might afterward arise among rival claimants, that was not their look out. After all, the poor Indians were not so much in fault as were the designing white men, who had interests to serve by involving them in improper and contradictory acts. This fair valley was next to be made the scene of civil war; and in contending for the rich prize, the blood of one white man was to be spilled by the hand of another white man. The parties had exhausted their diplomatic skill; each had sent deputations to the mother country, and in turn obtained the most respectable legal decisions in their favor. Nothing seemed left to them but to maintain their claims by force. The Susquehanna Company sent a body of forty pioneers into the valley in February, 1769, to be followed by two hundred more in the spring. But the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, anticipating the movement, had leased the valley for seven years to Charles Stuart, Amos Ogden, and John Jennings, on condition that they should establish a trading-house for the accommodation of the Indians, and adopt the necessary measures for defending themselves, and those who might settle under their lease. These men, with a small party, had proceeded to Wyoming, and fortified 26 WYOMING. themselves in a block-house, where the forty Yankees found them upon their arrival. A series of conflicts now ensued, which we can not here detail, but which were characterized by the usual circumstances and elements of war upon the largest scale, and attended with incidents and adventures of rare interest, many of which will be found in the following sketches. Erecting fortifications, investments, escalades, capitulations, surprises, ambuscades, battles, marches, countermarches, retreats, taking prisoners, and violating pledges for the security of property, are all duly chronicled in the histories. During this period the Yankees were three times driven from the valley, and obliged to thread their way, with their wives and children, through an unbroken wilderness of two hundred miles, back to their former homes. But they as often rallied and returned to the charge with accumulated numbers, until, finally, they were able to keep possession of the prize. The proprietaries were unpopular even in Pennsylvania, and it became impossible for them, even with the aid of all the industry and skill of Captain Ogden, to raise a sufficient force finally to dispossess the Yankees, until the rupture between Great Britain and her colonies directed the attention of all parties to the common defense of the country, and, for the time being, put a period to the civil war. The object of the Connecticut people had been the establishment of an independent colony, and they had, accordingly, petitioned the parent government to this effect. But, as this object could not be secured without much delay, and as the Legislature of Connecticut was cautious of assuming any responsibility which would involve the state in the quarrel, the Susquehanna Company met at Hartford, June 2, 1773, and ITS HISTORY. 27 adopted a provisional plan of government, on truly republican principles, and every way worthy of the heads and hearts of the best statesmen of the age.* Under this form of government the people lived in great harmony and prosperity, and the colony rapidly increased in numbers. In the mean time, the Legislative Assembly of Connecticut made an effort to procure a settlement of the difficulty, but Governor Penn closed his ears to all propositions, and even refused to recognize the deputation sent from Connecticut. Upon this the assembly made up a case, and transmitted it to England for the legal opinions of the ablest counsel. "This case was submitted to Edward, afterward Lord Thurlow, Alexander Wedderburn, Richard Jackson, and J. Dunning, all famous for their learning in the law, who gave a united opinion in favor of the company. Thus fortified, the General Assembly of Connecticut took higher ground, and, perceiving how greatly the colony was flourishing, in October, 1773, they passed a resolution asserting their claim to the jurisdiction of the territory, and their determination, in some proper way, to support the claim." - Col. Stone. The following year Wyoming was constituted a town, by the name of Westmoreland, and connected with Litchfield county, and a census taken at the close of the year showed that the town numbered one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two inhabitants. The great events of 1775 seriously affected the inhabitants of Westmoreland. The Indians committed some outrages within the limits of the town, and, though they made hollow professions of a pacific disposition, were evidently preparing for war. Several families from the north, who were hostile to the American _______ *For which, see Mr. Miner's History, p. 146-149. 28 WYOMING. cause, came into the settlement, who, with good reason, were considered bad neighbors. The following notes of the town meetings will show the spirit of the people in taking incipient steps for the common defense: "At a town meeting, held March 10, Voted, that the first man that shall make fifty weight of good saltpetre in this town, shall be entitled to a bounty of ten pounds, lawful money, to be paid out of the town treasury. "Voted, that the selectmen be directed to dispose of the grain now in the hands of the treasurer, or collector, in such way as to obtain powder and lead to the value of forty pounds, lawful money, if they can do the same." "At a town meeting legally warned and held, in Westmoreland, Wilkesbarre District, August 24,1776, "Colonel Butler was chosen moderator for the work of the day. "Voted, as the opinion of this meeting, that it now becomes necessary for the inhabitants of this town to erect suitable forts, as a defense against our common enemy." A regiment of militia having been established, the meeting voted that the three field officers should be a committee to fix on the sites of the forts, lay them out, and give directions how they should be built." Then was adopted what Mr. Miner calls "the following beautiful vote, which," says he, "we leave, in its simplicity, to speak its own eulogium." "That the above said committee do recommend it to the people to proceed forthwith in building said forts, without either fee or reward from ye town." In November of this memorable year (1776), Westmoreland was, by the Legislative Council of Connecti- ITS HISTORY. 29 cut, erected into a county, with a complete civil and military organization. Congress also ordered that "two companies, on the Continental establishment, be raised in the town of Westmoreland, and stationed in proper places for the defense of the inhabitants of said town, and posts adjacent, till farther orders from Congress." The companies, consisting of eighty-two men each, were organized, and officers appointed. But when the British took possession of New York, Washington crossed the Delaware, and Congress were taking measures to retire from Philadelphia to Baltimore, the two companies were ordered to join General Washington with all possible expedition." This order was promptly obeyed, which took nearly all the able-bodied men and arms from the settlement. In the summer of 1777 the Six Nations were brought into the field as auxiliaries of the British forces, and commenced their operations in their own peculiar mode of warfare all along the frontier. Wyoming was peculiarly exposed, being situated at the distance of sixty miles from the white settlements, east and south, and their strength having been drawn away by the emergencies of the war; for, in addition to the two companies above referred to, further enlistments were made, in all amounting to some three hundred. Application was made to Congress for aid, but without effect. The helpless females sent to the army the most pressing calls to their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers, who constituted the Westmoreland companies, to hasten to their relief, and the men begged for the privilege of ful filling the purposes of their enlistment - "the defense of the inhabitants of said town." But Congress and Connecticut were both deaf to every entreaty. All that was done was an order passed by Congress that 30 WYOMING. "one full company of foot be raised in the town of Westmoreland, for the defense of the said town," and "that the said company find their own arms, ammunition, and blankets!" This amounted to nothing, as it did not increase the force of the settlement. The commissioned officers resigned, and, together with twenty or thirty men who obtained leave, or went without leave, returned to the settlement to share the common peril. The Indians made a great show of peace; but a drunken Indian in a revel - one of a company of spies who came upon a pretense of negotiation - let out the secret of a meditated onslaught upon the settlement. This, together with the suspicious movements of the Tory settlers, several families of whom were situated at the head of the valley, and seemed to be acting the part of spies, created no inconsiderable alarm. The settlers had erected, on each side of the river, several forts, some of them consisting of logs planted in the ground, and standing about fourteen feet high, and others mere log pens, or block-houses, with loop-holes. The former were provided with log huts, in which the women and children might find shelter in cases of danger from the enemy. The principal fort on the west side of the river was called Forty Fort, constructed by the forty pioneers who came into the valley in the winter of 1769, and enlarged and strengthened in 1776, situated two miles above Wilkesbarre. In the arrangements for the defense of the settlement, as will be seen by the following, the women acted a conspicuous part: "Justice and gratitude demand a tribute to the praiseworthy spirit of the wives and daughters of Wyoming. While their husbands and fathers were on public duty, they cheerfully assumed a large portion of the labor which females could do. They assisted to plant, made ITS HISTORY. 