TIIE
POETRY AND HISTORY
OF
WYOMING:
CONTAINING
CAMPBELL'S  GERTRUDE,
A.ND THE
HISTORY OF WYOMING FROM ITS DISCOVERY
TO THE
BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT CENTURY
BY WILLIAM L. STONE.
AUTHOR OFP THE LIFE OF BRANT, IXFE AND TIIES OF REDT) JACKET, ETC.
THIRD EDITION,
WITHi AN INDEX.
WILKES-BARRE:
C. E. BUTLER, BOOKSELLER.
1873.








PIREFACE.
TnH "s Happy Valley" to which the illustrious author of
Rasselas introduces his reader in the opening of that charming fiction, was not much more secluded from the world than
is the Valley of Wyoming.  Situated in the interior of the
country, remote from the great thorough-fares of travel, either
for business, or in the idle chase of pleasure, and walled on
every hand by mountains lofty and wild, and over which long
and rugged roads must be travelled to reach it, Wyoming is
rarely visited, except from stern necessity. And yet the imagination of Johnson has not pictured so lovely a spot in the
vale of Amhara as Wyoming.
Much has been said and sung of the beauty *of Wyoming;
yet but comparatively little is actually known to the public
of its history. That a horrible massacre was once perpetrated
there, and that the fearful tragedy has been commemorated
in the undying numbers of Campbell, every body knows.
But beyond this, it is believed that even what is called the
reading public is but inadequately informed; and there are
thousands, doubtless, who would be surprised on being told
that, independently of the event from which the poet has
woven his thrilling tale of' Gertrude, Wyoming has been the
theatre of more historical action, and is invested with more
historical interest, than any other inland district of the United
States of equal extent. The revolutionary occurrence, supplying the Muse's theme in the beautiful tale just referred to,
forms but a single incident in a course of fifty years of various
and arduous conflict between belligerent parties of the same
race and nation, each contending for the exclusive possession
of that fair valley, and for the expulsion of the rival claim



iv                      PREFACE.
ants. Added to which is its antecedent Indian history, extending back more than fifty years prior to the intrusion
of the white man, and perhaps a hundred.  The dusky Indians were engaged in bloody strife with each other there,
hand to hand and foot to foot. All that is fierce and brutal,
selfish and unrelenting, bitter and vindictive, in the passions
of men embroiled in civil strife, has been displayed there.
All that is lofty in patriotism,-all that is generous, noble,
and self-devoted in the cause of country and liberty, has been
proudly called into action there. All that is true, confiding,
self-denying, constant, heroic, virtuous, and enduring, in woman, has been sweetly illustrated there.
Nevertheless the remark may be repeated that but comparatively little of the actual history of this secluded district,
-a history marked by peculiar interest, and a district upon
which nature has bestowed beauty, with a lavish hand,-is
known to the general reader.  True, indeed, Wyoming is
mentioned in almost every book of American history written
since the Revolution, as the scene of the massacre; but for
the most part, that is the only occurrence spoken of; the
only fact that has been rescued from the rich mine of its historic lore.  The reader of poetry has probably dreamed of
Wyoming as an Elysian field, among the groves of which the
fair Gertrude was wont to stray while listening to the music
of the birds and gathering wild-flowers; and the superficial
reader of every thing has regarded it as a place existing somewhere, in which the Indians once tomahawked a number of
people.
And yet Wyoming has had its own historian.  More than
twenty years ago a gentleman resident there, Mr. Isaac Chapman, undertook the preparation of a history, but he died
before his work was completed. His manuscripts, however,
were edited and published some years after his death; but
the work was very incomplete. The preliminary Indian history was merely glanced at, while that of the revolutionary
war was hurried over in the most imperfect and unsatisfactory manner possible. It was not written in a popular style,




PREFACE.                        V
nor published in an attractive form. The author, moreover,
in regard to the protracted controversy between the Connecticut settlers and the Pennsylvanians, was governed by strong
partialities in favor of the former. Proud's History of Pennsylvania comes down no later than 1770; and from this it
could scarcely be gathered that there was any such spot as
Wyoming known.  Gordon's late History only comes down
to the Declaration of American Independence.  He has, indeed, devoted some twenty or thirty pages to the early stages
of the civil contest in Wyoming, but he writes as though he
had been a paid counsellor of the old Ogden Land Company,
which so long and vainly strove to dispossess the Connecticut
settlers. An impartial history, therefore, was a desideratum,
and such I have attempted to supply, written in the style of
popular narrative, confined to facts without speculation, and
divested entirely of documentary citations.
My own attention was directed to Wyoming as a field of
historical investigation only about three years ago, when engaged in preparing for the press the Border Wars of the
Revolution, as connected with the Life of the Mohawk chieftain, Brant. It became necessary, in executing the plan of
that work, to examine the history of Wyoming, so far at least
as it had been  connected, —most erroneously, —with  the
name of that distinguished warrior of the woods; and I soon
discovered so much of interest in the tales and traditions of
the valley-its history, written and unwritten,-indepen.
dently of the war of the revolution,-that I resolved upon
the institution of farther investigations at some more conve.
nient season.
Keeping this object uppermost in my mind, I made a visit
of relaxation and pleasure to Wyoming in the summer of
1839, the result of which, through the kind assistance of my
friend Charles Miner, and also of his nephew, Doctor Miner,
was a collection of authentic materials sufficient for a small
volume appertaining to the history of that valley alone.
The name of Mr. Miner will frequently appear in the notes
and references of the present volume. He is an able man, a
1*




Vi                      PREFACE.
native of Norwich, Connecticut, and emigrated to the Valley
of Wyoming in the year 1799, —being then nineteen years of
age. He first engaged in school teaching.  Having a brother, a year or two older than himself, who was a practical
printer, he invited him to join him in his sylvan retreat, and
establish a newspaper. The brother did so; and the twain
conjointly established the "1 Luzerne Federalist." This paper
was subsequently superseded by I" The Gleaner," but under
the same editorial conduct,-that of Charles Miner.  It was
through the columns of the Gleaner that Mr. Miner, for a
long series of months, instructed and amused the American
people by those celebrated essays of morals and wit, of fact
and fancy, and delicate humor, purporting to come " From
the Desk of Poor Robert the Scribe," and which were very
generally republished in the newspapers. The Gleaner and
its editor became so popular, that the latter was invited to
Philadelphia, as associate editor of the "Political and Commercial Register," so long and favorably known under the
conduct of the late Major Jackson.
Not liking the metropolis as well as he did the country,
Mr. Miner soon retired to the pleasant town of Westchester,
eighteen miles from Philadelphia, where, in connexion with
his brother Asher, who had also removed from Wilkesbarre,
he established the Village Record,-a paper which became
as popular ior its good taste, and the delicacy of its humor,
as the Gleaner had been aforetime.  Poor Robert here wrote
again under the signature of " John Harwood."  While a
resident of Westchester, Mr. Miner was twice successively
elected to Congress, in a double district, as a colleague of the
present Senator Buchanan.'While in Congress Mr. Miner showed himself not only a
useful, but an able member. In the subject of slavery he
took a deep interest, laboring diligently in behalf of those
rational measures for its melioration which were doing great
good before a different feeling was infused into the minds of
many benevolent men, and a different impulse imparted to
their action on this subject.  There is another act for




PREFACE.                       Vii
which Mr. Miner deserves all praise. It was he who awakened the attention of the country to the silk-growing business. He drew and introduced the first resolution upon the
subject, and wrote the able report which was introduced by
the late General Stephen Van Rensselaer, as chairman of
the committee on agriculture, to whom that resolution had
been referred.
It is now about eight years since Mr. Miner relinquished
business in Westchester, and, with his brother, returned to
Wyoming, where both have every promise of spending the
evening of their days most happily.
But to return from this digression: A farther illustration of
the history of Wyoming having been determined on, the
next question presented was the manner in which it should
be brought out. The idea occurred to me, when about to
commence the composition of the historical portion of the
present volume, six weeks ago, to prefix to the histor'y, the
poetry of Campbell,-thus comprising, in a single portable
volume, the POETRY and HISTORY of WYOMING. This suggestion was approved by Messrs. Wiley and Putnam, who
are to be the publishers; and in addition to all, Mr. WAsH1NGTON IRVING has kindly furnished a biographical sketch of
the author of Gertrude.
W. L. S.
New-York, Dec. 25th, 1840.




PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The author of this little volume - or rather of that portion
of it which is offered to the public as original - was induced
to believe that neither the poem and notes of Campbell, nor the
brief and imperfect notices to be found in works of general
history, were capable of affording that information respecting
the murderous assault upon Wyoming, with which readers
would rest satisfied; that the melancholy story possessed interest enough to demand a more complete and faithful narrative. Favoring circumstances had enabled him to collect the
materials for this purpose; and he thought them worthy of
being presented to the American people.
The result proved that his opinion was not fallacious. The
first edition was speedily taken up, and the continued inquiry
for the work has made it his duty to publish a second. The
publication of the volume has been the means of bringing to
his knowledge additional facts of value, and some few corrections, all of which have been incorporated in this new, enlarged and revised edition.
W. L. S.
NEw-YorK,  OCTOB ER 1843.




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
oF
THOMAS CAMPBELL,
B3Y
WASHINGTON IRVING.
IT has long been admitted as a lamentable truth, that authors seldom receive impartial justice from the world, while
living. Tile graves seem to be the ordeal to which in a manner
their names must be subjected, and from whence, if worthy of
immortality, they rise with pure and imperishable lustre. Here
many, who through the caprice of fashion, the influence of
rank and fortune, or the panegyrics of friends, have enjoyed
an undeserved notoriety, descend into oblivion, and it may
literally be said' they rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them."  Here likewise many an ill-starred
author, after struggling with penury and neglect, and starving through a world he has enriched by his talents, sinks to
rest, and becomes an object of universal admiration and regret. The sneers of the cynical, the detractions of the envious, the scoffings of the ignorant, are silenced at the hallowed
precincts of the tomb; and the world awakens to a sense of
his value, when he is removed beyond its patronage for ever.
Monuments are erected to his memory, books are written in
his praise, and mankind will devour with avidity the biography of a man, whose life wa:. passed unheeded before their
eyes.  He is like some canonized saint, at whose shrine




X                  BIOGRAPHiCAL SKETCH
treasures are lavished and clouds of incense offered up,
though while living the slow hand of charity withheld the
pittance that would have relieved his necessities.
But this tardiness in awarding merit its due, this preference continually shown to departed authors, over living ones
of perhaps superior excellence, may be ascribed to more
charitable motives than those of envy and ill-nature. Of the
former we judge almost exclusively by their works. We
form our opinion of the whole flow of their minds and the
tenor of their dispositions from the volumes they have left
behind; without considering that these are likes so many
masterly portraits, presenting their genius in its most auspicious moments, and noblest attitudes, when its powers were
collected by solitude and reflection, assisted by study, stimulated by arnbiton and elevated by inspiration.  We witness
nothing of the mental exhaustion and languor which follow
these gushes of genius. We behold the stream only in the
spring-tide of its current, and conclude that it has always
been equally profound in its depth, pure in its wave, and majestic in its course.
Living authors, on the contrary, are continually in public
view, and exposed to the full glare of scrutinizing familiarity.
Though we may occasionally wonder at their eagle soarings,
yet we soon behold them descend to our own level, and often
sink below it. Their habits of seclusion make them less
easy and engaging in society than the mere man of fashion,
whose only study is to please. Their ignorance of the common topics of the day, and of matters of business, frequently
makes them inferior in conversation to men of ordinary capacities, while the constitutional delicacy of their minds and
irritability of their feelings, make them prone to more than
ordinary caprices. At one time solitary and unsocial, at another listless and petulant, often trifling among the frivolous,
and not unfrequently the dullest among the dull. All these
circumstances tend to diminish our respect and admiration of
their mental excellence, and show clearly, that authors, like
actors, to be impartially critized, should never be known behind the scenes.




OF THOIMAS CAMPBELL.:i
Such are a few of the causes that operate in Europe to defraud an author of the candid judgment of his countrymen,
but their influence does not extend to this side of the Atlantic.
We are placed, in some degree, in the situation of posterity.
The vast ocean that rolls between us, like a space of time,
removes us beyond the sphere of personal favor, personal
prejudice, or personal familiarity. An European work, therefore, appears before us depending simply on its intrinsic merl
its. W~e have no private friendship nor party purpose to
serve by magnifying the author's merits, and in sober sadness
the humble state of our national literature places us far below any feeling of national rivalship.
But while our local situation thus enables us to exercise the
enviable impartiality of posterity, it is evident we must share
likewise in one of its disadvantages. We are in as complete
ignorance respecting the biography of most living authors of
celebrity, as though they had existed ages before our time,
and indeed are better informed concerning the character and
lives of authors who have long since passed away, than of
those who are actually adding to the stores of European
literature. Few think of writing the anecdotes of a distinguished character while living. His intimates, who of
course are most capable, are prevented by their very intimacy, little thinking that those domestic habits and peculiarities, which an every day's acquaintance has made so trite
and familiar to themselves, can be objects of curiosity to all
the world besides.  Thus then we who are too distant to
gather those particulars concerning foreign authors, that are
circulated from  mouth to mouth in their native countries,
must content ourselves to remain in almost utter ignorance;
unless perchance some friendly magazine now and then gives
us a meagre and apocryphal account of them, which rather
provokes than satisfies our curiosity. A proof of these assert
tions will be furnished in the following sketch, which, unsatisfactory as it is, contains all the information we can collect,
concerning a British poet of rare and exquisite endowments.
Thomas Campbell was born at Glasgow on the 27th Sep



Xii               BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
tember, 1777. He was the youngest son of Mr. Alexander
Campbell, a merchant of that city, highly spoken of for his
amiable manners and unblemished integrity; who united the
scholar and the man of business, and amidst the engrossing
cares and sordid pursuits of business, cherished an enthusiastic love of literature.
It may not be uninteresting to the American reader to
know that Mr. Campbell, the poet, had near connexions in
this country. His father passed several years of' his youth
at Falmouth, in Virginia, but returned to Europe before the
revolutionary war. His uncle, who had accompanied his
father across the Atlantic, remained in Virginia, where his
family uniformly maintained a highly respectable station in
society. One of his sons was district attorney under the adrlinistration of WTashington, and was celebrated for his demeanor. HIe died in 1705. Robert Campbell, a brother of
the poet, settled in Virginia, where he married a daughter of
the celebrated Patrick Henry.  lie died about 1.807.
The genius of Mr. Campbell showed itself almost in his
infancy. At the age of seven he displayed a vivacity of imagination and a vigor of mind surprising in such early youth.
He now commenced the study of Latin under the care of the
Rev. David Alison, a teacher of distinguished reputation. A
strong  inclination for poetry was already discernible in
him, and it was not more than two years after this, that, as
we are told, " he began to try his wings."  None of the first
flutterings of his muse, however, have been preserved, but
they had their effect in rendering him an object of favor
and attention, aided no doubt by his personal beauty, his
generous sensibility, and the gentleness and modesty of his
deportment. At twelve he entered the university of Glasgow,
and in the following year gained a bursary on Bishop Leighton's foundation, for a translation of one of the comedies of
Aristophanes, which he executed in verse. This triumph was
the more honorable fiom being gained after a hard contest
over a rival candidate of nearly twice his age, who was considered one of the best scholars in the university. His second




OF TEHOMAS CAMrPBELL.                xiii
prize-exercise was the translation of a tragedy of Eschylus,
likewise in verse, which he gained without opposition, as
none of the students would enter the lists with him.  IEe
continued seven years in the university, during which time
his talents and application were testified by yearly academical
prizes. He was particularly successful in his translations
from the Greek, in which language he took great delight;
and on receiving his last prize for one of these performances,
the Greek professor publicly pronounced it the best that had
ever been produced in the university.
lHe made equal proficiency in other branches of study
especially in Moral Philosophy; he attended likewise the
academical course of Law  and Physic, but pursued none of
these studies with a view to a profession. On the contrary,
the literary passion, we are told, was already so strong with
him, that he could not endure the idea of devoting himself to
any of the dull and sordid pursuits of busy life. His father
influenced by his own love of literature, indulged those wayward fancies in his son, building fond hopes on his early display of talent. At one time, it is true, a part of the family
expressed a wish that he should be fitted for the Church, but
this was overruled by the rest, and he was left without further opposition to the impulses of his genius, and the seductions of the muse.
After leaving the university lie passed some time among
the mountains of Argyleshire, at the seat of Colonel Napier,
a descendant of Napier Baron Merchester, the celebrated inventor of logarithims.  It is suggested that he may have imbibed from this gentleman his taste and knowledge of the
military arts, traces of which are to be seen throughout his
poems. From Argyleshire he went to Edinburgh, where the
reputation he had acquired at the university gained him a
favorable reception into the literary and scientific circles of
that intellectual city. Among others he was particularly
noticed by professors Stewart and Playfair.  To the ardor
and elevation of mind awakened by such associates may we
ascribe, in a great measure, the philosophical spirit and moral
2




IV                 BEIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
sublimity displayed in his first production, c" The Pleasures of
Hope," written during his residence in Edinburgh, when he
was but twenty years of age.
Inexperienced in authorship, and doubtful of success, he
disposed of the copy-right of his poemn for an inconsiderable
sum. It was received by the public with acclamation, and
ran through two editions in the course of a few months,when
his bookseller permitted him to publish a splendid edition for
himself, by which means he was enabled in some measure, to
participate in the golden harvest of his talent. His great
reward, however, was the bright and enduring reputation
which he instantly acquired, as one of the legitimate line of
British poets.
The passion for German literature which prevailed at this
time in Great Britian, awakened a desire in Mr. Campbell to
study it at the fountain head. This, added to a curiosity to
visit foreign parts, induced him to embark for Germany in
the year 1800. He had originally fixed upon the college of
Jena for his first place of residence, but on arriving at Hamburgh he found, by the public prints, that a victory had been
gained by the French near Ulm, and that Munich and the
heart of Bavaria were the theatre of an interesting war.
1" One moment's sensation," he observes in a letter to a relation in this country, 4" the single hope of seeing human nature exhibited in its most dreadful attitude, overturned my
past decisions. I got down to the seat of war some weeks
before the summer armistice of 1800, and indulged in what
vou will call the criminal curiosity of witnessing blood and
desolation. Never shall time efface from my memory the
recollection of that hour of astonishment and suspended breath,
when I stood with the good monks of St. Jacob, to overlook a
charge of Klenaw's cavalry upon the French under Grennier,
encamped below us. We saw the fire given and returned,
and heard distinctly the sound of the French pas de charge,
collecting the lines to attack in close column.  After three
hours' awaiting the issue of a severe action, a park of artillery was opened just beneath the walls of the monastery, and




OF THOMAS CAMiPBELL.               XV
several wagoners that were stationed to convey the wounded
in spring wagons, were killed in our sight. My love of novelty now gave way to personal fears  I took a carriage in comnpany with an Austrian surgeon back to Landshut," &c. This
awful spectacle he has described with all the poet's fire, in
his Battle of Hohenlinden; a poem which perhaps contains
more grandeur and martial sublimity, than is to be found any
where else in the same compass of English poetry.
From Landshut Mr. Campbell proceeded to Ratisbon, where
he was at the time it was taken possession of by the French
and expected as an Englishman to be made prisoner, but he
observes c" Moreau's army was under such excellent discipline,
and the behavior both of officers and men so civil, that I soon
mixed among them without hesitation, and formed many
agreeable acquaintances at the messes of their brigade stationed in town, to which their chef de brigade often invited
me. This worthy man, Colonel Le Fort, whose kindness I
shall ever remember with gratitude, gave me a protection to
pass through the whole army of Moreau."
After this he visited different parts of Germany, in the
course of which he paid one of the casual taxes on travelling,
being plundered among the Tyrolese mountains, by a scoundrel Croat, of his clothes, his books, and thirty ducats in gold.
About midwinter he returned to Hamburgh, where he remained four months, in the expectation of accompanying a
young gentleman of Edinburgh in a tour to Constantinople.
His unceasing thirst for knowledge, and his habits of industrious application, prevented these months from passing
heavily or unprofitably. " My time at Hamburgh," he observes, in one of his letters, "' was chiefly employed in reading German, and, I am almost ashamed to confess it, for
twelve successive weeks in the study of Kant's Philosophy,
I had heard so much of it in Germany, its language was so
new to me, and the possibility of its application to so many
purposes in the different theories of science and belles-lettres
was so constantly maintained, that I began to suspect Kant
might be another Bacon, and blamed myself for not perceiving




Xvi              BIOGRAPrIICAL SIETCH
his merit. Distrusting my own imperfect acquaintance with
the German, I took a Disciple of Kant's for a guide through
his philosophy, but found, even with all this fabi play, nothing
to reward my labor. His metaphysics are mere innovations
upon the received meaning of words, and the coinage of' new
ones convey no more instruction than the distinctions of Dun
Scotus and Thomas Aquinas. In belles-lettres, the German
language opens a richer field than in their philosophy. I
cannot conceive a more perfect poet than their favorite Wieland."
While in Germany an edition of his Pleasures of -lope was
proposed for publication in Vienna, but was forbidden by the
court, in consequence of those passages which relate to Kosciusko, and the partition of Poland. Being disappointed in
his projected visit to Constantinople, he returned to England
in 1801, after nearly a year's absence, which had been passed
much to his satisfaction and improvement, and had stored his
mind with grand and awful images. " I remember," says he,
"' how little I valued the art of painting before I got into the
heart of such impressive scenes; but in Germany, I would
have given anything to have possessed an art capable of conveying ideas inaccessible to speech and writing. Some particular scenes were indeed rather overcharged with that degree of the terrific which oversteps the sublime, and I own
my flesh yet creeps at the recollection of sparing, wagons tand
Iospials-but the sight of Ingolstadt in ruins, or Hohenlinden covered with fire, seven miles in circumference, were
spectacles never to be forgotten."
On returning to England, he visited London for the first
time, where, though unprovided with a single letter of introduction, the celebrity of his writings procured him the immediate notice and attentions of the best society. The following
brief sketch which he gives of a literary club in London, will
be gratifjying to those who have felt an interest in the anecdotes of Addison and his knot of beaux esprits at Button's coffee house, and Johnson and his learned fraternity at the
Turk's head. —c Mackintosh, the Vindicim Gallicw was par



OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.                 XV1L
ticularly attentive to me, and took me with him to his convivial parties at the King of Clubs, a place dedicated to the
meetings of the reigning wits of London, and, in fact, a lineal
descendant of the Johnson, Burke, and Goldsmith society,constituted for literary conversations. The dining table of these
knights of literature was an arena of very keen conversational
rivalship, maintained, to be sure, with perfect good nature, but
in which the gladiators contended as hardly as ever the
French and Austrians in the scenes I had just witnessed.
Much, however, as the wit and erudition of these men pleases
an auditor of the first or second visit, this trial of minds becomes at last fatiguing, because it is unnatural and unsatisfactory. Every one of these brilliants goes their to shine;
for conversational powers are so much the rage in London,
that no reputation is higher than his who exhibits them.
Where every one tries to instruct, there is in fact but little instruction: wit, paradox, eccentricity, even absurdity, if delivered rapidly and facetiously, takes priority in these societies
of sound reasonings and delicate taste. I have watched
sometimes the devious tide of conversation, guided by accidental associations, turning from  topic to topic and satisfactory upon none. What has one learned? has been my
general question. The mind, it is true, is electrified and
quickened, and the spirits finely exhilarated, but one grand
fault' pervades the whole institution;  their inquiries are
desultory, and all improvements to be reaped must be accidental."
The friendship of Mrs. Siddons was another acquisition, of
which Mr. Campbell spoke with great pleasure; and what
rendered it more gratifying was its being unsought for. It
was the means of introducing him to mLuchl excellent society
in London. " The character of that great woman," he observes, "is but little understood, and more misrepresented
than any living character I know, by those who envy her reputation, or by those ofthe aristocracy, whom her irresistible
dignity obliges to pay their homage at a respectable distance,
The reserve of her demeanor is banished toward those who




Xviii              BIOGRAPH ICAL SKETCH
show neither meanness in flattering her, nor forwardness in
approaching her too familiarly. The friends of her fireside
are only such as she talks to and ttlls of with affection and
respect.
The recent visit of Mr. Campbell to the continent had
increased rather than gratified his desire to travel. He now
contemplated another tour, for the purpose of improving himself in the knowledge of foreign languages and foreign manners in the course of which he intended to visit Italy and pass
some time at Rome. From this plan he was diverted, most
probably by an attachment he formed to a Miss Sinclair, a distant relation, whom he married in 1803. This change in his
situation naturally put an end to all his wandering propensities, and he established himself at Sydenham in Kent, near
London, where he devoted himself to literature. Not long
afterward he received a solid and flattering token of the royal
approbation of his poem of the Pleasures of Hope in a pension
of 2001. What made this mark of royal favor the more gratifying was, that it was granted for no political services rendered or expected. Mr. Campbell was not of the court party,
but of the constitutional whigs. IHe has uniformly, both before and since, been independent in his opinions and writings;
a sincere and enthusiastic lover of liberty, and advocate for
popular rights.
Though withdrawn friom the busy world in his retirement
at Sydenham, yet the genius of Mr. Campbell, like a true
brilliant, occasionally flashed upon the public eye in a number of exquisite little poems, which appeared occasionally in
the periodical works of the day. Among these were Hohenlinden and Lochiel, exquisite gems, sufficient of themselves
to establish his title to the sacred name of poet: and the
Mariners of England and the Battle of the Baltic, two of the
noblest national songs ever written, fraught with sublime
imagery and lofty sentiments, and delivered in a gallant
swelling vein, that lifts the soul into heroics.
In the beginning of 1809, he gave to the public his Gertrude of Wyoming, connected with the fortunes of one of our




OF' THOMIAS CAMPBELL.               xxi
little patriarchal villages on the banks of the Susquehannall,
laid desolate by the Indians during our revolutionary war.
There is no great scope in the story of this poem, nor any very
skilful development of the plan, but it contains passages of
exquisite grace, and tenderness, and others of spirit and grandeur; and the character of Outalissi is a classic delineation
of one of our native savages:A stoic of the woods, a man without a tear.
What gave this poem especial interest in our eyes at the time
of its appearance, and awakened a strong feeling of good will
toward the author, was, that it related to our own country,
and was calculated to give a classic charm to some of our own
home scenery. The following remarks were elicited from us
at the time, though the subsequent lapse of thirty years has
improved the cogency of many of them.
" We have so long been accustomed to experience little
else than contumely, misrepresentation, and very witless ridicule from the British press; and we have had such repeated
proof of the extreme ignorance and absurd errors that prevail in Great Britain respecting our country and its inhabitants, that we confess, we were both surprised and gratified to
meet with a poet, sufficiently unprejudiced to conceive an idea
of moral excellence and natural beauty on this side of the
Atlantic. Indeed even this simple show of liberality has
drawn on the poet the censures and revilings of a host of
narrow-minded writers,with whom liberality to this country is
a crime.  We are sorry to see such pitiful manifestations of
hostility toward us. Indeed we must say, that we consider
the constant acrimnony and traduction indulged by the Britislh press, toward this country, to be as opposite to the interest as it is derogatory to the candor and magnanimity of the
nation. It is operating to widen the difference between two
nations, which, if left to the impulse of their own feelings,
would naturally grow together, and among the sad changes
of this disastrous world, be mutual supports and comforts to
each other.




XX                BIOGRAPHICAL SKE'TCHt
" Whatever may be the occasional collisions of etiquette
and interest which will inevitably take place between two
great commercial nations, whose property and people are
spread far and wide on the face of the ocean; whatever may
be the clamorous expressions of hostility vented at such times
by our unreflecting populace, or rather uttered in their name
by a host of hireling scribblers, who pretend to speak the sentiments of the people; it is certain, that the well educated
and well informed class of our citizens entertain a deep rooted good-will, and a rational esteem for Great Britian. It is
almost impossible it should be otherwise.  Independent of
those hereditary affections, which spring up spontaneously
for,the nation from whence we have descended, the single
circumstance of imbibing our ideas from the same authors,
has a powerful effect in causing an attachment.
" The writers of Great Britain are the adopted citizens of
our country, and, though they have no legislative voice, exercise a powerful influence over our opinions and affections.
In these works we have British valor, British magnanimity,
British might, and British wisdom  continually befbre our
eyes, portrayed in the most captivating colors, and are thus
brought up, in constant contemhplation of all that is amiable
and illustrious in the British character. To these works likewise we resort, in every varying mood of mind, or vicissitude
of fortune.  Thley are our delight in the hour of relaxation;
the solemn monitors and instructors of our closet; our comforters under the gloom of despondency.  In the season of
early life, in the strength of manhood, and still in  the
weakness and apathy of age, it is to them we are indebted
for our hours of refined and unalloyed enjoyment. When we
turn our eyes to England, therefore, from whence this bounteous tide of literature pours in upon us, it is with such feelings as the Egyptian, when he looks toward the sacred
source of that stream, which, rising in a far distant country,
flows down upon his own barren soil, diffusingriches, beauty,
and fertility.
"' Surely it cannot be the interest of Great Britian to trifle




OF TTHOMIAS CAIPB;LL.               xxi
with such feelings. Surely the good-will, thus cherished
among the best hearts of a country, rapidly increasing in
power and importance, is of too much consequence to be
scornfully neglected or surlily dashed away. It most certainly therefore would be both politic and honorable, for
those enlightened British writers, who sway the sceptre of
criticism, to expose these constant misrepresentations and
discountenance these galling and unworthy insults of the
pen, whose elTect is to mislead and to irritate, without serving
one valuable purpose.  They  engender gross prejudices
in great Britian, inimical to a proper national understanding,
while with us they wither all those feelings of kindness and
consanguinity, that were shooting forth, like so many tendrils, to attach us to our parent country.
" While therefore we regard the poem of Mr Campbell
with complacency, as evincing an opposite spirit to this, of
which we have just complained, there are other reasons likewise, which interest us in its favor. Among the lesser evils,
incident to the infant state of our country, we have to lament
its almost total deficiency in those local associations produced
by history and moral fiction. These may appear trivial to
the common mass of readers; but the mind of taste and sensibility will at once acknowledge it, as constituting a great
source of national pride, and love of country. There is an
inexpressible charm imparted to every place, that has been
celebrated by the historian, or immortalized by the poet; a
charm that dignifies it in the eyes of the stranger, and endears
it to the heart of the native inhabitant. Of this romantic attraction we are almost entirely destitute. While every insignificant hill and turbid stream in classic Europe has been
hallowed by the visitations of the muse, and contemplated
with fond enthusiasm; our lofty mountains and stupendous
cataracts excite no poetical feelings, and our majestic rivers
roll their waters unheeded, because unsung.
" Thus circumstanced, the sweet strains of Mr. Campbell's
muse break upon us as gladly as would the pastoral pipe of
the sheperd, amid the savage solitude of one of our trackless




Xxii            3BIOGRAPIICAL SKETCHI
wildernesses. We are delighted to witness the air of captivating romance, and rural beauty our native fields and wild
woods can assume under the plastic pencil of a master; and
while wandering with the poet among the shady groves of
Wyoming, or along the banks of the Susquehanna, almost
fancy ourselves transported to the side of some classic stream,
in the " hollow breastof Appenine."  This may assist to convince many, who were before slow to believe, that our own
country is capable of inspiring the highest poetic feelings and
furnishing abundance of poetic imagery, though destitute of
the hackneyed materials of poetry; though its groves are not
vocal with the song of' the nightingale; though no naiads
have ever sported in its streams, nor satyrs and driads gambolled among its forests. Wherever nature displays herself
in simple beauty or wild magnificence, and wherever the human mind appears in new and striking situations, neither the
poet nor the philosopher can want subjects worthy of his
genius."
As we before remarked, the lapse of thirty years has materially impaired the cogency of the forgoing remarks. The
acrimony and traduction of the British press produced the
effect apprehended, and contributed to hasten a war between
the two nations. That war, however, made us completely a
nation, and destroyed our mental dependence on England
forever.  A literature of our own has subsequently sprung
up, and is daily increasing with wonderful fecundity; promising to counteract the undue influence of British literature,
and to furnish us with productions in all departments of
taste and knowledge, illustrative of our country, its history
and its people, and in harmony with our condition and the
nature of our institutions.
We have but a word or two to add concerning Mr. Campbell. In 1810 he published " O'Connor's Child, or Love lies
Bleeding," an uncommonly spirited and affecting little tale.
Since then he has given at intervals a variety of minor poems
to the public, all possessing the same beauty of thought and
delicacy of finish that distinguished his early productions. If




OF THOIAS CAMPBELL.              XXiii
some disappointment has been experienced by his admirers,
that he has not effected any of those grand achievements in
poetry which had been anticipated from his juvenile performances, they should congratulate themselves that he has never sunk from the pure and elevated height to which he so suddenly attained. Many years since, we hailed the productions
of his muse as c" beaming forth like the pure lights of heaven, among the meteor exhalations and paler fires with which
our literary atmosphere abounds;" since that time many of
those meteors and paler fires that dazzled and bewildered the
public eye, have fallen to the earth and passed away, and still
we find his poems like the stars, shining on, with undiminished lustre.








GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
PART I.
3




ADVERTISEMENT.
MOST of the popular histories of England, as well as olf
the American war, give an authentic account of the desolad
tion of Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, which took place in 1778,
by an incursion of the Indians. The scenery and incidents of
the following Poem are connected with that event. The testimonies of historians and travellers concur in describing the
infant colony as one of the happiest spots of human existence,
for the hospitable and innocent manners of the inhabitants,
the beauty of the country, and the luxuriant fertility of the
soil and climate. In an evil hour, the junction of European
with Indian arms converted this terrestrial paradise into a
frightful waste. MR. IsAAc WELD informs us that the ruins
of many of the villages, perforated with balls, and bearing
marks of conflagration, were still preserved by the recent inhabitants, when he travelled through America, in 1796.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
PART I.
I.
On Susquehannah's side, fair Wyoming!
Although the wild-flower on thy ruin'd 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 wave their morn restore.
Sweet land! may I thy lost delights recall,
And paint thy Gertrude in her bowers of yore,
Whose beauty was the love of Pennsylvania s
shore!
II.
Delightful Wyoming! beneath thy shies,
The happy shepherd swains had nought 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 forests brown,
Thy lovely maidens would the dance renew;




4         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
And aye those sunny mountains half-way down
Would echo flagelet from some romantic town.
III.
Then, where of Indian hills the daylight takes
His leave, how might you the flamingo see
Disporting like a meteor on the lakesAnd 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 nought their revelry,
The wild deer arched his neck from glades, and
then
UJnhunted, sought his woods and wilderness again.
IV.
And scarce had Wyoming of war or crime
Heard, but in Transatlantic story rung,
For here the exile met from every clime,
And spoke in friendship every distant tongue:
Men from the blood of warring Europe sprung,
Were but divided by the running brook;
And happy where no Rhenish trumpet sung,
On plains no seiging mine's volcano shook,
The blue-eyed German changed his sword to pruning-hook.
V.
Nor far some Andalusian saraband
Would sound to many a native roundelay



GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.             5
But who is he that yet a dearer land
Remembers, over hills and far away?
Green Albin! what though he no more survey
Thy ships at anchor on the quiet shore,
Thy pellochst rolling from the mountain bay,
Thy lone sepulchral cairn upon the moor,
And distant isles that hear the loud Corbrechta
roar!:
VI.
Alas! poor Caledonia's mountaineer,
That want's stern edict e'er, and feudal grief,
Had forced him from a home he loved so dear!
Yet found he here a home, and glad relief,
And plied the beverage from his own fair sheaf,
That fired his Highland blood with mickle glee:
And England sent her men, of men the chief,
Who taught those sires of Empire yet to be,
To plant the tree of life, —to plant fair Freedom's
tree!
VII.
Here were not mingled in the city's pomp
To life's extremes the grandeur and the gloom;
Judgment awoke not here her dismal troimp,
Nor seal'd in blood a fellow-creature's doom,
* Scotland.
t The Gaelic appellation for the porpoise.
T'lhe great whirlpool of the Western Hebrides.
3*




6          GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
Nor mourn'd the captive in a living tomb.
One venerable man, beloved of all,
Sufficed, where innocence was yet in bloom,
To sway the strife that seldom might befall:
And Albert was their judge in patriarchal hall.
VIII.
How reverend was the look, serenely aged,
He bore, this gentle Pennsylvanian sire,
Where all but kindly fervours were assuaged,
Undimm'd by weakness' shade, or turbid ire!
And though, amidst the calm of thought entire,
Some high and haughty features might betray
A soul impetuous once,'twas earthly fire
That fled composure's intellectual ray,
As AEtna's fires, grow dim before the rising day.
IX.
I boast no song in magic wonders rife,
But yet, oh Nature! is there nought to prize,
Familiar in thy bosom scenes of life?
And dwells in daylight truth's salubrious skies
No form with which the soul may sympathise?
Young, innocent, on whose sweet forehead mild
The parted ringlet shone in simplest guise,
An inmate in the home of Albert smiled,
Or blessed his noon-day walk-she was his only
child.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.           7
X.
The rose of England bloomed on Gertrude's
cheek-     I
What though these shades had seen her birth, her
sire
A Briton's independence taught to seek
Far western worlds; and there his household fire
The light of social love did long inspire,
And many a halcyon day he lived to see
Unbroken but by one misfortune dire,
When fate had'reft his mutual heart —but she
Was gone —and Gertrude climb'd a widow'd father's knee.
XI.
A loved bequest, —and I may half impart,
To them that feel the strong paternal tie,
How like a new existence to his heart
That living flower uprose beneath his eye,
Dear as she was from cherub infancy,
From hours when she would round his garden
play,
To time when as the ripening years went by,
Her lovely mind could culture well repay,
And more engaging-grew, from pleasing day to day.
XII.
I may not paint those thousand infant charms;
(Unconscious fascination, undesigned!)




S          GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
The orison repeated in his arms,
For God to bless her sire and all mankind;
The book, the bosom on his knee reclined,
Or how sweet fairy-lore he heard her con,
(The playmate ere the teacher of her mind:)
All uncompanion'd else her heart had gone
Till now, in Gertrude's eyes, their ninth blue summer shone.
XIII.
And summer was the tide, and sweet the hour,
When sire and daughter saw, with fleet descent,
An Indian from his bark approach their bower,
Of buskin'd limb, and swarthy lineament;
The red wild feathers on his brow were blent,
And bracelets bound the arm that help'd to light
A boy, who seem'd, as he beside him went,
Of Christian vesture, and complexion bright,
Led by his dusky guide, like morning brought by
night.
XIV.
Yet pensive seem'd the boy for one so youngThe dimple from his polish'd cheek had fled;
When, leaning on his forest-bow unstrung,
Th' Oneida warrior to the planter said,
And laid his hand upon the stripling's head,
" Peace be to thee! my words this belt approve;
The paths of peace my steps have hither led:




GRETRUDE OF WYOMING.           9
This little nursling, take him to thy love,
And shield the bird unfledged, since gone the parent dove.
V,.
"Christian! I am the foeman of thy foe;
Our wampum league thy brethren did embrace:
Upon the Michigan, three moons ago,
We launch'd our pirogues for the bison chase,
And with the Hurons planted for a space,
With true and faithful hands, the olive stalk;
But snakes are in the bosoms of their race,
And though they held with us a friendly talk,
The hollow peace-tree fell beneath their tomakawk!
XVI.
" It was encamping on the lake's far port,
A cry of Areouski* broke our sleep,
Where storm'd an ambush'd foe thy nation's fort,
And rapid, rapid whoops came o'er the deep;
But long thy country's war-sign on the steep
Appear'd through ghastly intervals of light,
And deathfully their thunder seem'd to sweep,
Till utter darkness swallow'd up the sight,
As if a shower of blood had quench'd the fiery
fight!
* The Indian God of War.




10         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
XVII.
" It slept-it rose again-on high their tower
Sprang upward like a torch to light the skies,
Then down again it rain'd an ember shower,
And louder lamentations heard we rise;
As when the evil Manitou,* that dries
Th' Ohio woods, consumes them in his ire,
In vain the desolated panther flies,
And howls amidst his wilderness of fire:
Alas! too late, we reach'd and smote those Hurons dire!
XVIII.
" But as the fox beneath the nobler hound,
So died their warriors by our battle brand:
And from the tree we, with her child, unbound
A lonely mother of the Christian land:Her lord-the captain of the British bandAmidst the slaughter of his soldiers lay.
Scarce knew the widow our delivering hand;
Upon her child she sobb'd, and swoon'd away,
Or shriek'd unto the God to whom the Christians
pray.
XiX.
"Our virgins fed her with their kindly bowls
Of fever-balm and sweet sagamite:
But she was journeying to the land of souls,
And lifted up her dying head to pray
* Manitou, Spirit or Deity.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.                 1i
That we should bid an ancient friend convey
Her orphan to his home of England's shore;And take, she said, this token far away,
To one that will remember us of yore,
When he beholds the ring that Waldegrave's Julia wore.
xx.
"' And I, the eagle of my tribe,* have rush'd
With this lorn dove."-A sage's self-command
Had  quell'd  the tears from  Albert's heart that
gush'd
But yet his cheek-bis agitated handThat shower'd upon the stranger of the land
No common boon, in grief but ill-beguiled
A soul that was not wont to be unmann'd;
"' And stay," he cried, " dear pilgrim of the wild,
Preserver of my old, my boon companion's
child!
X XI
i' Child of a race whose name my bosom warms,
On earth's remotest bounds how  welcome here!
Whose mother oftj a child, has fill'd these arms,
Young as thyself, and innocently dear,
* The Indians are distinguished, both personally and by tribes, by the
names of particular animals, whose qualities they affect to resemble, either
for cunning, strength, swiftnless, or other qualities:-as the eagle, the
serpent, the fox, or bear.




152         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
Whose grandsire was my early life's compeer.
All, happiest home of England's happy clime!
How beautiful e'en now thy scenes appear,
As in the noon and sunshine of my prime!
How gone like yesterday these thrice ten years of
time 
XXII.
"And, Julia! when thou wert like  Gertrude
now,
Can I forget thee, favorite child of yore?
Or thought I, in thy father's house, when thou
Wert lightest hearted on his festive floor,
And first of all his hospitable door
To meet and kiss me at my journey's end?
But where was I when Waldegrave was no more?
And thou did'st pale thy gentle head extend
In woes, that e'en the tribe of deserts was thy
friend!"
XXIII.
He said-alnd strain'd unto his heart the boy:Far differently the mute Oneida took
His calumet of peace, and cup of joy;:
As monumental bronze unchanged his look;
A soul that pity touch'd but never shook;
* Calumet of Peace. —The calumet is the Indian name for the ornamental pipe of friendship, which they smoke as a pledge of amity.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.               13
Trained from his tree-rock'd cradle* to his bier
The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook,
Impassive-fearing but the shame of fearA stoic of the woods-a man without a tear.
XXIV.
Yet deem not goodness on the savage stock
Of Outalissi's heart disdain'd to grow;
As lives the oak unwither'd on the rock,
By storms above, and barrenness below;
He scorn'd his own, who felt another's wo;
And ere the wolf-skin on his back he flung,
Or laced his moccasins, in act to go,
A song of parting to the boy he sung,
Who slept on Albert's couch, nor heard his friendly tongue.
XXV.
"t Sleep, wearied one! and in the dreaming land
Shouldst thou to-morrow with thy mother meet,
Oh! tell her spirit that the white man's hand
Hath pluck'd the thorns of sorrow from thy feet;
While I in lonely wilderness shall greet
Thy little footprints-or by traces know
The fountain, where at noon I thought it sweet
a Tre-rockld cradle. —The Indian mothers suspend their children in
their cradles from the boughs of trees, and let them be rocked by the
wilrd.
4




14           GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
To feed thee with the quarry of my bow,
And pour'd the lotus-horn,* or slew the mountain
roe.
"Adieu! sweet scion of the rising sun!
But should affliction's storms thy blossom mock,
Then come again-my own adopted one,
And I will graft thee on a noble stock:
Tilhe crocodile, the condor of the rock,
Shall be the pastime of thy sylvan wars;
And I will teach thee, in the battle's shock,
To pay with Huron blood thy father's scars,
And gratulate his soul rejoicing in the stars!"
sXVII.
So finish'd he the rhyme (,howe'er uncouth)
That true to nature's fervid feelings ran,
(And song is but the eloquence of truth:)
Then forth uprose that lone wayfaring manll
But dauntless he, nor chart, nor journey's plan
In woods required, whose trained eye was keen
As eagle of the wilderness to scan
His path, by mountain, swamp, or deep ravine,
Or ken far friendly huts on good savannas green.
* From a flower shaped like a horn, which Chateaubriand presumes to
be of the lotus kind, the Indians in their travels though the desert often
find a draught of dew purer than any other water.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.          15
XXVIII.
Old Albert saw him from the valley's sideHis pirogue launch'd-his pilgrimage begunFar, like the red-bird's wing he seem'd to glide;
Then dived, and vanished in the woodlands dun.
Oft, to that spot by tender memory won,
Would Albert climb the promontory's height,
If but a dim sail glimmer'd in the sun;
But never more, to bless his longing sight,
Was Outalissi hail'd, with bark and plumage
bright.








GERTRUIDE OF WYOMING.
PART II.
4*








GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
PART II.
A VALLEY from the river-shore withdrawn
Was Albert's home, two quiet woods between,
Whose lofty verdure overlook'd his lawn;
And waters to their resting-place serene
Came freshening, and reflecting all the scene,
(A mirror in the depth of flowery shelves;)
So sweet a spot of earth, you might (I ween)
Have guess'd some congregation of the elves,
To sport by summer moons, had shaped it for
themselves.
II.
Yet wanted not the eye far scope to muse,
Nor vistas open'd by the wandering stream;
Both where at evening Allegany views,
Through ridges burning in her western beam,
Lake after lake interminably gleam:
And past those settler's haunts the eye might roam
Where earth's unliving silence all would seem;




620        GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
Save where on rocks the beaver built his dome,
Or buffalo remote low'd far from human home.
III.
But silent not that adverse eastern path,
Which saw Aurora's hills th' horizon crown;
There was the river heard, in bed of wrath,
(A precipice of foam from mountains brown,)
Like tumults heard from some far distant town;
But softening in approach he left his gloom,
And murmur'd pleasantly, and laid him down
To kiss those easy curving banks of bloom,
That lent the windward air an exquisite perfume.
IV.
It seem'd as if those scenes sweet influence had
On Gertrude's soul, and kindness like their own
Inspired those eyes affectionate and glad,
That seem'd to love whate'er they looked upon;
Whether with Hebe's mirth her features shone,
Or if a shade more pleasing them o'ercast,
(As if for heavenly musing meant alone,)
Yet so becomingly th' expression past,
That each succeeding look was lovelier than the
last.
V.
Nor, guess I, was that Pennsylvanian home,
With all its picturesque and balmy grace,




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.          21
And fields that were a luxury to roam,
Lost on the soul that look'd from such a face!
Enthusiast of the woods! when years apace
Had bound thy lovely waist with woman's zone,
The sunrise path, at morn, I see thee trace
To hills with high magnolia overgrown,
And joy to breathe the groves, romantic and alone.
VI.
The sunrise drew her thoughts to Europe forth,
That thus apostrophized its viewless scene:
"s Land of my father's love, my mother's birth!
The home of kindred I have never seen!
We know not other —oceans are between:
Yet say! far friendly hearts, from whence we came,
Of us does oft remembrance intervene?
My mother, sure-my sire-a thought may claim;
But Gertrude is to you an unregarded name.
VII.
" And yet, loved England! when thy name I trace
In many a pilgrim's tale and poet's song,
_How can I choose but wish for one embrace
Of them, the dear unknown, to whom belong
My mother's looks,-perhaps her likeness strong?
Oh, parent! with what reverential awe,
From features of thine own related throng,
An image of thy face my soul could draw 1
And see thee once again whom I too shortly saw!"




