George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 5

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                                    WYOMING;

             ITS HISTORY, STIRRING INCIDENTS AND ROMANTIC ADVENTURES.

                              By GEORGE PECK, D.D.

                               WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

         NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE, 1858

200  WYOMING.
                                        V.

          SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS COMMUNICATED BY MRS. DEBORAH BEDFORD.

    "Old men beheld, and did her reverence, 
    And bade their daughters look, and take from her 
    Example of their future life; the young 
    Admired, and new resolve of virtue made. "-POLLOK.

  MRS. BEDFORD, at the time of this writing, is living and enjoying comfortable 
health. She lives, as she has done since the death of her husband, with her son, 
Dr. Andrew Bedford, of Abington, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. From early 
childhood she has maintained a character not only without reproach, but above 
suspicion. She is the oracle of her family circle, and is universally loved. She 
is one of the few instances which are seen in a century of a contented, happy, 
hopeful mind, which has borne the friction and sustained the hardships of 
eighty-five years. She joined the first Methodist society which was formed in 
Wyoming in 1788, only ten years after the Indian battle. Her memory of the 
events of the olden time is still quite perfect, and her relations are given 
with more emotion than is common to those of her years. There is a remarkably 
matter-of-fact, business style about the stories of the survivors of the old 
stirring and bloody times; but Mrs. Bedford seems to recall the fears, the 
hopes, the sorrows, and the joys of the scenes in which she mingled eighty years 
agone. Her sympathies are so deep that time has labored in vain to extinguish 
them. We are aware of the delicacy of writing of the living; thus much we have 
thought it proper to say,

MRS. BEDFORD.  201

and we hope that the modest self distrust, and desire to keep out of sight, 
which are characteristic of our venerated friend, will not so far influence her 
mind as that this just tribute to her virtues will cause her pain.
  Mrs. Bedford was the daughter of James and Sarah Sutton, and was born February 
8th, 1773, in North Castle, New York. Her father was engaged in merchandising, 
and, when British goods were interdicted, he sold his property and removed to 
Wyoming, in company with Dr. William Hooker Smith, his father-in-law. Dr. Samuel 
Gustin married Susan Smith, his wife's sister, studied medicine with Dr. Smith, 
and was assistant surgeon with him in the army.
  Mr. Sutton settled on Jacob's Plains, on the east side of the Susquehanna, two 
miles above Wilkesbarre. Before the Indian troubles he removed to Exeter, on the 
west side of the river, about five miles above the head of the valley of 
Wyoming. Here he built a gristmill and a saw-mill upon a stream which gushes 
from a notch of the mountain. His house was built in the steep hill-side, and 
the scenery around him was wild and picturesque. Mr. Sutton was possessed of 
unusual mechanical genius. He was not a carpenter by trade, but, aided by a 
Dictionary of Arts, he was able to do most of the work of planning and 
constructing his mills himself.
  At this time the Indians were friendly, and often visited Mr. Sutton's house. 
A company of them, made up of both sexes, once came in and cut up various pranks 
which greatly amused the children. They danced before the looking-glass with 
long ribbons tied to their hair behind, and seemed to feel no restraint even in 
a house well fitted up and furnished. Mr. 

202  WYOMING.

Sutton and his lady seldom opposed their wishes, as they did not choose to 
offend them. An old Indian once having brought a grist to the mill, after Mr. 
Sutton had taken out the toll, when he thought himself unobserved, took the 
measure and put the toll back into the hopper. Mr. Sutton thought this an 
occasion for a little sternness. He charged the theft upon him, and again took 
the toll. The savage was sullen, but offered no resistance.
  In the year 1777 - the year before the battle - there was much talk of war 
with the Indians. Several persons were killed up the river, and others taken 
prisoners. Mr. Sutton and John Jenkins, afterward known as Colonel Jenkins, made 
a journey through the wilderness to Queen Esther's Flats, in order to procure 
the liberation of Mr. Ingersoll, who had been carried into captivity. The 
distance of Queen Esther's town from Wyoming was about ninety miles. The 
visitors were treated very courteously by the queen, and she was free in her 
communications with regard to the prospect of war. She said she was opposed to 
war; she wished the Indians and white people to live in peace with each other. 
Mr. Sutton belonged to the society of Friends, was a religious man, and talked 
with the queen religiously. She seemed to have correct views of religious and 
moral obligations.
  They were invited to spend the night with the queen, and the true spirit of 
hospitality seemed to characterize all her communications and arrangements. In 
the course of the evening, however, things took a new turn, and the travelers, 
for a while, were at a loss what construction to put upon the indications 
outside. A company of Indians came before the house, and, seating themselves 
upon a log, began to sing "the war

