George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 6

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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

220  WYOMING. 

                                        VI.

       INCIDENTS OF THE WARS IN THE LACKAWANNA PORTION OF THE SETTLEMENT,
                         RELATED BY MRS. MARTHA MARCY.

  THE incidents recorded below have been communicated to us by the venerable 
JOSEPH MARCY, now - 1858 - seventy-one years of age. He is the only surviving 
son of the lady upon whose authority they are now transmitted.
  Ebenezer Marcy came to the Valley from Fishkill, on the Hudson, and settled 
upon the lands now owned by his grandchildren, situated below the Lackawanna 
bridge, and about three miles above the village of Pittston. A block-house was 
built by the settlers in 1770 on the plain, in what is now called Upper 
Pittston. After the Indian troubles had subsided, Mr. Marcy took possession of 
his house, which by some strange providence had escaped the flames. It was "a 
double log house," built in the style of the times, with a "back wall," against 
which, during the cold season, a large fire, made of logs, was kept burning day 
and night. In the corner, near the fire, stood that necessary article of Yankee 
furniture, "the dye-tub," in which the "blue stockings" were "dyed in the wool" 
or "in the yarn." The dye-tub usually constituted a seat for some one, and it 
was upon this seat that the lad Joseph learned his lessons in the history of the 
olden time.
  When Mrs. Marcy had visitors who wished to hear about the Indians and the 
Pennamites, Joseph would

MRS. MARCY.  221

take his favorite seat, and listen with all the ears he had. After he had heard 
the stories a thousand and one times, they still produced the same excitement in 
his mind. He knew what was coming next, yet he listened, and gazed, and gaped 
with as much eagerness as if he had been listening to the romantic tales of a 
new novel. Ah! they were tales of the sufferings and adventures of his father, 
mother, brothers, and sisters. These stories he now relates with the greatest 
particularity, and seems as familiar with them as with any portion of his own 
history.
  When John Butler arrived at Sutton's, he sent a scouting party down the river, 
who secured all the water-craft belonging to the Lackawanna people, and 
deposited them at the head of the island. The settlers at that point were 
consequently left without the means of crossing the Susquehanna, and this is the 
reason why several able-bodied and brave men were not in the battle, but were 
with their families in the fort on that fatal day. The fort consisted of a 
blockhouse, or probably three block-houses, surrounded by pickets made of split 
logs set in the ground and standing eight feet above the surface. Here the 
families who had settled on the Lackawanna, near its confluence with the 
Susquehanna, were quartered on the 3d of July, 1778.*
  Soon after the tide of battle had turned against the patriots, a man who had 
been wounded in one foot,
_____ 

* The following "Articles of Capitulation for three Forts at Lacuwanack," dated 
"July 4, 1778," are published by Mr. Miner:
  "ART. 1st. That the different commanders of the said forts do immediately 
deliver them up, with all the arms, ammunition, and stores in the said forts.
  "ART. 2d. Major Butler promises that the lives of the men, women, and children 
be preserved entire."

222  WYOMING.

and had managed to swim the river, brought over the sad tidings of the defeat 
and slaughter of the little army. After a few words upon the subject, he mounted 
a horse which belonged to Mr. Marcy, and laid his course across the mountains. 
All was stir, alarm, and confusion in the fort. The darkness of night came on, 
but not to hide from the eyes of the Lackawanna people the horrors of the scene 
which was being enacted on the west side of the Susquehanna. They saw across the 
river the Indians making preparations for their fiendish orgies. They kindled 
fires, and filled the air with their terrible yells. At length two prisoners 
were brought up. One was tied to a tree in a sitting posture, with his hands and 
feet bound to stakes driven in the ground, and a train of pine knots laid, 
extending some twelve feet, and terminating at his bowels. The farther end of 
the train was fired, and then the Indians commenced dancing around the poor 
creature, while the flame gradually approached him, and he was filled with the 
most indescribable horror at its progress. Splinters of pine knots were stuck 
into the flesh of the other and set on fire. The poor victims of savage cruelty 
shrieked, and called on God for help. Their wailings and the unearthly yells of 
the savages mingled together, and were wafted by the breeze across the plains, 
and echoed back from the hills. That was an awful night for the Lackawanna 
people. What would be their fate they could not foresee, but immediate flight 
was impossible. The best they could do was to throw themselves upon the mercy of 
the conquerors.
  The morning came, and they raised a sheet upon a pole on the river bank. The 
"flag of truce" was discovered, and several British officers, attended by a

