George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 15 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 RICHARD GARDNER. 351 THE FALLING SPRING [illustration] XV. AN INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD GARDNER. "So must thou live till, like ripe fruit, thou drop Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature: This is old age." MILTON. WE had been told that "old Mr. Gardner, of Exeter," was "almost a hundred years old," and that he could give a great amount of information in relation to Revolutionary times; that he had been a prisoner among the Indians for a long time, and had suffered untold miseries in cruel captivity. We resolved upon an early visit to the residence of the centenarian. On a beautiful morning early in June, 1857, we took the cars for Pittston, where we procured a horse and buggy, and proceeded through the long narrows on the east side of the Susquehanna. Passing the bold front of Campbell's Ledge, we wound our way along on the North Branch Canal, which is protected on the riverside by a sea-wall. A short distance above Campbell's Ledge a beautiful cascade comes rushing from the height, called Falling Spring. Upon the top of the mountain is a small spruce swamp, formed by never-failing springs. From this swamp issues the rill which falls over the precipice, and presents the beautiful object copied in the accompanying picture. On the road-side a perpendicular wall is built to the level of the road, but there is no barrier whatever to prevent the traveler from being precipitated into the canal in case a horse should be frightened and become unmanageable. 352 WYOMING. The road is narrow, in general not affording room for two carriages to pass. The almost perpendicular ledge of rocks has been blasted out to make room for the canal and the road. The rocky steep above frowns down upon the passenger in awful majesty. Now you find the broken fragments of trees which have been precipitated from the lofty height above, and then vast masses of rock which have been rent from their ancient beds by the frost, tumbled down the steep, and have filled up the narrow pass, a portion of them having been removed, leaving space barely sufficient for the passage of a carriage. Often the awful visage of the mountain height seems to assume an air of pensiveness, and weeps streams and gushing rivulets, as though in grief for the wounds and fractures inflicted upon her slopes and precipices, and her separation from immediate communion with her ancient friend and companion, the great and noble Susquehanna. Such havoc do modern improvements make of the sublime beauties of nature that the very rocks and hills are convulsed with agony. We have often passed these terrible narrows, but never without a sort of terror. We can never help asking ourselves, What if some of the huge masses of rock, which seem just ready to topple from their foundation, should take a leap just as we are passing? In a moment we should be ground to powder. A mere pebble falling down the precipice might at any time frighten the horse of the traveler, and occasion an unlucky leap into the canal. Either of these events are possible, and more or less probable, at any moment; the providence of God, however, preserved us, and we made the trip in safety. In due time we reached " Gardner's Ferry," six miles RICHARD GARDNER. 353 above the mouth of the Lackawanna. Coming up to an ancient dwelling - one with which we were familiar near forty years ago - upon the stoop we saw a venerable man, much bent down, leaning upon a cane. We asked him if his name was Gardner. "Yes; but you have the advantage of me: I don't know you," was the response. After being informed of the object of our visit, he commenced conversation standing. His position seemed so uneasy that we were pained, and we suggested that perhaps he had better be seated. We were then invited into the house, and shown to a chair. Several respectable-looking females were present, who looked inquisitively as we, without farther ceremony, entered into conversation. Mr. Gardner had never been a prisoner among the Indians. His father was made a prisoner when the Hardings were killed, as he was in the field at work with them at the time, on the west side of the river. He never returned, but, as they learned, was cruelly tortured by the savages, being burned alive. Mrs. Alexander, from whom we received much information in relation to Colonel Hollenback, has furnished us with the following painful tale of the last interview between Mr. Gardner and his afflicted companion. She says "I will relate a fact which was told to my mother and myself by Mrs. Jenkins, the wife of Lieutenant Jenkins. She, with a Mrs. Gardner, was at Fort Jenkins after its capitulation. The husband of Mrs. Gardner was a prisoner in the hands of the Tories and Indians, and she wished much to see him once more, and asked Mrs. Jenkins to accompany her. Having consented and obtained leave, they went, under escort of young Wintermoot, who was a Tory, and offered to go 354 WYOMING. with them upon the condition that they would manifest no surprise or sorrow at the sight they might see, telling them, at the time, that they would behold many strange and heart-rending ones. "They therefore schooled themselves to appear indifferent, and entered the camp as coolly as possible. Mrs. Gardner obtained an interview with her husband, who told her that he was well aware they would never meet again. He was lame, and knowing that if unable to keep pace with his captors when on the march they would kill him, he advised her to take their two little boys and go to Connecticut, and remain with her friends until, the troubles being over in Wyoming, it would be safe to return and live upon the farm he had purchased her, bidding her a lasting farewell. During all the time she had such possession of herself as to exhibit no outward sign of sorrow. Mrs. Jenkins also told us that the Indians were at that time busily engaged in burning their victims. They had thrown down an old dry pine fence, and piled upon it the dead, wounded, and some unhurt white men, added more combustible matter, and set it on fire; and that the whole line of the fence was filled with the charred bones and flesh of the poor creatures, and men still burning: an awful sight, and I do not doubt her statement of the facts." Mr. Miner gives the following account of Mr. Gardner's captivity and death: "One taken at Exeter the first of July, when the Hardings and Hadsels were massacred, deserves our special notice. Mr. John Gardner was a husband and a father, a highly respectable man, against whom some unappeasable spirit of enmity is supposed to have existed. On the morning of the fourth, his wife and child were permitted to see and RICHARD GARDNER. 