MRS. BEDFORD.  203

song." The old queen went out to them, and was engaged in an earnest 
conversation with them for a long time. When she came in she frankly told her 
guests that the Indians were determined to waylay and kill them, adding, with 
great emphasis, "I can do nothing with them. Now," said she, "you lie down until 
I call you." They did so; and when all was still in the town, she called them, 
and then said, "You must go down the river. Go down the bank, and take my canoe, 
and paddle it without noise. Lift the paddles up edgewise, so as to make no 
splash in the water, and you may get out of reach before the war-party find out 
which way you have gone." They slipped off and found the canoe, which the queen 
had particularly described, scrupulously followed her directions, and found 
their way home in safety.
  The Indians which were prowling about now began to be ill-natured, and to 
exhibit signs of hatred to the settlers. On one occasion they made a war 
demonstration on the opposite side of the river, in full view from Mr. Sutton's 
house. There was a large company, and they were seen gathering pine knots for 
the whole day. They collected a vast pile, and when night came they set them on 
fire. The flame seemed to go up to the clouds, and sent out its glare over all 
the region round about. The Indians danced and whooped, sung and yelled, around 
the fire the whole night. The spectacle was most terrific.
  In the spring of 1778, Mr. Sutton rented his premises in Exeter, and purchased 
a mill-seat in Kingston, in the place since called Hartsift's Hollow, one mile 
from Forty Fort. He sawed a quantity of lumber and made a raft. Then, putting on 
board the raft his family and all his valuables, they were floated down to

204  WYOMING.

"Forty Fort Eddy." Mrs. Bedford says: "We lived in a shanty while our house was 
being built, and it was nearly finished, when we were overwhelmed with a tide of 
troubles. A malignant and contagious disease, called the putrid fever, broke out 
in the settlement. My grandmother Smith and aunt Gustin died of this disease. A 
young man who was at work upon our house also died, and my mother, two sisters, 
and myself caught the disease from him.
  "The settlers now began to be apprehensive of an attack from the Indians, and 
many of them removed to the fort. My youngest sister died, and then our nurse 
left us and went into the fort with her parents. Doctors Smith and Gustin told 
us that there were so many sick in the fort that if we went there we would 
probably die; that those who were as near the fort as we were would do better to 
remain at their homes as long as they could do so with safety. It was then 
arranged that, if there should be a prospect of an attack, three alarm-guns 
should be fired at the fort. One day an old gray-headed Indian came and walked 
back and forth before our door several times. Father, supposing that there was a 
company of Indians on the hill, and, if the old Indian was molested, they would 
come and massacre us, gave him a loaf of bread, when he went away, and we saw no 
more of him."
  One morning early the alarm-guns were fired, and Mr. Sutton went to the fort 
to ascertain the state of matters. When he left he ordered things to be put in a 
state of readiness to remove. He soon returned with an officer, a team, and a 
file of armed men. Mrs. Sutton was fast recovering; Deborah was much better, but 
not yet able to walk any distance; and the younger daughter was yet extremely 
low, and was carried upon

MRS. BEDFORD.  205

a litter. Deborah was taken on a wheelbarrow by a young man by the name of Asa 
Gore, who belonged to Captain Stuart's company, and was afterward killed in the 
battle. They reached the fort, and the sick were laid on beds spread upon the 
floor.
  Lieutenant Hamilton had been to General Washington's head-quarters, and most 
eloquently urged the necessity of immediate assistance being sent on to Wyoming. 
He pointed out the defenseless condition of the settlement, most of the 
effective force having been drawn away, and a remorseless horde of savages and 
Tories about to make a hostile demonstration upon them from the north. He had 
just returned, and he used his influence to prevail upon the companies which had 
assembled in the fort to remain there, and, if need be, to defend it until 
succor should be sent on from the army. But Captain Stuart threatened to 
withdraw his company if the commanding officers refused to go out and meet the 
enemy. They finally resolved to go out and fight. Stuart and his party were 
confident of success. They had no idea of the odds they would have to contend 
against, but were phrensied with the idea of shooting down a few scattered bands 
of Indians and Tories. Many of the people in the fort were not at all sensible 
of the awful hazards of the movement.
  Dr. Smith and his family were in the fort at Wilkesbarre. A short time before 
the battle the doctor went to his house above the town to get some provisions. 
He undertook to boil some potatoes, and, as he was proceeding with this 
business, he imagined that something like a blanket was thrown over his head. He 
supposed it to be a warning from the spirit of his departed wife of some 
approaching evil. He looked out of the window, and saw several Indians standing 
on