31 hay, husked and garnered the corn. As the settlement was mainly dependent on its own resources for powder, Mr. Hollenback caused to be brought up the river a pounder; and the women took up their floors, dug out the earth, put it in casks, and run water through it (as ashes are leached); then took ashes in another cask, and made ley; mixed the water from the earth with weak ley, boiled it, set it to cool, and the saltpetre rose to the top. Charcoal and sulphur were then used, and powder produced for the public defense." - Miner's History, p. 212. We need add nothing by way of completing the picture. While fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons, were scouring up their old muskets, mothers, daughters, and grandmothers were busily employed in manufacturing powder! NORTHERN BORDER WARS. In order to a more perfect understanding of the origin and character of the disastrous war waged upon the settlers in Wyoming, we will direct the attention of the reader to the course of events upon the northern border. Sir William Johnson came into the valley of the Mohawk when he was a young man, about forty years previous to the Revolutionary wax. The emergencies of the times gave him an opportunity for the development of his talents. He entered the provincial army, and gained a victory over the French at Lake George in 1755, and this event made his fortune. He was made a baronet, and appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the northern provinces. He resided at Fort Johnson, near the village of Amsterdam, for nearly twenty years, after which he removed to John- 32 WYOMING. son Hall, near Johnstown, where he died in 1774. He left one son - Sir John Johnson - and two daughters. One of his daughters was married to Colonel Daniel Claus, and the other to Colonel Guy Johnson, a distant relative. After the death of Sir William, Guy Johnson was appointed his successor as Superintendent of Indian Affairs. There were under his superintendency at this time 130,000 Indians, of whom 50,420 were warriors. The Six Nations numbered about 10,000, about 4600 of whom were trained to the business of war. In 1772, the county of Tryon - named after the then governor of the province of New York - was organized, and it embraced the section of the state west of a line running north and south through the centre of the present county of Schoharie. It contained a population of about 10,000, and Johnstown was the seat of justice. The Johnson family exerted a great influence over the people in Tryon County, and had acquired almost unbounded control of the Indian mind of the Six Nations. When the troubles broke out between the mother country and her colonies, the Johnsons espoused the royal cause. Their influence over the Iroquois, or Six Nations, was used to attach them to the same cause, and they often led them on in their incursions upon the settlements in the valley of the Mohawk. Guy Johnson left Johnson Hall in 1775, passing through the country of the Six Nations, finally making his head-quarters at Montreal. Brant and his Mohawks, together with the Butlers, followed Colonel Johnson. Sir John Johnson was made a prisoner, by order of General Schuyler, in January, 1776, and taken to Fishkill, where he was released on parole. In the May fol- ITS HISTORY. 33 lowing he broke his parole, and subsequently commanded a regiment of refugees, known in border warfare as "Johnson's Greens." The last of April, 1777, Colonel Gansevoort, with the third regiment of the New York line of state troops, was ordered to Fort Schuyler.* Before the fortification was completed, it was invested by Colonel St. Leger. This division of the British forces was collected at Oswego, brought their munitions of war and stores up Wood Creek, and crossed the portage to the Mohawk. General Herkimer, with a regiment of militia, in attempting to relieve Fort Schuyler, was met by a considerable force of Indians and Tories, under the command of Brant and Butler, at Oriskany, where he was repulsed, and received a wound which occasioned his death. The patriots retreated down the river, and St. Leger pressed the siege. He raised batteries, and made many efforts to reduce the fortress by cannon shot, but failed to effect a breach. He then resorted to threats of savage barbarity, should the Indians be provoked by obstinate resistance. In such case, he said, it would not be possible for him to restrain them from their accustomed modes of redress. All this failed to move the brave men in the fort, who were then nearly out of provisions. Colonel Willett and Lieutenant Stockwell left the fort by night, and, eluding the vigilance of the enemy, _______ * This fort was situated where the village of Rome now stands. The French had built a fort here called Fort Stanwix, which was now reconstructed. The name of the new fortification was given it in honor of General Schuyler. This fort must be distinguished from the old fort by the same name, built, during the French war, on the point of high ground now in the northeastern portion of the city of Utica, and called by the same name, after an uncle of General Schuyler. 34 WYOMING. passed down the Mohawk for the purpose of reassembling the militia and returning for the relief of the fort. This was a daring undertaking, but was so wonderfully successful that the Indians, believing Colonel Willett to have been assisted by some superhuman power, called him "the devil." The distressing events of the encounter at Oriskany had created a great sensation in the country, and called for decisive measures. General Schuyler dispatched Generals Larned and Arnold to attack St. Leger and raise the siege of Fort Schuyler. Colonels Johnson, Claus, and Butler had issued a proclamation designed to intimidate the people of Tryon County into submission, and to procure enlistments into the king's army, and Walter N. Butler, son of Colonel John Butler, had been sent on the delicate business of circulating this proclamation, and using his personal influence with those whom he might find undecided. He visited the German Flats, in the neighborhood of Fort Dayton, and collected a company of Tories at the house of one Shoemaker, who had been a civil officer under the king. Colonel Weston, at Fort Dayton, learning of the gathering, dispatched a detachment of troops, who came upon them by surprise just as Butler was in the midst of a harangue, and made them all prisoners. Butler was tried by a court-martial for a spy, and condemned to be hung, but at the intercession of several officers, who had formerly been his personal friends and associates, he received a reprieve, and was sent a prisoner to Albany. After several months' confinement he pretended to be sick, and, as a mark of favor, he was quartered in the house of a Tory, with a single soldier to guard him. Butler and his host managed to make the soldier drunk, ITS HISTORY, and, sick as he was, he escaped on a fleet horse, and reached Niagara. Among those captured with Butler was a singular character by the name of Honyost Schuyler. Almost an idiot, he still had streaks of shrewdness which gave him no little distinction among the Indians and his half-civilized neighbors. His mother and brother Nicholas lived at Little Falls. Like Butler, he was condemned to death. His mother and brother hastened to Fort Dayton to implore General Arnold to spare his life. Arnold for a time would not listen to their intercession, and the miserable woman became almost frantic. At length General Arnold proposed terms upon which the life of the poor fellow should be spared. He must immediately go to the camp of St. Leger, and make such representations to him of the forces which were coming up against him as would induce him to raise the siege. The proposition was gladly accepted, and the old woman offered to be held a hostage for the faithful performance of the commission. General Arnold refused to receive the mother in that capacity, but took the other son, who was put in confinement, while Honyost took his departure. He took with him a friendly Oneida Indian, who was fully inducted into the secrets of the mission, and greatly aided him in its prosecution. Before his departure several balls were shot through his clothes, to help him make out his story, and the Indian took a different route, and fell into the camp at about the same time with the principal in the enterprise, Honyost arrived at St. Leger's camp, and began immediately to give an account of his wonderful escape, and of Arnolds army. When asked as to the number of troops which Arnold had under his command, be WYOMING. shook his head. mysteriously, and pointed to the leaves of the trees to intimate that the army was large - beyond his power of enumeration. The Oneida had in his way met with several others of his tribe, who offered him their co-operation. Honyost's story began to fly through the camp like wildfire, when lo! the story of the near approach of a great army was told by Indians who fell in from different directions. A panic had really commenced before St. Leger knew it. He summoned Honyost before him, who gave a most frightful account of his escape. He had been condemned to death, and, on his way to the gallows, he had availed himself of the carelessness of the guard, and fled. In the mean time, a volley of musketry was fired after him. Then, pointing to the holes in his coat, he showed the colonel and his officers how one ball had just grazed his side, another his shoulder, and another his thigh; but he had been miraculously preserved. As to the Indians, they also gave to St. Leger the most exaggerated accounts of the strength and numbers of the army of General Arnold. St. Leger called a council of war, and, while the officers were deliberating upon the course to be taken, the Indian forces under Brant commenced preparations to depart. St. Leger used every effort to retain them, but to no purpose. They had suffered severely in the battle of Oriskany, and, as yet, had been wholly disappointed in the promised plunder of the Yankee fort, and they were in the moody state of mind, when they were visited by Honyost and the Oneidas, which was entirely favorable to the success of these emissaries of the Yankee commander. Indeed, the Indians did what they could to make the retreat a flight. An altercation taking place between Colonel St. ITS HISTORY. 