MRS. MARCY.  225

                        THE INDIAN TRIUMPH [illustration]

posse of Indians, came over and demolished the pickets around the block-house, 
and the Indians painted the prisoners. The people had hid their provisions in 
secret places; their flour and meal were concealed in hollow logs, and their 
meat was buried in the ground. A wretched old squaw soon came over, having 
seventeen scalps strung on a stick. She spoke broken English, and talked of 
being "dreadful tired," having, as she said, "been out all night scalping the 
Yankees." A plan was soon set on foot still further to torture the feelings of 
the prisoners. An old mare belonging to Mr. Marcy was brought up, and Mrs. 
Marcy's side-saddle placed upon her back, with the hind part before, and the 
crupper tied in the mane. The squaw was then seated upon the saddle astride, a 
looking-glass being held in one hand and the string of scalps in the other. In 
this plight the animal was led by one Indian and driven by another back and 
forth before the fort, while the Indians hooted and laughed, and otherwise 
insulted the prisoners. There were men there who, if their wives and children 
had not been in the power of the savages, and they had had in hand their trusty 
rifles, would have sent a ball through the heart of the old limb of Satan, and 
run the hazard of dying the next moment. But, grinding their teeth, they 
smothered their wrath as well as they could.
  Parties of the enemy went and collected the horses and cattle, and turned them 
into the fields of grain; this saved them the necessity of destroying the crops 
by other and more laborious means. The officers ordered the prisoners to milk 
the cows and bring in the milk for their use. It was soon found that, without a 
resort to some stratagem to save a portion of the milk, the children in the fort 
must starve; then the cows

226  WYOMING.

were left but half milked, and the operation was finished under cover of the 
night.
  At evening the Indians made large fires of the pickets, and lay down before 
them, and soon fell into a dead sleep. This was the time for the prisoners to 
take their meal. The men stole away and finished milking the cows, while the 
women proceeded to bake their johnnycakes. The milk brought in and the cakes 
baked, the prisoners proceeded to take the only meal which they had the 
privilege of enjoying during the twenty-four hours. All this process of cooking 
and eating had to be conducted with the utmost silence and care. The prisoners 
were not cared for at all by the British officers, and could only furnish 
themselves and their helpless children with food, and avoid utter starvation, by 
stealth. Were not these British and Tories magnanimous conquerors?
  On one occasion the prisoners were left by themselves, and the wife of Zebulon 
Marcy resolved upon trying to bake a loaf of light bread. Just as her loaf was 
well done, it was announced that "an Indian was coming." The loaf was rolled in 
a towel, and hid in the foot of the bed. The Indian came in, and, snuffIng and 
looking about, he said, "Me want bread." One of the women replied, "We have 
none." Continuing his snuffing, he said, "Ah! me smell 'em;" and, going directly 
to the place where the loaf was deposited, he took it out. Mrs. Marcy cried, 
"You sha'n't have that bread: I want it to keep the children from starving;" 
and, springing forward, she seized the stolen loaf by one end, and in the 
contest it was broken in two, she retaining her half, while the Indian seemed 
satisfied with his portion. Well, thought the brave lady, "Half a loaf is better 
than no bread," and so it was.

MRS. MARCY.  227

  Butler and his men left the Valley a few days after the battle, but parties of 
Indians were prowling about, plundering property, and burning the houses of the 
settlers as opportunity served and their feelings inclined them. About two weeks 
after the battle an Indian came to the fort and said, "Wild Indians come soon: 
kill Yankee and eat 'em." The settlers had gradually disappeared, and few 
besides the family of Ebenezer Marcy were left. Mrs. Marcy was in a delicate 
state of health, and, besides, was lame in her feet from rheumatism; but there 
seemed no alternative: she must undertake the journey across the mountains on 
foot.
  Mr. Marcy's family consisted of himself; his wife, and five small children, 
the oldest a girl of eleven years of age. There was but one other individual in 
the company, and that was an old lady still more of a cripple than Mrs. Marcy. 
The exigencies of the journey would necessarily require covering at night, and 
hence the necessity of taking along blankets. Mr. Marcy was the only individual 
in the company who could carry any burden. He made a large bundle, in which he 
had carefully stowed away a family Bible, which Mr. Joseph Marcy has now in his 
possession, and preserves as a precious relic, It contains the family records, 
and settles some facts of public interest. All being ready, Mr. Marcy shouldered 
his burden, and ordered all hands to move on.
  The little company commenced their perilous and doubtful journey probably on 
the 20th of July. Their course lay through Jacob's Plains, up Laurel Run to the 
path from Wilkesbarre to Stroudsburg, which they fell into on the mountain. They 
had nearly exhausted their provisions, and had to be put on short allow-

