332icsburg, near the Connecticut line, and turned his attention

decidedly to the protection of the eastern coast. Clinton then sent

foraging parties into New Jersey, and ravaged the whole country, from

the Hudson to the Raritan, and beyond. The abandonment of the siege of

Newport, the return of Howe's fleet to New York, and the entire

withdrawal of forces from the east by Clinton, except those stationed

upon Rhode Island, convinced Washington that the British commander had

no further designs in that direction, and he prepared to put his army

into the most advantageous winter-quarters. Nine brigades were stationed

on the west side of the Hudson, exclusive of the garrison at West Point.

One of these was at Smith's Cove, in the rear of Haverstraw, one at

Elizabethtown, and the other seven were at Middlebrook. Six brigades

were cantoned on the east side of the Hudson and at West Point. One was

at West Point, two were at Continental Village, a hamlet near Peekskill,

and three in the vicinity of Danbury, in Connecticut. The artillery was

at Pluckemin, in Bedminster county, New Jersey. * The head-quarters of

the chief were in the vicinity of Middlebrook. Knox, Greene, and Steuben

were among the general officers that accompanied him; and the ladies of

several of the officers, among whom was Mrs. Washington, enlivened the

camp by their presence during the winter.

The place of encampment was about three fourths of a mile northwest from

the village. Log huts were completed, for the use of the soldiers, in

February, after they had suffered exposure under canvas tents for

several weeks. The huts, according to the description of Dr. Thacher,

who was there, were made very comfortable by filling the interstices

between the logs with mud, as log houses in our Western and Southwestern

states are now made. The huts were arranged in straight lines, forming a

regular and compact village. The officers' huts were arranged in front

of the line, according to their rank, with kitchens in the rear; and the

whole was similar in form to a tent encampment. Remains of these are

still found in the fields where the encampment was. I could not

ascertain where Washington was quartered; and, as far as I could learn

by inquiries, there is only one house remaining in the neighborhood

which was occupied by any of the general officers at that time, and that

is the dwelling of Mr. Staats, where Major-general Baron Steuben had his

quarters. From a remark by Dr. Thacher, in his Military Journal (page

156), I infer that Washington's quarters were at or near Pluckemin, a

few miles from the camp. The doctor speaks of an event that occurred

"near head-quarters, at Pluckemin."

In the evening of my arrival at Middlebrook, I called on Mrs. Polly Van

Norden, a small, but vigorous old lady, eighty-four years of age. She

lived near the Monmouth battle-ground at the time of the conflict there,

and was well acquainted with the sufferings of the Whigs in that region

from the depredations of the desperate band of Tories called the Pine

Robbers. She was a woman of strong but uncultivated mind, and became

excited with feelings of the

* Pluckerain lies at the base of a high mountain, about six miles

northwest of Somerville. There the American army halted on the 4th of

January, 1777 (the day after the battle of Princeton), on its way to

Morristown. In the village burial-ground is the grave of Captain Leslie,

of the British army, who was mortally wounded at Princeton. Mr. Custis,

in his Recollections of the Life of Washington, says, "It was while the

commander-in-chief reined up his horse, upon approaching the spot, in a

plowed field, where lay the gallant Colonel Harslet, mortally wounded,

that he perceived some British soldiers supporting a wounded officer,

and, upon inquiring his name and rank, was answered, 'Captain Leslie.'

Dr. Benjamin Rush, who formed a part of the general's suite, earnestly

asked, 'A son of the Earl of Levin?' to which the soldiers replied in

the affirmative. The doctor then addressed the general-in-chief: 'I beg

your excellency to permit this wounded officer to be placed under my

care, that I may return, in however small a degree, a part of the

obligation I owe to his worthy father for the many kindnesses received

at his hands while a student at Edinburgh.' The request was immediately

granted; but, alas! poor Leslie was soon _past all surgery._" He died

the same evening, after receiving every possible kindness and attention,

and was buried the next day at Pluckemin, with the honors of war. His

troops, as they lowered the body to the soldier's last rest, shed tears

of sorrow over the remains of their much-loved commander. On a plain

monument erected to his memory is the following inscription: "In memory

of Captain William Leslie, of the seventh British regiment, son of the

Earl of Levin, in Scotland. He fell, January 3d, 1777, aged 26 years, at

the battle of Princeton. His friend, Benjamin Rush, M.D., of

Philadelphia, hath caused this stone to be erected, as a mark of his

esteem for his worth, and respect for his family."

Steuben's Head quarters.--Recollections of Mrs. Doty.---Visit to the

Camp-ground.---"Washington's Rock." View from it.

September 11, 1848 333bitterest hatred against the Tories while telling

me of their deeds--a hatred, the keenness of which the lapse of seventy

years has scarcely blunted.

Early the following morning, in company with a gentleman of the village,

I rode to the residence of the venerable Bergen Bragaw, a hale old man

of eighty-seven. From him I learned the exact locality of the American

encampment, brother was one of the Pennsylvania line, and my informant

often visited him in the camp. He said the slope where the huts were

erected was heavily timbered at that time, but it was completely cleared

in cutting down trees for the log houses, and has been a cultivated

tract ever since.

From Mr. Bragaw's we rode to the house formerly owned by Abraham Staats,

and now in possession of his son Three sisters survive, one of whom

(Mrs. Jane Doty), nearly eighty years of age, who resided there during

the Revolution, has a clear recollection of many events connected with

Baron Steuben's occupancy of the house. Although she was then a child

eight or ten years old, she remembers the dignity of his appearance, the

urbanity of his manners, for which he was noted, and the elegance and

richness of the ornaments with which he was adorned. She spoke of a

brilliant medal that hung by a ribbon upon his breast. * Mrs. Doty

recollected two visits made to the baron by Washington and his lady, one

to dine and the other to take tea with him. On the latter occasion

several ladies were present. She also remembers an entertainment given

by the bar 1779. on to the American officers and their ladies, on which

occasion the table was spread in a grove near by. This occurred a short

time before the encampment broke up, which event took place early in

June.

Returning to the village, we proceeded to visit the camp-ground, which

is upon the left of the main road over the mountains to Pluckemin; also

"Washington's Rock." The former exhibits nothing worthy of particular

attention; but the latter, situated upon the highest point of the

mountain in the rear of Middlebrook, is a locality, independent of the

associations which hallow it, that must ever impress the visitor with

pleasant recollections of the view obtained from that lofty observatory.

We left our wagon at a point half way up the mountain, and made our way

up the steep declivities along the remains of the old road. How loaded

wagons were managed in ascending or descending this mountain road is

quite inconceivable, for it is a difficult journey for a foot-passenger

to make. In many places not even the advantage of a zigzag course along

the hill sides was employed, but a line as straight as possible was made

up the mountain. Along this difficult way the artillery troops that were

stationed at Pluckemin crossed the mountain, and over that steep and

rugged road heavy cannons were dragged. Having reached the summit, we

made our way through a narrow and tangled path to the bold rock seen in

the picture on the next page. It is at an elevation of nearly four

hundred feet above the plain below, and commands a magnificent view of

the surrounding country included in the segment of a circle of sixty

miles, having its rundle southward. At our feet spread out the beautiful

rolling plains like a map, through which course the wind-

* Baron Steuben had received from the King of Prussia a splendid medal

of gold and diamonds, designating the Order of Fidelity, which he always

wore when in full military dress.

** This view is from the field in front of the house, looking north. The

dwelling is at the end of a lane several rods from the main road leading

to Middlebrook from New Brunswick. It is on the western side of the

Raritan, and about a mile from the bridge near Middlebrook. Only the

center building was in existence at the time in question, and that seems

to have been enlarged. Each wing has since been added. The interior of

the old part is kept in the same condition as it was when Steuben

occupied it, being, like most of the better dwellings of that time,

neatly wainscoted with pine, wrought into moldings and panels.

View from Washington's Rock.--Another similar Rock at Plainfield.--

Celebration at Pluckemin in 1779.

334ing Raritan and the Delaware and Hudson Canal. Little villages and

neat farm-houses dotted the picture in every direction. Southward, the

spires of New Brunswick shot up above the intervening forests, and on

the left, as seen in the picture, was spread the expanse of Raritan and

Amboy Bays, with many white sails upon their bosoms. Beyond were seen

the swelling hills of Staten Island, and the more abrupt heights of

Neversink or Navesink Mountains, at Sandy Hook. Upon this lofty rock

Washington often stood, with his telescope, and reconnoi-tered the

vicinity. He overlooked his camp at his feet, and could have descried

the marchings of the enemy at a great distance upon the plain, or the

evolutions of a fleet in the waters beyond.

In the rear of Plainfield, at an equal elevation, and upon the same

range of hills, is another rock bearing a similar appellation, and from

the same cause. It is near the brow of the mountain, but, unlike the one

under consideration, it stands quite alone, and rises from a slope of

the hill, about twenty-five feet from base to summit.

From this latter lofty position, it is said, Washington watched the

movements of the enemy in the summer of 1777, recorded on page 331.

While upon the mountains, a haze that dimmed the sky in the morning,

gathering into thick clouds, assumed the nimbus form, and menaced us

with rain. This fact, and the expectation of the speedy arrival of the

train for Somerville, where I was to take stage for Easton, on the

Delaware, hurried us back to the village. I met an old February 6, 1778.

gentleman who, though a small boy at the time, remembered the grand

display at Pluckemin during the encampment, on the anniversary of the

alliance of America with France. * He remembered an incident which I

have not seen mentioned in the published accounts of that

* The following account of this celebration, published at the time, will

doubtless interest the reader. It must be remembered that on the 6th of

February, 1778, Dr. Franklin and other American commissioners, and

commissioners appointed by the French government, signed a treaty of

friendship and alliance between the two countries. The event alluded to

occurred on the first anniversary (1779) of the alliance, or a few days

afterward. It was postponed until the 18th, on account of Washington's

absence from camp. The general-in-chief, and all the principal officers

of the army there, Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Greene, and the

ladies and gentlemen for a large circuit around the camp, were of the

company; and there was a vast concourse of spectators from every part of

New Jersey. The artillery were posted upon a piece of rising ground, and

the entertainment was given by General Knox and the officers of the

artillery corps. The entertainment and ball were held at the academy of

the Park. The celebration was commenced at about four o'clock in the

afternoon, by a discharge of thirteen cannons. The company invited then

sat down to dinner in the academy. In the evening a display of fireworks

was made, under the direction of Colonel Stevens, "from the point of a

temple one hundred feet in length, and proportionately high." The temple

showed thirteen arches, each displaying an illuminated painting. The

center arch was ornamented with a pediment larger than any of the

others; and the whole edifice was supported by a colonnade of the

Corinthian order. The illuminated paintings were disposed in the

following order: The 1st arch on the right represented the commencement

of hostilities at Lexington, with this inscription: "The scene opened."

2d. British clemency, represented in the burning of Charlestown,

Falmouth, Norfolk, and Kingston. 3d. The separation of America from

Britain. A magnificent arch broken in the center, with this motto: "By

your tyranny to the people of America, you have separated the wide arch

of an extended empire." 4th. Britain represented as a decaying empire,

by a barren country, broken arches, fallen spires, ships deserting its

shores, birds of prey hovering over its moldering cities, and a gloomy

setting sun. Motto,

"The Babylonian spires are sunk,

Acliaia, Rome, and Egypt moldered down;

Time shakes the stable tyranny of thrones,

And tottering empires crush by their own weight."

* 5th. America represented as a rising empire. Prospect of a fertile

country, harbors and rivers covered with ships, new canals opening,

cities arising amid woods, splendid sun emerging from a bright horizon.

Motto,

"New worlds are still emerging from the deep,

The old descending, in their turns to rise."

* 6th. A grand illuminated representation of Louis the Sixteenth, the

encourager of letters, the supporter of the rights of humanity, the ally

and friend of the American people. 7th. The center arch, The Fathers in

Congress. Motto, "Nil desperandum reipublicae." 8th. The American

philosopher and embassador extracting lightning from the clouds. 9th.

The battle near Saratoga, 7th of October, 1777. 10th. The Convention of

Saratoga. 11th. A representation of the sea fight, off Ushant, between

Count d'Orvil-liers and Admiral Keppel. 12th. Warren, Montgomery,

Mercer, Wooster, Nash, and a crowd of heroes who have fallen in the

American contest, in Elysium, receiving the thanks and praises of

Brutus, Cato, and those spirits who in all ages have gloriously

struggled against tyrants and tyranny. Motto, "Thoso who shed their

blood in such a cause shall live and reign forever." 13th represented

Peace, with all her train of blessings. Her right hand displaying an

olive branch; at her feet lay the honors of harvest; the background was

filled with flourishing cities; ports crowded with ships; and other

emblems of an extensive empire and unrestrained commerce. When the fire-

works were finished, the company concluded the celebration by a splendid

ball, which was opened by Washington, whose partner was the lady of

General Knox.