37 Leger and Sir John Johnson, each accusing the other of remissness in duty, in the midst of the feud two cunning sachems set up a shout, "They are coming! they are coming!" when the two colonels closed their angry dispute and took to flight. Their men were equally quick on foot; throwing away their gums and knapsacks, they ran for their lives. Honyost Schuyler ran with the British and Indians until an opportunity occurred for him to escape, when he returned to Fort Schuyler, and gave Colonel Gansevoort his first information of General Arnold's approach, and of the flight of the besiegers. Gansevoort pursued the retreating army, and took prisoners and a large amount of spoil. Such was the panic of the royal army that they left their tents standing; their provisions, artillery, ammunition, and all their camp equipage were left to the Yankee forces. The Indians, in the mean time, enraged with disappointment, robbed the officers, plundered several boats on Wood Creek, and actually murdered stragglers belonging to the royal army for the sake of plundering their persons. A just retribution this for employing those heartless savages in a war upon the people of the frontier settlements. - See Campbell's History of Tryon County, and Stone's Border Wars. We will here leave the history of the war upon the northern border, and return to the events of the period in Wyoming. We shall have occasion to refer to the narrative which we have here given as we proceed with the progress of events upon the Susquehanna, and as we give sketches of characters which figured in the predatory wars which were waged by the British provincial troops and her savage allies, the Six Nations, both in Tryon County, New York, and in Wyoming, upon the Susquehanna. 38 WYOMING. On the 29th or 30th of June, 1778, Colonel John Butler, with about four hundred British provincials, partly made up of Tories, together with six or seven hundred Indians, entered the head of the valley, and took possession of Fort Wintermoot without opposition. On that morning eight men and a boy, who had gone from Fort Jenkins to their work with their arms, three miles above, fell into the hands of the enemy; five of the men were killed, and three taken prisoners, the boy escaping by throwing himself into the river, and hiding in a clump of willows. Colonel Zebulon Butler, who was a Continental officer, knowing the perilous condition of the people, and desirous to give his personal aid in any way possible, had obtained leave to visit the valley, and now, by common consent, assumed the command of the little army. The whole consisted of "two hundred and thirty enrolled men, and seventy old people, boys, civil magistrates, and other volunteers," the whole embracing six companies, which were mustered at Forty Fort, where the families of the settlers on the east side of the river had taken refuge. "Indian Butler," as he was called, summoned the Connecticut people to surrender Forty Fort and the valley. A council of war was called on the 3d of July, and though it was the opinion of Colonel Butler, Colonel Denison, and Lieutenant Colonel Dorrance, and others, that "a little delay would be best," in hopes of the arrival of re-enforcements, which it was thought might be on their way, yet a large majority were for marching at once upon the enemy and giving them battle. Colonel Butler mounted his horse, saying, "I tell you we go into great danger, but I can go as far as any of you," and "the column, consisting of about three hundred men, old ITS HISTORY. 39 men, and boys, marched from the fort," at about three o'clock in the afternoon, with drums beating and colors flying. The devoted little band marched up the plain, with the river on the right and a marsh upon the left, until they reached Fort Wintermoot, which was on fire - fired to make the impression upon the minds of the patriots that the enemy was retiring from the valley. "Colonel Z. Butler, on approaching the enemy, sent forward Captains Ransom and Durkee, Lieutenants Ross and Wells, as officers whose skill he most relied on, to select the spot, and mark off the, ground on which to form the order of battle. On coming up, the column displayed to the left, and under those officers every company took its station, and then advanced in line to the proper position, where it halted, the right resting on the steep bank noted, the left extending across the gravel flat to a morass, thick with timber and brush, that separated the bottom-land from the mountain. Yellow and pitch-pine trees, with oak shrubs, were scattered all over the plain. On the American right was Captain Bidlack's company. Next was Captain Hewitt's, Daniel Gore being one of his lieutenants. On the extreme left was Captain Whittlesey's. Colonel Butler, supported by Major John Garrett, commanded the right wing. Colonel Denison, supported by Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance, commanded the left. Such was the ground, and such the order of battle. Every thing was judiciously disposed, and constructed in a strictly military and prudent manner. Captains Durkee and Ransom, as experienced officers, in whom great confidence was placed, were stationed, Durkee with Bidlack on the right wing, Ransom with Whittlesey on the left. Colonel Butler made a very brief address just before he ordered 40 WYOMING. the column to display. 'Men, yonder is the enemy. The fate of the Hardings tells us what we have to expect if defeated. We come out to fight, not only for liberty, but for life itself, and, what is dearer, to preserve our homes from conflagration, our women and children from the tomahawk. Stand firm the first shock, and the Indians will give way. Every man to his duty.' "The column had marched up the road running near the bank on which our right rested. On its display, as Denison led off his men, he repeated the expression of Colonel Butler, 'Be firm; every thing depends on resisting the first shock.' "About four in the afternoon the battle began; Colonel Z. Butler ordered his men to fire, and at each discharge to advance a step. Along the whole line the discharges were rapid and steady. It was evident that on the more open ground the Yankees were doing most execution. As our men advanced, pouring in their platoon fires with great vivacity, the British line gave way, in spite of all their officers, efforts to prevent it. The Indian flanking party on our right kept up from their hiding-places a galling fire. Lieutenant Daniel Gore received a ball through the left arm. 'Captain Durkee,' said he, 'look sharp for the Indians in those bushes.' Captain. Durkee stepped to the bank to look, preparatory to making a charge and dislodging them, when he fell. On the British Butler's right, his Indian warriors were sharply engaged. They seemed to be divided into six bands, for a yell would be raised at one end of their line, taken up, and carried through, six distinct bodies appearing at each time to repeat the cry. As the battle waxed warmer, that fearful yell was renewed again and again with more and more spirit. ITS HISTORY. 41 It appeared to be at once their animating shout and their signal of communication. As several fell near Colonel Dorrance, one of his men gave way: 'Stand to your work, sir,' said he, firmly, but coolly, and the soldier resumed his place. "For half an hour a hot fire had been given and sustained, when the vastly superior numbers of the enemy began to develop their power. The Indians had thrown into the swamp a large force, which now completely outflanked our left. It was impossible it should be otherwise: that wing was thrown into confusion. Colonel benison gave orders that the company of Whittlesey should wheel back, so as to form an angle with the main line, and thus present his front, instead of flank, to the enemy. The difficulty of performing evolutions by the bravest militia on the field under a hot fire is well known. On the attempt, the savages rushed in with horrid yells. Some had mistaken the order to fall back as one to retreat, and that word, that fatal word, ran along the line. Utter confusion now prevailed on the left. Seeing the disorder, and his own men beginning to give way, Colonel Z. Butler threw himself between the fires of the opposing ranks, and rode up and down the line in the most reckless exposure. 