The story of Wyoming--Glance at its history--Bloody battle between the
Shawanese and Delawares--Count Zinzendorf--Conflicting Indian claims
and titles--Rival land companies of Connecticut and Pennsylvania--Murder
of Tadeusund--The first Connecticut Colony destroyed by the
Indians--Controversy respecting their titles--Rival Colonies planted in
Wyoming--The civil wars of Wyoming--Bold adventure of Captain
Ogden--Fierce passions of the people--The Connecticut settlers
prevail--Growth of the settlements--Annexed to Connecticut--Breaking
out of the Revolution--The inhabitants, stimulated by previous hatred,
take sides--Arrest of suspected persons in January--Sent to
Hartford--Evil consequences--The enemy appear upon the outskirts of the
settlements in the Spring--Invasion by Colonel John Butler and the
Indians--Colonel Zebulon Butler prepares to oppose them--Two of the
forts taken--Colonel Z. Butler marches to encounter the enemy--Battle
of Wyoming--The Americans defeated--The flight and massacre--Fort
Wyoming besieged--Timidity of the garrison--Zebulon Butler's authority
not sustained--He escapes from the fort--Colonel Denniston forced to
capitulate--Destruction of the Valley--Barbarities of the Tories--Brant
not in the expedition--Catharine Montour--Flight of the
fugitives--Expedition of Colonel Hartley up the Susquehanna--Colonel
Zebulon Butler repossesses himself of Wyoming, and rebuilds the
fort--Indian skirmishes--Close of the History of Wyoming.
The melancholy story of Wyoming stands next in chronological order. It
does not, indeed, appertain directly to the history of the Mohawk Valley;
but it is nevertheless connected intimately with that history, while it
has ever been regarded as one of the most prominent events in the border
history of the Revolutionary contest. Its importance, moreover, as a
section of the _Indian_ portion of that contest, is such as to warrant the
episode, if such it must be called. Many were the battles during that
struggle, of far greater importance than the affair of Wyoming, both in
regard to their magnitude and their results; and many were the scenes
characterised by equal if not greater atrocity. But from a variety of
circumstances, as well antecedent as subsequent to the battle, it has
happened that no event connected with the aboriginal wars of our country
stands out in bolder relief than that. Sixty years have elapsed since the
tragedy of Wyoming was enacted; the actors themselves are no more; and yet
the very mention of the event sends a chill current to every youthful
heart, while the theatre of the action itself has been rendered classic
as well as consecrated, by the undying numbers of one of the most gifted
bards of the age. So long as English poetry exists, will the imaginary
tale of Gertrude of Wyoming be read, admired, and wept; and thousands, in
every generation to come, will receive the beautiful fiction for truth,
while the details of fact by the faithful historian, rejecting the
exaggerations of Ramsay and Gordon, and their associate writers of the
revolutionary era, together with compilers more modern, who have taken no
pains to inquire for the truth, may be regarded as too common-place and
unimportant for attention.
Wyoming is the name of a beautiful section of the vale of the Susquehanna,
situated in the north-eastern part of the State of Pennsylvania. It is
twenty-five miles in length, by about three in breadth, lying deep between
two parallel ranges of mountains, crested with oak and pine. The scenery
around is wild and picturesque, while the valley itself might be chosen
for another paradise. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Wyoming is a corruption of the name given to the place by the
Delaware Indians, who called it _Maughwauwame._ The word is a compound;
_Maughwau_ meaning large or extensive, and _wame_ plains or meadows; so
that the name may be translated "_The Large Plains._" In the language of
the Six Nations, Wyoming was called _Sgahontowano,_ or _"The Large
Flats._" _'Gahonto_ meaning, in their language, a large piece of ground
without trees.--_Chapman's History of Wyoming._
The possession of this valley has not been an object of the white man's
ambition or cupidity alone. It has been the subject of controversy, and
the fierce battle-ground of various Indian tribes, within the white man's
time, but before his possession; and from the remains of fortifications
discovered there, so ancient that the largest oaks and pines have struck
root upon the ramparts and in the entrenchments, it must once have been
the seat of power, and perhaps of a splendid court, thronged by chivalry,
and taste, and beauty--of a race of men far different from the Indians,
known to us since the discovery of Columbus. It was here that the
benevolent Count Zinzendorf pitched his tent, on commencing his Christian
labors among the Shawanese, and where he was saved from assassination by
the providential intervention of a poisonous reptile. Originally it lay
within the territory of the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians; but it was
claimed by the Six Nations by right of conquest. In 1742 a grand council
of the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations and Delawares was held in
Philadelphia, in consequence of difficulties touching the title to certain
lands lying within the forks of the Delaware, which the proprietaries of
Pennsylvania alleged that William Penn had purchased of the Delawares,
but which the Delawares yet retained in possession, while at the same time
the Six Nations claimed the ownership. The Governor of Pennsylvania having
explained the state of the case to the council, reminded the chiefs of
the Six Nations that, inasmuch as they had always required the government
of Pennsylvania to remove such whites as intruded upon their lands, so
now the government expected the Six Nations to remove the Indians from
the lands which it had purchased. [FN] Old Cannassateego was the master
spirit of the Iroquois delegation on this occasion; and, after due
consideration, he pronounced the decision of his associate chiefs. He
rebuked the Delawares in the sharpest terms for their dishonesty and
duplicity, in first selling land which did not belong to them, and even
then retaining possession of it themselves. He taunted them for their
degraded condition, as having been conquered and made women of by his
people, and after an indignant philippic, ordered them to leave the
disputed territory, and remove to Wyoming or Shamokin.
* * * * *
[FN] Chapman's History of Wyoming.
The commands of the Six Nations were neither to be question[ed] nor
disregarded, by the surrounding Indian nations, at that stage of their
history, and the clan of the Delawares occupying the land in dispute,
forthwith removed to Wyoming, then in the partial occupancy of a clan of
the Shawanese. But the latter were friendly to the Six Nations at that
time, and were suffered to retain possession of the west side of the
river, while the Delawares planted themselves down upon the east, and
built their town of Maughwauwame--the original of Wyoming.
But the close proximity of the two clans or parts of nations, was no
addition to their happiness. Mutual jealousies were entertained; and no
long period of time elapsed before their animosities were sharpened into
actual hostilities upon the smallest provocation. At length there was
cause for more substantial war. On the breaking out of hostilities between
the French and American Colonies, in what is now called the old French
war, the Shawanese espoused the side of the French, while the Six Nations
and Delawares adhered to the English. Still the two Indian communities in
Wyoming did not actually take up arms in _that_ contest, until the
occurrence of an incident which, it is believed, may be set down for the
smallest cause of war as yet recorded in history. It happened one day,
while the Delaware warriors were upon the chase among the mountains, that
their women and children were gathering fruit along the margin of the
river below their town. While thus engaged, a party of the Shawanese women
and children paddled their canoes across the river and joined them. In the
course of the morning a Shawanese child caught a large grasshopper--the
species, probably, having parti-colored wings--and a quarrel arose among
the children for the possession of the insect. In this quarrel the mothers
soon began to participate, and an Amazonian battle was the consequence.
