The following account of the battle and massacre is taken from an
interesting history of Wyoming, written by Isaac Chapman, Esq., late of
Wilkesbarre. Judge Chapman lived upon the spot, and could hardly fail to
have collected ample materials, and to give a correct narrative of the
events which transpired there during the Revolutionary war. The
inhabitants had collected in Forty Fort--the principal fort in the valley.
The number of men was three hundred and sixty-eight.
On the morning of the 3d of July, 1778, the officers of the garrison of
Forty Fort held a council to determine on the propriety of marching from
the fort, and attacking the enemy wherever found. The debates in this
council of war are said to have been conducted with much warmth and
animation. The ultimate determination was one on which depended the lives
of the garrison and safety of the settlement. On one side it was contended
that their enemies were daily increasing in numbers; that they would
plunder the settlement of all kinds of property, and would accumulate the
means of carrying on the war, while they themselves would become weaker;
that the harvest would soon be ripe, and would be gathered or destroyed by
their enemies, and all their means of sustenance during the succeeding
winter would fail; that probably all their messengers were killed, and as
there had been more than sufficient time, and no assistance arrived, they
would probably receive none, and consequently now was the proper time to
make an attack.
On the other side it was argued, that probably some or all the messengers
may have arrived at head-quarters, but that the absence of the
commander-in-chief may have produced delay; that one or two weeks more may
bring the desired assistance, and that to attack the enemy, superior as
they were in number, out of the limits of their own fort, would produce
almost certain destruction to the settlements and themselves, and
captivity, and slavery, perhaps torture, to their wives and children.
[Illustration: THE MASSACRE OF WYOMING.]
While these debates were progressing, five men belonging to Wyoming, but
who at that time held commissions in the continental army, arrived at the
fort; they had received information that a force from Niagara had marched
to destroy the settlements on the Susquehanna, and being unable to bring
with them any reinforcement, they resigned their appointments, and
hastened immediately to the protection of their families. They had heard
nothing of the messengers, neither could they give any certain information
as to the probability of relief.
The prospect of receiving assistance became now extremely uncertain. The
advocates for the attack prevailed in the council, and at dawn of day, on
the morning of the 3d of July, the garrison left the fort, and began their
march up the river, under the command of Colonel Zebulon Butler. Having
proceeded about two miles, the troops halted for the purpose of detaching
a reconnoitering party, to ascertain the situation of the enemy.
The scout found the enemy in possession of Fort Wintermoot, and occupying
huts immediately around it, carousing in supposed security; but on their
return to the advancing column, they met two strolling Indians, by whom
they were fired upon, and upon whom they immediately returned the fire
without effect. The settlers hastened their march for the attack, but the
Indians had given the alarm, and the advancing troops found the enemy
already formed in order of battle a small distance from their fort, with
their right flank covered by a swamp, and their left resting upon the bank
of a river. The settlers immediately displayed their column and formed in
corresponding order, but as the enemy was much superior in numbers, their
line was much more extensive. Pine woods and bushes covered the
battle-ground, in consequence of which, the movements of the troops could
not be so quickly discovered, nor so well ascertained. Colonel Zebulon
Butler had command of the right, and was opposed by Colonel John Butler at
the head of the British troops on the left, Colonel Nathan Denison
commanded the left, opposed by Brant at the head of his Indians on the
enemy's right. The battle commenced at about forty rods distant, and
continued about fifteen minutes through the woods and brush without much
execution. At this time, Brant with his Indians having penetrated the
swamp, turned the left flank of the settler's line, and with a terrible
war-whoop and savage yell, made a desperate charge upon the troops
composing that wing, which fell very fast, and were immediately cut to
pieces with the tomahawk. Colonel Denison having ascertained that the
savages were gaining the rear of the left, gave orders for that wing _to
fall back_. At the same time, Colonel John Butler, finding that the line
of settlers did not extend so far towards the river as his own, doubled
that end of his line which was protected by a thick growth of brushwood,
and having brought a party of his British regulars to act in column upon
that wing, threw Colonel Zebulon Butler's into some confusion. The orders
of Colonel Denison for his troops to fall back, having been understood by
many to mean a retreat, the troops began to retire in much disorder. The
savages considered this a flight, and commencing a most hideous yell,
rushed forward with their rifles and tomahawks, and cut the retiring line
to pieces. In this situation it was found impossible to rally and form the
troops, and the rout became general throughout the line.
The settlers fled in every direction, and were instantly followed by the
savages, who killed or took prisoners whoever came within their reach.
Some succeeded in reaching the river, and escaped by swimming across;
others fled to the mountains, and the savages, too much occupied with
plunder, gave up the pursuit.
When the first intelligence was received in the village of Wilkesbarre
that the battle was lost, the women fled with their children to the
mountains on their way to the settlements on the Delaware, where many of
them at length arrived after suffering extreme hardships. Many of the men
who escaped the battle, together with their women and children, who were
unable to travel on foot, took refuge in Wyoming fort, and on the
following day (July 4th,) Butler and Brant, at the head of their combined
forces, appeared before the fort, and demanded its surrender. The garrison
being without any efficient means of defence, surrendered the fort on
articles of capitulation, by which the settlers, upon giving up their
fortifications, prisoners, and military stores, were to remain in the
country unmolested, provided they did not again take up arms.
In this battle about three hundred of the settlers were killed or missing,
from a great part of whom no intelligence was ever afterward received.
The conditions of the capitulation were entirely disregarded by the
British and savage forces, and after the fort was delivered up, all kinds
of barbarities were committed by them. The village of Wilkesbarre,
consisting of twenty-three houses, was burnt; men and their wives were
separated from each other, and carried into captivity: their property was
plundered, and the settlement laid waste. The remainder of the inhabitants
were driven from the valley, and compelled to proceed on foot sixty miles
through the great swamp, almost without food or clothing. A number
perished in the journey, principally women and children; some died of
their wounds; others wandered from the path in search of food, and were
lost, and those who survived called the wilderness through which they had
passed, "the shades of death!" a name which it has since retained.
[Illustration: THE BLOCK-HOUSE.]