'Don't leave me, my children, and the victory is ours.' But it was too late. "Every captain that led a company into action was slain, and in every instance fell on or near the line. As was said of Bidlack, so of Hewitt, Whittlesey, and the others: 'they died at the head of their men.' They fought bravely; every man and officer did his duty; but they were overpowered by threefold their force. In point of numbers the enemy was overwhelmingly superior." - Miner's History. 42 WYOMING. It was a dreadful hour. The few old men who were left in the fort, and the women and children, lined the bank of the river with throbbing hearts, listening to the noise of the battle; and as the firing became more scattering, and advanced down the plain toward the fort, the fearful reality of a defeat was but too plainly indicated. "The boys are beat - they, are retreating - they, will be all cut to pieces!" exclaimed one who had been pacing the bank, and catching every indication borne upon the breeze from the scene of action. A portion of the numerous, strange, and fearful scenes which followed are upon record, and many of them are still in the recollection of a few survivors, for which we must refer the reader to the historians. Mr. Miner says, "About one hundred and sixty of the Connecticut people were killed that day, and one hundred and forty, escaped. The loss of the enemy was never known; probably from forty to eighty fell." According to the best information which we have been able to gain, more than two hundred of the patriots fell in this fearful conflict, while about sixty of the British and Indians were slain. Many were first made prisoners, and then massacred in the most cruel and barbarous manner by the savages. Colonels Butler and Denison, being mounted, first came into Forty Fort, and confirmed the apprehensions of the poor defenseless people, then waiting in a most fearful state of anxiety and suspense. They sat down by a table in Thomas Bennet's cabin, and adjusted the terms of capitulation which were to be proposed to the enemy. Colonel Butler then crossed over to Wilkesbarre, and the next day, throwing a feather-bed across his horse, and seating his wife upon the animal behind him, left ITS HISTORY. 43 the valley. He was a brave officer, and having distinguished himself in several gallant enterprises in the Revolutionary struggle, had reasons enough for not wishing to be made a prisoner of war. At nightfall the fugitives came into the fort, exhausted with the toils and terrors of the day. But oh, how many husbands and sons came not! The sadness of that night will never be adequately sketched. The people in the fort at Wilkesbarre, on the east side of the river, early on the 4th commenced their flight, but in such haste as not to furnish themselves with provisions for a long and toilsome journey through the wilderness. A large number of women and children, with a few men, took the old war-path toward the Delaware, some perishing on the way through fatigue and hunger in a dense pine forest, which has ever since been called "The Shades of Death." The few regular soldiers who had escaped, knowing that they, if taken, would be doomed to exemplary punishment, made a hasty escape, under the orders of Colonel Butler. On the evening of the fatal 3d, Captain John Franklin arrived at Forty Fort, with a company of militia from Huntington and Salem, which gave a little strength to the remnant which were left. On the morning of the 4th, Colonel John Butler summoned Colonel Denison to surrender Forty Fort, inviting him to his head-quarters to agree upon the terms. After some negotiation, the following articles of capitulation were duly executed: "Westmoreland; July 4th, 1778. "CAPITULATION AGREEMENT - Made and completed between John Butler, in behalf of his majesty King George the Third, and Colonel Nathan Denison of the United States of America: 44 WYOMING. "ART. I. It is agreed that the settlement lay down their arms, and their garrison be demolished. "ART. II. That the inhabitants occupy their farms peaceably, and the lives of the inhabitants be preserved entire and unhurt. "ART. III. That the Continental stores are to be given up. "ART. IV. That Colonel Butler will use his utmost influence that the private property of the inhabitants shall be preserved entire to them. "ART. V. That the prisoners in Forty Fort be delivered up. "ART. VI. That the property taken from the people called Tories be made good; and that they remain in peaceable possession of their farms, and unmolested in a free trade throughout this settlement. "ART. VII. That the inhabitants which Colonel Denison capitulates for, together with himself, do not take up arms during this contest. (Signed), "JOHN BUTLER, "NATHAN DENISON." Accordingly, on the 5th of July, the gates of the fort were thrown open, and Butler, at the head of his rangers, and a Seneca chief by the name of G -n, at the head of the Indians, marched in. The arms of the men were stacked, and given as a present by Butler to the Indians, with these words: "See what a present the Yankees have made you." The Indians went about sneakingly peeping into the doors of the cabins, but for that day molested no one. On the next day, however, they began to plunder the people. Colonel Denison remained in Mr. Bennet's cabin, a place formerly occupied as a horse-shed. When Butler came ITS HISTORY. 45 into the fort, Colonel Denison sent for him, and remonstrated with him upon the conduct of the Indians, alleging that it was a breach of a most solemn engagement. Butler said, "My men shall not molest the people; I will put a stop to it." But he was no sooner gone than the plundering was resumed. Colonel Denison again sent for Butler, and again he came into the shed and gave assurances that "the plundering should cease." Toward night a company of Indians came in, some of them drunk, and commenced ransacking the houses and rifling them of their movables. Colonel Denison had another conversation with Butler, who now said, "To tell you the truth, I can do nothing with them." Colonel Denison chided him severely, but, waving his hand, he repeated the same words, and finally left the fort no more to return. After the lapse of two weeks from the day of the battle, it was rumored that the Tories and Indians had again entered the valley, and would probably kill all that remained of the inhabitants. The people then all left the fort, some going down the river in canoes, and others taking the path "through the swamp" to Stroudsburg. Thus this beautiful valley was deserted by its inhabitants, with the exception of those who lay bleaching upon the plain, unconscious of what transpired, and beyond the reach of further wrongs. We have not given the details of the savage cruelties which are found in other histories. But there are two well authenticated instances of the diabolical spirit of the Tories which we shall recite. We do this not only to show what kind of men embraced the royal cause, but as a fearful illustration of the dreadful havoc made by the spirit of war upon all the better feelings of humanity, and all the ties of kindred. 46 WYOMING. MONOCASY ISLAND, FROM THE EAST BANK OF THE SUSQUEHANNA. [illustration] "A short distance below the battle-ground there is a large island in the river called 'Monockonock Island.' Several of the settlers, while the battle and pursuit continued, succeeded in swimming to this island, where they concealed themselves among the logs and brushwood upon it. Their arms had been thrown away in their flight previous to their entering the river, so that they were in a manner defenseless. Two of them, in particular, were concealed near and in sight of each other. While in this situation, they observed several of the enemy, who had pursued and fired at them while they were swimming the river, preparing to follow them to the island with their guns. On reaching the island, they immediately, wiped their guns and loaded them. One of them, with his loaded gun, soon passed close by one of these men who lay concealed from his view, and was immediately recognized by him to be the brother of his companion who was concealed near him, but who, being a Tory, had joined the enemy. He passed slowly along, carefully examining every covert, and directly perceived his brother in his place of concealment. He suddenly stopped and said, 'So ITS HISTORY. 47 it is you, is it?' His brother, finding that he was discovered, immediately came forward a few steps, and falling on his knees, begged him to spare his life, promising to live with him and serve him, and even to be his slave as long as he lived, if he would only spare his life. 