202         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
VIII.
Yet deenm not Gertrude sigh'd for foreign joy;
To soothe a father's couch, her only care,
And keep his reverend head from all annoy:
For this, methinks her homeward steps repair,
Soon as the morning wreath had bound her hair;
While yet the wild deer trod in spangling dew,
While boatmen caroll'd to the fresh-blown air,
And woods a horizontal shadow threw,
An early fox appeared in momentary view,
IX.
Apart there was a deep untrodden grot,
Where oft the reading hours sweet Gertrude wore;
Tradition had not named its lonely spot;
But here (methinks) might India's sons explore
Their father's dust, * or lift perchance of yore,
Their voice to the great Spirit:-rocks sublime
To human art a sportive semblance bore,
And yellow lichens color'd all the clime,
Like moonlight battlements, and towers decay'd
by time,
X.
But high in amphitheatre above,
Gay tinted woods their massy foliage threw:
* It is a custom of the Indian tribes to visit the tombs of their ancestors in the cultivated parts of America, who have been buried for upwards of a century.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMIING.          23
Breathed but an air of heaven, and all the grove
As if instinct with living spirit grew,
Rolling its verdant gulfs of every hue;
And now suspended was the pleasing din,
Now fiom a murmur faint it swell'd anew,
Like the first note of organ heard within
Cathedral aisles,-ere yet its symphony begin.
XIi
It was in this lone valley she would charm
The lingering noon, where flowers a couch had
strewn;
Her cheek reclining, and her snowy arm
On hillock by the palm-tree half o'ergrown:
And aye that volume on her lap is thrown,
Which every heart of human mould enidears;
With Shakspeare's self she speaks and smiles
alone,
And no intruding visitation fears,
To shame the unconscious laugh, or stop her
sweetest tears.
XII.
And nought within the grove was seen or heard
But stock-do-ves plaining through its gloom profound,
Or winglet of the fairy humming-bird,
Like atoms of the rainbow fluttering round;
When, lo! there enter'd to its inmost ground




24         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
A youth, the stranger of a distant land;
He was, to weet, for eastern mountains bound;
But late th' equator suns his cheek had tann'd,
And California's gales his roving bosom fann'd.
XIII.
A steed, whose rein hung' loosely o'er his arm,
He led dismounted; ere his leisure pace,
Amid the brown leaves, could her ear alarm,
Close he had come, and worshipp'd for a space
Those downcast features: —she her lovely face
Uplift on one, whose lineaments and frame
Wore youth and manhood's intermingled grace;
Iberian seem'd his boot-his robe the same,
And well the Spanish plume his lofty looks becanme.
XIV,
For Albert's home he sought-her finger fair
Has pointed where the father's mansion stood.
Returning from the copse, he soon was there:
And soon has Gertrude hied from dark greenwood;
Nor joyless, by the converse, understood
Between the man of age and pilgrim young,
That gay congeniality of mood,
And early liking from acquaintance sprung;
Full fluently conversed their guest in England's
tongue.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.            25
Xv.
And well could he his pilgrimage of taste
Unfold, —and much they loved his fervid strain,
While he each fair variety retraced
Of climes, and manners, o'er the eastern main.
Now happy Switzer's hills,-romantic Spain,Gay lilied fields of France, —or more refined,
The soft Ausonia's monumental reign;
Nor less each rural image he designed
Than all the city's pomp and home of human kind.
XVI.
Anon some wilder portraiture he draws;
Of Nature's savage glories he would speak,The loneliness of earth that overawes,Where, resting by some tomb of old cacique,
The lama-driver on Peruvia's peak
Nor living voice nor motion marks around;
But storks that to the boundless forest shriek,
Or wild-cane arch high flung o'er gulf profound,*
That fluctuates when the storms of El Dorado
sound.
xvI".
Pleased with his guest, the good man still would
ply
Each earnest question, and his converse court;
* The bridges over narrow streams in many parts of Spanish America
are said to be built of cane, whicl, however strong to support the passen5




26          GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
But Gertrude, as she eyed him, knew not -why
A strange and troubling wonder stopt her shorts
" In England thou hast been,-and, by report,
An orphan's name (quoth Albert) may'st have
known.
Sad tale!-when latest fell our frontier fort,One innocent-one soldier's child-alone
Was spared, and brought to me, who loved him
as my own.- -
" Young Henry Waldegrave! three delightful years
These very walls his infant sports did see 
But most I loved him when his parting tears
Alternately bedew'd my child and me:
His sorest parting, Gertrude, was from thee;
Nor half its grief his little heart could hold;
By kindred he was sent for o'er the sea;
They tore him from us when but twelve years old,
And scarcely for his loss have I been yet consoled!"
His face the wanderer hide-but could not hide
A tear, a smile, upon his cheek that dwell;"And speak! mysterious stranger!" (Gertrude
cried)
ger, are yet waved in the agitation of the storm, and tfequently add to
the effect of a mountainous and picturesque scenery.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.          27' It is!-it is! I knew-I knew him well!'Tis Waldegrave's self, of Waldegrave come to
tell!"
A burst of joy the father's lips declare,
But Gertrude speechless on his bosom fell;
At once his open arms embraced the pairWas never group more blest, in this wide world
of care.
XX.
"' And will ye pardon, then, (replied the youth)
Your Waldegrave's feigned name, and false attire?
I durst not in the neighborhood, in truth,
The very fortunes of your house inquire,
Lest one that knew me might some tidings dire
Impart, and I my weakness all betray;
For had I lost my Gertrude and my sire,
I meant but o'er your tombs to weep a day,
Unknowin I meant to weep, unknown to pass away.
XXI.
"But here ye live, —ye bloom, —in each dear
face
The changing hand of time I may not blame;
For there, it hath but shed more reverend grace,
And here, of beauty perfected the frame:
And well I know your hearts are still the sameThey could not change-ye look the very way
As when an orphan first to you I came.




28         GERTPRUD'E OF WYOMING.
And have ye heard of my poor guide, I pray?
Nay, wherefore weep ye, friends, on such a joyous day?"
XXII.
" And art thou here? or is it but a dream?
And wilt thou, Waldegrave, wilt thou, leave us
more?"
" No, never! thou that yet dost lovelier seem
Than aught on earth —than e'en thyself of yoreI will not part thee from thy faKl er's shore;
But we will cherish him with mutual arms,
And hand in hand again the path explore,
Which every ray of young remembrance warms,
While thou shalt be my own, with all thy truth
and charms!"
XXIII.
At morn, as if beneath a galaxy
Of over-arching groves in blossoms white,
Where all was odorous scent and harmony,
And gladness to the heart, nerve, ear, and sight:
There, if, oh gentle Love! I read aright
The utterance that seal'd thy sacred bond,'Twas listening to these accents of delight,
She hid upon his breast those eyes, beyond
Expression's power to paint, all languishingly
fon 1.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING-.         29
XXIV.
"Flower of my life, so lovely, and so lone!
Whom I would rather in this desert meet,
Scorning, and scorn'd by fortune's power, than
own
Her pomp and splendors lavish'd at my feet!
Turn not from me thy breath, more exquisite
Than odors cast on heaven's own shrine, to
pleaseGive me thy love, than luxury more sweet,
And more than all the wealth that loads the breeze,
When Coromandel's ships return  from  Indian
seas.)"
XXV.
Then would that home admit themn-happier far
Than grandeur's most magnificent saloon,
While here and there, a solitary star
Flushed in the darkening firmament of June,
And silence brought the soul-felt hour, full soon,
Ineffable, which I may not portray;
For never did the hymenean moon
A paradise of hearts more sacred sway,
In all that slept beneath her soft voluptuous ray.
5*








GEIRTRIUDE OF WYOMING.
PART III,








GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
PART III.
0 LOVE! in such a wilderness as this,
Where transport and security entwine,
Here is the empire of thy perfect bliss,
And here thou art a god indeed divine.
Here shall no forms abridge, no hours confine
The views, the walks, that boundless joy inspire!
Roll on, ye days of raptured influence, shine!
Nor, blind with ecstasy's celestial fire,
Shall love behold the spark of earth-born time
expire.
II.
Three little moons, how short! amidst the grove
And pastoral savannas they consume,
While she, beside her buskin'd youth to rove,
Delights, in fancifully wild costume,
Her lovely brow to shade with Indian plume;
And forth in hunter-seeming vest they fare;
But not to chase the deer in forest gloom;




34         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.'Tis but the breath of heaven-the blessed airAnd interchange of hearts, unknown, unseen to
share.
III.,
What though the sportive dog oft round them
note,
Or fawn, or wild bird bursting on the wing;
Yet who, in love's own presence, would devote
To death those gentle throats that wake the spring,
Or writhing from the brook its victim bring?
No!-nor let fear one little warbler rouse;
But fed by Gertrude's hand, still let them sing,
Acquaintance of her path, amidst the boughs,
That shade e'en now her love, and witness'd first
her vows.
IV.
Now labyrinths, which but themselves can pierce,
Methinks, conduct them to some pleasant ground,
Where welcome hills shut out the universe,
And pines their lawny walk encompass round;
There, if a pause delicious converse found,'Twas but when o'er each heart th' idea stole,
(Perchance awhile in joy's oblivion drown'd,)
That come what may, while life's glad pulses
roll,
Indissolubly thus should soul be knit to soul.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.            35
V.
And in the visions of romantic youth,
What years of endless bliss are yet to flow 
But, mortal pleasure, what art thou in truth?
The torrent's smoothness, ere it dash below!
And must I change my song? and must I show,
Sweet Wyoming! the day when thou wert doom'd,
Guiltless, to mourn thy loveliest bowers laid low?
When where of yesterday a garden bloom'd,
Death overspread his pall, and blackening ashes
gloom'd?:i.
Sad was the year, by proud oppression driven,
When Transatlantic Liberty arose,
Not in the sunshine and the smile of heaven,
But wrapt in whirlwinds and begirt with woes,
Amidst the strife of fratricidal foes;
Her birth-star was the light of burning plains;*
Her baptism is the weight of blood that flows
From kindred hearts-the blood of British veins —And famine tracks her steps, and pestilential pains.
VIi.
Yet, ere the storm of death had raged remote,
Or siege unseen in heaven reflects its beams,
Who now each dreadful crceumstance shall note,
* Alluding to the miseeriec that attended thie American civil war.




36         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
That fills pale Gertrude's thoughts, and nightly
dreams?
Dismal to her the forge of battle gleams
Portentous light! and music's voice is dumb;
Save where the fife its shrill reveille screams,
Or midnight streets re-echo to the drum,
That speaks of maddening strife, and bloodstain'd
fields to come.
VrII.
It was in truth a momentary pang;
Yet how comprising myriad shapes of wo!
First when in Gertrude's ear the summons rang,
A husband to the battle doom'd to go 
(' Nay, meet not thou (she cries) thy kindred foe,
But peaceful let us seek fair England's strand;"
(Ah, Gertrude! thy beloved heart, I know,
Would feel like mine the stigmatizing brand,
Could I forsake the cause of Freedom's holy band.
IX.
" But shame-but flight-a recreant's name to
prove,
To hide in exile ignominious fears —
Say, e'en if this I brook'd, —the public love
Thy father's bosom to his home endears:
And how could I his few remaining years,
My Gertrude, sever from so dear a child?"
So, day by day, her boding heart he cheers;




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING,          37
At last that heart to hope is half beguiled,
And, pale through tears suppress'd, the mournful
beauty smiled.
x.
Night came, —and in their lighted bower, full
late
The joy of converse had endured-when hark!
Abrupt and loud a summons shook their gate;
And heedless of the dog's obstreperous bark,
A form had rush'd amidst them from the dark,
And spread his arms, —and fell upon the floor:
Of aged strength his limbs retain'd the mark;
But desolate he look'd, and famish'd poor,
As ever shipwreck'd wretch lone left on desert
shore.
XI.
Uprisen, each wondering brow is knit and arch'd:
A spirit from the dead they deem him first:
To speak he tries; but quivering, pale, and parch'd,
From lips, as by some powerless dream accursed,
Emotions unintelligible burst;
And long his filmed eye is red and dim;
At length the pity-proffered cup his thirst
Had half assuaged, and nerved his shuddering
limb,
When Albert's hand he grasp'd;-but Albert
knew not him6




38         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
XII.
" And hast thou then forgot," (he cried forlorn,
And eyed the group with half-indignant air,)
"' Oh! hast thou, Christian chief, forgot the morn
When I with thee the cup of peace did share?
Then stately was this head, and dark this hair,
That now is white as Appalachia's snow;
But if the weight of fifteen years' despair,
And age hath bow'd me, and the torturing foe,
Bring me my boy-and he will his deliverer
know!"
XlII.
It was not long, with eyes and heart of flame,
Ere Henry to his loved Oneida flew:
" Bless thee, my guide!"-but backward, as he
came,
The chief his old bewildered head withdrew,
And grasped his arm, and look'd and look'd him
through.'Twas strange-nor could the group a smile controlThe long and doubtful scrutiny to view:
At last delight o'er all his features stole,
C' It is-my own," he cried, and clasp'd him to
his soul.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.          39
XIV.
"' Yes i thou recall'st mny pride of years, for then
The bowstring of my spirit was not slack,
When, spite of woods, and floods, and ambush'd
mnell,
I bore thee like the quiver on nmy back,
Fleet as the whirlwind hurries on the rack;
Nor foeman then, nor cougar's crouch I fear'd,*
For I was strong as mountain cataract:
And dost thou not remember how we cheer'd,
Upon the last hill-top, when white men's huts
appear'd?
Xv.
C Then welcome be my death song and my death,
Since I have seen thee, and again embraced,"And longer had he spent his toil-worn breath,
But with affectionate and eager haste,
Was every arm outstretch'd around their guest,
To welcome and to bless his aged head.
Soon was the hospitable banquet placed:
And Gertrude's lovely hands a balsam shed
On wounds with fever'd joy that more profusely
bled.
XVI.
"But this is not a time," —he started up,
And smote his breast with wo-denouncing hand-, Cougar, the American tiger.




40          GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
" This is no time to fill the joyous cup;
The Mammoth comes, —the foe,-the Monster
Brandt, —
With all his howling desolating band;These eyes have seen their blade and burning
pine
Awake at once, and silence, half your land.
Red is the cup they drink; but not with wine:
Awake, and watch to-night, or see no morning
shine!
XVII.
" Scorning to wield the hatchet for his bribe,'Gainst Brandt himself I went to battle forth:.
Accursed Brandt! he left of all my tribe
Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth 
No  not the dog, that watch'd my household
hearth,
Escaped that night of blood, upon our plains!
All perished!-I alone am left on earth!
To whom nor relative nor blood remains,
No!- not a kindred drop  that runs in human
veins!
XVIII,
"But go!-and rouse your warriors;-for, if right
These old bewilder'd eyes could guess, by signs
* Brandt was the leader of those Mohawks, and other savages, who laid
waste this part of Pennsylvania. Vide the note at the end of this poem.




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.          41
Of striped and starred banners, on yon height
Of eastern cedars, o'r the creek of pines —
Some fort embattled by your country shines:
Deep roars th' innavigable gulf below
Its squared rock, and palisaded lines.
Go! seek the light its warlike beacons show;
Whilst I in ambush wait, for vengeance and the
foe!"
XIX.
Scarce had he utter'd when heaven's verge extreme
Reverberates the bomb's descending star,
And sounds that mingled laugh,-and shout,and scream,To freeze the blood, in one discordant jar,
Rung to the pealing thunderbolts of war.
Whoop after whoop with rack the ear assail'd!
As if unearthly fiends had burst their bar;
While rapidly the marksman's shot prevail'd:And aye, as if for death, some lonely trumpet
wail'd.
XX.
Then looked they to the hills, where fire o'erhung
The bandit groups, in one Vesuvian glare;
Or swept, far seen, the tower, whose clock unrung,
Told legible that midnight of despair.
She faints, —she falters not,-th' heroic fair,



42         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
As he the sword and plume in haste array'd.
One short embrace-he clasp'd his dearest careBut hark! what nearer war-drum  shakes the
glade?
Joy, joy! Columbia's friends are tramping through
the shade!
XXI.
Then came of every race the mingled swarm,
Far rung the groves and gleam'd the midnight
grass,
With flambeau, javelin, and naked arm;
As warriors wheel'd their culverins of brass,
Sprung from the woods, a bold athletic mass,
Whom virtue fires, and liberty combines:
And first the wild Moravian yagers passHis plumed host the dark Iberian joinsAnd Scotia's sword beneath the Highland thistle
shines,
XXII.
And in, the buskin'd hunters of the deer,
To Albert's home, with shout and cymbal throng:
Roused by their warlike pomp, and mirth, and
cheer,
Old Outalissa woke his battle-song,
And, beating with his war-club cadence strong,
Tells how his deep-stung indignation smarts,
Of them that wrapt his house in-flames, ere long




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.           43
To whet a dagger on their stony hearts,
And smile avenged ere yet his eagle spirit parts.
XXIII.
Calm, opposite the Christian father rose,
Pale on his venerable brow its rays
Of martyr light the conflagration throws;
One hand upon his lovely child he lays,
And one th' uncover'd crowd to silence sways;
While though the battle flash is faster driven,Unawed, with eye unstartled by the blaze,
He for his bleeding country prays to HeavenPrays that the men of blood themselves may be
forgiven.
XXIV.
Short time is now for gratulating speech:
And yet, beloved Gertrude, ere begun
Thy country's flight, you distant towers to reach,
Look'd not on thee the rudest partisan
With brow relax'd to love? And murmurs ran,
As round and round their willing ranks they
drew,
From beauty's sight to shield the hostile van.
Grateful, on them a placid look she threw,
Nor wept, but as she bade her mother's grave
adieu!




44         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
XXV.
Past was the flight, and welcome seem'd the tower,
That like a giant standard-bearer frown'd
Defiance on the roving Indian power.
Beneath each bold and promontory mound
With embrasure emboss'd and armour crown'd,
An arrowy frieze, and wedged ravelin,
Wove like a diadem its tracery round
The lofty summit of that mountain green;
Here stood secure the group, and eyed a distant
scene,XXVI.
A scene of death! where fires beneath the sun,
And blended arms, and white pavilions glow;
And for the business of destruction done
Its requiem the war-horn seem'd to blow:
There, sad spectatress of her country's wo!
The lovely Gertrude, safe from present harm,
Had laid her cheek, and clasp'd her hands of
snow
On Waldegrave's shoulder, half within his arm
Enclosed, that felt her heart, and hush'd its wild
alarm!
XXVII.
But short that contemplation-sad and short
The pause to bid each much loved scene adieu!




GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.           45
Beneath the very shadow of the fort,
Where friendly swords were drawn, and banners
flew,
Ah! who could deem that foot of Indian crew
Was near? —yet there, with lust of murderous
deeds,
Gleam'd like a basilisk, from woods in view,
The ambush'd foeman's eye —his volley speeds,
And Albert -Albert-falls! the dear old father
bleeds!
XXVIII.
And tranced in giddy horror Gertrude swoon'd;
Yet, while she clasps him lifeless to her zone,
Say, burst they, borrow'd from her father's wound,
These drops?-Oh, God! the life-blood is her
own!
And falt'ring, on her Waldegrave's bosom thrown,
" Weep not, 0 love!" —she cries, "to see me
bleedThee, Gertrude's sad survivor, thee alone
Heaven's peace commiserate; for scarce I heed
These wounds;-yet thee to leave is death, is
death indeed!
XXIX.
"Clasp me a little longer on the brink
Of fate! while I can feel thy dear caress:




46         GERTRUDE OF WrYOMING.
And when this heart hath ceased to beat-oh
think,
And let it mitigate thy wo's excess,
That thou hast been to me all tenderness,
And friend to more than human friendship just.
Oh! by that retrospect of happiness,
And by the hopes of an immortal trust,
God shall assuage thy pangs when I am laid in
dust!
xXX.
-" Go, Henry, go not back, when I depart;
The scene thy bursting tears too deep will move,
Where my dear father took thee to his heart,
And Gertrude thought it ecstasy to rove
With thee, as with an angel, through the grove
Of peace, imagining her lot was cast
In heaven; for ours was not like earthly love.
And must this parting be our very last?
No! I shall love thee still, when death itself is past.
XXXI.
" Half could I bear, methinks, to leave this earth,
And thee, more loved than aught beneath the sun,
If I had lived to smile but on the birth
Of one dear pledge;-but shall there then be
none,
In future times-no gentle little one,




GERTRUDE OF WY OMING.          47
To clasp thy neck, and look, resembling me?
Yet seems it, e'en while life's last pulses run,
A sweetness in the cup of death to be,
Lord of my bosom's love! to die beholding thee!"
XXXII.
Hush'd were his Gertrude's lips! but still their
bland
And beautiful expression seem'd to melt
With love that could not die! and still his hand
She presses to the heart no more that felt.
Ah, heart! where once each fond affection dwelt,
And features yet that spoke a soul more fair.
Mute, gazing, agonizing, as he knelt,Of them that stood encircling his despair,
He heard some friendly words;-but knew not
what they were.
XXXIII.
For now, to mourn their judge and child, arrives
A faithful band.  With solemn rites between,'Twas sung, how they were lovely in their lives,
And in their deaths had not divided been.
Touch'd by the music, and the melting scene,
Was scarce one tearless eye amidst the crowd:Stern warriors, resting on their swords, were seen
To veil their eyes, as pass'd each much-loved
shroudWhile woman's softer soul in wo dissolved aloud.




48       nGERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
XXXIV.
Then mournfully the parting bugle bid
Its farewell, o'er the grave of worth and truth;
Prone to the dust, afflicted Waldegrave hid
His face on earth;-him watch'd, in gloomy ruth,
His woodland guide: but words had none to
soothe
The grief that knew not consolation's name:
Casting his Indian mantle o'er the youth,
He watch'd beneath its folds, each burst that came
Convulsive, ague-like, across his shuddering frame!
XXXV.
"And I could weep;"-th' Oneida chief
His descant wildly thus begun:
(But that I may not stain with grief
The death-song of my father's son,
Or bow this head in wo:
For by my wrongs, and by my wrath!
To-morrow Areouski's breath,
(That fires yon heaven with storms of death,)
Shall light us to the foe;
And we shall share, my.Christian boy!
The foeman's blood, the avenger's joy 
XXXVI.
"But thee, my flower, whose breath was given
By milder genii o'er the deep,




GRETRUDE 0' WYOMING.          49
The spirits of the white man's heaven
Forbid not thee to weep:Nor will the Christian host,
Nor will thy father's spirit grieve,
To see thee on the battle's eve,
Lamenting, take a mournful leave
Of her who loved thee most:
She was the rainbow to thy sight!
Thy sun —thy heaven-of lost delight!
XXXVII.
"To-morrow let us do or die!
But when the bolt of death is hurl'd,
Ah! whither then with thee to fly,
Shall Outalissi roam the world?
Seek we thy once-loved home?
The hand is gone that cropt its flowers:
Unheard their clock repeats its hours!
Cold is the hearth within their bowers+!
And should we hither roam,
Its echoes, and its empty tread,
Would sound like voices from the dead!
XXXVIII.
" Or shall we cross yon mountains blue,
Whose streams my kindred nation quaff'd,
And by my side, in battle true,
A thousand warriors drew the shaft?
7




50         GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
Ah! there in desolation cold,
The desert serpent dwells alone,
Where grass o'ergrows each mouldering bone,
And stones themselves to ruin grown,
Like me, are death-like old.
Then seek we. not their camp,-for there
The silence dwells of my despair!
XXXIX.
" But hark, the trump!-to-morrow thou
In glory's fires shalt dry thy tears:
E'en from the land of shadows now
My father's awful ghost appears,
Amidst the clouds that round us roll!
He bids my soul for battle thirst —
He bids me dry the last-the firstThe only tears that ever burst
From Outalissi's soul;
Because I may not stain with grief
The death-song of an Indian chief!"




WMT YO Al I N G, 
I T S  H I STO  1R DY.
cOMUCH YET REMAINS UNSUNG."
BY WILLIAM L. STONE.
NEW-YORK:
MARK H. NEWMAN.
1844.








W YOMIN G,








WYOMING.
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary remarks-Travelling-its facilities-Route to the Valley of
Wyoming from New-York.-Muskonetcong Mountain, —Delaware Water-Gap,-Stroudsburg,-Kalkatchlanamin Hills or Blue Mountains,the'Vind-Gap,-Pokono Mountains.
THE passion for travelling, so often and so habitually spoken of as a characteristic of the English
people, seems to have been transmitted, with many
other of their national peculiarities, to their American descendants; stimulated, moreover, to increased activity, by the vast extent, the enlarged community of interests and feelings, and the unequalled facilities for conveyance, which are united in our
country.  The magnificent steamboats and multitudinous rail-roads which this tendency of the
American people, and the necessities of their unbounded commercial enterprise, have called into
existence, afford sufficient evidence, in their number and extent, of the great amount of travel at
all times in progress; but to obtain a full conception of the locomotive propensity by which the




56           HISTORY OF WYOMING.
citizens are animated, it is necessary to be a passenger, during either of the summer months, on
board one or another of the gigantic steamboats
that ply along the principal throughfares of inland navigation-such, for instance, as the Hudson, the Delaware, or the Mississippi.  If the boat
of which the adventurous observer, entrusts his
person should happen to be one of a line engaging at the moment in competition with a rival,
and therefore presenting the temptation of a charge
reduced almost to nothing, his understanding in
the eagerness for travel which animates all c'asses
sexes, and occupations, will be all the more enlarged and enlightened.
A natural consequence of this universal appetite
is the zeal with which new scenes and localities
are sought out, as the objects of touring industry-a zeal displayed in astonishing activity by
the rich and novelty-loving travellers of England,
and only in a less degree by their fellow-explorers
of America. Of late years we have seen the former
pushing their researches into the remotest quarters of the globe —the trackless deserts of Africa,
the wild steppes and mountains of Central Asia,
the sterile plains of Russia, the dark forests of
Norway, the savage prairies of our Western Continent, and the far distant isles of the Pacific; and
the latter, in the same spirit though with means
more limited and time less entirely at their com



HISTORY OF WYOMING.          57
mand, pushing their summer expeditions to the
British Provinces and the great lakes of the Northwest-not to mention the frequency with which
Americans are seen or heard of among the splendid capitals of Europe, or the relics of the wonderful past in Africa and Asia.
Touching these last, no man of intelligence or of
enlarged understanding will think for a moment
of censuring the spirit in which journies to behold
them are undertaken, probably, in the great majority of instances; the spirit, doubtless, of liberal
curiosity and a desire for knowledge.  Nevertheless, it is worthy of remark that, familiar as the
principal resorts of home tourists may be to thousands upon thousands of Americans-perfectly
at home as they may find themselves in Washington, New-York, Philadelphia, Boston, Quebec and
Montreal, and generally well informed as to the
main features of the country in its different regions- there are yet very many places worthy
to be visited, either on account of natural attractions, or events of which they have been the
scene, or perhaps of both these causes in combination; places rarely included within the range
of annual excursions, yet rich in scenery or in recollections, worthy to be noted by the curious inquirer, and to be enjoyed by him who seeks in
travel refreshment for his mind and gratification
for his refined and cultivated tastes.




58          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Such is the valley of Wyoming-exquisitely
beautiful in scenery, and invested by the history
of the past and the genius of poesy with attractions not less strong or enduring.  Such it was
found to be, greatly to his own enjoyment, by the
author of this unpretending volume, in an excursion performed during the summer of 1839; and in
the hope of inducing others to procure for themselves pleasures like those which he enjoyed, he
has ventured to draw up from his notes a brief description of the scenes and objects by which he
was deeply interested, and which, in his humble
judgment, fairly entitle the lovely and far-famed
Valley of Wyoming to a place in the " itineraries"
of the United States, not less distinguished than
many other localities have long possessed, whose
claims, though more generally recognized, are neither more valid nor more numerous.
Another consideration has had much to do with
the production of this volume-one which the
author has some diffidence in stating, as its avowal
may subject him, though erroneously, to the
charge of literary presumption.  The reader has
seen in the preceding pages, that the name of
WYOMING has been illustrated and adorned by
the genius of a great poet, and in his lay of perfect music embalmed for everlasting fame. In extent, wherever the English language is read or
spoken-in time, so long as that language shall




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          59
exist, either as living or dead-the Wyoming of
Campbell is and will be a creation lovely to the
heart and imagination of mankind. But the poet
has given to the world a creation that is only imaginary. His Wyoming is not the Wyoming of
prosaic reality, nor is the tale to which he has
married it in accordance with the facts of history.
Of course no reproach is meant for him in making
this declaration. His choice of materials and the
use he made of them were governed by the purposes and necessities of his own art-not by those
of the historian; and as the requirements of his
own art would have been perfectly well satisfied
by a total invention of incidents, so there was no
obligation upon him to use any thing more than
such a partial foundation of reality as would be
sufficient for the ends he had in view.
But though no exception be taken to the poet
for the fanciful colouring he has given to events
so full of interest, it is perhaps not unwarrantable
to presume that thousands of his admiring readers
would desire to know the real features of that picture which, with his embellishments, appears so
lovely.  Such desire would almost unavoidably
spring up from the natural propensity of men to
seek after truth; and it would be stimulated,
doubtless, by curiosity to compare the real with
the imagined.
In this belief the author has found encourage



60           HISTORY OF WYOMING.
ment to prepare his little volume for the public;
while motlive was furnished by the injustice done,
however innocently, in the poem, to a personage
of no mean celebrity, in whose character and life
the author has long felt a deep interest.  It will
be understood, probably, that reference is made to
the famous Mohawk chieftain Brant-designated
in the poem, with equal wrong to his morals and
his patronymic, " the monster Brandt."  Coextensive with the knowledge of the poem is the wrong
done to his memory by ascribing to him cruelties
in which he had no share, and at the perpetration
of which he was not even present; and although
to the later editions of his poem Campbell has appended a note, acknowledging his error in this respect, the Thayendanegea of history is still "' the
monster Brandt " to thousands who derive all their
knowledge of him from the deathless " Gertrude
of Wyoming."
A desire to contribute something toward the
rescue of the Indian warrior's fame, was prominent
among the considerations that led to the production of the present work; while, independently of
the interest with which the valley of Wyoming has
been invested by Campbell, it is believed that the
actual history of that beautiful region, limited
though it be in its geographical dimensions, is sufficiently rich in incident to warrant at least a pass



HISTORY OF WYOMING.           61
ing notice from the music of history. In the preparation of these pages, for the sake of convenience,
the popular style of the tourist has occasionally
been adopted.
Wyoming is a section of the valley of the Susquehanna river, situated due west of the city of
New-York, distant, in a direct line, about one
hundred miles.  The usual route is across NewJersey to Easton, and the Delaware river, and
thence by the Wilkesbarre turnpike, through the' "Wind-Gap " of the Blue Mountains, and across
the wild and far-famed P okono. A less direct but
more romantic route was chosen by the writer, for
the purpose of visiting the stupendous scenery of
the Delaware " Water-Gap"
From  New-York to Morristown by rail-road,
passing through Newark, Orange, Millville and
Chatham.  The country is agreeably diversified
with highland and plain-orchards and cultivated fields-verdant groves crowning the hills, or
stretching down their sides to the Passaic river
and its tributaries; their superb vegetation running down the dales, where the rich elms and willows bend their branches over the streams and
fountains, affording landscape-glimpses of surpassing beauty. On the side of one of these hills, of
moderate elevation, sheltered from  the northwest,
and looking into the valley of the sinuous Passaic, stands the modest country retreat of the Hon.
8




62           HISTORY OF WYOMING.
JAMES KENT, formerly Chief Justice, and afterward Chancellor of the State of New-York.  The
country thence to the base of Schooley's Mountain
-anciently called the Muskonetcong-rapidly assumes a rougher aspect. The hills often aspire to a
more respectable size, and with the increasing altitude the farms appear less productive. Still, there
are meadows and pastures " full of fresh verdure,"
while there is beauty to be descried in many a
" winding vale " below.  A brisk stream laves the
eastern base of the Muskonetcong, flowing to the
south, and affording abundant water-power for
mills and manufactories. The ascent of the mountain is by a winding road sufficiently steep to remind one of Beattie's pathetic exclamation:" How hard it is to climb!"
and affording a broad and beautifully varigated
landscape, as the traveller occasionally stops to
breathe and look behind. The height of the mountain is probably eight hundred or a thousand feet
-not above the level of the sea, but from  the
steppe on which it stands. At the point where it
is crossed by the turnpike, the top of the mountain
presents the surface of a plain, of perhaps a mile
and a half in breadth. It is sufficiently rocky to
require strength and patience in its cultivation,
and in its primitive condition its aspect must have
been most forbidding. Nevertheless the energies




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          63
of man have triumphed over its original sterility,
and worse looking farms may often be seen in a
less rugged country.
This elevated spot has enjoyed some celebrity
for more than half a century, as a watering-place,
from the circumstance that a mineral spring flows
from its rocks, the waters of which are esteemed
excellent for bathing.  There are two public
houses, of ancient and respectable aspect, for the
accommodation of boarders-those who desire to
apply the waters of the fountain, and those who
visit this place for the benefit of the elastic and
invigorating mountain air. The first of the two
large houses approached from the east, is Belmont
Hall, generally patronised by the New-Yorkers.
The house is embosomed in a noble grove of oaks,
affording a broad and grateful shade. The other
hotel is called the Heath House. It stands upon
a delightful site, and also, like its rival, wears an
aspect of patrician comfort. This house is the favorite resort of the Philadelphians. From both,
and indeed from the whole mountain table, the
prospect, on every hand, but especially toward the
west, affords a broad and magnificent pictureextending over many a deep green valley and
laughing hill, even to the Blue Mountains beyond
the Delaware.
The mineral spring gushes from a rock-or rather oozes, for it has not power to gush-in a wild




64          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
glen three-quarters of a mile below, toward the
west. It is a lonely, romantic place, and a small
bathing-house shelters the spring. The waters are
slightly tinctured with iron, and are sufficiently
insipid to the taste of those who have just been
quaffing from the sparkling fountains of Saratoga.
The descent is along the ravine already mentioned, which is deep and shadowy, and at times,
as wild as nature can make it.  Emerging from
the glen, the charming valley of the Muskonetcong
river welcomes the traveller with a scene of placid beauty.  Here, crossing the stream, the route
that had been chosen diverges toward the north,
through the pleasant village of Hackettstown.
This section of New-Jersey is not only beautiful
to the eye, but evidently fertile.  As the tourist
leaves the valley, climbing another range of hills,
overlooking other magnificent pictures, and again
descending to the bed of another clear mountain
stream, the varying prospects, the free air and the
bright sun, with here and there a flitting mass of
cloud darkening for a moment a wood-girt hill,
afford a succession of objects for delighted contemplation.
In ascending from one of these valleys, between
JHackettstown and Vienna, the road crosses the
Morris Canal, leading from Easton to Jersey City,
opposite to New-York.  It is an important work
for New-York, opening, as it does, a direct pas



HISTORY OF WYOMING.          65
sage by water to the coal mines of the Lehigh in
Pennsylvania.
At the distance of some eight or ten miles from
the valley of the Muskonetcong, after crossing the
Pequest river, and ascending a hill which aspires
to the character of a mountain, a landscape opens
to the north, of singular grandeur and magnificence. The Delaware Water-Gap must be more
than twenty miles distant, yet the eye, overlooking many a beautiful hill and romantic valley in
the foreground, at once catches the bold outline
of the cleft mountains in the distance, strongly
relieved against the hoary crests of the mountains
yet more remote. On the left, from the same elevation, as the eye stretches over the hills beyond
the Delaware, the noble range of the Blue Mountains rises in glorious prospect.
At the next resting place, which is the town of
Hope, the notice of the stranger is attracted by the
peculiar construction of the inn, an ancient stone
edifice, unusually large for such a purpose, and
having a wide hall across either end, with a flight
of steps ascending to the second story in each.
It was once a Moravian Church-the United
Brethren having originally planted that town, as
a missionary post-and hence its name.  The
feet of Ziesberger and Zinzendorf, of Buettner
and Rauch, have trodden that soil, and perhaps
this band of self-denying apostles themselves have
8*




66                HISTORY OF WYOMING.
partaken of the sacramental cup within the very
walls now affording shelter and refreshment to
any that may choose to call.   This, too, was within
the missionary region traversed by holy Brainerd,
whose principal station, while  engaged  as a  missionary among the Indians, was at the " Forks of
the Delaware,"  as the junction  of the  Delaware
and Lehigh was called.*  And where, now, are
the dusky congregations of the Aborigines to whom
they preached the everlasting Gospel? Echo answers-" Where?" The most war-like and noble
of the New-Jersey Indians, chiefly Delawares, but
some of whom  were of the Five Nations, were
planted in this  section  of New-Jersey  when  the
white men came.  Nor was the most sagacious
among them without gloomy forebodings of what
was to be their fate, after the  pale  faces  should
obtain a permanent foothold.   A   sachem   of one
of these Jersey clans, being observed to look  with
solemn attention upon the great comet which ap*" WVhom the gods love die young',"says the heathen proverb. It was
so with David Brainerd, a wonderful mall, who finished his work at the
early age of thirty and wvent to his rest. His fiarne was slender, and having worn out his feeble constitution by excessive labor, he returned to
Northanipton,-to the family of the illustrious Edwards, his friend and
patron-for the purpose, as he hoped, of recruiting his health,-but in re —
ality to die. " I have often walked in the little foot-path which goes around
his quiet resting-plate, and even those who have dropped a tear over Martyn's grave in Persia, also drop a tear here. And here at the " Forkes"
still wave the tall sycamore trees under which that self-denying man
taught the tawny sons of the forest as they came around him as a father,
and loved him as they loved their own souls."-Rev. Join Todd, 1839.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          67
peared in October, 1680, was asked what he
thought was the meaning of that prodigious and
wonderful object.  He answered gravely —" It
signifies that we Indians shall melt away, like the
snow in spring, and this country be inhabited by
another people."  The forest king was a prophet
as well as a hunter.
Five miles from Hope is Autun's ferry, over
which travellers are conveyed by a flat boat; and
from hence it is yet seven miles to the Water-Gap,
over a rugged road, but through scenery beautifully wild and romantic. The course of the road
is generally upon the elevated margin of the river,
bright glimpses of which often appear through the
trees, like tiny lakes of liquid silver, below. At
length the traveller enters the gorge of the moun-.tains-the road winding along their base, beneath
their frowning peaks —narrow, and often upon the
very verge of a gulf, rendered more appalling by
the dimness of the light, and his ignorance of its
depth.
Geologists suppose the deep, winding chasm
through this stupendous range of mountains, to
have been wrought by some mighty convulsion
of nature, by which the rocks were cloven, and a
passage formed for the river, the waters of which
must have previously flowed through some other
channel.  The distance from  the southern entrance of the pass to the hotel, which stands upon




69          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
a subdued jutting promontory, toward its northern
termination, is only two miles, but at least an hour
is generally employed in overcoming it, and at night
the time seems two. The tourist, however, cannot enjoy to the full the grandeur of the scene,
and the feelings of elevated though chastened delight incident to its contemplation, without studying it by night, as well as by day. Sensations of
solemn grandeur are awakened by threading a
chasm profound and solitary like this, in the gloom
of night, studying the sharp outlines of the mountains against the sky, and occasionally catching a
glimpse of a precipice beetling over the gulf, by
the aid of a casual mass of light thrown against it
by the fitful moon, and rendering the shadows below denser and more palpable.
Less thrilling, though not less sublime, and
more beautiful, is the view of this wild Alpine
landscape in the early morning of a bright day.
The masses of naked rocks, on the eastern side of
the river toward the southern gorge, rising to an
elevation of eight hundred or a thousand feet, in
some places as upright and smooth as though a
creation of art, and at others spiked, ragged and
frowning, are  comparatively  undistinguishable
while obscured by the raven wing of night.  But
their dusky sublimity is greatly enhanced when
revealed to the eye in their unclouded majesty and
grandeur by the light of day. In the gray of the




HISTORY OF WYOMING.           69
morning, before yet the sun has gilded their tops,
standing upon the jutting point already mentioned as the site of the hotel, almost the entire section comprising this remarkable passage is distinctly in view, -glooiny from the yet unretreating
shade, —and disclosing the abrupt sinuosities of
the river, together with all the irregularities of rock
and mountain incident to such a formation;-the
mountains, for the most part, clothed with wood
to their summits, and the whole scene as wild and
fresh as though just from the hand of nature.
Low in the gulf, at the base of the mountains, a
cloud of milk-white vapor sleeps upon the bosom
of the river. In the course of half an hour, with
a change of temperature in the superincumbent
atmosphere, the vapor begins to ascend, and a
gentle current of air wafts it, as by the sweet soft
breathing of morn herself, without breaking the
cloud, to the western side of the river.  There,
for a while, it hangs in angel whiteness, like a zone
of silver belting the mountain. Below, along the
whole course of the gulf; the sides of the mountains
are yet clad in solemn and shadowy drapery, while
in bright and glorious contrast, the sun having at
length begun climbing the sky in good earnest,
their proud crests are now glittering with golden
radiance.
By climbing a mountain behind the hotel to the
northwest, and looking into the chasm toward the




70          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
south, a fine view of the zig-zag course of the
river is afforded, down to the second turn, where
its deep narrow volume is apparently brought to
an end by the intervention of the buttress of rock
on the Jersey shore, already adverted to. But the
best position for surveying the whole pass, and
enjoying its sublimity to entire satisfaction, is
from a small boat paddled along leisurely upon the
river through the gulf. The maps furnish no just
idea of the channel of the river through the gapthe actual course resembling the sharp curvatures
of an angry serpent before he is coiled, or rather,
perhaps, this section of the river would be best
delineated by a line like a letter S. The general height of the mountain barriers is about sixteen
hundred feet. They are all very precipitous; and
while sailing along their bases in a skiff, their dreadful summits, some of them, seem actually to hang
beetling over the head. This is especially the case
with the Jersey mountains-the surfaces of which,
next the river, as already stated, are of bare rock,
lying in regular blocks, in long ranges, as even as
though hewn, and laid in stratifications, like stupendous masonry —" the masonry of God!"
Not far from the hotel, among the mountains
above, is a small lake, which has been dammed
at the foot, and converted into a trout-pond. By
opening a sluice-gate, an artificial cataract can at
any time be formed by the waters of the lake,




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                71
which come rushing down a precipitous rock two
or three hundred feet into the embrace of the
river, as though leaping for joy at their liberation.
The scene of the Water-Gap, as a whole, and as
a point of attraction for the lovers of nature in her
wildness and grandeur, by far transcends the highlands of Hudson's river, or even the yet more admired region of the Horicon.*
Unless the tourist descends by the course of the
river, twenty miles, to Easton, the route from the
Water-Gap to Wyoming is by Stroudsburg, flanking the Kittaninny t Hills, being the northern spur
of the Blue Mountains; thence southwest, traveling along their western side to intersect the Easton
and Wilkesbarre turnpike, at a notch through that
section of these mountains, called the Wind-Gap.
The course is north, two and a half miles along
the Delaware, to the estuary of a considerable and
rapid  stream, called Broadhead's Creek, by the
moderns, from the name of one of the first white
settlers of the country. The Indian name, far more
euphonical, is  Analomink.    Thence west to
Stroudsburg. This is a pleasantly situated village,
the planting of which was commenced by a gentleman named Stroud, before the war of the American revolution.  It stands upon a sweet plain,
* A doubtful Indian name of Lake George.
t Kittaninny is the modern orthography. The ancient was " the Kakatchlanamin Hills." But the name is spelt in almost as many different ways
as there are books and manuscripts in which the range is mentioned.




72          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
having a mountain for an everlasting prospect on
the south, between which and the village flows the
Pokono Creek, descending from the mountain
range of that name, and uniting with the Analomink in its neighborhoods  Stroudsburg is the
shire town of Monroe County, The settlements
at this place, during the French war of 17551763, formed the northern frontier of Pennsylvania, and were within the territory of the Minisink
Indians, or Monseys, as they were sometimes
called. The chain of military posts erected by the
colony of Pennsylvania, extending from the Delaware to the Potomac, was commenced at this point;
and the celebrated chief of the Lenelenoppes, or
Delaware Indians, Teedyuscung, was occasionally
a resident here. This chieftain was an able man,
who played a distinguished but subtle part during
the border troubles of the French war, particularly
toward the close of his life. He was charged with
treachery toward the English; and perhaps justly;
and yet candor demands the acknowledgment,
that he did not take up the hatchet against them
without something more than a plausible reason;
while by so doing, he was the means of restoring
to his people something of the dignity characteristic of his race, but which had almost disappeared
under the oppression of the Six Nations. He was
professedly a convert to the Moravian Missionaries. His wife was sincerely such, and became a




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                           73
steadfast and exemplary member of the Christian
Church. But according to the journals of the missionaries themselves, as collated by Loskiel, his
conduct  in  subsequent years  reflected  but little
credit upon the faith of his new  spiritual advisers.*
Whether injustice may not have been done him
in this respect also, is a question upon which much
light will be thrown in a subsequent chapter.  He
came to a melancholy end: but it is not necessary to anticipate the progress of events, soon to be
unfolded for consideration in their regular order.
The country immediately west of the Blue
Mountains, at least as far in either direction  as  it
could be viewed from  the ancient tavern in the
vicinity of the Gap of iEolus, is exceedingly wild
and forbidding. A deep and gloomy ravine,
6 Tangled with fern and intricate with thorn,"
interposes between the base of the mountain and
the partially cultivated land beyond, and the moun*'C Among those baptised in 1750 was one Tadeuskund, called Honest
John by the English. His baptism was delayed some time,. because of his
wavering disposition. But having once been present at a baptism, he said
to one of the brethren: —" I am distressed that the time is not yet come
that t shall be baptised and cleansed in the blood of Christ." Being asked how he felt during the baptism, he replied:-' I cannot describe it; but
I wept and trembled.' He then spoke with the Missionaries in a very unreserved manner, saying that he had been a very bad man all his life, that
he had no power to resist evil, and that he had never before been so desirous to be delivered from sin, and to be made partaker of onr Lord's grace,
and added-' O that I were baptised and cleansed in his blood!' He
evinced this fervor ever after, and was named Gideon."-Loskiel.
9




74          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
tain itself is darkly wooded, on that side, to its
crest. During the first ten miles of the distance
toward Wyoming the country is exceedingly hilly,
and for the most part but indifferently cultivated
-— albeit an occasional farm presents an exception.
Several of the hills are steep, and high, and broad.
In the direction of Pokono Mountain the country
becomes more wild and rugged-affording, of
course, at every turn, and from the top of every
hill, extensive prospects, and ever-changing landscapes, diversified with woodlands, cornfields, farmhouses, rocks and glens.
When the summit of Pokono is attained, the
traveller is upon the top of that wild and desolate
table of Pennsylvania, extending for upward of
a hundred miles, between and parallel with the
Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, and from twenty to thirty-five miles in breadth. Behind him is
a noble landscape of wooded hills and cultivated
valleys, bounded eastward and south by the Blue
Mountains, which form a branching range of the
Alleghanies. The Wind-Gap is distinctly and
beautifully in sight. But facing westwardly, and
glancing toward the north, and the south, the prospect is as dreary as naked rocks, and shrub oaks,
and stunted pines and a death-like solitude can
make it. The general surface is rough and broken, hills rising, and valleys sinking, by fifties, if
not by hundreds, over the whole broad mountain




HISTORY OF WYOMING.              75
surface.  In many places, for miles, there is no
human habitation in view, and no one bright or
cheerful spot upon which the eye can repose. The
gloom, if not the grandeur, of a large portion of
this inhospitable region, is increased by the circumstance that it is almost a continuous morass,
across which the turnpike is formed by a causeway of logs, insufficiently covered with earth, and
bearing the appropriate name of a corduroy road.*
The next stopping place is in the valley of the
Tobyhanna, a black looking tributary of the Lehigh-eight miles.  Now and then, sometimes at
the distance of one mile, and again at the distance
of three or four, is passed a miserable human dwelling: but the country presents the same sullen,
rude, uncultivable character. From the Tobyhanna to Stoddardsville, on the dreary banks of the
Lehigh itself, is another eight miles of most enormous length. There are ravines, and more gentle
valleys, but they are not fertile. There are hills,
but they are sterile and forbidding-rough with
brambles, or destitute of all comely vegetation.
The waters of the Lehigh, oozing from  fens and
marshes, are dark and angry as the Styx. The
axes of the lumbermen, and the fires repeatedly
kindled to sweep over the mountains by the ruth* This route was first cut through by General Sullivan, for the passage
of his army, in the celebrated campaign against the country of the Six Nations in 1779




76          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
less hunters, have long since destroyed the native
forest-pines; and in their stead the whole country
has been covered with dwarfs-oak and pineamong which, standing here and there in blackened solitude, may be seen the scathed trunk of a
yet unfallen primitive. In the contemplation of
such an impracticable mass of matter as this extended mountain range presents, one cannot but
apply the language of Dr. Johnson relative to some
portions of the highlands of Scotland, who characterizes it as matter which has apparently been
the fortuitous production of the fighting elements;
matter, incapable of power and usefulness, dismissed by nature from her care, or quickened only by
one sullen power of useless vegetation.