The Delaware squaws contended that the Shawanese had no right to trespass
upon their side of the river; and after several had been killed upon both
sides, the latter, who were the weaker party, were driven to the canoes,
and their own homes.
Upon the return of the warriors of the respective tribes, both prepared
to avenge the wrongs of their wives and children. The Shawanese were the
invaders; but they were met at the river's brink by the Delawares, nothing
averse to the combat, who obstinately opposed their landing from their
canoes. Great numbers were killed, chiefly of the Shawanese, before they
gained the shore. Succeeding in this however, a battle, furious and
bloody, was fought about a mile below the Delaware town, in which several
hundreds were killed on both sides. The Shawanese, whose forces had been
greatly weakened at the landing, were at length overpowered, and obliged
to escape as best they could, with the loss of half their number. The
consequence of this defeat was the immediate evacuation of the valley,
which they left, to join the greater body of their nation on the Ohio. [FN]
To the Delawares, who had been oppressed and denationalized by the
Iroquois or Six Nations, the victory was of great
importance--re-establishing, as it did, their character as brave warriors,
although it was not until many years afterward that the sentence of being
considered women was revoked by their former conquerors.
* * * * *
[FN] Chapman's History of Wyoming.
Still, at the time when Count Zinzendorf commenced the mission of the
United Brethren in that valley, the jurisdiction was conceded to belong
to the Six Nations; and a formal permission was given to the count by the
latter, to preach the Gospel among them. He was met by a numerous embassy
of their chiefs, from whom he received a speech of welcome, which at once
laid the foundation of a good understanding between them. [FN] But,
notwithstanding this admitted superiority of the Iroquois in the time of
Sir William Johnson, the rival and conflicting Indian claims of title were
the cause of rival negotiations between the white land-speculators and
both nations of Indians, which in the end were the cause of many and very
sore evils, as will presently appear.
* * * * *
[FN] Heckewelder. The incident of the serpent, referred to in a preceding
page, was as follows:--Jealous of the Count's intentions in coming among
them, some of the Indians had resolved upon his death. "Zinzendorf was
alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of weeds composing his bed, and
engaged in writing, when the assassins approached to execute their bloody
commission. It was night, and the cool air of September had rendered a
fire necessary to his comfort. A blanket curtain was the only guard to
the entrance of his tent. The heat of his fire had drawn forth a large
rattlesnake from the contiguous brake; and the reptile, to enjoy the
genial warmth, had crawled slowly into the tent, and passed over one of
the holy man's legs unperceived. Without, all was still and quiet, except
the distant sound of the river at the rapids a mile below. At this
moment the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and gently
removing the curtain, contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged
in the subject of his thoughts to observe either their approach or the
serpent which lay extended before him. At a sight like this, even the
heart of the savages shrank from the idea of committing the barbarous
act, and they hastily returned to their lodge, and informed their
companions that the _Great Spirit_ protected the stranger, for they had
found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake
crawl over his legs without attempting to injure him." This circumstance
wrought as great a change as did the incident of the viper, after the
shipwreck, in the fortunes of Paul. The Count soon acquired the
confidence of the Indians; and the occurrence probably contributed
essentially toward inducing many of them subsequently to embrace the
Christian religion.--_Chapman's His. Wyoming._
The first movement toward the planting of a white colony in the Wyoming
Valley was made by Connecticut in 1753. It was justly held that this
section of country belonged originally to the grant of James I., in 1620,
to the old Plymouth Company. The Earl of Warwick and his associates having
purchased the right of the Plymouth Company to the territory of
Connecticut and the lands beyond New Jersey, west, "from sea to sea,"
within certain limits, Connecticut claimed under that grant. But no sooner
was a company formed to plant a colony in Wyoming--called the _Susquehanna
Company_--than Pennsylvania preferred a claim to the same territory, under
a grant from Charles II. to William Penn, in 1681, covering the whole
claim of Connecticut; and a rival association, called the _Delaware
Company,_ was organised in like manner to settle it. The strife of each,
at first, was to circumvent the other in purchasing the Indian title. At
this time it was conceded that the aboriginal proprietaries were the Six
Nations; and, though beset on all sides, old King Hendrick refused for a
time to dispose of the territory to either party. Ultimately, however,
the Six Nations sold to the Susquehanna Company; and in 1755 the
Connecticut Colony was commenced. But by reason of the French and Indian
wars, their settlers were compelled to return to Connecticut, and the
obstacles became so numerous, that it was not until 1762 that they were
enabled to obtain a foothold.
The Pennsylvanians immediately prepared to oppose the settlers from
Connecticut. A case was made up and transmitted to England, on which Mr.
Pratt, the Attorney General, (afterward Lord Camden,) gave an opinion in
favor of the successors of Penn. Connecticut likewise sent over a case,
and on her part obtained a like favorable opinion from eminent counsel.
In this position of the controversy, a catastrophe befell the infant
settlement, which put an end to the enterprise for several years. Thus
far the relations between the Colonists and the Indians had been of the
most pacific character. The old Delaware chief Tadeuskund, who had
embraced the Christian religion, was, with his people, their friend. But
he had given offence to some of the Six Nations in 1758, a party of whom
came among the Delawares, under the guise of friendship, in April, 1763,
and murdered the venerable chief by setting fire to his dwelling, in
which he was consumed. [FN] The murder was charged by the Indians upon the
adventurers from Connecticut. But the emigrants, unconscious that a storm
was rising against them, remained in fancied security. They had given no
offence; and in order to allay any suspicions that might otherwise be
awakened among the Indians, they had even neglected to provide themselves
with weapons for self-protection. The consequence was the sudden
destruction of their settlement by a party of Delaware Indians, on the
15th of October. The descent was made upon the town while the men were at
work in the fields. About twenty persons were killed, and several were
taken prisoners. Those who could, men, women, and children, fled to the
woods and the mountains, from whence they were compelled to behold the
sad spectacle of their dwellings in flames, and the Indians making off
with the remains of their little property. Their flight through a
trackless forest to the Delaware, unprovided with food, and unprotected
by suitable clothing against the searching weather of Autumn, was painful
to a degree. But even then their journey was not ended, as they had yet
to proceed back to Connecticut, destitute, and on foot.
