Border Wars of the American Revolution by William L. Stone

CHAPTER XV.

THE melancholy story of Wyoming stands next in chronological order. It does not, indeed, appertain directly to the history of the Mohawk Valley, but it is, nevertheless, connected intimately with that history, while it has ever been regarded as one of the most prominent events in the border history of the Revolutionary contest. Its importance, moreover, as a section of the Indian portion of that contest, is such as to warrant the episode, if such it must be called. Many were the battles, during that struggle, of far greater importance than the affair of Wyoming, both in regard to their magnitude and their results; and many were the scenes characterized by equal, if not greater atrocity. But, from a variety of circumstances, as well antecedent as subsequent to the battle, it has happened that no event connected with the aboriginal wars of our country stands out in bolder relief than that. Sixty years have elapsed since the tragedy of Wyoming was enacted ; the actors themselves are no more ; and yet the very mention of the event sends a chill current to every youthful heart, while the theatre of the action itself has been rendered classic, as well as consecrated, by the undying numbers of one of the most gifted bards of the age. So long as English poetry exists, will the imaginary tale of GERTRUDE OF WYOMING be read, admired, and wept; and thousands, in every generation to come, will receive the beautiful fiction for truth, while the details of fact by the faithful historian, rejecting the exaggerations of Ramsay and Gordon, and their associate writers of the Revolutionary era, together with compilers more modern, who have taken no pains to inquire for the truth, may be regarded as too commonplace and unimportant for attention.
Wyoming is the name of a beautiful section of the vale of the Susquehanna, situated in the northeastern part of the State of Pennsylvania. It is twenty-five miles in length by about three in breadth, lying deep between two parallel ranges of mountains, crested with oak and pine. The scenery around is wild and picturesque, while the valley itself might be chosen for another paradise.
The possession of this valley has not been an object of the white man's ambition or cupidity alone. It has been the subject of controversy, and the fierce battle-ground of various Indian tribes, within the white man's time, but before his possession; and from the remains of fortifications discovered there, so ancient that the largest oaks and pines have struck root upon the ramparts and in the intrenchments, it must once have been the seat of power, and perhaps of a splendid court, thronged by chivalry, and taste, and beauty: of a race of men far different from the Indians, known to us since the discovery of Columbus. It was here that the benevolent Count Zinzendorf pitched his tent on commencing his Christian labours among the Shawanese, and where he was saved from assassination by the providential intervention of a poisonous reptile.
The first movement towards the planting of a white colony in the Wyoming Valley was made by Connecticut in 1753. It was justly held that this section of country belonged originally to the grant of James I., in 1620, to the old Plymouth Company. The Earl of Warwick and his associates having purchased the right of the Plymouth Company to the territory of Connecticut and the lands beyond New Jersey, west, " from sea to sea," within certain limits, Connecticut claimed under that grant. But no sooner was a company formed to plant a colony in Wyoming, called the Susqushanna Company, than Pennsylvania preferred a claim to the same territory, under a grant from Charles II, to William Penn, in 1681, covering the whole claim of Connecticut; and a rival association, under a lease from Pennsylvania, granted to Charles Stewart, Amos Ogden, and John Jennings, was organized in like manner to settle it. The strife of each, at first, was to circumvent the other in purchasing the Indian title. At this time it was conceded that the aboriginal proprietaries were the Six Nations ; and, though beset on all sides, King Hendric refused, for a time, to dispose of the territory to either party. Ultimately, however, the Six Nations sold to the Susquehanna Company; and in 1755 the Connecticut Colony was commenced. But, by reason of the French and Vol. I.-B B
Indian wars, their settlers were compelled to return to Connecticut, and the obstacles became so numerous, that, it was not until 1762 that they were enabled to obtain a foothold.
The Pennsylvanians immediately prepared to oppose the settlers from Connecticut. A case was made up and transmitted to England, on which Mr. Pratt, the attorney-general (afterward Lord Camden), gave an opinion in favour of the successors of Penn. Connecticut likewise sent over a case, and on her part obtained a like favourable opinion from eminent counsel. In this position of the controversy, a catastrophe befell the infant settlement which put an end to the enterprise for several years. Thus far the relations between the colonists and the Indians had been of the most pacific character. The old Delaware chief, Tadeuskund, who had embraced the Christian religion, was, with his people, their friend. But he had given offence to some of the Six Nations in 1758, a party of whom came among the Delawares, under the guise of friendship, in April, 1763, and murdered the venerable chief by setting fire to his dwelling, in which he was consumed.* The murder was charged by the Indians upon the adventurers from Connecticut. But the emigrants, unconscious that a storm was rising against them, remained in fancied security. They had given no offence ; and, in order to allay any suspicions that might otherwise be awakened among the Indians, they had even neglected to provide themselves with weapons for self-protection. The consequence was the sudden destruction of their
* Tadeuskund was a Delaware chief of note. Previous to the year 1750, he was known among the English by the name of Honest John. He was baptized by the Moravians, but was wavering and inconstant. He was too fond of the war-path to become a consistent follower of the pacific Moravians. When he saw opportunities of signalizing himself as a warrior, therefore, he left his faith, to re-embrace it as might suit his policy. He inclined to the French in the war, but assisted in concluding a peace among several Indian nations in 1758, which gave umbrage to the Six Nations.