CHAPTER II.
Wilkesbarr6-The Landscape-Indian names of Wyoming-The Delawares and their origin —Ancient remains-The Shawanese sent to Wyoming-Relations between the Delawares and Six Nations-Indian Council at Philadelphia, in 1742-Canassateego-his speech-The Delawares
driven to Wyoming-Tradition of the Delawares respecting their submission to the Six Nations-Refutation by General Harrison.
THE first glance into the far-famed Valley of Wyoming, travelling westwardly, is from the brow of
the Pokono mountain range, below which it lies
at the depth of a thousand feet, distinctly defined
by the double barrier of nearly parallel mountains,
between which it is embosomed. There is a beetling precipice upon the verge of the eastern barrier, called " Prospect Rock," from the top of which
nearly the entire valley can be surveyed at a single  view, forming  one of the richest and most
beautiful landscapes upon which the eye of man
ever rested.   Through the  centre of the valley
flows the Susquehanna, the winding course of
which can be traced the whole distance.  Several
green islands slumber sweetly in its embrace, while
the sight revels amidst the garniture of fields and
woodlands, and to complete the picture, low in the
9*




78            HISTORY OF WYOMING.
distance may be dimly seen the borough of Wilkesbarre*; especially the spires of its churches.
The hotel at which the traveller rests in Wilkesbarre is upon the margin of the river, the waters
of which are remarkably transparent and pure, excepting in the seasons of the spring and autumnal
floods. But a few rods above a noble bridge spans
the river, leading from Wilkesbarre to the opposite
town of Kingston.  From the observatory of the
hotel a full view of the whole valley is obtainedor rather, in a clear atmosphere, the steep wild
mountains, by which the valley is completely shut
in, rise on every hand with a distinctness which
accurately defines its dimensions,-while the valley itself, especially on the western, or opposite side
of the river, presents a view of several small towns,
or scattered villages, planted along, but back from
the river, at the distance of a few miles apart,the whole intervening  and contiguous territory
being divided into farms and gardens, with fruit
and ornamental trees.  Comfortable farm-houses
are thickly studded over the valley; among which
are not a few more ambitious dwellings, denoting
by their air, and the disposition of their grounds,
both wealth and taste.  Midway through the valley winds the river, its banks adorned with grace* This compound was formed, and bestowed upon this borough as its
ame, in honor of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre-names famous ill the
annals of British politics at the time when it was planted by the whites.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.              79
ful and luxuriant foliage, and disclosing at every
turn some bright spot of beauty.  On the eastern
side, in the rear of the borough, and for a few miles
north, the dead level of the valley is rendered still
more picturesque, by being broken into swelling
elevations and lesser valleys, adorned in spots with
groves and clumps of trees, with the ivy and other
creeping parasites, as upon the river brink, clinging to their branches and adding beauty to the
graceful foliage. The village or borough of Wilkesbarre, so far as the major part of the buildings are
to be taken into the account, is less beautiful than
it might be. Nevertheless there are a goodly number of well built and genteel houses, to which, and
the pleasant gardens attached, the pretty couplet
of the poet might be applied:
Tall trees o'ersbade them, creepers fondly grace
Lattice and porch, and sweetest flowers embrace.
The people are for the most part the sons and
daughters of New-England, and have brought with
them into this secluded region the simple manners
and habits, and the piety of their fathers.
This valley of Wyoming is rich in its historical
associations, even of days long preceding the events
of the American revolution, which were the occasion of its consecration in the deathless song prefixed to the present narrative.  The length of the
valley, from the Lackawannock Gap, where the




80          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Susquehanna plunges into it through a narrow defile of high rocky mountains at the north, to a like
narrow pass called the Nanticoke Gap, at the south,
is nearly twenty miles-averaging about three
miles in width. As already mentioned, it is walled
in by ranges of steep mountains of about one thousand feet in height upon the eastern side, and eight
hundred feet upon the western. These mountains
are very irregular in their formation, having elevated points, and deep ravines, or openings, which
are called gaps. They are in general yet as wild
as when discovered, and are clothed with pines,
dwarf oaks and laurels, interspersed with other
descriptions of woods-deciduous and evergreen.
Like many other places of which the red man
has been dispossessed, and which may previously
have belonged to different clans or tribes of the
same race, this valley has been known by a variety of names. By the Lenelenoppes, or Delawares,
its original proprietors, so far as its history is
known, the valley was called Maugh-wau-wa-me,
or The Large Meadows. The Five Nations, who
conquered it from the Delawares, called it S'gahon-to-wa-no, or The Large  i'lats.  The early
German missionaries, Moravians, catching the
sound as nearly as they could, wrote the name 1'cheweuwami.  Other corruptions and pronunciations succeeded, among which were Wyomic,  Wa



HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                    81
jomick,  Wyomink, and' lastly  Wyoming, which
will not soon be changed.*
The territory forming the states of Pennsylvania,
New-Jersey, Delaware, and part of Maryland, was
principally in the occupancy of the Lenelenoppes,
consisting of many distinct tribes and sub-divisions,
at the time of the settlement of the country by the
Europeans.   The name Delaware was given them
by the English, after the name they had bestowed
upon the river along which their larger towns were
situated, in honor of Lord  De la  Warr.-t   There
were indeed clans or military colonies of the Aquanuschioni, or "United  People;"  the  Maquas or
Mengwes of the Dutch, and  the  Iroquois of the
French, but chiefly known in American history as
the Five, and afterward the Six Nations, already
among them, within the territory now forming both
New-Jersey and  Pennsylvania.   But these  were
not large, and the Lenelenoppes, or Original People, as the name denotes, composed the great majority.4
* I have two manuscript letters of Sir William Johnson, dated March
23, and 25, 1763, in both of which he writes " Skahandowana, or Wyoming." The Moravian journals forihing the basis of Loskiel's history,
uniformly gave the name " Wajomick."
t The Indian name of the Delaware was Maku-isk-kiskan.
t The Lenelenoppes, at that time, consisted of the Assumpinks, Rankokas, (Lamikas, or Chickaquaas,) Andastakas, Neshaminies, Shackmaxons,
Mantas, Minisinks, and Mandes; and within what is now New-Jersey,
the Narraticongs, Capitinasses, Gacheos, Munseys, and Pomptons. — Fide
Proud's Pennsylvania.




82          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
It is said by those who are skilled in Indian researches, that the Lenelenoppes, although claiming thus to be the original people, were not the
first occupants of the country in the possession of
which they were found; but that they came hither
from toward the setting sun,-that terra incognita
"the great west."  According to their own traditions, when on their way thence they found strong
nations, having regular military defences, in the
country of the Mississippi, whom they conquered.
Pursuing their course toward the east, they took
possession of the sea coast from the Hudson river
to the Potomac, including the country of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, to their sources.
In the allotment of their newly acquired territory,
one of their tribes, the Munseys or Minisinks, planted themselves in the region between the Kittatinnunk,* or Blue Mountains, and the Susquehanna.
One large division of their tribe kindled their council fire at Minisink, and another in the valley of
Wyoming,-formerly occupied by the Susquehannocks, —once a powerful nation which had been
exterminated by the Aquanuschioni.  Whether
there be any just foundation for the legends of the
Delawares, as to their battles and conquests over
a people so far in advance of themselves in the
art of war as to have reared strong and extensive
* Another vdriation in the orthography of these mountains.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          83
military works, or not, it is nevertheless certain,
from the character and extent of the tumuli existing in the valley of Wyoming when taken possession of by the pale faces, and from the fact that
large oaks were growing upon some of the mounds,
that the country, centuries before, had been in the
possession of a race of men far in advance of the
Delawares in the arts of civilization and war.
There was a time when the Shawanese Indians,
who had been driven from their own country, in
what is now Georgia and Florida, by a nation or
nations more powerful than themselves, occupied,
by permission, a portion of territory at the forks of
the Delaware; but finding them to be troublesome
neighbors, the Delawares, then in their greatest
numbers residing farther down the river, compelled them to remove,-assigning to their use the
valley of Wyoming, (whence the Munseys had returned back to the Delaware,) and a portion of the
territory farther down the Susquehanna, at Shamokin. Thither the Shawanese removed-planting themselves anew at both points. They were
indeed as Bancroft describes them, "a restless
nation of wanderers," and for years subsequent
to the commencement of the English colonies in
America, their separate clans were straggling in
the woods and simultaneously kindling their fires
upon the waters of the Mobile, the Santee, the
Schenandoah, the Ohio, Delaware and Susquehan



84                HISTORY OF WYOMING W
na.   In Wyoming they built their town upon  the
west side of the river, below  the present town  of
Kingston, upon what are to this day called the
Shawamnese Flatts.*
It is difficult to determine the question as to
the exact relations subsisting between the Delawares and the Five  Nations, at the  period  under
consideration.         The  latter, it is well known, had
carried  their arms south  to  the  Tennessee, and
claimed the jurisdiction of the entire country from
the Sorel, in Canada, south of the Great Lakes, to
the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, and
to the Atlantic coast, from  the Santee to the estuary of the Hudson, by the right of conquest.  Over
the  Delawares they claimed, and, at times, exercised, sovereign power, in the most dictatorial and
arbitrary manner, although the venerable  and  excellent Heckewelder, ever  the  champion  of the
Delawares, labors hard to show  that the latter were
never conquered by them. Brant, the celebrated
Mohawk chieftain, than whose  authority  there  is
* It was comparatively but a small clan of the Shawanese which came
to the Delaware, numbering no more at the first, according to Bancroft,
who cited the Logan Mss. for his authority, than sixty or eighty families
Their number however, was subsequently increased, so that about the
year 1732, they counted between three and four hundred warriors within
the territory of Pennsylvania. It is most likely that in leaving the south
the larger portion of the nation diverged to the west, on their way from
he south, settling at Shawnee-town —on the Ohio,-being afterwards joined
by their brethren in the Delaware country. They were certainly a people
of so much consideration as to be addressed as ", BROTHERS" by the
Aquanuschioni.




lISTOrOh  oV WYOMING.               85
none better upon such a subject, in a letter to the
Rev. Dr. Miller of Princeton, never yet published,
clahnimed but a quasi sovereignty for the Aquanuschioni over the Delawares.  But there was a transaction in 1742, which shows that the latter were
at that time in a situation of the most abject subordination to the Six Nations;*  and  Proud  says
this confederacy " had held sovereignty over all
the Indians, both in Pennsylvania and  the neighboring provinces, for a long  series of years."t
Though  apparently a digression, the transaction
referred  to  is nevertheless  intimately  connected with the history of Wyoming, and  a rapid
review of the incident cannot be out of place.
In t1he summer of 174-2, an Indian council was
convened in Philadelphia, upon the invitation  of
Lieutenant Governor George Thomas, at that time
administering the government of the Proprietaries,
as Williamn  Penn and  his successors were styled.
The council was numerously attended, large delegations being present from each of the Six Nations,
excepting the Senecas.  Of these there were bute
three chiefs at the council,-that nation  having
been prevented sending a stronger deputation  by
* Early in the eighteenth century the Five Nations were increased to Six
by the addition of the Tuscaroras, from North Carolina. The Five Nations
adopted and transplanted them on account of a similarity in their language to their own, inducing the belief that they were originally of the
same stock.
Proud's Pennsylvania, vol. ii. p. 293.
10




86             HISTORY  OF WYOMING.
reason of a famine in their country, " so great that
a father had been compelled to sacrifice a part of
his family, even his own children, for the support
and preservation of himself and the other part."*
There seem likewise to have been no Mohawks
present.t   But the Delawares, several tribes of
them, were represented.  The chief object for the
convocation of this council was " to kindle a new
fire," and'" strengthen the chain of friendship"
with the Indians, in anticipation  of a war with
France. Other subjects were brought before the
council for consideration.  Among them, the Governor produced a quantity of goods,-being, as he
remarked in his speech, a balance due the Indians
for a section of the valley of the Susquehanna, " on
both sides of the river," which had been purchased
of the Six Nations six years before.   Canassateego, a  celebrated  Onondaga chief, who was the
principal speaker on the part of the Indians during
the protracted sittings of the council, recognized
the sale of the land.  But in the course of their
discussions, he took occasion to rebuke the whites
for trespassing upon the unceded lands northward
of the Kittochtinny Hills, and also upon the Juni* Opening speech of Governor Thomas to the Six Nations. Vide Col.
den's Canada, Appendix, p. 59.
t To illustrate, in part, the changes which Indian names undergo, in the
process of writing them by different hands, it may be noted that at this
council, Onondagas was spelt O-lontogos; Cayugas, CaiyJoquoo; Oneidas,
Asnoyints; Senecas, Jenontowanlosa; Tuscaroras, Tuscaroos.




HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                    87
ata.   " That country,"  said  Canassateego, " belongs to us, in right of conquest; we having bought
it with our blood, and taken it from  our enemies
in fair war."*
This, however, was not the principal transaction
establishing' the fact that the Six  Nations were in
the exercise of absolute power over the Delawares.
On the fourth day of the council, the acting Governor called the attention of the Six Nations to the
conduct of " a branch of their cousins, the Delawares," in regard to a section  of territory, at the
Forks  of the river, which  the Proprietaries had
purchased of them fifty-five years before, but from
which the Indians had refused  to  remove.   The
consequence had been a series of unpleasant disturbances between the white settlers and  the redmen; and as the latter were ever prompt in calling
upon the Proprietaries to remove white intruders
from  their lands, the acting Governor now  in turn
called upon the Six Nations to remove those Indians from  the lands at the Forks, which had been
purchased and paid for in good faith  such a long
while ago.
* In regard to this complaint of the encroachments of the white settlers
upon their lands, it appears that it had been preferred before. Gov. Thomllas,
in reply, stated that the Proprietaries had endeavored to prevent those
intrusions, and had sent magistrates expressly to remove the intru ders. To
which Ganasseteego rejoined —" They did not do their duty; so far from
removing the people, they leagued with the trespassers, and made surveys for themselves!i Thus has it been with the poor Indians always.




~88          EIISTORY OF WYOMIING.
After three days' consideration, the Indians
came again into council, when Canasseteego opened the proceedings by saying that they had carefully examined the case, and " had seen with their
own eyes," that their cousins had been "a very
unruly people,"and were "altogether in the wrong."
They lead therefore determined to remove them.
Then turning to the Delawares, and holding a belt
of wampum in his band, he spoke to them as follows:
" COUSINS! Let this belt of wampum serve to
chastise you! You ought to be taken by the hair
of the head and shaken severely, till you recover
your senses and become sober. You don't know
what ground you stand on, nor what you are doing.  Our brother ONAs's * cause is very just and
plain, and his intentions are to preserve friendship.  On the other hand, your cause is bad; your
heart far from being upright; and you are maliciously bent to break the chain of friendship with
our brother Onas, and his people.  We have seen
with our eyes a deed signed by nine of your ancestors above fifty years ago, for this very land,
and a release signed, not many years since, by
some of yourselves and chiefs now living, to the
number of fifteen or upward.  But how came you
* Oas, in the Indian tongue, signifies Pen, and was the name by which
they always addressed the Governors of Penn.sylvania, in honor of its founder.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.            89
to take upon you to sell land at all? We conquered you; we made women of you; you know you
are women, and can no more sell land than women.  Nor is it fit you should have the power of
selling lands, since you would abuse it. This land
that you claim has gone through your bellies; you
have been furnished with clothes, meat and drink,
by the goods paid you for it; and now you want
it again, like little children-as you are! But what
makes you sell land in the dark? Did you ever
tell us that you had sold this land? Did we ever
receive any part, even the value of a pipe-shank,
from you for it? You have told us a blind story,*
that you sent a messenger to us to inform us of the
sale; but he never came among us, nor did we
ever hear any thing about it. This is acting in
the dark, and very different from the conduct our
Six Nations observe in the sales of land.  On such
occasions they give public notice, and invite all
the Indians of their United Nations, and give them.
all a share of the presents they receive for their
-lands.  This is the behavior of the wise United
Nations.  But we find you are none of our blood:
you act a dishonest part, not only in this, but in
other matters: your ears are ever open to slanderous reports about your brethren: you receive them
with as much greediness as lewd women receive
* Referring, probably, to explanations the Delawares had attoeripted to
give in their private consultations.
10*




90         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
the embraces of bad men. And for these reasons,
we charge you to remove instantly. We don't
give you the liberty to think about it. You are
women. Take the advice of a wise man, and remove immediately.- You may return to the other
side of the Delaware, where you came from. But
we do not know whether, considering how you
have demeaned yourselves, you will be permitted
to live there; or whether you have not swallowed
that land down your throats, as well as the land
on this side. We therefore assign you two places
to go to-either to Wyoming, or Shamokin. You
may go to either of these places, and then we shall
have you more under our eye, and shall see how
you behave. Don't deliberate, but remove away,
and take this belt of wampum."
This speech having been translated into English, and also into the Delaware tongue, Canassateego took another string of wampum, and proceeded:
C' Cousins! After our just reproof and absolute
order to depart from the land, you are now to take
notice of what we have further to say to you.
This string of wampum serves to forbid you, your
children and grand-children, to the latest posterity, forever, meddling with land affairs. Neither
you, nor any that shall descend from you, are ever
hereafter to presume to sell any land: for which
purpose you are to preserve this string in memory




HISTORY OF WYOMING                                 91
of what your uncles have this day given you in
charge.  We have some other business to transact with our brethren, and therefore depart the
council, and consider what has been said to you."*
There was no diplomatic mincing of words in
the speech of the Onondaga chieftain. He spoke
not only with the bluntness of unsophisticated
honesty, but with the air of one  having authority,
nor dared the Delawares to disobey his peremptory command. They immediately left the council, and soon afterward removed from the disputed territory-some few of them to Shamokin,t
* Canassateego was famous as an orator and counsellor among the On.
ondagas, and his counsels and memory were cherished by the people of the
Six Nations, for a long number of years. Dr. Franklin has somewhere related an amusing anecdote of him, the point of which lies in the circumstance of his visiting Albany once, to sell his furs, and going to church
with Hans Jansen, the merchant to whom he expected to sell them. Canassateego took it into his head, during the service, that the minister was
preaching about him and his furs. And he was confirmed in this opinion
after church, from the fact that Jansen offered him six pence per pound
less than he had done before the service. Everybody else, moreover, to
whom he afterward offered to sell his furs, would only give him three and
sixpence per pound after church, in stead of four shillings per pound, as
Isad been offered before. The old chief therefore concluded that the minister bad been preaching down the price of his beaver-skins, and he had
no good opinion of the "' blacl coats " afterward.  It is stated by some
authorities, that he was acompanied by two hundred and thirty warriors on
his visit to Philadelphia to attend the council spoken of in the text.
t Shamokin was an Indian town at the junction of the east and wvest
branches of the Susquehanna, sixty miles below Wyoming. It was a sort
of military colony of the Six Nations, and the residence of the celebrated
Cayuga chief Shickcalamy, or Shikellimnus, the father of the yet more celebrated Logan, the chief who has been immortalized by Mr. Jeflersen in his
Notes on Virginia. Shamokin stood upon the site of the present town of
Northumberland, where Dr. Priestley spent the latter days of his life, and
died. Logan was named after James Logan, the companion of Penn —a
learned man-for a long time secretary of the colony, and greatly beloved
by the Indians.




92          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
but the greater portion to Wyoming. The whole
tenor of the speech, moreover, goes to establish
the fact that the Delawares were the dependantsindeed the abject subjects-of the Aquanuschioni,
or Mengwe, as the Six Nations have been frequently called by modern writers. But the questions how, and at what time, the Lenelenoppes
were brought into such a humiliating condition,
cannot be answered with precision. The Delawares themselves allege that they were beguiled
into a surrender of their national and political
manhood, and Mr. Heckewelder has attempted to
sustain the pretension. According to their tradition, the Mengwe and Lenelenoppes had long been
at war, and the advantages were with the latter,
until for their own common safety the league of
the Five Nations was formed. Strengthened by
this union, the fortunes of war began to turn in
their favor-especially -as they were soon afterward supplied with fire-arms by the Dutch, who
were now engaged in colonizing the country of the
Hudson river. By the aid of fire-arms the Mengwe were enabled for a time to contend both with
the Lenelenoppes and their new enemies on the
north-the French; but finding themselves at
length severely pressed, they hit upon the stratagem by which their older enemy was caught with
guile, and disarmed by reason of his own magnanimity. Among the Indians it is held to be cow



HISTORY OF WYOMING.            93
ardly for a warrior to sue for peace.  Having
taken up the hatchet, he must retain it, however
weary of the contest, until his enemy is humbled,
or peace restored by some fortuitous means other
than a direct application for a truce by himself.
It is not so, however, with their women, who frequently become mediators, else their wars would
be interminable.  They often throw themselves
as it were between contending tribes, and plead
for peace with great pathos and effect; for notwithstanding the common opinion to the contrary,
there is no people on earth among whom woman
exercises greater influence than she does upon the
aboriginals of America.  "Not a warrior," they
would say, on such occasions, "but laments the
loss of a son, a brother, or a friend.  And mothers, who have borne with cheerfulness the pangs
of child-birth, and the anxiety that waits upon the
infancy and ripening maturity of their sons, behold
their promised blessings laid low upon the warpath, or perishing at the stake in unutterable torments."  " In the depth of their grief, they curse
their wretched existence, and shudder at the idea
of child-bearing. They were wont, therefore, to
conjure their warriors, on account of their suffering wivres, their helpless children, their homes and
their friends, to interchange forgiveness, to throw
down their hatchets, and, smoking together the
pipe of peace, embrace as friends those whom they




94          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
had regarded only as enemies."*  Appeals like
these would naturally find a response, even from
the most savage heart; and the Delawares allege
that the Six Nations, availing themselves of this
humane characteristic of the Indian race, by artful
appeals to their humanity and benevolence, persuaded them, as the only means of saving the redmen from utter extinction by reason of their own
frequent and bloody wars, to assume the character
of wOMEN, in order that they might be qualified to
act as general mediators. In reply to their objections, it was urged upon them by their dissembling
foes that although it would indeed be derogatory
for a small and feeble nation to assume the feminine character, a great and strong nation, of
approved valor, like the Delawares, could not only
take that step with impunity, but win immortal renown for their magnanimity. In an evil hour, and
in a moment of blind confidence, the Delawares
yielded to the importunity of the Mengwe, and
formally assumed the petticoat.  The ceremony,
as the Delawares affirm, was performed at Albany,
or rather Fort Orange, about the year 1617, in the
presence of the Dutch garrison —whom they charge
as having aided the Mengwe in their artful scheme
to subdue without conquering them.  The arrogance of the Six Nations, and the rights which
they assumed over them of protection and com-, Heckewelder, and Gordon's Hlistory of Peunsylvania.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                             95
mand, soon taught the Delawares the extent of the
treachery that had been practised against them.
But it was then  too late.*
Such is the clumsy manner in which the Delawares endeavor to account for the degraded relation in which   they  so  long  stood   in respect to
the Six Nations.  But " Credat Judecus Apella."'
The story of the Six Nations has always been
consistent upon  the subject, viz.;  that the  Delawares were conquered by their arms, and were
compelled " to this humiliating concession, as the
only means of averting impending destruction."
General William  Henry Harrison, after a brief
rehearsal of  the tradition, and   the  efforts of Mr.
Heckewelder to establish   its truth, thus summarily and effectually disposes of the question: —"But
* Loskiel's valuable history of the Moravian missions among the American Indians, preserves an account of the negotiations between the Iroquois and the Delawares resulting in the arrangement, in detail-giving.the preliminary message from the former at length.  The Delawares say
that immediately after they had submitted to be called women, that they
might, as peace-malkers, prevent the entire destruction of the Indian race,
the Iroquois appointed a great feast,at which a solemn speech was delivered
in the course of the attending ceremonies, containing three principal points.
The first was a declaration that the Delawares were women, in the folowing words: - "We dress you in a woman's long habit, reaching
down to your feet, and adorn you with ear-rings;" meaning that they
should no more talke up arms. The second point was thuiis expressed:" We hang a calabash, filled with oil and medicines, upon your arm.
With the oil you shall cleanse the ears of the other nations, that they may
attend to good, and not to bad words; and with the medicines you shall
heal those who are walking in foolish ways, that they may return to their
senses, and incline their hearts to peace."  The third point was a laconic
exhortation to the pursuits of agriculture, thus:-" We deliver into your
hands a plant of Indian corn and a hoe."




6           HISTORY OF WYOMIING.
even if Mr. Heckewelder had succeeded in naking his readers believe that the Delawares, when
they submitted to the de'gradcation proposed to
them by their enemies, were influenced, not by
fear, but by the benevolent desire to put a stop to
the calamities of war, he has established for them
the reputation of being the most egregious dupes
and fools that the world has ever seen.  This is
not often the case with Indian sachems.  They
are rarely cowards, but still more rarely are they
deficient in sagacity or discernment to detect any
attempt to impose upon them.  I sincerely wish I
could unite with the worthy German, in removing this stigma upon the Delawares.  A long' and
intimate knowledge of them in peace and war, as
enemies and fi'iends, has left upon my mind the
most favorable impressions of their character for
bravery, generosity, and fidelity to  their engagements."'I
* Discourse of Gen. Wvilliam Helory Ilarrison, on the Aborigines of the
Valley of the Ohio.




CHAPTER III,
Aririval of the Delawares at Wyoming-The Nanticokes-The Moravian
Missions-Count Zinzendorf-The Assassins and the Rattle-snakeFrench and Indian relations —The Grass-hopper War-Shawanese flee
from Wyoming to the Ohio —Teedyuscung chosen chief of the Delawares
-Removes to Wyoming-Massacre at Gnadenhutten-Shawanese and
Delawares join the French-Interposition of the Quakers for the restoration of peace —lIndian Council at Easton-Speech of TeedyuscungStory of Weekquehela-Treaty of peace with Teedyuscung-The embassies of Christian Frederick P ost —Efforts of Sir W~illiam  JohnsonBquivocal conduct of the Six Nations-Mistake of the French-General
Peace with tile Indians.
THE removal of the Delawares from the Forks
to Wyoming was as speedy as the order to that
end had been peremptory.  It has been stated in
a preceding page, that some years before the Wyoming Valley had  been allotted, by the Delawares,
to a stronrg  clan of the Shawanese.*    These latter
had planted  themselves upon the flats on the west
bank of the river; and  on their arrival at the same
place, the  Delawares selected, as  the  site of the
town they were to build, the beau itiful plain on the
* In his account of Zinzendorfs visit to ", Wajonickl   Loskiel states
that "'the Shawanese had been invited thither by thle Iroquois, with a view
to protect the silver mines said to be in the neighborhood, from the TWhite
people."  No other author has noted this tradition, nor have the silver
mines yet been discovered.
1i




98          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
eastern side, nearly or quite opposite to the Shawanese town, a short distance only below the present
borough of Wilkesbarre.  Here was built the town
of Maugh-wau-wa-me; the original of Wyoming.
Meantime the Nanticoke Indians had removed
from the eastern shore of Maryland to the lower
part of the Wyoming Valley, which yet retains
their name.  "Nanticoke Falls" is a rapid on the
Susquehanna, almost precipitous at one place,
where the river forces its passage through a narrow gorge of the mountains, and escapes from the
beautiful valley in which it had been lingering for
upward of twenty miles, into a region wild with
rock and glen. The Shawanese made no opposition to the arrival of their new neighbors. Indeed both clans were but tenants at will to the Six
Nations, and for a season they lived upon terms
sufficiently amicable.
It was during the same year that the soil of
Wyoming was first trodden by the feet of a missionary of the Christian religion. The Moravians,
or "U' nited Brethren," had commenced their missions in the new world several years before, —in
Georgia as early as 1734. Their benevolent labors were extended to Pennsylvania and NewYork six years afterward. In 1742, their great
founder and apostle, Count Zinzendorf, visited
America, to look after their infant missions. He
arrived at Bethlehem, near the Forks of the Dela



HISTORY OF WYOMING.           99
ware, in the following year. Affecting representations of the deplorable moral condition of the Indians had reached the count before he left Gernmany, and his attention was early directed.to their
situation, and their wants, while visiting the missionary stations along the Delaware.  fie made
several journies among the Indians deeper in the
interior, and succeeded without difficulty in establishing a friendly intercourse with various tribes.
In one of these journies he plunged through the
wilderness into the valley of Wyoming, for the
purpose of establishing a missionary post in the
town of the Shawanese.  It was here, during the
autumn of that year, that one of those beautiful
and touching incidents occurred, which add a
charm to the annals of the missionary enterprise.
The count had expected to be accompanied by
an interpreter, celebrated in all the Indian negotiations for many years of that age, named Conrad Weiser, whose popularity was equally great
among the Indians of all nations by whom he was
known.  But IWeiser was unable to go. Inflexible in his purpose, however, the count determined
to encounter the hazards of the journey, with no
other companions than a missionary, named Mack,
and his wife. On their arrival in the valley, they
pitched their tents on the bank of the river, a short
distance below the town of the Shawanese; at that
period the most distrustful and savage of the Penn



100         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
sylvania Indians.  A council was called to hear
their errand of mercy, but the Indians were not
exactly satisfied as to the real object of such an
unexpected visit.  They knew the rapacity of the
white people for their lands; and they they  thouht it
far more probable that the strangers were bent
upon surveying the quality of these, than that they
were encountering so many hardships and dangers,
without fee or reward, merely for the future well
being of their souls.  Brooding darkly upon the
subject, their suspicions increased, until they resolved upon the assassination of the count; for
which purpose executioners were detailed, who
were instructed to carry their purpose into effect
with all possible secrecy, lest the transaction, coming to the ears of the English, should involve them
in a yet graver difficulty.
Tihe count was alone in his tent, reclining upon
a bundle of dry weeds, designed for his bed, and
engaged in writing, or in devout meditation, when
the assassins crept stealthily to tlhe tent upon their
murderous errand.  A blanket-curtain, suspended
upon pins, formed the door of his tent, and by.gently raising a corner of the curtain, the Indians,
undiscovered, had a full view of the venerable
patriarch, unconscious of lurking danger, and with
the calmness of a saint upon his benignant features.
They were awe-stricken by his appearance. But
this was not all. It was a cool night in Septenm



HISTORY OF WYOMING.                 101
ber and the count had kindled a small fire for his
comfort.  Warmed  by  the flame, a large rattlesnake had crept from  its covert, and  approaching
the fire for its greater enjoyment, glided harmlessly over one of the legs of the holy man, whose
thoughts, at the moment, were not occupied upon
the grovelling things of earth. He perceived not
the serpent, but the Indians, with breathless attention, had observed the whole movement of the poisonous reptile; and as they gazed upon the aspect
and attitude of the count, and saw the serpent offering him no harm, they changed their minds as
suddenly as the barbarians of Malta did theirs in
regard to the shipwrecked prisoner who shook the
viper from  his hand without feeling even a smart
from  its venomous fang.  Their enmity was immediately changed into reverence; and in the belief that their intended victim  enjoyed  the special
protection of the Great Spirit, they desisted  from
their bloody purpose and retired.* Thenceforward
the count was regarded  by the Indians with the
most profound veneration.  The arrival of Conrad
Weiser soon afterward  afforded every facility for
free communication with the sons of the forest,
* This interesting incident was not published in the count's memoirs,
lest, as he states, the world should think that the conversions that followed among the Indians were attributable to their superstitions. Mr.
Chapman, in his History of Wyoming, has preserved the story-having,
as he says, received it from one who was a companion of the count, and
who accompanied him, [the author] to Wyoming,
11 *




102         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
and the count remained among them twenty days.
Some time afterward several of the Moravian
brethren visited the valley and formed an agreeable
acquaintance with the Indians, especially with the
chiefs of the Nantikoke tribe, one of whom, eightyseven years old, was a remarkably intelligent man.*
The result was the establishment of a regular mission post there, which was successfully maintained
for several years, and until broken up by troubles
as extraordinary in their origin as they were fatal
to the Indians engaged in them.
The treaty of Aix-la Chapelle, which in 1748
put an end to the French war in Europe, proved
to be only a truce between France and Great
Britain; and from the movements of the former,
it required no remarkable degree of sagacity to
foresee that the sword would soon be drawn again,
and the contest chiefly waged, and perhaps decided, in the wild woods of America.  It was
even so. The storm broke forth upon the banks
of the Ohio in 17-.4, and was ended on those of
the St. Lawrence in 1763. Preparatory to this
contest, the arts of the French, and their Jesuit
missionaries, were all put in requisition to secure
the friendship and alliance of the Indians, The
influence of the Jesuiks, among the Indians of the
Ohio and upper lakes, was unbounded: and the
* Loskiel.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.            103
Shawanese of the Ohio, always haters of the English, were easily persuaded to take up the hatchet
at the first sound of the bugle. In anticipation of
hostilities, they early invited their brethren, settled
in the valley of Wyoming, to join them.  These
latter were little better disposed towards the English than their brethren deeper in the woods; and
but for the new ties that bound the Moravian converts to their church, the invitation would have
been promptly accepted.
It was not long, however, before an incident occurred, which not only sundered their Christian
relations, but facilitated the removal of all who
were able to get away.  This incident was a
sudden out-break of hostilities, between this secluded clan of the Shawanese, and their Delaware
neighbors on the other side of the river, the immediate cause of which was the most trivial that
can be imagined; in this respect without its parallel in history, unless such parallel is to be found
in the celebrated controversy between the virulent
factions of the Prasini and the Veniti, in Italy,
which began by a distinction of colors in ribands.*
Its consequences, too, were the most bloody, for
the numbers engaged, of any war, probably, that
was ever waged.  It happened thus:-On a certain day, the warriors of both clans being engaged
Vide Dean Swift's " Argument against abolishing Christianity."




104         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
in the chase upon the mountains, a party of the
Shawanese women and children crossed to the
Delaware side to gather wild fruit.  In this occupation they were joined by some of the Delaware
squaws, with their children.  In the course of the
day, the harmony of the children was interrupted
by a dispute respecting the possession of a large
grasshopper, probably with parti-colored wings.
A quarrel ensued, in which the mothers took part
with their children respectively.  The Delaware
women being the most numerous, the Shawanese
were driven home, several being killed upon both
sides.  On the return of their husbands from hunting, the Shawanese instantly espoused the cause of
their wives, and arming themselves, crossed the
river to give the Delawares battle.  The latter
were not unprepared, and a battle ensued, which
was long and obstinately contested, and which, after great slaughter upon both sides, ended in the
defeat of the Shawanese, and their expulsion from
the valley. They retired among their more powerful brethren on the Ohio, by whom, as already
mentioned, they had been invited to remove thither, with them to espouse the cause of the French.
This exploit of the Delawares, becoming noised
abroad, went far to relieve them  of the reproach
under which they had so long been lying', of being " WOMEN."*   They were now the principal
* According to Loskiel, a treaty was negotiated between the Iroquois




HISTORY OF WYOMINGo               105
occupants of the valley-entirely so, indeed, with
the exception of the small community of Naticokes who were settled at its lower extremity —
and their numbers were rapidly increased by those
of their own people who were retreating before
the onward march of civilization in the Minisink
country of the Delaware.   Among these accessions to their community were many from the vicinity of Friedhenshal, Bethlehem, Guadhenthal,
Nazareth, Nain, and  Gnadenhutten,*  the Moravian settlements in the region of the junction, or
Forks, of the Delaware and Lehigh.   Some of
them were converts to the Moravian church; and
a constant intercourse was thereafter maintained
by way of what is to  this day known as the " Indian Walk " across the mountains, between the Indians living at and in the vicinity of Gnadenhutten, and those of Wyoming.  As the storm of war
with the French drew near, the Indians in their interest began to hover upon the borders of the white
settlements, and particularly upon those of the
Delaware tribes, which yet adhered to the interests of the English,  The Delaware chief at Wyand the Delavares in 1755, when the former were soliciting the assistance
of the latter, by which the wonian's dress of the Delaware nation was
shortened so as to reach only to their knees, and a hatchet was given into
their hands by way of defence.
* " Hults of Mlercy," a settlement founded by the Moravians chiefly for
the accommodation and protection of those Indians who embraced their
faith.




106              HISTORY OF WYOMING.
oming was Tadame, of whom, at this day, but little is known.   He was however treacherously murdered  by  some  of the  hostile  Indians  from   the
northwest; whereupon a general council of the
Delawares  was convened, and  Teedyuscung, -of
whom mention has already been made, was chosen chief sachem, and  duly  proclaimed as such.
He was residing  at  Gnadenhutten  at the time of
his advancement, but immediately removed to Wyoming, which then became the principal seat of the
Delawares. Not long afterward a small fort upon
the Lehig-h,  in  the  neighborhood  of Gnadenhutten, was surprised by a party of Indians, and white
men disguised as such, its little garrison massacred,
the town  of Gnadenhutten  sacked  and burnt,many of its inhabitants, chiefly Christian Indians,
being  slain.   Numbers  of them   perished  in the
flames, while the survivors escaped and joined  their
brethren at Wyoming.*
It was not long'  after the actual commencement
of hostilities between the English colonists and the
French troops, and their Indian allies upon the
" Chapman. It was at about this period of time, according to the same
author, that the Nanticolkes, never particularly friendly to the English, removed from WVyoming farther up the river'to a place calletl Chemunk
[Chemung?] After this removal, hearing that the graves of their fathers, on the eastern shore of Maryland, were about being invaded by the
plough-shares of the pale-faces, they sent a deputation back to their nativc land, who disinterre,7 the remains of their dead, and conveyed them
to their new place of residence, where they were again buried with all
the rites and ceremonies of savage sepiulture. This is a beautiful instance
of filial piety, deserving of remembrance.




HISTORY OF WYOMING              107
banks of the Ohio, before Shamokin was attacked
by the Indians, and the white settlement destroyed. Fourteen whites were killed, several made
prisoners, and the houses and farms plundered.
The Delawares now began to waver under the
smarting of ancient grievances, and the artful appliances and appeals of the French; and with the
fall of General Braddock and the destruction of
his army, they revolted in a body, and went over
to the common enemy.  They were immediately
induced to change their relations, by the strong
assurances of the French that the war was in fact
undertaken in their behalf, for the purpose of driving away the English, and restoring the red man
once more to the full and entire possession of the
country of which he had been robbed.~*
A sanguinary war, upon the borders both of
Pennsylvania and Virginia, immediately followed
the secession of the Delawares, and if they were
" women," in the popular Indian acceptation, before, they wielded no feminine arms in the new
attitude they had so suddenly assumed. Their
blows fell thick and fast; their hatchets were red;
and their devastations of the frontier settlements
were frequent and cruel.  Governor Morris wrote
to General Shirley on the 3d of December, 1755,
* Chapman. See, also, an interesting journal of Christian Frederick
Post, while on a pacific mission to the Delawares andl Shawanese, which
has been preserved in the appendix to Proud.




10S         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
— " to our great surprise the Delawares and Shawanese have taken up the hatchet against us, and
with uncommon rage and fury carried on a most
barbarous and cruel war, burning and destroying
all before them, and in a short space of time have
been able to lay waste a considerable tract of country, extending a vast length from beyond the Apalaccian Hills in Virginia, to the river Delaware,
and it may be expected that they will next fall
on Jersey, and perhaps New-York, as they follow
the chain of mountains that we call the Blue Hills,
which take their rise in New-Englandd."*  The
storm was as fearful as it was unexpected to the
Pennsylvanians; for however much familiarized
Virginia and most of the other colonies had become to savage warfare, Pennsylvania, until now,
had been comparatively and happily exempt. For
more than seventy years a strict amity had existed
between the early English settlers and their successors in Pennsylvania and New-Jersey,t and the
breaking forth of the war created'the greater consternation on that account.
It appears that the Quakers, —a people, by the
wvay, who have at all times manifested a deep solicitude for the welfare of the Indians, and whose
benevolent principles and gentle manners have,
* MIS. letter from Robert II. M-orris, Governor of Pennsylvania, to Ceneral Shirley.
Proud.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.             109
in all critical emergencies, more than any thing
else, won the red man's confidence,-had previously discovered some uneasiness among the Indians, connected with certain land questions, in respect of which they were not quite clear that
injustice had not been done their red brethren of
the forest.  While, therefore, the government was
making such preparations as it could for the common defence, great and persevering efforts were
made, under the urgent advisement of the Quakers, to win back the friendship of the Delawares,
as also that of the Shawanese.  It was the opinion of these good people, as just intimated, that
in their revolt the Delawares had been moved by
wrongs, either real or fancied,-and if the latter,
not the less wrongs to their clouded apprehensiorns,
-in regard to some of their lands.  A  pacific
mission to the Delawares and  Shawanese was
therefore recommended and strongly urged by
them, and the project was acceded to by Governor
Morris; but he refused to set the mission on foot
until after he had issued a formal declaration of
war.*   The Quakers were strongly opposed to
this measure, and so was Sir William  Johnson,
who judged that pacific relations might be more
easily restored without resorting to a declar* Memorial of the Quakers to Governor Denny, who had succeeded 31r.
Morris in the government of the Proprietaries in 1756. See Proud, vol. ii.
Appendix.
12




110         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
ation, than afterward, and privately remonstrated
against it.* Difficulties meantime increased, and
the ravages of the frontiers were continued, until
the war-path flowed with blood.  Governor Morris, in a letter to Sir William  Johnson justifying
his declaration, said:-" You cannot conceive what
havoc has been made by the enemy in this defenceless province, nor what number of murders they
have committed, what a vast tract of territory they
have laid waste, and what a multitude of inhabitants, of all ages and both sexes, they have carried
into captivity.  By information of several of the
prisoners who have made their escape from them,
I can assure you that there are not less than three
hundred of our people in servitude to them and
the French on the Ohio.  At first they appeared
in small parties, and committed their outrages
where they could do it with more safety to themselves. But of late they have penetrated into the
inhabited part of the country in larger bodies, and
have defeated several detachments of our armed
forces; carried and laid waste whole counties, and
spread great terror amongst us."t
The influence of Sir William Johnson and of the
Six Nations, with the Delawares, was invoked by
the Pennsylvanians, and several of the Chiefs of
the confederacy, with Colonel Claus, and Andrew
* Johnson MSS. in the author's possession,
t MS. letter among the Johnson papers.




HISTORY  OF  WYOMING.                   111
Montour, Sir William's secretary and  interpreter,
visited  Philadelphia  upon  that business.*    The
parent government likewise urged  the representatives of the  Proprietaries  to  renew   their Indian
negotiations, and if possible arrive at a better understanding with them, by  defining  explicitly  the
lands that had been actually purchased.t
These pacific dispositions were so far attended
with success that two Indian councils were held at
Easton, in the Summer and Autumn of 1756.
The first, however, was so small, being attended
by only twenty-four Indians, that no business was
transacted other than the giving and  receiving  of
explanations, and the adoption of such arrangements as it was hoped would lead to a pacific result.   The chief and master-spirit of the  Indians
was Teedyuscung, claiming to be king of the Delawares, and being acknowledged by them  as such.
He was the bearer of a belt to the Delawares from
the Six  Nations, urging  them   to  lay  down  the
hatchet,$ and he claimed to represent ten  nations
in the council.  F1iom   the i:nformiation  elicited  at
* Memorial of the CQlakers, already cited.  -' Chapman.
t Strangely enough Loskiel asserts, repeatedly, that the Delawares and
Shawanese had been instigated to these hostilities Against the English by
the Six Nations. The proofis conclusive,-rendered more conclusive than
ever by the Johnson manuscripts,-that the Six Nations did all in their
power to assist them, and afterward to aid in the restoration of peace. But
the good Moravians always looked with an eye of strong partiality upon
the Delawares, and with the opposite feeling upon the Six Nations. I
have the manuscript journals of these councils before me at large-and they
are long and full.




1 12        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
this council, it appeared that Teedyuscung had
been the chief agent in exciting the Delawares and
Shawanese to hostilities, and that he had but recently returned from a visit to the French garrison
at Niagara, at which place he had been treated
with marked attention.  Still, in reference to the
pacific messages by which he had been invited to
the council, he declared " that they had touched
his heart, and given him abundance of joy."  The
discussions were continued several days, in the
most amicable spirit, and an arrangement was
made by virtue of which Teedyuscung was to visit the remote hostile Indians, and bring them in
greater numbers to attend a council to be held in
the approaching Autumn. Ide was not as successful in his efforts to induce the Indians to meet
in the proposed councilas it was hoped he would be,
yet it took place in November, although it appears
to have been confined to the Delawares of the Susquehanna-those of that nation who had previously emigrated to the Ohio, and the Shawanese, not
being represented.  The council was conducted
by Lieutenant Governor Denny on the part of the
colony, and by Teedyuscung on behalf of the Indians; and he appears to have managed his case
with the energy of a man and the ability of a
statesman. If his people had cowered like cravens
before the rebukes of the Six Nations, in the council of 1742, their demeanor was far otherwise on




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                          113
this occasion.* Having, by joining the Shawanese
and the French, thrown off the vassalage of the
Six Nations, and become an independent, as well
as a belligerent power, they now met the pale faces, and a deputation of the Six Nations who were
present, with the port and bearing of men.
On being requested by the Governor to state the
causes of their uneasiness and subsequent hostilities, Teedyuscung enumerated several.  Among
them were the abuses committed upon the Indians
in the prosecution of their trade; being unjustly
deprived of portions of their lands; and in the execution, long before, in New-Jersey, of a Delaware
chief, named Wekahelah, for, as the Indians alleged, accidentally killing a white man-a transaction  which  they  said  they  could  not forget.t
* At this council, T'eedyuscung insisted upon having a secretary of his
own selection appointed, to take down the proceedings in behalf of the
Indians. The demand was considered extraordinary, and was opposed
by Governor Denny. The Delaware chief, ho wever, persisted in his demand, and it was finally acceded to.  Teedyuseung therefore appointed
Charles Thompson, Master of the Free Quaker School in Philadelphia, as
the secretary for the Indians. This was the same Charles Thompson who
was afterwards secretary to the Old Congress of the revolution-who was
so long continued in that station —and who died in the year 1824, aged 94
years-fisll of years and honors. The Indians adopted him and gave him
a name signitying-" The Man of Truth."
t Weekweela, Wekahela, or Weekquehela, was an Indian of great consideration, both among the Christian and Pagan Indians. He resided, with
his clan, upon South river, near Shrewsbury, in East Jersey, and lived
in a style corresponding with that of affluent white men. He had a large
farm, which was well cultivated and stocked with cattle and horses: his
housewaslarge, and furnished after the English manner, with chairs,
feather beds, curtains, &c., &c. IJe had also servants, and was the owner of slaves. IIe likewise mingled with good society, and was the guest
12*




114               HISTORY OF WYOMING.
When the Governor desired specifications of the
alleged wrongs in regard to their lands, Teedyuscung replied: "The Kings of England and France
have settled or wrought this land so as to coop us
up as if in a pen.'" —" I have not far to go for another instance. This very ground that is under
me, (striking it with his foot,) was my land and
inheritance; and is taken from me by fraud.
W hen I say this ground, I mean  all the  land  lying between Tohiccon Creek and Wyoming, on
the river Susquehanna. I have not only been
served so in this government, but the same thing
has been done to me as to several tracts in NewJersey, over the river."  When asked what he
meant by fraud, Teedyuscung replied:-" When
one man had formerly liberty to purchase land,
and he took the deeds from the Indians, and then
dies, and after his death his children  forge a deed
like the true one, with the same Indian  names  to
it, and thereby take lands from  the Indians  which
otgovernors and other distinguished men. Unfortunately, about the year
1728, Captain John Leonard purchased a cedar swamp of some other Indians- which Weekquehela claimed as belonging to him.  Leonard disregarded his claim, and persisted in occupying the land. A quarrel ensued,
and VWTeekqtlehela shot him dead as a trespasser-not, however, upon the
disputed territory, but while he was walking one day in his garden. The
chief was arrested by the civil authorities, and tried and executed for murder at Amboy. Such is substantially the story as related in Smith's History of New-Jersey. The Indians claimed that Weelkquehela's gun went
off by accident; and the Six Nations, in a speech delivered at Lancaster
in the year 1757, not only affirmed this, but maintained that the Indian
went himself and with great grief communicated the circumstance to the
widow-surrendering himself up voluntarily to the civil authorities.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         115
they never sold, this is fraud." " Also, when one
chief has land beyond the river, and another chief
bhas land on this side, both bounded by rivers,
mountains, and springs, which cannot be moved,
and the Proprietaries, ready to purchase lands, buy
of one chief what belongs to another. This likewise is fraud."  " When I had agreed to sell certain lands to the old proprietor by the course of
the river, the young proprietors came and got it
run by a straight course by the compass, and by
that means took in double the quantity intended
to be sold."  This he thought was fraud.  He
said the Delawares had never been satisfied with
the conduct of the latter since the treaties of 1737,
when their fathers sold them the lands on the Delaware. He said that although the land sold was
to have gone only "as far as a mans could go in a
day and a half fJom Nashamlony Creek," yet the
person who measured the ground did not wvalk,
but ran. He was, moreover, as they supposed, to
follow the winding bank of the river, whereas he
went in a straight line. And because the Indians
had been unwilling to give up the land as far as
the walk extended, the Governor then having the
command of the English sent for their cousins the
Six Nations, who had always been hard masters
to them, to come down and drive them from their
land. When the Six Nations came down, the
Delawares met them at a great treaty held at the




116               HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Governor's house in Philadelphia, for the purpose
of explaining why they  did not give up the land;
but the English made so many presents to the Six
Nations, that their ears were stopped.  They would
listen to no explanation; and Canassateego had
moreover abused them, and called them women.
The Six Nations had, however, given to them and
the Shawanese, the lands upon the Susquehanna
and the Juniata for hunting grounds, and had so
informed the Governor; but notwithstanding this,
the whites were allowed to go and settle upon
those lands.* Two years ago, moreover, the Governor had been to Albany to buy some land of the
Six Nations, and had described their purchase by
points of compass, which the Indians did not understand, including lands both upon the Juniata
and the Susquehanna, which they did not intend
to sell. When all these -things were known to the
Indians, they declared they would no longer be
friends to the English, who were trying to get all
their country away from them.  He however as* In a speech delivered by one of the chiefs of the Six Nations, at a council held with them at Lancaster, in 1757, this last assertion of Teedyus.
cung was confirmed, as follows:-" Brothers: You desired us to open our
hearts, and inform you of every thing we know, that might give rise to the
quarrel between you and our nephews and brothers:-That, in former
times our forefathers conquered the Delawares, and put petticoats on them;
a long time after that they lived among you, our brothers; but upon some
difference between you and them, we thought proper to remove them,
giving them lands to plant and to hunt on, at T4yoming and Junsiata, on the
Susquehlanna; but you, covetous of land, made plantations there, and spoiled their hunting grounds; they then complained to us, and we looked
over those lands, and found their complaints to be true."




HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                 117
sured the council that they were nevertheless glad
to meet their old friends the English again, and
to smoke the pipe of peace with them. He also
hoped that justice would be done to them for all
the injuries they had received."*
The council continued nine days, and Governor
Denny appears to have conducted himself with so
much tact and judgment, as greatly to conciliate
the good will of the Indians. By his candid and
ingenuous treatment of them, as some of the
Mohawks afterward  expressed  it, "'he put his
hand into Teedyuscung's bosom, and was so successful as to draw out the secret, which neither
Sir William  Johnson nor the  Six  Nations could
do."t The result was a reconciliation of the Delawares of the Susquehanna with the English, and
a treaty of peace, upon the basis that Teedyuscung
and his people were to be allowed to remain upon
the Wyoming lands, and that houses were to be
built for them  by the Proprietaries..   There were,
however, several matters left unadjusted, although
the Governor desired that every  difficulty  should
then be discussed, and every cause of. complaint,
* In the first edition of this work, I was indebted to Proud for an outline
of this speech of the Delaware King; but I have since discovered a manuscript journal of the entire proceedings of this council among the manu-.
scripts of Sir William Johnson. Chapman was in error in supposing it
to have been a general council,' and that the Ohio Indians were included
in the peace.
t Memorial of the Quakers to Governor Denny.
4 Journal of Christian Frederick Post-note by Proud.




1 18        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
as far as he possessed the power, be removed. But
Teedyuscung replied that he was not empowered,
at the present time, to negotiate upon several of
the questions of grievance that had been raised,
nor were all the parties interested properly represented in the council. He therefore proposed the
holding of another council in the following spring,
at Lancaster~  This propositon was acceded to;
and many Indians collected at the'time and place
appointed.  Sir William  Johnson despatched a
deputation of the Six Nations thither, under the
charge of Colonel Croghan, the Deputy Superintendent of the Indians; but for some reason unexplained, neither Teedyuscung nor the Delawares from  Wyoming attended  the  council,
though of his own appointment. Col. Croghan
wrote to Sir William, however, that the meeting
was productive of great good in checking the war
upon the frontier; and in a speech to Sir William, delivered by the Senecas in June following,
they claimed the credit, by their mediation, of the
partial peace that had been obtained.  The conduct of Teedyuscung onr that occasion was severely censured by Sir William, in a speech to
the Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas; and the
latter were charged by the baronet to take the
subject in hand, and; "talk to him," and should
they find him in fault, "make him sensible of it."*
* Manuscripts of Sir William Johnson in the author's possession.




HISTORY OF WYOOMING.          119
But the Delawares and the Shawvanese of the
Alleghany and Ohio were yet upon the war-path,
and although the horrors of the border warfare
wereso mewhat mitigated by the peace with Teedyuscung', they were by no means at an end.  More
especially were the frontiers of Virginia exposed
to the invasions of the Shawanese.  Efforts for a
more general pacification were therefore continued,
under the auspices of the Quakers. Indeed these
people, in whatever related to Indian affairs, formed almost an independent branch of the Pennsylvania government.  They enjoyed more of the
confidence of the Indians than the officers of the
government did; especially of Teedyuscung,; and
in their great solicitude to protect the red man's
interests, they not unfrequently embarrassed the
designs and proceedings of the governor.*  But
the French were strongly posted at Venango and
Fort Du Quesne; and they were assiduous and
plausible in cultivating the friendship of the Indians, and lavish in their presents.  It was consequently a difficult matter to obtain access to the
Indian towns thickly studding the more western
rivers, or to induce the tribes to open their cars to
any body but the French.
A most fittingl and worthy agent to bear a message of peace to those Indians, was, however,
a MS. letters of Governor Denny tc Sir William Johnson.




120         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
found in the person of Christian Frederick Post.
He was a plain, honest German, of the Moravian
sect, who had resided seventeen years with the
Indians, a part of which period had been passed
in the valley of Wyoming, and he had twice married among them. He was therefore well acquainted with the Indian character, and was intimately known to many, both Shawanese and Delawares, who had also resided at Wyoming. The
service required of him  was alike severe and
arduous. A dreary wilderness was to be traversed,
ravines threaded and mountains scaled; and when
these obstacles were surmounted, even if he did
not meet with a stealthy enemy before, with his
life in his hand he was to throw himself into the
heart of an enemy's country-and that enemy as
treacherous and cruel, when in a state of exasperation, as ever civilized man has been doomed to
encounter. But Christian Frederick Post entered
upon the perilous mission with the courage and
spirit of a Christian.  Accompanied by two or
three Indian guides, he crossed the rivers and
mountains twice in the summer and autumn of
175S, visited many of the Indian towns, passed
and repassed the French fort at Venango, and held
a council with the Indians almost under the guns
of Fort Du Quesne, where was a garrison, at that
time, of about ten thousand men. Far the greater
part of the Indians received him with friendship,




HISTORY O' WYOMING.         121
and his message of peace with gladness.  They
had such perfect confidence in his integrity and
truth, that every effort of the French to circumvent him was unavailing. They kept a captain
and more than fifteen soldiers hanging about him
for several days, watching his every movement,
and listening to all that was said; and various
schemes were devised at first to make him pris"
oner and ultimately to take his life; but although
one of his own guides had a "6 forked tongue,"
and was seduced from him at fort Du Quesne, yet
the Indians upon whom he had thrown himself,
with so much confidence and moral courage)
interposed for his counsel and protection in every
case of danger, and would not allow a hair of his
head to be injured. He was charged with messages both from Teedyuscung and Governor Denny.
To the former they would not listen for a moment. Indeed that chieftain seemed to be the object of their strong dislike, if not of their positive
hate. They would therefore recognize nothing
that he had done at Easton; but they received
the message of the Governor with the best possible
feeling. It was evident from all their conversations with Christian Post, whose Journal is as artless as it is interesting, that they had been deceived
by the representations of the French, and deluded
into a belief that, while it was the intention of the
English to plunder them of all their lands, the
13




122               HISTORY OF WYOMING.
French were themselves actuated solely by the
benevolent motive of driving the English back
across the water, and restoring the Indians to all
the possessions which the Great Spirit had given
them.* Convinced by Post of the fraud that had
been practised upon their understandings, their
yearnings for peace gathered intensity every day.
Several times, during his conversations with the
chiefs of different towns, as he undeceived them
in regard to the real designs of the  French, their
minds seemed filled with melancholy perplexity.
A conviction of what was not wide of the truth
flashed upon them, and once at least, the apprehension was uttered that it was but a struggle between
the English and French, which should possess
their whole country, after the Indians had been
exterminated between them.  "Why do not the
great kings of England and France," they inquired, "do  their fighting in their own country, and
* In the course of the speech by one of the Six Nations, delivered at
the Council at Lancaster in 1757, cited in a preceding note, it was said in
reference to the influence which the French had acquired over the Delawares and Shawanese: "' At this time our cousins the Delawares carried
on a correspon dence with the French; by which means the Frenchl became
acquainted with all the causes of complaint they had against you; and as
your people were daily incroaching their settlements, by these means you
drove them back into the arms of the French; and they took the advantage
of spriting them up against you, by telling them,' Children, you see, and
we have often told you, how the English, your brothers, would serve you;
they plant all the country, and drive you back; so that in a little time, you
will have no land; it is not so with us; though we build trading-houses
on your land, we do not plant it, we have our provisions from over the
great water.' 1'




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         123
not come over the great waters to fight on our
hunting grounds?" The question was too deep
for honest Christian Frederick Post to answer.
However, the inclination of the Indians was decidedly toward the English, and the result of his
second embassy, in the autumn of 1759, after encountering fresh difficulties and dangers, was a
reconciliation with the Indians of the Ohio country, in consequence of which the French were
obliged to abandon the whole of that territory to
General Forbes, after destroying with their own
hands the strong fortress of Du Quesne.
Great, however, as was the influence of Christian Frederick, Post with the western IDelawares
and Shawanese, he is by no means entitled to the
entire credit of bringing about a peace. The efforts of Sir William Johnson were incessantly directed to the same end, and were not without
their effect. The fact was, the French were omitting no-exertions to win the Six Nations from their
alliance with the English.  In this design they
were partially successful, and the British Indian
Superintendent, great as was his influence with
the red men, had his hands full to prevent the
mass of the Six Nations from deserting him, during the years 1756 and 1757, and joining the
French. True, the Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuscaroras maintained their allegiance to the British
crown, and were not backward upon the war-path;




124         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
but the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, against
the strongest remonstrances of Sir William, declared themselves neutral; while large numbers of
the Senecas and Cayugas actually took up the
hatchet with the western Indians, in alliance with
the French.*
The defection probably would have been greater, but for circumstances that occurred at Fort
Du Quesne, late in the year 1757, and in the beginning of the following year.  These circumstances, which will be presently explained, while
they evinced the absence, for a time, of the usual
tact and sagacity of the French, had admirably
opened the way for Christian Post's mission, also
having the effect of at once relieving Sir William
Johnson from his embarrassing position in regard
to the equivocal attitude of three of the Six Nations. It has been seen that Sir William had interposed, not only directly but through the means
of some of his Indians, in producing the partial
peace with the Delawares and Teedyuscung. The
baronet had also succeeded in for-ming an allalne
with the Cherokees, some of whom had gone upon
the war-path in the neighborhood of Fort Du
Quesne. These were now likewise exerting themselves to detach the western Indians, as far as
might be, from the French.f
It was in this posture of affairs that, late in the
* MSS. of SirWilniam Johnson.  t Idena,




HISTORY OF WYOMING              125
year 1757, a war-party of the Twightwees, (Miamies,) in a frolic close by the fortress of Du
Quesne, killed a number of the cattle belonging
to the French troops in the fort.  In a moment
of exasperation, without pausing to reflect upon
the consequences, the French fired upon the aggressors, and killed some ten or twelve of their
number. The Twightwees were deeply incensed
at this outrage, and the western Indians sympathized with them at the loss of their braves. It
was not long, probably, before their resolution was
taken, not only to withdraw from the French service, but to avenge the untimely fall of their warriors.*
While the Twightwees were thus brooding over
this wrong, the Delawares intercepted a French
despatch, in which the project was proposed and
discussed, of cutting off and utterly exterminating
the Six Nations —forming, as they did, so strhong a
barrier between the French and English coloniesk
The Indians found some one among themselves
to read the document, and they no sooner understood its full purport than they repaired to the
fortress in a body, and charged the project home
upon the commander.  That officer was either
confused, or he attempted to dissemble.  He like~
* MIS. of Sir William Johnson.
13*




126         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
wise tried, but without success, to obtain the document from them.  They kept it, and its contents were the occasion of wide-spread consternation among the Indians. But this is not all. In
March, 1758, a deputation of the Senecas waited
upon Sir William Johnson, with a message from
the Delawares, the purport of which was, that the
French had recently convened a great council of
the north-western Indians at Detroit, at which the
same project of exterminating the Six Nations
was proposed and discussed. The pretext urged
upon them by the French was, that the Six Nations
were wrongfully claiming the territory of their
western brethren, and were they to be crushed and
extinguished, there would be no more difficulty
upon the subject.  The western Indians would
come into the full enjoyment of their own again,
without question as to jurisdiction.  They therefore proposed that all the Indians should join them
-" in cutting off the Six Nations from the face of
the earth." This proposition startled the Delawares, who, after the council, determined to apprize the Senecas of the plot, and send to them the
hatchet which they had recieved from the French
to use against the English. They desired the Senecas to keep the hatchet for them, as they were
determined not to use it again, unless by direction
of their cousins.  Having received the message
and the hatchet, the Senecas called a council to




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         127
deliberate upon the subject. The hatchet they
had resolved to throw into deep water, where it
could not be found in three centuries, and they
now came to Sir William with the information,
and for counsel. It was a favorable moment for
the baronet, and the opportunity was not suffered
to pass unimproved. It so happened that the information was in full confirmation of the predictions which Sir William had many times uttered
to the Indians, in his efforts to prevent any friendly intercourse between them and the French.
These predictions the Senecas, in their present
troubles, remembered with lively impressions of
the baronet's sagacity; and the result of the interview was an entire alienation of the Senecas
and Cayugas from the French.*
On the 19th of April following, the Shawanese
and Delawares of Ohio sent a message of peace
to Sir William. A council of the Mohawks was
immediately convened, at the suggestion of the
baronet, and it was determined, in the event of
war, that the Shawanese and Delawares should
once more find an asvlumi from the French at Venango and Fort Du Quesne in the valley of Wyoming. But the evacuation, by the French, of the
Ohio country, soon afterward, as already mentioned, rendered no such formal removal necessary.t
Meantime another and much larger council was
M* MSS. of Sir William Johnson.  t Idem.




128             HISTORY  OF WYOMING.
holden'at Easton, late in the autumn of 1758, at
which all the Six Nations, and most of the Delaware tribes, tilhe Shawanese, the Miamies and
some of the Mohickanders were represented. The
number of Indians assembled was about five hundred.   Sir William  Johnson was present, and the
governments of Pennsylvania and New-Jersey
were likewise represented. Teedyuscung assumed
a conspicuous position as a conductor of the discussions, at which the Six  Nations were disposed
for a  time  to  be  offended-reviving again their
claim  of superiority.   But the Delaware chief was
not in a humor to yield the distinction he had
already acquired, and he sustained himself throughout with eloquence and dignity.*
The object of this treaty was chiefly the adjustment of boundaries, and  to  extend  and brighten
the chain of friendship, not only between the Indians themselves, but between  their nations collectively and the  whites.   It was a convention  of
much harmony toward  the  close, and  after nineteen days' sittings, every difficulty being adjusted,
they separated with great cordiality and good
will.t
* Chapman.
t There was yet another council of the Indians held at Easton, in 1761,
in which Teedyuscung tools an active and eloquent part. He was dissatisfied at Wyoming, although the government of Pennsylvania appear to
have fulfilled their contract to build houses for the Indians, at considerable
expense. Teedyuscung, however, threatened to leave the place, against
which resolution he was strongly urged. The proceedings of this council, at length, are among Sir William Johnson's manuscripts. The resuits were of but little importance.




CHAPTER IV.
Indefinite grants of lands by the Crown,-Early claim of Connecticut to
western lands,-Conflicting grants,-Organization of the Susquehanna
Company,-Project of colonizing Wyoming. Objections of the Pennsylvanians,-Conflicting purchases of the Indians,-First attempt to
colonize Wyoming,-Frustrated by the Indian Wars,-Resumed in 1762,
-First arrival of settlers,-Friendship with the Indians,-Return to
Connecticut for the winter,-Opposition of the Proprietaries, —Removal
with their families,-Treacherous assassination of Teedyuscung,-First
Massacre at Wyoming,-Flight of the survivors,-Case of Mr. Hopkins,
-Expedition against the Indians,-Their departure from the valley,Massacre of the Conestogoe Indians by the Paxtang zealots,-I)isgraceful proceedings that ensued, —Moravian Indians settle in Wyalusing,eremove to Uhio,
EVENTS of a different character now crowd upon the attention.   "The  first grants  of lands in
America, by the crown of Great Britian, were
made with a lavishness which can exist only where
acquisitions are without cost, and their value unknown; and with a want of provision in regard to
boundaries which could result only from entire
ignorance of the country. The charters of the
great Western and Southern Virginia Companies,
and of  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and
Connecticut, were of this liberal and uncertain
character. The charter of the Plymouth Company covered the expanse from the fortieth to the




130            HISTORY  OF WYOMING.
forty-sixth degree of Northern latitude, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean."'
This charter was granted by King James I.,
under the great seal of England, in the most
ample manner, on the 3d of November, 1620,
to  the  Duke  of Lenox, the Marquis  of Buckingham, the  Earls  of Arundel  and  Warwick
and  their associates, "for the planting, ruling,
ordering, and governing of New-England, in
America."    The  charter  of Connecticut  was
derived from the Plymouth Company, of which
the Earl of Warwick was President.  This grant
was made in  March, 1621, to Viscount Say and
Seal, Lord  Brook, and  their associates.  It was
made in the most ample form, and also covered
the country west of Connecticut, to the extent of
its breadth, being about one degree of latitude,
from sea to sea.t This grant was confirmed by
the King in the course of the same year, and again
in 1662. New-York, or, to speak more correctly
in reference to that period, the New-Netherlands,
being then a Dutch possession, could not be claimed as a portion of these munificent grants, if for
* Gordon's History of Pennsylvania.
t Trumbull's History of Connecticut. Colonel Timothy Pickering, in
a letter to his son, giving the particulars of the highhanded outrage committed upon him in Wyoming, in 1788, in speaking of these grants, remarks: —" It seems natural to suppose by the terms of these grants, extending to the western ocean, that in early times the continent was conceived to be of comparatively little breadth."




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          131
no other reason, for the very good and substantial
one that in the grant to the Plymouth Company an
exception was made of all such portions of the territory as were " then actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or State." But
the round phraseology of the charters opened the
door sufficiently wide for any subsequent claims,
within the specified parallels of latitude, which
the company, or its successors, might afterward
find it either convenient or politic to interpose.
And it appears that even at the early date of 1651,
some of the people of Connecticut were already
casting longing eyes upon a section of the valley
of the Delaware. It was represented by these enterprizing men that they had purchased the lands
in question from the Indians, but that the Dutch
had interposed obstacles to their settlement thereon. In reply to their petition, the commissioners
of the United Colonies asserted their right to the
jurisdiction of the territory claimed upon the Delaware, and the validity of the purchases that had
been made by individuals.  "' They protested
against the conduct of the Dutch, and assured
the petitioners that though the season was not
meet for hostilities, yet if within twelve months,
at their own charge, they should transport to the
Delaware one hundred armed men, with vessels
and ammunition approved by the magistrates of
New-Haven, and should be opposed by the Dutch,




132            HISTORY OF WYOMING.
they should be assisted by as many soldiers as the
commissioners might judge meet; the lands and
trade of the settlement being charged with the expense, and continuing under the government of
New-Haven."*   The project, however, was not
pressed during the designated period, nor indeed
does it seem to have been revived for more than a
century  afterward.   Many changes of political
and other relations had occurred during this long
lapse of time.  Disputes had arisen between the
people of Connecticut and the New Netherlands
in regard to boundaries, which had been adjusted
by  negociation and  compromise.   The  colony
of New Netherlands had moreover fallen, by
the fortunes of war, under the  sway  of the
British  crown.   The  colonies of New  Jersey
and Pennsylvania had also been planted. Various additional grants had been given by the
crown, and other questions of territorial limits
had been  raised and  adjusted.   But in  none
of these transactions had Connecticut relinquished
her claims of jurisdiction, and the pre-emptive
right to the lands of the Indians, lying beyond
New-York, and north of the fortieth degree of
latitude, as defined in the original grant to the
* This quotation is from Gordon. Colonel Pickering, in the letter alieady cited in a preceding note, addressed to his son, and privately printed
for the use of his own family only, supposed that Connecticut did not set
up any formal claim to lands west of New-York and New-Jersey, until
just prior to the revolution. He was in errot.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.              133
Plymouth Company.  The grant of this Company to Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brook had
been made fifty years before the grant of the crown
to William  Penn, and the confirmation of that
grant to Connecticut by royal charter, nineteen
years prior to that conveyance.* Unfortunately,
moreover, from the laxity that prevailed among
the advisers of the crown, in the granting of patents, as to boundaries, the patent to William Penn
covered a portion of the grant to Connecticut,
equal to one degree of latitude and five of longitude; and within this territory, thus covered by
double grants, was situated the section of the Del
aware country heretofore spoken of;t as also the
yet richer and more inviting valley of Wyoming,
toward which some of the more restless if not enterprizing sons of the Pilgrinms were already turning their eyes with impatience.  Hence the difficulties, and feuds, and civil conflicts, an account
of which will form the residue of the present and
the succeeding chapter.
The project of establishing a colony in Wyoming was started by sundry individuals in Connecticut in 1753, during which year an association
was formed for that purpose, called the Susque* Trumbull.
t The specific claim of the Delaware Company, was to the lands between the ranges of the north and south lines of Connecticut, westward
by the Delaware river, to within ten miles of the Susquehanna.
14




134        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
hanna Company, and a number of agents were
commissioned to proceed thither, explore the country, and conciliate the good will of the Indians.
This commission was executed; and as the valley,
though at that time in the occupancy of the IDelawares, was claimed by the Six Nations, a purchase of that Confederacy was determined upon.
To this end, a deputation of the company, the associates of which already numbered about six hundred persons embracing many gentlemen of wealth
and character, was directed to repair to Albany,
where a great Indian Council was to be assembled
in 1754, and if possible to effect the purchase.
Their movements were not invested with secrecy,
and the Governor of Pennsylvania,-James Hamilton, —becoming acquainted with them, was not
slow in interposing objections to the procedureclaiming the lands as falling within the charter of
Penn, and of course belonging, the pre-emptive
right at least, to the Proprietaries for whom he was
administering the government. Hamilton wrote
to Governor Wolcott upon the subject, protesting
strongly against the designs of the company. To
this letter Wolcott replied, that the projectors of
the enterprise supposed the lands in question were
not comprised within the grant to William Penn;
but should it appear that they were, the Governor
thought there would be no disposition to quarrel
upon the subject. Governor Hamilton also ad



HISTORY OF WYOMING                      135
dressed General (afterward Sir William) Johnson
in relation to the matter, praying his interposition
to prevent the Six nations from making any sales
to the agents of the Connecticut Company, should
they appear at Albany for that purpose; and from
the letters and other manuscripts preserved among
the papers of the baronet, yet extant, it is certain
that he entered fully into the views of the government of Pennsylvania, then and  afterward  doing
all in his power to thwart the Connecticut enterprize.
But these precautionary measures on the part
of Hamilton did not defeat the object of the Connecticut Company, although a strong deputation
to that end was sent from Pennsylvania to Albany.*
A purchase was made by the Connecticut agents,
of a tract of land extending about seventy miles
north and south, and form  a parallel line ten miles
east of the Susquehanna, westward two degrees of
longitude.t   This purchase  included  the  whole
valley of Wyoming, and the country westward to
the sources of the Alleghany.4 The Pennsylvania
* The Delegates from Connecticut were, William Pitkin, Roger Wolcott,
and Elisha Williams. Those from Pennsylvania were, John and Richard
Penn, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin.
t Trumbull. Since the publication of the first edition of the present
work, I have obtained the Deed of this purchase, which will be found in
the appendix, containing the names of all the parties to the contract.
t Chapman. Another association was subsequently formed in Connecticut, called the Delaware Company, which purchased the land of the Indians, east of the Wyoming tract, to the Delaware river. This company
commenced a settlement on the Delaware at a place called Coshutunk in




136          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
delegates did all in their power to circumvent the
agents of the Susquehanna Company, holding several private councils with the chiefs of the Six Nations, and endeavoring to purchase the same lands
themselves.  In the course of their consultations,
Hendrick, the last of the Mohawk kings,* thinking that some reflection had been cast upon his
character, became excited, and declared that neither of the parties should have the land. But the
Connecticut agents succeeded, as already stated,
and the Pennsylvanians also effected the purchase
of "a tract of land between the Blue Mountains
and the forks of the Susquehanna river."t  Strong
efforts were subsequently made by the Pennsylvania government, aided by the influence of General
Johnson, to induce the Indians to revoke the sale
to the Susquehanna Company, and Hendrick was
prevailed upon by Johnson to make a visit to Philadelphia upon that business. And injustice to the
Pennsylvanians it must be allowed, that they always protested against the legality of this purchase
by their rivals-alleging that the bargain was not
made in open council, that it was the work of a
few of the chiefs only, and that several of them
were in a state of intoxication when they signed
1757, which was the first settlement founded by the people of Connecticut
within the territory claimed by them west of New-York.
* He fell, bravely fighting under General Johnson, in the battle of Lake
George, the following year.
t Chapman.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                          137
the deed of conveyance.*  It is farthermore true
that in 1736 the Six Nations had sold to the Proprietaries the lands upon both sides of the Susquehanna,-" from  the mouth of the said river up to
the mountains called the Kakatchlanamin hills,
and  on  the west side to the setting  of the sun."t
But this deed was held by the advocates of the
Connecticut purchase, to be quite too indefinite;
and  besides, as the  "hills" mentioned, which are
none other than the Blue Mountains, formed the
northern boundary not only of that purchase, but
in the apprehension of the Indians, of the Colony
of Pennsylvania itself, Wyoming valley could not
have been included.;
* MS. letters of Governor Ilamilton to General Johnson, in the author's
possession. Gordon might be cited to the same purpose; and the same
opinion is also supported by Colonel Pickering, who remarks:-" These
purchases were not made, I am well satisfied, at any public council, or
open treaties of the Indians to whom they belonged, but of little knots of
inferior and unauthorized chiefs, indifferent about the consequences, provided they received some present gratifications, of comparatively small
value."
" ": The lands had already been sold, to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania in 1730, and that sale enlarged and confirmed by a public deed whose
seals were scarce dry. The Indian councils at all times afterward denied
the sale (at Albany in 1754.) They disclaimed it in January, 1755, and in
November, 1758, at Philadelphia; and, in 1763, they sent a deputation to
Connecticut, on hearing that three hundred families proposed to settle
these lands, to remonstrate against their intrusion, and to deny the alleged sale; and, in 1771, the Delawares and their derivative tribes, also protested that they had never sold any right to the Connecticut claimants."Gordosn.
t On the 17th of Septemmber, 1718, Sassoon, "K Iing of the Delaware Indians " —so runs the deed,-"-c and Pokehais, Metashichay, Aiyanlaikan,
Pepawmaman, Ghettypenceman and Opekasset, chiefs of the said Indians,
for and in consideration of two guns, six stroud water-coats, six blankets,
14l




138           HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Having succeded in their purchase, the Susquehanna company procured a charter from the
government of Connecticut, upon a memorial praying "that they might be formed into a distinct
commonwealth, if it should be his Majesty's pleasure to grant it, with such privileges and immunities as should be agreeable to the royal pleasure."
The company now consisted of six hundred and
seventy-three associates, ten of whom  were residents of Pennsylvania; and it was beyond doubt
their design to form a separate colony, with a government of its own, subject, not to that of Connecticut, but only to the crown. But the course
of subsequent events defeated that object. Still,
it was not immediately abandoned, and a meeting
of the company was called at,Hartford, at which
the purchase was divided into shares and distributed among the associates.  A messenger had been
previously despatched to Pennsylvania, to summon
the attendance of the shareholders residing in that
province; but he was arrested by the civil authorities, and after the Governor, Morris, had been
apprized of the circumstance, and the fresh movements of the company, a messenger was sent to
Hartford with a remonstrance against their farther
six duffle match-coats, and four kettles, gave a deed of confirmation of
antecedent sales, by their ancestors to William Penn, of all the lands between " the two rivers, Delaware and Susquehanna, from Duck Creek to
the mountains on this side Lechay." This deed is certified, among others, by Sir William Keith, at that time gevernor of Pennsylvania.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         139
proceedings. What became of the messenger
who was arrested does not appear.
Nothing daunted by the remonstrance, the company pushed forward a number of colonists, accompanied by surveyors and agents, in order to
the immediate commencement of the new republic. Unluckily for the enterprise, however, the
company arrived in the valley just as the Indians,
under the influence of the French, as related in a
former chapter, and encouraged by the defeat of
Braddock and the fall of Oswego, were beginning
to manifest a hostile disposition toward the English. The Nanticokes were the most belligerent
in their feelings, and would probably have detained the new comers as prisoners, had it not been
for the friendly interposition of Teedyuscung, who
had not yet determined to take up the hatchet,
although he did so soon afterward.  In consequence of this interposition, no injury was inflicted
upon the strangers, and they judged wisely in
abandoning the enterprise for the time, and returning to Connecticut.  The attempt was not
renewed until after the general peace with the
Indians, concluded at Easton, as heretofore stated,
in 175S, nor indeed until after the fall of Canada
before the valor of the English and Provincial
arms.
The Delaware company commenced a settlement, under favorable circumstances, at a place




1]40        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
called Cushetunk, on the river whence the name
of their association was derived, in 1757; and in
1758 the Susquehanna Company resumed their
preparations for planting their colony in Wyoming.
But the unsettled condition of the frontier, notwithstanding the peace then just concluded with
the Indians, seemed to render it inexpedient, if
not hazardous, for those intending to become colonists to venture at that time so far into the wilderness. These dangers being apparently removed,
in the year 1762 a body of settlers to the number
of about two hundred pushed forward to the valley, so long the object of their keen desire. They
planted themselves down upon the margin of the
river, a short distance above its intersection by a
fine stream of water, called Mill Creek, flowing
from the east; and at a sufficient distance from
the Indian towns to prevent any immediate collision of their agricultural interests.  The greater
part of the valley was yet covered with wood, excepting for short distances close around the Delaware and Shawanese towns, where the trees had
been cut away in the slender progress of Indian
husbandry. But the new colonists set themselves
vigorously at work; a sufficient number of log
houses and cabins were erected for their accommodation; and before the arrival of winter, extensive fields of wheat had been sown upon lands
covered with forest trees in August.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         141
These adventurers had not taken their families
with them; and having now made so favorable a
beginning, they secured their agricultural implements and returned to Connecticut.* It has been
asserted that the resident Indians were opposed
to this intrusion of the pale-faces among them, and
that their chief, Teedyuscung, strongly remonstrated against it.t  This may be true, but if so, it is
equally true that they must have soon laid aside
their prejudices, inasmuch as they speedily came
to live upon terms of daily intercommunication,
and great apparent harmony. But it was not thus
with the Pennsylvanians. They looked with displeasure upon such a bold encroachment upon territories claimed as their own, and the most strenuous efforts were again put forth to crush the enterprise. The correspondence between the Executive of Pennsylvania and Sir William Johnson
was re-opened, and the influence of the Baronet
was exerted upon the Six Nations, to persuade
them to disavow the sale of seventeen hundred and
fifty-four. Those of the Indians who had not been
concerned in the sale, and who on the other hand
were doubtless opposed to it, were of course not
unwilling to repudiate the transaction; and a
deputation of five of their chiefs was sent to Hartford, accompanied by Colonel Guy Johnson, Depchapmail.             t Gordoih




142         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
uty-Agent, and an interpreter sent by Sir William.
Conferences were held by these chiefs with the
Governor of Connecticut and his Council, on the
S8th and 30th of May, in the course of which the
sale of the land was disavowed as a national transaction. They admitted that a sale had been made,
but denied its validity, inasmuch, they averred, as
it had not been made according to ancient usage,
in a full and open Council, but the chiefs who had
signed the deed had been applied to separately,
and had acted only in their individual capacities.
Governor Fitch, in reply, assured the chiefs that
the movements of the company had not been anthorised by the government, and with their proceedings it had in fact had nothing to do. For
their farther satisfaction, moreover, the Governor
informed them that orders had been received from
His Majesty, commanding him to use his authority
and influence to prevent the intended movement
upon the lands in dispute, until the matter should
be laid before the King.  They were likewise,
still farther assured that the company had acquies-'
ed in those orders, and had unanimously agreed
that no person should enter upon the lands until
His Majesty's pleasure should be known.*  With
these assurances, the deputies, consisting of one
Mohawk,two Onondagas, and two Cayugas,-none,* For the proceedings of these conferences at lHartford, see appendix



HISTORY OF WYOMING.              143
of them chiefs of note, —seem to have been satisfied. But whatever might have been the desire
of the shareholders of the company, the individuals who had resolved to emigrate gave little attention to their stipulations with the Governor; and
their advance was met by a series of unheeded proclamations, and followed by the powerless remonstrances of the sheriff and magistracy residing in
Northampton county, on the Delaware, to which
the valley  of  Wyoming  was held  to  belong,
the seat of justice of which was at Easton.  Nor
was this all. In the course of the same year, the
Proprietaries of Pennsylvania made a case, and
took the opinion of the Attorney General of the
crown,* as to the right of Connecticut to the territory she was claiming. That officer was clear in
his opinion against Connecticut-holding that, by
virtue of her adjustment of boundaries with NewYork, she was precluded from advancing a step
beyond.  But the Susquehanna company was not
idle. Colonel Eliphalet Dyer, a leading associate,
and a man of energy and abilities, was dispatched
to England, charged likewise with a "case," carefully prepared, which was presented to the consideration of eminent counsel in London, who
came to a directly opposite conclusion.t Each
*Mr. Pratt-afterward Lord Camden.
t The author has obtained a collection of Colonel Dyer's correspondence
while abroad upon this mission. His letters prove his diligence, and his
perseverance, in prosecuting his business, but are not historically important.




144         HISTORY OF WYOMING.party, therefore, felt strengthened by those conflicting legal opinions, and both became the more
resolute in the prosecution of their claims.
Meantime fresh scenes were opening in the disputed territory itself, as painful as unexpected.
Notwithstanding a proclamation issued by Governor Fitch, eight days after the conferences with
the Indians were ended, forbidding the people of
Connecticut from  trespassing upon the disputed
territory, the pioneers who in the summer of 1762
had commenced their operations in Wyoming, returned to the valley to resume their labors early
in the ensuing spring, accompanied by their families, and with augumented numbers of settlers.
They were furnished with an adequate supply of
provisions, and took with them  a quantity of live
stock, black cattle, horses, and pigs. Thus provided, and calculating to draw largely from the
teeming soil in the course of the season, they resumed their labors with light hearts and vigorous
arms. The forests rapidly retreated before their
well-directed blows, and in the course of the summer they commenced bringing the lands into cultivation on the west side of the river. Their advancement was now so rapid, that it is believed
the jealousies of the Indians began to be awakened. At least, notwithstanding the claims which
the Six Nations had asserted over the territory,
by virtue of which they had sold to the Susque



HISTORY OF WYOMING.           145
hanna Company, Teedyuscung and his people
alleged that they ought themselves to receive compensation also.  Sir William Johnson had indeed
predicted as much in a letter addressed to Governor Fitch, in the preceding month of November,
in which he said:-" I cannot avoid giving you
my sentiments, as I formerly did, that the Indians
insist upon the claims of the people of Connecticut to lands on the Suisqehanna, as unlawful,
and the steps taken to obtain the same to be unjust, and have declared themselves determined to
oppose any such settlement.  I am therefore apprehensive any farther attempt at an establishment
there, will not only be severely felt by those who
shall put the same in execution, but may, (notwithstanding all my endeavors to the contrary,) be
productive of fatal consequences on our frontiers."*
Thus matters stood until early in October, when
an event occurred which broke up the settlement
at one fell blow.  It has already been seen that at
the great council held at Easton, in 1758, the Six
Nations had observed with no very cordial feelings,
the important position which Teedyuscung had
attained in the" opinion of the whites, by the force
of his talents and the energy of his character.
Long accustomed to view the Delawares and their
MISS. draught of the letter in the author's possession,
15




146         HISTORY OP WYOMING.
derivative tribes as their subjects, the hauglhty
Mengwes could not brook this advancement of a
supposed inferior; and the reflection had been rankling in their bosoms ever since the meeting of that
council, until it was determined to cut off the object of their hate.  For this purpose, at the time
above mentioned, a party of warriors from the Six
Nations came to the valley upon a pretended visit
of friendship, and after lingering about for several
days, they in the night time treacherously set fire
to the house of the unsuspecting chief, which, with
the veteran himself, was burnt to ashes.  The
wickedness of this deed of darkness was heightened by an act of still greater atrocity. They
charged the assassination upon the white settlers
of Connecticut, and had the address to inspire the
Delawares with such abelief. The consequences
may readily be anticipated. Teedyuscung was
greatly beloved by his people, and their exasperation at " the deep damnation of his taking off," was
kindled to a degree of corresponding intensity.
The white settlers, horvwever, being entirely innocent of the transaction,-utterly unconscious that it
had been imputed to them, —were equally unconscious of the storm that was so suddenly to break
upon their heads. Their intercourse with the Indians, during the preceding year, had been so entirely friendly, that they had not even provided themselves with weapons of self-defence; and although




HISTORY OF WYOMING.           147
there had been some slight manifestations of jealousy at their onward progress, among the Indians,
yet their pacific relations, thus far, had not been
interrupted.  But they were now reposing in false
security.  Stimulated to revenge by the representations of tlheir false and insidious visiters, the Delaw res, on the 14th of October, rose upon the
settlement, and massacred about thirty of the
people, in cold blood, at noonday, while engaged
in the labors of the field.   Those who escaped
ran to the adjacent plantations, to apprize them of
what hatd happened, and were the swift messengers of the painful intelligence to the houses of
the settlement, and the families of the slain. It was
an hour of sad consternation.  Having no arms
even for self-defence, the people were compelled
at once to seize upon such few of their effects as
they could carry upon their shoulders, and flee to
the mountains.  As they turned back during their
asceat to steal an occasional glance at the beautiful valley below, they beheld the savages driving
their cattle away to their own towns, and plundering their houses of the goods that had been
left. At nighltfall the torch was applied, and the
darkness that hlung over the vale was illumninated
by the lurid flames of their own dwellings,-the
abodes of happiness and peace in the morning.
Hapless indeed was the condition of the fugitives.
Thheir number amlounted to several hundreds



148         HISTORY OF WYOMING,
Imen, women and children,-the infant at the
breast,-the happy wie afew brief hours before,
-now a widow, in the midst of a group of orphans. The supplies, both of provisions and clothing, which they had secured in the moment of their
flight, were altogether inadequate to their wants.
The chilly winds of autumn were howling with
melancholy  wail among  the  mountain  pines,
through which, over rivers and glens, and fearful
morasses, they were to thread their way sixty miles,
to the nearest settlements on the Delaware, and
thence back to their friends in Connecticut a distance of two hundred and fifty miles.  Notwithstanding the hardships they were compelled to encounter, and the deprivations under which they
labored, many of them  accomplished the journey
in safety, while others, lost in the mazes of the
sxwamps, were never heard of more.
Thus fell Teedyuscung, who, with all his faults,
was yet one of the noblest of his race. Yet his character stands not well in history,-not as well, by
any rneans, as it deserves.  That he was a man
of talents and couracge, there can be no question,
but withal he was greatly subject to the constitutional infirmities of his race,-unstable in his purposes, and a lover of the fire-waters,-the enemy which, received to the lip, steals away the
brain alike of the white man and the red. It has
already been seen that he was early a convert,



HISTORY OF WYOMING.         149
and apparently a sincere one, —to the christian
faith of the missionaries.  But his faith was too
weak to withstand the influence of ambition; and
when elevated to the supreme chieftainship of the
scattering tribes of his nation, his behavior was
such, as to cause the good missionaries to tremble
for his safety, seeing that he became " like a reed
shaken by the wind."* Hitherto, for many years,
his nation had been down-trodden by the Iroquois;
but when they determined once more to assert
their own manhood, and to grasp the hatchet presented them by the French, electing Teedyuscung
their king, as he had been their energetic champion in the councils, before, he now became, as
he was called, "The Trumpet of War."t  He
did not, however, long continue upon the war
path, but, as has been seen in the preceding chapter, became an early advocate and ambassador of
peace, although his sincerity in this respect was
questioned by the Moravian clergy, and likewise
by Sir William Johnson.  Still it must be recorded in his behalf that he appears never to have entirely forfeited the confidence of the Quakers.
They were indeed opposed to the declaration of
war against the Indians by Governor Hamiltonbelieving that the difficulties with them might
have been healed by a more pacific course. And
* Loskiel.       t Idem,
15*




150         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
in this view they had the concurrence of Sir William Johnson.  But in regard to the character of
Teedyuscung, the sympathies of the baronet were 
with his own Indians —the Six Nations. They
hated, and finally murdered him, and Sir William
loved him not. Yet in his correspondence, while
he labored to detract somewhat from the lofty
pretensions of the Delaware Captain, the baronet
has conceded to him enough of talent, influence,
and power among his people, to give him a proud
rank among the chieftains of his race.*  Certain
it is, that Teedyuscung did much to restore his nation to the rank of MEN, of which they had been
deprived by the Iroquois, and great allowances are
to be made on the score of his instability of conduct, from the peculiar circumstances under which
he was often placed. In regard to his religious character and professions, his memory rests beneath a
cloud. There were seasons, according to the records of the faithful missionary in which he gave
signs of penitence and reform. After his withdrawal from the war, he resided for a considerable time in the neighborhood of Bethlehem, with
about one hundred of his warriors, and the Brethren did all in their power for his reclamation. Occasional appearances of contrition at times inspired hopes of success.  "As to externals," he once
* MSS. Letters of Sir William Johnson to Governor Denny, and a
very long one to Major Ceneral Abercromnbie, in the author's possession.




HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                 151
said, " I possess everything in plenty; but riches
are of no use to me, for I have a troubled conscience.  I still remember well what it is to feel
peace in the heart, but I have now lost all." Yet
he soon turned back. All hopes of his case were
lost; and in recording his death, the benevolent
Loskiel briefly says —" he was burnt in his house
at Wajomick, without having given any proof of
repentance."*
Among the individual incidents marking this
singular tragedy was the following:-Sonme of the
fugitives were pursued for a time by a portion of
the Indians, and among them was a settler named
Noah Hopkins,-a wealthy man from  the county
of Duchess, in the State of New-York, bordering
upon Connecticut. He had disposed of a handsome landed patrimony in his native town, Amenia, and invested the proceeds as a shareholder of
the Susquehanna Company, and in makilng preparations for moving to the  new  colony.  Finlding,
by the sounds, that the  Indians were upon  his
trail, after running a long distance, he fortunately
* Major Parsons, who acted as secretary to the conference with Teedyuscung in 1756, described him as " a lusty raw-boned rman, haulghty, and
very desirous of respect and command." lie was however, something of
a wit. A tradition at Stroudsburg, states, that lie there met one day a
blacksril.h named Wm McNabb, a rather worthless fellow, who accosted
him with, " Well, cousin, how do you do?"" "Cousin, cousin!" repeated
the haughty red man, " how do you make that out?" " Oh! we are all
cousins from Adam." "CAh! then, I am glad it is no nearer!" was the
cutting reply.




152         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
discovered the trunk of a large hollow tree upon
the ground, into which he crept.  After lying
there several hours, his apprehensions of danger
were greatly quickened by the tread of foot-steps.
They approached, and in a few moments two or
three savages were actually seated upon the log in
consultation.  He heard the bullets rattle loosely
in their pouches. They actually looked into the
hollow trunk, suspecting that he might be there;
but the examination must have been slight, as they
discovered no traces of his presence.  The object
of their search, however, in after-life, attributed
his escape to the labors of a busy spider, which,
after he crawled into the log, had been industriously engaged in weaving a web over the entrance. Perceiving this, the Indians supposed, as
a matter of course, that the fugitive could not
have entered there. This is rather a fine-spun theory of his escape; but it was enough for him that
he was not discovered.  After remaining in his
place of concealment as long as nature could endure the confinement, Hopkins crept forth, wandering in the wilderness without food, until he was
on the point of famishing.  In this situation,
knowing that he could but die, he cautiously stole
down into the valley again, whence five days before he had fled.  All was desolation there. The
crops were destroyed, the cattle gone, and the
smouldering brands and embers were all that re



HISTORY OF WYOMING.               153
mained of the houses.  The Indians had retired,
and the stillness of death prevailed. He roamed
about for hours in search of something to satisfy
the cravings of nature, fording or swimmirng  the
river twice in his search.  At lengthl he discover-l
ed the carcass of'a wild turkey, shot on the
morning of the massacre, but which  had been
left in the flight.  He quickly stripped  the bird
of its feathers, although it had become somewhat offensive by lying  in  the  sun, dressed
and washed it in the river, and the -first meal he
made therefrom  was ever afterward pronounced
the sweetest of his life.  Upon the strength of
this turkey, with such roots and herbs as he could
gather in his way, he travelled until,-after incredible hardships, his clothes being' torn fromlhis limbs
in the thickets he was obliged to  encounter, and
his body badly  lacerated, —he  once more found
himself among the dwellings of civilized men.*
But this out-break of the Indians put an end
to their own residence in Wyoming.  On the receipt of the tidings at Philadelphia, Governor
Hamilton directed Colonel Boyd, of Harrisburgh,
to march at the head of a detachment of militia,
and disperse the authors of the massacre.  The
savages, however, had anticipated the arrival of
* The facts of this little incidental narrative, were communicated to the
author by Mr. G. P. Hopkins, printer, of New-York, and a nepliew of the
sufferer, who died at Pittsfield, (Mass.) at a very advanced age, about
thirty years ago. Hie was a very respectable man.




154          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
the troops, —those of them  at least who had participated in the murderous transaction, —and withdrawn themselves farther up the river, to the Indian settlements in the vicinity of Tioga.  The
Moravian indians resident there, who had taken
no part iln the massacre, removed toward the Delaware, to Gnaddenhutten.  But their residence at
this missionary station was short.  The horrible
massacre of the Canestogoe Indians, residing  upon
their own reservation in the neighborhood of Lancaster, in December of the same year, by the infuriated religious zealots of Paxtang and Donnegal, filled them  with alarm.  They repaired to
Philadelphia for protection; and as will presently
appear, were only with great difficulty saved from
the hatchets of a lawless band of white men, far
more savage than themselves.
The transaction here referred to was a most extraordinary event, the record of which forms one
of the darkest paoes of Pennsylvanian history. It
took plac ein December I 763.  It was during that
year tha- tlhe great Pontiac conceived the design,
like another Phiilip, of driving the Europeans friom
the continent.   Forming    a leag-ue between the
great interior tribes of Indians, and summoning
their forces in unison upon the war-path, he attacked the garrisons Upon the fiontiers, and the
lakes, which were simultaneously invested, and
mp.ny of themn ta.len.  The borders of Pennsylva



HISTORY OF WYOMING.          155
nia, Naryland, and Virginia, were again ravaged
by scalping parties, and the fiontier settlers of
Pennsylvania in particular suffered with great severity.  But although the fiagments of the Delawares and Six Nations still residing in that Colony did not join in the war of Pontiac, yet, either
from ignorance or malice, suspicions were excited
against one of the Indian Moravian communities.
Availing themselves of this pretext, a number of
religionists in the towns of Paxtang and Donnegal, excited to a pitch of the wildest enthusiasm
by their spiritual teachers, banded together for the
purpose of exterminating the whole Indian race.
Their pretext was the duty of extirpating the heathen from  the earth, as Joshua had done of old,
that the saints might possess the land.  The Canestogoes were the remains of a small clan of the
Six Nations, residing upon their own1 reservation,
in the most inoffensive manner, having always
been friendly to the English.  The maddened
zealots fell upon their little hamlet in the, night,
when, as it happened, the greater portion of them
were absent from their homes, selling their little
wares among the white people.  Only three men,
two women and a boy, were found in their village.
These were dragged from their beds, and stabbed
and hatcheted to death.  Among them was a good
old chief named Shehaes, who was cut to pieces in
his bed. The dead were scalped, and their houses




156         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
burnt. This infamous procedure took place on
the 14th of the month.
Heairing of this deplorable act, the magistrates
of Lancaster collected the residue of the helpless
clan, men women and children, and placed them
in one of the public buildings of the town for their
protection.  But on the 27th, a band of fifty of
the fanatics went openly into the borough, and
proceeding to the work-house where the Indians
had been placed, broke open the doors, and with
fury in their countenances recommenced the work
of death. Nor did the people of Lancaster lift a
finger, or the magistrates interfere, for their defence.  " When the poor wretches saw they had
no protection, and that they could not escape, and
being without the least weapon of defence, they
divided their little families, the children clinaging
to their parents; they fell on their faces, protested
their innocence, declared their love to the English,
and that, in their whole lives, they had never done
them ally injury; and in this posture they all received the hatchet. Mden, women, and children
-infants clinging to the breast —were all inhumanly butchered in cold blood."*
But the vengeance of the fanatics was not satiated.  Like the tigers of the forest, having tasted
blood, they became hungry for more; and having
* Proud. Vide also Gordon.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         157
heard that the fugitives from  Wyoming, feeling
themselves unsafe at Gnaddenhutten, had repaired
to Philadelphia, the zealots set their faces in that
direction, and marched upon the capital for the
avowed purpose of putting those Indians to death
also. Their numbers increased to an insurgent army. Great consternation prevailed in Philadelphia
on their approach.  The poor Indians themselves
prayed that they might be sent to England for
safety; but this could not be done. An attempt
was then made by the government to send them
to the Mohawk country, for the protection of Sir
William Johnson; but the civil authorities of NewYork objected, and the fugitives were marched
back to Philadelphia.  Whereupon the insurgents
embodied themselves again, and marched once
more upon that capital in greater numbers than
before. Another season of peril and alarm ensued,
and the Governor hid himself away in the house
of Doctor Franklin; but the legislature being in
session, and the people, the Quakers even not excepted, evincing a proper spirit for the occasion,
the insurgents were in the end persuaded to listen
to the voice of reason, and disband themselves.
It is a singular fact, that the actors in this strange
and tragic affair were not of the lower orders of
the people. They were Presbyterians, comprising
in their ranks men of intelligence, and of so much
consideration that the press dared not disclose
16




158         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
their names, nor the government attempt their
punishment.*  It was indeed believed by some,
that the murder of the Indians was by no means
the chief end of their design; but that, taking advantage of the wide-spread consternation they had
produced, they intended to overturn the government, and revolutionize the colony.t
After these disorders were quieted, and the Indian Moravians had had time to look about for a
place of retreat, they removed to a place called
Mahackloosing-or Machwihilusing-the Wyalusing of later times, situated upon the banks of
the Susquehanna, sixty miles above Wyoming.
The missionaries had hastened to this place before;
but it had been deserted in the late war-the newcomers finding the old huts yet standing.4: Here
"they built a considerable village, containing at
one period more than thirty good log houses, with
shingled roofs and glazed windows, a church and
school-house, not inferior to many erected by wealthy farmers."  They also turned their attention
earnestly to agricultural pursuits, clearing and enclosing large tracts of upland and meadow. They
resided at this place several years very happily;
but were ultimately induced to join the Moravian
Indians beyond the Ohio.~
8 Proud-Gordon.   t Loskiel: Loskiel.        ~ Proud-Gordon.