* * * * *
[FN] Tadeuskund was a Delaware chief of note. Previous to the year 1750,
he was known among the English by the name of _Honest John._ He was
baptized by the Moravians, but was wavering and inconstant. He was too
fond of the war-path to become a consistent follower of the pacific
Moravians. When he saw opportunities of signalizing himself as a warrior,
therefore, he left his faith, to re-embrace it as might suit his policy.
He inclined to the French in the war; but assisted in concluding a peace
among several Indian nations in 1758, which gave umbrage to the Six
Nations.
In 1668 the Delaware Company took advantage of a treaty holden at Fort
Stanwix, and purchased of the same Six Nations, who had sold to the
Connecticut Company, the same territory of Wyoming. The Pennsylvanians
entered upon immediate possession; and when, on the opening of the ensuing
Spring, the Connecticut Colonists returned with recruits, they found
others in the occupancy of the lands, with a block-house erected, and
armed for defence, under the direction of Amos Ogden and Charles Stewart,
to whom a lease of a section of land in the heart of the valley had been
granted by John Penn, for the express purpose of ousting the Connecticut
claimants. Here was a new and unexpected state of things. Some of the
leading men of the Connecticut Colony were decoyed into the block-house,
arrested, and sent off to a distant prison. But recruits coming on from
Connecticut, they in turn built works of defence, and proceeded with their
colonial labors.
In the Summer of 1769, the Governor of Pennsylvania made preparations to
dispossess the intruders, as they considered the Connecticut people, by
force; and a detachment of armed men, to the number of two hundred, was
sent into the territory. The Colonists prepared for a siege; but one of
their leaders having been taken prisoner, and sent to gaol in
Philadelphia, after a show of resistance, and having no weapons of defence
but small arms, they capitulated, and agreed to leave the territory, with
the exception of seventeen families, who were to remain and secure the
crops. But no sooner had the Colonists departed, than the Pennsylvanians,
led by Ogden, plundered the whole colony, destroying their fields of
grain, killing their cattle, and laying the whole settlement in ruin; so
that the seventeen families were compelled to fly from starvation.
In the month of February, 1770, the Connecticut Colonists rallied, and
marched upon Wyoming, under a man named Lazarus Stewart. They took Ogden's
house and his piece of artillery, during his absence. But on his return
he collected his friends, and hostilities ensued between the two parties,
which were prosecuted with varying success for several weeks. During this
time, an engagement occurred, in which several were killed and wounded on
both sides. Ogden's house, which had been fortified, was besieged, and
finally taken--after several days' cannonading, and the destruction of
one of his blockhouses, containing his supplies, by fire. In the terms of
capitulation the Connecticut party allowed Ogden to leave six men in
charge of his remaining property. But the conduct of Ogden the preceding
year had not been forgotten, and the _lex talionis_ was rigidly and
speedily executed.
In September following, a force of one hundred and fifty men was sent
against the Connecticut settlers, under the command of Captain Ogden, as
he was now called. He took the settlement entirely by surprise, while the
laborers were in the fields at work, and the women and children in the
fort. Many of the men, nevertheless, reached the fort, and prepared to
defend it; but it was carried by assault in the night--the women and
children were barbarously trampled under foot--and the whole settlement
plundered and destroyed the following day, with more than Indian rapacity.
The Colonists were made prisoners, and sent off to distant gaols. Thus was
the settlement again broken up. But the triumph of Ogden was brief. In
December the fort was again surprised and carried by Captain Stewart, at
the head of some Lancastrians united with the late Colonists. A few of
the men fled naked to the woods; but the greater portion, together with
the women and children, residing for security in houses built within the
ramparts, were taken prisoners. Those, having been deprived of their
property, were driven from the valley.
The parties to these controversies, which could not but engender all the
bitterest passions in the nature of man--rendering what might have been
a second Eden, a theatre of strife, discord, and "hell-born
hate,"--fought, of course, as they pretended, under the jurisdiction of
the respective States to which they assumed to belong. The civil
authorities of Pennsylvania frequently interposed; and after the burning
of Ogden's block-house, attempts were made to arrest several of the
Connecticut party for arson. Stewart was apprehended, but was soon
afterward rescued.
After the capture of the fort in December, the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania once more issued a writ for his arrest, and the sheriff was
sent with the posse at his heels; but the garrison would not admit him.
The fort was fired upon by the posse, under the direction of the sheriff,
and in returning the fire, one of the Ogdens (Nathan) was killed. The
sheriff thereupon drew off his forces for the night. But it was no sooner
dark, than Stewart and forty of his men withdrew from the fortress,
leaving a garrison of only twelve persons, who capitulated on the
following morning. Three hundred pounds reward was offered by the Governor
of Pennsylvania for the arrest of Stewart. The fort was left in charge of
Amos Ogden, who induced most of his former associates to return with him.
In July following, this important post was again doomed to change hands.
The Colony was invaded by Captain Zebulon Butler, with upward of seventy
men. These being joined by Stewart and his party, they immediately took
possession of the lands, while Ogden with his people, to the number of
eighty-two, retired into the new fort of Wyoming, which they had just
built, and prepared for resistance. The contest was now assuming greater
importance than ever. Butler and Stewart at once invested the fortress,
and recruits arriving from Connecticut, they were enabled to throw up
redoubts, and open entrenchments for a regular siege. This new fort was
planted directly upon the bank of the river. Perceiving himself thus
completely shut in, Ogden formed the bold enterprise of leaving his
garrison in the night, and floating down the river, past the works and
the sentinels of the enemy, in order to repair to Philadelphia for
succors. For the purpose of better securing his escape, by means of
a cord he caused a bundle to be floated along in the river following him,
which, being the most perceptible object, would naturally attract the
attention and receive the fire of the enemy, if discovered. The _ruse de
guerre_ was completely successful. The deceptive object did attract the
attention of the besiegers and received their fire; although Ogden himself
was in immediate peril, since his hat and clothes were riddled with
bullets. He nevertheless escaped to Philadelphia, and is entitled to the
credit of performing one of the boldest and most difficult individual
exploits on record.
In consequence of these tidings, the government ordered a force of one
hundred men to be sent to the relief of Fort Wyoming, commanded by Colonel
Asher Clayton. These were to be separated into two divisions, and marched
to the fort from different directions. Captain Dick, with one division,
proceeded toward the fort with pack-horses of provisions for one hundred
men. When in its neighborhood, however, he was ambuscaded by the troops
of Butler and Stewart, and thrown into confusion by the fire. Twenty-two
of the party succeeded in getting into the fort, and the remainder, with
four pack-horses of provisions, fell into the hands of Butler. The siege
continued, and was prosecuted with great vigor until the 14th of August,
when, his supplies being exhausted, Colonel Clayton, the assailant,
capitulated--stipulating that his troops, together with Ogden and his
party, should withdraw from Wyoming. Ogden was wounded during the siege,
and a second shot killed another officer, named William Ridyard, upon whom
the former was leaning, being faint from loss of blood.
