George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 7 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 MRS. SYLVIA SEYBOLT. 231 VII. MRS. SYLVIA SEYBOLT'S ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE AND FLIGHT. [Taken from the Presbyterian.] MRS. SYLVIA SEYBOLT, who now resides with her son-in-law, Joshua Mullock, Esq., of Mount Hope, Orange County, New York, was one of the occupants of Forty Fort at the time of the massacre. She was then fourteen years old, making her now eighty-seven. In the spring of 1775, her father, Jedediah Stephens, with his family, consisting of five sons, five daughters, and two sons-in-law, removed from Canaan, Connecticut, and settled in the Valley of the Susquehanna. Here he prospered abundantly for a little more than three years, when this beautiful vale was laid waste. During the progress of the Revolution, the boys residing in the Valley of the age of sixteen and under had voluntarily formed themselves into a military company, and had elected from their own number William Mason for their captain, and for lieutenant, Rufus Stephens, a brother of Mrs. Seybolt. These heroic boys formed part of that ill-fated band that left the fort under Colonel Zebulon Butler, and fell a prey to Tory and Indian barbarity. While the battle was raging, an Indian, pleased with the appearance of Mason, took him under his protection, intending to save his life; but, being afterward told by a Tory that he was captain of a rebel company, the Indians kindled a fire, and, with fiendish delight, placed him on it, and held him there with their bayonets until life was ex- 232 WYOMING. tinct. Lieutenant Stephens was found dead, his body being literally covered with bullet and tomahawk wounds. An older brother, Jedediah Stephens, was among the few who escaped. While running toward the river, two Indians sprang suddenly out of the bushes and fired upon him, one bullet passing through his clothes between his side and arm. One of the Indians then commenced reloading his gun, while the other gave full chase. The latter soon overtook and attempted to seize him, but Stephens, eluding his grasp, felled him by a blow with the breech of his gun, and struck him a second blow after his fall, which doubtless killed him. He soon reached the river and plunged in; here he was again fired at, and again escaped unhurt. He swam across the river, and secreted himself under the boughs of a tree that had fallen into the water. In this shelter he remained until after dark, when he recrossed the river and entered the fort. The next day after the surrender of the fort, an Indian, with a large knife in his hand, came up to Stephens, and, taking hold of him, says to him, "White brother, in the battle yesterday you killed my brother, now me kill you." Stephens denied, at the same time saying, "We are all good brothers now." The Indian then examined him thoroughly to see if he was not wounded; but, with all his thirst for vengeance, he failed to recognize him as the slayer of his brother, saying as he let him go, "Well, me don't know; he look like him." While the plundering was in progress, Mrs. Seybolt saw an Indian break open her sister's trunk, in which he found a bottle of camphor. He took it up, and, smelling of it, asked if it was poison. The owner MRS. SYLVIA SEYBOLT. 233 replied that it was not; he then made her taste it, after which he drank it off, and went and lay down by the river. The doctor was soon informed of the circumstance, and, on examining him, pronounced him in a dying state. Five days after the massacre the survivors were ordered to leave the valley. They all set out on foot across the Great Swamp, in which they lay during two nights; on the third they arrived at Stroudsburg, near the Delaware. In this company was a sister of Mrs. Seybolt, with a child only two weeks old. From Stroudsburg they proceeded to the Hudson, near Newburg, where they obtained a conveyance as far as Sharon, Connecticut, in wagons employed in carrying provisions to the American army. From Sharon they again traveled on foot until they reached their former homes. The incidents related above I received from the lips of Mrs. Seybolt a few days since, and as every thing connected with the Revolution is filled with interest, I hope they may prove acceptable to your readers. Although there is here and there a survivor of the Revolution, yet we must soon cease to hear these thrilling tales from the lips of those who were participants or eye- witnesses. May we prize as we should the precious boon of liberty which cost our forefathers so much suffering. - W. F. M.