settlement by a party of Delaware Indians, on the 15th of October. The descent was made upon the town while the men were at work in the fields. About twenty persons were killed, and several were taken prisoners. Those who could, men, women, and children, fled to the woods and the mountains, whence they were compelled to behold the sad spectacle of their dwellings in flames, and the Indians making off with the remains of their little property. Their flight through a trackless forest to the Delaware, unprovided with food, and unprotected by suitable clothing against the searching weather of autumn, was very painful. But even then their journey was not ended, as they had yet to proceed back to Connecticut, destitute, and on foot.
In 1668 the Pennsylvania lessees, afterward most commonly called the Ogden Land Company, took advantage of a treaty holden at Fort Stanwix, and purchased of the same Six Nations, who had sold to the Connecticut Company, the same territory of Wyoming. The Pennsylvanians entered upon immediate possession ; and when, on the opening of the ensuing spring, the Connecticut colonists returned with recruits, they found others in the occupancy of the lands, with a blockhouse erected, and armed for defence, under the direction of Amos Ogden and Charles Stewart. Here was a new and unexpected state of things. Some of the leading men of the Connecticut colony were decoyed into the blockhouse, arrested, and sent off to a distant prison. But recruits coming on from Connecticut, they, in turn, built works of defence, and proceeded with their colonial labours.
In the summer of 1769, the Governor of Pennsylvania made preparations to dispossess the intruders, as they considered the Connecticut people, by force; and a detachment of armed men, to the number of two hundred, was sent into the territory. The colonists prepared for a siege ; but one of their leaders having been taken prisoner and sent to jail in Philadelphia, after a show of resistance, and having no weapons of defence but small arms, they capitulated, and agreed to leave the territory, with the exception of seventeen families, who were to remain and secure the crops. But no sooner had the colonists departed, than the Pennsylvanians, led by Ogden, plundered the whole colony, destroying their fields of grain, killing their cattle, and laying the whole settlement in ruin; so that the seventeen families were compelled to fly from starvation.
In the month of February, 1770, the Connecticut colonists rallied, and marched upon Wyoming, under a man named Lazarus Stewart. They took Ogden's house and his piece of artillery, during his absence. But, on his return, he collected his friends, and hostilities ensued between the two parties, which were prosecuted with varying success for several weeks. During this time, an engagement occurred, in which several were killed and wounded on both sides. Ogden's house, which had been fortified, was besieged, and finally taken, after several days' cannonading, and the destruction of one of his blockhouses, containing his supplies, by fire. In the terms of capitulation, the Connecticut party allowed Ogden to leave six men in charge of his remaining property. But the conduct of Ogden the preceding year had not been forgotten, and the lex talionis was rigidly and speedily executed.
In September following, a force of one hundred and fifty men was sent against the Connecticut settlers, under the command of Captain Ogden, as he was now called. He took the settlement entirely by surprise, while the labourers were in the fields at work, and the women and children in the fort. Many of the men, nevertheless, reached the fort, and prepared to defend it; but it was carried by assault in the night; the women and children were barbarously trampled under foot, and the whole settlement plundered and destroyed the following day, with more than Indian rapacity. The colonists were made prisoners, and sent off to distant jails. Thus was the settlement again broken up. But the triumph of Ogden was brief. In December the fort was again surprised and carried by Captain Stewart, at the head of some Lancastrians united with the late colonists. A few of the men fled naked to the woods; but the greater portion, together with the women and children, residing for security in houses built within the ramparts, were taken prisoners. These, having been deprived of their property, were driven from the valley.
The parties to these controversies, which could not but engender all the bitterest passions in the nature of man, rendering what might have been a second Eden a theatre of strife, discord, and "hellborn hate," fought, of course, as they pretended, under the jurisdiction of the respective states to which they assumed to belong. The civil authorities of Pennsylvania frequently interposed; and after the burning of Ogden's blockhouse, attempts were made to arrest several of the Connecticut party for arson. Stewart was apprehended, but was soon afterward rescued.
After the capture of the fort in December, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania once more issued a writ for his arrest, and the sheriff was sent with the posse at his heels ; but the garrison would not admit him. The fort was fired upon by the posse, under the direction of the sheriff, and in returning the fire, one of the Ogdens (Nathan) was killed. The sheriff thereupon drew off his forces for the night. But it was no sooner dark, than Stewart and forty of his men withdrew from the fortress, leaving a garrison of only twelve persons, who capitulated on the following morning. Three hundred pounds reward was offered by the Governor of Pennsylvania for the arrest of Stewart. The fort was left in charge
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of Amos Ogden, who induced most of his former associates to return with him.