355 take leave of him. Elisha Harding, Esq., then a boy, was present, and represents the scene as extremely affecting. When the last adieu was exchanged, an Indian placed a grievous load on his shoulders which he could scarcely raise, then put a halter round his neck, and led him off as he would a beast. The farewell expressed the sentiment, 'I go to return no more.' Exhausted with fatigue before he arrived at his captor's home, he fell, crushed by the weight of his load, when he was handed over to the squaws, who tortured him to death by fire. Daniel Carr, a fellow-prisoner, saw the remains the following day, and represented it as a sight to awaken the deepest pity." At the time of the Indian battle Mr. Gardner was eleven years of age, and was with his mother in a fort on the west side of the river, immediately opposite the place where Pittston now stands; he knew not by what name the fort was called. The fort consisted of a house built of hewed logs, and surrounded by a stockade: it was Fort Jenkins. They heard the firing plainly on the day of the battle, and on the day following learned that "our army was cut off." On that day Butler sent in a flag, and demanded the surrender of the fort.* There was nobody there to defend the fort but women and children, and a few old men. The gate was opened, and the Indians and Tories came in. They ordered all the things taken out of the house and spread upon the ground. They then set fire to the house, and, after taking what they wanted of the goods which lay upon the ground, they went away, and no more was seen of them. _____ * The articles of capitulation are signed July 1, 1778, but it probably was not thought necessary to enter it, as it was a small, helpless concern. 356 WYOMING. "Several of the Tories who were with the Indians," said Mr. Gardner, "had often been at my father's house, and been kindly treated there. One by the name of Vanderlip, and another by the name of Showers, I distinctly recollect. I saw upon the Indians clothes taken from the bodies of our men covered with blood." This is the amount of Mr. Gardner's personal knowledge of the wars of Wyoming. The first Pennamite and Yankee war had subsided when his father came into the country, and the last was concluded before he returned finally to remain. The old men, with the women and children who were in the fort, left the country and returned to Connecticut. Mr. Gardner's mother had a young child, which she nursed and carried in her arms. The feeble and defenseless little company traveled through the swamp on foot. There was no road but a mere footpath, and no bridges across the streams. They suffered indescribably from hunger and weakness, but, by the most indomitable perseverance, they finally reached the settled country, where they received aid and comfort from the people. What fearful times were these! The strength of the settlement was gone. The husbands, sons, and brothers, who were expected to clear the farms and raise the bread, had perished upon the field of battle, or been led away into hopeless bondage. A few old men leaning upon their staves, mothers with infants at their breasts, and boys and girls of tender age, were left in a country overrun by murderous savages, without food, and often stripped of their clothing, until not enough was left to screen their bodies from the extremities of the weather, and in this condition obliged to undertake a long journey through the wilderness RICHARD GARDNER. 35 on foot. The fathers and mothers had lost the support of their age, and the wives and the children their natural protectors and their only earthly source of dependence. One old gentleman lost three sons in the battle, and thus, in an hour, was left with three widows and twelve helpless, fatherless children upon his hands to provide for! What were the sufferings of the bereaved fathers, mothers, wives, and children on that memorable occasion, it is impossible to tell or even to conceive. Look for a moment at the mother of Mr. Gardner - made a widow under the most heart-rending circumstances, with a child hanging to her breast, and a little boy scarcely able to take care of himself, on so long and laborious a journey. Why did she not faint, or give herself up to inconsolable grief or to utter despair? Ah! the women of those times were made of stern stuff. How nobly they bore themselves when the storm beat furiously upon them, when the iron entered into their souls. There was a religious element in their character, which came to their relief in that terrible day of need. When they could truly say, "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me," they could also add, "Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life." At the age of twenty-one Mr. Gardner married and returned to Wyoming. He settled upon land which his father had occupied, and there he has lived from that day to the present. He established a ferry, and often was subjected to great labor, and exposed to great danger on the river. He is now a most remarkable man. He was ninety years of age the eighth day of last February. He has suffered from several casualties, 358 WYOMING. but still his constitution remains unbroken, and his intellect is sound. Soon after he settled in the country he received an injury in one of his elbows, which has ever since been to him a source of trouble, although it did not make him a cripple. In a bear-hunt, one of his companions, not perceiving that Mr. Gardner was nearly in range between him and a ferocious old dam with two cubs, drew up his piece and fired just as his