The president of the Pennsylvania proprietaries complained of the conduct
of the Connecticut people in these hostilities, and Governor Trumbull
disclaimed any connexion with the affairs of Wyoming on the part of the
State over which he presided. But as the Connecticut people continued to
pour reinforcements into the settlement, the Pennsylvanians withdrew their
forces, and for a season made no farther attempts upon the territory.
The settlers now claimed the protection of Connecticut, the government
of which attempted a mediation between the people of Wyoming and the
government of Pennsylvania--but without success. Meantime the people of the
Colony proceeded to organize a government, and to exercise almost all the
attributes of sovereignty. The general laws of Connecticut were declared
to be in force; but for their local legislation, they organized a pure
democracy--the people of all their towns and settlements meeting in a
body, as in Athens of old, and making their laws for themselves. The
legislature of Connecticut extended its broad aegis over them, framed a
new county called Westmoreland, and attached it to the county of
Litchfield in the parent State. Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denniston were
appointed justices of the peace, and the people sent one representative
to the Legislature of Connecticut. The governments of Connecticut and
Pennsylvania kept up a war of proclamations and edicts upon the subject,
while the settlement advanced in population and extent with unexampled
rapidity.
Thus matters proceeded until the year 1775, when, just after hostilities
had been commenced between the Colonies and the British troops at
Lexington, the old feuds between the settlers of the rival companies
suddenly broke forth again. A new settlement of the one was attacked by
the militia of the other, one man was killed, several were wounded, and
others made prisoners, and carried off to a distant jail. Other outrages
were committed elsewhere, and of course all the angry passions--all the
bitter feelings of hatred and revenge between the rival parties claiming
the soil and the jurisdiction--broke out afresh. The settlements of each
had become extended during the five years of peace, which of course had
multiplied the parties to the contest; so that, as the men of Wyoming
flew to arms, a more formidable civil war than ever was in prospect, at
the moment when every arm should have been nerved in the common cause of
the whole country. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] At this time the settlements consisted of eight townships, viz:
Lackawana, Exeter, Kingston, Wilkesbarre, Plymouth, Nanticoke,
Huntington, and Salem; each containing five miles square. The six
townships were pretty full of inhabitants; the two upper ones had
comparatively few, thinly scattered.--_Almon's Remembrancer, for_ 1778.
Congress being now in session, interposed its authority by way of
mediatorial resolutions. But to no purpose. The interposition was
repeated, and again disregarded. In the meantime the Pennsylvanians
brought seven hundred men into the field, who were marched against Wyoming
under the direction of Colonel Plunkett. But in ascending the west bank
of the Susquehanna, on coming to a narrow defile, naturally defended by a
rocky buttress, their march was suddenly arrested by a volley of musketry.
An instant afterward the invaders discerned that the rocky parapets were
covered with men bristling in arms--prepared for a Tyrolese defence of
tumbling rocks down upon the foe, should their firearms prove insufficient
to repel him. Taken thus suddenly and effectively by surprise, Plunkett
retreated with his forces behind a point of rocks, for consultation. He
next attempted to cross the river, and resume his march on the other side.
But here, too, the people of Wyoming had been too quick for him. The
invaders were so hotly received by a detachment in ambuscade on the other
side, that they were constrained to retreat, nor did they attempt to rally
again.
Thus terminated the last military demonstration of the Provincial
government of Pennsylvania against the valley of Wyoming. Never, however,
had a civil war raged with more cordial hatred between the parties--not
even during the bloody conflicts between the Guelphs and the
Ghibellines--than was felt between the adherents of the respective land
companies, in the collisions just passed under review. Most unfortunate
was it, therefore, that the quarrel broke out afresh at the precise moment
when the services of all were alike wanted for the common
defence--especially on a border exposed to the daily irruptions of the
Indians.
Nor was this the only evil. There being a wide difference of opinion
between the people in almost every section of the country, on the great
question at issue between the parent country and the Colonies, it was
natural to anticipate that such of these contending parties as adhered to
the Royalist cause, would cherish a twofold enmity toward those
republicans who had been previously in arms against them. These feelings
of hostility were of course mutual; and as many of the adherents of the
Delaware Company, and perhaps some from both factions, early escaped to
the enemy, and enrolled themselves under the banners of Sir John Johnson
and Colonel John Butler, there can be no difficulty in accounting for the
peculiar ferocity which marked the conduct of such of the refugees as
returned in arms against their former belligerent neighbors. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] This sketch of the preliminary history of Wyoming, rapid as it is,
has nevertheless occasioned a longer digression than was intended; but
it has seemed necessary to the deduction of something like a just
hypothesis, by which to judge of the peculiar features of the battle of
Wyoming and the massacre that followed.
The population of the Wyoming settlements, at the commencement of the war,
numbered five thousand souls. Three companies of regular troops were
enlisted among them for the service of the United States. Their militia,
regularly enrolled, amounted to eleven hundred men capable of bearing
arms, and of this force three hundred entered the army; [FN] so prolific
was their soil, and so industrious were the people, that they were enabled
to furnish large supplies of provisions for the army. Three thousand
bushels of grain were sent thence to the army in the Spring of the
present year. The same plan of watchfulness against the scouts and
scalping parties of the enemy was adopted as in other frontier
settlements, and the utmost vigilance was observed; while regular
garrison duty was, in successive turns, performed by the citizen soldiers
in the several fortifications which defended their valley.
* * * * *
[FN] See Chapman's History of Wyoming--also Memorial to the Connecticut
Legislature.
Some faint demonstrations were made by straggling parties of Tories and
Indians, who prowled about the settlements during the Summer of the
preceding year, while St. Leger was besieging Fort Schuyler; but after a
few skirmishes with the inhabitants they dispersed, and the latter
remained undisturbed during the rest of the year. Still, an impression
that some of the Tories, who had been in arms against them, or who had
been instrumental in bringing the Indians upon them, were yet lurking in
the vicinity, and bent upon mischief, left the people not altogether at
ease; and in the month of January, 1778, twenty-seven suspected
inhabitants were arrested. Nine of these were discharged on examination,
for want of sufficient evidence to warrant their detention; while the
remaining eighteen were sent to Hartford, in Connecticut, and imprisoned.
The nine who were first discharged, immediately fled to the enemy, and
were followed thither by such of their suspected associates as were
subsequently set at liberty in Connecticut. It was but natural that these
proceedings still more embittered the feelings of these Loyalists against
the Whigs, and the effect was soon perceptible in the behavior of the
Tories and Indians occasionally patrolling their borders.