In July following, this important post was again doomed to change hands. The colony was invaded by Captain Zebulon Butler, with upward of seventy men. These being joined by Lazarus Stewart and his party, they immediately took possession of the lands, while Ogden with his people, to the number of eighty-two, retired into the new fort of Wyoming, which they had just built, and prepared for resistance. The contest was now assuming greater importance than ever. Butler and Stewart at once invested the fortress, and, recruits arriving from Connecticut, they were enabled to throw up redoubts, and open intrenchments for a regular siege. This new fort was planted directly upon the bank of the river. Perceiving himself thus completely shut in, Ogden formed the bold design of leaving his garrison in the night, and floating down the river, past the works and the sentinels of the enemy, in order to repair to Philadelphia for succours. For the purpose of better securing his escape, by means of a cord he caused a bundle to be floated along in the river following him, which, being the most perceptible object, would naturally attract the attention and receive the fire of the enemy, if discovered. The ruse was completely successful. The deceptive object did attract the attention of the besiegers, and received their fire ; although Ogden himself was in immediate peril, since his hat and clothes were riddled with bullets. He nevertheless escaped to Philadelphia, and is entitled to the credit of performing one of the boldest and most difficult individual exploits on record.
In consequence of these tidings, the government ordered a force of one hundred men to be sent to the relief of Fort Wyoming, commanded by Colonel Asher Clayton. These were to be separated into two divisions, and marched to the fort from different directions. Captain Dick, with one division, proceeded towards the fort with pack-horses of provisions for one hundred men. When in its neighbourhood, however, he was ambuscaded by the troops of Butler and Stewart, and thrown into confusion by the fire. Twenty-two of the party succeeded in getting into the fort, and the remainder, with four packhorses of provisions, fell into the hands of Butler. The siege continued, and was prosecuted with great vigour until the 14th of August, when, his supplies being exhausted, Colonel Clayton, the assailant, capitulated, stipulating that his troops, together with Ogden and his party, should withdraw from Wyoming. Ogden was wounded during the siege, and a second shot killed another officer, named William Ridyard, upon whom the former was leaning, being faint from loss of blood.
The president of the Pennsylvania proprietaries complained of the conduct of the Connecticut people in these hostilities, and Governor Trumbull disclaimed any Connexion with the affairs of Wyoming on the part of the state over which he presided. But as the Connecticut people continued to pour re-enforcements into the settlement, the Pennsylvanians withdrew their forces, and, for a season, made no farther attempts upon the territory.
The settlers now claimed the protection of Connecticut, the government of which attempted a mediation between the people of Wyoming and the government of Pennsylvania, but without success. Meantime, the people of the colony proceeded to organize, a government, and to exercise almost all the attributes of sovereignty. The general laws of Connecticut were declared to be in force; but for their local legislation, they organized a pure democracy ; the people of all their towns and settlements meeting in a body, as in Athens of old, and making their laws for themselves. The Legislature of Connecticut extended its broad aegis over them, framed a new county, called Westmoreland, and attached it to the county of Litchfield in the parent state. Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denniston were appointed justices of the peace, and the people sent one representative to the Legislature of Connecticut. The governments of Connecticut and Pennsylvania kept up a war of proclamations and edicts upon the subject, while the settlement advanced in population and extent with unexampled rapidity.
Thus matters proceeded until the year 1775, when, just after hostilities had been commenced between the colonies and the British troops at Lexington, the old feuds between the settlers of the rival companies suddenly broke forth again. A new settlement of the one was attacked by the militia of the other, one man was killed, several were wounded, and others made prisoners, and carried off to a distant jail. Other outrages were committed elsewhere, and of course all the angry passions, all the bitter feelings of hatred and revenge, between the rival parties claiming the soil and the jurisdiction, broke out afresh. The settlements of each had become extended during the five years of peace, which, of course, had multiplied the parties to the contest; so that, as the men of Wyoming flew to arms, a more formidable civil war than ever was in prospect, at the moment when every arm should have been nerved in the common cause of the whole country.*
Congress being now in session, interposed its authority by way of mediatorial resolutions; but to no purpose. The interposition was repeated, and again disregarded. In the mean time, the Pennsylvanians brought seven hundred men into the field, who were marched against Wyoming under the direction
* At this time the settlements consisted of eight townships, viz.:
Lackawana, Exeter, Kingston, Wilksbarre, Plymouth, Nanticoke, Huntington, and Salem, each containing five miles square. The six townships were pretty full of inhabitants, the two upper ones had comparatively few, thinly scattered.
of Colonel Plunkett. But in ascending the west bank of the Susquehanna, on coming to a narrow defile, naturally defended by a rocky buttress, their march was suddenly arrested by a volley of musketry. An instant afterward the invaders discerned that the rocky parapets were covered with men bristling in arms, prepared for a Tyrolese defence of tumbling rocks down upon the foe, should their fire-arms prove insufficient to repel him. Taken thus suddenly and effectively by surprise, Plunkett retreated with his forces behind a point of rocks, for consultation. He next attempted to cross the river, and resume his march on the other side. But here, too, the people of Wyoming had been too quick for him. The invaders were so hotly received by a detachment in ambuscade on the other side, that they were constrained to retreat, nor did they attempt to rally again.