206

the top of the hill, looking toward the house. He went out at the back door and 
ran along the creek - Mill Creek - until he came to the river, and then 
proceeded on the beach, under cover of the river bank, and so reached the fort 
in safety.
  We set down the above somewhat singular story without advancing any theory 
upon which it is to be explained. It was taken from the lips of Mrs. Bedford, 
and must be altogether authentic. Dr. Smith, during his latter years, was known 
to be somewhat skeptically inclined. The idea of a warning from the spirit of 
his departed wife proves that at the time he had strong convictions of the 
existence of disembodied spirits. Whether the serious circumstances by which he 
was then surrounded for the time dissipated his doubts, or the sense of personal 
security which supervened in after years overcame the convictions of earlier 
life, we are not prepared to say.
  "On the 3d of July, 1778," says Mrs. Bedford, "our little army marched from 
Forty Fort to meet the enemy. Doctors Smith and Gustin went out mounted. When 
our men turned and fled, and the work of slaughter began, the doctors ran their 
horses, but were hotly pursued. The Indians were so near that a ball passed 
through Dr. Gustin's hat. They came in, and brought us the sad tidings that our 
men were beaten, and the Indians were pursuing them through the woods. My 
father, although a Quaker, believed it right to fight in self-defense, and would 
probably have been in the battle had it not been necessary for him to stay with 
the women and children, and to take care of the sick."
  After the flag of truce had been sent up, and while the negotiations for the 
capitulation were in progress, a barrel of liquor which was in the fort was 
rolled

MRS. BEDFORD.  207

down the bank and the head knocked in, that it might not fall into the hands of 
the Indians. When the Indians came into Mr. Sutton's cabin they marked those 
present as prisoners of war, and then proceeded to plunder them of their goods. 
Mr. Sutton, presuming too hastily that they would be left with the clothing 
which they had on, put on his wedding suit - a fine Quaker suit. Mrs. Sutton, a 
little more shrewd, left her best clothing in her trunks, and covered them up 
with rubbish, and so saved them from observation. The first "big Indian" that 
came along after Mr. Sutton had rigged himself up in his best stripped him of 
every article he had on excepting his shirt. How that rascally savage looked in 
his "fine Quaker suit," with his rifle, bullet-pouch, and powder-horn, and a 
string of scalps around his waist; may be imagined. It was no part of the policy 
of the Indians to have things in keeping according to the tastes of 
civilization.
  It was now sufficiently evident that there was no safety for the settlers 
under the articles of capitulation. Butler left the Valley, and the Indians that 
lingered behind were under no manner of restraint. How Mr. Sutton was to dispose 
of his family was a question which had its serious difficulties. The youngest 
child was still very low, while Mrs. Sutton and Deborah were feeble, and the 
idea of a journey through the swamp was not to be admitted for a moment. Mr. 
Sutton's mechanical skill now came in play. He and Dr. Gustin set themselves at 
work to build a boat. They took timber and boards from deserted cabins, and drew 
out old nails which had ceased to be of any service where they were, and with 
such materials, "in nine days" they had completed and launched their craft. 
Trunks, boxes, and bundles were soon deposited in the boat,

