George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 19 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 376 WYOMING. XIX. THE MONUMENT. COLONEL BUTLER returned to the Valley in August, but no attempt was made to gather up the remains of those who fell upon the battle-field until October. On the 21st of October he issued an order "that there be a party, consisting of a lieutenant, two sergeants, two corporals, and twenty-five men, to parade to- morrow morning, with arms, as a guard to those who will go to bury the remains of the men who were killed at the late battle at and near the place called Wintermoot's Fort." On the day the settlers, who had returned to the Valley, assembled and proceeded, protected by the military escort provided by Colonel Butler, to perform the melancholy duty of interring what remained of their comrades, relations, and neighbors in as decent a manner as possible. The late General William Ross, who was present, informed Professor Silliman, when he was in the Valley in 1829, that, "owing to the intense heat of the weather, and probably the dryness of the air, the bodies were shriveled, dried, and inoffensive, but, with a single exception, their features could not be recognized." The bodies were taken up with pitchforks and carried upon a cart to the place of sepulture, where they were buried in a common grave. Strange as it may seem, the grave of the patriots who fell in the fatal "Indian battle" was for years wholly lost. It was known to be located not far from the main road, in a field belonging to Fisher Gay, THE MONUMENT. 377 Esq. This field had long been cultivated, the plow and the scythe alternately passing over the remains of the relatives and friends of nearly every leading family in the Valley, and yet there was none to rise up and claim for Wyoming's heroes the respect accorded in all civilized countries to the ashes of the common dead. Public sentiment was finally directed to the subject, and there was an awakening of the feelings of virtuous shame for a delinquency so strange and unnatural. A suitable monument over the bones of the patriot band finally came to be talked of as a matter of decency, to say nothing of the gratitude to which their memory was entitled. So early as 1809, Hon. Charles Miner published several essays upon the subject in a Wilkesbarre paper, but it was not until 1832 that any thing like a decided movement was made to carry out the project. Several leading citizens of the Valley becoming deeply interested in the question of the proposed monument, the first thing which it was thought necessary to settle was the precise spot where the bones of the patriots lay. The ground was originally owned by "the widow Lee," and she subsequently married Philip Jackson, long after her death a resident at Forty Fort. Jackson remembered the mound which indicated the place of interment, and was employed to identify it. But little effort was necessary to effect the object. The common grave, where were mingled together the bones of brothers and neighbors, officers and common soldiers, in close contact, was opened in the presence of several of the citizens residing in the vicinity. Some of the most interesting specimens of the remains were deposited in a box, and were kept for the 378 WYOMING. examination of curious visitors, until most of them finally disappeared. We saw them before any of them had been conveyed by sacrilegious hands to parts unknown. The skulls exhibited the marks of the tomahawk and scalping-knife. Some of them had been broken in with the head or spike of the tomahawk, and others chipped with the edge by a glancing stroke. One had been broken in with the rim of the pipe of a smoking-tomahawk. We can imagine with what gusto the murderous wretch tasted the fumes of "the weed" taken in from the bowl of his favorite smoking-hatchet while it was yet stained with the blood of his victim. One skull was perforated by a bullet, and a thigh-bone had a bullet hole in the centre, which was made without effecting a lateral fracture, leaving the bone entirely sound with the exception of the smooth perforation. What awful associations did these memorials of the fatal 3d of July, 1778, bring up! The bones are without sense or motion, but once they were the framework of bodies like our own - bodies which were inhabited by intelligent immortal spirits. They were deprived of their conscious reasoning tenant in a moment, or by slow, lingering agonies. The separation was violent, but, when consummated, the shouts of the victors and the clangor of the battle, which echoed from mountain-top to mountain-top, no more shocked the ear nor quickened the pulsations of the slain. They sleep in death until the morning of the resurrection. These sacred relics were now objects of universal curiosity and no ordinary veneration, and increased the tendency of the public mind in the direction of the monument which had been commenced. The time for action had come, and "a meeting of a number THE MONUMENT. 