Thus terminated the last military demonstration of the provincial government of Pennsylvania against the Valley of Wyoming, previous to the war of the Revolution. Never, however, had a civil war raged with more cordial hatred between the parties, not even during the bloody conflicts between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, than was felt between the adherents of the respective land companies, in the collisions just passed under review. Most unfortunate was it, therefore, that the quarrel broke out afresh at the precise moment when the services of all were alike wanted for the common defence, especially on a border exposed to the daily irruptions of the Indians.
Nor was this the only evil. There being a wide difference of opinion between the people in almost every section of the country on the great question at issue between the parent country and the colonies, it was natural to anticipate that such of these contending parties as adhered to the Loyalist cause, would cherish a twofold enmity towards those Republicans who had been previously in arms against them. These feelings of hostility were of course mutual; and, as many of the adherents of the Delaware Company, and perhaps some from both factions, early escaped to the enemy, and enrolled themselves under the banners of Sir John Johnson and Colonel John Butler, there can be no difficulty in accounting for the peculiar ferocity which marked the conduct of such of the refugees as returned in arms against their former belligerant neighbours.
The population of the Wyoming settlements, at the commencement of the war, numbered five thousand souls. Three companies of regular troops were enlisted among them for the service of the United States. Their militia, regularly enrolled, amounted to eleven hundred men capable of bearing arms, and of this force three hundred entered the army; so prolific was their soil, and so industrious were the people, that they were enabled to furnish large supplies of provisions for the army. Three thousand bushels of grain were sent in the spring of the present year. The same plan of watchfulness against the scouts and scalping parties of the enemy was adopted as in other frontier settlements, and the utmost vigilance was observed; while regular garrison duty was, in successive turns, performed by the citizen soldiers in the several fortifications which defended their valley.
Some faint demonstrations were made by straggling parties of Tories and Indians, who prowled about the settlements during the summer of the preceding year, while St. Leger was besieging Fort Schuyler; but after a few skirmishes with the inhabitants they dispersed, and the latter remained undisturbed during the rest of the year. Still, an impression that some of the Tories who had been in arms against them, or who had been instrumental in bringing the Indians upon them, were yet lurking in the vicinity, and bent upon mischief, left the peopie not altogether at ease; and in the month of January, 1778, twenty-seven suspected inhabitants were arrested. Nine of these were discharged, on examination, for want of sufficient evidence to warrant their detention ; while the remaining eighteen were sent to Hartford in Connecticut, and imprisoned. The nine who were first discharged immediately fled to the enemy, and were followed thither by such of their suspected associates as were subsequently set at liberty in Connecticut. It was but natural that these proceedings still more imbittered the feelings of these Loyalists against the Whigs, and the effect was soon perceptible in the behaviour of the Tories and Indians occasionally patrolling their borders.
For a time, however, the apprehensions thus excited were allayed by several pacific messages from the Indian nations deeper in the interior, who sent parties of runners with assurances of a desire for peace. But these assurances were deceptive. Instead of being messengers of peace, it was ascertained in March, from one of them while in a state of intoxication, that their business was to amuse the people and allay their fears while preparations were making to attack them. This Indian, with his associate warriors, was immediately arrested and placed in confinement, while the women of the party were sent back with a flag. The alarm was likewise given to the scattered and remote settlers, some of them living thirty miles up the river, who thereupon immediately sought for greater security in the more populous towns. During the months of April and May, the settlements began to be more considerably annoyed by larger parties of Tories and Indians, who hung upon their borders, and made frequent incursions among them for purposes of plunder, robbing the people, as opportunity afforded, of live-stock, grain, and other articles of provisions. Waxing yet more audacious in June, several murders were committed. Six of these victims were a mother and her five children, who were doubtless killed under a misapprehension as to her character, since the woman was the wife of one of the Tories who-had been arrested in January. The houses and plantations of the slain were, of course, plundered of everything of value which the marauders could carry away.