208  WYOMING.

and the two families, fifteen persons all told, seated upon and among them. The 
ingenious and courageous navigators pushed off from the shore, and committed 
themselves and their families to the care of a gracious Providence upon the 
treacherous current of a river so obstructed by rocks and rapids as to be 
scarcely navigable in low water except by canoes.
  Their hastily-built craft had been calked, but no tar or pitch could be 
obtained, and, consequently, it was found to leak considerably. They hauled up 
for repairs, or "to overhaul her," at Captain Stuart's place, in Hanover. The 
females went into the deserted mansion and took refreshments, while the men 
proceeded to "stop leaks." Poor Stuart was slain in the battle, or, as has been 
reported, tortured the day following, and his house was left desolate, but not 
yet consigned to the flames. Mrs. Bedford says that up to the time of their 
leaving the Valley nothing was said about the houses of the settlers being 
burned. She saw no smoke arising from burning houses, and heard no mention of 
it; but when she returned to the Valley she learned that the houses of the 
settlement had been consumed by fire soon after they left.
  The difficulties which were overcome and the hazards which were run in this 
enterprise can now scarcely be estimated. Their craft was a slight flat-bottomed 
boat, constructed of materials not designed for such a purpose. Upon this frail 
vessel all the luggage which they dared venture to take on was piled up, and 
then fifteen persons, some of them sick, one utterly helpless, were seated among 
the luggage. And now what was before them? A rapid, crooked river, several 
considerable falls, at best of dangerous navigation, and, for aught that was 
known, many miles of the way they

MRS. BEDFORD.  209

would be exposed to the merciless savages. It required courage and skill of no 
ordinary grade to execute successfully such an enterprise. Mrs. Bedford piously 
remarks, "We had a dangerous passage down the river, but the hand of Providence 
preserved us." We will here give a portion of her narrative in her own language:
  "Just before night we came to a house on the bank of the river, where we were 
kindly received and furnished with supper. We thought to have remained here for 
the night, but, fearing the Indians, we concluded to trust the hand of 
Providence for a safe passage through the Nescopeck Falls, at dead of night, 
rather than run the risk of falling into the hands of the savages. We arrived 
safely at Northumberland the next morning. That day we learned that the woman 
and her two sons at the house where we took our supper, and where we thought to 
remain over night, were murdered by the Indians. Our apprehensions of danger 
were well founded, and, had we remained at that place, we should probably all 
have been either murdered or led into hopeless bondage.
  "From Northumberland we went on to Middletown, but Dr. Gustin went to 
Carlisle, where he entered into practice.* We remained in Middletown more than 
two years. The town was full of 'Fleeters,' as we were called, and provisions 
were extremely scarce. We could procure none other than salt provisions, and for 
them we had to pay very high prices. Learning that
_____ 

*An infant daughter of Dr. Gustin, who constituted one of the company in the 
boat, subsequently became the wife of the Rev. Mr. Snowden, a Presbyterian 
clergyman, and the mother of Hon. James Ross Snowden, well known in Pennsylvania 
as having occupied various important and responsible public positions.

210  WYOMING.

there was a garrison established at Wilkesbarre for the defense of such of the 
inhabitants as wished to return to their possessions, we returned to the Valley. 
It was not without great sufferings and fatigue that we finally reached 
Wilkesbarre.
  "Our grist-mill and house at Exeter were burned by the Indians and Tories. 
That the latter had a hand in the matter is evident from the fact that the mill-
irons from both the grist-mill and saw-mill were all carried off, and they were 
things that the Indians would not take. Our house in Kingston had in some way 
escaped the flames, but had been stripped of its covering by our men to build 
barracks with in Wilkesbarre. We consequently had no materials with which to 
build us a house to live in. The ingenuity of my father, however, was equal to 
the emergency. He erected a frame, and filled it in between the posts with split 
wood, and plastered it with clay mortar on each side; he then made a wash of 
white clay, and washed it over with a brush, and gave it a very nice finish. My 
mother prepared some coloring matter, and ornamented the wall quite prettily. 
The house, when completed, was considered as really a fine thing. It stood in 
Wilkesbarre just above the fort, on ground occupied subsequently by Arnold Colt, 
Esq., and at present by Hon. John N. Cunningham.
  "There was now no mill in the settlement. The officers and men in the garrison 
had flour which was brought in from below, but the people of the settlement 
pounded Indian corn in a hominy block, of which they made bread and mush, which 
was nutritious, and not disagreeable food. It was, however, difficult to procure 
this coarse breadstuff in sufficiency to meet the necessities of the people. The 
pestle was in motion

