George Peck's WYOMING, 1858 - Pennsylvania - Chapter 9 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 284 WYOMING. IX. QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK. [illustration] THIS celebrated rock is situated east of a direct line between the monument and the site of Fort Wintermoot, on the brow of the high, steep bank which is supposed to have been the ancient bank of the river. The rock is a boulder, and is a sort of conglomerate, principally composed of quartz. It rises about eighteen inches above the surface of the ground. A portion of this rock is of a reddish color, which some have been credulous enough to believe to be a blood-stain; hence the name of "Bloody Rock," by which it is known in the neighborhood. This stain - like that, with equal credulity, which is supposed to have been made by the blood of Rizzio upon the floor of Holyrood Palace - is believed to be judicially and miraculously QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK. 285 indelible. We need not say that this is a mere fancy, while it is an undoubted historical fact that blood was spilled upon this rock. Perhaps the night after the battle, sixteen prisoners were arranged in a circle around the rock in question, to be sacrificed by Queen Esther to the manes of a son who had been killed by a scouting-party before the battle. According to a usage of savage warfare, it was the right, if not, indeed, the duty of the old queen to take sweet vengeance upon the prisoners which had fallen into her hands for the loss of her son. Armed with a death-mall and hatchet, she now assumes the office of executioner, according to the most approved Indian forms. The prisoners, one after another, were seated upon the rock, held by two strong Indians, while the priestess of the bloody rites which were performed upon that fatal altar chanted a savage dirge or Indian war-song, and raising the death-mall with both hands, dashed out the brains of the helpless victim, or with one hand buried her hatchet in his skull. This was a terrible tragedy, but we are happy to know that there was one relieving circumstance connected with it. There were two men in that devoted circle possessed of strong will, iron nerve, and almost lightning agility. Lebbeus Hammond and Joseph Elliott were near each other, and their turn was about to come. Eleven had been sacrificed, and Hammond's brother was seated upon the rock, and the ceremony was proceeding: Hammond's soul was stirred to the very bottom. As all eyes were fixed upon the bloody tragedy, Hammond, in a low tone, muttered, "Let's try." In an instant they were both free: they had taken their keepers by surprise. With a sudden jerk 286 WYOMING. and spring the bloodhounds that held them were shaken off, and, like two wild deer, they bounded down the bank. They expected to be shot dead, but such was the confusion of the moment that the Indians simply trusted to their legs. Elliott, in relating the story to a friend who related it to us, said he was surprised that they were not fired upon. Their line of flight diverged, a circumstance which the Indians did not observe. Hammond steered up the river, and, glancing his eye over his shoulder, he discovered that the Indians were shaping their course with the expectation of intercepting the fugitives in the direction of Forty Fort. He then turned still more directly up stream. He had, however, not proceeded far before a root caught his toe, and he was plunged headlong down the bank under a tree-top with thick foliage, where he immediately judged that he was more secure than he would be upon the run. When the Indians returned from the pursuit of Elliott, they scoured the hill side in search of Hammond. As they were peeping here and there among the brush and old logs, he tried to hold his breath and to keep his heart still, but in spite of him his breathing seemed to amount to a roar, and the beating of his heart to be like the pounding of a beetle. Once he thought they saw him, and for a moment his heart sunk. He was soon measurably relieved by observing that the Indians seemed to give up the pursuit as hopeless, and directed their course toward the fatal rock. Hammond remained in his concealment until all was still, and then swam the river, crossing Monocasy Island, and found his way to the fort at Wilkesbarre. There he found his friend Elliott. He had swum the river to the bar on the lower point of Monocasy Isl- QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK. 287 and, as he thought, all the distance under water, when, rising above the water, he received a shot in his shoulder which seriously disabled him. On reaching the opposite side of the river he providentially found a horse, which he managed to ride, using the bark of a hickory sapling for a bridle. Here Dr. Smith dressed his wound, and the next morning he went down the river, with his wife and child, in a canoe managed by a lad, and found sympathy among kind friends at Catawissa. These two brave fellows lived long to enjoy their well-earned reputation for good conduct under the most appalling circumstances. It has been made a question whether indeed Queen Esther was the savage executioner of the prisoners at "Bloody Rock," and there are some circumstances which would really seem to militate against such a supposition. Her strong expressions in favor of peace to Esquire Sutton and Colonel Jenkins, and the deep sympathies for the settlers which she manifested when visited at her camp by Mrs. Bennet but a short time before seem to indicate a degree of civilization and a spirit of humanity which would render improbable the part attributed to her in the awful tragedy at Bloody Rock. In addition to all this, Colonel Stone considers "the statement improbable" upon more general grounds. He says, "Catharine Montour, sometimes called Queen Esther, was a half-breed, who had been well educated in Canada. Her reputed father was one of the French governors of that province when appertaining to the crown of France, and she herself was a lady of comparative refinement. She was much caressed in Philadelphia, and mingled in the best society; hence the remotest belief can not be entertained that she was the Hecate of that fell night." 