George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 16 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 362 WYOMING. XVI. PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE OF RUFUS BENNET ONTHE FATAL 3D OF JULY. "Woe to the vanquish'd! was stern Rune's word When sunk proud Rome beneath the Gallic sword Woe to the vanquish'd! when his massy blade Bore down the scale against her ransom weigh'd; And on the field of foughten battle still, War knows no limit save the victor's will." The Gailliard. "Slaughter grows murther when it goes too far, And makes a massacre what was a war." DRYDEN. THE retreat of the patriot army on the fatal 3d of July became a flight and a massacre. Each man shifted for himself as best he could, and the more swift on foot took the lead. The Indians, frantic with the war spirit and thirsty for blood, shot down, scalped, and tomahawked those they overtook. More than two hundred of the New England people fell in that ill-judged and disastrous encounter. A portion of these were first captured, and then massacred in cold blood. Very few - it is thought only two - of those who were captured upon the field of battle escaped torture. Of Butler's Loyalists and Indians from fifty to eighty are supposed to have fallen, but no reliable report of the number has ever been made. It is reported that all the "shovels and picks" which could be raised were put into requisition the next morning. This certainly was not for the purpose of burying our people, for they were all left above ground. The facts will probably RUFUS BENNET. 363 never be revealed until the morning of the resurrection, when it is probable that "the marsh" will yield up some scores of the Red Men who fell upon that memorable day.* In the flight and chase down the plains, there were hair-breadth and providential escapes as well as diabolical deeds of cruelty. Among the strange escapes we would notice that of Rufus Bennet, a young man of seventeen years of age. He was tall and slender, but resolute and quick of foot. He was hotly pursued by two stalwart Indians, one of them close behind him. Colonel Butler, who was almost the last to leave the ground, galloped his horse close by Bennet. Quick as lightning he seized the long switch tail of the colonel's horse. He now made long strides, and hoped to out-distance his pursuers. They, however, presuming upon the fact that he would not be able long to keep his hold, kept on at the top of their speed, although for a few moments they fell in the rear. Bennet broke his hold, and his spirit sunk. He and _____ * Since writing the above, we have learned from John Bennet, Esq., of Kingston, that when his uncle Solomon was in Wyoming last - in 1820 - he went with him upon the battle-ground, and showed him where he stood when the battle began, and how far they pushed John Butler's men. He also pointed out the spot where the British and Indians who were killed were buried. It was on what was called "the Island," in the marsh, under some large yellow pines which were then standing. There sixty were consigned to their long resting-place by their fellow-royalists - British, Tories, and Indians. The number of the slain and the place of burial were communicated to Mr. Solomon Bennet by the Wintermoots and Secords in Canada in 1812. Mr. Bennet was in Canada upon a visit to a daughter when the late war broke out, and there was obliged to remain for about two years, and during this period he had frequent interviews with his old Tory acquaintances above named, who were perfectly frank in their communications. 364 WYOMING. the Indians had severally discharged their guns and could not take time to reload, and there was no hope for the poor fellow but in a deadly close encounter against great odds. The foremost of the two, tomahawk in hand, now rapidly gained upon his supposed victim, and, with a yell which echoed from mountain to mountain, bounded forward like the bloodthirsty wolf in pursuit of the exhausted fawn. A few more leaps, and his prey would be secure. On the march of the little army up the plains, Richard Inman had fallen back from the ranks, and lay down in a wheat-field just above Tuttle's Creek. It is said that he had "taken a little too much," and requiring a nap, he flung himself upon the ground and fell asleep. By the time the fugitives came rushing down from the battle-field Inman had come to himself, and when he heard the heavy tread of Colonel Butler's horse he began to rub open his eyes. The colonel saw him lift his head and lay his chin in his hand, his elbow resting on the ground. Throwing the point of his sword back, Colonel Butler roared out, "Inman, shoot that Indian!" Inman was a dead shot, and the order was no sooner given than it was obeyed. Crack went Inman's rifle, and down fell the Indian brave. He fell within a few feet of the exhausted fugitive, and his companion was not far behind him. The next moment, and Bennet would have spent the last remnant of vital power, fallen prostrate upon the ground, and been scalped and tomahawked. He was a young man of nerve; he neither fell into a swoon nor forgot that another foe was upon his track. Gathering up his energies, he was now ready, supported by his friend, to give battle hand to hand to the remaining savage; he, however, came to a sudden ESCAPE OF RUFUS BENNET [illustration] RUFUS BENNET. 367 pause, turned about, and took to his heels. The crack of Inman's rifle and the fall of the Indian warrior had measurably restored the equilibrium of Bennet's system, and, after a few long breaths, he and his companion were on their way to the fort, where they arrived without farther molestation.* Rufus Bennet married Martha Bennet, a young woman of the same name, but not immediately related to him, and settled in Hanover, where he raised a large family, and lived to advanced years. His wife outlived him, and after long having been called "Aunt Martha," was by every body called "Grandmother." She died one mile below Wilkesbarre in the year 1853. We visited her upon her dying- bed, and, although in the very jaws of death, she entertained us for an hour or more with accounts of "the battle" and the flight "through the swamp." The company she was in " went through Capouse on to Shehola, and across Jersey." They were in constant excitement from fear of Indians. At Capouse they found one of the settlers - if we recollect right, a Mr. St. John - lying dead in the road, who had the same day been shot and scalped.** _____ * The Inman family were great patriots, and suffered severely from the Indians. Three of Richard's brothers fell victims to their barbarous cruelty. Richard lived to old age, and, after the termination of the wars, became a religious man. Colonel Edward Inman, his brother, was also, to the day of his death, a man of influence and respectability. Both these veteran pioneers had a high reputation for hospitality, and were gratefully remembered by the early itinerant ministers. ** Mr. Miner gives the following account of the Capouse murders. "News came down from Lackawanna that Mr. Hickman, his wife and child, were murdered at Capouse. The very next day, two men, by the name of Leach and St. John, who were removing with their families, were shot six miles up the Lackawanna. One of them had a child in his arms, which, with strange inconsistency, the Indian took up and handed to the mother, all covered with the father's blood. Leaving the women in the wagon unhurt, they took the scalps of their husbands and departed." 368 WYOMING. It is not wonderful that impressions made upon the minds of children by these bloody scenes should be durable. Seventy-five years had elapsed, and Mrs. Bennet was all but in her death-struggle, and yet she seemed to have a passion for thinking and conversing of those awful scenes. True enough, "The ruling passion strong in death." The day following she breathed her last. We offered her the consolations of religion, and commended her soul to God, but have one thing to regret. We made no memorandum of the particular facts which she communicated, and which are now beyond recovery. Thus are the materials of history constantly perishing through the mere thoughtlessness of those whose duty it is to give them permanence. Our acquaintance with Rufus and Martha Bennet was long and somewhat intimate, and we have general impressions of the stories which we heard - from their lips of the troublous days of Wyoming, but the particulars, except in a few instances, are indistinctly marked upon the tablet of our memory. The same remark we may make in relation to a score or more of those who were sharers and actors in the same scenes which are presented in this volume, who were active members of society when we first entered the Valley. Diligence in committing to writing what we then heard from the early settlers would have furnished us with a magazine of facts which, at this time, we should prize above silver or gold. Most of these opportunities are now gone beyond the possibility of recovery. All we can now do is to use what has escaped the ruins of a past generation.