379 of the early settlers of Wyoming Valley, who had relatives and acquaintances in the Wyoming massacre, and other citizens of Luzerne County, convened at the house of Major O. Helme, in Kingston, on the 16th day of June, 1832, to take into consideration the subject of erecting a monument to the memory of those who fell in that disastrous conflict. General William Ross was appointed chairman, and Charles D. Shoemaker secretary." After the object of the meeting had been stated by the chair, the following persons were appointed a committee to draft resolutions: John Carey, Colonel Benjamin Dorrance, Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, Colonel George P. Ransom, Calvin Wadhams, John Gore, Sen., Anderson Dana, Sen., Joseph Wright, and Benjamin Reynolds. The resolutions proposed and passed expressed the deep sympathy of the meeting with the movement, and prescribed preparatory measures for the accomplishment of its object. One resolution was, "That we request the citizens of the Valley to meet at the house of F. Gay, in Kingston, on the 3d day of July next, at ten o'clock, for the purpose of adopting such measures as may be thought necessary to insure the erection of a monument." It was also "Resolved, That we invite our fellow-citizens to unite with us in paying a tribute of respect to the remains of those patriots on that day, it being the anniversary of the day of their massacre, by visiting the spot where rest their ashes." A committee was then appointed to negotiate for the purchase of "half an acre of ground, including the burial-place of those who fell in the battle of Wyoming." The committee was composed of Benjamin Dorrance, Calvin Wadhams, Anderson Dana, David Scott, and George M. Hollenback. 380 WYOMING. "A committee of superintendence" was then appointed "to arrange the order of the day, and that they be requested to procure a suitable person to deliver an address on that day." The committee was as follows: John Carey, George P. Ransom, Sharp D. Lewis, Pierce Butler, Charles D. Shoemaker, Fisher Gay, Elisha Harding, Sen., Ebenezer Slocum, Samuel Wadhams, Joseph Jameson, Edward Inman, Benjamin A. Bidlack, Joseph Slocum, William Swetland, Harris Jenkins, William C. Reynolds, William S. Ross, Charles Dorrance, Jonah Rogers, Francis Dana, Hiram benison, Jonathan Stephens, Asa Stephens, John Bennet, Dr. John Smith, Isaac Harding, John Gore, Jr., Henry Pettibone, Daniel Ross, Avery Gore, and Jeremiah Gore. The committee immediately arranged the following programme for the proposed meeting: "The procession will be formed at twelve o'clock, in the following order: "Those who may be present who were in the battle. "The soldiers of the Revolution. "The connections and descendants of those who fell in the battle. "The orator of the day and the committee of superintendence. "The early settlers who were not in the battle. "The citizens. "The procession will march in silence, or with suitable music, to the place where those who were massacred were interred." The meeting was one of great public interest, and, as might be expected, a vast concourse of people attended. Rev. James May, now Rev. Dr. May, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was the orator. Associ- THE MONUMENT. 381 ated with him in the services were Rev. Nicholas Murray, now Rev. Dr. Murray, of the Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Charles Nash, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, then all pastors in the borough of Wilkesbarre. The oration of Mr. May and the remarks of Mr. Murray were published in the papers, and are now before us. Mr. May's address consists of a brief sketch of the objects of the meeting, the battle, and the consequences which followed. Toward its close we have the following beautiful paragraphs: "When upward of fifty years have gone, we are in quiet possession of this valley. The sun in his daily journey looks upon few spots on which the Creator has combined more of the materials necessary for earthly happiness. No object of price in general can be gained without painstaking and sacrifice. The independence of our common country was not secured without a long and toilsome struggle. This valley, so rich in soil, so lovely in scenery, could not be possessed securely till the sacrifice was made, and that, too, of blood. The hands that more than half a century ago first struck the axe into the forests that had for ages shadowed these plains, lie mingled with the dust. The troubles of those times, when the Indians descended upon this valley, were borne by heads that are pillowed beneath the soil. See, fellow-citizens, the sacrifice which was made by the first civilized tenants of this valley. The grave containing their bones is uncovered before you. You see for yourselves the marks of the tomahawk and scalping-knife on the heads which are here uncovered, after having rested for more than fifty years. Peace be in this grave - sacred be the memory of them that sleep here. 382 WYOMING. "A few who were themselves sharers in the toils and difficulties of those times yet survive, and are here this day to bear witness for us. Venerable citizens, we respect you for your