Incident at Pluckemin.--Departure from Middlebrook.--Somerville.--

Incidents by the Way.--Arrival at Easton.

335affair. He said that several boys had possession of a small swivel,

and, in firing it, one of them, while loading, had his hand blown off by

a premature discharge of the piece. The boy was the son of a widow, and

Washington, hearing of the circumstance, sent his mother two guineas.

I left Middlebrook at noon, and within half an hour was at dinner in

Somerville, five or six miles distant, whence, at one o'clock, I

departed in a stage-coach for Easton. Within the coach were seven grown

persons, three children about ten years old, and two babies of a

respectable size and sound lungs; while on the outside were four

passengers and the driver, and an indefinite quantity of baggage. The

roads were excessively dusty. The rain that commenced falling gently

soon after leaving Somerville relieved us of that annoyance, but

produced a greater--the necessity of having the windows of the coach

closed, to keep out the drippings of the increasing storm. A wheezing

old gentleman in green goggles insisted upon keeping the window open

near him, to save him from suffocation; while a shadowy, middle-aged

lady, upon the next seat, wrapped in a cloak, as earnestly declared that

it should be closed to save her from an ague that had threatened her for

a week. The matter appeared to be very properly a _casus belli_, as

prime ministers say; but, unlike the action of prime ministers in

general, the controversy was compromised by mutual concessions, the

crooked roads over the rough hills presenting a basis for an amicable

treaty of peace. It was agreed that, when the course of the road brought

the lady to the windward, the window was to be closed, and at other

times the gentleman was to be accommodated with fresh air.

The country through which we passed is beautifully diversified with

lofty hills and deep ravines, forming numerous water courses, whose

irrigating streams fertilize the broad valleys which are found

occasionally imbosomed among the less fertile, but cultivated mountains.

Of these, the Musconeteong, * through which flows a small river of the

same euphonious name, dividing the counties of Hunterdon and Warren, is

said to be one of the most charming. We crossed the Musconeteong at the

pretty little village of Bloomsbury, at twilight, but the _gloaming_ and

the rain deprived us of the pleasure of a view of the valley and its

thriving town. We were now within six miles of the Delaware, and as the

darkness deepened the storm increased; and when, at seven o'clock, we

crossed the river, and reined up at the hotel in Easton, we seemed to

alight in the very court of Jupiter Pluvius.

Easton is upon the right bank of the Delaware, at its confluence with

the Lehigh River, thirty-seven miles northwest from Somerville. Arriving

there after dark, and departing the next morning before daylight, I had

no opportunity to view it. It is said to be a place of much business,

and inhabited by a well-educated, social, and highly moral population,

and is in the midst of natural scenery singularly picturesque. It has

but little Revolutionary history, and that relates chiefly to contests

with the Indians. Here the division of the army

* This is an Indian word, signifying "a rapid-running stream."

Sullivan's Expedition.--Indian Council.--Whitefield and Brainerd.

336of Sullivan, under his immediate command, rendezvoused previous to

its flying and desolating campaign against the Six Nations in central

New York in 1779, and hither came the poor fugitives from the blackened

Valley of Wyoming, after the terrible massacre and burning there in

1778. It has history antecedent to this, but in a measure irrelevant to

our subject. Here, in 1758, the chiefs of the Indian tribes, the

Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, Nanticokes, Mohicans, Conoys, Monseys, and

all of the Six Nations, assembled in grand council with the Governors of

Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Sir William Johnson, and other

distinguished men; and the eloquence and good sense of the great Indian

diplomatist, Teedyuscung, were here displayed on several occasions.

Here, too, before the cabin of the white man was built upon the Delaware

above Trenton, the surrounding hills echoed the voices of the eminent

Whitefield and Brainerd, * as they proclaimed the Gospel of Peace to the

heathen; and here the good Moravians sang their hymns and held their

love-feasts in the wigwams of the Indians.

* George Whitefield was born in Gloucester, England, December 16th,

1714. After making some progress in learning, he was obliged to assist

his mother, who kept an inn. At the age of eighteen he entered Oxford,

where he became acquainted with the Wesleys (John and Charles), the

founders of the Methodists. He joined these eminent Christians, took

orders, and was ordained by the bishop in June, 1736. Mr. John Wesley

was then in Georgia, and by his persuasion Whitefield embarked for

America. He arrived at Savannah in May, 1738, and returned to England in

September following. Bishop Benson ordained him priest in January, 1739.

He made several voyages to America, and traveled through nearly all the

colonies. He went to the Bermudas in 1748. In 1769 he made his seventh

and last voyage to America. After preaching in different parts of the

country, he died suddenly at Newburyport, Massachusetts, September 30th,

1770, aged fifty-five. His powers of eloquence were wonderful, and his

ministry was exceedingly fruitful. His voice was powerful. Dr. Franklin

estimated that thirty thousand people might hear him distinctly when

preaching in the open air. Of him Cowper wrote,

"He loved the world that hated him; the tear

That dropped upon his Bible was sincere;

Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife,

His only answer was a blameless life;

And he that forged and he that threw the dart,

Had each a brother's interest in his heart.

Paul's love of Christ and steadiness unhribed

Were copied close in him, and well transcribed,

He followed Paul, his zeal a kindred flame,

His apostolic charity the same;

Like him, crossed cheerfully tempestuous seas,

Forsaking country, kindred, friends, and ease;

Like him he labored, and like him content

To bear it, suffer shame where'er he went.

Blush, Calumny I and write upon his tomb,

If honest eulogy can spare thee room,

The deep repentance of thy thousand lies,

Which, aimed at him, have pierced th' offended skies,

And say, blot out my sin, confessed, deplored,

Against thine image in thy saint, oh Lord!"

* David Brainerd was born at Haddam, Connecticut, April 20th, 1718. He

entered Yale College in 1739; but, being expelled in 1742, on account of

some indiscreet remarks respecting one of the tutors, he never obtained

his degree. He immediately commenced the study of divinity. Toward the

close of the year he was licensed to preach, and immediately afterward

was appointed a missionary to the Indians. His first efforts were made

among the Stockbridge Indians, about fifteen miles from Kinderhook, New

York. There he lodged upon straw, and his food was the simple fare of

the savages. After the Stockbridge Indians agreed to remove to

Stockbridge, and place themselves under the instruction of Mr. Sergeant,

Brainerd went to the Indians upon the Delaware. There he labored for a

while, and then visited the Indians at Crossweeksung, or Crosswicks, in

New Jersey, where he was very successful. He worked an entire reform in

the lives of the savages at that place. In the summer of 1746, Mr.

Brainerd visited the Indians upon the Susquehanna. The next spring,

finding his health giving way, he traveled in New England. In July he

halted at Northampton, and there, in the family of Jonathan Edwards, he

passed the remaining weeks of his life. He died October 9th, 1747, aged

twenty-nine years. His exertions in the Christian cause were of short

continuance, but they were intense, incessant, and effectual.

Departure for Wyoming.--Nazareth.--Its Origin.--A chilling Mist--Nap in

the Coach

337

CHAPTER XV.

"On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming!

Although the wild flowers on thy ruined wall

And roofless homes a sad remembrance bring

Of what thy gentle people did befall,

Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of all

That see the Atlantic's wave their morn restore."

Campbell.

"Thou com'st in beauty on my gaze at last,

'On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming,'

Image of many a dream, in hours long past,

When life was in its bud and blossoming,

And waters, gushing from the fountain spring

Of pure enthusiast thought, dimm'd my young eyes,

As by the poet borne, on unseen wing,

I breathed, in fancy, 'neath thy cloudless skies,

The summer's air, and heard her echoed harmonies."

Halleck

LEFT Easton for the Valley of Wyoming, sixty miles distant, at three

o'clock in the morning. The storm was over, and the broken clouds,

flitting upon a cool wind from the northwest, permitted a few gleams of

moonlight to stray down to earth. Although there were but three

passengers in the coach (two ladies and an infant), I took a seat with

the driver, for there were promises of a bright morning and magnificent

scenery. The coachman was a good-natured Pennsylvania Dutchman, rather

taciturn, and such an adept in his profession that his practiced ear

detected the absence of a shoe from the foot of one of the "leaders"

when three miles from Easton. A blacksmith by the road side was aroused,

the shoe was replaced, and within an hour we had ascended the fertile

slopes of the Delaware and Lehigh, to Nazareth, a Moravian village about

half way between Easton and the Wind-gap in the Blue Mountains. The day

had not yet dawned, yet the snatches of moonlight enabled me to observe

the uniform and neat appearance of the houses in the village.1 We were

now high among the hills, whence the mists from the rivers and valleys

had rolled up when the storm ceased at midnight, and I was glad to take

shelter from the chilling vapor within the coach. The seats were

spacious, and, having one in exclusive possession, I made a couch of it,

using the carpet bag of one of the a pillow, and slept soundly for an

hour. When I awoke, the morning light was

* Nazareth is seven miles northwest of Easton. It contains a church, a

sisters' house, a large and flourishing seminary for boys, and the usual

dead-house and cemetery peculiar to the sect. The place was named, and,

it may be said, founded, by the Rev. George Whitcfield, the eloquent

cosmopolite preacher. He had labored in conjunction with the Moravians

in Georgia. When, about 1740, they refused to take up arms for the

governor of the province, and left Georgia for the more peaceful domain

of William Penn, Whitcfield accompanied them. He began to erect a large

building "in the Forks of the Delaware" as a school for negro children,

while the Moravians, under Bishop Nischman, purchased the site and

founded the town of Bethlehem, about ten miles distant. Whitefield named

his domain, or manor, Nazareth. He did not complete his building, but

sold "the manor of Nazareth" to the Moravians, who finished the edifice.

It is still standing, in the eastern border of the village. The Moravian

Sisters of Bethlehem wrought an elegant banner, and presented it to

Count Pulaski. A drawing of the banner, and the beautiful Consecration

Hymn, written by Longfellow, will be found in another part of this work.

Passage through the Wind-gap--The great Walk.--Roscommon Tavern.--An

Office-hunter.

338abroad, and we were within half a mile of the Wind-gap. I again

mounted the driver's box, for all around us Nature was displaying her

attractions in the plenitude of her magnificence and beauty. Before us,

and in close proximity, were the Blue Mountains, their summits curtained

in a white fog that was rising toward the loftier clouds. Behind us, far

down into the valleys and intervales, orchards, corn-fields, forests,

and meadows were spread out like a carpet of mellow tints, and on every

side the gentle breeze was shaking the rain-drops from the boughs in

diamond showers, glittering in the first rays of the morning sun. While

the bleating of sheep and the bellowing of cattle reminded us of

cultivated fields behind us, the whirring of the pheasant, the drumming

of the partridge, and the whistling of the quail among the rocks and

lofty evergreens around betokened the uncultivated wilderness.

The Wind-gap, unlike the far-famed Water-gap in the same cluster of

mountains, is a deep depression of the summit of the range, is quite

level on both sides of the road for a considerable distance, and

exhibits none of the majestic precipices of the latter. The earth is

covered with masses of angular rocks, among which shoot up cedar and

other trees and shrubs, chiefly of the coniferæ order; but the road, by

industry, is made quite smooth. The hills rise on each side of the Gap

to an altitude of eight hundred feet, clothed and crowned with trees. It

was through this pass in the mountains that two expert walkers crossed

to a spur of the Pocono when measuring the extent of a district of

country northwest of the Delaware, for the proprietors of Pennsylvania,

in 1737. The Indians had agreed, for a certain consideration, to sell a

tract of land included within prescribed points on the river, and

extending back as far as a man could "walk in a day and a half." The

proprietors immediately advertised for the most expert walkers in the

province, and they performed a journey, in the day and a half, of

eighty-six miles! The Indians were greatly dissatisfied, for they had no

idea that such a distance could be accomplished, and it included some of

their finest lands. The walkers _ran_ a considerable portion of the way.

They ate as they traveled, and never stopped from sunrise until sunset.

One old Indian said, bitterly, when complaining of the _cheat_, "No sit

down to smoke--no shoot a squirrel, but lun, lun, lun, all day long."

The Indians, supposing the walk would end not far from the Wind-gap, had

collected there in great numbers; but, to their astonishment, the

walkers reached that point on the evening of the first day.

The turnpike road through the Wind-gap, and across the valleys and

mountains, to Wilkes-barre, was made by Sullivan for the passage of his

troops in 1779, when marching to join General Clinton on the Tioga.

Before that time the pass was little more than a rough Indian war-path,

and its obscurity made the hurried flight of the people from Wyoming

over the solitary region more perplexing and dreadful than it would be

now.