For a time, however, the apprehensions thus excited were allayed by
several pacific messages from the Indian nations deeper in the interior,
who sent parties of runners with assurances of a desire for peace. But
these assurances were deceptive. Instead of being messengers of peace, it
was ascertained in March, from one of them while in a state of
intoxication, that their business was to amuse the people and allay their
fears while preparations were making to attack them. This Indian, with his
associate warriors, was immediately arrested and placed in confinement,
while the women of the party were sent back with a flag. The alarm was
likewise given to the scattered and remote settlers, some of them living
thirty miles up the river, who thereupon immediately sought for greater
security in the more populous towns. During the months of April and May,
the settlements began to be more considerably annoyed by larger parties
of Tories and Indians, who hung upon their borders, and made frequent
incursions among them for purposes of plunder--robbing the people, as
opportunity afforded, of live stock, grain, and other articles of
provisions. Waxing yet more audacious in June, several murders were
committed. Six of these victims were a mother and her five children, who
were doubtless killed under a misapprehension as to her character, since
the woman was the wife of one of the Tories who had been arrested in
January. The houses and plantations of the slain were of course plundered
of every thing of value which the marauders could carry away. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Almon's Remembrancer, 1778--Second Part.
Toward the close of June, the British officers in command at Niagara
determined to strike a blow upon these settlements; for which purpose
about three hundred white men, consisting in part of regular troops, but
principally of refugee Loyalists, under the command of Colonel John
Butler, together with about five hundred Indians, marched in that
direction. Arriving at Tioga Point, Butler and the Indian leaders [FN-1]
procured floats and rafts, upon which they embarked their forces, and,
descending the Susquehanna, landed at a place called the Three Islands,
whence they marched about twenty miles, and crossing a wilderness, entered
the valley of Wyoming through a gap of the mountain near its northern
extremity. [FN-2] They took possession of two small forts, without
opposition, on the 2d of July--the first of which was called the Exeter
fort. It was said the garrison consisted chiefly of Tories, who
treacherously surrendered it to the enemy. The other was the fort of
Lackawana, where the enemy encountered some resistance. But it was soon
carried, a magistrate named Jenkins being killed, together with his
family, and several others, mostly women and children, made prisoners.
One of these forts was burnt. [FN-3] In the other, the proper name of
which was Fort Wintermoot, Colonel John Butler established his
head-quarters.
* * * * *
[FN-1] It is difficult to ascertain with certainty from what tribes or
nations these Indians were drawn. It will be seen by a note a few pages
onward, that there is reason to suppose they were from Detroit, and were
led by an officer of the British service. Certainly they had no chiefs
of any considerable note among them.
[FN-2] Marshall's Life of Washington.
[FN-3] The Remembrancer.
The inhabitants, on receiving intelligence of the approach of the
invaders, assembled within a fortification four miles below, called Fort
Forty, from the circumstance of its having been occupied by forty men, at
some period of the antecedent troubles of the Colony. Colonel Zebulon
Butler, whose name has occurred several times in the preceding summary of
the history of Wyoming, was in command of about sixty regular troops, and
he now made every exertion to muster the militia of the settlements. But
in his official despatch he complained, that as the women and children
had fled to the several forts, of which there were seven within the
distance of ten miles along the valley, the men, too many of them, would
remain behind to take care of _them._ Still, he succeeded in collecting
about three hundred of the militia, and commenced his march to meet the
enemy on the 1st of July, in connexion with the regular troops before
mentioned, commanded by Captain Hewett. On their first advance, they fell
in with a scout of Indians, of whom they killed two. These savages had
just murdered nine men engaged at work in a corn-field. [FN-1] Not being
supplied with provisions, Colonel Zebulon Butler [FN-2] was obliged to
fall back upon Fort Forty, while his militia procured supplies. They
mustered again on the 3d, and a council of war was convened. Messengers
having been despatched to the head-quarters of General Washington for
assistance, immediately after the enemy's movements were known at Wyoming,
Colonel Z. Butler was desirous of waiting for reinforcements. But his
officers and men were impatient for a trial of strength. [FN-3] The
messengers had already been gone so long, that it was supposed they had
been cut off, and consequently that General Washington was ignorant of
their situation. In that case no reinforcements could reach them in
season to save their valley from being ravaged; and as the enemy's forces
were daily increasing, it was held to be the part of wisdom to attack him
at once.
* * * * *
[FN-1] Colonel Z. Butler's letter.
[FN-2] It is necessary to repeat the Christian names of both the Butlers,
to avoid confusion--that being the surname of both the opposing
commanders.
[FN-3] Marshall.
While the question was under debate, five officers arrived from the
Continental army, who, on hearing the tidings of the meditated invasion,
had thrown up their commissions and hastened home to protect their
families. They had heard nothing of the messengers, and intimated that
there was no prospect of speedy assistance. [FN] The discussions were
animated; but the apprehension, that in the event of longer delay the
enemy would become too powerful for them, and thus be enabled to sweep
through their valley and destroy their harvest, was so strong, and the
militia were so sanguine of being able to meet and vanquish the enemy,
that Colonel Butler yielded, and set forward at the head of nearly four
hundred men. Colonel Denniston, his former associate in the commission of
the peace, being his second in command.
* * * * *
[FN] Chapman.
It was intended to make a quick movement, and take the enemy by surprise.
Having approached within two miles of Fort Wintermoot, [FN-1] a small
reconnoitering party was sent forward for observation. They ascertained
that the enemy were carousing in their huts in perfect security; but on
their return they were so unfortunate as to fall in with an Indian scout,
who immediately fired and gave the alarm. [FN-2] The Provincials pushed
rapidly forward; but the British and Indians were prepared to receive
them--"their line being formed a small distance in front of their camp,
in a plain thinly covered with pine, shrub-oaks, and undergrowth, and
extending from the river to a marsh, at the foot of the mountain." [FN-3]
On coming in view of the enemy, the Americans, who had previously marched
in a single column, instantly displayed into a line of equal extent, and
attacked from right to left at the same time. [FN-4] The right of the
Americans was commanded by Colonel Zebulon Butler, opposed to Colonel
John Butler commanding the enemy's left. Colonel Dennison commanded the
left of the Americans, and was opposed by Indians forming the enemy's
right. [FN-5] The battle commenced at about forty rods distance, without
much execution at the onset, as the brush-wood interposed obstacles to
the sight. The militia stood the fire well for a short time, and as they
pressed forward, there was some giving way on the enemy's right.