'All this is mighty good,' replied the savage-hearted brother of the supplicating man, 'but you are a d**** rebel;' and deliberately presenting his rifle, shot him dead upon the spot. The other settler made his escape from the island, and having related this fact, the Tory brother thought it prudent to accompany the British troops on their return to Canada." - Chapman's History, p. 127, 128. "This tale is too horrible for belief; but a survivor of the battle, a Mr. Baldwin, whose name will occur again, confirmed its truth to the writer with his own lips. He knew the brothers well, and in August, 1839, declared the statement to be true." - Col. Stone's History, p. 215. Elijah Shoemaker was seen wading in the river, not knowing how to swim, by one Windecker, a Tory, who had been treated by Shoemaker with the kindness with which a father would treat a son. Windecker said to him, "Come out, Shoemaker." "I am afraid," said Shoemaker, "you will give me up to the Indians." " No," said Windecker, "I will save you; they sha'n't hurt you." But no sooner did Shoemaker come within his reach, than the perfidious wretch dashed his tomahawk into his head, and set his body afloat. The body was taken up at the fort, and Mrs. Shoemaker, with a child in her arms - the late Col. Elijah Shoemaker, of Kingston - came down to the water's edge to be agonized with a sight of the mangled corpse of her husband. The body was buried in the fort before 48 WYOMING. the capitulation. The circumstances of Shoemaker's death were related by Esquire Carpenter and Anning Owen, who were concealed under a tree-top which lay out in the river. These instances of horrid brutality defy all precedent. The priestess of the hellish orgies of "Bloody Rock," had she witnessed the above spectacle, would have been ashamed of the demons concerned in the transaction. She, in the true spirit of savage warfare, was taking sweet vengeance for the loss of a brother or an intimate friend. But these furies imbrued their hands in the blood of friend and brother! Alas for poor humanity, of what a height of corruption and wickedness is it capable! "Indian Butler" soon made his exit from the valley. The following is a picture of the departure: "With Butler a large portion of the Indians withdrew, and their march presented a picture at once melancholy and ludicrous. Squaws, to a considerable number, brought up the rear, a belt of scalps stretched on small hoops around the waist for a girdle, having on, some four, some six, and even more, dresses of chints or silk, one over the other; being mounted astride on horses (of course all stolen), and on their heads three, four, or five bonnets, one within another, worn wrong side before." - Mlner's History, p. 237. Mr. Miner presents two charges against Colonel John Butler, which will lie against his name to the end of time, and in mitigation of which there is not a relieving circumstance. The first is "his position - accepting command, lending his name, and associating with those bloodthirsty and unprincipled savages who were placed under his orders." His confession, after the capitulation, that he could "do nothing with them," ITS HISTORY. 49 brands him with infamy. How came he to lead on a band of murderous savages whom he knew he could not control, to an assault upon a defenseless settlement? But "the deepest stain on the character of Butler, next to his taking the command of such a horde of merciless and ungovernable wretches, arises out of the fact that but two prisoners were taken and saved at the time of the battle." It is altogether likely that the greatest number who fell were cruelly massacred upon the retreat; and it is certain that many of them were first made prisoners, and then tortured and butchered in cold blood. That his own men took part in the pursuit and butchery on the day of the battle is historically true, and that he tried to prevent the subsequent massacres there is no evidence. COLONEL ZEBULON BUTLER'S REPORT OP THE BATTLE TO THE BOARD OF WAR. "Gnadenhutten, Penn Township, July 10th, 1778. "HONORED SIR, - On my arrival at Westmoreland, which was only four days after I left Yorktown, I found there was a large body of the enemy advancing on that settlement. On the 1st of July we mustered the militia, and marched toward them by the river above the settlement - found and killed two Indians at a place where, the day before, they had murdered nine men engaged in hoeing corn. We found some canoes, etc., but, finding no men above their main body, it was judged prudent to return; and as every man had to go to his own house for his provisions, we could not muster again till the 3d of July. In the mean time the enemy had got possession of two forts, one of which we had reason to believe was designed for them, though they burned them both. The inhabitants 50 WYOMING. had some forts for the security of their women and children, extending about ten miles on the river, and too many men would stay in them to take care of them; but, after collecting about three hundred of the most spirited of them, including Captain Hewitt's company, I held a council with the officers, who all agreed that it was best to attack the enemy before they got any farther. We accordingly marched, found their situation, formed a front of the same extension of the enemy's, and attacked from right to left at the same time. Our men stood the fire well for three or four shots, till some part of the enemy gave way; but, unfortunately for us, through some mistake, the word retreat was understood from some officer on the left, which took so quick that it was not in the power of the officers to form them again, though I believe, if they had stood three minutes longer, the enemy would have been beaten. The utmost pains were taken by the officers, who mostly fell. A lieutenant colonel, a major, and five captains, who were in commission in the militia, all fell. Colonel Durkee, and Captains Hewitt and Ransom, were likewise killed. In the whole, about two hundred men lost their lives in the action on our side. What number of the enemy were killed is yet uncertain, though I believe a very considerable number. The loss of these men so intimidated the inhabitants that they gave up the matter of fighting. Great numbers ran off, and others would comply with the terms that I had refused. The enemy sent flags frequently; the terms you will see in the inclosed letter. They repeatedly said they had nothing to do with any but the inhabitants, and did not want to treat with me. Colonel Denison, by desire of the inhabitants, went and complied, which made it necessary for me and the little ITS HISTORY. 52 remains of captain Hewitt's company to leave the place. Indeed, it was determined by the enemy to spare the inhabitants after the agreement, and that myself and the few Continental soldiers should be delivered up to the savages; upon which I left the place, and came away, scarcely able to move, as I have had no rest since I left Yorktown. It has not been in my power to find a horse or man. to wait on the Board till now. I must submit to the Board what must be the next step. The little remains of Hewitt's company, which are about fifteen, are gone to Shamoken, and Captain Spaulding's company, I have heard, are on the Delaware. Several hundred of the inhabitants are strolling in the country destitute of provisions, who have large fields of grain and other necessaries of life at Westmoreland. In short, if the inhabitants can go back, there may yet be secured double the quantity of provisions to support themselves, otherwise they must be beggars, and a burden to the world. "I have heard from men that came from the place since the people gave up that the Indians have killed no persons since, but have burned most of the buildings, and are collecting all the horses they can, and are moving up the river. They likewise say the enemy were eight hundred, one half white men. I should be glad that, if possible, there might be a sufficient guard sent for the defense of the place, which will be the means of saving thousands from poverty, but must submit to the wisdom of Congress. I desire further orders from the honorable Board of War with respect to myself and the soldiers under my direction. "I have the honor to be your honor's most obedient humble servant, ZEBULON BUTLER." 52 WYOMING. THE OTHER SIDE. - JOHN. BUTLER'S REPORT OF THE BATTLE. MAJOR JOHN BUTLER. TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL BOLTON. "Lacuwanack, 8th July, 1778. "On the 30th of June I arrived with about 500 rangers and Indians* at Wyoming, and encamped on an eminence which overlooks the greatest part of the settlement, from which I sent out parties to discover the situation or strength of the enemy, who brought in eight prisoners and scalps. Two Loyalists** who came into my camp informed me that the rebels could muster about eight hundred men, who were all assembled in their forts.*** July the 1st I marched to the distance of half a mile of Wintermoot's Fort, and sent in Lieutenant Turney with a flag to demand immediate possession of it, which was soon agreed to.**** A flag was then sent to Jenkins's Fort, which surrendered on nearly the same conditions as Wintermoot's, both of which are inclosed. ***** I next summoned Forty Fort, the commandant of which refused the conditions I sent him. July 3d, parties were sent out to collect cattle, who informed me that the rebels were preparing to attack me. This pleased the Indians highly, who observed _______ *It has always been believed in Wyoming that the numbers of Butler's army were between 700 and 1000. A scout went up to the place of debarkation the day before the battle, and from the number of their boats they estimated their force at over 1000. **Probably the Wintermoots. ***Here the number is greatly exaggerated; but, as the colonel wished to magnify his exploit, he reports his own number less than it really was, and exaggerates that of the settlers. ****Soon agreed to!" It was arranged beforehand, for those who built and occupied it were Tories. *****Fort Jenkins was not entered until the day after the battle. - See the account of Richard Gardner, p. 355. ITS HISTORY. 53 they should be on an equal footing with them in the woods. At two o'clock we observed the rebels upon their march, in number about four or five hundred.