We descended from the Wind-gap, on the western.side of the mountain,

along a steep and winding road, skirting a precipice, crossed a

beautiful mountain stream, and alighted at the Roscommon Tavern, among

the hills, where we breakfasted at seven o'clock. At the table we were

honored by the presence of one of the five candidates for the office of

sheriff of Monroe county. He was out canvassing the district for votes,

and a more earnest, intelligent, good-humored man I have seldom met. His

strongest claim to the honors and emoluments of the office seemed to

rest upon the fact that he was a representative of New England

_pedagogueism_ in the Wyoming Valley as early as "forty years ago had

taught the "young ideas" of the fathers of three Wilkesbarre lawyers

"how to shoot," and, therefore, he assumed to have an undisputed right

to the privilege of hanging the inhabitants of a neighboring county. He

accompanied us to the next tavern, the proprietor of which, a fat little

man, though already bearing upon his shoulders the responsibilities of a

postmaster, was another aspirant ambitiously wheezing for the office of

sheriff. Both were too good-natured to be made _rivals_;

* The Water-gap is the passage through the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains

of the Delaware River, about three miles from Stroudsburg. This village

is upon the Delaware, twenty-four miles above Easton, and was the first

settlement which the fugitives from Wyoming reached when fleeing from

the valley in 1778 There was a fort there, called Hamilton, during the

French and Indian war, and near the eastern end of the village Fort Penn

was built during the Revolution.

Ascent of the Pocono.--The Mountain Scenery.--Solitude of the Region.--A

Soldier Coachman.--First View of Wyoming

339they were only _different candidates_ professing the same political

faith. We left them comparing notes over a glass of whisky, and in the

course of a few hours we had crossed fertile little valleys and parallel

ranges of mountains, and begun the toilsome ascent of the famous Pocono.

From base to summit, the distance, by the road, is about three miles,

one third of which is a straight line up the mountain at an angle of

thirty-five degrees. Then our way was along the precipitous sides of the

hills, from which we could look upon the tops of tall trees, hundreds of

feet below. It was noon when we reached the level summit, two thousand

feet above tide water; and there, three fourths of a mile from the

eastern brow of the mountain, John Smith keeps a tavern, and furnished

us with an excellent dinner.

The road upon the top of Pocono is perfectly level a distance of four

miles; and all the way to the Wilkesbarre Mountains, twenty miles, there

is but little variation in the altitude. On the left, near Smith's, is

an elevation called the Knob, about two hundred feet above the general

level, from the apex of which it is said the highest peaks of the

Catskills, sixty miles distant, may be distinctly seen on a clear

morning. All around is a perfect wilderness as far as the eye can reach,

and so trifling are the variations from a level, that the country

appears like a vast plain. The whole is covered with shrub oaks, from

three to ten feet in height, from which rise lofty pines, cedars, and

tamaracks, interspersed with a few birch and chestnut trees, and

occasionally a mountain ash with its blazing berries. The shrub oaks, at

a distance, appeared like the soft light green grass of a meadow, and

groups of lofty evergreens dotted the expanse like orchards upon a

prairie. Here and there a huge blasted pine, black and leafless, towered

above the rest, a

'Stern dweller of the mountain! with its feet

Grasping the crag, and lifting to the sky

Its haughty crest!"

Vast cranberry marshes spread out upon this high, rolling table-land,

and supply the surrounding settlements with an abundance of that

excellent fruit. Indeed, the whole region is almost a continuous morass,

and the road, a large portion of the way, is a causeway made of logs.

Here the gray eagle wheels undisturbed, the bear makes his lair, and the

wild deer roam in abundance. These, with the flocks of pheasants, and

the numerous rabbits that burrow upon this wild warren, invite the

adventurous huntsman, willing to "camp out" in the wilderness. No

settlements enliven the way; and the cabins and saw-mills of lumbermen,

where the road intersects the streams, are the only evidences of a

resident population, except three or four places where a few acres have

been redeemed from the poverty of nature. This wilderness extends more

than a hundred miles between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers, and a

death-like solitude broods over the region.

I kept my seat upon the driver's box all the way from the Wind-gap to

Wilkesbarre, charmed by the romance of the scene, rendered still more

wild and picturesque by the dark masses of cumulous clouds that

overspread the heavens in the afternoon. The wind blew very cold from

the northwest, and the driver assured me that, during the hottest

weather in summer, the air is cool and bracing upon this lofty highway.

Poor fellow, he was an emaciated, blue-lipped soldier, recently returned

from the battle-fields of Mexico, where the _vomito and ague_ had

shattered a hitherto strong constitution, and opened his firm-knit

system to the free entrance of diseases of every kind. He was at Vera

Cruz and Cerro Gordo. He lay sick a whole summer at Perote, and now had

resumed the whip with the feeble hope of regaining lost health.

We crossed the upper waters of the Lehigh at Stoddartsville, in the

midst of the great lumber country, and reached the brow of the

Wilkesbarre Mountains just before sunset. There a scene of rare grandeur

and beauty was revealed, heightened by contrast with the rugged and

forbidding aspect of the region we had just traversed. The heavy clouds,

like a thick curtain, were lifted in the west to the apparent height of

a celestial degree, and allowed the last rays of the evening sun to

flood the deep valley below us with their golden light. The natural

beauties of the vale, reposing in shadow, were for a moment brought

A charming Landscape.--Arrival at Wilkesbarre.--Charles Minor, Esq.--His

Picture of old Wyoming

340out in bold outline; and from our point of view we gazed upon a

picture such as the painter's art can not imitate. Like a thread of

silver the Susquehanna appeared, in its winding course, among the lofty,

overshadowing trees, upon its margin, and the villages, hamlets, green

woodlands, rich bottoms, and fruitful intervales of Wyoming, twenty

miles in extent, and the purple mountains on its western borders were

all included in the range of our vision. The thought, impious though it

may be, came into my mind, that if Satan, when he took Immanuel to the

top of an "exceeding high mountain," exhibited a scene like this, the

temptation was certainly great. Wilkesbarre, * apparently at our feet,

was three miles distant, and it was dark when we reached the Phoenix

Hotel, upon the bank of the river. It had been a fatiguing day's journey

of sixty miles; but a supper of venison, warm biscuit, and honey, and a

comfortable bed, made me feel perfectly vigorous in the morning, and

prepared for a ramble over the historic portions of the valley.

September 16, 1848 After an early breakfast I rode to the residence of

Charles Miner, Esq., about two miles from the village, expecting to rely

chiefly upon his varied and extensive knowledge of the history of the

valley for information concerning the localities of interest, but was

disappointed. * He was suffering from a severe attack of an epidemic

fever then prevailing in the valley, and was unable even to converse

much, yet I have not forgotten the sincere regrets and kind wishes he

expressed. He referred me to several gentlemen in the village,

descendants of the first settlers in the valley, and to one of them (Mr.

Lord Butler, a grandson of Colonel Zebulon Butler) I am indebted for

many kind services while I remained there. He accompanied me to the

several localities of interest in the valley, and furnished me with such

facilities for acquiring information as only a stranger can appreciate.

We visited Kingston, Forty Fort, the monument, the chief battle-ground,

Fort Wintermoot, Monocasy Island, &c.; but a record of the day's ramble

will be better understood after a consultation of the history, and we

will, therefore, proceed to unclasp the old chronicle.

History and song have hallowed the Valley of Wyoming, and every thing

appertaining to it seems to be wrapped in an atmosphere of romance. Its

Indian history, too, long antecedent to the advent of the whites there,

is full of the poetry which clusters around the progress of the

aborigines. Mr. Miner gives a graphic picture of the physical aspect of

the valley. "It is diversified," he says, "by hill and dale, upland and

intervale. Its character of extreme richness is derived from the

extensive flats, or river bottoms, which, in some places, extend from

one to two miles from the stream, unrivaled in expansive beauty,

unsurpassed in luxuriant fertility. Though now generally cleared and

cultivated, to protect the soil from floods a fringe of trees is left

along each bank of the river--the sycamore, the elm, and more especially

the black walnut, while here and there, scattered through the fields, a

huge shell-bark yields its summer shade to the weary laborers, and its

autumn fruit to the black and gray squirrel, or the rival plow-boys.

Pure streams of water come leaping from the mountains, imparting health

and pleasure in their course; all of them abounding with the delicious

trout. Along those brooks, and in the swales, scattered through the

uplands, grow

* This name is compounded of two, and was given in honor of John Wilkes

and Colonel Barre, two of the ablest advocates of America, through the

press and on the floor of the British House of Commons, during the

Revolution.

** Mr. Miner is the author of a "History of Wyoming," a valuable work of

nearly six hundred pages, and possessing the rare merit of originality,

for a large proportion of its contents is a record of information

obtained by him from the lips of old residents whose lives and memories

ran parallel with the Revolutionary history of the valley, and events

immediately antecedent thereto. He folded up little books of blank

paper, took pens and ink, and, accompanied by his daughter Sarah, who,

though blind, was a cheerful and agreeable companion, and possessed a

very retentive memory, visited thirty or forty of the old people who

were in the valley at the time of the invasion in 1778. "We have come,"

he said to them, "to inquire about old Wyoming; pray tell us all you

know. We wish an exact picture, such as the valley presented sixty years

ago. Give us its lights and shadows, its joys and sorrows." At night, on

returning home, he read over to his daughter what he had taken down, and

carefully corrected, by the aid of her memory, "any error into which the

pen had fallen." In this way Mr. Miner collected a great amount of local

history, which must otherwise have perished with the source whence he

derived it. I shall draw liberally upon his interesting volume for many

of my historic facts concerning Wyoming.

Ancient Beauty and Fertility of Wyoming.--Campbell's "Gertrude of

Wyoming."--Its Errors.--First Tribes in the Valley

341the wild plum and the butter-nut, while, wherever the hand of the

white man has spared it, the native grape may be gathered in unlimited

profusion.

I have seen a grapevine bending beneath its purple clusters, one branch

climbing a butter-nut, loaded with fruit, another branch resting upon a

wild plum, red with its delicious burden; the while, growing in the

shade, the hazel-nut was ripening its rounded kernel.

"Such were the common scenes when the white people first came to

Wyoming, which seems to have been founded by Nature, a perfect Indian

Paradise. Game of every sort was abundant. The quail whistled in the

meadow; the pheasant rustled in its leafy covert; the wild duck reared

her brood and bent the reed in every inlet; the red deer fed upon the

hills; while in the deep forests, within a few hours' walk, was found

the stately elk. The river yielded at all seasons a supply of fish; the

yellow perch, the pike, the catfish, the bass, the roach, and, in the

spring season, myriads of shad." *

"Delightful Wyoming! beneath thy skies

The happy shepherd swains had naught to do

But feed their flocks on green declivities,

Or skim perchance, thy lake with light canoe,

From morn till evening's sweeter pastime grew.

With timbrel, when beneath the forest's brow

Thy lovely maidens would the dance renew;

And aye those sunny mountains half way down

Would echo flageolet from some romantic town.

"Then, when of Indian hills the daylight takes

His leave, how might you the flamingo see,

Disporting like a meteor on the lakes--

And playful squirrel on his nut-grown tree:

And every sound of life was full of glee,

From merry mock-bird's song, or hum of men;

While hearkening, fearing naught their revelry,

The wild deer arched his neck from glades, and then,

Unhunted, sought his woods and wilderness again." *

Wyoming, in the Delaware language, signifies "large plains." By what

particular Indian nation or tribe it was first settled is not certainly

known, but it is probable that the Delawares held dominion there long

before the powerful confederacy of the Five Nations, by whom they were

subjugated, was formed. The tribes known as the Wyoming Indians, unto

whom Zinzendorf and his Moravian brethren preached the Gospel, and who

occupied the plains when the white settlers from Connecticut first went

there, were of the Seneca and

* Miner's History of Wyoming, preliminary chapter, p. xiv.

** Gertrude of Wyoming. This beautiful poem is full of errors of every

kind. The "lakes," the "lia mingo," and the "mock bird" are all

strangers to Wyoming; and the historical allusions in the poem are quite

as much strangers to truth. But it is a charming poem, and

hypercriticism may conscientiously pass by and leave its beauties

untouched.

Count Zinzendorf.--His Visit to Wyoming.--Jealousy of the Indians.--

Attempt to murder him.--Providential Circumstance

342Oneida nations, connected "by intermarriage with the Mingoes, and the

subjugated Leni-Lenapes, or Delawares. As it is not my province to

unravel Indian history, we will pass to a brief consideration of the

white settlements there.

The first European whose feet trod the Valley of Wyoming was Count

Zinzendorf, who, while visiting his Moravian brethren at Bethlehem and

Nazareth, in 1742, extended his visits among the neighboring Indians.