Towards the close of June, the British officers in command at Niagara determined to strike a blow upon these settlements; for which purpose about three hundred white men, consisting in part of regular troops, but principally of refugee Loyalists, under the command of Colonel John Butler, together with about five hundred Indians, chiefly Senecas, under a celebrated war chief named Gi-en-gwah-toh (He-who-goes-in-the-smoke), marched in that direction. Arriving at Tioga Point, Butler and the Indian leaders procured floats and rafts, upon which they embarked their forces ; and, descending the Susquehanna, landed at a place called the Three Islands, whence they marched about twenty miles, and, crossing a wilderness, entered the Valley of Wyoming through a gap of the mountain near its northern extremity. They took possession of two small forts, without opposition, on the 3d of July, the first of which was called the Exeter Fort. It was said the garrison consisted chiefly of Tories, who treacherously surrendered it to the enemy. The other was the fort of Lackawana, where the enemy encountered some resistance. But it was soon carried, a magistrate named Jenkins being killed, together with his family, and several others, mostly women and children, made prisoners. One of these forts was burned. In the other, the proper name of which was Fort Wintermoot, Colonel John Butler established his headquarters.
The inhabitants, on receiving intelligence of the approach of the invaders, assembled within a fortincation four miles below, called Fort Forty, from the circumstance of its having been occupied by forty men at some period of the antecedent troubles of the colony. Colonel Zebulon Butler, whose name has occurred several times in the preceding summary of the history of Wyoming, was in command of about sixty regular troops, and he now made every exertion to muster the militia of the settlements. But in his official despatch he complained that, as the women and children had fled to the several forts, of which there were seven within the distance of ten miles along the valley, the men, too many of them, would remain behind to take care of them. Still, he succeeded in collecting about three hundred of the militia, and commenced his march to meet the enemy on the 1st of July, in connexion with the regular troops before mentioned, commanded by Captain Hewett. On their first advance, they fell in with a scout of Indians, of whom they killed two. These savages had just murdered nine men engaged at work in a corn-field. Not being supplied with provisions, Colonel Zebulon Butler was obliged to fall back upon Fort Forty, while his militia procured supplies. They mustered again on the 3d, and a council of war was convened. Messengers having been despatched to the headquarters of General Washington for assistance, immediately after the enemy's movements were known at Wyoming, Colonel Z. Butler was desirous of waiting for re-enforcements. But his officers and men were impatient for a trial of strength. The messengers had already been gone so long, that it was supposed they had been cut off, and, consequently, that General Washington was ignorant of their situation. In that case no re-enforcements could reach them in season to save their valley from being ravaged ; and as the enemy's forces were daily increasing, it was held to be the part of wisdom to attack him at once.
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While the question was under debate, five officers arrived from the Continental army, who, on hearing the tidings of the meditated invasion, had thrown up their commissions and hastened home to protect their families. They had heard nothing of the messengers, and intimated that there was no prospect of speedy assistance. The discussions were animated; but the apprehension that, in the event of longer delay, the enemy would become too powerful for them, and thus be enabled to sweep through their valley and destroy their harvest, was so strong, and the militia were so sanguine of being able to meet and vanquish the enemy, that Colonel Butler yielded, and set forward at the head of nearly four hundred men, Colonel Denniston, his former associate in the commission of the peace, being his second in command.
It was intended to make a quick movement, and take the enemy by surprise. Having approached within two miles of Fort Wintermoot,* a small reconnoitring party was sent forward for observation. They ascertained that the enemy were carousing in their huts in perfect security; but on their return they were so unfortunate as to fall in with an Indian scout, who immediately fired and gave the alarm. The Provincials pushed rapidly forward ; but the British and Indians were prepared to receive them, their line being formed a small distance in front of their camp, in a plain thinly,
* The fort was thus called after the proprietor of the land whereon it was built, and the adjacent territory, a distinguished Tory named Wintermoot. He was active in bringing destruction upon the valley; and, after doing all the mischief he could to the settlement, removed to Canada, During the war with England in 1812-15, while the British were investing Fort Erie, a son of old Mr. Wintermoot, a lieutenant in the enemy's service, was killed by a volunteer from the neighbourhood of Wyoming. Young Wintermoot was reconnoitring one of the American pickets, when he was shot down by the said volunteer, who was engaged in the same service against picket of the enemy. The volunteer returned into the fort, bringing in the arms and commission of the officer he had slain as a trophy.