MRS. BEDFORD.  211

night and day, each one who came taking his or her turn.
  "My father now set himself at work to meet the pressing wants of the 
settlement by building a mill on Mill Creek, near the river. He found carpenters 
among the soldiers who assisted him, and the mill was soon put up. A sentry-box 
was constructed upon the top of the mill, where a watch was kept day and night, 
for the Indians were skulking about, plundering all they could lay their hands 
upon, and killing all who crossed their path. The mill was built of hewed logs, 
and was on land belonging to Obadiah Gore. During the Pennamite and Yankee 
squabbles it was seized by a certain person under a Pennsylvania title. My 
father was absent, having gone up the river for personal safety; my mother went 
up to the mill, and ordered the miller to clear out, informing him that the mill 
was her husband's property, and that she would have a company of men there 
immediately who would take him into custody. Just then three men rode up - one 
of them was Dr. Smith, my grandfather, and another was William Smith, who 
afterward was shot by the Pennamites - and the miller took the alarm and left. 
The mill stood and did good service to the settlement until the celebrated 
pumpkin flood, when it was carried away.*
_____ 

* In October, 1786, a great flood occurred on the Susquehanna, which was the 
occasion of an immense amount of damage. The water was never known to rise so 
high except on the occasion of the great "ice flood." Mills, houses, barns, and 
stacks of hay and grain were swept away. Horses and cattle, pigs and poultry, in 
great numbers, were carried down the current. Corn-fields were cleared of such 
quantities of pumpkins that the raging current was completely speckled with 
them; hence the name - the " pumpkin flood." Wilkesbarre was partially 
inundated, great losses were sustained, and great suffering during the following 
winter was endured by the inhabitants of the ill-starred Valley in consequence 
of this fearful flood. It is a wonder that not more than one or two lives were 
lost.

212  WYOMING.

  "The settlers returned in great numbers, but such was the exposure of the 
country to the savages at a distance from the fort that they crowded into 
Wilkesbarre until they were uncomfortably jammed together. Mr. Roswell Franklin, 
a brother of Colonel John Franklin, had a farm upon the flats below Wilkesbarre, 
not far from the fort. His wife said that she would go on to their farm if the 
Indians were as thick as the pine-trees. She carried out her purpose, but it 
cost her her life.
  "Her daughter - a young woman - one day went to the spring for water, and was 
gone so long that Mrs. Franklin became alarmed, and sent some of the smaller 
children to see if they could find her. They soon came running back in a great 
fright, informing her that their sister was coming with a company of Indians. 
Mrs. Franklin had been confined but two weeks before. The Indians ordered her to 
get up and dress herself. Difficult as was the task, it had to be done. The 
Indians took what they wanted, and set off with the mother and her children. As 
they left, she saw an Indian take a shovelful of live coals from the fire and 
place it between two beds. The prisoners were taken to the woods.
  "Mr. Franklin was plowing upon the flats between his house and the fort. He 
saw his house in flames, and, judging of the instruments of the mischief, 
unharnessed one of his horses, and rode to Wilkesbarre upon a jump. A company of 
men turned out and pursued the party, overtaking them on the mount - 

MRS. BEDFORD.  213

ain this side of Meshoppen.* The Indians were worsted, and the prisoners brought 
back, excepting Mrs. Franklin and her infant child.
  "We saw people gathered on the outside of the fort, and, not knowing the 
cause, went down to ascertain what it was, and there we saw Miss Franklin, who 
related to us the whole story. She said, when our people came so near as to 
fire, they called on the prisoners to fall. They all fell ; but her mother 
lifted up her head, and said, 'Your father is with them.' She said to her 
mother, 'Put down your head; there is an Indian coming to kill you.' He fired, 
and she breathed her last. After the first shot, our people called to the 
prisoners to come to them: they then ran to them, and the Indians which remained 
alive fled in every direction. Some one saw an Indian put Mrs. Franklin's child 
behind a log; but they must have removed it to another place, or carried it off, 
for it was not to be found. Miss Franklin said that when the Indians had built 
their fire at night, they would conduct themselves in the most brutal manner to 
the child and the mother. They would not let the mother nurse the child, and 
would often pinch the poor little creature to make it scream.
  "Frederick Follett, at the time of the battle, was stabbed nine times, and 
scalped, and finally recovered. Several years afterward he called upon Dr. Smith 
to assist him in securing a pension. They made an appointment to meet at my 
father's house. The doctor examined his scars. He showed us where he was 
stabbed, and it was evident enough that he had been scalped. As to his being 
stabbed, he said it was done
_____ 

* According to others, it was upon the Prenchtown Mountain, above Wyallusing.