His warm heart had been touched by the accounts he had received of the

moral degradation of the savages, and, unattended, except by an

interpreter, he traversed the wilderness and preached salvation to the

red men. In one of these excursions he crossed the Pocono, and

penetrated to the Valley of Wyoming. With a missionary named

Mack, and his wife, who accompanied him, he pitched his tent upon the

western bank of the Susquehanna, a little below the present village of

Kingston, at the foot of a high hill, and near a place in the river

known as Toby's Eddy. A tribe of the Shawnees had a village upon the

site of Kingston. They held a council to listen to the communications of

the missionaries, but, suspicious of all white men, they could not

believe that Zinzendorf and his companions had crossed the Atlantic for

the sole purpose of promoting the spiritual welfare of the Indians. They

concluded that the strangers had come to "spy out their country" with a

view to dispossess them of their lands; and, with such impressions, they

resolved to murder the count. The savages feared the English, and

instructed those who were appointed to assassinate Zinzendorf to do it

with all possible secrecy. A cool-September night was chosen for the

deed, and two stout Indians proceeded stealthily from the town to the

tent of the missionary. He was alone, reclining upon a bundle of dry

weeds, engaged in writing, or in devout meditation. A blanket curtain

formed the door of his tent, and, as the Indians cautiously drew this

aside, they had a full view of their victim. The benignity of his

countenance filled them with awe, but an incident (strikingly

providential) more than his appearance changed the current of their

feelings. The tent-cloth was suspended from the branch of a huge

sycamore, in such a manner that the partially hollow trunk of the tree

was within its folds. At its foot the count had built a fire, the warmth

of which had aroused a rattlesnake in its den; and at the moment when

the savages looked into the tent the venomous reptile was gliding

harmlessly across the legs of their intended victim, who did not see

either the serpent or the lurking murderers. They at once regarded him

as under the special protection of the Great Spirit, were

* Nicolas Lewis, Count Zinzendorf, was descended from an ancient

Austrian family, and was the son of a chamberlain of the King of Poland.

He was born in May, 1700, and was educated at Halle and Utrecht. When

about twenty-one years of age, he purchased the lordship of

Berthholdsdorp, in Lusatia. Some poor Christians, followers of John

Huss, soon afterward settled upon his estate. Their piety attracted his

attention, and he joined them. From that time until his death he labored

zealously for the good of mankind. The village of Hernhutt was built

upon his estate, and soon the sect spread throughout Bohemia and

Moravia. He traveled through Germany, Denmark, and England, and in 1741

came to America, and preached at Germantown and Bethlehem. He returned

to Europe in 1743, and died at Hernhutt in 1760. The Moravian

missionaries were very successful in their operations. They established

stations in various parts of Europe, in Greenland, in the West Indies,

and in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Piety, zeal, benevolence, and self-

denial always marked the Moravians, and at the present day they bear the

character of "the best of people."

Toby's Eddy.--Zinzendorf's Camp ground.--Alienation of the Indians.--

Gnadenhutten.--The Susquehanna Company

343filled with profound reverence for his person, and, returning to the

tribe, so impressed their fellows with the holiness of Zinzendorf's

character, that their enmity was changed to veneration.

A successful mission was established there, which was continued until a

war between the Shawnees and the Delawares destroyed the peace of the

valley.1

Not long afterward the war that ensued between the English and French

drew the line of separation so distinctly between the Indian tribes that

respectively espoused either cause, that the excitements of warlike zeal

repressed the religious sentiments which the indefatigable missionaries

were diffusing among the savages. The tribes in the interest of the

French soon began to hover around the Moravian settlements. Gnadenhutten

was destroyed, and the other settlements were menaced. *** For several

years these pious missionaries suffered greatly, and the white

settlements were broken up. After the defeat of Brad-dock in 1755, the

Delawares went over to the French, and the frontiers of Pennsylvania and

Virginia were terribly scourged by these new allies of the enemies of

the English.

In 1753 an association was formed in Connecticut, called the Susquehanna

Company, the object of which was to plant a colony in the Wyoming

Valley, a region then claimed by Connecticut by virtue of its ancient

unrepealed charter. **** To avoid difficulties with the

* This was originated in the following manner. The Shawnees were a

secluded clan, living, by permission of the Delawares, upon the western

bank of the Susquehanna. On a certain day, when the warriors of both

tribes were engaged in the chase upon the mountains, a party of women

and children of the Shawnees crossed to the Delaware side to gather

fruit, and were joined by some of the squaws and children of the latter.

At length a quarrel arose between two of the children about the

possession of a grasshopper. The mothers took part respectively with

their children, and the quarrel extended to all the women on both sides.

The Delaware squaws were more numerous, and drove the Shawnees home,

killing several on the way. The Shawnee hunters, on their return,

espousing the cause of their women, armed themselves, and, crossing the

river, attacked the Delawares; a bloody battle ensued, and the Shawnees,

overpowered, retired to the banks of the Ohio, and joined their more

powerful brethren. How many wars between Christian nations have

originated in a quarrel about some miserable grasshopper!

** This is a view upon a stream called Mud Creek, a few rods from its

mouth, at Toby's Eddy, in the Susquehanna, about a mile below Kingston.

It was pointed out to me as the place where, tradition avers, Count

Zinzendorf erected his tent, and where the singular circumstance related

in the text occurred. It was near sunset on a mild day (September 16th,

1848) when I visited the spot, and a more inviting place for retirement

and meditation can scarcely be imagined. It is shaded by venerable

sycamore, butternut, elm, and black walnut trees. From the Eddy is a

fine view of the plain whereon the Delawares had their village, and of

the mountains on the eastern side of the valley. The eddy is caused by a

bend in the river.

*** The Moravians had established six missionary settlements in the

vicinity of the Forks of the Delaware, or the junction of the Delaware

and Lehigh Rivers, viz., Nazareth, Bethlehem, Nain, Freidenshal,

Gandenthaul, and Gnadenhutten. The latter, the name of which in English

is "Huts of Mercy," was founded chiefly for the accommodation and

protection of those Indians who embraced the Christian faith. Hence it

was the first settlement attacked by the hostile savages.

**** When the regions in the interior of America were unknown, the

charters given to the colonists were generally very vague respecting

their western boundary. They defined the extent of each colony along the

Atlantic coast, but generally said of the westward extent, "from sea to

sea." Such was the expression in the Connecticut charter, and Wyoming,

lying directly west of that province, was claimed as a portion of its

territory. The intervening portion of New York, being already in actual

possession of the Dutch, was not included in the claim.

Purchase of Wyoming.--The Delaware Company.--Opposition of

Pennsylvanians.--Death of Teedyuscung

344Indians, the agents of the company were directed to purchase the land

of the Six Nations, the actual owners, though it was then in possession

of the Delawares. A deputation for the purpose attended the great

convention and Indian council which was held at Albany in 1754, and,

notwithstanding the strong efforts made by the Governor of Pennsylvania,

through his agents, to the contrary, the purchase was effected. The

tract bargained for included the whole Valley of Wyoming and the country

westward to the Allegany River. The Pennsylvanians were irritated at

what they called an unfair and illegal encroachment of the Connecticut

people, and in strong terms protested against the purchase, for they

claimed that the whole country included therein was covered by the

charter granted to William Penn. Here, then, was planted the seed which

soon burst forth into a mature tree, and bore the apples of discord in

abundance.

Another Connecticut association, called the Delaware Company, had

purchased lands upon the Delaware River, at a place called Cushetunk.

They commenced a settlement there in 1757, and the Susquehanna Company

prepared to plant their colony in Wyoming the following year. But, owing

to the unsettled state of the country, the French and Indian war then

being in progress, the settlement was deferred until 1762, when about

two hundred colonists pushed forward, and commenced building and

planting near the mouth of Mill Creek, a little above the present site

of Wilkesbarre. The Indians, and among them their great chief

Teedyuscung, were at first opposed to this settlement of the whites in

the valley, but were soon reconciled, and lived in daily friendly

intercourse with the new comers. The Pennsylvanians, however, determined

to repel what they held to be a bold encroachment upon their rights.

Proclamations were issued, and writs of ejectment were placed in the

hands of the sheriff of Northampton county, within the limits of which

Wyoming was situated; but the Yankees continued to build and plant. They

brought their families into the valley, and new settlers were rapidly

augmenting their numbers. An event now occurred which at one terrible

blow cut off this flourishing settlement.

I briefly adverted, at the close of the last chapter, to the fact that a

great council was held at Easton in 1758, where Teedyuscung, the

Delaware chief, acted a conspicuous part. The Six Nations regarded the

Delawares as subjects, and were jealous of the popularity and power of

Teedyuscung. They could not brook his advancement, and in the autumn of

1763 a party of warriors descended the Susquehanna, and came to the

valley upon a pretended visit of friendship. As previously concerted,

they set fire to the house of Teedyuscung on a certain night, and the

chief was burned in it; while, to crown their wicked act, they adroitly

charged the deed upon the whites. The Delawares believed the tale. They

loved their chief, and determined on revenge. At broad noon, on the 14th

of October, they attacked

1763 and massacred thirty of the settlers in their fields. * The whole

settlement was speedily alarmed, and men, women, and children fled to

the mountains, from which they saw their houses plundered and their

cattle driven away. At night the torch was applied to their buildings,

and the lovely abode of several hundred peaceful dwellers in the morning

was made a desolation. Over the wilderness of the Pocono they made their

way to the Delaware, and so on to their homes in Connecticut, a distance

of two hundred and fifty miles. The blow was as unexpected as it was

merciless, for they regarded the Delawares as their friendly neighbors.

**

The Susquehanna Company did not attempt a settlement again for several

years; and in the mean time the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, taking

advantage of an Indian council held at Fort Stanwix in 1768, made a

direct purchase of the Wyoming Valley from the Six Nations, and took a

deed from some of the chiefs A lease of the valley for seven years was

given to three Pennsylvanians, *** who established a trading house

there, which they for-

* This is the testimony of current history. Mr Miner, on the contrary,

is persuaded that the same hands that destroyed Teedyuscung--the Six

Nations--perpetrated this outrage.

** Proud, Gordon, Chapman.

*** Charles Stewart, Amos Ogden, and John Jennings. The latter was the

sheriff of the county. Charles Stewart subsequently became a popular and

efficient officer of the Pennsylvania line in the Continental army.

Hostilities between the "Yankees" and "Pennymitea."--Erection of Forts.-

-Capture of Durkee.--Surrender of Ogden.

345tified. Forty pioneers of the Susquehanna Company, prepared to act

promptly, entered the valley in February, 1769, and closely invested the

Pennsylvania garrison. There were but ten men in the block-house, but

they had found means to send a message to Governor Penn, informing him

of their situation. They did not wait for succor, however, but, under

pretense of consulting about an amicable compromise, three of the

Connecticut party were decoyed into the block-house, arrested by Sheriff

Jennings, and sent to Easton Jail. The Connecticut immigrants increased

rapidly, and Jennings called upon the _posse_ of the county and several

magistrates to assist in their arrest. Quite a formidable force marched

to Wyoming, but the Connecticut people had not been idle. They too had

erected a block-house, which they called Forty Fort. Jennings demolished

its doors, and arrested thirty-one of the inmates, most of whom were

taken to Easton Jail. They were admitted to bail, were reenforced by

about two hundred from Connecticut, and, returning to Wyoming, built a

fort, which they called Fort Durkee, in honor of the officer elected to

its command. This fortification was about half a mile below Wilkesbarre,

near the Shawnee Flats. They also built thirty log houses around it,

furnished with loop-holes for musketry, and, the number of the settlers

being three hundred able-bodied men, Jennings could make no further

impression upon them. He reported to the Governor of Pennsylvania that

the whole power of the county was inadequate to dislodge the Yankees.

For a short time hostilities ceased, and the Susquehanna Company sent

commissioners to Philadelphia to endeavor to negotiate a compromise. *

Governor Penn refused to treat with them, and sent an armed force to the

valley, under the command of Colonel Francis. He demanded a surrender of

Fort Durkee, but the order was not obeyed. He reconnoitered, and,

finding the works too strong to be successfully assaulted, returned to

Philadelphia, leaving Ogden, one of the lessees of the valley, with a

small force in the neighborhood. A larger force was assembled under

Sheriff Jennings, well armed, and provided with a six pound cannon.

Captain Ogden, who was prowling about the settlement, hearing of the

approach of Jennings, darted suddenly among the houses with forty men,

and captured several inhabitants, among whom was Colonel Durkee. He was

taken to Philadelphia, and closely imprisoned. Jennings, with two

hundred armed men, appeared before the fort, and began the erection of a

battery. The garrison, alarmed, proposed to surrender upon certain

conditions, which were agreed to. The articles of capitulation were

drawn up in due form and signed, but Ogden acted in bad faith, and the

seventeen settlers who were allowed by the capitula tion to remain in

the valley and harvest their crops, were plundered of every thing and

driven over the mountains.