288 WYOMING. All this seems very fair, but it is not only against the best established traditions of the times, but the clearest testimony of contemporaries. Colonels Denison and Franklin and Mrs. Myers agree in sanctioning "the statement." Mr. Miner represents Queen Esther as entering Forty Fort at the head of the Indian warriors. She here met Colonel Denison, and, drawling out his name, she insultingly said, "Colonel Denison, you told me to bring more Indians; see here, I have brought you all these." "Be silent," said Colonel Butler; " women should be seen, but not heard." The historian of Tryon County, Hon. William W. Campbell, says, "Catrina Montour, who might well be termed a fury, acted a conspicuous part in this tragedy. She followed in the train of the victorious army, ransacking the heaps of the slain, and, with her arms covered with gore, barbarously murdering the wounded, who in vain supplicated for their lives." - See Border Warfare of New York, p. 305. Another illustration is given by Mr. Campbell of the character of this woman. One of her sons made Mr. Cannon a prisoner on the destruction of Cherry Valley. He was an old man, and was severely wounded with a musket ball. When Kate Montour saw him she fell into a rage, and reproached her son for his humanity. "Why," said she, "did you bring that old man a prisoner? Why did you not kill him when you first took him?" - Ibid., p. 219. Elliott and Hammond lived long after the conclusion of the war. They received a pension from the government, and were universally considered men of honor and veracity. These men, who so narrowly escaped the death-mall or the hatchet - who witnessed a portion of the bloody ceremonies which Queen Esther QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK. 289 is charged in the popular belief of the times with having performed with her own hands, give their sanction to the common opinion. These facts are not easily disposed of. The name of the supposed "Hecate of that fell night" being "Catharine Montour" - her being "a half-breed" - her having been "educated in Canada" - her "refinement" - her having been "caressed in Philadelphia," and "mingling in the best society" there in 1744, may have furnished ground of doubt with regard to the truth of the story of "Bloody Rock" to the mind of Colonel Stone, but to minds less predisposed to vindicate the Indian character from the charge of inhuman cruelties, will do but little toward unsettling the best established traditionary belief and the positive statements of contemporaries, and even of eye-witnesses. The history of "Kate Montour," as a whole, furnishes no evidence of the improbability of the story of "Bloody Rock." Indeed, her savage nature exhibited itself on other occasions in a manner which proves but too clearly that it had not all been eradicated by the refined education which she received "in Canada." - See Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. i., p. 358. The horror in which this same " Catharine Montour" was held is seen in the treatment which she received from Colonels Hartley and Butler, and General Sullivan. In October, after the Wyoming massacre, Colonel Hartley, of the Pennsylvania line, joined Colonel Z. Butler, and they proceeded with 130 men to Sheshequin, where they met the Indians in a battle, burned the Indian settlement, and destroyed Queen Esther's palace, and laid waste her plantation. And when General Sullivan proceeded to the Lake country, 290 WYOMING. the first town he ordered destroyed was Catharine, at the head of the Seneca Lake, the town which was named in honor of Catharine Montour, and in which she resided. These proceedings seem consonant with the idea that Catharine Montour deserved special chastisement. It is not doubted but that this "half-breed" woman, uninfluenced by the war spirit, had amiable qualities, and a certain polish in her manners. But the sound of the battle and the sight of human gore aroused the demon within her. She who "shed tears" at the prospect of war, when it began to rage entered into its spirit. She had lost a son in the expedition, and she must avenge his death, or, in the estimation of her people, be "no good squaw." Her feelings of resentment and her reputation with the Indians united to urge her on, if, indeed, she needed any urging, to acts of savage barbarity. Then, if she had not been predisposed to take a part in the murder and plunder of the settlers, why was she on hand at all? Her age, if no other reason - for she must have been near eighty - would have justified her remaining at home, instead of following Butler and his Indians and Tories in a murderous onslaught upon a defenseless settlement. Upon the whole, we see no good reason for doubting the part attributed to Catharine Montour, or Queen Esther, in the affair of Bloody Rock, in the popular traditions of Wyoming. A little examination into her character will explain the mystery of her being, under some circumstances, almost a saint, and under others a very fiend.