years; we honor you for the part you bore in the doings and sufferings of those days; we love and cherish the principles of liberty which animated you; we owe you a debt of gratitude for the happy inheritance which you did your part to preserve unimpaired for your children. You have passed within the lines of the second half century since you opened a grave here for your brothers whom the Indians slaughtered on these plains. This valley, which you saw as it was when but a frontier, you survive to see in the midst of a population of many hundreds of thousands overspreading the country beyond you. But on this day, and where you now are, you can not but think of what you once saw in this place. We would stand aside while you look into this grave, and see the bones of your brothers, which fifty years ago you assisted in sadly laying here. We would not intrude while, as you stand beside these bones, you think how you stood beside your friends when they lived. For your sakes we are glad that this day has come. We rejoice to think that you may see yet a stone raised here, on which the names of those you laid in this spot shall be engraven." Mr. Murray made a few characteristic and happy remarks, among which were the following: "You see these bleached heads and bending forms around me. These worthies have come down to us from the last century, and are the companions of the heroes to whose manly frames these mouldering bones belonged. Could the breath of life be breathed into these bones - could they rise in the possession of living THE MONUMENT. 383 energy, they would find, even among this small remnant, a few brothers and sons. As the gentleman on my right was narrating the incidents of the horrible massacre, I saw the tear stealing down the furrowed cheeks of these fathers of our community. That tear told me that they felt - that they deeply felt; and methinks that there is not a heart in this vast concourse that does not sympathize with them. They desire that a monument should be erected over the common grave of their fathers, and brothers, and companions. And do you not sympathize with them? I know you do. I feel persuaded that you are anxious to place a liberal subscription on this paper before you retire from this place. You court the honor of contributing to the erection of the Wyoming Monument. My great fear is that we shall not all have the privilege of giving. I would therefore caution the rich not to indulge their patriotic feelings too freely, lest the poor should be debarred. We all want to have our stone in the Wyoming Monument." Our friend Murray's fears of being overwhelmed with a deluge of money turned out not to have been very well founded, for the subscription was so inadequate that the enterprise rested for seven years. In 1839, an able committee was sent to Hartford to solicit aid from the Legislature of Connecticut. The claims of the original settlers of Wyoming upon Connecticut were ably advocated, and a report was presented which proposed a grant of three thousand dollars to aid in the erection of the proposed monument, but was not acted upon. In 1841, another petition and another deputation were sent on, and for a time the thing seemed likely to succeed. The Lower House voted the appropriation by a large majority, but the Senate did not concur. 384 WYOMING. [illustration] Having failed in their efforts to procure foreign aid, like the wagoner in the fable who prayed to Hercules for help, the people of Wyoming resorted to the better plan of putting their shoulder to the wheel. This time the ladies took the matter in hand, and it was bound to go. They formed what was denominated "The Luzerne Monumental Association." The names of the officers and committee were as follows: Mrs. Chester Butler, President; Mrs. G. M. Hollenback and Mrs. E. Carey, Vice-presidents; Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. Hollenback, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Cunningham, Mrs. Beaumont, Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. Carey, Executive Committee; Miss Emily Cist, Treasurer; Miss Gertrude Butler, Secretary; Mrs. Donley, Mrs. L. Butler, Corresponding Committee. The ladies solicited donations, held fairs, and, by dint of zeal and perseverance, succeeded in raising the funds for the erection of a monument at once of the patriotic deeds of their fathers and of their own power. The monument is constructed of granite, and is sixty-two and a half feet in height. On three marble slabs are engraved the following inscriptions. On the front slab, composed by Edward Mallory, Esq., is the following: Near this spot was fought, on the afternoon of the 3d of July, 1778, the Battle of Wyoming, in which a small band of patriotic Ameri- THE MONUMENT. 