CHAPTER V.
Attempt of the Susquehanna Company to recolonize,-Pennsylvania claims
the territory again, and leases the valley to Ogden and his associates,Rival settlements,-Civil War,-Ogden besieged,-Arrests of the Connecticut people,-Sitnlation,-Hostilities resurned,-Ogden draws off,The Colony advances,-Propositions for an adjustment,-Rejected by
Governor Penn,-Expedition of Colonel Francis,-His retreat,-Additional forces raised by Penn,-Ogden captures Colonel Durkee,-Connecticut settlers negotiate, and leave the valley,-Bad Faith of Ogden,
-Lazarus Stewart,-Susquehanna Company reoccupy the valley,-Ogden returns with forces, —Both parties fortify,-Ogden besieged,-Surrenders,-Penn applies to General Gage,-Request denied,-Reinvaded by
Ogden,-Yankees taken by surprise,-Captured in the field,-'l'heir fort
taken,-Arrest of Lazarus Stewart,-Rescued,-Returns to Wyoming
and recaptures the fort,-Ogden reappears,-Both parties fortify,-A slirmish,-Nathan Ogden killed,-Sensation among the Pennsylvanians,Lazarus Stewart draws off, and Ogden retains the valley, and commences planting a colony,-Sudden descent of Zebulun Butler with a strong
force,-Ogden again besieged,-Escapes to Philadelphia by stratagem for
succors, —His reinforcements defeated, —Ogden is wounded, —'lhe fort
surrenders to the Yankees.
Six years intervened before the Susquehanna
Company attempted to resume their operations in
the fair valley of Wyoming. But in the meantime the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, taking advantage  of a grand  Indian  council assembled  at
Fort Stanwix, in the autumn of 1768, had attempted to strengthen their claim to the disputed territory by a direct purchase from the Six Nations.




160          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
This object was of no difficult attainment, as the
Indians might doubtless have been persuaded to
sell that, or almost any other portion of disputed
territory, as many times over as white purchasers
could be found to make payment.  In a word, the
Pennsylvanians were successful, and took a deed
of the territory from some of the chiefs, in November, 1768.
But, nothing daunted by this movement, the
Susquehanna Company called a meeting, and resolved to resume the settlement, by throwing a
body of forty pioneers into the valley in the month
of February 1769, to be followed by two hundred
more in the Spring.  Indeed the association, in
order to strengthen their power as well as their
claims, and to expand their settlements, now appropriated five townships, each five miles square,
and divided into forty shares, as free gifts to the
first forty settlers in each township.*  Many parts
of the flats, or bottom lands, were of course already clear of wood, and ready for cultivation. An
appropriation of two hundred pounds was made
for the purchase of agricultural implements; regulations for the government of the colony were
drawn up, and a committee appointed to carry
them into effect.t
* Letter of Colonel Pickering to his son.
1 This committee consisted of Isaac Tripp, Benjamin Follet, John Jerikins, William Back, and Benjamin Shoemaker.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                           161
The Pennsylvanians, for once, anticipated the
people of Connecticut. No sooner had they heard
of the renewed movements of the Susquehanna
Company, than they made preparations for the
immediate occupation of the valley themselves.
To this end, a lease of the valley for seven years
was given to Charles Stuart,* Amos Ogden, and
John Jennings, conditioned that they should establish a trading-house, for the accommodation of the
Indians, and adopt the necessary measures for defending themselves, and those who might proceed
thither  under their lease.   Mr. Stewart, a gentleman of talents, enterprise and wealth, had been
extensively and  successfully engaged in taking
up and leasing lands under the new purchasers,
from the Indians, of the Pennsylvanians, and was
at the time Deputy Surveyor General of the province.  By him the valley was divided and laid out
* Of New-Jersey: afterward Colonel Stewart of the continental army.
An early and active promoter of the Revolution, he was among the first of
his compatriots at a convention of the leading gentlemen of the colony at
Trenton, to take a bold and decided stand against the crown; and on the
commencement of hostilities, had the command of the second regiment of
the Jersey line tendered him, that of the first being given to Lord Sterling.
He was shortly afterward appointed by congress to the staff of Washington, as commissary General of Issues, which station he filled till the tormination of the war.-He was a member of the congress; of the convention;
also of that of 1784-1785; and on the organization of the government under the constitution, was offered by Washington the Surveyor Generalship
of the United States, an appointment which he declined, chiefly, firom the
occupation of his time, in the prosecution of what he conceived to he the
legal and equitable claims of himself and associates to the manors of Wyomning.
16*




162         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
into two manors, that portion of it lying upon the
eastern side, including the Indian town of Wyoming, being called the'" Manor of Stoke," and the
western division the "Manor of Sunbury."  In
January, 1769, the lessees, with a number of Colonists, proceeded to the valley, took possession of
the former Connecticut improvements, and erected
a block-house, for their defence, should their title
and proceedings be disputed. The party of forty
from Connecticut pressed close upon the heels of
Stewart and Ogden, and sat down before their little garrison on the Sth of February. It was a close
investment, all intercourse between the besieged
and their friends, if they had any, in the surrounding country, being cut off. Having heard of the
approach of the Connecticut party, however,
Charles Stewart and his associates despatched a
messenger to Governor Penn, stating that they had
but ten men in the block-house, and requesting
assistance. But after waiting a sufficient length
of time without receiving reinforcements, the besieged had recourse to stratagem to accomplish
what they could not effect by power. Under the
pretext of a consultation, to the end of an amicable adjustment of the question of title, three of the
Connecticut party, viz: Isaac Tripp, Vine Elderkin, and Benjamin Follet, were induced to enter
the garrison, where they were immediately arrested by Jennings, who was sheriff of Northampton




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         163
County, conveyed to Easton, and there thrown
into prison.  Their rescue would have been attempted, but for the fear of endangering their lives.
However, the prisoners were accompanied to Easton by the whole of both parties; and the key of
the prison was scarcely turned upon them before
bail was given for their good behaviour, and the
Connecticut party retraced their steps to Wyoming, where their labors were resumed with characteristic energy. Finding that the numbers of the
emigrants were increasing, Jennings made another
effort to arrest their persons and proceedings in
March. The posse of the county, together with
several magistrates, were ordered upon the service,
and they again marched upon Wyoming in an imposing array.  The Connecticut people had prepared a block-house hastily for defence; but the
doors were broken by Jennings, who succeeded in
arresting thirty-one persons, all of whom, with the
exception of a few who effected their escape while
marching through a swamp, were taken to Easton,
cast into prison as before, — and again admitted
to bail, just in season to return once more to Wyoming with a party of two hundred recruits who
now joined them from the Susquehanna Company.
Thus reinforced, their first work was to build a
fort upon a convenient site, protected by the river
on one side, and a creek and morass upon another. It was a regular military defence, consisting




164        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
of a strong block-house, surrounded by a rampart
and entrenchment.  In the immediate neighborhood of the fortress,-called Fort Durkee, in honor of the officer elected to its command, —they
erected about thirty log-houses, with loop-holes
through which to fire in the event of an attack.
But they had no immediate cause to try the strength
of their defences, although Jennings and Ogden
were at the moment raising forces to march against
them. They arrived in the valley on the 24th of
May; but the works of the Connecticut boys appeared too formidable to justify an attack by so
small a number of men as they had the honor to
command. Jennings and Ogden therefore returned to Easton, and reported to the Governor that
the power of the county was inadequate to the
task of dispossessing the Connecticut settlers, who
now numbered three hundred able-bodied men.
For a short season the latter were left to push
forward their improvements without molestation,
during which state of repose the company commissioned Colonel Dyer and Major Elderkin to
proceed to Philadelphia and endeavor to negotiate a compromise on the question of title. But
the proposition, which was for a reference of the
whole matter in dispute, either to an arbitrament
or a court of law, was rejected by Governor
Penn; and an armed force, under the command
of Colonel Francis, was detached to Wyoming,




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         165
with orders to demand a surrender of the fort and
garrison. The summons was not obeyed; and
the Colonel, as the Sheriff of Northampton had
done before him, after surveying the works, and
the other preparations for his reception, should he
attempt an assault, arrived at the conclusion that
his force likewise was inadequate to the enterprise.
He therefore retreated, and upon a representation
of the facts to the Governor, a more formidable
expedition was immediately set on foot. Mr.
Sheriff Jennings was directed to assemble the
power of Northampton county in stronger array
than before, and to march against the intruders,
well furnished with small arms, a four-pounder,
and an abundant supply of fixed ammunition.
He was carefully instructed by Govenor Penn,
however, to avoid, if possible, an effusion of blood.
Having knowledge of the approach of Jennings,
Ogden, with a band of forty armed men, anticipated his arrival by dashing suddenly among the
houses of the settlement, and making several prisoners - among whom  was Colonel Durkee.
These he secured and carried away-thus weakening the forces of the settlers, and perchance disheartening them by the loss of their principal
officer.  Durkee was taken to Philadelphia and
closely imprisoned. Two days after his capture,
Jennings arrived before the fort with two hundred
men in arms, and commenced a parley with the




166         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
garrison, during which Ogden and his company
were busy in driving away their cattle and horses
found grazing in the fields.  On the following
day Jennings commenced the erection of a battery
upon which his ordnance was to be mounted.
These preparations beginning to wear a more serious aspect, the garrison proposed a negociation.
The result was a capitulation, by which the settlers agreed to surrender the fort and contiguous
buildings. All the colonists from Connecticut,
but seventeen, were to return. These seventeen men, with their families, were to be allowed
to remain and harvest the crops upon the ground.
They were likewise to hold possession of the lands
and improvements in the name of the Company,
until the pleasure of his Majesty should be known
in regard to the rival claims of the parties. The
articles of capitulation, drawn out in due form,
were carried into effect by the settlers; but Ogden behaved in bad faith. The people, with the
exception of the seventeen who were to remain,
as before mentioned, had no sooner departed from
the valley than Ogden commenced an indiscriminate system of plunder. All their live stock was
seized and driven away; their houses were stripped; and, in a word, deprived of the means of
subsistence, the seventeen, with their families,
were compelled to wend their way back to Connecticut.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.        167
Early in the ensuing year, demonstrations of a
yet more belligerent character were put forth by
the claimants under the Susquehanna Company.
It has been noted at a former page, that there were
several share-holders of the Company residing in
Pennsylvania. In the month of February, 1770,
therefore, a gentleman, named Lazarus Stewart
led a number of men from Lanecaster into the Wyoming valley, who were joined on their progress
by a body of people firom Connecticut. They
were all armed, and Fort Durkee, garrisoned by
only eight or ten men, was taken without opposition. Ogden himself was absent at the time, and
the victors proceeded to his house and captured
the piece of ordnance already mentioned. On
hearing of these transactions, Ogden hastened
back to Wyoming, accompanied by about fifty
men, by whom he garrisoned his own house, (a
formidable block-house,) and commenced adding
to its strength. On the 2Sth a detachment of fifty men was sent against him, with a view of carrying the stockade by assault and taking him prisoner. He had a deputy sheriff with him, however,
who, at the head of a strong party, sallied out for
the purpose of arresting the assailants. A smart
skirmish ensued, during which several of the Connecticut people were wounded, and one man killed. Finding that Ogden's men could fire upon
them from his house, without exposing themselves




168         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
to danger, the Connecticut people retreated, and
as Colonel Durkee had returned from Philadelphia,
a regular siege of Ogden's fortress was determined
upon. A battery was erected over against him
on the opposite bank of the river, upon which the
four-pounder was mounted, and briskly played
upon Og'den for several days, without making
much impression on his defences. Durkee's men
then determined to bring the enemy to closer quarters, for which purpose they were arranged in three
divisions, and marched out with drums beating
and colors flying, to within musket shot of the
block-house.  Three breast-works were rapidly
constructed, from which the firing was again commenced, and briskly returned. After five days of
desultory firing on both sides, a party of the besiegers advanced under Ogden's guns, with great
intrepidity, and set fire to one of his outworks,
which was consumed, together with a large quantity of goods contained therein. Ogden had again
called upon Governor Penn for reinforcements;
but as these were not forthcoming, the contest relaxed. Colonel Durkee despatched a flag' to Ogden, requesting a conference, which was acceded
to, and he surrendered upon terms similar to those
which had been granted to the Connecticut people
the season before. He had no improvements or
land to protect; but the stipulation was that he
should withdraw himself and all his party from the




HISTORY OF WYOMING.               169
valley, excepting six men, who were to remain to
guard his house and preserve his property. After
his retreat, however, the evil which he had done
the people from Connecticut, the season before,
was requited upon his own head.  His property
was seized by the Yankees, and his house burnt.*
It was believed that Governor Penn would have
attempted his relief but for his own unquiet position just at that time-the Boston massacre having
given an impulse to the spirit which not long afterward broke forth in the war of the Revolution.
Thus situated, the Governor called upon General
Gage, then commanding the forces of the crown
at New-York; but the General replied  that he
thought the character of the dispute was such that
it would be highly improper for the King's troops
to interfere.
Failing thus in the application for the aid of his
majesty's troops, Governor Penn issued another
proclamation on the 28th of June, forbidding any
settlers from planting themselves down upon the
disputed territory, unless by consent of the lessees,
Stewart and Ogden.  The energies of the government were likewise put in exercise to raise a force
adequate to the work of carrying the proclamation
* Among the prisoners found in the block-house after the capitulation,
were eight men from New-England, and three Germans, who had never
before been in Wyoming, and who mistook Ogden's house for the fort of
the opposite party. The number of killed and wounded during the siege
is not known. —Chapman.
17




170           HISTORY OF WYOMINGS
into effect. It appears to have been a hard matter,
however, to enlist troops for the service.  The
summer passed away before the expedition was
on foot, and the entire body numbered only one
hundred and forty men.*  But the deficiency of
numbers was made up by the courage and skill
of their leader, who was none other than Captain
Ogden himself.  Taking the route of the Lehigh,
and the old " Indian Walk," this enterprising man
arrived with his forces upon the crest of the mountain overlooking the settlement, on the 22d of
September.  He was well aware that his band of
one hundred and forty men would stand but a
poor chance with the Connecticut boys, unless he
could take them by surprise. To this end, therefore, he had advanced with so much circumspection that the colonists were entirely ignorant of
his approach. By the aid of his telescope he observed the movements of the settlers in the morning, until, utterly unconscious of danger, they
went forth in small squads, to engage in the labors
of their field. Then separating his own men into
divisions equal to the number of the laboring parties, Ogden descended into the valley, and stole
upon them with such admirable caution, that many
of them were made prisoners almost before they
* ColGnel Pickering attributes the difficulty of raising troops to march
against Wyoming, on every application, not only to the unpopularity of
the Proprietaries, but to the influence of the Quakers, to whom war was
always abhorrent. Vide, letter to his son.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         171
knew of their danger. Those who escaped ran
to the fort and gave the alarm. The women and
children from the houses immediately collected
within the fort for safety, while Ogden drew off
into a gorge of the mountain, where his prisoners
were made secure and sent off to Easton under a
strong escort. Within the garrison all was confusion during the day, while Ogden, yet too weak
to hazard another attack, kept in his concealment,
trusting to chance or stratagem to direct his next
movement. Every thing worked entirely to his
satisfaction. The garrison, finding that they had
provisions for a siege, resolved to send an express,
under cover of the night, to their brother colonists
of Coshuntunk for aid. But the messengers detached upon this service, supposing that Ogden
would guard the path leading to the Delaware
colony, resolved upon taking a route less exposed
and by doing so they threw themselves directly
into his camp. From these unfortunate messengers Ogden extracted such information touching
the situation of affairs within the fortress, as determined him at once to make a night attack. It
was a wise resolution. Crowded with men, women, and children, the little fort was in no condition for repelling an assault, and the result was,
a surprise and complete success. The movements
of the assailants were conducted with so much
secrecy, that the sentinel was knocked down be



172         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
fore he saw aught of alarm; the door of the blockhouse was easily forced; and after a short affray,
in which the belligerents were tumbling over women and children, and during which several persons
of the garrison were killed, the fort surrendered.
In the course of the _melee, Captain Zebulon Butler would have been killed by a bayonet, but for
the interposition of Captain Craig, one of Ogden's
officers, who arrested the weapon, and prevented
farther bloodshed.  The greater portion of the
prisoners were sent to Easton for imprisonment,
while Butler and a few of the chief men were ordered to Philadelphia.  Ogden then plundered the
fort, and all the houses of the settlement, of whatever he could find of value, and withdrew to the
larger settlements beyond the mountains-leaving
a garrison to retain possession of the fort during
the winter.
But it was shortly determined by the fortunes
of war, that this oft-contested position should
again change hands.  After the burning of Ogden's house, as already mentioned, warrants were
issued by the Judges of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania, directing the arrest of Lazarus
Stewart, Zebulon Butler, and Lazarus Young,
for the crime of arson.  Stewart was taken at
Lebanon; but some of his partizans in the neighborhood, hearing of his arrest, immediately repaired thither for his rescue.  On their approach




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         173
he knocked down the officer in whose charge he
had been placed, and joined his friends, whom he
shortly led back to Wyoming, though, as it would
appear, in profound secrecy. Meantime, as the
settlers from Connecticut had been completely
dispersed by Ogden in the autumn, the garrison
left by him at Fort Durkee saw no necessity for
keeping an over-vigilant watch.  The result of
their negligence should serve as a caution to soldiers as well in peace as in war; since it happened that at about three o'clock on the morning of
December 1Sth, this little isolated garrison was
awakened from a deep and quiet slumber by an
unceremonious visit from Stewart, at the head of
twenty-three Lancastrians, and half a dozen Connecticut boys, who had already taken possession
of the fort, and were shouting " Huzzah for King
George!"  The garrison consisted of but eighteen men, exclusive of several women and children. Six of the former leaped from the parapet
and escaped naked to the woods. The residue
were taken prisoners; but were subsequently
driven from the valley, after being relieved of such
of their movables as the victors —thought worth the
taking. Stewart and his men remained in the
fort.
These bold and lawless exploits of Stewart
created a strong sensation in the minds of the
Proprietaries' government. Another warrant for
*17




174        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
his arrest was issued by the Supreme Court,
and the Sheriff of Northampton was directed to
proceed with the power of his county once
more to Wyoming, and execute the writ. He
arrived before the fort with his forces on Saturday the 1Sth of January, 1771, and demanded
admittance, which was refused-Stewart declaring that Wyoming was under the jurisdiction of
Connecticut, to whose laws and civil officers only
he owed obedience. The parley continued until
nightfall, when the sheriff retired to a new blockhouse which Amos Ogden and his brother Nathan
with their followers were building. This work
was completed on Sunday; and on Monday Nathan Ogden accompanied the sheriff and his posse
once more in front of Fort Durkee, to demand the
surrender of Stewart.  Another refusal ensued,
whereupon Ogden commenced firing upon the
fort, which was promptly returned. Ogden fell
dead, and several of his men were wounded. The
body being secured, the party returned to the
block-house, and the residue of the day was occupied by Amos Ogden and the sheriff in devising
what next was to be done. But the entire aspect
of the siege was changed the ensuing night, by
the silent evacuation of the fort by Stewart and
forty of his men, leaving only twelve men behind,
who quietly surrendered to the sheriff the next
day, and were marched across the mountains to




HISTORY OF WYOMING.        175
Easton. Amos Ogden remained in the fort, and
persuaded many of his former associates again to
join him, and attempt once more to colonize this
vale of beauty and trouble. The death of Nathan
Ogden was regarded by the authorities of Pennsylvania as the greatest outrage that had thus far
marked this most singular and obstinate contest;
and a reward of three hundred pounds was offered
for the apprehension of Lazarus Stewart. But he
was not taken.
The valley now had rest for the comparatively
long period of six months, during which time the
settlers of Ogden had increased to the number of
eighty-two persons, including women and children.
Their repose and their agricultural occupations
were, however, suddenly interrupted on the 6th of
July, by the descent from the mountains of seventy armed men from Connecticut, under the command of Captain Zebulon Butler, who had been
joined by Lazarus Stewart at the head of another
party. There object was to regain the possession
of the valley, and they set themselves at work like
men who were in earnest. During the season of
repose which Ogden had enjoyed, he had abandoned Fort Durkee, and built another and stronger
defence, which he called Fort Wyoming. The
forces of Butler and Stewart were rapidly augmented by recruits from Connecticut; and several
military works were commenced by the besiegers,




176        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
to hasten the reduction of Ogden's garrison. For
this purpose two redoubts were thrown up, one of
them upon the bank below Fort Wyoming, and
the other upon a bold eminence above, projecting
almost into the river, and entirely commanding the
channel. Two entrenchments were likewise opened, and the fort was so completely invested that
communication with the surrounding country was
entirely cut off. But Ogden's garrison was well
supplied with provisions and ammunition; and his
work took strong to be taken without artillery.
Thus circumstanced, he conceived the bold design
of escaping from the fort by stratagem, and proceeding in person to Philadelphia for reinforcements-instructing his troops in any event to retain the post until his return. His plan was executed with equal courage and skill. On the night
of July 12th he made up a light bundle to float
upon the surface of the river, upon which he secured his hat. Connecting this bundle with his
body by a cord of several yards in length, he dropped gently into the stream and floated down
with the current-the bundle, which presented
much the most conspicuous object, being intended
to draw the fire should it be discovered. It was
discovered by the sentinels, and a brisk fire directed upon it from three redoubts. But as it appeared to hold the even tenor of its way without interruption from the bullets, the firing ceased, and the




HISTORY OF WYOMING.        177
bundle and its owner escaped-the latter untouched, but the former and less sensitive object pierced wvith several bullets.
John Penn having retired from the colony, the
office of the Executive had now once more-devolved upon the Honorable James Hamilton, President of the Council. Ogden arrived at Philadelphia without delay, and on a representation of the
situation of affairs at Wyoming, vigorous efforts
were set on foot for the succour of the besieged.
A detatchment of one hundred men was ordered
to be raised to march upon the rebellious settlers,
with the sheriff of Northampton, but under the command of Colonel Asher Clayton. The detachment
was to be divided into two companies, the one
commanded by Captain Joseph Morris, and the
other by Captain John Dick.  They were to
march to the scene of action by different routes,
and at different times. But, as before, great difficulty was experienced in raising the men; aiid
Captain Dick, who was to march first, was compelled to advance with only thirty-six men, encumbered by pack-horses and provisions not only
for the whole division, but also for the relief of the
besieged. The Connecticut forces, however, although maintaining the siege closely, were too
vigilant to be taken by surprise. They had become aware of Ogden's escape and movements,
and were apprised of the advance of Captain




17S         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Dick, for whose reception every needful preparation was made. Suddenly, therefore, on approaching the fort he was to relieve, he found
himself in the midst of an ambuscade. At the
first fire his men ran to the fort for protection, but
sixteen of them together with the entire stock of
provisions, fell into the hands of the Connecticut
forces. Ogden was of the number who succeeded
in entering the fort, as also did Colonel Clayton.
This affair happened on the 30th of July. Elated
by their success, the assailants now pressed the
siege more closely than before, until the 10th of
August, keeping up a daily fire whenever any person of the garrison appeared in view.
On the 11th Captain Butler sent a flag demanding a surrender; but as the besieged had contrived to despatch another messenger to Philadelphia,
with an account of Dick's misfortune, and praying
for farther assistance, and as the government was
endeavoring to raise and send forward another
body of one hundred men, they refused the summons, and the firing was resumed. Butler had no
artillery, and a wooden cannon was constructed
from a gnarled log of pepperidge, by a colonist
named Carey, and mounted upon his battery.
But it burst asunder at the second discharge.
Still, the contest was closely maintained until
the 14th, when, having been long upon short
allowance, disappointed in not receiving the prom



HISTORY OF WYOMING.         179
ised reinforcements, and their provisions being
entirely exhausted, the garrison surrendered. The
articles of capitulation were signed by Zebulon
Butler, Lazarus Stewart and John Smith, on the
part of the besiegers, and by Colonel Asher Clayton, Joseph Morris and John Dick, in behalf of
the Proprietaries. The stipulations were, " that
twenty-three men might leave the fort armed,
and with the remainder unarmed, might proceed
unmolested to their respective habitations; that
the men having families might abide on the debateable land for two weeks, and might remove their
effects without interruption; and that the sick and
wounded might retain their nurses, and have leave
to send for a physician."*
It afterward appeared that at the time of the
surrender, a detachment of sixty men had arrived
within ten miles of the fort, commanded by Captain Ledlie; but having heard of the surrender,
the Captain wisely concluded to make a different
disposition of his company. Numbers of the garrison were wounded during the siege, among
whom was Amos Ogden, severely. While he was
leaning upon the arm of one of his subalterns,
William Ridyard, the latter was struck by a ball,
and killed instantly. The loss of the Connecticut
forces, in killed and wounded, was a matter which
appears not to have been divulged. By the terms
*Gordon.




180          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
of the capitulation, Ogden and his party were all
to remove from Wyoming.*
In the month of September following, Mr. Hamilton gave a detailed account of these proceedings
to the legislature-informing that body that the
intruders had burnt the block-house, and were fortifying themselves upon a more advantageous position. It was determined by the council that a
correspondence should be opened with the Governor of Connecticut upon the subject, which was
accordingly done. The President informed Governor Trumbull that the intruders had assumed to
act under the authority of the state of Connecticut. The latter replied cautiously, denying that
the Connecticut people were acting under any directions from him, or from the General Assemblyneither of whom would countenance any acts of
violence for the maintenance of any supposed
rights of the Susquehanna Company.
Thus closed the operations of the respective
parties for the year 1771.  The Connecticut colonists increased so rapidly, and prepared themselves
so amply for defence, that the Pennsylvania forces
were all withdrawn, and the Susquehanna Company left in the quiet possession of the valley.
* Gordon asserts that during this seige, Butler proposed to Colonel Clayton that the rights of the respective claimants should be determined by
combat, between thirty men to be chosen from each side. But the proposition was rejected.




CHAPTER Vi.
Government of Wyonlirig-Thoroughly democratic,-Attempted mcdida
tion with the Pennsylvanians-Failure-Opinions of English counsel, —
Connecticut asserts jurisdiction,-Opposition of Governor Penn,-Proclamations,-Season of repose,-Another Civil War,-Destruction of the
Connecticut settlement on the West Branch,-Interposition of Congress,-Not heeded,-Expedition and repulse of Colonel Plunkett,-R-elinquishment of the contest, —War of the Revolution,-Letting loose of
the Indians,-Defenceless situation of WVyoming,-Invasion by the tories and Indians, —Hasty preparations for defence,-The colonists resolve to attack,-The Battle and Massacre,-The Capitulation,-Ravaging of the valley, —Vindication of Brant,-Cruelties of the tories,-Flight
of the people,-Vindication of Colonel Zehulor Butler,-His character, —
Vindication of Colonel Dennison,-Captain Spaldin g,.-Second invasion,
-Affair of Colonel Powell,-Sullivan's Expedition,- Subsequent battles
and skirmishes with the Indians.
THUS far the government of the Connecticut
settlers —that is to say, all the government that
was exercised,-had been of a voluntary and military character. But the cessation of all opposition
to the proceedings of the Susquehanna Company,
for the time, on the part of Pennsylvania, rendered
the longer continuance of martial law inexpedient
while by the rapid increase of the population it
became necessary that some form of civil government should be adopted. The increasing irritation
existing between the parent government and the
colonies, already foreshadowing an approaching
18




182          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
appeal to the ultima ratio regum, had taught the
directors of the company that a charter for a new
and distinct colonial government from the crown,
was not to be expected. In this exigency, the
company applied to the General Assembly of Connecticut, to have their Wyoming settlements taken
under the protection of the colony until the pleasure of his majesty should be known. But the
General Assembly was in no haste to extend its
Eegis over so broad a territory, at so great a distance from home.* They therefore advised the
company in the first instance to attempt an amicable adjustment of their difficulties with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania; offering to undertake
the negotiation in their behalf. In case of a failure to obtain a just and honorable arrangement,
the General Assembly next suggested a reference
of the whole subject to the king in council.  Meantime, while they wished the colony God speed,
they advised them to govern themselves by themselves, in the best manner they could.
Pursuant to this advice, the inhabitants of the
valley proceeded to elect a government of their
own; and the institutions established by them
were the most thoroughly democratic, probably, of
any government that has ever existed elsewhere
* The territory claimed by the Susquehanna Company, extended one
hundred miles north and south, and one hundred and ten miles west of the
river.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          183
among civilized men. "They laid out townships,
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 defence and general welfare
of the colony."* The supreme legislative power
was vested directly in the people, not by representation, but to be exercised by themselves, in their
primary meetings and sovereign capacity. A magistracy was appointed, and all the necessary machinery for the government of towns, according to
the New-England pattern, organized and put in
motion. Three courts were instituted, all having
civil and criminal jurisdiction; but the Court of
Appeals, called the Supreme Court, to which every
case might be carried, was formed, like their legislature, of the people themselves in solemn assembly convened.
Under this government the people lived very
happily, and the colony advanced with signal prosperity for two years. During this time the General Assembly of Connecticut had made an honest
effort to negotiate a settlement between the Company and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, but
in vain. An able commission had been sent to
Philadelphia, consisting of Colonel Eliphalet Dyer,
Chapman.




184         HISTORY OF WY~OMING.
Doctor Johnson and J. Strong; but Governor Penn
would not listen to their propositions, although
they were of the most equitable description. Upon
this refusal, even to acknowledge the commission,
the General assembly caused a case to be made up
and transmitted to England for the ablest legal
opinions that could be obtained. This case was
submitted to Edward, afterward Lord Thurlow,
Alexander Wedderburn, Richard Jackson, and J.
Dunning,-all famous for their learning in the
law, who gave a united opinion in favor of the
Company. Thus fortified, the General Assembly
of Connecticut took higher ground, and perceiving how greatly the colony was flourishing, in
October, 1773, they passed a resolution asserting
their claim to the jurisdiction of the territory, and
their determination in some proper way to support
the claim.*  The Company now renewed their
application to be taken into the Colony of Connecticut, in which request the General Assembly
acquiesced, and the entire territory was erected
into a chartered town, called Westmoreland, and
attached to the county of Litchfield. The laws
of Connecticut were extended over the settlement;
representatives from Westmoreland were admitted
to sit in the General Assembly;t and Zebulon
Butler and Nathan Denniston were regularly comTrumbull               t lIdem,




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         185
missioned justices of the peace. All necessary regulations for the due administration of the local
affairs of the settlements were made; new townships were opened and entered upon by emigrants,
and the colony advanced with unprecedented
prosperity. Govornor Penn and his Council beheld these movements with high displeasure, and
sundry proclamations were issued forbidding the
people to obey the laws and authorities of Connecticut; but these paper missives were no more
regarded than would have been an equal number
of vermilion edicts from the Emperor of China.
Two years more of repose were enjoyed by the
colonists of the Company, during which they flourished to a degree that could scarcely have been
anticipated by their principals.  The valley was
laid out into townships five miles square, and under the hand of industry, the teeming soil soon
made it to smile in beauty like a little paradise.
The town immediately adjoining the Wyoming
Fort, was planted by Colonel Durkee, and named
WILKESBARRE, in honor of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre, as heretofore mentioned. But in the
autumn of 1775, just at the moment when the
Hercules of the new world was grappling with the
giant power of Great Britain, the torch of civil
war was again lighted by the.people of Pennsylvania. Among the settlements of the Connecticut
people, which had been pushed beyond the con18*




186        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
fines of the valley of Wyoming, was one upon the
West Branch of the Susquehanna, uniting with
the main stream at Northumberland, about sixty
miles below. On the 28th of September, 1775,
this plantation was attacked by a body of the
Northumberland militia, who, after killing one man,
and wounding several others, made prisoners of
the residue of the settlers, and conducted them
to Sunbury, where they were thrown into prison.
The tedium and vexation of their confinement
was measurably relieved for a season, however,
by the drollery of one of their number,-an active
and vivacious young man named Benjamin Bidlack,
of whom more will be related hereafter. He was
not only, like the Yorick of Hamlet, "a fellow of
infinite humor," but athletic and strong-at least as
strong as the shorn Samson. And as with Samson,
the Philistines into whose hands he fell would fain,
from day to day, bring Bidlack forth to make them
sport. He sang capital songs, among which was
one called "The Swaggering Man," each verse
ending" And away went the swaggering man."
This was a favorite song with the captors, and
they urged him repeatedly to sing it-which he
very cheefully did —for he was as full of fun as
any of them-insisting, however, that they must
enlarge their circle, and give him space "to act




HISTORY OF WYOMiNG.          187
the part."  And this he did to admiration-at
least in one instance. Having by his conduct allayed all suspicion of sinister intentions, and induced his guards to give him ample room wherein
to exercise his limbs while singing their favorite
song, as he sang the last line" And away went the swaggering man,"
suiting the action to the words, he sprang from
the circle like a leaping panther, and bounded
away with a fleetness that distanced competition,
and gained his liberty.
At about the same time when Bidlack and his -
companions were taken to Sunbury, a number of
boats, trading down the river from Wyoming, were
attacked and plundered by the Pennsylvanians.
These acts of course produced immediate and extreme indignation on the part of the Connecticut
colonists
But instead of seizing their arms at once, and
rushing to the liberation of their imprisoned friends,
they petitioned the Provincial Congress, then in
session, to interpose for the adjustment of the controversy.  On the 9th of November the petition
was considered by Congress, and a conciliatory
resolution, with a suitable preamble, was adopted,
setting forth the danger of internal hostilities in
that critical conjuncture of the affairs of the American colonies, and urging the governments of Penn



188         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
sylvania and Connecticut to the adoption of the
most speedy and effectual measures to prevent such
hostilities.*
The voice of Congress, however, was unheeded,
and the imprisonment of the settlers from the West
Branch was rendered more rigid than before. Apprehensions were moreover excited among the
people of Northumberland, that the chafed inhabitants of Wyoming might make a descent upon
Sunbury, liberate their friends and fire the town.
Whether these apprehensions were caused by actual threats, or by a sense of their own wrong doing, cannot be predicated; but one of the consequences was a proposition, by a Colonel Plunkett
of Northumberland, to raise a force and march
against Wyoming for its immediate conquest and
subjugation. The proposal was listened to by the
Governor, and orders were issued to Plunkett to
raise the necessary forces, and execute his purpose
by the expulsion of the Connecticut settlers.
Plunkett was himself a civil magistrate, as well
as a colonel; but in order to impart to the expedition a civil rather than a military character,
the army was called the'"Posse " of the county,
and the colonel was accompanied by the sheriff.
The number of men raised for the service was
seven hundred, well provisioned, and amply fur* Journals of the old Congress.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         139
nished with military stores, which latter were embarked upon the river in boats.
These formidable preparations gave no small
degree of uneasiness to Congress, yet,in session in
Philadelphia, and resolutions were immediately
passed, urging the Pennsylvanians at once to desist from any farther hostile proceedings, to liberate the prisoners that had been taken, and restore
all private property that had been detained; and
in a word to refrain from any and every hostile
act, until the dispute between the parties could be
legally decided.* But these resolutions commanded no more respect from the Pennsylvanians, either the government or the people, than the others.
Plunkett, who had already commenced his march,
pursued his course.  Winter, however, was approaching; the boats were impeded in their progress by a swollen torrent, bearing masses of ice
upon its surface; and the troops could not of
course proceed in advance of their supplies. The
advance of the invaders, therefore, was as deliberate as those who were to be attacked could desire.
It was near the close of December when Colonel Plunkett reached the Nanticoke rapids, in the
narrow mountain defile through which the Susquehanna rushes on its escape from Wyoming, and
the obstructions of which were so great, that the
boats could not be propelled any farther. Detach* Journals of Congress.




190         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
ing a guard, therefore, for the protection of his
supplies, the Colonel continued his march by the
road on the west side of the river, which winds
along by the bases of the mountains, whose rocky
battlements at times hang impending over it. After emerging from the gorge, and entering the
valley, the prospect, on that side of the river, is at
one point nearly intercepted by a large rock projecting from a spur of the Shawanese Mountain,
and extending nearly to the edge of the river.
Entering the valley from the south, this rock,
or ledge, presents a formidable perpendicular front,
as even as though it were a structure of hewn
mason-work.  The road winds along at the base
of the ledge, turning its projection close by the
river. The Colonel was somewhat startled as he
came suddenly in view of this gigantic defence;
nor was his surprise diminished by a second glance,
which taught him that the extended brow of the
rock had been fortified, while a volley of musketry
told him farther, that this most unexpected fortification was well garrisoned.
The whole passage of the defile at the Nanticoke falls presents exactly such a geological conformation as it would delight a Tyrolese population to defend; and the Yankees of Wyoming had
not been blind to the advantages which nature had
here supplied for arresting the approach of the invader. The fire had been given -too soon for




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                191
much effect;* but it served to throw the forces
of Plunkett into confusion, and an immediate retreat behind another mountainous projection, for
consultation, was the consequence.  The hazard
of turning the point of the battlemented Shawanese rock, defended by an enemy of unknown
strength, thus securely posted, was too great to be
entertained.  It was therefore determined, by the
aid of a batteau brought past the rapids by land
for that purpose, to cross the river and march upon the fort of Wyoming along the eastern shore.
Immediate dispositions were made for executing
this change in the plan of the campaign; but on
the approach of the batteau to the opposite side
with the first detachment of the invaders, headed
by Colonel Plunkett himself, a sharp fire from an
ambuscade gave unequivocal evidence that their
every possible movement had been anticipated.
This ambuscade was commanded by Lieutenant
Stewart, who had reserved his fire until the invaders were leaping on shore. One man was killed
by the first fire, and several others wounded. So
warm a reception upon both sides of the river had
not been foreseen.   The boat was therefore in* Gordon affirms that this volley killed one man, and dangerously wounded three others of Plunkett's party. IIe also states that Colonel Plunkett
was at first met in an amicable manner, by a party of the settlers, under
one of their leaders, and that he assured them his only object was to arrest
the persons named in his warrants, protesting that he would offer violence
to no one submitting to the laws.




192         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
stantly pushed from the land, and without attempting to regain the shore whence they had embarked,
was suffered to drift down the stream and over the
rapids, to the fleet of provision boats below. The
chivalrous Colonel, being a peace officer, lay down
in the bottom of the boat to avoid the shots that
were sent after him. His troops on the western
side, however, attempted to cover his retreat, by
firing at random into the thicket where Stewart
had posted his men. By one of these chance shots
a man named Bowen was killed at the instant when
he was raising himself above the breast-work to
fire upon the enemy.
Plunkett's entire force now fell back upon the
boats where another council of war took place.
To attempt to force the passage of the terrific
rock, frowning in its own strength, and bristling
with bayonets besides, was evidently impracticable. It could not be carried by assault, for want
of two articles, —courage and scaling ladders.To march around the point the garrison would
not allow them. And to avoid the difficulty by
threading the ravines of the mountains in the rear
on either side, would be a yet more dangerous
undertaking, inasmuch as the Yankees might not
only use their fire-arms, but also tumble the rocks
down upon their heads and ignominiously crush
them to death. In addition to all which, it was
now evident that even should they be successful




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          193
in sitting down before the fort of Wyoming, and.
opening their entrenchments, the works would
not be very easily taken; while their own situation, by the destruction of their boats, and the
cutting off of their supplies, and in sundry other
respects, might be rendered exceedingly uncomfortable. Under such an accumulation of untoward circumstances and forbidding prospects, discretion was wisely esteemed the better part of
valor, and the expedition was abandoned.
With this unsuccessful effort "; terminated the
endeavors of the Executive of Pennsylvania to
expel, by force, her troublesome inmates. They
had become very numerous, and had extended
themselves over a large tract of country, upon
which they had planted and built with great success.  Possession, by lapse of time, was growing
into right, to preserve which, it was obvious, the
possessors had resolved to devote their lives. Forcible ejection would therefore be followed with much
bloodshed, and wide-extended misery, which
would tend greatly to weaken the efforts of the
two colonies in the common cause against Great
Britain."*
For a season after the breaking out of the war
of the revolution, Wyoming was allowed a state
* Gordon,
19




] 94               HISTORY OF WYOMING.
of comparative repose. The government of Pennsylvania was changed by the removal of the Proprietaries, or successors of Penn, and the formation of a new constitution; and both Connecticut
and Pennsylvania had other and more important
demands upon their attention than the disputes of
rival claimants for a remote and  sequestered  territory. A census was taken, and the whole population of the several towns of the valley, now acknowledging the jurisdiction of Connecticut, was
computed at about two thousand five hundred
souls.* Two companies of regular troops were
raised, under resolutions of Congress, commanded
by Captains Ransom and Durkee, of eighty-two
men each. These companies were mustered and
counted as part of the Connecticut levies, and attached to the Connecticut line. They were, moreover, efficient soldiers, having been engaged in the
brilliant affair of Millstone, the bloody and unto* Chapman, who resided in Wyoming at the time he wrote his history,
twenty-five years ago, states the number of inhabitants at five thousand,and
so does Marshall. But in a recent appeal to the legislature of Connecticut
by a committee from Wyoming, drawn up by the I-Ion. Charles Miner, for
more than forty years a resident of that place, the population at that period
is stated at 2500. Considering the number of soldiers raised for the regular
service there, and the number killed in the massacre, twenty-five hundred
seems too small; but in answer to an objection raised by the author, Mr.
Miner writes-"'  In 1773 there were 430 taxables; allowing five inhabitants to each taxable, will give 2150. In 1777, a new oath of allegiance
was required by Connecticut of every freeman. We have the recorded
list returned by all the justices; the number is 269.  Add for these with
the army 100, for many in the service were not of age, and it will make
369. Multiply this by six gives 2214 inhabitants. The number did not
exceed 2500."




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          195
ward battles-of Brandywine and Germantown, and
in the terrible cannonade of Mud-bank.
Notwithstanding the remoteness of its position,
and its peculiar exposure to the attacks of the enemy, rendered more perilous from its contiguity to
the territory of the Six Nations, and the readiness
with which a descent could be made upon them
by the way of the Susquehanna, the people of
Wyoming were prompt to espouse the cause of
their country, and as early as the first of August,
1775, in town meeting, they voted " that we will
unanimously join our brethren of America in the
common cause of defending our country." In the
month of August in the following year it was
voted " that the people be called upon to work on
the forts, without either fee or reward from the
town." And in 1777 the people passed a vote
empowering a committee of inspectors " to supply
the soldiers' wives, and the soldiers' widows, and
their famlllies, with the necessaries of life."*
But the unanimity asserted in the first resolution cited above must have been a figurative
expression, since, unhappily, there were loyalists
in Wyoming, as elsewhere.   The civil wars,
moreover, had left many bitter feelings to rankle
in the bosoms of such as had been actively engaged in those feuds. Added to which, in the.* MS. records of Westmoreland, in the possession of Charles Miner.




196         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
exuberance of their patriotism, between twenty
and thirty suspected citizens were seized by the
Whigs, and dragged over the woods and mountains into Connecticut, for imprisonment. Nine of
these men were discharged immediately, and in a
few days the residue were set at liberty for want
of proof to warrant their detention.  They all
speedily thereafter found their way into the ranks
of the enemy in Canada —among the Tory
rangers of Sir John Johnson and Colonel John
Butler. These points are stated thus minutely, because they are essential to a just understanding of
the darker features of the history that is to follow.
The Indians of the Six Nations were not
brought actively into the field against the Americans until the summer of 1777. From that moment,
the whole extended frontiers of the colonies,
reaching from Lake Champlain round the Northwest and South to the Floridas, were harrassed
by the savages. Wyoming, however, did not immediately suffer so severely as many other border
settlements. Some straggling parties of Indians,
it is true, hung about the valley, while General
St. Leger was besieging Fort Stanwix; but after
a few skirmishes with the inhabitants, they withdrew, and the people were not again disturbed
during that year, save in two or three instances in
the autumn. On one of these occasions, Mr.-afterward Lieutenant John Jenkins, Jun.,- visiting




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         167
the upper part of the Wyoming valley, was met
by a hostile party, taken to Niagara, and thence
to Montreal, whence he was exchanged in 1778.
At the time of his capture, the same party of loyalists took prisoner an old man named Fitzgerald.
Placing him upon an elevated seat, they required
of him a renunciation of his rebel-principles, and
an acknowledgment of allegiance to the King,
threatening death if he refused.  "I am an old
man," replied the silvery-headed patriot, "and
can live but a few years at most. I would rather die now, and die a friend to my country, than
live a few years longer and then die a tory."* It
was bravely said, and even the enemy must have
regarded the old man with reverence, for their
threat was not executed.
But no small degree of uneasiness was created
early in 1778, by the conduct of the loyalists yet
remaining in the valley.  These apprehensions,
however, were allayed for a time, by messages of
peace received from the Indians. But these messages were deceptive, as was ascertained in March
by the confessions of one of them, who, while in
a state of partial intoxication, revealed their real
purposes.  They had sent their messengers to
Wyoming merely to lull the inhabitants into such
a state of security as would enable them to strike
* Statement of Elisha Harding-Wyoming Memorial to Congress,
19*




198         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
a surer blow. The party to which the drunken
Indian belonged, was thereupon arrested and detained, while the women were allowed to depart.
It was not long before the inhabitants of the outer settlements,-especially those some thirty miles
distant, upon the river north, —were grievously
annoyed, and many of them clustered in upon the
older and larger towns. In April and May, the
savages hanging upon the outskirts became yet
more numerous, and more audacious, committing
frequent robberies, and in June several murders.
Thenceforward, " their pathways were ambushed,
and midnight was often red with the conflagration
of their dwellings.'"*
There were no settlements contiguous to Wyoming, upon which the people might call for aid in
case of sudden emergency.  It was not merely an
outpost, but was,an isolated community, almost
embosomed in the country of a savage enemy. To
Sunbury, the nearest inhabited post down the Susquehanna, it was sixty miles; through the great
swamp, and over the Pokono range of mountains
to the settlements on the Delaware, a pathless wilderness, it was also sixty miles. The Six Nations,
ever the most to be dreaded upon the war-path,
occupied all the upper branches of the Susquehanna, and were within a few hours' sail of the
* Memorial to the Legislature of Connecticut.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.           199
plantations.* Thus situated, there had been a
conventional understanding between the government and the people of Wyoming, that the regular troops enlisted among them should be stationed
there, for the defence of the valley; but the exigencies of the service required their action elsewhere, and not only were they ordered away, but
other enlistments were made, to the number, in
all, of about three hundred. The only means of
defence remaining consisted of militia-men, the
greater proportion of whom were either too old or
too young for the regular service. And yet upon
these men devolved the duties of cultivating the
lands to obtain subsistence for the settlements, and
likewise of performing regular garrison duty in
the little stockade defences which were dignified
by the name of forts, and of patrolling the outskirts of the settlements, and exploring the thickets, in order to guard against surprise from the
wily Indians, and their yet more vindictive tory
allies.
There were some six or seven of those defences
called forts, but consisting only of stockades, or
logs, planted upright in the earth, and about fourteen feet high, the enclosures within which served
also as places of retreat for the women and children in seasons of alarm. They had no artillery
* Memorial to the Legislature of Connecticut.