covered with pine, shrub-oaks, and undergrowth, and extending from the river to a marsh at the foot of the mountain. On coming in view of the enemy, the Americans, who had previously marched in a single column, instantly displayed into a line of equal extent, and attacked from right to left at the same time. The right of the Americans was commanded by Colonel Zebulon Butler, opposed to Colonel John Butler, commanding the enemy's left. Colonel Denniston commanded the left of the Americans, and was opposed by Indians forming the enemy's right. The battle commenced at about forty rods' distance, without much execution at the onset, as the brushwood interposed obstacles to the sight. The militia stood the fire well for a short time, and as they pressed forward there was some giving way on the enemy's right. Unluckily, just at this moment the appalling war-whoop of the Indians rang in the rear of the American left, the Indian leader having conducted a large party of his warriors through the marsh, and succeeded in turning Denniston's flank. A heavy, and destructive fire was simultaneously poured into the American ranks; and amid the confusion, Colonel Denniston directed his men to "fall back," to avoid being surrounded, and to gain time to bring his men into order again. This direction was mistaken for an order to " retreat," whereupon the whole line broke, and every effort of their officers to restore order was unavailing. At this stage of the battle, and while thus engaged, the American officers mostly fell. The flight was general. The Indians, throwing away their rifles, rushed forward with their tomahawks, making dreadful havoc, answering the cries for mercy with the hatchet, and adding to the universal consternation those terrific yells which invest savage warfare with tenfold horror. So alert was the foe in this bloody pursuit, that less than sixty of the Americans escaped either the rifle or the tomahawk. Of the militia officers, there fell one lieutenant-colonel, one major, and ten captains, six lieutenants, and two ensigns. Colonel Durkee and Captains Hewett and Ransom were likewise killed. Some of the fugitives escaped by swimming the river, and others by flying to the mountains. As the news of the defeat spread down the valley, the greater part of the women and children, and those who had remained behind to protect them, likewise ran to the woods and the mountains; while those who could not escape thus, sought refuge in Port Wyoming. The Indians, apparently wearied with pursuit and slaughter, desisted, and betook themselves to secure the spoils of the vanquished.
On the morning of the 4th, the day after the battle, Colonel John Butler, with the combined British and Indian forces, appeared before Fort Wyoming, and demanded its surrender. The inhabitants, both within and without the fort, did not, on that emergency, sustain a character for courage becoming men of spirit in adversity. They were so intimidated as to give up without fighting; great numbers ran off; and those who remained all but betrayed Colonel Zebulon Butler, their commander. The British Colonel Butler sent several flags, requiring an unconditional surrender of his opposing namesake and the few Continental troops yet remaining, but offering to spare the inhabitants their property and effects. But with the American colonel the victor would not treat on any terms; and the people thereupon compelled Colonel Denniston to comply with conditions which his commander had refused. The consequence was, that Colonel Zebulon Butler contrived to escape from the fort with the remains of Captain Hewett's company of regulars, and Colonel Denniston entered into articles of capitulation. By these it was stipulated that the settlers should be disarmed, and their garrison demolished; that all the prisoners and public stores should be given up; that the property of "the people called Tories" should be made good, and they be permitted to remain peaceably upon their farms. In behalf of the settlers, it was stipulated that their lives and property should be preserved, and that they should be left in the unmolested occupancy of their farms.
Unhappily, however, the British commander either could not or would not enforce the terms of the capitulation, which were, to a great extent, disregarded as well by the Tories as Indians. Instead of finding protection, the valley was again laid waste; the houses and improvements were destroyed by fire, and the country plundered. Families were broken up and dispersed, men and their wives separated, mothers torn from their children, and some of them carried into captivity, while far the greater number fled to the mountains, and wandered through the wilderness to the older settlements. Some died of their wounds, others from want and fatigue, while others still were lost in the wilderness, or were heard of no more. Several perished in a great swamp in the neighbourhood, which, from that circumstance, acquired the name of "The Shades of Death," and retains it to this day.
These were painful scenes. But it does not appear that anything like a massacre followed the capitulation.* Nor, in the events of the preceding day, is there good evidence of the perpetration of any specific acts of cruelty, other than such as are usual in the general rout of a battle-field, save only the unexampled atrocities of the Tories, thirsting, probably, for revenge in regard to other questions than that of allegiance to the king.
There seems, from the first, to have been an un-
* It will be seen, a few pages forward, by a letter from Walter Butler, writing on behalf of his father. Colonel John Butler, that a solemn denial is made of any massacre whatever, save the killing of men in arms in the open field. This letter, in vindication of the refugee Butlers, would have been introduced here, but for its connexion with the affair of Cherry Valley.