* Between four and five o'clock they were advanced within a mile of us. Finding them determined, I ordered the fort to be set on fire, which deceived the enemy into an opinion that we had retreated. We then posted ourselves in a fine open wood, and, for our greater safety, lay fiat upon the ground, waiting their approach. When they were within two hundred yards of us, they began firing. We still continued upon the ground, without returning their fire, until they had fired three volleys. By this time they had advanced within one hundred yards of us, and, being quite near enough, Gucinyerachton ordered his Indians, who were upon the right, to begin the attack upon our part, which was immediately well seconded by the Rangers on the left. Our fire was so close and well directed that the affair was soon over, not lasting half an hour from the time they gave us their first fire to their flight. In this action were taken 227 scalps and only five prisoners.** The Indians were so exasperated with their loss last year near Fort Stanwix that it was with the greatest difficulty I could save the lives of these few. _______ *Here again is a gross exaggeration. The numbers, all told, did not exceed 320. **Perhaps one third of the "scalps" "were taken" after the "action" was over, from the heads of prisoners who had surrendered and asked quarter. ***The "loss" of "the Indians" "at Fort Stanwix" was doubtless a most provoking affair; but who was to blame? Must the people of Wyoming atone for it? The Indians probably flung away a few guns and blankets at Fort Stanwix in their sudden flight, for which they doubtless fully remunerated themselves by robbing their friends. Their "great loss," however, was that of the opportunity of taking the scalps of the garrison, and plundering it of its provisions, ammunition, and small arms. 54 WYOMING. Colonel Denniston, who came in next day with a minister and two others to treat for the remainder of the settlement of Westmoreland, assured us that they had lost one colonel, two majors, seven captains, thirteen lieutenants, eleven ensigns, two hundred and sixty eight privates. On our side were killed one Indian, two Rangers, and eight Indians were wounded.* In this incursion we have taken eight palisades, (six) forts; and burned about one thousand dwelling- houses, all their mills, etc. We have also killed and drove off about one thousand head of horned cattle, and sheep and swine in great numbers. But what gives me the sincerest satisfaction is that I can with great truth assure you that in the destruction of this settlement not a single person has been hurt of the inhabitants but such as were in arms; to these, indeed, the Indians gave no quarter.*** "I have also the pleasure to inform you that the officers and Rangers behaved during this short action highly to my satisfaction, and have always supported _______ * This story is strangely false. Three Indians were shot down in the pursuit, and probably more. - See the statement of Solomon Bennet, p. 363. **There were not more than half so many dwelling-houses in the settlement to burn. Besides, when this dispatch was written, the settlement had not been fired at all, with the exception of here and there a cabin. - See Mrs. Myers's and Mrs. Bedford's statements. ***"The Indians gave no quarter." None indeed. What became of those who were taken prisoners? What became of the wounded? What became of the "five prisoners" which the report says were taken? They were all massacred in cold blood, with the exception of two who lived to return. Three out of the "five" which the colonel reports as saved were never heard of afterward. ITS HISTORY. 55 themselves through hunger and fatigue with great cheerfulness. "I have this day sent a party of men to the Delaware to destroy a small settlement there, and to bring off prisoners. In two or three days I shall send out other parties for the same purpose, if I can supply myself with provisions.* I shall harass the adjacent country, and prevent them from getting in their harvest.** "The settlement of Scohary or the Minisinks will be my next object, both of which abound in corn and cattle, the destruction of which can not fail of greatly distressing the rebels. I have not yet been able to hear any thing of the expresses I sent to the Generals Howe and Clinton; but as I sent them by ten differ- _______ *What! short of "provisions" only three days after taking from the settlers "one thousand head of horned cattle, and sheep, and swine in great numbers?" This is a strangely inconsistent and self-contradictory tale. **How would he do this, as he was then on his way back to the north? He could only do it by the agency of parties of his Indians who were left behind. He, Colonel Butler, then would do more than simply to "harass the adjacent country, and prevent them from getting in their harvest" He would shoot down the settlers in the field; kill and scalp their wives and children; rob, burn, and scalp on as large a scale as possible. All this was done by the same agency as that by which the people were prevented from "getting in their harvest;" and if Colonel John Butler did the one, the same Colonel John Butler did the other. ***In this arrangement the brave Colonel John Butler was "behind the light- house," for this business was committed to Brant, who at that very moment was earnestly engaged in its prosecution. We do not much wonder that this famous dispatch has been so long shut up in the government archives in London. It is a perfectly bald caricature of the famous expedition of its author "down the Susquehanna to Wyoming." At the same time, we are happy to be able to give it to the public. The "journal" of which the colonel speaks must be rich. We only wish we had that. 56 WYOMING. ent routes, I am in hopes that some of them will be able to make their way to them and return. "In a few days I do myself the honor of writing to you more fully, and send you a journal of my proceedings since I left Niagara. "I am, sir, with respect, your most obedient and very humble servant, (Signed), "JOHN BUTLER." We have given, in as brief a manner as we deemed consistent with a full understanding of the subject, the POSITION OP THE WYOMING FORTS.* [illustration] main facts of "the Wyoming massacre." It will be proper in this place to take some notice of a widely _______ *Explanation of the Plan. - The several divisions, Hanover, Wilkesbarre, Kingstown, &c., mark the districts into which the town of Westmoreland was divided; in military language, the different beats. A marks the site of Fort Durkee; B, Wyoming or Wilkesbarre Fort; C, Fort Ogden; D, village of Kingston; E, Forty Fort. [This, in the early histories of the Revolution, is called Kingston Fort.] F, the battle-ground; G, Wintermoot's Fort; H, Fort Jenkins; I, Monocasy Island; I, [sic] the three Pittstown stockades. The dot below the G marks the place of Queen Esther's Rock. The village of Troy is upon the battle- ground, and that of Wilkesbarre upon the site of Wilkesbarre Fort and its ravelins. The distances of the several points from the present bridge at Wilkesbarre are as follows: Fort Durkee, half a mile below, on the left bank. Fort Ogden, three and a half miles above, and the Pittstown stockades, about eight miles, on the same side. Forty Fort, three and a half miles; the Monument, on the battle-ground, five and a half, Queen Esther's Rock, six and a half; Wintermoot's Fort and Fort Jenkins, eight miles above, on the west or right bank of the river. Kingston is directly opposite Wilkesbarre, half a mile westward. ITS HISTORY. 57 different report of the affair, which has gone into history and obtained a wide circulation. The account to which we refer may be found in Thatcher's Military Journal, and Gordon's History of the American Revolution. We shall simply refer to the points which are most glaringly false, and not occupy space for the whole story. After the battle it is represented that " Fort Kingston" was "invested the next day, 4th of July, on the land side." Dr. Thatcher asserts that the fort was cannonaded the whole day, whereas there was but one cannon, a four-pounder, in the valley, and that the Yankees had in Wilkesbarre. Again it is said, "The enemy, to sadden the drooping spirits of the weak remaining garrison, sent in for their contemplation the bloody scalps of 196 of their late friends and comrades." This is a pure fiction. "July 5th," Colonel Denison is represented as asking "what terms" would be given on a "surrender," when "Butler answered, with more than savage phlegm, in two short words; 'the hatchet.' Denison, having defended the fort till most of the garrison were killed or disabled, was compelled to surrender at discretion. Some of the unhappy persons in the fort were carried away 58 WYOMING. alive; but the barbarous conquerors, to save the trouble of murder in detail, shut up the rest promiscuously in the houses and barracks, which having set on fire, they enjoyed the savage pleasure of beholding the whole consumed in one general blaze." The story proceeds: "They found about seventy Continental soldiers, who had been engaged merely for the defense of the frontiers, whom they butchered with every circumstance of horrid cruelty. The remainder of the men, with the women and children, were shut up, as before, in the houses, which being set on fire, they perished all together in the flames." It is scarcely necessary to add here that these are not mere exaggerations, but downright falsehoods. That they would be extensively believed in this country, where the Tories and Indians were with no injustice regarded as a sort of demons incarnate, and that subsequent historians, living at a distance from the scene of action, should repeat them, is only what might be expected. Chief Justice Marshall, in his voluminous Life of Washington, first published in 1804, copied Gordon's tale, and others have continued to follow his example down to this date. Mr. Charles Miner wrote to the chief justice in 1806, giving him the facts as they really occurred, and informing him that the story to which he had given the sanction of his name was taken from newspaper accounts, which were published without correct information soon after the event of the massacre. Twenty-five years afterward, when the chief justice was contemplating a new and improved edition of the Life of Washington, he politely acknowledged the receipt of Mr. Miner's letter. Mr. Miner has published two letters from the chief justice in his History of Wyoming, p. 256-7. ITS HISTORY. 