5200        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
save a single four-pounder, kept at Wilkesbarrei, as
an alarm-gun, and their only means of defence,
therefore, consisted of small arms, not always in
the best order, as is ever the case with militia.
Thus weakened by the absence of its most efficient men, and otherwise exposed, Wyoming presented a point of attack too favorable to escape
the attention of the British and Indian commanders in the country of the Six Nations, and in Canada. They were also, beyond doubt, stimulated
to undertake an expedition against it by the absconding loyalists, who were burning with a much
stronger desire to avenge what they conceived to
be their own wrongs, than with ardor to serve
their king.
Under these circumstances, the ever memorable
expedition of Colonel John Butler, with his own
Tory Rangers, a detachment of Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens, and a large body of Indians,
chiefly Senecas, was undertaken against Wyoming early in the summer of 1778, and, alas!
was but too successful. The forces of the invaders are estimated by some authorities at eleven
hundred, seven hundred of whom were Indians.
Other accounts compute the Indians at four hundred.  Opposed to these forces were a company
of some forty or fifty regulars, under Captain
Hewitt, and such numbers of the militia, heretofore described, as could be hastily collected. Boys




HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                   201
and old  men, fathers  and  sons, aged  men  and
grandfathers, were obliged to  snatch  such  weapons as were at hand, and take the field at the
warning of a moment. Nor were the so-called
regulars under Captain Hewit, regulars in the
proper acceptation  of  the  term.   The  Captain
had but recently received his commission, with
directions to recruit at Wyoming.   He  had  enlisted these forty or fifty men, who were obliged
to  find their own arms;  and  having  had  but a
short and indifferent experience in martial exercise, when the enemy came they were militia men
still, though not such in name.  The expedition of
the enemy moved from Niagara, across the Genesee country,and down the Chemung river to Tioga
Point, whence they embarked upon the Susquehanna, and landed about twenty miles above Wyoming-entering  the valley through a notch from
the west, about a mile below the head of the valley, and taking possession of a small defence called Wintermoot, after the name of its proprietor,
an opulent loyalist of that town.* Colonel John
* Among the papers of Colonel Zebulon Butler, Mr. Miner has discovered a document labelled, " A list of Tories who joined the Indians."
There are sixty-one names on the list, but of these there were but three
New-England men. Most of them were transient persons, or laborers;
or men who had gone to Wyoming as hunters and trappers. Six are of
one family-the Wintermoots; four were named Secord; three were
Pawlings: three Lanawvays; and four Yaan.Alstynes. It is not believed
that there were more than twenty or twenty-five tory families. Nine of
them were from the Mohawk valley, who were probably sent thither by
the Johnsons to poison the settlement if possible, or as spies. Four of




202          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Butler established his head quarters at this place,
and thence, for several days, scouts and foraging
parties were sent out, for observation and to collect provisions. The enemy's arrival at Fort Wintermoot, which stood on the bank of the river,
was on the 2d of July.
The dark and threatening sayings of a drunken
Indian, as already stated, had awakened some suspicions that an attack was meditated by the enemy
in the course of the season,and a message had been
sent to the head quarters of the continental army
early in June, praying for a detachment of troops
for their protection. To this request no answer had
been received. To fly, however, with their women
and children, with an agile enemy upon their very
heels, was impossible, even had the thought been
entertained.  But it was not.  "Retirement or
flight was alike impossible, and there was no
security but in victory.  Unequal as was the conflict, therefore, and hopeless as it was in the eye of
prudence, the young and athletic men, fit to bear
arms, and enlisted for their special defence, being
absent with the main army; yet the inhabitants,
looking to their dependent wives, mothers, sisters,
little ones, took counsel of their courage, and
them were from Kinderhook; six from the county of Westchester, (N. Y.)
The Wintermoots were from Minisink. There were not ten tory fnamilies who had resided two years in Wyoming.-Letter to the /uthoSrfroua
Carles Jlinsr.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          203
resolved to give the enemy battle."* Having such
treasures to defend, in addition to the great pending question of National existence and liberty,they
felt strong confidence that they should be able to
repel the invader. No sooner, therefore, was
the presence of the enemy known, than the militia rapidly assembled at the old defence, 1" Fort
Forty," so frequently mentioned in the preceding narrative of the civil wars, which was situated immediately on the west bank of the river,
some three miles north of Wilkesbarre.  Small
garrisons of aged men were left in the other
feeble forts of the colonists, for the protection of
the women and children assembled therein, while
the majority of those capable of bearing arms, old
men and boys, fathers, grand-fathers and grandsons, assembled at Fort Forty, to the number of
nearly four hundred.
Colonel Zebulon Butler, heretofore mentioned
as a soldier in the French war, and as being placed
in the commission of the peace, was now an officer
in the continental army, and happening to be at
home at the time of the invasion, on the invitation
of the people he accepted the command. A council of war was called on the morning of the 3rd of
July, to determine upon the expediency of marching out and giving the enemy battle, or of await* Memorial to the Legislature of Connecticut.




204         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
ing his advance. There were some who preferred
delay, in the hope that a reinforcement would arrive fromn the camp of General Washington. Others maintained that as no advices had been received
thence in reply to their application, the messenger had probably been cut off; and as the
enemy's force was constantly increasing, they
thought it best to meet and repel him at once if
possible. The debates were warm; and before
they were ended, five commissioned officers, who,
hearing of the anticipated invasion had obtained
permission to return for the defence of their families, joined them. Their arrival extinguished the
hope of present succor by reinforcements from the
main army, and the result of the council was a
determination for an immediate attack.
As soon as the proper dispositions could be
made, Colonel Zebulon Butler placed himself at
the head of the undisciplined force, and led them
forward, the design being to take the enemy by
surprise. And such would probably have been
the issue, but for the occurrence of one of those
untoward incidents against which human wisdom
cannot guard. A scout, having been sent forward
to reconnoitre, found the enemy at dinner, not
anticipating an attack, and in high and frolicksome glee. But on his return to report the fact
the scout was fired upon by a straggling Indian,
who gave the alarm. The consequence was, that




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         205
on the approach of the Americans, they found the
enemy in line ready for their reception. Colonel
Zebulon Butler commanded the right of the Americans, aided by Major Garratt. The left was commanded by Colonel Dennison, of the Wyoming
militia, assisted by Lieut. Colonel Dorrance. Opposed to the right of the Americans and also resting upon the bank of the river, was Colonel John
Butler, with his rangers. The right of the enemy,
resting upon, or rather extending into, a marsh,
was composed principally of Indians and tories,
led by a celebrated Seneca chief named Gi-engwah-toh; or, He-who-goes-in-the-Smoke.  The
field of battle was a plain, partly cleared and
partly covered with shrub oaks and yellow pines.
The action began soon after four o'clock in the
afternoon, and was for a time kept up on both
sides with great spirit. The right of the Americans advanced bravely as they fired, and the best
troops of the enemy were compelled to give back.
But while the advantages were thus promising
with the Americans on the right, far different was
the situation of affairs on the left.  Penetrating
the thicket of the swamp, a heavy body of the Indians were enabled, unperceived, to outflank Col.
Dennison, and suddenly like a dark cloud to fall
upon his rear. The Americans, thus standing
between two fires, fell fast before the rifles of the
Indians and tories, but yet they faltered not, until
20




206          HISTORY OF WYOMING.,
the order of Colonel Dennison to I" fall back," for
the purpose only of changing position, was mistaken for an order to retreat. This misconception
was fatal. The confusion instantly became so
great that restoration to order was impossible. The
enemy, not more brave, but better skilled in the
horrid trade of savage war, and far more numerous withal, sprang forward, and as they made the
air resound with their frightful yells, rushed upon
the Americans, hand to hand, tomahawk and spear.
But the handful of regulars and those who were
not at first thrown into confusion did all that men
could dare or achieve to retrieve the fortunes of
the day.  Observing one of his men to yield a
little ground, Colonel Dorrance called to him with
the utmost coolness-" Stand up to your work,
sir!" The Colonel immediately fell.* As the
enemy obtained the rear, an officer notified Captain Hewitt of the fact, and inquired, " Shall we
retreat, sir?" " I'll be d-d if I do," was his reply-and he fell instantly dead at the head of his
little command. The retreat now became a flight,
attended with horrible carnage,  " We are nearly
alone," said an officer named Westbrook-" shall
we go?"   " I'll have one more shot," said a Mr.
Cooper, in reply. At the same instant a savage
sprang toward him with his spear, but was brought
* The Rev. John Dorrance, pastor of the Presbyterian church In Wilkes-.
harr6 [in 1839] is a grand-son of Colonel Dorrance.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          2207
to the ground in his leap, and Cooper deliberately
re-loaded his piece before he moved. He was one
of the few who survived the battle.  On the first
discovery of the confusion on the left, Colonel
Zebulon Butler rode into the thickest of the melee,
exclaiming —" Don't leave me, my children!
The victory will yet be ours." But numbers and
discipline, and the Indians besides, were against
the Americans, and their rout was complete.
During the flight to Fort Forty, the scene was
that of horrible slaughter. Nor did the darkness
put an end to the work of death. No assault was
made upon the fort that night; but many of the
prisoners taken were put to death by torture. The
place of these murders was about two miles north
of Fort Forty, upon a rock, around which the Indians formed themselves in a circle.  Sixteen of
the prisoners, placed in a ring around a rock, near
the river, were held by stout Indians, while the
squaws struck their heads open with the tomahawk.
Only one individual, a powerful man named Hammond, by a desperate effort, escaped. Seeing one
after another of his fellows perish by the bloody
hand of the insatiate squaw acting as executioner,
Hammond sprang forward suddenly, and rushing
through the circle, outstripped his pursuers, and
was not retaken.* In a similar ring, a little far* Lebbeus Hammond. He afterward removed to Tioga County, (N. Y.)
where he lived and died a very respectable citizen.




20S     -      HISTORY  OF WYOMING,
ther north of the rock, nine persons were murdered in the same way.* It has been said, both in
tradition and in print, that the priestess of this
bloody sacrifice was the celebrated Catharine Montour, sometimes called Queen Esther, whose residence was at Catharinestown, at the head of Seneca  Lake.   But the  statement is improbable.
Catharine Montour was a half-breed, who had been
well educated in Canada.   Her reputed  father
was one of the French governors of that province
when appertaining to the crown of France, and
she herself was a lady of comparative refinement.
She was much caressed in Philadelphia, and mingled in the best society.t   Hence the remotest
belief cannot be entertained that she was the Hecate of that fell night. A night indeed of terror,
-described  with truth  and power by the bard of
Gertrude, as the dread hour when —
-,, Sounds that mingled laugh, and shout, and scream
To Ireeze the blood in one discordant jar,
Rung the pealing thunderbolts of war.
Whoop after whoop with rack the ear assailed,
As if unearthly fiends had burst their bar;
While rapidly the marksman's shot prevailed;And aye, as if for death, some lonely trumpet wailed!"
When the numbers are taken into the account,
the slaughter on this occasion was dreadful. The
five officers who arrived fiom  the continential ar* Note in Silliman's Journal, vol. xviii..
t Vide Whithamn Marshe's Journal of a treaty with the Six Nations at
Lancaster, in 1744.




HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                 209
my on the morning of the battle were all slain.
Captain Hewitt, who fell, had a son in the battle
with him, aged eighteen. Captain Aholiah Buck
and his son, aged only fourteen, were both slain.
Anderson Dana, the representative of the valley in
the Connecticut legislature, had returned from the
session just in season to fight and fall. His sonin-law, Stephen Whiting, who had been married
to his daughter but a few months before, went into the battle with him, and was also slain. Two
brothers, named Perrin and Jeremiah Ross, were
slain  in  the  battle.*    There was a large family
named Gore, one of whom was with the continential army. Those at home, five brothers and two
brothers-in-law, went into the battle, and of these,
five were dead upon the field at night, a sixth was
wounded, and one only escaped unhurt. Of the
family of Mr. Weeks, seven went into the battle,
viz: five sons and sons-in-law, and two inmates.
Not one of the number escaped. These ate but
a few instances of many,:selected merely for the
purpose of showing how general was the rush to
the field, and how direful the carnage.t
* Brothers of General William Ross, who is yet living, (1840,) in Wyoming.
Among the officers killed in the battle, the following names have been
preserved. Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance:-Major Wait Garrett;Captains Dottrick Hewitt, Robert Durkee,* Aholiah Buck, Asa Whittlesey,
Lazarus Stewart, Samuel Ransom,* James Bidlack, - Geere, ------
M'Kanachin, --   Wigdon;- Lieutenants, Timothy Pierce,* James
Wells,* Elijah Shoemaker, Lazarus Stewart, 2d, Perin Ross,* Asa Stevens;
Ensigns, Asa Gore, -- Avery. 0y Those marked (*) were the five
who arrived from the Continential army on the morning of the battle.
20*




210         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
The closing scene of that memorable drama,
was in terrible keeping with the bloody acts which
had preceeded. Flushed with victory, the savage
Senecas still pursued their victims, filling the valley with their wild screams, and rushing onward
in overwhelming numbers. The few Americans
who escaped the murderous conflict in the field,
fled precipitately to Wilkesbarre Fort, where were
gathered women and children, waiting the dread issue of the contest, with breathless anxiety. Their
return only added to the dreadful consternation,
already prevailing in the Fortress. Siezed with
panic, at the idea of being cooped up there, with
the certainty of meeting a ruthless destruction, if
they remained, they fled to the mountains, and
sought refuge in the recesses of a dreary swamp,
called. afterward, from the numbers who fell there,
the " Shades of Death."  But an enemy was on
their track, familiar with swamps, and expert in
threading the deepest fastnesses. They were soon
found, when the work of destruction recommenced with a fiercer violence. To the few survivors
this was " a night long to be remembered."  Behind them they saw the flames spreading destruction through the valley. On one side of them was
the battle-field, on which lay their brave brethren
weltering in their blood. Around them, the agonizing shriek proclaimed that the dreadful carnage
was still going on.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         211
The fair fields of Wyoming presented a melancholly spectacle on the morning of the 4th. The
pursuit of the Indians had ceased the preceding
evening with the nightfall, and the work of death
was completed by the tragedy at the Bloody Rock.
But the sun arose upon the carcasses of the dead
— not only dead but horribly mangled-strewn
over the plain, from the point where the battle began to Fort Forty. A few stragglers had at first
taken refuge in that defence, and by the morning
light, all who had not been slain, or who had not
betaken themselves to the mountains, had collected within the Fort, before which Colonel John
Butler with his motley forces appeared at an early
hour, and demanded a surrender. It appears that
some negotiations upon the subject of a capitulation had been interchanged the preceding evening,
at Wintermoot's. Be that as in may, it was understood that no terms would be listened to by the
enemy but that of the unconditional surrender of
Colonel Zebulon Butler, and the small handful of
regular troops, numbering only fifteen, who had
escaped the battle, to the tender mercies of the
Indians. Under these circumstances, means of
escape for the Colonel and these fifteen men were
found during the night. The former succeeded
in making his way to one of the Moravian settlements on the Lehigh, and the latter fled to Shamokin.




212        HISTORY OF WYOMINO.
The little fort being surrounded by a cloud of
Indians and tories, and having no means of defence, Colonel Dennison, now in command, yielded to the force of circumstances, and the importunities of the women and children, and entered
into articles of capitulation. By this it was mutually agreed that the inhabitants of the settlement should lay down their arms, the fort be demolished, and the continental stores be delivered
to the conquerors. The inhabitants of the settlement were to be permitted to occupy their farms
peaceably, and without molestation of their persons.
The loyalists were to be allowed to remain in the
undisturbed possession of their farms, and to trade
without interruption. Colonel Dennison and the inhabitants stipulated not again to take up arms during
the contest, and Colonel John Butler agreed to use
his utmost influence to cause the private property
of the inhabitants to be respected.
But the last-mentioned stipulation was entirely
unheeded by the Indians, who were not, and perhaps could not be, restrained from the work of
rapine and plunder. The surrender had no sooner
taken place than they spread through the valley.
Every house not belonging to a loyalist was plundered, and then laid in ashes. The greater part
of the inhabitants, not engaged in the battle, men,
women, and children, had fled to the mountains
toward the Delaware; and as the work of de



HISTORY OF WYOMING.                          213
struction was re-commenced, many others followed the example.  The village of Wilkesbarre consisted of twenty-three houses. It was burnt, and
the entire population fled. No lives were taken
by the Indians after the surrender; but numbers
of women and children perished in the dismal
swamp on the Pokono range of mountains, in the
flight which  will  be  presently  described.    The
whole number of people killed and missing was
about three hundred.*
Colonel Benjamin Dorrance, yet a resident of
Wyoming, a gentleman of character and affluence,
was a lad in Fort  Forty at the time of its surren* Until the publication, year before last, of the Life of Brant, by the
writer of the present work, it had been asserted in all history that that
celebrated Mohawk chieftain was the Indian leader at Wyoming. He
himself always denied any participation in this bloody expedition, and
his assertions were corroborated by the British officers, when questioned
upon the subject. But these denials, not appearing in history, relieved
him not from the odium; and the 1" monster Brant" has been denounced,
the world over, as the author of the massacre. In the work referred to
above, the author took upon himself the vindication of the savage warrior from the accusation, and, as he thought at the time, with success. A
reviewer of that work, however, in the Democratic Magazine, who is understood to be the Hon. Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts, disputed the
point, maintaining that the vindication was not satisfactory. The author
thereupon made a journey into the Seneca country, and pushed the investigation among the surviving chiefs and warriors of the Senecas engaged
in that campaign. The result was a triumphant acquittal of Brant from
all participation therein. The celebrated chief Captain Pollard, whose
Indian name is Kaolundoowand, a fine old warrior, was a young chief in
that battle. He gave a full account of it, and was clear and positive in
his declarations that Brant and the Mohawks were not engaged in that
campaign at all. Their leader, he said, was Gi-cn-gwah-tolh, as already
mentioned in the text, who lived many years afterward, and was
succeeded in his chieftaincy by the late Young King.  That point of
history, therefore, may be considered as conclusively settled.




5214             HISTORY  OF WYOMING.
der to Butler and the Indians, and remembers
freshly the  circumstances.   He  states  that after
the capitulation, the British regular troops marched into the fort by the northern or upper gateway,
while Gi-en-gwah-toh and his Indians entered at
the southern portal. Colonel Dorrance recollects
well the look and conduct of the Indian leader.
His nostrils distended, and his burning eyes flash
ing like a basilisk's, as he glanced quickly  to the
right, and to the left, with true Indian jealousy and
circumspection, lest some treachery or ambuscade
might await them within the fort. But the powerful
and the brave had fallen. Old age was there, tottering upon his crutches, and widowed women, with
their helpless children clinging to their garments
-sobbing in all the bitterness of a woe at which
the ruthless savages mocked.*
But after all, the greatest barbarities of this celebrated massacre were committed by the tories.
Many  loyalists, as has  been  already  seen, had
months before united themselves with the enemy
at Niagara; and on his arrival at the head of the
valley, many more of the settlers joined his ranks.
* " The Hazleton Travellers," by Charles Miner. I shall have frequent
occasion to repeat this reference in the succeeding chapter, and it may he
well to explain what is the work referred to. It is not a book, but a series of historical essays, or rather colloquies, published by Mr Miner in
the village paper of Wyoming, during the years 1837 and 1838. In these
papers, the author introduces a party of strangers from Hazleton, who accompany him in an imaginary journey through the valley, and to whom
the author is supposed to recount its history in a series of familiar conversations. These papers have been of great value to the author.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         215
These all fought with the most brutal ferocity
against their former neighbors, and were guilty
of acts of which even this distant contemplation
curdles the blood.  Of these acts two or three
must suffice. During the bloody fight of the 3d,
some of the fugitives plunged into the river and
escaped to the opposite shore.  A few landed
upon Monockonock Island, having lost their arms
in the flight, and were pursued thither. One of
them was discovered by his own brother, who had
espoused the side of the crown. The unarmed
Whig fell upon his knees before his brother and
offered to serve him as a slave forever, if he would
but spare his life. But the fiend in human form
was inexorable; he muttered "you are a d-d
rebel," and shot him dead. This tale is too horrible for belief; but a survivor of the battle, a
Mr. Baldwin, whose name will occur again, confirmed its truth to the writer with his own lips.
He knew the brothers well, and in August, 1839,
declared the statement to be true.*
A tradition is rehearsed, that, long after this unparalled act of fratricide, the murderer, haunted
by conscience, wandered back from Canada,
whither he had fled, to the spot where-the fearful
deed was committed, and found there a grave,
whence he could almost hear "the voice of his
* Vide also Chapman.




216                HISTORY OF WYOMING.
brother's blood" crying yet for vengeance. The
legend needs a voucher for its authenticity. But
it has nevertheless been wrought into a metrical
tale, by one  of our  country's  gifted bards,* with
thrilling and powerful effect: The reader will not
regret the interruption of the historical narrative
while the story is reproduced in measures so spirited and beautiful:
THE DEATH OF THE FRATRICIDE.
He stood on the brow of the well known hill,
Its few gray oaks moan'd over him stillThe last of that forest which cast the gloom,
Of its shadow at eve o'er his childhood's hoine;
And the beautiful valley beneath him lay
With its quivering leaves, and its streams at play,
And the sunshine over it all the while
Like the golden shower of the Eastern Isle.
He knew the rock with its clinging vine,
And its gray top touch'd by the slant sunshine;
And the delicate stream which crept beneath,
Soft as the flow of an infant's breath;
And the flowers which leaned to the West wind's sigh,
Kissing each ripple which glided by,
And he knew every valley and wooded swell,
For the visions of childhood are treasured well!
Why shook the old man as his eye glanc'd down
That narrow ravine where the rude cliffs frown,
With their shaggy brows and their teeth of stone,
And their grim shade back from.the sunlight thrown?
What saw he there save the dreary glen,
Where the shy fox crept from the eye of men,
And the great owl sat on the leafy limb
That the hateful sun might not look on him?
* Whittier.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Fix'd, glassy, and strange was that old man's eye!
As if a spectre was stealing by!
And glared it still on that narrow dell
Where thicker and browner the twilight fell;
Yet at every sigh of the fitful wind,
Or stirring of leaves in the wood behind,
His wild glance wander'd the landscape o'er,
T''hen fix'd on that desolate dell once more!
Oh! who shall tell of the thoughts which ran
Through the dizzied brain of that gray old man?
His childhood's home- and his fathers's toil -
Al d his sister's kiss - and his mother's smile -
And his brother's laughter and gamesome mirth,
At the village school and the winter hearth -
The beautiful thoughts of his early time,
Ere his heart grew dark with its later crime.
And darker and wilder his visions came
Of the deadly feud and the midnight flame,
Of.the indian's knife with its slaughter red,
Of the ghastly forms of the scalpless dead,
Of his own fierce deeds in that fearful hour
When the terrible Brant was forth in power, -
And he clasp'd his hands o'er his burning eye,
To shadow the vision which glided by.
It came with the rush of the battle storm -
With a brother's shaken and kneeling form,
And his prayer for life When a brother's arm
Was lifted above him for mortal harm,
And the fiendish curse, and the groan of death,
And the welling blood, and the gurgling breath,
And the scalp torn off while each nerve could feel
The wrenching hand and the jagged steel!
And the old man groan'd - for he saw, again,
The mangied icorse of his brother slain,
As itlay where his hand had hurl'd it then,
At the shadow'd foot of that fearful glen!
And it rose erect, with the death-pang grim,
And pointed its bloody finger at him  -
And his heart grew cold - and the curse of Cain
Burn'd like a fire in the old man's brain i
S1




218                HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Oh, had he not seen that spectre rise
On the blue of the cold Canadian skies i
From the lakes v1which sleep in the ancient wood,
It had risen to whisper its tale of blood,
And follow'd his bark to the sombre shore,
And glared by ni-;ht through the wigwam door;
And here * on h s own familiar hill -
It rose on his haluated vision-still!
Whose corse was that which the morrow's sun
Through the openi'lg boughs look'd calmly on?
There were those olsho bent o'er that rigid face
Who well in its darken'd lines might trace
The features of himt who, traitor, fled
From a brother whl::e blood himself had shed,
And there - on the pot where he strangely diedThey made the gray. of the Fratricide!
Among the fugitives who plunged into the river in their flight, was Captain Shoemaker. He
was seen and recognized by a loyalist named Henry Windecker, whose famil  had been supplied
with provisions in a time of scarcity by Shoemaker. Windecker now called to him in a friendly
manner, assuring him of protection if he would
return  to the shore.   Confiding in the promise of
a former neighbor, he did  so;  but his life was the
forfeit of his trust.   As  he  regained  the  bank,
Windecker received him with his left hand, and
struck him dead to the earth with the tomahawk
held in his right.
There was another case, very similar to the preceding, marked by equal turpitude-.that of WilHammond —a brother of the resolute }Jammond




HISTORY OF WYOMING.           219
who escaped from the massacre of the "bloody
rock."*  Having escaped from the slaughter of
the battle-ground to the river, across which he
was swimming for the island, he was hailed by a
former neighbor, named Secord, now a tory in the
ranks of the enemy. Previously to the war they
had lived upon terms of the utmost intimacy,often being engaged in the same labors in the field,
and the same sports in the hours of relaxation.
Secord's solicitation was of the most friendly
kind, calculated at once to dispel all suspicion of
treachery, and to inspire confidence.  "Is that
you, Bill Hammond," said he.  c; Yes," was the
reply.  Whereupon Secord advised him to return
and promised him protection, to which the other
answered,' No: I can swim across the river, and
make my escape."  " You cannot," rejoined Secord: "' the Indians are on the opposite side and
will certainly kill you.  If you will return, I
will claim you as a brother, and secure your
life." Deceived by the apparent sincerity of his
assurances, Hammond  returned  to  the shore
whence he had plunged into the stream. Secord
stepped into the edge of the water to recieve him,
and as he grasped with his left hand the right of
his friend, with his own right hand he buried his
hatchet in his head!  The scene of diabolical
* There were three brothers of this name in the battle.




220         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
treachery was observed by a fugitive named Tubbs,
lying close by in concealment, who ultimately escaped and related the revolting circumstances.
The body of Hammond floated down the river to
Fort Forty, where it was discovered, recognized,
and brought to the shore.t
The fugitives generally crossed the mountains
to Stroudsburg, -where there was a small military
post. Their flight was a scene of wide-spread
and harrowing sorrow.  Their dispersion being
in an hour of the wildest terror, the people were
scattered, singly, in pairs, and in larger groups,
as- chance separated, or threw  them  together,
in that sad hour of peril and distress.  Let the
mind picture to itself a single group, flying from
the valley to the mountains on the east, and climbing the steep ascent —hurrying onward, " filled
with terror, despair and sorrow; —the affrighted
mother, whose husband has fallen;-an infant on
her bosom, —a child by the hand, —an aged parent
slowly climbing the rugged steep behind them;hunger presses them severely,-in the rustling of
every leaf they hear the approaching savage, —a.
deep and dreary wilderness before them,-the valley all in flames behind,-their dwellings and harvests all swept away in this spring-flood of ruin,
-.-the star of hope quenched in this blood-shower
t Life of Major Van Campen, of whom, more in the sequel,




HISTORY OF WYOMING.               221
of savage vengeance."*   There is no work of fancy in a sketch like this. Indeed it cannot approach the reality.  There were in one of these
groups that crossed the mountain,-those of them
that did not perish by the way,-one hundred
women and children, and but a single man to aid,
direct, and protect them.   Their sufferings for
food were intense. One of the surviving officers
of the battle, who escaped by swimming the river,
crossed the mountain in advance of many of
the fugitives, and was active in meeting them
with supplies.  "The first we saw on emerging
from the mountains," said a Mrs. Cooper, one of
the fugitives, "was Mr. IHollenbach, riding full
speed from  the German settlement with  bread:
and O! it was needed; we had saved nothing,
and were near perishing; my husband had laid
his mouth to the earth to lick up a little meal scattered by some one more fortunate."t
Mr. William  Searle, whose  father-, Constant
Searle, an aged man, was slain in the battle, being
himself unable to go into the engagement because
of a wound received in a skirmish with a party of
Indians a few days before, was nevertheless obliged to make his way across the mountains, as the
* The Ilazleton Travellers.
t Mr. Hollenbach was a survivor of the battle, and in his escape swam
the river naked. In this situation he was found by Solomon Hunt, a
brother of Mrs. Myers, who also swam the river, preserving his shirt and
pantaloons. Giving HEollenbach one of these garments, they proceeded
together to Wilkesbarr6. -J-Vote coiasmusicated by Rev. Dr. Peck.
21*




222         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
conductor of a party of twelve women and children. Captain Hewitt, commanding the company of new levies in the engagement, who bravely
fell, refusing to retreat, was the son-in-law of Constant Searle. Many of the fugitives continued
their journey back to Connecticut, ascending the
Delaware and crossing over to the Hudson at
Poughkeepsie. It was at this place that the first
account of the massacre was published; being collected from the lips of the panic-stricken and suffering fugitives, and full of enormous exaggerations such as the alleged massacre of women and
children after the surrender, the burning of forts
full of people, &c. None of these tales were true,
albeit they found their way into Dr. Thatcher's
Military Journal, written at the time, and even into the statelier histories of Gordon, Ramsay, Botta
and others. A venerable old lady, Mrs. Bidlack,
yet living in August 1839, was one of the captives
surrendered at the fort, being then about sixteen
years old. She stated to the author that the Indians were kind to them after they were taken,
except that they plundered them of every thing
but the clothes upon their backs.  They then
marked them with paint to prevent them  from
being killed by other Indians-a precaution often
adopted by the red men, by whom such marks are
always respected.
GTreat injustice has been done to the character




HISTORY OF WYOMING          223
and conduct of Colonel Zebulon Butler in connection with this tragic affair of Wyoming, by some
ill-informed historians who have written upon the
subject, as well because he did not attempt to rally the survivors, and make another stand before
Fort Wyoming, as on account of his flight. But
the idea is preposterous in the mind of any intelligent man who duly considers the circumstances in
which he was placed. Who was there to rally?
Could the fife and drum pierce the ears of the
slain?  Could the dead be raised —the ashes of
those who had been put to the torture in the flames
be revivified by the reading of a regimental order?
Full one half of the males of the colony lay stiff
in death on the field. Had there been any body
to rally, with the least possible chance of success,
Zebulon Butler would have been the last man to
fly. But there was not, and the enemy had refused quarter to all who belonged to the continental
army. It was therefore the duty of Colonel Butler to save himself and the fifteen brave survivors
of Captain Hewitt's company.
Zebulon Butler was not an accidental soldier.
He had served in the old French war, with gallantry, and his associations with European officers,
had added to his imposing form and carriage the
manners of a gentleman. His courage and fortitude had moreover been illustrated in the civil
wars, for the possession of the territory he was




224         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
now  defending from foreign invasion.  An idea
of his spirit may be formed by the following incident, connected with the very service that had
now resulted so disastrously.  It must be borne
in mind that he was the commander of a continental regiment in the Connecticut line.  When
the people of Wyoming began to be alarmed in
the spring, he was directed to repair thither, and
look into their condition.  On the receipt of his
report, setting forth the destitution of the valley,
at head-quarters, it was alleged that his account
was exaggerated.  "It is impossible," exclaimed
one of the officers, —-" it cannot be so."  The
officer's incredulity was reported to Colonel Butler, who replied, in his next despatch, "A gentleman who had a just regard for his own honor,
would not so lightly suspect the honor of another."
When the invasion actually occurred, he was
not only unprepared, but was compelled to meet
the enemy, greatly superior in numbers, contrary
to his own better judgment.  The rashness of
the brave but undisciplined men hastily collected together compelled him to the hazard of the
dio. His dispositions for the battle were those
of a soldier, his conduct during the battle that of
a brave man and skillful officer; and but for the
untoward circumstance of the mistaken order
which threw his left wing into confusion, the fortunes of the day, notwithstanding the disparity of




HISTORY OF WYOMING,               225
their relative forces, might yet have been different.
He lost no character in the eyes of those who saw
the transaction, or in the estimation of those who
knew him; and a long and useful life, during
which he enjoyed richly the public confidence, is
the most unerring test of his character.*
So also has it been with Colonel Dennison, the
second in rank on that fatal day, who was in command  of the left wing when it broke and fled.
He, too, has been censured in history, if not forl
his conduct in the battle, at least for the capitulation. But as in the case of his commander, these
censures have been most unreasonable. The circumstances in which he found himself, when, from
the necessary flight of Colonel Zebulon Butler,
the command had devolved upon him, were of the
most trying description.
It must not be forgotten that they were only the
fragments of a shattered and broken militia, and
not regular troops, of whom he was in accidental
command. By the result of the battle, the entire
force and population of the valley were broken
and crushed.  The thought of farther resistance
would have been more than folly,-it would have
* The grave of Colonel Butler is occasionally visited by strangers. The
stone has been embellished by some "poet of the wilderness," with tlko
following rustic but pious rhymes:"6 Distinguished by his usefulness,
At home and when abroad 
In court, in camp, and in recess,
Protected still by God,'.




226         HLSTORY OF WYOMING.
been madness. It would not have checked for an
hour the victorious enemy, but on the other hand
would only have exasperated to additional murders. And what officer ever yet succeeded in
rallying, and bringing again into a line, a band of
flying militia with a cloud of savages upon their
heels? When he capitulated, he was in a defenceless stockade fort, filled with women and children,
and surrounded by a savage and victorious enemy.
But it was a:s:.t tt',ue.:s is stated in the books, that
when he demanded upon what terms he might
be allowed to surrender, the reply was "THE
HATCHET"-'-and that he thereupon capitulated
unconditionally, leaving the women and children
to a merciless horde of barbarians. On the contrary,
the terms he malde were honorable, and it was not
his fault that the articles were violated in regard
to the plundering, and burnings of the Indians.
Those terms were in truth drawn up  before
Colonel Butler left the garrison.  Colonel Dennison has been farther censured, and charged
with bad faith in joining the expedition of Colonel Hartley, who, having been ordered to Wyoming soon after the devastation, proceeded against
the Indian towns farther north upon the Susquehanna. Colonel Dennison, who had stipulated in
the capitulation not again to bear arms against his
English Majesty, was an active officer under Colonel Hartley; and the circumstance was used as




HISTORY OF WYOMING,          227
a pretext by the bitter and bloody-minded Walter
Butler, for the invasion and massalre of Cherry'Valley in the autumn of the same year.* But it
was only a pretext. With the single exception
that an end was put by Colonel John Butler and
Gi-en-gwah-toh to the effusion of blood, every
other provision of the terms of that capitulation
was disregarded. Every thing, as has been seen,
was plundered, the entire settlement subjected to
pillage, and instead of the inhabitants being allowed to remain at peace in theirpossessions, the
whole was given up to rapine, and finally to the
flames. So that Colonel Dennison, on principles
of the most scrupulous honor, and the most delicate
propriety, was fully justified in resuming his arms.
Colonel Dennison was one of the early emigrants to Wyoming. He was a native of NewLondon county; and on the extension of the
jurisdiction of Connecticut over the extensive domain comprehended within the town of Westmoreland, a regiment of militia being organized,
he was commissioned its colonel. IHe was a gentleman of highly respectable talents, and of liberal,
and it is believed, collegiate attainments.  He
was regarded by all who served with or knew him,
as a brave and faithful officer. After the close of
the war, he held various important civil appoint* Life of Brant, Vol. I., Chap. xvii.




228         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
ments under the authority of Pennsylvania, and
died at a very advanced age-as eminent for his
sweet and unaffected piety as he had ever been
for his patriotism-honored, loved, and wept by
all. He had two sons, both of whom were highly
respectable citizens; one of whom died in March,
1843, and the other a few years ago, after having
served his country in the state legislature and in
Congress, with ability and honor.
The fields of Wyoming were waving with heavy
burdens of grain, ripening for the harvest, at the
time of the invasion, and no sooner had the enemy
retired than considerable numbers of the settlers
returned to secure their crops. In the course of
their flight across the mountains, a party of the
fugitives fell in with Captain Spalding, of the
Continental army, at the head of a company of
regulars, on their way to assist in the defence of
the valley. Being apprized of the melancholy
catastrophe that had befallen it, and having no
force adequate to engage the invaders who had
been left rioting upon the spoils of their conquest,
Captain Spalding retraced his steps to Stroudsburg, where he remained for a month, and until
it was ascertained that the enemy had retired.
He then advanced and took possession of the vale
of desolation, where he was soon afterward joined
by Colonel Zebulon Butler, who assumed the command of the station, and under whose direction,




ISlT;s DAI;S' CO w-YOI.. (, 229
aided by ttie returu-ing, inhabwita.nts, another fort
was eredtedt on ure west; bank of the river, a short
disEstance  belows the pries-ent horougn  of Wilkesbarr'.  T~is foti w-aus occupied  by Captyain Spalding', with  a      <s2al' 1S'a 0i5 son o' for -pwa'rd. of two
years, duc-in'  v    P.h psriood   umbe7s of the-l  inhabitan)s d who had  escaped  ca.se bHacKh, rebuilt their
houses, a.l- jSresmei d  thei-    statio ns in the settlemenl t,
There  wiasi, Iowever,: btut liitde repose for the
people unt11  thwe  close of the w an.  The Indians
were fiequtienily liovering upton     tlie out skirts, by
sir to.ling   scouts, and ijn lgo-er pan  icis, in quest of
scalps, prisoner s a  ndC plIntd r~  Someti "mies  they
ap  3,     c-,      ei.. n th
bo1-," t.,                        SU
o  AJ-a7        9 C     In EC'a i     Of'....................: idians
T.              C                f 1 s iL e. - l.       A    S.., t t   n - - - i..Uad
fo-'WI                                 ci do
n  fd pa  t       ie -,,,::,: 7-'io    Th: y'  ion(.C!   an,adckud
iP   side      1   3; 3i P-i i.'  w  t _:..,.0  9.A)1i.  m a   1.2 3 u    opor.,.C-.a,, $nia..ra sally; t- 9l-o -^ I  ey
a~ d.~.ough th~e.-'_t:na-an,,t   { 
arise of'                                 gptldJ. b% fCc~:t~a  AO.-...    




230          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
nel Butler, thle pursuit was renewed; but on reaching the edge of the woods, the force of the enenmy
was found to be so large as to render a farther
advance upon him  hazardous.  The Americans
therefore, retired to their defence, but were not
pursued.  The skirmishing continued two hours
and a half; and the enemy succeeded in carrying
away sixty heads of black cattle and twenty horses
-shooting the field-horses of Colonel Butler which
they could not take."'  it was evident, from the
traces of blood, and other indications, that considerable execution was done; but it was not until
two years afterward, that on the escape of a prisoner, the fa.t was ascertained that the Indian chief
commanding the expedition, had been killed-his
body beinog cut in two by a cannon bail.t  In the
su cceeding  month. of April, as MIajor Powell was
leading  a detachment of troops to reinforce the
garrison of Wyoming, while threading a defile so
lnarrow that but a single man could pass at a time,
and utterly unconscious that a subtle enermy was
lurk'ing about his path, he was fired upon from an
Indian ambuscade in Laurel Run, near the crest
of the first mountain, and six of his imen killed, of
which number were Captain Davis and Lieutenant
Jones.  Taken thus fatally by surprise, Powell
retreated for a short distance, to bring his men into
* Despatches of Colonel Butler to General Hand.
t Statement of General Ross-lyoaming memorial.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          2. 1
order of battle, - for they had been marching at
their ease, without any organization, or much circumspection.  The ambuscade was then charged,
and after a few scattering fires the Indians were
dispersed.  The troops immediately entered the
valley, taking with them the bodies of the officers
who had fallen, which were interred with the honors of war, and an appropriate though rude memorial placed upon their graves.
Toward the close of June, 1771, General Sullivan arrived in Wyoming', with his division of the
army destined for the memorable expedition of t-hat
year against the country of the Six Nations - the
territory of the Cayugas and Senecas in particular.
After remaining there a while, all things being ready,
Sullivan moved up the river to thle mouth off the
Tioga, where he was joined by General Clinton's
division from the north.  General Sul!ivan's bag,gage " occupied one hundred and twenty boats,
and two thousand horses, the former  of whlich
were arralnged in regular order upoln the river, and
were propelled agairnst the current by soldiers wvith
setting-poles, the whole strongly guarded.  TIIhe
horses, laden with provisions for the daily subsistence of the troops, havling to march singly in a
narrow path, formed a line six miles in lengt'h.
The flotilla upon the river formed a beatutiful spectacle, as they moved in order froml their anchorage,
and as they passed the fort they exchanged salutes.




132 4.1 1STOIY OF WYObMINGi,
The whole scene formed a military display surpasjs
ing any which  had -previcusly been seen in Wyoming, and 7was    1,sell caKlculated Z-o r-ake a deep
impression upon  the   inds of those uk-i-g' parties
of savagces that stiii continued to prwT! 1about the
mountains, fio  Bte iops of winch t      ge aean- was
visible for many rail es."sBut t hse  wily Wa rn'ior:s wer- nwei -er  driven
away, nor awed             in to"ca    r wnas not lo ng
after Sullivan's depart ure before a brAis - action was
foucht betwee;vnr    a de:achment of Pen' syvatnia miu
litia, mnoving e thB  norti  for tir e protecton of the
Lackawaxen settlement-s and a party of one bhun
dred and fify Indians, in wsvich thle fourme  were
defeated, with the loss of between forty and fifty
men killed anU d taken
Having'r7vaged t'e  -enese o   untr y, and la.d
the Indian towns waste by i:'e ad swo.d, Generial
Sullivan retulln-cd  to Viyominin  in  rOctieT,  a nd
thence to Eahstoan,. The nians I,         If 1howeve,   folowed'
close upo-n his rear', and hunyg   n  tu  A    bo'cr s of
VW yo mi'   ntn tnnee ct  o'.: i:.t.n.e
Suivalins1 de-0pa-j.IuM't1rr  e a  ofitu t E-~- la froin
1Noh a1ch R on co-u nty, r ised fo -t I-eQ 0O   lOS 0 
the hbonflc0, vS    i  U  0wr   1O           ln t
to tlh)e S qus eahlanna a rg  -n WI   their'nwr  u-_-b er
killed outright, an  two other s  m sortal y weunded
C'a.na




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          233
The men were surprised while refreshing themselves at a brook, by a party of about forty Indians,
led by a white loyalist. The former were commanded by Captain Moyer, whose good conduct
after the first fire in part atoned for the high military offence of allowing himself to be surprised.
Ten of the Indians were killed, and an eleventh
mortally wounded. Still they succeeded in carrying away three white prisoners, all of whom contrived to effect their escape on the following night.
Incidents of a kindred character might be multiplied to an almost indefinite extent; but their
recital, from general sameness, would become tedious; suffice it to say, that until the final close of
that great struggle for liberty, from the invasion of
1778, Wyoming seemed the object of inextinguishable rancor-of unappeasable hate. There was
not an hour's security for the people.  Revenge
upon Wyoming seemed a cherished luxury to the
infuriated savages hovering upon her outskirts on
every side. It was all a scene of war, blood, and
suffering —owing, in the main, to the unpardonable
neglect of the Continental Congress, who, having
drawn off the flower of the population for the regular service, neglected, in return, to afford the valley
any adequate protection. In the old town records
of Westmoreland, at a public meeting, in the latter
part of April, 1780, it is recorded that a committee
was appointed to aid the people in protecting their
22*




!34         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
settlements, in consequence of the attacks of the
enemy. In 1781, a committee was appointed to
obtain an abatement of the state tax at Hartford,
in consequence of the continued distress. And in
1782, wheat being taken for taxes in the town
treasury, it was ordered to be ground and baked
into biscuit to be ready for the scouting parties
kept up by the town. There was therefore no
repose for the inhabitants, but frequent fightings
and continual fears. In the course of this harassing
warfare there were many severe skirmishes-several heroic risings of prisoners upon their Indian
captors —and many hair-breadth escapes-some of
which, together with various details of family and
individual heroism and suffering, on the great day
of slaughter and afterward, will be found narrated
hn the succeeding chapter,




CHAPTER VIII.
Anecdotes and biographical sketches of the living and the dead of Wyoming,-General Ross, and his family.-Visit to the Field of Battle,The Monument,-Inspection of the Bones of the Slain,-Process of
Tomahawking,-Visit to Mrs. Myers,-Her recollections,-Messrs. Bennet and Harmond, —Heroic Exploit,-Visit to Rev, Mr. Bidlack,-Mrs.
Bidlack,-Recollections of both,-The Gore Family,-Story of the Inman family,-The Jenkins famnily,-Lieut. John Jenklins,-His captivity,-Extracts from his Diary,-Mrs. Jenkins, his w idowv,-Her recollections,-The Wintermnoots,-Mrs. Jenkins's visit to tile battle field,The Blackman family,-Story of Samuel Carey and Zibbera Hibbard,Story of John Abbot,-The Williams family-Heroic exploit of Sergeant Williams,-Story of the Weeks family, and of the Indian Anthony Turkey,-Story of Major Van Campen, —Lfe of Mrs. Phebe Young,
-The Slocum family,-Story of Frances Slocum, the " Lost Sister,"
CONSIDERING  the extent of the slaughter in the
massacre of Wyoming, the number of the survivors of that fatal day yet lingering this side of the
grave is much greater than might have been expected. And the still larger number of the immediate descendants of those who fell, yet inhabiting the valley, is also a source of surprise.   Both
circumstances speak well for the place and the
people-proving  the  salubrity  of the climate, and
the good taste and domestic habits of those who
enjoy it.* It is the author's design in the present
chapter, agreeably to an intimation in the last, to
* Reference is here had to the date of the first edition in 1840.




236         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
bring out, in bolder relief than could well be done
in a general historical narrative, some of the exploits and sufferings both of individuals and families, who were engaged in the scenes that have
been described. And of those thus to be noticed,
there are several persons of both sexes yet among
the living.
One of the most opulent, as well as respectable
citizens yet enjoying a green old age in Wilkesbarre, is General William Ross. He is a native
of Montville, in the State of Connecticut, and
was removed to Wyoming with his father's family,
while yet in his childhood, before the war of the
Revolution. At the time of the invasion William
Ross was sixteen years old. He was not, however, engaged in the battle which resulted so disastrously, having the day before marched with a
small scouting party, twelve miles up the river, to
a settlement in which the Indians had just committed a savage butchery. In this expedition they
-killed two Indians, and buried five bodies of their
fellow colonists, which had been sadly mangled.
But young Ross had two brothers, older than himself, Jeremiah and Perrin, engaged in the battle, the
latter of whom was an officer, and both of whom
fell. Their father was already dead. On William, therefore, now devolved the care of an aged
mother, several sisters, and the widow and children of his brother Perrin. These all made their




HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                  237
escape across the mountains to a place of safety,
whence, however, the noble-spirited youth returnm
ed to  the  scene of rapine, to  save whatever, if
any thing might be left, and in all respects to perform  his duty.    le, among  others, was charged
with visiting  the field of slau-ghter a-d barying  the
dead.  Tihe scene w-as s'hocking'.  They discovered two rins in which  prisones  had  been s'assacred, within one of which there were ninel  bodies
and within  t'ie ot oer, fourteen.  The only bodies
recogntzed,  were those  of  Darius  Spoflrd  a nd
Captain Durkee,-the latter being easily ide iti,n d
fTon0 t~ e circunse   that he had lost a joint'i'e.o
one of his finoewr.     Some of the unhappy prisoners were burnt to death on that fata'l 2intt by the
tordture of"i -'e, —-tml  process hav ino, beeon  witnessed by  lr.   Bennet and 121f  s  so11  Ishomiaej, by  M3,o
WPbhitaker, a man  stira te   and by Capa  n a!an-cha - rd,
who had s'tationed thiens-elves If    u r     os   of obseYtiva lon   0-  the  opost1j.    nI con1  of  thle'211  o
They  d;i cinctly  msa-J     I     ne h e  lm     e io n7
around  0-t4e ires,    a d I fcart  t_ 1e  c'iIs  of a'Ionv.
They saw th  Ti  l,II u   oJ,v UI U t          in:J 
with  tih eir      7pa    i P.  I; t -i yes    S -'....
deJ L wij    he     i1iGSn   f t.ei'r vjici'        t t  as
* State'n crl t of!sh elael   Ie,nlft, i a I  yomi',:fe noi; t-o Ch' i"i'o, l, s,
Earlv lme Se ot rnloii -w col)tcld see helu fixii.- their scalps oil It;le.
bows madle o.Ci am::l:ic   it.lh lii'i-. occ:. iJin avwl- aiiid a n st.iabz'
weoie se0lg eithcel around the bcows, and sccriping off t4e _ic il: —1.  a nd bloodl:




238          HtISTORY OF WYOMING.
more than a mnonth after the event when this visit
to the field was made, and General Ross assured
Professor Siliiman, in the year 1829, that owing
to the intense heat of the weather, and probably to
the dryness of the air, the bodies were shrivelled,
dry, and inoffensive, but with a single exception
they could not be recognized.  They were buried
in a common glrave upon the farm now belonging
to Mr. Gay.  Everything from  his father's farm
had disappeared, that the invaders could destroy
or carry away.   But being the only male of his
family left, he resolved to honor his name; and
the consequence was, that he not only bore up
with heroic fortitude against the flood of calamities that had rolled over the valley, but he overcame and rolled them  back.  The widows and
orphans were taken care of; the fortunes of his
house retrieved; and he has lived long in the enjoyment of many public honors firom the state of
his adoption, and discharging every public or private trust confided to him with fidelity.?:
A visit to the field where the battle commenced
is no farther of special interest than that it enables one to test the descriptive accuracy of the
books.  The position of the enemy's line when
carefully drying them, and at the same time smoking." [ILvira Itrdig's
Statement- WI:y miil.hleMleoria l.] The squaws, for several days after the
battle, ornamented their girdles with the scalps of the slain.
Wra vritten in 1849. General Ross has since deceased.