In February, 1770, Lazarus Stewart led an armed party from Lancaster

into the Valley of Wyoming, who were joined by another armed party from

Connecticut. They captured Fort Durkee, and, proceeding to the house of

Ogden (who was then absent), seized the cannon already mentioned.

Captain Ogden, on hearing of these transactions, hastened to Wyoming

with fifty men, and garrisoned his own house. A party of fifty Yankees

was sent against him, and a skirmish ensued. Several Connecticut people

were wounded, and one was killed. Colonel Durkee ** had now been

released, and had returned from Philadelphia. Under his command the

Yankees commenced a regular siege upon the fortress of the Penny-mites.

*** They mounted the four pound cannon upon the opposite side of the

river, and for several days played upon Ogden's house. Receiving no

succor from Governor Penn, he surrendered upon terms similar to those

allowed the Yankees the year before. He was to with-

* Colonel Dyer, and Jedediah Elderkin, of Windham, Connecticut.

** John Durkee was a native of that portion of Norwich, Connecticut,

called Bean Hill, and was generally called the "bold Bean Hiller." He

left Wyoming and returned to Connecticut. When the Revolution broke out,

he entered into the contest zealously. He was at Bunker Hill, and was

commissioned a colonel in the Connecticut line. He was in the battle on

Long Island, at Germantown, and other engagements. He died at his

residence at Bean Hill in 1782, aged fifty-four years, and was buried

with military honors.

*** This civil commotion is usually termed the Pennymite and Yankee war.

The former name was derived from John Penn, governor of Pennsylvania

when hostilities commenced.

Treatment of Ogden.--Another Attack on the Yankees.--Capture of Fort

Durkoe.--Pennymites Expelled.--New Fortifications.

346draw himself and all his men from the valley, except six, who were to

remain and guard his property. But the Yankees, imitating Ogden's bad

faith with them, seized his property and burned his house as soon as he

was gone. Warrants were afterward issued by the Governor of Pennsylvania

against Lazarus Stewart, Zebulon Butler, and Lazarus Young, for the

crime of arson, but they were never harmed.

Governor Penn, fearing political outbreaks in his capital at that time,

and unwilling to send any of the few troops away from Philadelphia,

called upon General Gage, then in command at New York, for a detachment

of his majesty's troops to restore order at Wyoming. Gage refused

compliance, and the Pennsylvanians were obliged to rely upon their own

resources. It was autumn before another attempt was made against the

Yankees. Ogden, with only one hundred and forty men, marched by the

Lehigh route, to take the settlers by surprise. From the tops of the

mountains he saw the people at work in groups in their fields, and,

separating his force into parties equal in numbers to the unsuspecting

farmers below, they rushed down upon them, made several prisoners, and

sent them to Easton. Ogden lay concealed in the mountains, awaiting

another opportunity to assail the Yankees. The latter sent messengers to

solicit aid from their friends on the Delaware. These fell into Ogden's

hands, and, learning from them the exact position of Fort Durkee, he

made a night attack upon it. It was filled with women and children, and

the garrison, too weak to defend it, surrendered unconditionally. The

fort and the houses of the settlement were plundered, and many of the

principal inhabitants were sent prisoners to Easton and Philadelphia.

A small garrison was left by Ogden in Fort Durkee. The Yankees having

left the valley, they were not very vigilant. On the night of the 18th

of December, between twenty and thirty men, under Lazarus Stewart,

reached the fort by stealth, and captured it, shouting, "Huzza for King

George!" The Pennymites were now, in turn, driven from the valley.

Stewart held possession of the fort until the middle of January

following, when the sheriff of Northampton county, with a considerable

force, arrived before it. Captain Ogden and his brother Nathan

accompanied the expedition. A skirmish ensued at the fort, and Nathan

Ogden was killed. * Stewart perceived that he could not long hold out,

January 1771 on the night of the 20th withdrew from the valley, leaving

twelve men in the fort. These were made prisoners and sent to Easton,

and quiet again prevailed at Wyoming.

For six months the Pennymites were undisturbed in the possession of the

valley, and the number of the settlers of Ogden's party had increased to

about eighty. But their repose was suddenly broken by the descent from

the mountains, on the 6 th of July, of seventy armed men from

Connecticut, under Captain Zebulon Butler, and a party under Lazarus

Stewart, who had joined him. Ogden had built another and a stronger

fort, whieh he called Fort Wyoming. ** The invaders were almost daily

re-enforced, and commenced several military works with a view of

besieging Ogden and his party in the forts. The besieged were well

supplied with provisions, and, their works being strong, they defied the

assailants. Ogden, in the mean while, escaped from the fort by

stratagem, *** proceeded to Philadelphia, and succeeded in inducing the

acting governor (Hamilton) to send a detachment of one hundred men to

Wyoming. The expedition was unsuccessful. After prosecuting the siege

until the 11th of August, Captain Butler sent to the garrison a formal

summons to surrender. The gar-

* A settler named William Speddy was recognized as the man who

discharged the musket that killed Ogden, and in November he was tried

for murder, at the Supreme Court held in Philadelphia. He was acquitted.

** This fort stood upon the ground now occupied by the court-house in

Wilkesbarre. There was another fort on the bank of the river, a little

below the Phoenix Hotel. Traces of the ditches were visible when I

visited the spot in 1848.

*** Ogden prepared a light bundle that would float upon the water, on

which he fastened a hat. To this bundle he attached a cord several yards

in length, and, entering the river, swam past the sentinels, drawing the

bundle at the distance of the length of the cord behind him. The hat was

fired at several times, but Ogden escaped unhurt.

Close of the Civil War.--Organization of a Government--Effort to adjust

Difficulties.--"Lawyers and Bull-frogs."

347rison refused compliance. Butler had no ordnance, and a colonist

named Carey * made a cannon of a pepperidge log. At the second discharge

the cannon burst, but they had no further need of artillery, for the

garrison surrendered. On the 14th a detachment of sixty men from

Philadelphia, to re-enforce the garrison, had arrived within two miles

of the fort; but, hearing of the surrender, they retraced their steps.

Several persons were killed during the siege. By the terms of the

capitulation, Ogden and his party were all to leave the valley. Thus

closed the civil war in Wyoming for the year 1771, and the Yankees were

left in possession of their much-coveted domain.

The settlement now increased rapidly, and the Susquehanna Company

applied to the General Assembly of Connecticut to take them under its

protection until the decision asked of the king should be made. The

Assembly advised them to organize a government by themselves. Pursuant

to this advice, the inhabitants of Wyoming established a thoroughly

Democratic government. "They laid out townships," says Chapman, "founded

settlements, erected fortifications, levied and collected taxes, passed

laws for the direction of civil suits, and for the punishment of crimes

and misdemeanors, established a militia, and provided for the common

defense and general welfare of the colony." The supreme legislative

power was vested directly in the people, and exercised by themselves in

their primary meetings. A magistracy was appointed; courts were

instituted, having civil and criminal jurisdiction; and a high court of

appeals, called the Supreme Court, was established, composed, like their

Legislature, of the people themselves in primary assembly. The

government was well administered, the colony rapidly increased, the

people were happy, and for two years the smiles of peace and prosperity

gladdened the Valley of Wyoming.

During this season of repose the Assembly of Connecticut made an effort

to adjust all difficulties between the settlers and the government of

Pennsylvania. Richard Penn was then governor of that province, and would

enter into no negotiations on the subject. The Connecticut Assembly,

therefore, made out a case and sent it to England for adjudication. **

It was submitted to the ablest lawyers of the realm--Lord Thurlow,

Wedderburne, Richard Jackson, and John Dunning--and their decision was

in favor of the Susquehanna Company.

* Mr. Carey was a native of Dutchess county, New York, and went to

Wyoming with his sons in 1769. His brother, Samuel Carey, was a

distinguished Quaker preacher. His sons became permanent settlers in

Wyoming, and lived to a good old age.

** Colonel Eliphalet Dyer was sent to England as agent for the

Connecticut Assembly. He was one of the most eminent lawyers of that

province. His eloquence was of the most persuasive kind. In allusion to

this intellectual power, a wit wrote the following impromptu, while Dyer

was advocating the cause of the Susquehanna Company on the floor of the

Assembly chamber:

"Canaan of old, as we are told.

When it did rain down manna,

Wa'nt half so good, for heavenly food,

As Dyer makes Susquehanna."

** This is the same Dyer alluded to in the amusing doggerel entitled

"Lawyers and Bull-frogs," in which the people of Old Windham, in

Connecticut, were interested. The poem is printed in the Historical

Collections of Connecticut, page 448. The introduction avers that, after

a long drought, a frog-pond became almost dry, and a terrible battle was

fought one night by the frogs, to decide who should keep possession of

the remaining water. Many "thousands were found defunct in the morning."

There was an uncommon silence for hours before the battle commenced,

when, as if by a preconcerted agreement, every frog on one side of the

ditch raised the war-cry, Colonel Dyer! Colonel Dyer! and at the same

instant, from the opposite side, resounded the adverse shout of Elderkin

too! Elderkin too! Owing to some peculiarity in the state of the

atmosphere, the sounds seemed to be overhead, and the people of Windham

were greatly frightened. The poet says,

"This terrible night the parson did fright

His people almost in despair;

For poor Windham souls among the bean-poles

He made a most wonderful prayer.

Lawyer Lucifer called up his crew;

Dyer and Elderkin," you must come too:

Old Colonel Dyer you know well enough.

He had an old negro, his name was Cuff."

* Jedediah Elderkin accompanied Colonel Dyer to Philadelphia in 1769, in

behalf of the Susquehanna Company

Peace and Prosperity of Wyoming.--Renewal of Hostilities.--Action of

Congress.--Expedition of Plunkett

348The settlement was now taken under the protection of Connecticut, and

incorporated into that colony. The territory was erected into a

chartered town called Westmoreland, and attached to Litchfield county;

representatives from it were admitted to seats in the General Assembly,

and Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denison were commissioned justices of the

peace. Repose continued to reign in the valley, and unexampled

prosperity blessed the settlement. A town immediately adjoining Wyoming

Fort was planted by Colonel Durkee, and named Wilkesbarre; and the whole

valley became a charming picture of active life and social happiness.

The foot-prints of civil war were effaced, and the recollections of the

gloomy past were obliterated. A dream of happiness lulled the people

into the repose of absolute security. Isolated in the bosom of the

mountains, and far removed from the agitations which disturbed the

people upon the ocean coasts, they had heard little of the martial sound

of preparations for the hostilities then elaborating in the imperial and

colonial councils. They were enjoying, in full measure, the blessings of

virtuous democracy, and felt none of the oppressions of Great Britain,

then bearing with such heavy hand upon the commercial cities of America;

yet they warmly sympathized with their suffering brethren, and their

hearts and hands were open to the appeals of the patriots of the east.

Four years Wyoming enjoyed uninterrupted peace, when its repose was

suddenly broken by an attack upon a branch of the colony, located about

sixty miles below Wilkesbarre, by a body of Northumberland militia, who

were jealous of the increasing prosperity of the Yankees. On the 28th of

September, 1775, the unsuspecting inhabitants were suddenly assailed,

several of them were killed, and the residue were sent to Sunbury and

imprisoned. About the same time several boats from Wyoming, trading down

the river, were plundered by the Pennsylvanians. The Continental

Congress was then in session in Philadelphia, and the Connecticut people

of Wyoming, preferring peaceful measures to a renewal of the civil war,

petitioned that body for redress. Congress, "considering that the most

perfect union between the colonies was essentially necessary for the

preservation of the just rights of North America," adopted resolutions

urging the governments of Pennsylvania and Connecticut to "take the most

speedy and effectual steps to prevent hostilities" and to adjust

difficulties. * But the lawless invaders had not yet learned to respect

the voice of Congress. Its resolutions were unheeded, and the imprisoned

settlers were more rigidly confined, under the apprehension that the

exasperated people of Wyoming, now become numerous, might make a

retaliatory movement against Sunbury. A proposition was made to raise a

force, and march against Wyoming to subjugate it before the people could

organize a military government. Governor Penn favored the design, and

Colonel Plunkett, who was also a magistrate, was placed in command of

the expedition. He was ostensibly vested with civil powers, and his

December 20, 1775 force was called the posse of the county. Congress,

still in session in Philadelphia, passed a resolution urging the

immediate termination of all hostilities be-tween the parties. ** But

the Pennsylvanians paid no attention to the resolution, and Plunkett

advanced toward Wyoming. His progress was slow, for the river was much

obstructed by ice; and before he came to the Nanticoke Rapids, at the

south end of the valley, where he was obliged to leave his boats, the

people had made ample preparations to receive him. The military were

under the command of Colonel Zebulon Butler, and numbered about three

hundred effective men.