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commonly large proportion of Loyalists in the Wyoming settlements, whose notions of legal restraint, from the previous collisions of the inhabitants, were of course latitudinarian; nor were their antecedent asperities softened by the attempts of the Whigs to keep them within proper control, after hostilities had commenced. The greater number of these, as we have already seen, together with those who were arrested, had joined themselves to the enemy. But these were not all the defections. After the arrival of the enemy upon the confines of the settlement, and before the battle, a considerable number of the inhabitants joined his ranks, and exhibited instances of the most savage barbarity against their former neighbours and friends. Nor has it ever been denied, in regard to the battle of Wyoming, that none were more ferocious and cruel, more destitute of the unstrained quality of mercy, than those same Loyalists or Tories. An example of the spirit by which they were actuated is found in the following occurrence, which, on account of its Cainlike barbarity, is worthy of repetition. Not far from the battle-ground was an island in the Susquehanna, called Monockonock, to which several of the fugitive militiamen fled for security, throwing- away their arms, and swimming the river. Here they concealed themselves as they could among the brushwood. Their place of retreat being discovered, several Tories followed them ; and, though obliged to swim, yet so intent were they upon the work of death, that they succeeded in taking their guns with them. Arriving upon the island, they deliberately wiped their gunlocks, recharged their pieces, and commenced searching for the fugitives. Two of these were concealed in sight of each other, but one of them escaped. But it was, nevertheless, his lot to behold a scene painful enough to make the roost hardened offender weep, and "blush to own himself a man." One of the pursuers came upon his companion in partial concealment, who proved to-be his own brother. His salutation was, "So, it is you, is it'!" The unarmed and defenceless man, thus observed, came forward and fell upon his knees before his brother, begging for mercy; promising to live with him, and serve him forever, if he would but spare his life. "All this is mighty fine," replied the unrelenting traitor; "but you are a d-d rebel!" saying which, he deliberately levelled his rifle, and shot him dead upon the spot. In a domestic war marked by such atrocity, even among those claiming to be civilized, it becomes us to pause before we brand the untutored savage, who fights according to the usages of his own people, with all that is revolting and cruel.*
There is still another important correction to be made in reference to every written history of this
* Doctor Thatcher, in his Military Journal, records still greater barbarities as having been perpetrated on this bloody occasion. He says, "One of the prisoners, a Captain Badlock, was committed to torture, by having his body stuck full of splinters of pine knots, and a fire of dry wood made around him, when his two companions, Captains Ransom and Durkee, were thrown into the same fire, and held down with pitchforks till consumed. One Partial Terry, the son of a man of respectable character, having joined the Indian party, several times sent his father word that he hoped to wash his hands in his heart's blood. The monster, with his own hands, murdered his father, mother, brothers, and sisters, stripped off their scalps, and cut off his father's head !! Thomas Terry, with his own hands, butchered his own mother, his father-in-law, his sisters and their infant children, and exterminated the whole family ! !" Upon which the worthy doctor remarks, "It is only in the internal regions that we can look for a parallel instance of unnatural wickedness." It is doubtful whether so great" an atrocity was ever committed even there. Certainly no such were perpetrated at Wyoming, Dr. Thatcher also states, that when Colonel Z. Butler sent a flag to propose terms of capitulation, the reply of Colonel John Butler was in two words- "The Hatchet." He also remarks, in regard to the moral and social condition of Wyoming, that but for the dissensions produced by the war of the Revolution, " the inhabitants of this secluded spot might have lived in the enjoyment of all the happiness which results from harmony and the purest natural affection." Witness the ten years of civil wars sketched in the preceding pages. It was also reported that a man named Thomas Hill with his own hands killed his own mother, his father-in-law, his sisters and their families ! And such is history ! These monstrous exaggerations were the reports of the battle first published at Poughkeepsie, on the 20th of July, as derived from the lips of the terrified fugitives who were wending their way back to Connecticut.
battle extant, not even excepting the last revised edition of the Life of Washington, by Chief-justice Marshall. This correction regards the name, and the just fame, of Joseph Brant, whose character has been blackened with all the infamy, both real and imaginary, connected with this bloody expedition. The Indian leader, as already stated, was a brave and popular Seneca warrior, named Gi-en-gwah-toh; and the Indians engaged in the affair were almost exclusively Senecas. There were few, if any, Mohawks among them. Captain Brant was at no time in company with this expedition ; and it is certain, in the face of every historical authority, British and American, that, so far from being engaged in the battle, he was many miles distant at the time of its occurrence. Such has been the uniform testimony of the British officers engaged in that expedition, such was always the word of Thayendanegea himself, and such is the statement that has been made to the author by Captain Pollard, a Seneca chief of renown, who was himself in the battle. It will, moreover, be seen, towards the close of the present work, that after the publication of Campbell's " Gertrude of Wyoming," in which poem the Mohawk chieftain was denounced as " the Monster Brant," his son repaired to England, and, in a correspondence with the poet, successfully vindicated his father's memory from the calumny.
It is related in the unwritten history of this battle, that the celebrated Catharine Montour was present, with her two sons ; and that she ranged the field of blood like a chafed tigress, stimulating the warriors of her adopted race to the onslaught, even in the hottest of the fight--But, from the antecedent character of that remarkable woman, the story can hardly be credited. She was a native of Canada, a half-breed, her father having been one of the early French governors, probably Count Frontenac, as he must have been in the government of that country at about the time of her birth. During the wars between the Six Nations and the French and Hurons, Catharine, when about ten years of age, was made a captive, taken into the Seneca country, adopted, and reared as one of their own children. When arrived at a suitable age, she was married to one of the distinguished chiefs of her tribe, who signalized himself in the wars of the Six Nations against the Catawbas, then a great nation living southwestward of Virginia. She had several children by this chieftain, who fell in battle about the year 1730, after which she did not again marry. She is said to have been a handsome woman when young, genteel, and of polite address, notwithstanding her Indian associations. It was frequently her lot to accompany the chiefs of the Six Nations to Philadelphia, and other places in Pennsylvania, where treaties were holden ; and from her character and manners she was greatly caressed by the American ladies, particularly in Philadelphia, where she was invited by the ladies of the best circles, and entertained at their houses. Her residence was at the head of the Seneca Lake.