Unluckily, just at this moment the appalling war-whoop of the Indians
rang in the rear of the American left--the Indian leader having conducted
a large party of his warriors through the marsh, and succeeded in turning
Dennison's flank. A heavy and destructive fire was simultaneously poured
into the American ranks; and amidst the confusion, Colonel Dennison
directed his men to "_fall back,_" to avoid being surrounded, and to gain
time to bring his men into order again. This direction was mistaken for
an order to "retreat," whereupon the whole line broke, and every effort
of their officers to restore order was unavailing. At this stage of the
battle, and while thus engaged, the American officers mostly fell. The
flight was general. The Indians, throwing away their rifles, rushed
forward with their tomahawks, making dreadful havoc--answering the cries
for mercy with the hatchet--and adding to the universal consternation
those terrific yells which invest savage warfare with tenfold horror. So
alert was the foe in this bloody pursuit, that less than sixty of the
Americans escaped either the rifle or the tomahawk. Of the militia
officers, there fell one lieutenant-colonel, one major, and ten captains,
six lieutenants, and two ensigns. Colonel Durkee, and Captains Hewett
and Ransom were likewise killed. Some of the fugitives escaped by swimming
the river, and others by flying to the mountains. As the news of the
defeat spread down the valley, the greater part of the women and children,
and those who had remained behind to protect them, likewise ran to the
woods and the mountains; while those who could not escape thus, sought
refuge in Fort Wyoming. The Indians, apparently wearied with pursuit and
slaughter, desisted, and betook themselves to secure the spoils of the
vanquished.
* * * * *
[FN-1] The fort was thus called after the proprietor of the land whereon
it was built, and the adjacent territory--a distinguished Tory named
Wintermoot. He was active in bringing destruction upon the valley, and,
after doing all the mischief he could to the settlement, removed to
Canada. During the war with England in 1812-15--while the British were
investing Fort Erie, a son of old Mr. Wintermoot, a lieutenant in the
enemy's service, was killed by a volunteer from the neighborhood of
Wyoming. Young Wintermoot was reconnoitering one of the American pickets,
when he was shot down by the said volunteer, who was engaged in the same
service against a picket of the enemy. The volunteer returned into the
fort, bringing in the arms and commission of the officer he had slain as
a trophy.
[FN-2] Chapman.
[FN-3] Marshall.
[FN-4] Col. Z. Butler's letter.
[FN-5] Chapman.
On the morning of the 4th, the day after the battle, Colonel John Butler,
with the combined British and Indian forces, appeared before Fort Wyoming,
and demanded its surrender. The inhabitants, both within and without the
fort, did not, on that emergency, sustain a character for courage becoming
men of spirit in adversity. They were so intimidated as to give up without
fighting; great numbers ran off; and those who remained, all but betrayed
Colonel Zebulon Butler, their commander. [FN-1] The British Colonel Butler
sent several flags, requiring an unconditional surrender of his opposing
namesake and the few Continental troops yet remaining, but offering to
spare the inhabitants their property and effects. But with the American
Colonel the victor would not treat on any terms; and the people thereupon
compelled Colonel Dennison to comply with conditions which his commander
had refused. [FN-2] The consequence was, that Colonel Zebulon Butler
contrived to escape from the fort with the remains of Captain Hewett's
company of regulars, [FN-3] and Colonel Dennison entered into articles of
capitulation. By these it was stipulated that the settlers should be
disarmed and their garrison demolished; that all the prisoners and public
stores should be given up; that the property of "the people called
Tories" should be made good, and they be permitted to remain peaceably
upon their farms. In behalf of the settlers it was stipulated that their
lives and property should be preserved, and that they should be left in
the unmolested occupancy of their farms. [FN-4]
* * * * *
[FN-1] Colonel Z. Butler's letter.
[FN-2] Idem.
[FN-3] Idem.
[FN-4] Chapman's History.
Unhappily, however, the British commander either could not or would not
enforce the terms of the capitulation, which were to a great extent
disregarded as well by the Tories as Indians. Instead of finding
protection, the valley was again laid waste--the houses and improvements
were destroyed by fire, and the country plundered. Families were broken
up and dispersed, men and their wives separated, mothers torn from their
children, and some of them carried into captivity, while far the greater
number fled to the mountains, and wandered through the wilderness to the
older settlements. Some died of their wounds, others from want and
fatigue, while others still were lost in the wilderness, or were heard of
no more. Several perished in a great swamp in the neighborhood, which from
that circumstance acquired the name of "_The Shades of Death,_" and retains
it to this day. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Chapman's History.
These were painful scenes. But it does not appear that any thing like a
massacre followed the capitulation. [FN-1] Nor, in the events of the
preceding day, is there good evidence of the perpetration of any specific
acts of cruelty, other than such as are usual in the general rout of a
battle-field--save only the unexampled atrocities of the Tories,
thirsting, probably, for revenge in regard to other questions than that
of allegiance to the King. [FN-2]
* * * * *
[FN-1] It will be seen, a few pages forward, by a letter from Walter
Butler, writing on behalf of his father, Col. John Butler, that a solemn
denial is made of any massacre whatever, save the killing of men in arms
in the open field. This letter, in vindication of the refugee Butlers,
would have been introduced here, but for its connexion with the affair
of Cherry Valley.
[FN-2] Indeed, for cold-blooded cruelty, which may be called murder
outright, there was nothing at Wyoming, with the single exception of the
fratricide soon to be related, at all comparable to the massacre of the
Mexicans at San Jacinto by the _soi-disant_ Texan heroes under Houston.
There seems, from the first, to have been an uncommonly large proportion
of loyalists in the Wyoming settlements, whose notions of legal restraint,
from the previous collisions of the inhabitants, were of course
latitudinarian; nor were their antecedent asperities softened by the
attempts of the Whigs to keep them within proper control, after
hostilities had commenced. The greater number of these, as we have already
seen, together with those who were arrested, had joined themselves to the
enemy. But these were not all the defections. After the arrival of the
enemy upon the confines of the settlement, and before the battle, a
considerable number of the inhabitants joined his ranks, and exhibited
instances of the most savage barbarity against their former neighbors and
friends. [FN-1] Nor has it ever been denied, in regard to the battle of
Wyoming, that none were more ferocious and cruel--more destitute of the
unstrained quality of mercy, than those same loyalists or Tories. An
example of the spirit by which they were actuated is found in the
following occurrence, which, on account of its Cain-like barbarity, is
worthy of repetition. Not far from the battleground was an island in the
Susquehanna, called Monockonock, to which several of the fugitive
militia-men fled for security throwing away their arms, and swimming the
river. Here they concealed themselves as they could among the brush-wood.