385 cans, chiefly the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged, spared by inefficiency from the distant ranks of the Republic, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler and Colonel Nathan Denison, with a courage that deserved success, boldly met and bravely fought a combined British, Tory, and Indian force of thrice their number. Numerical superiority alone gave success to the invader, and widespread havoc, desolation, and ruin marked his savage and bloody footsteps through the Valley. This monument, commemorative of these events, and in memory of the actors in them, has been erected over the bones of the slain by their descendants and others, who gratefully appreciate the services and sacrifices of their patriotic ancestors. On the other slabs the following: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Slain in the battle: Field-officers: Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance, Major John Garret. Captains: James Bidlack, Jun., Aholiab Buck, Robert Durkee, Rezin Geer, Joseph Whittlesey, Dethic Hewit, William M'Karaghan, Samuel Ransom, Lazarus Stewart, James Wigton. Lieutenants: A. Atherton, Stoddart Bowen, Aaron Gaylord, Timothy Pierce, Perrin Ross, Elijah Shoemaker, Lazarus Stewart, Jun., Asa Stevens, Flavius Waterman, James Wells. Ensigns: Jeremiah Bigford, Asa Gore, Silas Gore, Titus Hinman, John Otis, William White. Privates: Jabez Atherton, Christopher Avery, - Acke, A. Benedict, Jabez Beers, Samuel Bigford, Elias Bixby, David Bixby, John Boyd, John Brown, Thomas Brown, William Buck, James Budd, Amos Bullock, Henry Buck, John Caldwell, Isaac Campbell, Josiah Cameron, Joseph Carey, Joel Church, James Coffrin, William Coffrin, Samuel Cole, Robert Comstock, [three] brothers Cook, Christopher Cortright, John Cortright, Anson Coray, Rufus Coray, Jenks Coray, Samuel Crocker, Joseph Crocker, Jabez Darling, D. Denton, Conrad Devenport, Anderson Dana, James Divine, George Downing, Levi Dunn, William Dunn, - Ducher, Benjamin Finch, John Finch, Daniel Finch, Elisha Fitch, Cornelius Fitchett, Eliphalet Follett, Thomas Faxen, John Franklin, Thomas Fuller, Stephen Fuller, - Gardner, George Gore, - Green, Samuel Hutchinson, William Hammond, Silas Harvey, Benjamin Hatch, Cyprian Hebard, Levi Hicks, James Hopkins, Nathaniel Howard, John Hutchins, Israel Inman, Elijah Inman, Joseph Jennings, Samuel Jackson, Robert Jameson, Henry Johnson, - Lester, Joshua Landon, Daniel Lawrence, William Lawrence, Francis Ledyard, James Lock, Conrad Lowe, 386 WYOMING. Jacob Lowe, Nicholas Manvill, Job Marshall, New Matthewson, C. M'Cartee, A. Mecleman, Robert M'Intire, Andrew Millard, John Murphy, Joseph Ogden, John Pierce, Abel Palmer, Silas Parke, William Packer, Henry Pencil, Noah Pettibone, Jun., Jeremiah Ross, - Reynolds, Elisha Richards, Elias Roberts, Enos Rockway, Timothy Ross, James Shaw, Constant Searle, Abel Seeley, Joseph Shaw, Abraham Shaw, Darius Spafford, Levi Spencer, Josiah Spencer, Eleazar Sprague, Aaron Stark, Daniel Stark, Joseph Staples, Rufus Stevens, James Stevenson, Naler Sweed, Ichabod Tuttle, John Van Wee, Abraham Vangorder, Elisha Waters, Bartholomew Weeks, Jonathan Weeks, Philip Weeks, Peter Wheeler, Stephen Whiton, Esen Wilcox, John Williams, Elihu Williams, Jun., Rufus Williams, Azibah Williams, John Ward, John Wilson, Parker Wilson, - Wade, William Woodringer, Ozias Yale. The plan of the monument has not, as yet, been fully carried out. It has around it no railing of any sort. The ground is not ornamented by trees, shrubs, and flowers. The spot looks neglected; and we are free to confess, mortifying as it is for us to say so, that the Wyoming Monument - a thing that should be the pride of the Valley - is indicative of too great a want of public spirit in our citizens. Where are the ladies of Wyoming? Since the monument has been brought to its present state, the daughters of those who did the work have come upon the stage. Let them arise in their might, and finish the work so well begun by their noble mothers. Let the present generation of Wyoming ladies prove by their works that they are not inferior to the preceding generation in patriotism, energy, taste, and public spirit. A thousand dollars could be well laid out upon the monument and grounds, and ought to be forthcoming. Half that sum would redeem this noble monument of patriotism rarely met with on the pages of the world's history from the disgrace which seems to rest upon it. Happy indeed we are that the Wyoming Monument is a fact, but much THE MONUMENT. 387 more happy should we be to see the original design, so well conceived, fully completed, that visitors from all quarters of the globe might be struck with admiration not only of the bravery of the patriots who fell in the battle, but also of the pious gratitude, the liberality, the love of art, and the elevated taste of their descendants. "The Monument" should be the most beautiful and inviting spot in the Valley. It should be surrounded with an iron railing, and the plot of ground around it should be ornamented with the choicest shrubbery and flowers. The genius of patriotism and of art should preside there. It should be a place where one would love, in solitude, to spend the twilight of evening in holy meditations, and in reminiscences of the olden time. While it points back to a stern, bloody period in our history, it should indicate the fact of progress, and prophesy a glorious future.