From the summit of a bold rock on the western side of the river, that

overhung the road along which Plunkett was marching, a volley of

musketry was discharged as he approached, and arrested his progress. By

means of a bateau, which he caused to be brought above the rapids by

land, his men attempted to cross the river, to march against Fort

Wyoming on the eastern side. They were assaulted by an ambuscade on

shore, and the whole invading force immediately retreated to their

provision boats, moored below the rapids, where a council of war was

held. This council wisely concluded that the chances of success were

few, and the expedition was abandoned.

* Journals of Congress, vol. i., p. 215.

** Ibid., p. 279.

The Colonies before the Revolution.--Exposed Position of Wyoming.--

Indian Outrage.--Indian Speech.

349The war of the Revolution had now fairly commenced. The proprietary

government of Pennsylvania was soon afterward virtually abolished, a

constituent assembly was organized (a) and the people and the

governments of both colonies had matters of much greater importance to

attend to than disputes about inconsiderable settlements. Henceforth the

history of Wyoming is identified with the general history of the Union.

I have glanced briefly at the most important events connected with its

early settlement, for they form an interesting episode in the general

history of our republic, and exhibit prominently those social and

political features which characterized the colonies when the war of

independence broke out. Separate provinces, communities, and families,

having distinct interests, and under no very powerful control from

without, had learned independence of thought and action, self-reliance,

patient endurance under the pressure of circumstances, and indomitable

courage in the maintenance of personal and political rights, from the

circumstances in which their relations to each other had placed them. It

was in schools like that of the Pennymite war, the resistance of the New

Hampshire Grants to the domination of New York, the opposition to the

Stamp Act and kindred measures, and the Regulator movement in the

Carolinas, that the people were tutored for the firm resistance which

they made to British oppressions during the seven years of our struggle

for political emancipation; and there is more of the true philosophy of

our great Revolution to be learned by studying antecedent, but relative

events, than in watching the progress of the war itself. We will now

turn to a consideration of the events which occurred in Wyoming during

our Revolution.

The defection of a large portion of the Six Nations, the coalition of

the Delawares and Shawnees with the friends of the king westward of the

Alleganies, and the menaces of the tribes bordering on Virginia, with

whom Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of that province, had long

tampered, seeking to bring their hatchets upon the frontier settlements

of that rebellious state, gave the Continental Congress much uneasiness

at the beginning of 1776. Thousands of mercenary Germans were preparing

to come like "destroying locusts upon the east wind the British

Parliament had voted fifty-five thousand men for the American service;

loyalty to the crown was rife throughout the land; and the dark cloud of

savages upon the western border of the colonies, smarting under the

wrongs inflicted by the white men for a century and a half, and without

any definite ideas of the nature of the quarrel in question, or means of

discriminating between the parties to the feud, were ready to raise the

war-cry, and satiate their appetites for vengeance, rapine, and blood.

Westmoreland, or Wyoming, was peculiarly exposed, lying upon the verge

of the Indian country, and to the people of its lovely valley the

conciliation of the Indians was a matter of vast importance. The council

of Onondaga, the chief head of the Six Nations, made professions of

peaceful intentions, but there was evident hypocrisy underlying the fair

appearance of the surface, and occasional outrages upon the remote

settlers had been committed without rebuke. On one occasion a man named

Wilson, living within the limits of Westmoreland, had been cruelly

treated by the Indians, and Colonel Zebulon Butler sent a messenger to

ascertain the true intentions of the savages. A chief called John

returned with the messenger, and, in a speech replete with Indian

eloquence, disclaimed, in behalf of the Six Nations, all thoughts of

hostility to the friends of Congress. The Rev. Mr. Johnson, the first

pastor in Wyoming, acted as interpreter. "We are sorry," said the chief,

"to have two brothers fighting with each other, and should be glad to

hear that the quarrel was peaceably settled. We choose not to interest

ourselves on either side. The quarrel appears to be unnecessary. We do

not well understand it. We are for peace." He continued:

"Brothers, when our young men come to hunt in your neighborhood, you

must not imagine they come to do mischief; they come to procure

themselves provisions, also skins to purchase them clothing.

"Brothers, we desire that Wyoming may be a place appointed where the

great men may meet, and have a fire, which shall ever after be called

Wyomick, where you shall judge best how to prevent any jealousies or

uneasy thoughts that may arise, and thereby preserve our friendship.

Colonel Butler deceived.--Strangers in Wyoming.--Suspicions of the

People.

350"Brothers, you see but one of our chiefs. You may be suspicious on

that account; but we assure you this chief speaks in the name of the Six

Nations. We are of one mind.

"Brothers, what we say is not from the lips, but from the heart. If any

Indians of little note should speak otherwise, you must pay no regard to

them, but observe what has been said and written by the chiefs, which

may be depended on.

"Brothers, we live at the head of these waters [Susquehanna]. Pay no

regard to any reports that may come up the stream or any other way, but

look to the head waters for truth; and we do now assure you, as long as

the waters run, so long you may depend on our friendship. We are all of

one mind, and we are all for peace."

This was the strong language of assurance, and Colonel Butler, confident

of its sincerity, wrote accordingly to Roger Sherman of the Connecticut

Assembly. He mentioned in his letter that the Indians wanted an

_American flag_ as a token of friendship; and the whole tone of his

communication evinced a belief in the professed attachment of the

savages to the republicans. But at that very time the Mohawks,

Onondagas, and Senecas were leaguing against the patriots; and already

Brant and five hundred warriors had struck a severe blow of hostility to

the republicans at the Cedars, on the St. Lawrence. The proposed council

fire at Wyoming was doubtless intended as a pretense for assembling a

large body of warriors in the heart of the settlement, to destroy it;

and the desire for an American flag was undoubtedly a wish to have it

for a decoy when occasion should call for its use. Events soon occurred

which confirmed these suspicions, and the people of Wyoming prepared for

defense against their two-fold enemy, the Indians and the Tories. *

When the war broke out, the Connecticut Assembly prevented further

immigration to Westmoreland. But people came there, from the Hudson and

the Mohawk Valleys, having no sympathy with either of the parties in the

"Pennymite war," and, as it appeared, no sympathy with the republicans.

Almost every original settler had espoused the cause of the Whigs; and

the open expression of hostility to Congress by these interlopers, the

most active of whom were the Wintermoots, Van Gorders, Van Alstyns, and

a few other families, excited the indignation of the Wyoming people. **

The recommendation of the Continental Congress, to organize committees

of vigilance in every town, had been promptly acted upon in Wyoming, and

these new comers, the avowed friends of the king, were soon subjected to

the severest scrutiny of the committee there. The people of Wyoming,

numbering nearly three thousand, and united in thought and action, were

pursuing peacefully their various occupations. The sudden influx of

strangers to them, not only in person but in political creed, justly

excited suspicions that they were a colony of vipers, come to nestle

among them for the purpose of disseminating the poison of Toryism.

Influenced by these fears, several of the most suspicious of the

interlopers were arrested and sent to Connecticut. This was an unwise

act, although perhaps justifiable, and was one cause of subsequent

disasters.

In the mean while two companies of regular troops, of eighty-two men

each, had been raised in the valley, under a resolution of Congress,

commanded by Captains Ransom and

* On the 10th of March, 1777, the following resolutions were adopted at

a town meeting held at Wilkes-barre: "Voted, That the first man that

shall make fifty weight of good saltpetre in this town shall be entitled

to a bounty of ten pounds lawful money, to be paid out of the town

treasury." "Voted, That the select-men be directed to dispose of the

grain now in the hands of the treasurer or collector in such a way as to

obtain powder and lead to the value of forty pounds lawful money, if

they can do the same." It was also subsequently voted to empower a

committee of inspectors "to supply the soldiers' wives and the soldiers'

widows with the necessaries of life." This was a noble resolution.

** Mr. Miner, in a letter to the late William L. Stone, mentions the

fact that among the papers of Colonel Zebulon Butler he found a list of

Tories who joined the Indians. The list contained sixty-one names, of

which only three were those of New England men. Most of them were

transient persons, who had gone to Wyoming as hunters and trappers. Six

of them were of one family (the Wintermoots), from Minisink. Nine were

from the Mohawk Valley, doubtless in the interest of the Johnsons, four

from Kinderhook, and six from West Chester, New York. There were not ten

Tory families who had resided two years in Wyoming.--See Stone's History

of Wyoming, p. 181.

The Wintcrmoots.--Erection of a Fort--Counteraction of the old

Settlers.--Affair on the Millstone River.

351Durkee, and were attached to the Connecticut line. * The Wintcrmoots,

who had purchased land toward the head of the valley, and upon the old

banks of the Susquehanna, ** at a place where bubbled forth a large and

living spring of pure water, erected a strong fortification known as

Wintermoot's Fort. The town meeting alluded to, suspicious of the design

of the Wintermoots, who had hitherto acted so discreetly that a charge

of actual hostility to Congress could not properly be made against them,

thought it best to counteract their apparent belligerence, and resolved

that it had "become necessary for the inhabitants of the town to erect

suitable forts as a defense against the common enemy."

August 24, 1776 A fort was accordingly built, about two miles above

Wintermoot's, under the supervision of the families of Jenkins and

Harding, and called Fort Jenkins.' Forty Fort (so called from the first

forty Yankees, the pioneers of the Susquehanna settlers in Wyoming),

then little more than a weak block-house, was strengthened and enlarged,

and sites for other forts were fixed on, at Pittstown, Wilkesbarre, and

Hanover. It was agreed in town meeting that these several fortifications

should be built by the people, "without either fee or reward from the

town."

As we have observed in a former chapter, the tribes of the Six Nations

which had receded from their solemn agreement of neutrality were not

brought actively into the service of the king until the summer of 1777.

It was then that the people of Wyoming perceived, and fully appreciated,

the perils attendant upon their isolation, and the attention of the

Continental Congress was often called to their exposed situation. While

St. Leger was investing Fort Stanwix, some straggling parties of savages

hung about and menaced Wyoming; but, after the siege was raised, the

people were not disturbed again during the remainder of the year and the

following spring. But early in the summer of 1778 the movements of Brant

and his warriors, and the Johnsons and Butlers and their Tory legions,

upon the upper waters of the Susquehanna, together with the actions of

the Tories in the Valley of Wyoming, who were greatly exasperated on

account of the harsh treatment of some of their number by the

* These two companies served with distinction at the skirmish on

Millstone River, in New Jersey, on the 20th of January, 1777. This

occurred while the main army of the Americans were suffering from the

smallpox at Morristown. A line of forts had been established along the

Millstone River, in the direction of Princeton. One of these, at

Somerset Court-house, was occupied by General Dickinson with these two

regular companies and about three hundred militia. A mill on the

opposite bank of the stream contained considerable flour. Cornwallis,

then lying at New Brunswick, dispatched a foraging party to capture it.

The party consisted of about four hundred men, with more than forty

wagons. The British arrived at the mill early in the morning, and,

having loaded their wagons with flour, were about to return, when

General Dickinson, leading a portion of his force through the river,

middle deep, attacked them with so much spirit, that they fled in haste,

leaving the whole of their plunder, with their wagons, behind them.

** Along the western side of the Susquehanna, a largo part of the way

from the head of the valley to the village of Kingston, opposite

Wilkesbarre, are traces of a more ancient shore than the present, when

the river was broader and perhaps deeper than now. The plain extending

from the ancient shore to the foot of the mountain is a uniform level,

several feet above the alluvial bottom between it and the present bank

of the river.

*** There was another fort, called Fort Jenkins, upon the Susquehanna,

about half way between Wilkesbarre and Fort Augusta, or Sunbury. The

fort in question was about eight miles above Wilkesbarre.

**** This view is from the ancient bed of the Susquehanna, looking west.

The building, formerly the property of Colonel Jenkins, and now owned by

Mr. David Goodwin, is upon the site of old Fort Wintermoot, which was

destroyed at the time of the invasion in 1778. It is upon the ancient

bank of the river, here from fifteen to twenty feet high, and about

sixty rods from the stream in its present channel.

Alarm in Wyoming.--Condition of the Settlement.--Apathy of Congress.--

Patriotism of Wyoming Women.

352Whigs, greatly alarmed the people. Several of the Loyalists had left

and joined the forces under Colonel John Butler, and the people very

properly apprehended their return with power sufficient to satisfy their

manifest spirit of vengeance. Early in May the savages had committed

many robberies, and in June some murders, in the neighborhood of Tioga,

and other points on the upper borders of Westmoreland. The Indians were

in considerable force at Conewawah (now Elmira, in Chemung county, New

York), and were in constant communication with the Tory settlers, by

runners, at Wyalusing and in the neighborhood of Tunkhannoek, within the

precincts of Westmoreland. These circumstances were alarming; yet the

exposed territory, cut off as it was from immediate aid, if demanded,

was weakened by drafts upon its able-bodied men for the Continental

army, and demands upon its local treasury for the use of the Connecticut

Assembly. Mr. Miner has given, in a spirited historic "pen-and-ink

sketch," a picture of the condition of Wyoming at the close of 1777, and

at the opening of the active operations the following year. He says,

"Nearly all their able-bodied men were away in the service. The

remaining population, in dread of the savages, were building six forts

or stockades, requiring great labor, 'without fee or reward.' All the

aged men out of the train bands, exempt by law from duty, were formed

into companies to garrison the forts, one of the captains being also

chief physician to the people and surgeon to the military. Of the

militia the whole were in constant requisition, to go on the scout and

guard against surprise. The small-pox pestilence was in every district.