214  WYOMING.

by different Indians, each one giving him a stab in passing. He endured the 
scalping and stabbing without making a motion, that they might suppose him dead. 
When he was scalped, he supposed the next thing would be the tomahawk; but the 
attention of the Indian who did the deed being probably drawn in some other 
direction, he neglected this part of the operation. Those following on, 
supposing the work completed, contented themselves with piercing what they 
thought a dead man with their spears.
  "A Mr. Corey, who had lost a son in the war, once came to my father's house 
some years afterward. We had been informed that he had learned the circumstances 
of his son's death. Upon my mother requesting him to tell us the story, he said, 
'Mrs. Sutton, I will.' He then said that when the roll was called on the morning 
of the battle, he saw his son - a boy about fifteen years of age - standing in 
the ranks. He said, Silas, go back;' he answered, 'Father, I can do something.' 
He told him the second time to leave the ranks, and he went out of his sight. 
When they came into the action he saw his son by his side; it was then too late 
to send him away. This was the last he saw of him. A neighbor of his was taken 
prisoner, and subsequently returned, and gave him a description of the manner in 
which the boy came to his end. He said that after the battle some prisoners were 
encamped in the woods with the Indians and Tories, and that one of the Tories 
told the Indians that this boy was a captain of a company of boys that were 
being trained up to kill them. They then gathered a quantity of pine knots, and 
dug a hole in the ground, and set therein four bayonets with the points upward. 
They then lifted the boy up, and let him fall down on the

MRS. BEDFORD.  215

bayonets, all of which pierced him, two just below his hips, and two near his 
shoulder-blades. They then built a slow fire under him with the pine knots, and 
thus tortured him until near daylight, when he expired.
  "The witness of this horrible scene said that the poor fellow uttered the most 
heart-rending cries, but he durst not show the least emotion upon the occasion, 
not doubting but any manifestation of sympathy would subject him to the same 
fate. While the father was giving the relation, the big tears rolled from his 
eyes in quick succession. The whole story, and the manner of the old gentleman, 
are all now perfectly fresh in my recollection. These terrible scenes used to 
prey upon my thoughts, and harass me in my dreams, until they were imbedded in 
my very nature."

                           PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WARS.

  The scenes of the last Pennamite and Yankee war which Mrs. Bedford witnessed, 
or has related from her immediate family connections, are given pretty much in 
her own language, and contain several interesting incidents which are not in the 
histories, and which we have not learned from any other source.
  "The wars between the Pennsylvania and New England people were terrible. Dr. 
Smith took sides with the Yankees in the first struggle before the war with the 
Indians. I remember to have heard it said that, when Colonel Plunkett was about 
to invade the settlement, the doctor harangued the people eloquently. He told 
them that every man who had no gun or sword must make swords of their scythes, 
and every boy who could lift a bush must be on hand. The spirit of the people 
was up; men, women, and children were all

216  WYOMING.

engaged in doing something. The old rusty guns and bayonets were scoured up, and 
those who had no guns took their scythes and attached them to poles, with which, 
in a close encounter, they could do terrible execution. Others seized their 
axes, hoes, picks, crowbars, and whatever they had which would serve the purpose 
of defense, or be useful it building breastworks. My father, Quaker as he was, 
shouldered his gun among the rest. They took their position at the foot of the 
valley, on both sides of the river, and when Plunkett, with his men, reached the 
head of Nanticoke Falls, they were met with a deadly fire, first from one side 
and then from the other. They looked up the mountain sides, and the waving 
boughs of hemlock, pine, and laurel, and the fearful yells and shouts which 
echoed from mountain top to mountain top, made a terrible impression on the 
minds of the assailants. The woods seemed to be alive, and the very trees in 
motion. The idea that thousands of the 'Green Mountain Boys' had come down from 
Vermont and New Hampshire seized the mind of the gallant colonel and his men, 
and they retreated without making a respectable effort to accomplish their 
object.
  "After the Indian troubles began to abate, this unnatural war was resumed. One 
of my uncles lived in Forty Fort, and kept an open house for the accommodation 
of 'the Yankee Boys.' I kept house for him, and always had a supply of bread, 
meat, milk, and vegetables, and gave them free access to the pantry, where they 
would help themselves. The poor fellows would come in weary and hungry, set up 
their guns, and rush to the table like starving wolves.
  "When Armstrong and Patterson came on, they commenced a series of efforts to 
drive the Yankees