59 In the letter of June 14, 1831, are the following short paragraphs "Mr. Ramsay, I presume, copied his statement from Gordon, and I relied upon both, as I know Mr. Gordon made personal inquiries into most of the events of the war, and that Mr. Ramsay was in Congress, and consequently had access to all the letters on the subject. It is surprising that they should have so readily given themselves up to the newspapers of the day. "It was certainly our policy during the war to excite the utmost possible irritation against our enemy, and it is not surprising that we should not always have been very mindful of the verity of our publications; but when we come to the insertion of facts in serious history, truth ought never to be disregarded. Mr. Gordon and Mr. Ramsay ought to have sought for it." All this is very sensible, but it is a curious fact that "Mr. Ramsay" never "copied" Gordon's "statements." In Ramsay's "statements," both in his "History of the United States" and his "American. Revolution," nothing is said of the "investment," "the scalps," "the hatchet," "the burning," or "the seventy Continental soldiers;" but a simple statement of the facts connected with the capitulation of the fort, the flight of the inhabitants, and the utter desolation of the country, is given, with only slight and immaterial variations from the account as narrated by Chapman, Stone, and Miner. It is strange that so careful and conscientious a historian as Chief Justice Marshall should have committed so grave a mistake in a matter of authority. He doubtless wrote to Mr. Miner "without book," and his memory failed him. Since that time Ramsay has been associated with Gordon as authority for the fiction of "the hatchet" and the "burning of women and 60 WYOMING. children." Now we hope these authors may part company, and Dr. Ramsay may no longer be held responsible for copying either Dr. Thatcher, Mr. Gordon, or "the newspapers of the day," in his account of "the Wyoming massacre." Dr. Ramsay is one of the pioneers in the work of American history. He was the first American who published a history of the American Revolution; this was in 1789. The materials for this work were collected while in Congress from 1782 to 1786. His History of the United States was published in 1808. The second volume of that work is represented by the author as "an improved new edition" of his "History of the American Revolution." His account of the Wyoming massacre is only "improved" by calling "Colonel John Butler" "a Connecticut Tory." In all other respects the account is the same in both works. But to return to the narrative. We shall now only be able to touch a few details of the history. In the fall Colonel Butler returned with Captain Spaulding's company and some of the settlers, and buried the remains of those who fell upon the field of battle, and labored to secure some of the grain which was now ripe. But companies of Indians infested the country, who took prisoners, shot men who were laboring in the fields, and stole horses, and whatever else they could carry away. Colonel Hartley, of the Pennsylvania line, was ordered to join Colonel Butler. A detachment of one hundred and thirty men marched on the 8th of September to the West Branch, and thence to Sheshequin. On the 29th a battle ensued, in which several on both sides were killed. The Indian settlement was broken up, and besides horses and cattle recovered, a considerable amount of plunder was taken. ITS HISTORY. 61 But the savages followed almost upon the heels of Hartley's men, and resumed their work of murder, kidnapping, and plunder. Immediately after Colonel Hartley's expedition in 1779, General Washington took measures to carry out a plan, which had been under consultation, of sending a powerful armament into the country of the Six Nations, to destroy their towns and chastise them for their incursions upon the frontier settlements, and the cruelties and barbarities which they had perpetrated. The expedition was committed to the charge of General Sullivan, who collected his forces at Wilkesbarre, and thence transported his artillery and baggage up the river in boats, and forming a junction with a division of the army under the command of General Clinton, at Tioga Point, proceeded to the prosecution of the objects of the expedition. Colonel John Butler at the head of the British and Tories, and Brant in command of the Indians, made a stand, a little below Newtown, on the Chemung River, with fifteen hundred or two thousand men, but were routed with considerable loss, and left the Indian towns, and the fields loaded with fruit, to be overrun and desolated by an avenging foe. "Not a moment of delay was allowed. Being now in the Indian country, hundreds of fields, teeming with corn, beans, and other vegetables, were laid waste with rigid severity. Every house, hut, and wigwam was consumed. Cultivated in rude Indian fashion for centuries, orchards abounded, and near a town between the Seneca and Cayuga Lakes there were fifteen hundred peach-trees, bending under ripe and ripening fruit; all were cut down. The besom of destruction swept, if with regret and pity, still with firm hand, through all their fair fields and fertile plains. Deeply were 62 WYOMING. they made to drink of the bitter chalice they had so often forced remorselessly to the lips of the frontier settlers within their reach. Some idea of the extent of country inhabited by the Indians, the number of their towns, and the great quantity of produce to be destroyed, may be formed, when it is stated that an army of four thousand men were employed, without a day's (except indispensable) remission, from the 29th of August until the 28th of September, in accomplishing the work of destruction. The farthest northwest extent of General Sullivan's advance was to Genesee Castle, at the large flats on the beautiful river of that name." - Miner's History, p. 271, 272. But, notwithstanding the success of General Sullivan's expedition, it did not result in the security of Wyoming from the incursions of the savages. Still, parties of Indians continued their visits, and from time to time exercised their propensities for plundering, kidnapping, and murder. For three years the settlement was in a constant state of alarm, and many strange and interesting incidents marked its history. The capture and escape of Thomas Bennet and Lebbeus Hammond, of Pike, Vancampen, and Rogers; the kidnapping and late discovery of Frances Slocum, with a multitude of other events as full of romance as any of the scenes found in the writings of Sir Walter Scott, are detailed in subsequent chapters. "The number of lives actually lost in Wyoming during the war it is impossible to estimate with certainty; probably three hundred, being one in ten of the inhabitants, or exceeding one third of the adult male population at the commencement of the war. Connecticut, to have suffered in the same proportion, would have lost near twenty-three thousand, and the ITS HISTORY. 33 United Colonies three hundred thousand." - Miner's History. Upon the termination of the war with Great Britain, the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania presented a petition to Congress, praying for a hearing touching the difficulties with Connecticut in relation to the title to the lands upon the Susquehanna. To this Connecticut promptly responded, and the question was submitted to an arbitration agreed upon by the parties, and assembled in Trenton, N. J., in. December, 1782. The following was the decision: "We are unanimously of opinion that Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy. "We are also unanimously of opinion that the jurisdiction and pre-emption of all the territory lying within the charter of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the State of Connecticut, do of right belong to the State of Pennsylvania." - Ibid., p. 308. Of this decision the people of Wyoming did not complain, fully expecting to be "quieted in their possessions" under the government of Pennsylvania. They supposed their individual claims to the right of preemption had not been submitted nor adjudicated, and with them, as things stood, it was not a matter of much importance whether they were to be subject to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania or Connecticut, provided they might remain in the peaceable possession of their lands. But from the proceedings which followed, the settlers soon found that the object of Pennsylvania was their utter expulsion from the homes which had already cost them infinite vexation and much precious blood. There was an affectation of conditions of compromise, but they resolved themselves into these points: 64 WYOMING. "1st. Pledges to be given, such as could not admit of denial or evasion, for their obedience. "2d. A disclaimer in writing, publicly, plainly, and unequivocally given, of all claims to their lands held under title from Connecticut. Then follow the merciful terms. "3d. The settler to take a lease of half his farm for about eleven months, giving up possession at once of the other half. On the first of April following to abandon claims, home, possession, to his adversary. "4th. The widows of those who had fallen by the savages to be indulged in half their possessions a year longer. "And 5th, The Rev. Mr. Johnson to be allowed to occupy his grounds (under disclaimer and lease, of course) for two years." - Miner's History, p. 324, 325. The settlers remonstrated, and stood firmly to their positions. The agents of the government of Pennsylvania proceeded to constitute townships, and take possession of the lands. The settlers were not subdued by the dangers and troubles through which they had passed. Though war had diminished and weakened them, they were not prepared tamely to submit to downright usurpation and oppression. The soil which had drunk the blood of their dear friends - fathers, brothers, and sons - was too sacred to be lightly abandoned. Their homes they were determined to hold, peaceably if they could, forcibly if they, must. Seeing themselves likely to fail of maintaining their rights, the law being in the hands of those interested, they seized their old rusty guns and hurled defiance at their oppressors. Colonel Butler, Colonel Jenkins, and Colonel Franklin led on the Connecticut people in the maintenance of their rights, always exhausting nego- ITS HISTORY. 