HISTORY OF wYOMfAING.           39
receiving the attack may be traced, and the tangled morass still exists through which the Indians
penetrated to gain the rear of the left wing of the
Americans, commanded by Colonel Dennison.
Returning from the battle field, an interesting
object for a visit is the monument whichl the people of Wyoming have commenced building, in
honor of their patriotic ancestors who fell upon
this consecrated aceldama.  It stands upon the
eastern side of the highway, about half a mile
south of the village of Troy, and near the line
where the fury of the battle ceased  not far,
moreo'ver, from1 the spot Twhere, some weeks after
the conflict, the remains of tihe deatd wvere collected
and buried.  The monument is to consist of a
simple obelisk, of perhaps twenty feet in diameter
at the base, to be carried up to the heiglt of fifty
or sixty feet.  The material is an inferior species
of granite quarried in the neighborhood.  The
foundation has been deeply and srtbstantialiy laid,
and the superstructure carried up some ten or
twelve feet above the ground. And here the work
rests fbr want of funds. An applicationl was maLde
by the people of W yoming to the Legislature of
Connecticut, for aid in the completion of this work
of piety and patriotism.  The case  was ably
presented to, and enforced upon that body, by
a committee from Wyopming, at the head orf v which,was Charles Miner-but without present sue



24:0          HISTORY OF  WIYOMINgcess.  it is to be hope'd, however, {hat a re-newed appicateion will be miore fortunate   T' e towns
in Wyoming' duriong     t e    0hole of tie  war of
t-ie 0 tevolao ti, ti ough  atot exaccLjy can iUtcgral
part Gf Con0ec'cu   yet as Tnuch heoQ  to th  atI
state as dtid INew-London, N1irwal, Danbu'ry, or
Fsair-eldo  Tiese toLwns, whchl -e' we   burnt and
desoataedl by wtil  e.emy, r' eeved. i~1 rntienration'om tile staVeo     But neoietr of tlieul suinred the
horrors of Viyrmani:g;     n.d ai vou  Wyormng
contribu ted  he4 r fu' p   0op 0on   of  rev1enue    tieo  h
tseasury iof te  stlate  and  r   ad   odly  number
of tl.e    O1C-         ~  at ul poured out her
Dest blood 1IA-e w          t-, a  n   tsw 1' sto to
ent obf tLe  Suqueann      a."  teaa, yet of
conmeuSa't3io n    s   never received a dollar.   ind
11ow''ta   sie La p ea a-i'on' l  oa  a    do iars
to prpeue tue re*n~ira O' of h}ie... wh.0
bled, anId o.f the ca se. i''i'Icy, -  e   O-n,   l b run,-,' shae —-a   xc.       every  co-nr
o'                    I.........
of eonhinecuicuc",              D/u5,.J_101  pio~'cve s —o     the"
petition de_-i. d,
A t a  h m - so,: near by  t 1e  oretserved
as tiey s u.':     hoy It'I   1r  s _            he
00050il,               hoq        tthic sl,'i koi tile
bo*-t.es of9   in  a  i ave  el-n f'ion  tcim   o  t;,ime
colleted.   Th-,,_a;o
2ILI Of {ie DnItie"'c4i t! o
eve A-..  S)




IISTORY OF WYOMING.          241
holes-rifle balls, evidently, by the size. Every
skull save one bears the mark of the deadly tomahawk, and exhibits the process of the savage operation.  The Indians seem not to have struck vertically downward, but by a glancing side bloiiw,
chipped out a piece from the crown, of two or three
inches diameter.  One of the skulls received two
strokes of the hatchet; a cut just described upon
the crown, -and a second in the side of the head,
just by the ear.
About midway between the site of Fort Forty
and the place where the conflict was begun is the
pleasant village of Troy. This is an interesting
place, as the enemy appear to have halted in its
neighborhood at the close of the massacre.  In
a field about sixty rods east of the highway is the
bloody rock upon which the prisoners were executed by the Indians, during the night of the battle as heretofore described.  It has a red, or rather
brick-dust appearance on one side, believed by the
superstitious to have been caused by blood which
winter storms cannot wash nor time wear away.
Fort Forty stood upon the banks of the river, and
the spot is preserved as a common-beautifully
carpeted with green, but bearing no distinctive
marks denoting the purposes for which the ground
in those troublous times was occupied. Near the
site of the fort, is the residence of Mrs. Myers, a
widow lady of great age, but of clear mind and
23




242          HtISTORtY OF WYOMING.
excellent memory, who is a survivor of the Wyoming invasion, and the horrible scenes attending it.
Mrs. Myers was the daughter of a Mr. Bennett,
whose family was renowned in the domestic annals of Wyoming, both for their patriotism and
their courage.  She was born in 1762, and was of
course sixteen years old at the time of the invasion.
She was in Fort Forty when Colonel Zebulon Butler marched out at the head of the provincials
against the enemy. Her recollections of all that
passed beneath her eye on that occasion are remarkably vivid. The column marched forth three
or four abreast, in good spirits, though not unconscious of the danger they were to encounter.*
Still, they were not apprized of the odds against
them, since the enemy had most skilfully concealed
his strength.
Soon after the departure of the provincials, several horsemen galloped up from below, their steeds
in a foam, and the sweat dripping from their sides.
They proved to be Captain Durkee, Lieutenant
Pearce, and another officer, who, having heard of
the invasion, had left the detachment of troops to
which they belonged, then distant fifty miles, and
ridden all night to aid in the defence of their wives,
their children, and their homes.  "A  morsel of
* One ef the settlers, a man named Finch, had been shot and scalped
two days before, in a gorge of the mountains near the upper section of
the valley.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         243
food and we will follow," said these brave men.
The table was hastily spread, and they all partook
of their last meal. Before the sun went down they
were numbered with the dead. The inmates of
the fort could distinctly hear the firing from the
commencement of the battle. At first, from its
briskness, they were full of high hopes. But as
it began to change into a scattered fire, and the
sounds grew nearer and nearer, their hearts sank
with the apprehension that the day was lost, and
their defenders on the retreat. The suspense was
dreadful, and was sustained until near night-fall,
when a few of the fugitives rushed into the fort,
and fell down, wounded, exhausted and bloody!
Mrs. Myers was present at the capitulation on
the following day, and saw the victorious entrance
of the enemy, six abreast, with drums beating and
colors flying. The terms of capitulation were fair
and honorable, but as the reader has already seen,
the Indians regarded them not, and immediately
began to rob, plunder, burn, and destroy. Col.
Dennison, according to the relation of Mrs. Myers,
sent for Colonel John Butler, the British commander. They sat down together by a table on which
the capitulation had been written, (yet carefully
preserved by Mrs. Myers.) She and a younger
girl were seated within the fort close by, and heard
every word they uttered. Colonel Dennison complained of the injuries and outrages then enacting




244         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
by the savages.  "I will put a stop to it, sir -I
will put a stop to it," said Colonel Butler. But
the plundering continued, and Butler was again
sent for by Colonel Dennison, who remonstrated
sharply with him at the violation of the treaty.
" We have surrendered our fort and arms to you,'t
said Colonel Dennison, "on the pledge of your
faith that both life and property should be protected. Articles of capitulation are considered sacred
by all civilized people."  "I tell you what, sir,"
replied Colonel Butler, waving his hand emphatically, "I can do nothing with them: I can do
nothing with them." And probably he could not,
for the Indians, in the end, had the audacity to
strip Colonel Dennison himself of his hat and riflefrock, (a dress then often worn by the officers.)
Colonel D. was not inclined to submit peaceably
to this outrage, but the brandishing of a tomahawk
over his head compelled his acquiescence —not,
however, until, during the parley, the colonel had
adroitly transferred his purse to one of the young
ladies present, unobserved by the Indians. This
purse contained only a few dollars-but it was in
fact the whole military chest of Wyoming.
Mrs. Myers represents Colonel John Butler as
a portly, good looking man, of perhaps forty-five,
dressed in green, the uniform of his corps, with a
cap and plumes.  On the capitulation of Fort
Forty, as the victorious Butler entered it, his quick




HISTORLY OF WYOMING.                      245
eye rested upon a sergeant of the Wyoming troops,
named Boyd, a young Englishman, a deserter from
the royal ranks, who had been serviceable in drilling the American recruits. "Boyd!" exclaimed
Butler on recognising him, "Go to that tree  1"  "I
hope  your honor,"  replied  Boyd, "will consider
me  a  prisoner of war."   "Go to that tree 1"  repeated Butler with emphasis. The deserter complied with the order, repaired to the tree, which
was without the fort, and at a signal was shot down.
Butler drew his white forces away from the valley
shortly  after the  capitulation.    But the  Indians
remained about the settlements, and finished the
work of destruction.* In about a week after the
battle,, the torch was applied to most of the dwelling  houses then  remaining, and Mrs. Myers saw
that of her father, Mr. Bennett, in flames among
the number. He, with his family, thereupon fled
from the valley to a place of greater securityMrs. Myers  and  her  sister, Mrs. Tuttle, being
among the fugitives.
Mr. Bennett returned to Wyoming, early in  the
* It has been stated by several authors, that the British Colonel Butler
was a kinsman of Colonel Zebulon Butler. But the fact is not so. Colonel
John Butler was an opulent gentleman residing in the Mohawk valley, a
neighbor and personal fiiend of Sir WV illiam, and afterward of Sir John
Johnson. It was his misfortune to be engaged in a branch of the service
which has covered his name, in history, with any thing but honor. Still he
was a very respectable man, aswere many other loyalists. After the close
of the war of the revolution, he was retained in the British Canadian service, and died at an advanced age, much respected by those who knew him.
2.3*




246        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
following spring, and was soon afterward captured
by a party of six Indians, with his son, then a lad,
and Mr. Hammond, a neighbor, while at work in
the field. The Indians marched them toward the
North, but during the night of the second or third
day, their expedition was brought to a sudden and
most unexpected close. From a few words dropped by one of the Indians, Mr. Bennett drew the
inference that it was their design to murder them.
Having requested of the Indian the use of his
moccasin awl to set a button, "No want button
for one night," was the gruff and laconic reply.
He therefore resolved, if possible, to effect an escape, and while the captors had left them a few
moments to slake their thirst at a spring, a plan
for that purpose was concerted.  Mr. Bennett,
being in years, was permitted to travel unbound.
Hammond and the boy were pinioned. At night
they all lay down to sleep, except one of the Indians and Mr Bennett. The latter, having gathered the wood to keep up the fire for the night, sat
down, and soon afterward carelessly took the Indian's spear in his hand, and began to play with it
upon his lap. The Indian now and then cast a
half-suspicious glance upon him, but continued
his employment —picking the scanty flesh from the
head of a deer which he had been roasting. The
other Indians, wearied, had wrapped themselves




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         247
in their blankets, and by their snoring gave evidence of being in a deep slumber.
The Indian left upon the watch, moreover, began to nod over his supper as though half asleep.
Watching his opportunity, therefore, Mr. Bennett
by a single thrust transfixed the savage with his
own spear, who fell across the burning logs with
a groan. Not an instant was lost in cutting loose
the limbs of Hammond and the lad. The other
Indians were in the same breath attacked by the
three, and the result was that five of the tawny
warriors were killed, and the sixth fled howling
with a hatchet sticking in his back. The victors
thereupon returned in triumph to the valley, bearing as trophies the spoils of the slain.
In the pleasant town of Kingston, on the west
side of the river, opposite the borough of AWilkesbarrY, resides the Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, a clergyman of the Methodist denomination, who, with
his lady, are survivors of the memorable scenes of
177S, already described. This venerable man is
between eighty and ninety years of age, and of
clear and sound mind. He is of a tall and athletic
form, of intellectual and strongly marked features
and in the full pride of manhood, his presence must
have been commanding. Mr. Bidlack was not
himself in the battle of Wyoming, not being at
home at the time of its occurrence. But he had
a brother, Captain James Bidlack, Jr., in that




248         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
bloody affair, who bravely fell at the head of
his company, only eight of whom escaped the
horrors of that day. He entered the field with
but thirty-two rank and file, twenty-four of whom
were slain. His station was near the left wing,
but he refused to move from his post, although
the greater portion of his comrades had broken
and were in full flight. Their father, James Bidlack, senior, was one of the fathers of the settlement; and when the middle-aged portion of their
population was drawn away by enlistment in the
continental army, tile old gentleman commanded
a corps of aged men, exempts, and kept garrison
in one of their little forts, called Plymouth.  Benjamin went early into the regular service. He
was with Washington in the vicinity of Boston,
in the summer of 1775, and saw the evacuation of
the "rebel town" by General Sir William Howe.
His term of enlistment expired in 1777, whereupon he returned to his parental home, and for a
season engaged in the most hazardous and fatiguing service of the border.  Enlisting again in
the regular service, he continued in the army
until the effectual conclusion of the war bay the
brilliant conquest of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in the siege of which fortress he participated.  Speaking of the affair one day, Mr. Bidlack said, "Our batteries played night and day:
it was an incessant blaze and thunder-roar and




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         249
flash. Midnight was lighted up so that you might
pick up a glove, almost any where about the
works."
In 1789, the year subsequent to the massacre,
during a sudden irruption of the Indians, Mr.
James Bidlack, the father, was seized and carried
into captivity, and did not obtain a release until
the'end of the war. He also lost another son in
batte before the close of the contest. The old
gentleman died about the year 1810. It is many
years since Benjamin became a minister of the
gospel. From his great age he no longer officiates in that capacity, but it is said of his preaching " that he spoke as he had fought, with impressive earnestness and ardent sincerity."
The venerable consort of Mr. Bidlack was
eighty-one years of age in the year 1839, and of
course must have been twenty at the time of the
battle. Her maiden name was Gore, a member of
the brave family so many of whom fell in the
massacre, as related in a preceding chapter. Five
of her brothers and two brothers-in-law went into
the battle, and her father, who had been commissionled a magistrate in the preceding spring, by
Governor Trumbull, was one of the aged men
left for the defence of Fort Forty, while Colonel
Butler marched forth to meet the enemy. Five
of her brothers were left dead on the field, and a
sixth was wounded. She was herself taken prism




250          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
oner in Fort Wyoming, and one of the Indians
placed his mark upon her as a protection. She
stated* that after the capitulation the Indians
treated the prisoners kindly, although they plundered them of every thing except the clothes they
had on.  Some of the females, in order to save
what they could, arrayed themselves in three or
four dresses. On discovering the artifice, however, the Indians compelled them to disrobe, by
threats of having their throats cut.
But although enjoying the protection of her Indian captors, such were their apprehensions for
the future that Mrs. Bidlack fled from the valley
nine days afterward, and crossed the fearful forests and fens of the Pokono mountains to Stroudsburg, taking an infant, a younger sister, with her.
Two of her brothers who fell, Asa and Silas, were
ensigns.  The one who escaped, Daniel, was the
lieutenant in Captain Durkee's company, the station of which was the right wing, " a few rods below Wintermoot's fort, close to the old road that
led up through the valley. Stepping into the road,
a ball struck him in the arm; tearing from his
body a portion of his shirt, he applied a hasty
bandage.  Just at that moment Captain Durkee
stepped into the road at the same place.'Look
out!' said Mr. Gore,' there are some of the sava* To the author, on a visit made to Mr. and Mrs. Bidlack, in 1839.




rISTORY OF WYOMING.          251
ges concealed under yonder heap of logs.' At
that instant a bullet struck Captain Durkee in the
thigh. When retreat became inevitable, Mr. Gore
endeavored to assist his captain from the field but
found it impossible; and Durkee said,' Save
yourself, Mr. Gore-my fate is sealed.' Lieutenant'Gore then escaped down the road, and leaping the fence about a mile below, lay couched close
under a bunch of bushes. While there, an Indian sprang over the fence and stood near him. Mr.
Gore said he could see the white of his eye,
and was almost sure he was discovered. A moment after a yell was raised on the flats below,
when the Indian drew up his rifle and fired, and
instantly ran off in that direction."* In the gray
of twilight, after the fury of the enemy seemed to
have spent itself, Gore heard two persons in conversation near the road where he was lying, one
of whom, by his voice, he judged to be Colonel
John Butler, the enemy's leader. " It has been a
hard day for the Yankees," said one of them.
" Yes," replied the other, " there has been blood
enough shed."
The name of one of Mrs. Bidlack's brothers-inlaw, who fell, was Murfee. In the evening the
distress of his wife was very great-and rendered
still more poignant by the apprehension that he
* Hazleton Travellers.




252         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
might have been captured, and would be put to
the torture.  It was some relief to the bitterness
of her anguish to learn on the following day that
he had been killed outright. Mrs. Murfee, too,
fled to the mountains, and wandered back to her
native place,-Norwich, in Connecticut, —where
a few days after her arrival among her friends, she
gave birth to an infant.
This case of the Gore family is certainly one of
the most remarkable in the history of man. Rarely, indeed, if ever, in the progress of the most
bloody civil conflicts, has it happened before, or
since, that a father and six sons have been engaged in the same battle-field. Five corpses of a single family sleeping upon the cold bed of death together, upon the self same night. What a price
did that family pay for liberty!
There was, however, another case nearly parallel, and equally interesting. A brave family resided in the valley named Inman, consisting of the
father, mother, and seven sons. The former was
too old to go into the fight.  Five of the sons
went; and two others, one of whom was nineteen
years old, and the other quite a lad, would have
gone but for the want of arms. It was one of the
many untoward circumstances under which the
people were suffering, that by the terms of enlistment prescribed by Congress, the regular troops
raised in Wyoming were obliged to supply their




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          253
own arms. HEence, at the time of the invasion,
all the best arms of the valley were with the soldiers attached to the continental army.  Two of
the younger Inmans, therefore, were compelled to
remain at home with their aged parents. Two of
those who went forth, Elijah and Israel, went to
return no more-both having been slain.  "Two
escaped without injury; and the fifth, hotly pursued, plunged into the river, overheated with exertion, and hid himself under. the willows. He
might as well have fallen in the fight; for a cold
settled upon his lungs, and carried him in a few
weeks to his grave."*  Of the two brothers who
escaped, one, Richard, had the satisfaction of saving the life of his neighbor, Rufus Bennett, from
the tomahawk of a stalwart Indian, when in the
act of leaping upon him.  Bennett and the Indian had both fired without effect, and the latter,
with his uplifted tomahawk flashing in the air,
was in the act of springing upon him, when the
rifle of Richard Inman brought him with a convulsive bound dead within a few feet of his intended
victim. But the tale of sorrow in this patriotic
family is not yet ended.  In common with the
other surviving inhabitants of the valley, the pa-.
rents with their remaining sons escaped to the
Delaware.  With others, however, toward winter,
* Iazleton Travellers.
24




254          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
they returned for the purpose of sowing their fields
with wheat. Soon after the season of snows had
set in, one of the young men, Isaac, aged nineteen, imagining that he heard the rustling of a flock
of wild turkeys in a neighboring forest, sallied
forth with his fowling-piece to bring some of them
in-not anticipating that danger was lurking so
near. He had not been long in the forest before
the discharge of a musket was heard, and the family were shortly expecting his return, laden with
the prize of his skill. He came not. A. sleepless
night was passed, but there was no return. The
hearts of his fond parents sank within them at
the tidings that the trail of an Indian scouting
party had been discovered in the neighborhood.
Still hope ever whispered the flattering tale that
their young and promising son,-for he was indeed a youth of uncommon grace and beauty,had been taken a captive, and would perhaps find
his way back in the spring. But, alas i the spring
came, and the dissolving snow revealed a sadder
tale.  The body of the youth was found in the
edge of a little creek passing through the farm.
He had been shot, and an Indian's war-club lay
by his side. His body was cruelly mangled and
his light silken hair was yet stained with blood,
drawn by the hatchet and scalping-knife.*
" Death found strange beauty on his manly brow,
And dashed it out."
* Hazleton Travellers.




HISTORY OF' WYOMING.           255
Thus perished four of this devoted family in the
course of that memorable year.*
The name of Colonel John Jenkins has more
than once occurred in the preceding pages. This
gentleman was an early emigrant to the valley,
and presided at the meeting of the inhabitants
in the beginning of the revolutionary troubles,
when the patriotic resolutions mentioned in a former chapter, in opposition to the unconstitutional
acts of Parliament, were adopted. The old gentleman was an active patriot until after the massacre, when he removed to Orange county in the
State of New-York; closing there an honorable
and well-spent life.  He had a son, Lieutenant
John Jenkins, no less a patriot than himself, who
had been married shortly previous to the massacre, and who did the cause good service,  He was
taken prisoner by a band of Indians, while on a
reconnoitring party, near Wyalusing, sixty miles
above Wyoming, in November, 1777, and carried to Niagara. It happened that, at the same time,
the Americans held captive at Albany a distinguished Indian warrior, for whom  Colonel John
Butler determined to exchange Mr. Jenkins.  For
this purpose he sent the latter to the American
lines, under a strong escort of Indians. But the
* One of the survivors of these melancholy scenes, Colonel Edward Inman, a man of wealth and character, yet, (1839,) resides in the valley, a
lew miles below Wilkesbarr6.




256         HISTORY' O't WYOMING,
party was short of provisions, and from the fatigues of the march, and other privations, Mr. Jenkins almost perished.  Nay, he came near being
murdered in one of the drunken carousals of the
Indians, and was only saved by the fidelity of
a young warrior, whom he had succeeded in
securing as his friend.  This faithful savage kept
himself perfectly sober, in order to the more effectual preservation of the life of his prisoner.
On the arrival of the party in the neighborhood
of Albany, it was ascertained that the chief for
whom Jenkins was to be exchanged, had died of
the small pox. The Indians, greatly incensed at
this loss of a favorite warrior, were resolved upon
taking Jenkins back with them into captivity, and
Jenkins himself believed it was their intention to
murder him as soon as they should have withdrawn beyond striking distance from Albany. His
release, however was ultimately negotiated, and
he made his way back to Wyoming, to the coimpany of his friends, and to the embrace of his
young wife, whom he had recently married.
During the latter years of the war, Lieutenant
Jenkins was in the habit of keeping a diary, or record of current events in the valley.  From this
diary a few extracts have been made, which show
how constantly the settlers were harrassed by the
subtle and ever-active enemy with whom they
were obliged to contend;a-.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         257
"' January Il1th, 1780. A party of men set out
to go through the swamp, (across the Pokono
range) on snow-shoes, the snow about three feet
deep.
"Feb. 2d.-Two soldiers went to Capowes,
and froze themselves badly.
"Feb. 7th.-Colonel Butler set out for NewEngland.
"March 27th.-Bennett and son, and Hammond taken and carried off —supposed to be done
by the Indians. The same day Upson was killed
and scalped near William Stewart's house, and
young Rogers taken.
"March 28th.-Several scouting parties sent
out but made no discoveries of the enemy.
" March 29th.-Esquire Franklin went to Huntington on a scout, and was attacked by the Indians, at or near his own house, and two of his party
murdered-Ransom and Parker.
"March 30th. —Mrs. Pike came in this day,
and informed that she and her husband were in
the woods making sugar, and were surrounded by
a party of about thirty Indians, who had several
prisoners with them, and two horses. They took
her husband and carried him aff with them, and
painted her and sent her in. They killed the
horses before they left the cabin where she was.
One of the prisoners told her that-the Indians had
killed three or four men at Fishing Creek.
24*




258          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
" Captain Spalding set out for Philadelphia this
morning, &c. This day the Indians took Jones,
Avery, and Lyon, at Cooper's.
" April 4th.-Pike, and two men from Fishing
Creek, and two boys that were taken by the Indians, made their escape by rising on their guard of
ten Indians - killed three- and the rest took to
the woods naked, and left the prisoners with
twelve guns and about thirty blankets, &c. These
the prisoners got safe to the fort.*
"May 17th. -  Sergeant Baldwin went to Lackawana, and found a man which ran away from
the Indians, and brought him  in.  He informed
that he was taken by a party of ten Indians and
one tory, near Fort Allen.t This day the people
were alarmed on both sides of the river.  William
Perry came in from Delaware in the evening, and
informed that about sunrise this morning he saw a
party of Indians near the Laurel Run, and several
parties between that and the fort, by reason of
which he was detained until that time in coming in.
"LMay  18th. —Several reconnoitring  parties
sent out, but made no discoveries except a few
tracks in the road near the mountain.
aR The true version of this exploit of Pike, will appear a few pages onward, in the story of Major Van Campen.
t Fort Allen was upon the Lehigh river, in the neighborhood of the Moravian settlements, fifty miles south, or southeast of Wyoming.




HISTORY OF WYOMINO.        259
"June 10th. -A party of our men brought in
three tories, which they took at Waysock's.
These set out from New-York with the intent to
travel through the country to Niagara -Bowman
and son, Hover and Philip Buck in Company, but
(the latter) made their escape when the others
were taken.
" July  lth. -Bowman, Hover, and Sergeant
Leaders, sent to head quarters in order for trial.
"c Monday, Sept. 4th. - Sergeant Baldwin and
Searle came in from a scout, and brought in a
horse and a quantity of plunder of different kinds,
which they took from a party of Indians near
Tunkhannock creek, on Saturday before.
" Thursday, Sept. 14th. - Lieutenant Myers,
from Fort Allen, came into the Fort, and said he
had made his escape from the Indians the night
before, and that he had been taken in the Scotch
Valley, and that he had thirty-three men with him,
which he commanded. He was surrounded by
the Indians, and thirteen of his men killed and
three taken. This day we heard that Fort Jenkins and Hervey's Mills were burnt.
"December 6th. — In the morning a party of
tories and Indians took some prisoners from Shawwanee - [west of the river, four miles below
Wilkesbarre.]  Did no other damage, except
taking a small quantity of plunder.
"'December 6th. - A party of our men sent




260         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
after them, and pursued them three days, and
gave out.
" Jan. 23d, 1781. — Captain Mitchell came to
Wyoming in order to release Colonel Butler.
"January 24th. - Captain Selin and myself
set out for Philadelphia."
Lieutenant Jenkins was an active officer during
the whole contest, and signalized himself in several brisk affairs with the Indians.  When General
Sullivan marched from Wyoming to lay waste the
Genesee country, he selected Lieutenant Jenkins
as his guide or conductor. He fought bravely in
the battle of Newtown, and after the close of the
war, was for many years a surveyor in the Susquehanna and Genesee countries.  He became an
influential citizen in Wyoming, and held various
important offices, — sometimes representing the
County of Luzerne in the Legislature of Pennsylvania. He was the leader of the democratic party
in that county, and died about the year 1828,greatly respected by all who knew him.
The widow of Lieutenant, or rather Colonel
Jenkins — for, like his father, he had long worn
the latter title before his death-Mrs. Berthia Jenkins, yet survives, at the age of eighty six.-For a
lady of her years, she is remarkably active, and her
mind and memory are still unclouded. It will be
borne in mind that on entering the valley, the first
halt of Colonel Butler and his Indian allies, was at




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         261
Fort Wintermoot, upon the west bank of the river
perhaps a mile above the battle field. Mrs. Jenkins, then just married, was in Fort Jenkins, at the
time of Butler's arrival, about a mile yet farther to
the north. The fidelity of the Wintermoots to the
cause of the revolution, had been questioned previous to the arrival of Colonel John Butler, and the
erection of their little fort had caused some remark,
inasmuch as Fort Jenkins was so near that this
additional stockade was hardly deemed necessary,
But on the arrival of the enemy, all disguise was
thrown off by the Wintermoots, and Colonel Butler
with his troops and Indians were received as friends,
-showing that there had been a perfect understanding between the parties, and that the suspected family had in fact been plotting the destruction
of their own neighbors. A detachment was immediately sent against Fort Jenkins, with a demand
for its surrender,-a demand which could not be
resisted, as there were only nine or ten persons in
the little defence, old and young. Mrs. Jenkins
of course became a prisoner. This was on the 2d
of July.  The battle was on the 3rd, and the
moment it was known that the Yankees were
marching up to the attack from Fort Forty, the
detachment which had taken Fort Jenkins was
recalled to the main body. Mrs. Jenkins follow-.
ed to the distance of half way between the forts,




262         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
and sat down upon a stump in the field, with an
anxious heart, to await the issue. She heard the
firing as it commenced and ran along the line
from right to left, until it became general.  She
also heard the war-whoops of the Indians. By
and bye the whoopings became more fierce, and
the firing broken. Then it was less frequent and
more distant, while the yells of the savages grew
more frightful, giving " signs of wo that all was
lost."  The next morning the prisoners from Fort
Jenkins were taken down to Wintermoot's. Among
them was a Mrs. Gardiner, whose husband had
been captured in the skirmish at Exeter two days
before. She was now permitted to go down to the
enemy, to take leave of him. Mrs. Jenkins, and
a Mrs. Baldwin, whose husband was in the battle,
with an old man, her father-in-law, carrying a flag,
were allowed to go in company with Mrs. Gardiner.
Mrs. Baldwin could obtain no tidings of her husband, and returned with a heavier heart than she
went. This visit enabled Mrs. Jenkins to take a
survey of the battle field; and her descriptions are
as vivid as they are shocking. She discovered
numbers amoncg the dead, of her late friends and
neighbors. In one place there was a circle of the
dead, lying as they had fallen, scalped and mangled. In another, were the smouldering embers
of a fire, around which were strowed the half-burnt
limbs of those who had been put to death by tor



HISTORY OF WYOMING.            263
ture.* By some means the liberation of Mrs.
Jenkins was effected, and she fled the valley with
other fugitives, returning thither eighteen months
afterward.  It is an interesting fact related by Mrs.
Jenkins, that the people of Wyoming were in part
dependent upon themselves for their own gunpowder, which the women rudely manufactured
by leeching the earth for the salt-petre, and then
compounding it with charcoal and sulphur as best
they could with such means as were at hand.
There was a brave family named Blackman,
residents of the valley, two of whom, then young
men, now far down the vale of years, are yet living,-farmers of wealth and character.  Their
father, being too old to go out upon the war-path,
remained within Fort Wyoming during the action,
performing his duty, however, as an officer of a
veteran corps previously instituted, called the Reformadoes.  Mr. Blackman's eldest son, Eleazer,
went into the battle, with a young man named
David Spofford, who, two months before, had been
married to his sister, —Lavina Blackman. The
two young men together with a brother of Spofford, named Phineas, fought side by side, until
David received his death-wound. Falling upon
~* Scarse could he footing find in that fowle way,
For many corses, like a great lay stall,
Which murdered men, which therein strowed lay
Without remorse, or decent funerall.
Spencer's Raerie Queene.




264         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
his brother's arm, he said, -" I am mortally hurt,
take care of Lavina!"  These were his last words.
Other members of the Blackman family did good
service during the war, in the valley and elsewhere.
Among the survivors of' the massacre, yet lingering in the valley, are Mr. Samuel Carey and
Mr. Baldwin.  The former was nineteen years
old at the time of the battle. He belonged to
Captain Bidlack's company, forming a part of
the left wing of the line, which was first out-flanked and thrown into confusion. In the flight that
ensued, he was accompanied by Zippera Hibbard,
his file-leader in the line.  Hibbard was also a
a young man, remarkable for the height and beauty of his form, as well as for his great strength
and superior agility.  In all the athletic sports
among the settlers he was a leader, and such were
his muscular powers, and his feats of running and
leaping, that had he lived to engage in the Olympic games of classsic Greece, he would doubtless
often have won the crown.
He had just been married at the time of the invasion, and tradition reports the parting scene
from his youthful bride to have been one of tender interest. Fear was a stranger to his breast;
but there were ties binding him to his home which
could not be severed without a severe struggle.
He knew, from  the superiority of the enemy's




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          265
force, that the battle would be fought upon unequal terms, and perhaps his mind was clouded
with a presentiment that he should not return
from the field he was preparing to enter. After
adjusting his arms, therefore, he yet for a moment
lingered —stepped  forward, and back again —
paused -and musingly hesitated. At length he
ran back to the embrace of his bride, imparted another kiss upon her pale and trembling
lips - but spoke not a word, as he tore himself
finally away. " The next hour," to quote the
words of Charles Miner, " there was not a soldier
that marched to the field with more cheerful alacrity."*
But alas! If he had entertained any gloomy
forebodings, they were but too fatally realized.
In their flight, Hibbard and Carey took to a field
of rye, tall, and ready for the sickle. The former
being in advance, broke the path for his junior
comrade; and in doing so, by the time they had
crossed the field, he became fatigued almost to
exhaustion. Their object was to escape to the
island already mentioned; but the Indians were
in hot pursuit, and Hibbard was overtaken just
as he had gained the sandy beach, and ere lie could
reach the stream. He turned to defend himself,
but in the same instant fell transfixed by the spear
of his dusky pursuer.
* Hazleton Travellers.
25




266         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Young Carey was more fortunate.  Having
been less fatigued in the rye field than his companion who had broken the way, he was enabled
to continue his flight farther down the river, before he attempted crossing to the island.  The
Indians, however, watching his movements, swam
the river above more rapidly than himself, and he
reached the island only to become their prisoner.
He was then compelled to recross the river by
swimming, and carried back to Fort Wintermoot.
This defence had been fired by the enemy themselves, and was yet in flames when Carey reached
it. The painfulness of the scene was increased
by the sight of the bodies of one or more of his
neighbors, which had been thrown upon the burning pile" By the smoke of their ashes to poison the gale:"
but whether they had been thus disposed before
or after death, he could not tell. He had been
stripped to his skin previous to leaving the island,
and was threatened with menacing strokes of the
scalping knife.
But his life was reserved for another destiny.
It appeared that his captor was Captain Roland
Montour, of whose mother an account has already
been given. After passing the night, bound to the
earth, he was accosted the next morning by Col.
John Butler himself, who reminded the stripling
of a threat he had made on the preceding day,




HISTORY OF WYOMING.        267
that "he would comb the Colonel's hair," which:hreat had been repeated to the Tory commander.
Montour then came and unbound him, and after
giving him some food, led him to a young Indian
warrior who was dying. A conversation ensued
between the captor and the dying warrior, which
Carey did not then understand. It afterward appeared that Montour was negotiating with the young
warrior for the adoption of Carey by the Indian's
parents, after the custom of those people, as a substitute for the son they were then losing. The
dying Indian assented to the arrangement, and the
life of the prisoner was saved. He was painted,
and received the name of him whose place he was
destined to take in the Indian family- -Co-con-eun-quo-of the Onondaga tribe.
On the retreat of the enemy, Carey was taken
into the Indian country with them, and handed
over to the family of which he had now become
a member. But though treated with kindness by
the Indians, he was too old to be broken into their
habits of life. He sighed for his liberty and the
associations of his own kindred and people. His
new parents saw that he was not likely to become
a contented child, and as consequently the place
of the one they had lost was not filled, they mourned their own son even as David mourned for Absalom.  Mr. Carey gives a touching account of
their sorrow.  Often did he hear them, as they




26S         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
awoke at day-break, setting up their pitiful cry
for their son. And as the sun sank to rest behind
the purple hills at evening, they would repeat the
same wailing lament.
He resided with this family in the Indian country more than two years, after which he was taken
to Niagara, where he remained until the end of
the war, and the surrender of the prisoners. It
was on the 29th of June, 17S4, that he once more
found himself in the bosom of the vale of Wyoming. He subsequently married Theresa Gore, a
daughter of Captain Daniel Gore, who was himself in the battle, and five of whose brothers and
brothers-in-law were slain, as the reader has already been informed. He has resided in the valley
ever since, and although the morning of his life
was stormy and sad, yet, surrounded by his sons
and daughters and their descendants, its evening
is tranquil and serene. There were two other Careys engaged in the action, Joseph and Samuel,
both of whom  fell.  But they were of another
family. The family of the Samuel Carey, of whom
some account has been given already, were from
the county of Dutchess in the State of New-York.
A brief history of another family of sufferers
will perhaps be interesting.  Among the early
settlers of the valley was a respectable man named
John Abbott, who, at the time of the invasion, had
a family consisting of a wife and nine children.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         269
As has already been stated, more than once, there
was but a single field-piece in the valley, which
was kept at the little fort of Wilkesbarre, to be
used as an alarm gun. On the approach of danger, it was announced from its brazen throat, and
the inhabitants obeyed the signal by rallying for
the common defence. When the news of the invasion by the Tories and Indians reached Wilkesbarr6, Abbott was at work with his oxen upon the
flats, whence he was summoned by the well-known
sound of alarm. Though as a husband, and the
parent of nine young children, the eldest of whom
was but eleven years old, all depending upon his
labor for support, he might well have been excused
from going into battle, yet he sought no exemption.  The danger was imminent, and with as
much alacrity as his neighbors he hastened to the
battle-field. In the retreat he succeeded, by the
aid of a comrade, for he could not swim, in crossing to Monockonock Island, and thence to the
main land on the east of tie river, and was thus
enabled to effect his- escape.
In the flight of the inhabitants, Mr. Abbott removed his family down the Susquehanna to Sunbury; but having left his property behind — his
flocks and herds -  he being an opulent farmer
for those days —and his fields waving with a rich
burden of grain, nearly ready for the harvest,. he
returned to look after the fruit, of his labors. This
Q5.S;,




270         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
measure was indeed necessary, for the product of
his farm was his only dependence for the support
of his family. But sad was the spectacle that
met his view on his return. His house and his
barn had been burnt, his cattle slaughtered or
driven away, and his fields ravaged. The gleanings only remained to require his attention.
These he attempted to gather, but in doing so,
while engaged in the field with a neighbor named
Isaac Williams, a young man, or rather youth of
eighteen years, of fine promise, they were shot by
a party of Indians who stole upon them unawares,
scalped, and left dead upon the spott*
The widow, with her helpless charge, being
now entirely destitute, was compelled to seek her
way back to Hampton, an eastern town in Connecticut, whence they had emigrated, a distance
of more than three hundred miles, on foot - pennyless, heart-broken, and dependent upon charity
for subsistence. But the journey was effected
without loss of life or limb; and the widowed
Naomi was not more kindly received by the people
of Bethlehem, on her return from the land of Moab,
than were Mrs. Abbot and her infant charge by
their former friends and neighbors. She remained
at Hampton several years after the troubles were
over, and until her sons were grown up. Return* This Mr. Abbot built the first house in the borough of Wilkesbarr6.




HISTORY OF WYOMIN6. -       271
ing then to the valley, and reclaiming successfully
the estate of her husband, she settled thereon with
her family, married a celebrated wit named Stephen Gardiner, and continued to live there until
her decease. Her son, Stephen Abbott, an independent and respectable farmer, still resides upon
the eastern margin of the Susquehanna, opposite
the site of Fort Forty.
The Williams family, to which Isaac, the young
man whose murder in connection with that of Mr.
Abbott has just been related, was distinguished for
its patriotism and bravery. The father was Thaddeus Williams, and ~his house stood not far from
Fort Wyoming, in the borough of Wilkesbarre.
He had a son, Thomas, who was a sergeant in the
regular service, and who, with short intermissions,
served with distinguished gallantry during the
greater part of the war. It was mentioned in the
preceding chapter, that in the month of March,
1779, while Captain Spalding was in command of
Fort Wyoming, a sudden irruption of tories and
Indians took place, by whom the fort was surrounded. Happily, however, a few discharges of the
only field-piece in the fortress put them to flight.
But the severest battle fought during this irruption
was between the Indians and Sergeant Thomas
Williams, who happened to be at home on furlough. His father, who had removed back to the
valley, with others, after the general desolation the




272         HISTORY OF WYOMiNG.
year before, was at this time indisposed, and in bed.
The only other male in the house, besides the sergeant, was a younger brother twelve or thirteen
years old. The position of Williams's house was
such, that the Indians determined to take and destroy it previous to their meditated attack upon
the garrison. There were three loaded muskets
in the house, and plenty of ammunition. Seeing
the Indians approaching his castle, the sergeant
made his dispositions for defence. He barricaded the doors, and getting his guns ready, gave
his little brother the necessary directions for loading them as often as he fired. He was a man of
too much coolness and experience to waste his ammunition. Waiting, therefore, until the Indians
had approached very near, Williams took deliberate aim between the logs of which the house was
constructed, and brought their leader dead to the
ground.  With a hideous yell his comrades retreated, dragging away the body. They advanced
again, and assaulted the door, which was too well
secured easily to yield. Their numbers were now
increased, and they in turn fired into the house,
through the interstices between the tocgs. By one
of these shots Mr. Williams, the father, was severely wounded in his bed; but the sergeant kept
up as brisk a fire as his little brother, who acted
his part manfully, could enable him to do, and a
second and a third of the savages fell. They




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         273
again retreated, taking away their slain, and raising their customary death howls. Maddened by
their loss, however, they again approached, one
of them bearing a flaming brand, with which they
were resolved to fire the house. But with deliberate aim the sergeant brought the incendiary to
the ground, whereupon the Indians seized his body
and drew off, without again returning to the assault. How many more than the four enumerated were slain by the brave sergeant was not
known, because the Indians always carry off their
dead. Beyond doubt, the lives of the whole family were saved by his intrepidity, and that of his
heroic little brother. The sergeant is yet living
in the valley, an opulent and respectable farmer.
Another family upon whom the blow fell with
great force and severity, was that of Mr. Jonathan Weeks. He resided upon a large farm, with
his sons and sons-in-law, about a mile below the
borough of Wilkesbarre.  He had living with
him, at the time of the alarm, his three sons, Philip, Jonathan, and Bartholemew;  Silas Benedict, a son-in-law; Jabel Beers, an uncle; Josiah
Carman, a cousin; and a boarder, named Robert
Bates. These seven men from a single household all seized their arms and hurried to the field.
And they all fell with their Captain, whose name
was M'Carrican, a man of letters and teacher of
the hamlet school. Two days after the battle, a




274         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
party of twenty Indians visited the house of Mr.
Weeks, and demanded breakfast. Having obtained their demand, they next informed Mr. Weeks
that he must quit the valley forthwith. The old
man remonstrated. "1 All my sons have fallen,"
said he with emotion; " and here am I left with
fourteen grand-children, all young and helpless."
But the dusky conquerors were inexorable: nevertheless, having gorged themselves with blood already, and having moreover satisfied their appetites for the morning, they did not wantonly apply
the tomahawk again. The leader of this party was
an Indian named Anthony Turkey, —a fellow who
had been well known to the settlers as one of the
former residents of the valley, when both races
lived together in friendship. The appearance of
Turkey among the invaders was a source of
surprise, because of his former friendship. But he
proved as thoroughly savage as the wildest of his
race; and notwithstanding his former acquaintance with Mr. Weeks, he would not allow the
bereft old man to remain upon his farm. Still,
in driving him away, the Indians so far tempered their decree with mercy as to allow him his
oxen and wagon, with which he took the sobbing women and their little ones back to the
county of Orange, (New-York,) whence they
had emigrated to Wyoming.  But the Indian
leader, Turkey, afterward met the fate he de



HISTORY OF WYOMING.         275
served, in this place. Returning with the party of tories and Indians who invaded the valley
a second time in March, 1779, as just related in
the case of the Williams family, he was shot
through the thigh in the engagement which took
placeon the flats, and before his people could
carry him away he was surrounded by the Wyoming boys who called.out to him-" Surren*der, Turkey, —we won't hurt you."  But he
refused, and resisted like a chafed tiger, until it
became necessary to make an end of him. Aftbr
the enemy were gone, the lads took the body of
Turkey, and set it up-right in a canoe, all painted
to their hands, and grinning horribly with the muscular contortions of death. They then placed a
bow and arrows in his hand, and sent him adrift,
amidst the cheers of men and boys. The canoe,
thus freighted, created some sensation as it passed
below) and was the cause of several amusing incidents. In one case a man put off in a canoe to
take the straggler; but catching a glimpse of the
ferocious countenance of the Indian, and fancying that he was drawing his bow to let fly a poisoned arrow, he paddled back to the shore with all
convenient expedition,
Yet another case will be briefly related. It is
that of a Mr. Skinner, whose baptismal name has
not been preserved. Mrs. Esther Skinner died in
Torringford, Connecticut, in the year 1831, aged




276         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
one hundred years. She had been one of the
earliest white residents of Wyoming. In the massacre she lost her husband, two sons, and a brother, all of whom fell beneath the tomahawk,she herself escaping, with six of her children, as
it were by a miracle. Her son-in-law was almost
the only man of twenty who threw themselves into
the river, and attempted to hide themselves beneath
the foliage depending from the banks into the water, that escaped. All the others were successively massacred while sustaining themselves in the
water by the branches of the trees that dipped into
it. He alone was undiscovered. The lone mother
travelled back to Torringford, where she led a
useful life to its close. She was sometimes cheerful, though a cloud of heaviness, brought on by
her sorrows, was never entirely dissipated.
Among the names most intimately connected
with the history of Wyoming during the period
under review, is that of Moses Van Campen. Major Van Campen, —for such was his legitimate
title in the service before the close of the contest,
— first served as a private in the year 1777, upon
Grand Island, situated in the west branch of the
Susquehanna. In the following year he was commissioned a lieutenant, and stationed in the valley
of the Susquehanna, between Northumberland
and Wyoming, where he erected a small fort for
the protection of the scattered settlers of the neigh



HISTORY OF WYOMING.         277
borhood, the inhabitants of which in seasons of
alarm took refuge within its walls. Before his little
defence had been completed, it was gallantly and
succes fully defended against two successive attacks by strong bodies of Indians, whose tomahawks were nevertheless bathed in the blood of
several families upon that section of the border.
Wlhen, in the year 1779, General Sullivan ascended the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers in
his march into the Indian country to avenge the
butcheries of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, lieutenant Van Campen was advanced to the post of
quarter-master; but being a man of approved
courage and activity, well skilled in the subtleties
of Indian warfare, his duties were by no means
confined to the commissariat.  Previous to the
battle of Newtown, ins which the Indians under
Brant, and the American loyalists of Sir John Johnson and Colonel John Butler were signally defeated
by the united forces of Sullivan and Clinton, Major Van Campen was sent forward, under the
disguise of an Indian warrior, -dressed, painted,
and plumed, - to ascertain the numbers and condition of the enemy, — a task which he executed
with complete success. Passing their out-posts in
the night, he entered their camp, visited their fires,
and computed,with sufficient accuracy, the number
of the warriors slumbering around them. In the
attack upon a division of the enemy, preceding the
26




278         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
main battle, by the brigade of General Hand, Major Van Campen was in the advance, contributing
actively to the success of that brilliant affair.*
At the close of Sullivan's campaign, a severe attack of bilious fever compelled Major Van Campen
to retire from the service, and return to the residence of his father, in the vicinity of his former
station below Wyoming, upon the Susquehanna.
The savages had been so effectually subdued by
the operations of Sullivan, that apprehensions of
farther outrages upon the border were measurably
allayed, and the scattered inhabitants were preparing to resume their field labors in the spring of
the following year with comparative unconcern.
Toward the close of March, Major Van Campen
left the fort with his father and a brother, to work
upon the farm, accompanied also by an uncle and
his son, a lad of twelve years of age, and a man
named Peter Pence-the uncle having a farm to
attend in the same vicinity.
Suddenly, on the 30th of March, while in the
field, the Major and his father were attacked by a
party of ten Indians, who stole so warily upon
them that flight was impossible. The uncle had
already been killed upon his own plantation; the
lad and Pence being now in company, bound pris* For the fullest and best historical narrative of Sullivan's memorable
expedition into the Indian country, see the author's Life of Joseph BrantThayendanegea, Vol. II.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         279
oners. The Major's father was thrust through the
lungs with a spear in the first onset, and his throat
instantly cut. The lad, his brother, was likewise
struck down with a tomahawk, scalped, and his
body cast into a fire blazing near by. As the
warrior who had slain the elder Van Campen drew
the spear from his body, he made a lunge at the
Major, already engaged apparently in a death
struggle with another Indian; but not poising his
weapon with skill, a slight flesh wound only was
inflicted, while the barb became entangled in the
clothes of the intended victim. Sated, for the
time, with blood, after a brief struggle the savages contented themselves with making the Major
a prisoner, and with his youthful cousin, and the
man Pence, he was marched away in the direction
of the Six Nations' country. In descending the
valley of the Susquehanna the Indians had skirted
the Wyoming settlements and committed some
aggressions.  In returning, on the same afternoon, they fell in with a party of four men engaged
in making maple-sugar, upon whom they fired —
wounding one man, Captain Ransom, who, however, escaped with the others. Encamping at
night, after building their fires the prisoners were
bound and well secured, the Indians sleeping five
upon either side of them. On the second day of
their march, while yet in the Wyoming region, they
found one Abraham Pike, with his wife and child.