Their place of retreat being discovered, several Tories followed them;
and, though obliged to swim, yet so intent were they upon the work of
death, that they succeeded in taking their guns with them. Arriving upon
the island, they deliberately wiped their gun-locks, recharged their
pieces, and commenced searching for the fugitives. Two of these were
concealed in sight of each other, but one of them escaped. But it was
nevertheless his lot to behold a scene painful enough to make the most
hardened offender weep, and "blush to own himself a man." One of the
pursuers came upon his companion in partial concealment, who proved to be
his own brother. His salutation was--"So, it is you, is it?" The unarmed
and defenceless man, thus observed, came forward, and fell upon his knees
before his brother, begging for mercy--promising to live with him, and
serve him for ever, if he would but spare his life. "All this is mighty
fine," replied the unrelenting traitor, "but you are a d--d
rebel!"--saying which, he deliberately leveled his rifle, and shot him
dead upon the spot. [FN-2] In a domestic war marked by such atrocity, even
among those claiming to be civilized, it becomes us to pause before we
brand the untutored savage, who fights according to the usages of his own
people, with _all_ that is revolting and cruel. [FN-3]
* * * * *
[FN-1] Chapman.
[FN-2] Chapman's Hist. of Wyoming.
[FN-3] Doctor Thatcher, in his Military Journal, records still greater
barbarities as having been perpetrated on this bloody occasion. He
says--"One of the prisoners a Captain Badlock, was committed to torture,
by having his body stuck full of splinters of pine knots, and a fire of
dry wood made around him, when his two companions, Captains Ransom and
Durkee, where thrown into the same fire, and held down with pitchforks
till consumed. One Partial Terry, the son of a man of respectable
character, having joined the Indian party, several times sent his father
word that he hoped _to wash his hands in his heart's blood._ The monster
_with his own hands murdered his father, mother, brothers, and sisters,
stripped off their scalps, and cut off his father's head!!_ Thomas Terry
_with his own hands butchered his own mother, his father-in-law, his
sisters and their infant children, and exterminated the whole family!!_"
Upon which the worthy Doctor remarks--"It is only in the infernal regions
that we can look for a parallel instance of unnatural wickedness." It is
doubtful whether so great an atrocity was ever committed even there.
Certainly no such were perpetrated at Wyoming. Dr. Thatcher also states,
that when Col. Z. Butler sent a flag to propose terms of capitulation,
the reply of Col. John Butler was in two words--"_The Hatchet._" He also
remarks, in regard to the moral and social condition of Wyoming, that but
for the dissensions produced by the war of the Revolution, "the
inhabitants of this secluded spot might have lived in the enjoyment of
all the happiness which results from harmony and the purest natural
affection." Witness the ten years of civil wars sketched in the preceding
pages. It was also reported that a man named Thomas Hill with his own
hands killed his own mother, his father-in-law, his sisters and their
families! And such is history! These monstrous exaggerations were the
reports of the battle first published at Poughkeepsie on the 20th of
July, as derived from the lips of the terrified fugitives who were
wending their way back to Connecticut,
There is still another important correction to be made, in reference to
every written history of this battle extant, not even excepting the last
revised edition of the Life of Washington by Chief Justice Marshall. This
correction regards the name, and the just fame, of Joseph Brant, whose
character has been blackened with all the infamy, both real and imaginary,
connected with this bloody expedition. Whether Captain Brant was at any
time in company with this expedition, is doubtful; but it is certain, in
the face of every historical authority, British and American, that so far
from being engaged in the battle, he was many miles distant at the time
of its occurrence. Such has been the uniform testimony of the British
officers engaged in that expedition, and such was always the word of
Thayendanegea himself. It will, moreover, be seen, toward the close of the
present work, that after the publication of Campbell's "Gertrude of
Wyoming," in which poem the Mohawk chieftain was denounced as "the Monster
Brant," his son repaired to England, and in a correspondence with the
poet, successfully vindicated his father's memory from the calumny. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Since the present chapter was written, and while the work was under
revision, the author has received a letter from Mr. Samuel C. Frey, of
Upper Canada, a son of the late Philip R. Frey, Esq. a loyalist of Tryon
County, who was an ensign in H. B. M.'s Eighth Regiment, and who, with
his regiment, was engaged in the campaign and battle of Wyoming. Philip
R. Frey, the ensign spoken of, died at Palatine, Montgomery (formerly
Tryon) County, in 1823. It was his uniform testimony that Brant was not
at Wyoming. Mr. Frey writes to the author, that there were no chiefs of
notoriety with the Indians on that expedition, and that the Indians
themselves were led from Detroit, by Captain Bird of the Eighth Regiment.
Bird had been engaged in a love affair at Detroit, but, being very ugly,
besides having a harelip, was unsuccessful. The affair getting wind, his
fellow-officers made themselves merry at his expense, and in order to
steep his griefs in forgetfulness, he obtained permission to lead an
expedition somewhere against the American frontier. Joining the Indians
placed under him, and a detachment of his regiment, to Butler's rangers,
they concerted the descent upon Wyoming. Ensign Frey stated that he was
ill-natured during the whole march, and acted with fool-hardiness at the
battle. He farther stated, according to the letter of his son, that the
American Colonel challenged them to a fair field-fight, which challenge
was accepted. "The next morning, at about 9 o'clock, the Americans poured
out of the fort about three hundred and forty in number--the Indians fell
back over a hill--the troops on both sides drew up in battle array and
soon commenced; after a few rounds fired, the American Colonel ordered
his drum-major to beat a charge, the drum-major mistook the order and
beat a retreat, the Americans became disordered immediately, and ran
helter-skelter; the moment the Indians saw them running, they poured
down upon them from their hiding places, so that no more than about forty
survived out of three hundred and forty." Rarely, indeed, does it happen
that history is more at fault in regard to facts than in the case of
Wyoming. The remark may be applied to nearly every writer who has
attempted to narrate the events connected with the invasion of Colonel
John Butler. Ramsay, and Gordon, and Marshall--nay, the British
historians themselves--have written gross exaggerations. Marshall,
however, in his revised edition, has made corrections, and explained how
and by whom he was led into error. My excellent friend, Charles Miner,
Esq. long a resident of Wyoming, a gentleman of letters and great
accuracy, furnished the biographer of Washington with a true narrative
of the transactions, which he made the basis of the summary account
contained in his revised edition. Other writers, of greater or less note,
have gravely recorded the same fictions, adding, it is to be feared,
enormities not even conveyed to them by tradition. The grossest of these
exaggerations are contained in Thatcher's Military Journal and Drake's
Book of the Indians. The account of the marching out of a large body of
Americans from one of the forts, to hold a parley, by agreement, and
then being drawn into an ambuscade and all put to death, is false; the
account of seventy Continental soldiers being butchered, after having
surrendered, is also totally untrue. No regular troops surrendered, and
all escaped who survived the battle of the 3d. Equally untrue was the
story of the burning of houses, barracks, and forts, filled with women
and children.