MRS. BEDFORD.  217

out of the country. One of their schemes was to burden the settlers with their 
men. They quartered their soldiers around among the people, and gave some one of 
them charge of the house. Six of Armstrong's men were quartered upon us, and the 
meanest one of the lot was put in charge of the house. He swelled and swaggered, 
and gave out orders with the authority of an absolute monarch. Mother was 
pleasant, and did the best for them she could, not wishing to offend them. 
Father thought he would leave the Valley, and he took a canoe load of our goods 
up to Black Walnut, intending to return and take his family, but he was taken 
sick there, and we heard nothing from him for near six months.
  "Armstrong had a very bad felon, and applied to Dr. Smith for medical 
treatment. The doctor told him that he would not go into the fort to attend to 
his case, but if he would take board among the citizens he would do what he 
could for him. It was finally arranged that he should meet the doctor at our 
house. We gave him all the comforts which the house afforded, and his felon was 
soon cured. When the Yankees were all ordered off, Armstrong came to our house 
and said to my mother, 'Mrs. Sutton, you will not like to go with the rabble; 
you may stay a day or two, and then go at your leisure.' The gallant officer 
doubtless thought this indulgence an ample compensation for our attentions 
during his severe afflictions. Mother was about to be confined, and father was 
gone up the river, and she told him she could not go. 'Oh,' said he, 'you must 
go, but we will make it as agreeable for you as possible.' Soon after a file of 
armed men came in and ordered mother to clear out. When they left they said she 
might have fifteen min-

218  WYOMING.

utes to leave in. She told them she could not go at all. Soon after they 
returned, and found mother lying on a bed on the floor. They told her to get up 
and be off immediately. She flung the clothing off, and, rising up, said, 'Here 
I am, take my life as soon as you please.' A ruffian pointed his bayonet at her, 
and swore he would kill her, taking a step toward her as though he would execute 
his threat, when one of them stepped up and turned his gun away, saying, 'Come 
along, and let the woman alone.'
  "The Yankees were on Redoubt Hill, and our house was in range between that 
point and the fort, and they told us they should burn all the houses between the 
fort and the hill. They commenced firing the houses, and the bullets began to 
whistle around us. We then found we must flee, or lose our lives either by the 
bullets or the flames. We gathered up what we could carry and went to my uncle 
Bailey's - the location now occupied by Steele's hotel. Our house was burned and 
all there was left in it. We remained at my uncle's undisturbed.
  "When father returned we removed across the river, and built a house in Forty 
Fort. Here we were during the conflict between Pickering and Franklin. When the 
people were called together to vote upon the question of submitting to the laws 
of Pennsylvania, my father was appointed moderator, and it devolved upon him to 
receive the votes and report the result. The Franklin men, beginning to doubt 
their strength, took father away, and carried him into the woods. A general 
melee followed. The men rushed into the thicket and cut clubs: it was an awful 
scene. The young hickories bent and fell before the great jack-knives of the 
men, and the heavy green clubs

MRS. BEDFORD.  219

were lifted and brandished in all directions. Father was found and brought back; 
and, after a slight brush, in which no one was killed or very seriously injured, 
the men scattered and went home. Poor Franklin came along with his face bleeding 
from wounds received in the squabble.
  "This was the winding-up of the civil wars of the famous Valley of Wyoming. 
Grievous and cruel wars and destructive floods desolated this lovely spot until 
many were driven to despair, and finally abandoned the place and settled 
elsewhere. Under the severe losses and untold hardships which we were compelled 
to endure from the causes which I have endeavored to describe, we had passed 
through a discipline which had its favorable influence through after-years. We 
were taught the vanity and uncertainty of all human things, and had received 
many lessons in relation to God's providential dealings.
  "We returned to our place in Hartsift's Hollow, and remained there a while. 
Then my father, in connection with Dr. Smith, built a forge at Lackawanna; but, 
not succeeding as he desired in making iron, he returned to Exeter, where he and 
my mother both finished their earthly career.
  "In 1788 I became interested in a new religious movement, commenced at Ross 
Hill, in Kingston, under the labors of Anning Owen. Nearly all my father's 
family fell under the same influence, and from that time we were identified with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church.
  "In 1799, May 16th, I was married to Jacob Bedford, Esq. He died August 23d, 
1849. I am now in my 85th year, July 13th, 1857."