228  WYOMING.

ance. They fed themselves mostly on the twigs of sassafras bushes, roots, and 
berries. Mrs. Marcy had a cane in one hand and a spikenard root in the other, 
and would frequently take a little of the root in her mouth and chew it, 
swallowing the juice, making it serve, as she ever after maintained that it did, 
the double purpose of food and medicine. On the evening of the 22d of July, "on 
the Tobyhanna Hill," Mrs. Marcy was taken ill, and Mr. Marcy left her and the 
old lady, while he went forward a short distance with the children, and 
deposited them in the bushes. He then returned, and soon he was the father of 
another child. The new-comer was a daughter, and was welcomed and provided for 
as well as the circumstances would admit. Early in the morning Mrs. Marcy arose, 
and set off upon her journey with good courage, and, for her, at a brisk pace. 
The little piece of humanity which had been sent to them in the mountain was 
added to Mr. Marcy's burden, and that day they traveled the astonishing distance 
of sixteen miles, which brought them to Captain Spaulding's encampment. The 
captain kindly sent on two soldiers, each having a horse, to help on Mr. Marcy 
and his family as far as the Delaware.
  When they came to "Dingman's Ferry," they asked for lodging, but were told in 
reply, by the good man of the house, that "the Wyoming people had eaten him out 
of house and home," and he could not keep them. Mrs. Marcy sat on a log before 
the door nursing her baby. "How old is that child ?" asked the man. Not quite 
two days," was the answer. "Good woman," said he, "you look tired; you ought not 
to go any farther, but I can not keep you." Then taking from a shelf a loaf of 
bread, he gave them "the

MRS. MARCY.  229

half of a slice apiece," and said, " About two miles ahead you can get 
entertainment." They moved on, and found hospitality in the house of a farmer.
In the evening a man drove briskly by in the direction of the Delaware. It was a 
man whom Mr. Jonathan Spencer - Mrs. Marcy's father - had sent on to meet Mr. 
Marcy and his family. The man, learning at the ferry that he had passed the 
company, returned the next morning, and now the severest of the labors and 
trials of the pilgrims were ended. Eight days after the birth of her child Mrs. 
Marcy reached her father's house, near Fishkill, in much better condition, both 
physically and mentally, than could have been expected.
  Mrs. Marcy "was very tired," and took her bed; but how long may it be supposed 
that she kept it? A month or two, with good nursing and skillful medical aid? 
No, indeed; it was only "for the greater part of the next day." The condition of 
her children brought her to her feet again after a few hours of rest. When they 
left the Valley their clothes were "mended up and were comfortable," but the 
long journey through the wilderness, often penetrating the thick brush and 
briers in quest of berries to save them from absolute starvation, reduced their 
garments to shreds and tatters. Mrs. Marcy's old friends and neighbors made 
large contributions in "old clothing," and "the girls" came in and helped her 
sew, and "in about a week" the little folks were all "decently clad."
  The little "woods girl," as she was called, was an object of no little 
curiosity. Mrs. Marcy "felt thankful to God for her strange preservation and 
that of her infant, and for the deliverance of herself and family from the 
tomahawk and scalping-knife; and, in accordance with her feelings, she called 
her girl Thankful."

230  WYOMING.

The child lived to the age of seventeen, and then died with measles.
  The Marcys were among the persecuted Yankees during the Pennamite and Yankee 
wars. Mrs. Marcy used to tell a ludicrous story of some of Armstrong's men, who 
came up to Lackawanna in the way of fulfilling their mission. They seemed to be 
hard pressed for provisions. They found "an old sow with a litter of young 
pigs;" they butchered and devoured the whole family. Not yet satisfied, or 
desiring something in the line of poultry and eggs, they took "an old hen that 
had been setting seven days," and they cooked and devoured the hen and her stock 
of eggs. There must have been a little touch of the savage in these zealous 
votaries of the land jobbers of Pennsylvania.
  At the time Armstrong was disarming the Yankee settlers, two of his officers 
visited Lackawanna, and, entering Mr. Marcy's house, inquired for arms. There 
were seven guns in the house, which they proposed to disable by taking off the 
locks. Mrs. Marcy remonstrated against their proceedings, informing them that 
"the men folks" were not at home, and declaring that it was not handsome for 
them to take advantage of the circumstances. At that moment young John Carey, 
one of her boarders, came in. Seizing his rifle, he cocked it, and, pointing the 
muzzle toward the unwelcome visitors, he said, with a firm tone, "Stop your 
work, or you will have what there is in my rifle." The rifle was not loaded, but 
the threat was enough. The gallant subalterns turned about and left. The arms 
which were thus saved from being made useless subsequently did good service in 
the Yankee cause.
  Mrs. Marcy outlived her husband, and finally died full of years and much 
respected.