It is related in the unwritten history of this battle, that the celebrated
Catharine Montour was present, with her two sons; and that she ranged the
field of blood like a chafed tigress, stimulating the warriors of her
adopted race to the onslaught, even in the hottest of the fight. But from
the antecedent character of that remarkable woman, the story can hardly be
credited. She was a native of Canada, a half-breed, her father having been
one of the early French governors--probably Count Frontenac, as he must
have been in the government of that country at about the time of her
birth. During the wars between the Six Nations and the French and Hurons,
Catharine, when about ten years of age, was made a captive, taken into the
Seneca country, adopted and reared as one of their own children. When
arrived at a suitable age, she was married to one of the distinguished
chiefs of her tribe, who signalized himself in the wars of the Six Nations
against the Catawbas, then a great nation living south-westward of
Virginia. She had several children by this chieftain, who fell in battle
about the year 1730, after which she did not again marry. She is said to
have been a handsome woman when young, genteel, and of polite address,
notwithstanding her Indian associations. It was frequently her lot to
accompany the chiefs of the Six Nations to Philadelphia, and other places
in Pennsylvania, where treaties were holden; and from her character and
manners she was greatly caressed by the American ladies--particularly in
Philadelphia, where she was invited by the ladies of the best circles,
and entertained at their houses. Her residence was at the head of the
Seneca Lake. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Catharinestown--so named from her. This account of Catharine Montour
is chiefly drawn from Witham Marshe's Journal of a treaty with the Six
Nations, held at Lancaster in 1744--Vide Mass. Hist. Coll. In 1758 Sir
William Johnson had an Indian interpreter in his service, known as
"Captain Montour." One of Catharine's sons was called "Captain," and was
probably the same. Tradition, at Seneca Lake, holds that Catharine
Montour was killed by Sullivan's men in 1779. But it will hereafter be
seen that such was not the fact.
Some of the flying fugitives from Wyoming had not proceeded many miles
from their desolate homes, before they met a detachment of Continental
troops on their way to assist the Colony. It was now too late. But the
detachment, nevertheless, remained at Stroudsburg three or four weeks, by
which time Colonel Zebulon Butler had collected a force consisting of
straggling settlers and others, with whom, and the regular troops just
mentioned, he returned, and repossessed himself of Wyoming--the enemy
having retired shortly after the battle--Colonel John Butler to Niagara,
and the Indians to their homes; while Thayendanegea moved as he had
occasion, from his old haunts higher up the Susquehanna, at Oghkwaga and
Unadilla.
Immediately on the reception of the disastrous tidings from Wyoming at the
Continental head-quarters, Colonel Hartley's regiment was ordered thither,
with instructions from Congress to remain on that frontier until the
crops were secured and the enemy should have retreated. He was joined by
several militia companies, and, among other officers, by Colonel Dennison,
who, in the capitulation of Wyoming, had stipulated not again to serve
against the King's troops. He accompanied Colonel Hartley in an expedition
against some of the Indian towns up the Susquehanna, in the direction of
Oghkwaga, several of which were destroyed. A few prisoners were also
taken. It appearing, however, that the enemy were gathering in too much
force for him to remain long within their territory, Colonel Hartley was
constrained to retreat. An attack was made upon his rear, but the
assailants were repulsed. Colonel Dennison doubtless felt himself
warranted in breaking the stipulations of Fort Wyoming, by the fact that
those stipulations were not strictly observed by the Tories and Indians.
But the enemy made no such allowance; and this expedition, or rather the
conduct of Colonel Dennison, was subsequently used as a pretext for some
of the incidents connected with the attack upon Cherry Valley.
Colonel Zebulon Butler built another fort at Wyoming, which he continued
to occupy until the next year, when the command of that region devolved
upon General Sullivan. In the mean time the outskirts of the settlements
were frequently harassed by straggling parties of Tories and Indians, who
occasionally committed an assassination or carried off a few prisoners.
The Americans, in turn, despatched every Indian who fell in their way. In
March following, the fort was surrounded by a force of two hundred and
fifty Indians, and Tories disguised as such. They attacked the fortress,
but fled on the discharge of a single piece of artillery--burning whatever
buildings had either been re-erected or left standing at the former
invasion. The garrison was too weak to allow of a pursuit. A few weeks
afterward, as a company of Continental troops were approaching the fort,
under the command of Major Powell, they were fired upon by a party of
Indians in ambush, while passing along a single track through a difficult
swamp. In this attack, Captain Davis, Lieutenant Jones, and four privates,
were killed. The detachment formed for action with all possible despatch;
but the Indians fled after two or three discharges. Nor did they re-appear
afterward, in that immediate neighborhood, in any subsequent stage of the
revolutionary contest, although other sections of the Pennsylvania
frontier, farther south and west, suffered occasionally from their
depredations, particularly in the following year, while Sullivan was
preparing to advance into the Seneca country. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Thus ends the revolutionary history of Wyoming. But from what has
been given in the preceding pages, touching the history of this valley
and its feuds before the Revolution, the reader may possibly feel some
desire to learn the subsequent progress of the long-pending land quarrel.
After the Indians had been chastised, the settlers returned, and the
valley and its precincts once more began to flourish. Pennsylvania again
interposed her claims; and a Commission was appointed by Congress, which
met in New Jersey, to hear the case and decide the question. It was
unanimously decided in favor of Pennsylvania. The people held that this
decision was one of jurisdiction merely, and with this understanding
cheerfully acquiesced in it. But fresh troubles arose. A company of
Continental troops was stationed there in 1783, to keep the peace, and
this only made matters worse--the soldiers became licentious and
overbearing, and the people were exceedingly annoyed thereat. In the
Spring of 1784, by a succession of ice-dams which accumulated in the
river, the valley was overflowed, and the inhabitants were compelled to
fly to the mountains for safety. When the ice gave way, the floods swept
off every thing--leaving the whole valley a scene of greater desolation
than ever. Presently afterward the old troubles broke out afresh. The
inhabitants refused to obey their new masters. The Connecticut settlers
flew to arms--the Pennsylvanians sent troops thither--the Connecticut
settlers laid siege to the fort--there were riots and skirmishings, and
some killed and wounded. The Connecticut people were taken prisoners by
treachery, and sent off to prison. They escaped. Reinforcements of troops
were sent by Pennsylvania--there was more blood shed. Various attempts
were made to settle the difficulties. Commissioners were appointed upon
the subject, one of whom was Timothy Pickering. He was forcibly seized,
and carried into captivity. His story has been written by himself, and
is full of interest. These difficulties continued, with feelings of the
bitterest contention, ten years, before matters were compromised between
the parties, so that they settled down in peace. It is now a rich and
flourishing county, and may be called the Paradise of Pennsylvania.