Some of the flying fugitives from Wyoming had not proceeded many miles from their desolate homes before they met a detachment of Continental troops on their way to assist the colony. It was now too late. But the detachment, nevertheless, remained at Stroudsburg three or four weeks; by which time Colonel Zebulon Butler had collected a force consisting of straggling settlers and others, with whom, and the regular troops just mentioned, he returned, and repossessed himself of Wyoming, the enemy having retired shortly after the battle, Colonel John Butler to Niagara, and the Indians to their homes; while Thayendanegea moved as he had occasion, from his old haunts higher up the Susquehanna, at Oghkwaga and Unadilla. Immediately on the reception of the disastrous tidings from Wyoming at the Continental head-quarters, Colonel Hartley's regiment was ordered thither, with instructions from Congress to remain on that frontier until the crops were secured and the enemy should have retreated. He was joined by several militia companies, and, among other officers, by Colonel Dennison, who, in the capitulation of Wyoming, had stipulated not again to serve against the king's troops. He accompanied Colonel Hartley in an expedition against some of the Indian towns up the Susquehanna, in the direction of Oghkwaga, several of which Were destroyed. A few prisoners were also taken. It appearing, however, that the enemy were gathering in too much force for him to remain long within their territory, Colonel Hartley was constrained to retreat. An attack was made upon his rear, but the assailants were repulsed. Colonel Dennison doubtless felt himself warranted in breaking the stipulations of Fort Wyoming, by the fact that those stipulations were not strictly observed by the Tories and Indians. But the enemy made no such allowance ; and this expedition, or, rather, the conduct of Colonel Dennison, was subsequently used as a pretext for some of the incidents connected with the attack upon Cherry Valley.
Colonel Zebulon Butler built another fort at Wyoming, which he continued to occupy until the next year, when the command of that region devolved upon General Sullivan. In the mean time, the outskirts of the settlements were frequently harassed by straggling parties of Tories and Indians, who occasionally committed an assassination, or carried off a few prisoners. The Americans, in turn, despatched every Indian who fell in their way. In March following, the fort was surrounded by a force of two hundred and fifty Indians, and Tories disguised as such. They attacked the fortress, but fled on the discharge of a single piece of artillery, burning whatever buildings had either been re-erected or left standing at the former invasion. The garrison was too weak to allow of a pursuit. A few weeks afterward, as a company of Continental troops were approaching the fort, under the command of Major Powell, they were fired upon by a party of Indians in ambush, while passing along a single track through a difficult swamp. In this attack, Captain Davis, Lieutenant Jones, and four privates, were killed. The detachment formed for action with all possible despatch, but the Indians fled after two or three discharges. Nor did they reappear afterward, in that immediate neighbourhood, in any subsequent stage of the Revolutionary contest, although other sections of the Pennsylvania frontier, farther south and west, suffered occasionally from their depredations, particularly in the following year, while Sullivan was preparing to advance into the Seneca country.*
* Thus ends the Revolutionary history of Wyoming. But from what has been given in the preceding pages, touching the history of this valley and its feuds before the Revolution, the reader may possibly feel some desire to learn the subsequent progress of the long-pending land quarrel. After the Indians had been chastised, the settlers returned, and the valley and its precincts once more began to nourish. Pennsylvania again interposed her claims ; and a commission was appointed by Congress, which met in New Jersey, to hear the case and decide the question. It was unanimously decided in favour of Pennsylvania. The people held that this decision was one of jurisdiction merely, and with this understanding cheerfully acquiesced in it. But fresh troubles arose. A company of Continental troops was stationed there in 1793, to keep the peace, and this only made matters worse , tile soldiers became licentious and overbearing, and the people were exceedingly annoyed thereat. In the spring of 1784, by a succession of ice dams which accumulated in the river, the valley was overflowed, and the inhabitants were compelled to fly to the mountains for safety. When the ice gave way, the floods swept off everything, leaving the whole valley a scene of greater desolation than ever. Presently afterward the old troubles broke out afresh. The inhabitants refused to obey their new masters. The Connecticut settlers flew to arms ; the Pennsylvanians sent troops thither ; the Connecticut settlers laid siege to the fort; there were riots and skirmishings, and some killed and wounded. The Connecticut people were taken prisoners by treachery, and sent off to prison. They escaped. Reenforcements of troops were sent by Pennsylvania , there was more blood shed. Various attempts were made to settle the difficulties. Commissioners were appointed upon the subject, one of whom was Timothy Pickering. He was forcibly seized, and carried into captivity. His story has been written by himself, and is full of interest. These difficulties continued, with feelings of the bitterest contention, ten years, before matters were compromised between the parties so that they settled down in peace. It is now a rich and flourishing county, and may be called the Paradise of Pennsylvania.