65 tiation and diplomacy before they had recourse to forcible measures. Colonel Armstrong, the author of the famous "Newburg Letters," was commissioned to visit the scene of strife, with an armed force of four hundred men, and restore peace. Finding the Pennamites and Yankees in the field in the attitude of war, he required both parties to give up their arms and cease hostilities, promising "impartial justice and protection." The Yankees feared "treachery," but Colonel Armstrong "pledging his faith as a soldier and his honor as a gentleman" that the opposite party should also be disarmed, they finally submitted. "They paraded, were ordered to 'ground arms;' they were then commanded, `Right about - march ten steps - halt - right about!' which they obeyed; when Colonel Armstrong ordered his men to advance and take up the grounded arms. Thus far was according to their expectations; but their surprise was merged in bitterest mortification when Colonel Armstrong gave rapid orders, as rapidly obeyed, to surround the disarmed settlers, and make them all prisoners: resistance was vain, and escape hopeless. Not a musket was taken from Patterson's forces, but they beheld the successful treachery of Colonel Armstrong with unrestrained delight and taunting exultation. A soldier's faith should be unsullied as the judicial ermine - the pledged honor of a gentleman more sacred than life. Both were basely violated, and language is too poor to paint in proper colors the detestable deed." - Miner. The poor fellows were now bound with cords, and hurried off, some to Easton, others to Northumberland, and thrown into prison. Armstrong returned to Philadelphia to herald his triumph; but, to his great mortification, he almost immediately learned that most of 66 WYOMING. the Yankees were released on bail, and were again in the field. Skirmishes now ensued, and lives were lost on both sides. A sympathy was now quite general in Pennsylvania for the settlers. Armstrong's perfidy was known and execrated, and when he returned to Wyoming, having been authorized to raise a force sufficient to reduce the Yankees, he could only bring into the field about one hundred men. In an assault upon a party who occupied three block-houses at Tuttle's Creek he was repulsed, and one of his subalterns, a Captain Bolen, was killed. This was the last blood that was spilled in these unfortunate conflicts. September 15, 1784, the Legislative Assembly of Pennsylvania "ordered the settlers to be restored to their possessions." A portion of the settlers had, by means of the oppressive measures of Pennsylvania, become wholly disaffected with her; and, led on by Colonel Franklin, a most active and able political agitator, they made a stand against the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and actually commenced incipient measures for the organization of the disputed territory into a new state. The settlers were now themselves divided into two factions; one under the influence of Colonel Pickering, who acted under the authority of Pennsylvania, and the other led on by Colonel Franklin, who acted partly for himself and partly for the dear people. The feud was, however, finally terminated by the apprehension and imprisonment of Franklin, who, after he had lain in jail in Philadelphia for several months, so far lost his ardor as to ask pardon of the Legislature, and promise allegiance to the state, which promise he for many years faithfully fulfilled. So terminated all the wars of the Valley of Wyoming. ITS HISTORY. 67 COLONEL PICKERING. [illustration] After the termination of the wars, Wyoming became a pleasant, flourishing rural district under the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and its inhabitants soon attained not only competency, but many of them wealth and opulence. "Look now abroad: another race has filled These populous borders; wide the wood recedes, And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are tilled; The land is full of harvests and green meads; Streams numberless, that many a fountain feeds, Shine, disembowered, and give to sun and breeze Their virgin matins; the full region leads New colonies forth, that toward the western seas Spread like a rapid flame among the autumnal trees." BRYANT. Their commercial operations were carried on by a laborious process, but they were remunerative. Colonel Holenback and others, who commenced life with little or nothing, amassed fortunes by trading with the settlers and the Indians scattered through the wilderness between Niagara and Philadelphia. Things 68 WYOMING. moved on in a quiet way, and business was pursued by its ancient channels until it was found that Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys constituted one of the richest basins of anthracite coal in the State of Pennsylvania. Eastern capital finally became enlisted, and, together with home resources, has originated a vast trade, which has changed the whole course of business. Agriculture is now a mere circumstance in the business interests of the country. Until within a few years Wyoming was as much like "The Happy Valley" in Rasselas as could well be imagined. The only modes of access to the great world were either by the river, which was never properly navigable, or across the eastern mountains, over an almost impassable road. Thanks to modern improvements, every thing is now changed. The spell is broken. The dark silence of the past has given place to the bustle of business, the shriek of the locomotive, and the thunder of the cars. Instead of a full week's travel between this secluded spot and New York or Philadelphia, only a few hours are now occupied by the journey. From the present point of business, activity, and progress, we propose to lead the reader back to the primitive simplicity of the first settlers - to take a brief view of their struggles and perils - their conflicts with the wild beasts, the wild Indians, and with each other. The history of no portion of our great country is more replete with curious incidents and romantic adventures than the history of Wyoming. Every foot of the soil is rendered classic by some historic fact or some curious legend. Bloody conflicts, hair-breadth escapes, starvations, heartbreaks, love adventures, prodigies of heroism, and miracles of endurance, mark ITS HISTORY. 69 every page of the early history of Wyoming, and are associated with every one of her ancient localities. Our object shall be to introduce to the reader some of the tellers of the wondrous tales of the olden time. They shall now speak for themselves. Their own simple stories, told, as nearly as may be, in their own language, is the desideratum which we propose to supply, and for which our materials are quite ample. Novelists and poets have strained their imagination to render the scenery and the scenes of Wyoming enchanting to their readers, while facts and incidents have been sleeping here, or have been but partially understood, which are really more wonderful than the fruitful brains of these writers were able to conceive. The truth, told without affectation after the excitements of the strange scenes described have long since passed away will be found to outstrip fiction in exciting interest. Perhaps the brightest gem to be found among the poetical effusions of Thomas Campbell is his "Gertrude of Wyoming." There is much that is truthful in his pictures, some few things which are false, but nothing overdrawn. One of our own poets, who had gazed upon the objects and scenes of the valley for himself, makes the following beautiful allusion to Campbell's Gertrude in a strain not below the poetic beauty of that poem: "I then but dreamed: thou art before me now, In life, a vision of the brain no more. I've stood upon the wooded mountain's brow, That beetles high thy lovely valley o'er. Nature hath made thee lovelier than the power Even of Campbell's pen hath pictured: he Had woven, had he gazed one sunny hour Upon thy smiling vale, its scenery. 70 WYOMING. With more of truth, and made each rock and tree Known like old friends, and greeted from afar: And there are tales of sad reality In the dark legends of thy border war, With woes of deeper tint than his own Gertrude's are." HALLECK.