friend was in the same act. Unfortunately, the ball struck his elbow. "I've hit her," exclaimed the delighted hunter. "You've hit me," answered Mr. Gardner. The blood streamed from the arm of the wounded man, while the bear escaped unhurt. They were in the woods some miles east of the settlement. One of Mr. Gardner's companions accompanied him home, while the other took a straight course through the woods to Lackawanna to procure the services of Dr. Hooker Smith. It was two days after the wound was inflicted before Dr. Smith could be on hand. When he came the arm was much inflamed and swollen, and the probing, cutting, and picking out splinters of bone was a most terrible operation, but it had to be endured. The wound was some time in healing, and the injury of the joint was such that the consequences were permanently troublesome. Two years since, Mr. Gardner received an injury to his spine by a fall in the barn. This much increased his stooping position, and considerably diminished his power of locomotion. He assured us that, before he received the last-mentioned injury, he could walk to Wilkesbarre, the distance of fourteen miles, and back again the same day; indeed, he affirmed he could do so now if his back had not been injured. Summer RICHARD GARDNER. 359 before last, he said, he laid up thirty rods of stone fence, and he should do a good business in that line this season, if his son could find time to draw the stone. On the day before our visit he had crossed the river, walked three miles, helped his son-in-law plant his potatoes, and returned before sundown. If he stood erect, he would appear to be about seventy years of age - perhaps not so old. He is one of that small class of human beings who seem to defy the laws of natural decay. Mr. Gardner had been twice married, and been blessed with thirteen children, two of whom died in childhood, while the remaining eleven lived to mature years. Two of the number have been cripples from early youth. A son had his lower limbs paralyzed when a child, and they have ever since been almost incapable of locomotion. He hitches about on his hands and hips, but is cheerful, and converses sensibly and with animation. He is sixty-one years of age. A daughter walks upon crutches in consequence of having lost the use of one of her limbs by a fever-sore. Before we left dinner was announced, and we were invited to "sit by" and share in the repast, which we did with a relish. The table was well supplied, and the cookery done up in comfortable country style. When all were seated, the old gentleman craved a blessing, somewhat in the ancient Puritanic style as to length and particularity. We found he had long been a member of the Baptist Church, and should judge him a truly religious man. We asked him how he enjoyed life; his answer was, "Oh, very well. I have always enjoyed very good health - have never been sick much, and have no reason to complain." Mr. Gardner said that when he first came into the 360 WYOMING. country, and for a long time afterward, game was abundant every where in the woods, and the waters furnished plenty of the finest fish. In the spring the shad were abundant in the river, and in the little stream not far from his house, called Gardner's Creek, a mess of the finest trout could be caught at almost any time except in winter. Many years since, a company of Indians passed down the river on their way to Philadelphia, to conclude a treaty with the government. There seemed to be two parties, one taking the east and the other the west side of the river. Several of them lodged in an old, deserted house near by. He visited them, and one of them spoke good English. The Indian asked him if he ever saw an Indian before. "Yes," said he, "at the time of the Wyoming massacre." "Ah! you live there?" responded the Indian. "Yes," was the answer. From that moment the Indian seemed shy. He finally said his tribe, the Oneidas, were not here on that occasion, but some of the other company were here, and he and his friends would not go in their company, for they expected every one of them would be killed. "How many Indians do you think were in the battle?" asked the Indian. "I do not know; I have heard about a thousand," answered Mr. Gardner. "Oh no," responded the Indian, "not near so many." We take the following account of this visit of the Indians to Wyoming from Mr. Miner: "Fifteen years after the battle, a number of Indians, among whom were several chiefs of distinction, passed through Wyoming on their way to Philadelphia, on business with the government. Apprehending danger, they sent word to Wilkesbarre, and an escort of respectable citizens turned out to accompany them into the town. RICHARD GARDNER. 361 In the evening a council was held in the court-room, where mutually pacific assurances were given. It is not surprising, considering their cruel conduct during the war, that the Indians entertained fears for their safety. On their return, passing on the opposite side of the river from the battle-ground, the old braves showed much excitement, talking and gesticulating with great emphasis and spirit, as they seemed to be pointing out to the younger savages the position and incidents of the conflict. I met Red Jacket at Washington in 1827 or '8, and strove to lead him to talk of Wyoming, but on that subject his lips were hermetically sealed." From this time, we believe, no Indians visited Wyoming until the summer of 1852, when a company of performers made their appearance in Wilkesbarre. They rode through the town in single file in native costume, and whooped, and yelled, and performed many curious feats. At night they had a war-dance on the bank of the river, on the ground of the old fort. Few of the people who had been raised in the Valley ever saw an Indian before, and, of course, they were objects of great curiosity. Mr. Gardner's conversation is all in a plain, straightforward style, without a particle of enthusiasm, and exhibits evidence of an unimpaired intellect. We left him, and returned right well satisfied with our trip through the Narrows. We had learned some things, and among them was the fact that there were some other things not to be learned.