A tax to go to Hartford was levied in the assessment of the year, of two

thousand pounds," * not in Continental bills of credit at their nominal

value, but "lawful money of the state of Connecticut."

Such was the condition of Wyoming when, in June, 1778, an expedition of

Tories and Indians was prepared to fall upon the defenseless

inhabitants. Congress was apprised of the dark design. The officers and

men in the army, from Wyoming, pleaded for their wives and little ones.

General Schuyler wrote a touching letter to Congress on the subject; yet

that body, always tardy in its movements, and at that time too much

employed in sectional disputes and factious intrigues, left the

settlement uncared for, and apparently unnoticed, except by the

resolutions to permit the people to take measures for self-defense by

raising troops among themselves, and finding "their own arms, and

accouterments, and blankets." ** The heads of the families there exposed

were cruelly detained in the ranks of the Continental army elsewhere,

and thus, naked and helpless, the settlement presented an easy prey to

the vultures that scented them from Niagara, and whose companions were

then glutting their appetites in the Mohawk and Schoharie settlements.

A force, consisting of the Tory Rangers of Colonel John Butler, a

detachment of Johnson's Royal Greens, and from five to seven hundred

Indians, under the general command of Butler, and numbering in all about

eleven hundred men, crossed the Genesee country from Niagara, and

appeared at Tioga Point, in June, whence they embarked in canoes, and

landed

* History of Wyoming, page 207. Mr. Miner mentions an instance of the

patriotism of the women of Wyoming, and the draft which the people made,

under the pressure of circumstances, upon their undeveloped resources.

Gunpowder was very scarce at the time when the settlement was menaced by

the enemy. The husbands, fathers, and brothers were away in the

Continental ranks, and the females plowed, sowed, and reaped. Nor was

this all: they manufactured gunpowder for the feeble garrisons in the

forts. "They took up the floors of their houses, dug out the earth, put

it in casks, and ran water through it, as ashes are leached. They then

took ashes in another cask, and made ley, mixed the water from the earth

with weak ley, boiled it, and set it to cool, and the saltpetre rose to

the top. Charcoal and sulphur were then used, the mixture was pounded in

an implement brought to the valley by Mr. Hollenbaek, and thus powder

was produced for the public defense."--Page 212.

** See resolution of March 16th, 1778, in the Journals of Congress, vol.

iv., p. 113. This resolution authorized the raising of "one full company

of foot in the town of Westmoreland." Nothing further was done by

Congress in behalf of the people there until the 23d of June following,

when a resolution was passed to write to the two independent companies

under Durkee and Ransom, then greatly reduced by battle and sickness,

and permit them to return home for the defense of the settlement.

Congress also resolved to pay the officers and soldiers of the companies

authorized to be raised by the resolution of the 16th of March

preceding, for their arms and accouterments. The sum of $1440 was

granted to the Board of War, to be issued to Colonel Denison. The

Continental paper dollars were then rapidly depreciating, four of them

being at that time worth only one in specie.

Approach of Indians and Tories.--Preparations for Defense.--Council of

War.--Position of the Wyoming Forts

353near the mouth of Bowman's Creek, on the west side of the river,

about twenty miles above Wyoming. They entered the valley through a

notch from the west, not far from the famous Dial Rock, * and attacked

the people near Fort Jenkins, three of whom were killed. ** Butler then

made his head-quarters at Wintermoot's Fort, whence he sent out scouts

and July 2, 1778 foraging parties.

Virtually abandoned by Congress, the people had made all the

preparations in their power to meet the invaders, of whose approach they

had been informed. A company of forty of fifty regulars (so called only

because the raising of the company was authorized by Congress), and a

few militia, under the general command of Captain Hewett, then

recruiting in the valley, composed the military force to oppose the

enemy. Grandfathers and their aged sons, boys, and even women, seized

such weapons as were at hand. Colonel Zebulon Butler, then an officer in

the Continental army, happening to be at home when the enemy entered the

valley, was, by common consent, made commander-in-chief.

Forty Fort was made the place of general military rendezvous, and

thither the women and children of the valley fled for safety. Aged men

garrisoned some of the smaller forts. There were fearful odds, and no

alternative was left but to fight or submit to the tender mercies of the

Indians and the more savage Tories. "Retirement or flight was alike

impossible, and there was no security but in victory unequal as was the

conflict, therefore, and hopeless as it seemed in the eye of prudence,

the young and athletic men fit to bear arms, and enlisted for their

special defense, being absent with the main army, the inhabitants,

looking to their dependent wives, mothers, sisters, and little ones,

took counsel of their courage, and resolved to give the enemy battle."

***

On the morning of the 3d of July a council of war was held in Forty

Fort, to determine what action was proper. Some, among whom were

Colonels Butler and Denison and Lieutenant-colonel Dorrance, were in

favor of a delay, hoping that a re-enforcement from General Washington's

camp, then near New Brunswick, in New Jersey might reach them in time,

or that Captain Spalding, who was on the march for the valley with his

company, might arrive. Others, having little hope of succor, were

anxious to meet the enemy at once. While the debates were going on, five

commissioned officers from the army arrived at Forty Fort. Hearing of

the anticipated in-

* Dial Rock, or Campbell's Rock, as it is sometimes called, is a high

bluff at the junction of the Susquehanna and Lackawana Rivers. Its name

is derived from the circumstance that the rays of the sun first strike

its western face at meridian, and the farmers in the valley have always

an unerring indicator of noontide on clear days.

** The victims were all scalped. The bodies were interred by their

friends, and over the graves of two of the Harding family, who were

killed, a stone was raised, many years afterward, on which is the

following inscription: "Sweet is the sleep of those who prefer death to

slavery."

*** Wyoming Memorial to the Legislature of Connecticut.

**** Explanation of the Plan.--The several divisions, Hanover,

Wilkcsbarre, Kingstown, Sec., mark the districts into which the town of

Westmoreland was divided; in military language, the different beats. It

marks the site of Fort Durkee; B, Wyoming or Wilkcsbarre Fort; C, Fort

Ogden; D, village of Kingston; E, Forty Fort. [This in the early

histories of the Revolution is called Kingston Fort.] F, the

battleground; G, Wintermoot's Fort; H, Fort Jenkins; 7, Monocasy Island;

7, the three Pittstown stockades. The dot below the G marks the place of

Queen Esther's Rock. The village of Troy is upon the battleground, and

that of Wilkesbarre, upon the site of Wilkcsbarre Fort and its ravelins.

The distances of the several points from the present bridge at

'Wilkcsbarre are as follows: Fort Durke, half a mile below, on the left

bank. Fort Ogden, three and a half miles above, and the Pittstown

stockades, about eight miles, on the same side. Forty Fort, three and a

half miles; the Monument, on the battle-ground, five and a half; Queen

Esther's Rock, six and a half; Wintermoot's Fort and Fort Jenkins, eight

miles above, on the west or right bank of the river. Kingston is

directly opposite Wilkcsbarre, half a mile westward.

Decision of the Wyoming People.--Preparations for Battle.--Forces of the

Enemy.--Campbell's Injustice toward Brant

354vasion, they had obtained permission to return home to protect their

families. Already Fort Jenkins had been captured, four of the garrison

slain, and three made prisoners, and the other stockade would doubtless

share the same fate. Already a demand for the surrender of Forty Fort

and the valley had been made by Colonel John Butler, and the tomahawks

of the Indians were lifted above the heads of those families who had not

succeeded in reaching the fort. Upon prompt action appeared to depend

their salvation; and, influenced by the pleadings of the only hope of

safety left--victory in battle--the majority decided to march at once

against the invaders. The decision was rash, and the minority yielded

with much reluctance.

About one o'clock in the afternoon the little army, consisting of about

three hundred vigorous men, old men, and boys, divided into six

companies and marched from the fort, leaving the women in the most

painful anxiety. They were joined by the justices of the court and other

civil officers, and marched up the river to Wintermoot's Fort, intending

to surprise the enemy, but Colonel John Butler was too vigilant to be

caught napping. He had news of their approach, and sent for the party

then demolishing Fort Jenkins to join him immediately. When the patriots

approached, the enemy was prepared to meet them. Colonel John Butler and

his Hangers occupied the left, which rested upon the river bank near

Wintermoots; and the right, extending into a marsh at the foot of the

mountains on the western verge of the plain, was composed principally of

Indians and Tories, under a celebrated Seneca chief named Gi-en-gwa-tah,

which signifies _He who goes in the smoke._ * John

* Until the late Mr. Stone made his researches for materials for his

interesting biography of Joseph Brant, or Thayendanegea, it was believed

that Brant and his Mohawk warriors were engaged in the invasion of

Wyoming. Gordon, Ramsay, Thacher, Marshall, and Allen assert that he and

John Butler were joint commanders on that occasion, and upon his memory

rested the foul imputation of being a participant in the horrid

transactions in Wyoming. Misled by history, Campbell, in his Gertrude of

Wyoming, makes the Oneida say,

"This is no time to fill the joyous cup; The mammoth comes--the foe--the

monster Brant, With all his howling, desolating band."

And again:

"Scorning to wield the hatchet for his tribe, 'Gainst Brant himself I

went to battle forth, Accursed Brant I he left of all my tribe Nor man,

nor child, nor thing of living birth. No I not the dog that watched my

household hearth Escaped that night of blood upon the plains. All

perish'd! I alone am left on earth! To whom nor relative nor blood

remains--No, not a kindred drop that runs in human veins."

* Brant always denied any participation in the invasion, but the

evidence of history was against him, and the verdict of the world was,

that he was the chief actor in the tragedy. From this aspersion Mr.

Stone vindicated his character in his Life of Brant. A reviewer,

understood to be Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, disputed the point,

and maintained that Stone had not made out a clear case for the sachem.

Unwilling to remain deceived, if he was so, Mr. Stone made a journey to

the Seneca country, where he found several surviving warriors who were

engaged in that campaign. The celebrated Seneca chief Kaoundoowand,

better known as Captain Pollard, who was a young chief in the battle,

gave Mr. Stone a clear account of the events, and was positive in his

declarations that Brant and the Mohawks were not engaged in that

campaign. The Indians were principally Senecas, and were led by Gi-en-

gwa-tah, as mentioned in the text. John Brant, a son of the Mohawk

sachem, while in England in 1823, on a mission in behalf of his nation,

opened a correspondence with Mr. Campbell on the subject of the

injustice which the latter had done the chief in his Gertrude of

Wyoming. The result was a partial acknowledgment of his error by the

poet, in the next edition of the poem that was printed. He did not

change a word of the poem, but referred to the use of Brant's name

there, in a note, in which he says, "His son referred to documents which

completely satisfied me that the common accounts of Brant's cruelties at

Wyoming, which I had found in books of travels, and in Adolphus's and

other similar histories of England, were gross errors.... The name of

Brant, therefore, remains in my poem a pure and declared character of

fiction." This was well enough as far as it went; but an omission, after

such a conviction of error, to blot out the name entirely from the poem,

was unworthy of the character of an honest man; and the stain upon the

poet's name will remain as long as the libel upon a humane warrior shall

endure in the epic.

Disposition of the Belligerents for Battle.--Speech of Colonel Zebulon

Butler.--The Attack.--Colonel Zebulon Butler.

355son's Greens, under Captain Caldwell, * formed on Butler's right, and

Indian marksmen were placed at intervals along the line. Colonel Zebulon

Butler commanded the right of the Americans, aided by Major Garratt. The

left was commanded by Colonel Denison, of the Wyoming militia, assisted

by Lieutenant-colonel Dorrance. The battle-ground was a level plain,

partly cleared and cultivated, and partly covered by shrub oaks and

yellow pines

As the Americans approached the lines of the enemy, they perceived

Wintermoot's Fort, in flames, fired, no doubt, to prevent its falling

into the hands of the patriots, an event that seemed quite probable to

the Tory leader, who was ignorant of the exact number of men marching

against him. Captains Durkee and Ransom, and Lieutenants Ross and Wells,

were sent forward to reconnoiter and select the position for battle. The

Wyoming companies approached separately, and as they were wheeled into

line, Colonel Zebulon Butler thus addressed them: "Men, yonder is the

enemy. The fate of the Hardings tells us what we have to expect if

defeated. We come out to fight, not only for liberty, but for life

itself, and, what is dearer, to preserve our homes from conflagration,

our women and children from the tomahawk. Stand firm the first shock,

and the Indians will give way. Every man to his duty." **

At the conclusion of Colonel Butler's short address, the Americans

opened the battle on the enemy's left. It was about four o'clock, the

sky cloudless, and the heat quite oppressive. The Americans were ordered

to advance a step at each fire. Soon the battle became general, and the

British left, where Colonel John Butler, stripped of his feathers and

other trap-

* It is uncertain whether either of the Johnsons was in this campaign..

As they do not appear in any official connection, it is probable they

were not.

** Zebulon Butler was one of the early settlers in the Wyoming Valley.

He was a native of Lyme, New London county, Connecticut, and was born in

1731. On the breaking out of the French and Indian war lie entered the

array as an ensign. He was at Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and other places

in Northern New York. He was also in the memorable expedition to Havana

during that war, and rose to the rank of captain. He left the service at

the peace in 1763. In 1769 he emigrated to Wyoming, and became one of

the leading men in that settlement. Before he left Connecticut he was

strongly imbued with feelings of hostility to the mother country, which

the agitations of the Stamp Act had engendered, and when the Revolution

broke out he was found an active patriot. He was appointed colonel in

1778. He accompanied Sullivan in his memorable Indian expedition in

1779, and served with distinction throughout the war. In 1787 he was

made lieutenant of the new county of Luzerne, which office he held until

its abrogation by the new Constitution in 1790. He died on the 28th of

July, 1795, at his residence, about a mile and a half above Wilkesbarre,

and his remains were buried in the grave-yard at the borough. "Among

other marks of respect to his memory," says Mr. Minor, "a monody of a

dozen verses was written, one of which was inscribed on his tombstone:

"Distinguished by his usefulness. At home and when abroad, At court, in

camp, and in recess, Protected still by God."

** Colonel Butler was thrice married. His first wife was Ellen Lord; his

second, the daughter of the Rev Mr. Johnson, of Wyoming (the Indian

interpreter already mentioned); and the third was Miss Phobe Haight,

whom he married while he was on duty at West Point, near the close of

the war. Colonel Butler was a well-educated and intelligent man, as his

letters show.

** An autograph letter to General Washington, kindly given me by his

grandson, the Hon. Chester Butler, of Wilkesbarre, from which this

facsimile of his signature is copied, is a good specimen, not only of

the chirography, but of the perspicuity, terseness, and comprehensive

style that characterized the military dispatches of the Revolutionary

officers. He was one of those reliable men whom Washington cherished in

memory, and after the war he received tokens of the chief's regard.

Activity, energy, and a high sense of honor were the distinguishing

'rails of Colonel Butler's character. He was not a relative of the Tory

John Butler, as some have asserted.

Battle of Wyoming.--Denison's Order mistaken.--Retreat of the

Americans.--Scene at Monocasy Island.

356pings, appeared, with a handkerchief tied round his head, earnestly

cheering his men, began to give way. But a flanking party of Indians,

which covered that wing of the enemy, and was concealed under some

bushes upon the ancient river bank, kept up a galling fire. Captain

Durkee was slain by one of their shots. * In the mean time the Indian

sharp-shooters along the line kept up a horrid yell, the sound of which

reached the ears of the women and children at the fort: For half an hour

the battle was waged with unceasing energy on both sides, but the vastly

superior numbers of the enemy began to manifest its advantage. The

Indians on the American left, sheltered and half concealed by the swamp,

succeeded in outflanking Colonel Denison, and fell with terrible force

upon his rear. He was thus exposed to the cross fire of the Tories and

Indians. Perceiving this, he ordered his men to fall back in order to

change his position. The order was mistaken for one to _retreat_. That

word was uttered with fatal distinctness along the line, and his whole

division fled in confusion at the moment when the British left was

giving way.

A few minutes more of firm resistance might have given victory to the

republicans. The American Colonel Butler and Colonel Dorrance used every

exertion to rally the fugitives and retrieve the loss, but in vain.

Colonel Butler, seemingly unconscious of danger, rode along the lines

exposed to the fire of the contending parties, beseeching his troops to

remain firm. "Don't leave me, my children," he exclaimed, "and the

victory is ours!" But it was too late; the Indians leaped forward like

wounded tigers. Every American captain that led a company into action

was slain at the head of his men. Longer resistance was vain, and the

whole American line, broken, shattered, and dispersed, fled in

confusion, some in the direction of Forty Fort, and others toward

Monocasy Island, nearly a mile distant, and the only point on the river

that promised them an opportunity to escape. The scene that ensued was

terrible indeed. A portion of the flanking party of Indians rushed

forward to cut off the retreat to Forty Fort, while the rest of the

invaders, following the main portion of the army, who fled through the

fields of grain toward Monocasy Island, slaughtered them by scores. Many

who could not swim, and hesitated upon the brink of the river, were shot

down; and others, who hid themselves in bushes upon the shore, were

dragged out and shot or tomahawked, regardless of their cry for quarter.

Many swam to Monocasy Island, whither their pursuers followed and hunted

them like deers in cover. Others were shot while swimming; and some, who

were lured back to the shore by promises of quarter, were butchered.

Only a few escaped to the eastern side of the river and fled in safety

to the mountains. **

* Captain Robert Durkee was a younger brother of Colonel John Durkee.

When the Valley was menaced, and he was refused permission to return

home, he resigned his commission in the army, and hastened to the

defense of his family. He was a volunteer in the battle where he lost

his life.

** This view is from the left or eastern bank of the Susquehanna,

opposite the center of Monocasy Island, looking up the river. Toward the

foreground, on the right of the picture, a little beyond the bar-post,

is seen a ravine, through which the fugitives who crossed the river in

safety made their way. On the left are seen the upper end of Monocasy,

and a sand-bar which divides the waters of the river. The distant hills

on the left are those which bound the western side of the valley. From

the head of Monocasy Island, across the sand-bar, the river is often

fordable in summer to the eastern side.

*** It would be neither pleasant nor profitable to relate the many

instances of suffering on that occasion. All the horrors of war,

although on a small scale, were exhibited on that memorable day; and

were the particulars chronicled, the most rapacious gourmand of horrors

might be surfeited. I will mention one or two circumstances, which

sufficiently exhibit the bestiality of human character developed by

civil war, destroying or stifling every feeling of consanguineous

affection or neighborly regard. One of the fugitives, named Pensil, hid

himself among the willows upon Monocasy Island. His Tory brother, who

had joined in the pursuit, found him there concealed, and recognized

him. The fugitive cast himself at his brother's feet and begged his

life, promising to serve him till death if he would spare him. But the

brother was changed to a demon. "Mighty well, you damned rebel!" he

tauntingly replied, and instantly shot him dead! The Oneida savage

mentioned in a previous chapter refused to imbrue his hands in his

brother's blood. The worst passions raged with wild and desolating fury.

All the sweet charities of life seemed extinguished. Lieutenant

Shoemaker, one of the most generous and benevolent of men, whose wealth

enabled him to dispense charity and do good, which was a delight to him,

fled to the river, when Windecker, a man who had often fed at his board

and drunk of his cup, came to the brink. "Come out, come out," he said;

"you know I will protect you." How could Shoemaker doubt it? Windecker

reached out his left hand as if to lead him, much exhausted, ashore, and

dashed his tomahawk into the head of his benefactor, who fell back and

floated away.--See Miner, p. 225.

Escape of Colonels Butler and Denison.--Cruelties of the Indians.--Scene

at "Queen Esthers's Rock."--Queen Esther.

357Colonel Zebulon Butler escaped to Wilkesbarre Fort and Colonel

Denison to Forty Fort, where the latter mustered the few soldiers that

came in, placed sentinels, and prepared for a defense of the women and

children collected there.

Darkness put an end to the pursuit, but not to the horrors. It was a

dreadful night for Wyoming, for the enemy, elated by victory, held their

fearful orgies upon the battle-field.

"Whoop after whoop with rack the car assail'd,

As if unearthly fiends had hurst their bar;

While rapidly the marksman's shot prevail'd,

And aye, as if for death, some lonely trumpet wail'd.'' *

Many prisoners suffered the martyrdom of savage torture, while some of

their friends on the opposite shore, near Pittston, powerless to help

them, observed the dreadful proceedings by the light of the fires.

Captain Bidlack was thrown, alive, upon the burning timbers of

Wintermoot's Fort, where he was held down with pitchforks until he

expired! Prisoners were arranged in circles around large stones, and,

while strong Indians held them, they were dispatched with a tomahawk.

One of these stones, called Queen Esther's Rock, is pointed out to the

curious. It is upon the old river bank, about forty rods east of the

main road, three miles above Forty Fort, and near the house that

belonged to a Mr. Gay. Around it sixteen prisoners were arranged in a

circle, and each was held by a savage. A half-breed Indian woman, called

Queen Esther, *** assumed the office of executioner, and, using a maul

and tomahawk alternately as she passed around the

* Gertrude of Wyoming.

** This view is near the ancient river bank, looking westward. The rock

is a sort of conglomerate, a large proportion of which is quartz. Some

of it is of a reddish color, which the credulous believe to bo stains of

blood still remaining. The rock projects only about eighteen inches

above the ground, and its size is denoted by the figure standing beside

it. In the distance, on the left, is seen the monument which has been

erected to the memory of those who fell on the occasion. This scene

includes a portion of the battle-ground. The little village of Troy also

occupies a part of the field of conflict.

*** Queen Esther, as she was called, was the celebrated Catharine

Montour, whose residence was at Catharinestown, near the head of Seneca

Lake, in New York. The town was named after her, and was the first of

the Indian villages destroyed by Sullivan in 1779, after the battle of

Chemung. She was a native of Canada, and her father was one of the

French governors, probably Frontenac. She was made a captive during the

wars between the Hurons and French and the Six Nations, and was carried

into the Seneca country, where she married a young chief who was

signalled in the wars against the Catawbas. He fell in battle, about the

year 1730. Catharine had several children by him, and remained a widow.

Her superior mind gave her great ascendency over the Senecas, and she

was a queen indeed among them. She accompanied the delegates of the Six

Nations to Philadelphia on several occasions, where her refinement of

manners and attractive person made her an object of much regard, and she

was greatly caressed by the ladies of that city. From the circumstance

of her refinement of manners, Mr. Stone argues that she could not have

been guilty of the atrocities at Wyoming which history has attributed to

her. But Mr. Miner, whose means for correct information on points

connected with the history of Wyoming were much superior to those of Mr.

Stone, clearly fixes the guilt upon her. She was well known to Colonel

Denison and Colonel Franklin, and they both explicitly charge her with

the deed. Two of her sons accompanied her in the expedition, and it is

said that her fury on the occasion was excited by the death of one of

them, in the fight that occurred near Fort Jenkins on the 2d of July,

the day before the battle of Wyoming. She must have been then nearly

eighty years of age. One of General Sullivan's men, in his journal,

cited by Minor, speaks of reaching "Queen Esther's plantation"

[Sheshequin], where she "dwelt in retirement and sullen majesty. The

ruins of her palace," he said, "are still to be seen. In what we

supposed to be the chapel we found an idol, which might well be

worshiped without violating the third commandment on account of its

likeness to any thing in heaven or on earth. About sunrise the general

gave orders for Catharinestown to be illuminated, and accordingly we had

a glorious bonfire of upward of thirty buildings." One of the sons of

Kate Montour, as she was familiarly called, was with Walter Butler at

Cherry Valley, and with his own hands captured Mr. Cannon, the father of

Mrs. Campbell, mentioned in our account of the invasion of that

settlement. The old man's life was spared, and he was taken to Niagara.

Kate Montour was there, and "was greatly enraged," says Stone, "because

her son had not killed him outright." This "exhibition of a savage

temper" is in accordance with her acts at Bloody Rock.

Cruelties of Queen Esther.--Scenes at Forty Fort.--Negotiations for a

Surrender.--Escape of Colonel Zebulon Butler.

358singing the death-song, deliberately murdered the prisoners in

consecutive order as they were arranged. The time was midnight, and, the

scene being lighted up by a large fire burning near, she appeared like a

very fury from Pandemonium while performing her bloody work. With the

death of each victim her fury increased, and her song rose clearer and

louder upon the midnight air. Two of the prisoners (Lebbeus Hammond and

Joseph Elliot), seeing there was no hope, shook off the Indians who held

them, and, with a desperate spring, fled to a thicket, amid the rifle-

balls and tomahawks that were sent after them, and escaped. Similar

scenes were enacted on other portions of the battle-field on that

dreadful night, but we will draw a vail before the revolting picture,

and view occurrences at Forty Fort, where the hopes of the settlement

were now centered.