280         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Placing the mark of prisoners upon the latter two
they were suffered to "go"; but Pike was taken
away, and at night they were all bound and guarded as before. Reflecting that they hadl probably
been spared by their captors to grace a warfeast on returning to their villages, in the course
of which they would be put to death by torture,
Van Campen began now to meditate an escapea feat, he was well aware, only to be achieved by
putting the Indians to death. The daring suggestion was cautiously imparted to his fellow prisoners on the third day of their captivity; but it was
not until the fourth that a reluctant assent was obtained from his associates, Pence and Pike —the
lad being too young for a combatant. The sleep
of the Indians, it is well known, is very deep and
heavy; and Van Campen's proposal was that on the
next night, after waiting until their grim guardians
were in a profound slumber, they should contrive
to extricate themselves in some way from the
cords with which they were bound, and in the
next place cautiously disarm the Indians. This
effected, Van Campen intended that himself,
Pence, and Pike, armed with tomahawks, should
cach, by as many blows, dispatch three of the
sleepers before any of them should have time to
to arouse for resistance. Nine of them being thus
disposed of and the tenth unarmed, the three
could have nothing serious to apprehend from him.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         281
But although the project was obviously well
conceived, neither Pence nor Pike would agree to
the details beyond the disarming.  That object
attained, they proposed that one of their number
should be stationed with the fire-arms of the Indians,
to be removed a few paces from the camp, which
should be used with the best possible effect, while
the other two were to attack with tomahawks, and
ply them as briskly and fatally as possible during
the confiusion which would ensue on the first discharge of a musket. In this hazardous deviation
from his plan Van Campen was obliged to acquiesce; and the duty of firing the muskets, from a
point of comparative safety, was assigned to Pence.
Encamping as usual at dark, the Indians were
remarkably diligent and attentive in providing an
abunda-nce of fuel for the night; and a roaring fire
having been built, they all lay down to sleep-the
prisoners being carefully bound as before. Providence, however, favored the design of escape, for
one of the Indians, while adjusting himself for the
night, dropped his knife, without perceiving it, close
by Van Campen's feet. Of course the latter failed
not to avail himself of this important weapon; and
at midnight, perceiving that the warriors were all
in a profound slumber, the Major arose, and with
the knife quietly severed the cords upon his own
limbs and those of his fellow prisoners. He was
himself to strike the three Indians upon the right
26*




282         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
wing, and Pike the two upon the left, while Pence
should do such execution as he could with the guns.
Just as they were about to strike, the two warriors
allotted to Pike awoke; whereupon, like a coward,
as he proved to be, he again lay down in his place,
as though all was well. Not so Van Campen, who
saw that in an instant more all would be lost.
Quick as lightning, therefore, he darted upon the
two awaking savages, and planting his tomahawk
deep into their heads, left them quivering in death.
Three more blows, equally well directed, with the
rapidity of thought, ended the lives of the three as
allotted to him at the first. Pence fired at the same
instant, with wonderful judgment and accuracy
-killing four of the remaining five. One only
was left -a stalwart savage named Mohawk, who
sprang to his feet with the discharge of the guns,
and uttering the war-whoop, darted to take possession of them. Van Campen sprang after him
to defeat his purpose, aiming a blow at his head
with a tomahawk, but missing, struck him in the
shoulder, or rather in the back of his neck. The
Indian pitched forward and fell — and Van Campen's foot slipping at the same instant, he also fell
by his side.  They clenched, and a struggle of
several moments ensued, during which the Major
endeavored to dispatch him with his own knife.
Mohawk, however, succeeded in disengaging himself, and springing to his feet, plunged into the




HISTORY OF WYOMING.
woods and fled.  The transaction was one of surprizing bravery, - of darkness and of blood. Yet
it was not unrelieved by an incident, or rather sideact, of a ludicrous character; for while Van Campen
and Mohawk lay struggling, grasped in each other's
arms upon the ground as in the hug of death, Pike
was attempting to pray, and Pence stood swearing
at him  for his cowardice.
The victory, however, was complete. Nine of
the ten warriors lay before them dead; and it
only remained for the victors to secure the spoils,
and wend their way back to Wyoming before Mohawk should be able to' return upon them with reinforcements. Having secured the arms, blankets,
and supplies of the dead, taken their scalps, and
recovered  also those of his father, his uncle, and
his brother, Van Campen caused a rude raft to be
constructed-for the brave action I have recorded
occurred upon the bank  of the Susquehanna not
far from Tioga,-upon which he embarked with
his little party, and in due season they all reached
their homes in safety.  On their passage, however, they had several alarms, Pike, in every instance,
sustaining his character as an arrant coward.*
* And yet this man, Pike, who deceased only a few years ago, lived
and died, in the popular estimation, a hero, or rather the hero of the transaction recorded in the text. 1 have now before me a manuscript narrative, written from the personal relation of Pike, in 1819, by the Rev. Dr.
TPeck, then of Wyoming, but now. of New-York, in which he makes
himself the planner and the hero, of the whole affair. But such was not
the fact. The account given in the text I have written with the narrative




284             HISTORY  OF WYOMING.
The Indian, Mohawk, recovered from his wound,
and in process of time, by the removal of Van
Campen into the neighborhood of his village, they
became acquainted. The effect of the wound
was such as to contract, or perhaps to destroy,
some of the muscles of Mohawk's neck, by reason of which he could never carry his head erect
afterward. Ile was for a time shy of seeing Major Van Campen; but finding that the latter cherished no hostility toward him, he subsequently became his frequent visiter.
Among the residents of Wyoming who long survived the scenes that have been faintly sketched,
was Mrs. Phebe Young, a lady eminent for her
piety and worth, who died in August, 1839, at the
advanced age of ninety years. She retained her
faculties of mind and memory until her decease,
and as her temperament was cheerful, and her colloquial powers pleasing, her society  was courted
until she was summoned to depart fiom  the bright
spot which for so long a period in her youth she
had known literally as a vale of tears. Mrs.
Young was a native of the ancient Dutch town of
of Major Van Campen before me. hle yet (1844) lives in the western section of New York, a citizen, venerable for his years, and of great respectability. His veracity is not to be questioned; while the character of
Pike, through life, was not only questionable, but sometimes bad. I-He
was shrewd, but faithless. It is said of him that he often comrnlitted petty
larcenies; but when called to an account for them pleaded his soldiership, his sufferings, and his exploits, and the inhabitants were induced
by his appeals to shut their eyes to his offences.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          S2S5
_/Esopus, in the state of New-York, whence she
emigrated to Wyoming at the age of twenty, in
the year 1769. There were in Wyoming, at that
period, only five white females, including herself.
The Indians were then in the quiet possession of
the circumjacent country, excepting the sections
that had been entered upon by the whites; and
the relations of Mrs. Young and her friends with
them, were of the most friendly character. Having taken up her residence there thus early, Mrs.
Young was of course a participator in all the hardships and deprivations incident to the commencement of a settlement in the woods at a distance
so remote from the abodes of civilization.  She
was also a spectator of, and consequently a sufferer in, the bitter civil feuds which for so many years
distracted the valley. On the day of the battle
and massacre, while the men were preparing themselves for the contest, and making such hasty dispositions as they could for the security of their
families, she, and her children, were furnished by
her husband with a canoe, and advised to hasten
from the valley down the Susquehanna at once;
but she was unwilling to depart until she could
learn the result of the impending contest.  She
therefore took refuge, with her children, in a small
house near the river, at the distance of several
miles below the battle ground. A portion of the
family of Colonel Dennison were with her. As




~286        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
the evening of the fatal day approached, she lulled her children to sleep, and with her friends
watched, with a solicitude that cannot be described, until midnight. Then was heard the approaching tramp of horses at full speed. They hastened
to the door to receive them, and the tidings were,
"all is lost, and the Indians are sweeping down
the valley!" Gathering her children from the floor
upon which they were dreaming in happy unconsciousness of what had passed, she placed them
in a canoe, and launched forth upon the river, to
be wafted by its current whither it might. The
moon shone sweetly upon the water, and in passing her own house, all was quiet, and the cow
stood ruminating by the door. She kept in her
canoe, borne rapidly along by the stream, until she
arrived in Lancaster county, where resided the
friends of her husband, among whom she remained until after the campaign of General Sullivan
against the Indian country in 1779. Her return
was to a valley of desolation-every person she
met was a mourner-the relics of " a people scattered and peeled."  Mrs. Young never afterward
left Wyoming: nor for many years previous to
her decease had she moved beyond the limits of
the borough of Wilkesbarr6, except on the interesting occasion, three or four years ago, when
the common grave of those who fell in the massacre was opened " for the purpose of founding a




HISTORY OF WYOMING.           287
monument to their memory.  All the survivors of
the times of Indian troubles were assembled, and
Mrs. Young was sent for as one of them. The
spectators of what took place on that occasion
can never forget it. The bones of slaughtered
brothers and fathers, marlked with the tomahawk
and the scalping-knife and the rifle, were opened
to view; and as the vast assembly marched around
the grave, the old, who had shared in the sorrows
of the first settlers of the valley, wept at the recollection of what they had known, and the young
wept in sympathy because they had heard from
their fathers' lips the unhappy story of their native valley.  Mrs. Young could share largely in
the feelings of that occasion, for many of those
whose bones were there collected she had personally known as neighbors; but she did not seek to
be present.  It was only the urgent solicitations
of a respected neighbor, who was himself a survivor of the' Indian troubles,' and the remnant of
a family cut off in tl;e massacre, that prevailed
and induced her to go.  She never left the town
again."'   For sixty years Mrs. Yroung never looked upon the world beyond the narrow barriers of
Wyoming.
* Tribute to the memory of Mrs. Young, by the Rev. Mr. M.ay, her pas
tor, published in the London Episcopal IRecorder.




CHAPTER VIII.
The Slocum faniily,-Two of them in the battle of Wyoming,-Perilous
Escape of Giles Slocum,-Murder of the elder Slocum and his father-inlaw,-Story of the Lost Sister, —er captivity,-Long-continued effobrts
for her discovery,-Disappointments —Found sixty years afterward by
Colonel Ewing,-e orrespondence,-Visit of the surviving brothers and
sister to the Miami country,-The recognition,-Narrative of thelost
one,-Refuses to return with her relations, —The visit repeated.
THE Slocum family of Wyoming were distinguished for their sufferings during the war of the
revolution, and have been recently brought more
conspicuously  before  the  public  in  connection
with the life of a long lost but recently discovered
sister. The story of the family opens with tragedy, and ends in romance without fiction.
Mr. Jonathan Slocum, the father of the subject
of the present narrative, was a non-combatant,being a member of the society of Friends. Not
so, however, all the members of his family.  His
eldest son, Giles, was in the battle, as also was his
brother-in-law, named Hugh  Forsman.  The junior escaped to Monockonock  island, and though
hotly pursued, succeeded in burying himself in the
sand and bushes so as to elude discovery until
the following day, when he made good his retreat




HISTORY OF WYOMING.          289
to Fort Forty.  While lying thus in concealment,
his pursuers fell upon another fugitive whom they
slew, notwithstanding, his entreaties for mercy.
Forsman was a subaltern in Captain Hewett's
company, and was one of the fifteen of that corps
who escaped the slaughter, and the only man of
them who brought in his gun.* Yet the father,
feeling himself safe in his pacific principles from
the hostility even of the savages, did not join
the survivors of the massacre in their flight, but
remained quietly upon his farm,-his house standIng in close proximity to the village of Wilkesbarre. But his faith had little weight with the
Indians, notwithstanding the affection with which
their race had been treated by the founder of
Quakerism in Pennsylvania,-the illustrious Penn,
-and long had the family cause to mourn their
imprudence in not retreating from the doomed
valley with their neighbors.
It was in the autumn of the same year of the
invasion by Butler and Gi-en-gvwah-toh, at midday, when the men were laboring in a distant
field, that the house of Mr. Slocum was suddenly
surrounded by a party of Delawares, prowling
about the valley, in more earnest search, as it
seemed, of plunder than of scalps or prisoners.The inmates of the house, at the moment of the
- Wyoming Memorial to Congress.
27




290         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
surprise, were Mrs. Slocum and four young children, the eldest of whom was a son aged thirteen,
the second a daughter, aged nine, the third, Frances Slocum, aged five, and a little son aged two
years and a half. Near by the house, engaged
in grinding a knife, was a youth named Kingsley,
assisted in the operation by a lad. The first hostile act of the Indians was to shoot down Kingsley, and take his scalp with the knife he had been
sharpening. Kingsley, the father of the youth
thus murdered, had been previously taken prisoner by the Indians, and was then in captivity,Mrs. K. and her child having found a temporary
home in the family of the Quaker.*
The girl nine years old appears to have had
the most presence of mind, for while the mother
ran into the edge of a copse of wood near by, and
Frances attempted to secrete herself behind a
stair-case, the former at the moment seized her
little brother, the youngest above mentioned, and
ran off in the direction of the fort. True, she
could not make rapid progress, for she clung to
the child, and not even the pursuit of the savages
could induce her to drop her charge. The Indians did not pursue her far, and laughed heartily at the panic of the little girl, while they could
not but admire her resolution. Allowing her to
make her escape, they returned to the house, and
* Wyoming Memorial to Coingrw.s,




HISTORY Oh' WYOMING.         291
after helping themselves to such articles as they
chose, prepared to depart.
The mother seems to have been unobserved by
them, although, with a yearning bosom, she had
so disposed of herself that while she was screened
from observation she could notice all that occurred. But judge of her feelings at the moment when
they were about to depart, as she saw little Frances
taken from  her hiding place, and preparations
made to carry her away into captivity, with her
brother, already mentioned as being thirteen years
old, (who, by the way, had been restrained from
attempted flight by lameness in one of his feet,)
and also the lad who a few moments before was
assisting Kingsley at the grindstone.  The sight
was too much for maternal tenderness to endure.
Rgshing from ther place of concealment, therefore,
she threw herself upon her knees at the feet of
her captors, and with the most earnest entreaties
pleaded for their restoration.  But their bosoms
were made of sterner stuff than to yield even to
the most eloquent and affectionate of a mother's
entreaties, and with characteristic stoicism they
began to remove. As a last resort the mother appealed to their selfishness, and pointing to the
maimed foot of her crippled son, urged as a reason
why at least they should relinquish him, the delays and embarrassments he would occasion them
in their journey. Being unable to walk, they




29            I HSTO'O.RY 0O' WYOMIING.
would of course be compelled to carry hilym the
whole distance, or leave him by the way, or take
his life.  Although insensible to the feelings of
humanity, these  considerations had the desired
effect.  The lad was left behind, while deaf alike
to the cries of the mother, and the shrieks of the
child, Frances was slung over the shoulder of a
stalwart Indian  with as much  indifference  as
though she were a slaughtered fawn.
The long, lingering look which the mother gave
to her child, as her captors disappeared in the forest, was the last glimpse of her sweet features that
she ever had.  But the vision was for many a long
year ever present to her fancy.  As the Indian
threw her child over his shoulder, her hair fell over
her face, and tile mother could never forgett how
the tears streamed down her cheeks, when she
brushed it away as if to catch a last sad look of the
mother, fiom whom, her little arms outstretched,
she implored assistance in vain.  Nor was this the
last visit of the savages to the domicil of Mr. Slocum. In the month of December following, no
Indians having been recently seen in the neigborhood, Jonathan Slocumrn, with his son William, and
Mr. Isaac Tripp, an old man, father of Mrs. Slocumn, ventured forth to feed their cattle unattended
by a guard.  But a horde of savages who had stolen down unobserved from the mountains, were
lurking in the neighborhood of the fold, fronm




HISTORY OF WYOMING.             293
whom, on descrying them, the little party, with a
single exception, attempted in vain to escape.
Mr. Tripp, the elder of the three, on being first
overtaken, fell, nine times pierced through the body
with a spear. A musket ball brought the elder
Slocum dead to the ground, and both were scalped
and otherwise mangled, while William, with a leg
wounded by a spent ball, succeeded in gaining the
fort.* That ball he carried in his flesh to the grave,
more than half a century afterward.
These events cast a shadow over the remaining
years of Mrs. Slocum. She lived to see many
bright and sunny days in that beautiful valley -
bright and sunny, alas! to her no longer.  She
mourned for the lost one, of whom no tidings, at
least during her pilgrimage, could be obtained. -
After her sons grew up, the youngest of whom, by
the way, was born but a few months subsequent
to the events already narrated, obedient to the
charge of their mother, the most unwearied efforts
were made to ascertain what had been the fate of
the lost sister. The forests between the Susquehanna and the great lakes, and even the more distant
wilds of Canada, were traversed by the brothers
in vain, nor could any information respecting her
be derived from the Indians.t  Once, indeed, du?
* Wyoming M3emorial to Congress.,
t In the Narrative of C'olonel Thomnas-Proctor, a. Commissioner deputed
by Gen. Knox, then S-ecretary of War, uLpon a mission to the Northwestern
Indians, in 1791, under date of March 28th, is this entry:- I was joined
2'7*




294            HISTORY OF WYOMING.
ring an excursion of one of the brothers into the
vast wilds of the west, a white woman, long a
captive, came to him in the hope of finding a brother; but after many anxious efforts to discover
evidences of relationship, the failure was as decisive as it was mutually sad. There was yet another
kindred occurrence, still more painful.   One of
the many hapless female captives in the Indian
country, becoming acquainted with the inquiries
prosecuting by the Slocum family, presented herself
to Mrs. Slocum, trusting that in her she might find
her own long lost mother.   Mrs. Slocum   was
touched by her appearance, and fain would have
claimed her if she could.  She led the stranger
about the house and yards, to see if there were
any recollections by which she could be identified
as her own lost one.  But there was nothing written upon the pages of memory to warrant the desired
conclusion; and the hapless captive returned in bitter disappointment to her forest home.* In process
of time these efforts were all relinquished as hopeless. The lost one might have fallen beneath the
tomahawk, or might have proved too tender a
flower for transplantation into the wilderness. -
by Mr. George Slocum, who followed us from Wyoming, to place himself
under our protection and assistance, until he should reach the Cornplanter's settlement, on the head waters of the Alleghany, for the redeeming of
his sister fiom an unpleasing captivity of twelve years, to which end he
begged our immediate interposition."- Vide Indian State Papers.
* Story cf the Lost Sister, written for children, from authentic materials,
by the 1ev. J. Todd.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         295
Conjecture was baffled, and the mother, with a sad
heart, sank into the grave, as also did the father,
believing with the Hebrew patriarch that "the
child was not."
The years of a generation passed, and the memory of little Frances was forgotten, save by two
brothers and a sister, who, though advanced in
the vale of life, could not forget the family tradition of the lost one. Indeed it had been the dying charge of their mother that they must never
relinquish their exertions to discover Frances. A
change now comes over the spirit of the story. It
happened that in the course of the year 1835,
Colonel Ewing, a gentleman connected with the
Indian trade, and also with the public service of
the country, in traversing a remote section of Indiana, was overtaken by the night, while at a
distance from the abodes of civilized man.  When
it became too dark for him to pursue his way, he
sought an Indian habitation, and was so fortunate
as to find shelter and a welcome in one of the
better sort. The proprietor of the lodge was indeed opulent for an Indian, — possessing horses
and skins, and other comforts in abundance. He
was struck in the course of the evening by the
appearance of the venerable mistress of the lodge,
whose complexion was lighter than that of her
family, and as glimpses were occasionally disclosed
of her skin beneath her blanket-robe, the Colonel




296         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
was impressed with the opinion that she was a
white woman. Colonel Ewing could converse in
the Miami language, to which nation his host belonged, and after partaking of the best of their
cheer, he drew the aged squaw into a conversation,
which soon confirmed his suspicions that she was
only an Indian by adoption. Indeed she frankly
confessed the fact, and proceeded to give her guest
a rapid sketch of her life, - a narrative of absorbing interest which made a deep impression upon
his mind.
In the course of her statement she mentioned
that her family name was Slocum, and that she
had been stolen from somewhere in the valley of
the Susquehanna. But of circumstances calculated to throw more light upon her early history, or
designating the particular section of the Susquehanna country whence she had been torn, she
could remember no more. Still, for many months
afterward the family at Wyoming were ignorant
of the discovery, nor did Colonel Ewing know
any thing of them. And it was only by reason of
a peculiarly providential circumstance that the tidings ever reached their ears. On Colonel Ewing's return to his own home, he related the adventure to his mother, who, with the just feelings
of a woman, urged him to take some measure to
make the discovery known, and at her solicitation
he was induced to write the following narrative of




HISTORY OF WYOIIING.         29 7
the case, which he addressed to the deputy postmaster at Lancaster, with a request that it might
be published in some Pennsylvania newspaper:"Logansport, Indiana, Jan. 20, 1835.
"DEAR SIR-In the hope that some good may
result from it, I have taken this means of giving
to your fellow-citizens, those who are descendants
of the early settlers of the Susquehanna, the following information  and if there be any now living,
whose name is SLocUM, to them, I hope the following' may be communicated, through the public
prints of your place.'There is now living near this place, amlong
the Miami tribe of Indians, an agoed white woman, who a few days ago told me, whilst I lodged
in tile camp with her one night, that she was taken
away from her father's house, on or near the Susquehanna river, when she was very young-say
from five to eight years old, as shie thinks, by the
Delaware Indians, who were theii hostile toward
the whites.  She says her father's nanme was SLOcuM, that he was a Quaker, rather small in stature,
and wore a large brimmed hat —was of sandy hair
and light complexion, and much freckled-that lihe
lived about half a mile from a town where there
was a fort-that they lived in a wooden house of
two stories high, and had a spring near the house..
She says three Delawares came to the house, in




298         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
the day time, when all were absent but herself,
and perhaps two smaller children; her father and
brothers were absent making hay. The Indians
-carried her off, and she was adopted into a family of Delawares, who raised her and treated her
as their own child. They died about forty years
ago, somewhere in Ohio. She was then married
to a Miami, by whom she had four children; two
of them are now living-they are both daughters
and she lives with them.  Her husband is deadshe is old and feeble, and thinks she will not live
long.
"'These considerations induced her to give the
present history of herself, which she never would
do before-fearing that her kindred would come
and force her away. She has lived long and happily as an Indian-and but for her color, would
not be suspected of being any thing else than
such. She is very respectable and wealthy-sober
and honest. Her name is without reproach. She
says her father had a large family, say eight children in all-six older than herself; one younger,
as well as she can recollect; and she doubts not,
there are yet living many of their descendants,
but seems to think that all of her brothers and sisters must be dead, as she is very old herself-not
far from the age of eighty. She thinks she was
taken prisoner before the two last wars, which
must mean the Revolutionary war, as Wayne's




HISTORY OF WYOMING.'99
war and-the late war have been since that one.
She has entirely lost hler mother tongue, and speaks
only in Indian, which I also understand, and she
gave me a full history of herself.
"Her own christian name she has forgotten,
but says her father's name was SLOCUM, and he
was a Quaker.  She also recollects that it was
upon the Susquehanna river that they lived-but
don't recollect the name of the town near which
they lived. I have thought that from  this letter
you might cause something to be inserted in the
newspapers of your county, that might possibly
catch the eye of some of the descendants of the
Slocum family, who have knowledge of a girl
having been carried off by the Indians some seventy years ago. This they might know from fami-!y tradition. If so, and they will come here, I
will carry them where they may see the object of
my letter, alive and happy, though old and far advanced in life.
"'  can form no idea whereabout upon the Susquehanna river this family could have lived at
that early period, namely about the time of the
Revolutionary war-hbut perhaps you can ascertain more about it. If so, I hope you will interest yourself, and if possible, let her brothers and
sisters, if any be alive, if not, their children, know
where they may once more see a relative, whose
fate has been wrapped in mystery for seventy




300         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
years, and for whom  her bereaved and afflicted
parents doubtless shed many a bitter tear. They
have long since found their graves, though their
lost child they never found. I have been much
affected with the disclosure, and hope the surviving friends may obtain, through your goodness, the
information I desire for them. If I can be of any
service to them, they may command me. In the
mean time, I hope you will excuse me for the freedom I have taken with you-a total stranger, and
believe 1e to be, Sir, with much respect,
Y' our obedient servant,'" GEo. W. EWING."
The functionary to whom the narrative was ad-n
dressed, however, having no knowledge of the
vriter, ana supposingc that it might be a hoax,
paid no attention to it, and the letter was suffered
to remain among the worthless accumulations of
the office for the space of two years. It chanced
then, that the post-master's wife, in rummaging
over the old papers while putting the office in
order one day, glanced her eyes upon this communication. The story excited her interest, as well
it might, and with true maternal feeling, and the
active spirit of woman, she resolved to give the
document publicity, and sent it to a neighboring
journalist for that purpose. And here, again, another providential circumstance intervened.  It
happened that a Temperance Committee had en



HISTOIRY OF WYOMING.         301
gaged a portion of the columns of the paper to
which the letter of Colonel Ewing was sent, for the
publication of an important document connected
with that cause, anrd a large extra number of papers had been ordered for general distribution.
The letter was sent forth with the temperance docurent, and it yet again happened that a copy of
this paper was addressed to a clergyman who had
a brother residing in Wyoming,. Having, from that
brother, heard the story of the captivity of Frances
Slocurnm, he had no sooner read the letter of Colonel Ewing, than he enclosed it to him, and by
him it was placed in the hands of Joseph Slocum,
Esq., the surviving brother.
Any attempt to describe the sensations produced by this most welcome, most strange, and most
unexpected intelligence, would necessarily be a
failure. This Mr. Joseph Slocum was the child,
two years and a half old, that had been rescued
by his intrepid sister, nine years old. That sister
also survived, as did the younger brother, living
in Ohio.  Arrangements were immediately made
by the former two, to meet the latter in Ohio, and
proceed thence to the Miami country, and reclaim
the long lost and now found sister. " I shall know
her if she be my sister," said the elder sister now
going in pursuit, " although she nmay be painted
and jewelled off, and dressed in her Indian blanket, for you, brother, hammered off her finger nail
28




3052        HISTORY OF WYOMING,
one day in the blacksmith's shop, when she was
four years old." While these arrangements were
afoot, however, it was judged wise to open a direct correspondence with Colonel Ewing, in order
to a more intelligent undertaking of the journey.
To this end the following letter was addressed to
that gentleman, by Jonathan J. Slocum, Esq., of
the Wilkesbarre bar, a son of Joseph, and nephew of " the lost sister."
Wilkes Barre, Penn., Aug. 8, 1837.
"George W. Ewing, Esq.
"DEAR SIpn,-At the suggestion of my father
and other relations I have taken the liberty to
write to you, although an entire stranger.
"We have received but a few days since. a letter written by you to a gentleman in Lancaster
of this state, upon a subject of deep and intense
interest to our family. How the matter should
have lain so long wrapped in obscurity we cannot
conceive. An aunt of mine-sister of my father
-was taken away when five years old by the Indians, and since then we have only had vague and
indistinct rumors upon the subject. Your letter
we deem to have entirely revealed the whole matter, and set every thing at rest. The description
is so perfect, and the incidents (with the exception
of her age,) so correct that we feel confident.
"Steps will be taken immediately to investigate




HISTORY OF WYOMING           303
the matter, and we will endeavor to do all in our
power to restore a lost relative, who has been
sixty years in Indian bondage.
" Your friend and obedient servant,
"JON. J. SLOCUM."
As the reply of Colonel Ewing forms a part of
this remarkable history, it is here subjoined:"Logansport, Indiana, XAug. 26, 1837.
Jon. J. Slocum, Esq. Wilkes Barre.
"' DEAR SIR —I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 8th inst., and
in answer, can add, that the female I spoke of in
Jan. 1835, is still alive; nor can I for a moment
doubt but that she is the identical relative that has
been so long lost to your family.
" I feel much gratified to think, that I have
been thus instrumental in disclosing to yourself
and friends, such facts in relation to her as will
enable you to visit her and satisfy yourselves more
fully. She recovered from the temporary illness
by which she was afflicted about the time I spent
the night with her in Jan. 18.25, and which was,
no doubt, the cause that induced her to speak so
freely of her early captivity.
"Although she is now, by long habit, an Indian, and her manners and customs precisely like
theirs, yet she will doubtless be happy to see any




304          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
of you; and I myself will take great pleasure in
accompanying you to the house.  Should you
come out for that purpose, I advise you to repair
directly to this place; and should it so happen that
I should be absent, at the time, you will find others who, can take you to her.  Bring with you this
letter, —show it to Jaines T. Miller, of Peru, (nmd.)
a small town not far from this place.  He knows
her well.  He is a young man whom  we have
raised.  He speaks the Miami tongue and Awill accompany you, if I should not be at home.  Inquire for the old white woman, mother-in-law to
Brouriette,  living on the Missisinewaw  River,
about ten miles above its mouth.  There you will
find the long lost sister of your Father, and as I
before stated you wll not have to blush on her
account. She is highly respectable, and her name,
as an indian, is without reproach.  11Her dauh1ter,
too, and her son-in-law, Brouriette, who is also a
half-blood, being part French, are both very respectable and interesting people-none in the nation are more so.  As Indians, they live well, and
will be pleased to see you. Should you visit here
this fall, I may be absent, as I purpose starting for
New York in a few  days, and shall not be back
till some time in October.  But this need not stop
you; for although I should be gratified to see you,
yet it will be sufficient to learn that I have furthered your wishes in this truly interestin.g' matter.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         305
"The very kind manner in which you have
been pleased to speak of me shall be fully appreciated.
" There perhaps are men who could have heard
her story unmoved, but for me, I could not; and
when I reflected that there was perhaps still lingering on this side of the grave some brother or
sister of that ill-fated woman, to whom such information would be deeply interesting, I resolved
on the course which I adopted, and entertained
the fond hope that my letter, if ever it should go
before the public, would attract the attention of
some one interested. In this it seems at last, I
have not been disappointed, although I had long
since supposed it had failed to effect the object for
which I wrote it. Like you I regret that it should
have been delayed so long, —nor can I conceive
how any one should neglect to publish such a letter.
"As to the age of this female, I think she herself is mistaken and that she is not so old as she
imagines herself to he.  Indeed I entertain no
doubt but that she is the same person that your
family have mourned after for more than half a
century past.
" Your obedient, humble servant,
"EORGE  W. EWING."
All necessary arrangements for the journey having been completed, it was undertaken by the two
5~3*




306         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
surviving brothers and their sister; who, accompanied by an interpreter engaged in the Indian
country, reached the designated place, and found
the lost one. But, alas! how changed! Instead
of the fair-haired and laughing girl, the picture
yet living in their imaginations, they found her an
aged and thorough-bred squaw in every thing but
complexion.  She was sitting, when they entered
her lodge, composed of two large log-houses connected by a shed, with her two daughters, the one
about twenty4three years old, and the other about
thirty-three, and three or four pretty gand-chilb
dren. The closing hours of the journey had been
made in pensive silence-deep thoughts strng. 
gling in the bosoms of all. On entering the lodge.
the first exclamation of one of the brothers was-.
" Oh God! is that my sister!"  A moment after,
ward, and the sight of the disfigured thumb left
no doubt as to her identity. The following collo,.
quy, conducted through the interpreter, ensued.
" What was your name when a child?"
"I do not recollect."' WVhat do you remember?"'My father, my mother, the long river, the
stair-case under which I hid when lhey came."
"How came you to lose your thumb-nail?"' My brother hammered it off, a long, long time
ago, when I was a very little girl at my father's
house.("




HISTORY OF WYOMING,           307
"Do you know how many brothers and sisters
you had?"
She then mentioned them, and ill the order of
their aoes.
"Would you know your name, if you should
hear it repeated?"
"It is a long time since, and perhaps I should
not."'; Was it FRANCES?}
At once a smile played upon her features, and
for a moment there seermed to pass over the face
what might be called the shadow  of an emotion,
and she answered,' Yes!"*
Other reminiscences were awakened, and the
recognition was complete.  But how  tiffelent
were the emotions of the parties! The brothers
paced the lodge in agitation.  The civilized sister was in tears.  The other, obedient to the affected stoicism of her adopted race, was as cold,
unmoved, and passionless. as ma rble.  Her two
daughters had both been married, but the youngest
was- a widow. The husband of the other was a
half-breed Frenchman, named Brouriette, bearing
the rank of " Captain" among his people —a
nman of cultivated manners and elegant appearance. It required considerable time to overcome
the suspicions of the long lost and now found sister, and her family, that the strangers were their
* The Lost Sister.




308         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
relatives. They were however at length persuaded to accompany the strangers back to the quarters they had secured, nine miles distant, and pass
the night. Yet "before they fully yielded their
confidence, it was necessary, in compliance with
Indian usage, to give and receive a formal pledge
of friendship. To this end, the parties being all
assembled, the eldest daughter brought in a clean
white cloth, carefully rolled up, and laid it on the
stand, and then, through the Interpreter, arose
and solemnly presented it as a pledge of their confidence. It contained the hind quarter of a deer,
which they had probably just hunted and killed
for this very purpose. The brothers and sisters
then arose and as solemnly received it as a token of friendship and kindness. But still, they
were not satisfied, till the civilized sister had gone
and formerly taken possession of the cloth and its
contents.  They then seemed at ease, and from
that moment, gave their new friends their entire
confidence."@   The ceremony over, the party
moved off to the point designated,-the daughters
of Frances mounting their spirited Indian horses,
which they soon gave evidence that they could
manage as well as in the days of chivalry did the
rather masculine spouse of Count Robert of Paris,
her steed, in the wars of the Holy Land, as de* The Lost Sister,




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         309
scribed in the brilliant romance of the Crusaders,
by Sir Walter Scott.
Neither the acquired stoicism of her adopted
race, nor her incommunicative disposition, was
entirely overcome by the strangers.  Still their
persuasions were listened to by degrees, until the
old lady was at length induced to relate so much
of her history as she could remember, - manifesting no small degree of suspicion, however, on the
production of the necessary utensils for reducing
the narrative to writing. This narrative was in
substance as follows:
"I can well remember the day when the Dela —
ware Indians came suddenly to our house. I remember that they killed and scalped a man near
the door, taking the scalp with them. They'then
pushed the boy through the door; he came to me
and vwe both went and stood under the stair-case.
They went up stairs and rifled the house, thollh
cannot remember what they took except some loaf
sugar and some bundles. I remember that they
took me and the boy on their backs through the
bushes. I believe the rest of the family had fled,
except my mother.
"They carried us a long way as it seemed to
me, to a cave, where they hadl left their blankets
and travelling things. It was over the mountain
and a long way down on the other side. Hele
they stopped while it was yet light, and there we




310         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
staid all night. I can remember nothing about
that night, except that I was very tired, and lay
down on the ground and cried till I was asleep.
The next morning we set out, and travelled many
clays in the woods before we came to a village of
Indians. When we stopped at night, the Indlians
would cut down a few boughs of hemlock on
which'to sleep, and then make up a great fire of
logs at their feet, which lasted all night. When
they cooked any thing, they stuck a stick in it,
and held it to the fire as long as they chose.
They drank at the brooks and springs, and for me
they made a little cup of white-birch bark, out of
which I drank. I can only remember that they
staid several days at this first village, but where it
was, I have no recollection.
" After they had been here some days, very early one morning, two of the same Indians took a
horse, and placed the boy and me upon it, and
agoain set out on their journey. One went before
on foot, and the other behind, driving the horse.
In this way we travelled a long way till we came to
a village where these Indians belonged. I now
found that one of them was a Delaware Chief by
the name of Tuck-Horse.  This is a great Delaware name, but I do not know its meaning. We
were kept here some days, when they came and
took away the boy and I never saw him again, and
do not know what became of him.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         311
"Early one morning this Tuck-eHorse came and
took me, and dressed my hair in the Indian way,
and then painted my face and skin.  He then
dressed me in beautiful wampum-beads and made
me look, as I thought, very fine. I was much
pleased with the beautiful wampum. We then
lived on a hill, and I remember he took me by the
hand and led me down to the river-side, to a house
where lived an old man and woman. They had
once had several children, but now they were all
gone - either killed in battle, or having died when
very young. When the Indians thus lose all their
children, they often adopt some new child as their
own, and treat it in all respects like their own.
This is the reason why they so often carry away
the children of white people. I was brought to
these old people to have them adopt me, if they
would. They seemed unwilling at first, but after
Tuck-Horse had talked with them a while, they
agreed to it, and this was my home. They gave
me the name of Wfe-let-a-wash, which was the
name of their youngest child whom they had lately buried. It had now got to be the fall of the
year, for chestnuts had come. The Indians were
very numerous here, and here we remained all the
following winter. The Indians were in the service
of the British, and were furnished by them with
provisions. They seemed to be the gathered remnants of several nations of Indians.  I remember




312         HIISTORY OF WYO-MING.
that there was a fort here. In the spring I went
with the parents who had adopted me, to Sandusky, where we spent the next summer; but in the
fall, we returned again to the fort, —the place
where I was made an Indian child, and here we
spent the second winter. In the next spring we
went down to a large river, which is Detroit River,
where we stopped and built a great number of
bark canoes. I rmight have said before, that there
was war between the British and the Americans,
and that the American Army had driven the Indians around the fort where I was adopted. In
their fights, I remember the Indians used to take
and bring home scalps, but I do not know how
many. When our canoes were all done, we went
up Detroit River, where we remained about three
years. I think peace had now been made between
the British and the Americans, and so we lived by
hunting, fishing, and raising corn. The reason
why we staid here so long, was, that we heard
that the Americans had destroyed all our villages
and corn-fields. After these years, my family and
another Delaware family removed to Fort Wayne.
I don't know where the other Indians went. This
was now our home, and I suppose we lived here
as many as twenty-six or thirty years. I was
there long after I was full grown, and I was there
at the time of Harmar's defeat. At the time
when this battle with Harmar was fought, the wo



HISTORY OF WYOMING.         313
men and children were all made to run north. I
cannot remember whether the Indians took any
prisoners, or brought home any scalps at this time.
After the battle, they all scattered to their various
homes, as was their custom, till gathered again for
some particular object. I then returned to Fort
Wayne again. The Indians who returned from
this battle were Delawares, Pottawatamies, Shawanese, and Miamis. I was always treated well and
kindly; and while I lived with them, I was married to a Delaware. He afterwards left me and
the country and went west of the Mississippi.
The Delawares and the Miamis were then all living together. I was afterwards married to a Miami, a chief, and a deaf man. His name was Chepor-on-wah. After being married to him, I had
four children - two boys and two girls. My boys
both died while young. The girls are living and
are here in this room at the present time. I cannot recollect much about the Indian wars with the
whites, which were so common and so bloody. I
well remember a battle and a defeat of the Ameri —
cans at Fort Washington, which is now Cincinnati. I remember how Wayne, or " Mad Anthony," drove the Indians away and built the Fort.
The Indians then scattered all over the country,
and lived upon game which was very abundant.
After this they encamped all along on Eel River.
After peace was made, we all returned to Fort
28




314         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Wayne, and received provisions from the Americans, and there I lived a long time. I had removed, with mny family, to the Missisineway river
sometime before the battle of Tippecanoe. The
Indians who fought in that battle were Kickapoos, Pottawatamies and Shawanese. The Miamis were not there. I heard of the battle on the
Missisineway, but my husband was a deaf man and
never went to the wars, and I did not know much
about it."
"Was you ever tired of living with the Indians?"
" No. I had always enough to live'on, and to
live well. They always used me very kindly."
" Did you ever know that you had white relations who were seeking you for so many years?"
"1 No. No one told me, and I never heard of
it. I never thought any thing about my white relatives, unless it was a little while after I was taken."
" But we live where our father and mother used
to live on the banks of the beautiful Susquehanna,
and we want you should return with us. We will
give you of our property, and you shall be one of
us, and share all that we have. You shall have a
good house, and every thing you desire. O do
go back with us."
"No I cannot. I have always lived with the
Indians. They have always used me very kindly.
l am used to them. The Great Spirit has always




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         315
allowed me to live with them, and I wish to live
and die with them.  Your Wah-puh-mone, (looking-glass,) may be larger than mine, but this is my
home. I do not wish to live any better, or any
where else, and I think the Great Spirit has perInitted me to live so long, because I have always
lived with the Indians. I should have died sooner
if I had left them. My husband and my boys are
buried here, and I cannot leave them. On his
dying day my husband charged me not to leave
the Indians. I have a house, and large lands, two
daughters, a son-in-law, three grand-children, and
every thing to make me comfortable. Why should
I go, and be like a fish out of the water?"
"And I," said Brouriette, her son-in-law, " know
all about it. I was born at Fort Harrison, about
two miles from Terre Haute. When I was ten
years old, I went to Detroit. I was married to
this woman about thirteen years ago. The people
about here, andat Logansport, and at Miamisport,
have known me ever since the country has been
settled by the whites. They know me to be industrious, to manage well, and to maintain my
family respectably. My mother-in-law's sons are
dead, and I stand in their place to her. I mean
to maintain her well as long as she lives, for the
truth of which you may depend on the word of
Capt. Brouriette."'
" What Capt. Brouriette says," added the old




316         HISTORY OF WYOMING,
lady, "is true. He has always treated me kindly,
and I am satisfied with him-perfectly satisfied,and I hope my connexions will not feel any uneasiness about me. The Indians are my people. I
do no work. I sit in the house with these my two
daughters, who do the work, and I sit with them."
"But will you at least, go and make a visit to
your early home, and when you have seen us, return again to your children?"'"I cannot.  I cannot. I am an old tree. It
cannot move about. I was a sapling.when they
took me away.  It is all gone past. I am afraid
I should die and never come back.  I am happy
here. I shall die here and lie in that grave-yard,
and they will raise the pole at my grave with the
white flag on it, and the Great Spirit will know
where to find me. I should not be happy with
my white relatives.  I am glad enough to see them,
but I cannot go. I cannot go.  I have done."
"When the whites take a squaw," said Brouriette, with much animation, as if delighted with the
decision of the old lady, " they make her work like
a slave. It was never so with this woman.  If I
had been a drunken, worthless fellolw, this woman
could not have lived to this age. But I have al-.
ways treated her well. The village is called Deaf
Man's Village after her husband.  I have done."
The eldest daughter, whose name is Kick-kese-qua, or "cut-finger," assented to all that had




HISTORY OF WYOMING.                317
been said, and added that " the deer cannot live
out of the forest."
The youngest daughter, O-show-se-quah, or'yellow  leaves," confirmed all, and  thought that
her mother could not go even on a visit, " because,"
said she, " the fish dies quickly out of the water."
The brothers and sister returned, unable to
win back their tawny sister from her wilds even
long enough to make them a visit. She was not
just what their hopes had painted; but she was
all that an Indian could be in her circumstances.
Yet their love for her was not quenched.*
* Tile whole of this simple narrative, is taken verbatim, from Mr. T'odd's
little book —he, of course drawing the statement from the memoranda
written at the time of the interview, by the Messrs. Slocumnls




CHAPTER IX.
Continuation of the History,-The State Government succeeds that of the
Proprietaries,-Conduct of the State to the heirs of Penn,-The State
claims the title to the Wyoming lands,-Appeals to Congress,-A Commission appointed,-Decision in favor of Pennsylvania,-Dissatisfaction
oftlie people,-State troops sent to Wyoming,-Arrogant and disgraceful
conduct of magistrates and soldiers,-Appeal of the people to Congress,
-Terrible Inundation,-Sufferings of the people,-Rapacity of the soldiers,-Sympathy of the public excited in their oehalf,-Banditti, —Renewal of the Civil War, — The State troops besieged,-Siege raised,Commissioners again sent to Wyoming,-Ineffectual negotiations, -
Movement of troops against the valley,-Colonel Armstrong appointed
to the command,-Repulse of Major Moore,-The people siezed, disarmed, and imprisoned by treachery,-Armstrong plunders the fields,-Resistance of the people,-His troops defeated,-The people re-take their
arms,-Armstrong returns to Philadelphia,-Another expedition,-Sympathy for the people,-Interposition of the Council of Censors,-Gloomy
situation of affairs in the valley,-Armstrong makes a final retreat,Better state of feeling,-Mediation of Colonel Pickering,-Compromise
Law, —Opposed by John Franklin and some of the people,- Affray, -
Pranklin's arrest and imprisonment for treason,-Insurrection,A-Flight
of Colonel Pickering,-His return and extraordinary captivity, —Release,
-Final adjustment of the controversy,-Conclusion.
UNFORTUNATELY for Wyoming, its troubles ceased not with the war of the Revolution.  That
contest was in fact ended by the fall of Yorktown,
and the surrender of Cornwallis, in October, 1791,
though not by official acknowledgment until the
treaty of 1783. There was, however, a conventional cessation of active hostilities; and with the
disappearance of danger from the Indians on the
frontier, Connecticut again  poured  her hundreds
of emigrants into the beautiful vale which nature




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         319
had destined as the paradise of the Susquehanna.
But in regard to the proprietorship of the lands,
although the government of Pennsylvania had
changed hands, no change had been wrought in
favor of the Connecticut claimants; and the
swarms of Yankees now alighting in the valley
were looked upon with an evil eye. The government of the Proprietaries had been abolished at
the commencement of the revolution. The principal heirs to the grant of William Penn already
resided in England, and the others, John and
Richard Penn, had also retired thither.  Both
Richard and John had administered the colonial
government. The administration of Richard, who
was superseded by John in 1763, had ibeen very
popular, especially with the merchants.  John
Penn was at the head of the Proprietaries' government at the breaking out of the rebellion, and
his feelings and sympathies were for a season supposed to be in unison with those of the colonists,
until after the adoption of the address to the
crown, by the Congress of 1775, when Governor
Penn attempted to persuade the colonial legislature
to adopt a separate address, of a more conciliatory
character. But the Assembly was not disposed
to separate Pennsylvania from the united action of
the colonies. The differences between the Governor and his refractory legislature increased, until
the latter, with the people of Pennsylvania, thor



320           HISTORY OF WYOMING.
oughly espoused the cause of the revolution, and
the government of the Proprietaries expired on the
26th of September, 1776.  About the year 1778,
the legislature of the State enacted a law stripping
the heirs of William Penn of all the vacant lands
within its territory, leaving them only a few tracts
of unsettled lands, called Manors, which had been
actually located and surveyed. As an acknowledgement of the merits and claims of the family of
Penn, however, the sum of one hundred and thirty
thousand pounds sterling was voted them as an
indemnification, in addition to the Manors.  But
there was at the same time due those heirs about
five hundred thousand pounds, for lands they had
sold the inhabitants, and for quit-rents.*  It has
been held that the State might have considered
the proprietary claims as a royalty, to which an
independent government might lawfully succeed.t
Still no such claim was preferred; and the pretext
for what has been considered by some an act of
violence against the just rights of those heirs, was,
that so large a property in the hands of a few individuals endangered the liberties of the people.T
Having thus made itself the successor to the
Proprietaries, the State of Pennsylvania was not
slow in the interposition of its claim to the terri* Pickering's Letter to his son. The amount of Land thus seized was
about six millions of acres, according to Mr. Pickering.
Encyclopaedia Americana. Art. Pennsylvania.
$ Pickering's Letter.




HISTORY  OF WYOMING.                   321
tory of Wyoming, and the entire domain of the
Susquehanna and Delaware companies. The articles of confederation having made provision for
the adjustment of difficulties arising between states,
and Connecticut insisting upon the jurisdiction it
had so long  exercised  over the Wyoming settlemnents, Pennsylvania now applied  to Congress for
the appointment of a commission to hear the parties, and determine the question.   Commissioners
were accordingly appointed, who met at Trenton,
in the State of New-Jersey, late in the Autumn of
1782.*   After a session  of five weeks, the commissioners, on the 30th of December, came to the
unanimous decision that Connecticut had no right
to the land in controversy, and that the jurisdiction
and preemption of all the lands within her chartered limits belonged to Pennsylvania.
The people  of Wyoming  viewed  the proceedings of the commission of Congress with comparative  indifference —considering,  or  affecting  to
consider, that the question at issue before it was one
of jurisdiction only. Their allegiance might as
* The State of Connecticut appointed Colonel Dyer, Doctor Johnson, and
Jesse Root, as agents to attend the Board of Commissioners on her behalf;
and Messrs. Bradford, Reed, Wilson, and Sergeant, were appointed on the
part of Pennsylvania. The Colonel Dyer here named, had been concerned
in the Susquehanna Company from the first, and had been its agent in
London. He was a lawyer in Windham, and was the same gentleman
who has been immortalized in the celebrated tradition of the invasion of
Windham by the frogs. One of the Elderkins, also named in the same
tradition, was for a tine an early resident of Wyoming.




2.       ~HISTORY OF WYOMING.
well be rendered to Pennnsylvania as to Connecticut, so that they were left in the undisturbed
enjoyment of their farms; and even the explicit
phraseology of the decree of the commission, declaring that Connecticut had " no right to the land
in controversy," gave them little concern, supposing, as they subsequently contended, that it meant
no more than the fact that the State of Connecticut had conveyed all her right to the soil, to the
Susquehanna Company, from which latter their
title was derived.  They therefore, under this
mental construction, acquiesced at once in the decision, and by a formal memorial to the General
Assembly, signified their willingness to conform to
the laws and obey the constituted authorities of
Pennsylvania.*
Far different, however, was the construction of
that decree by the Pennsylvanians. They contended not only for the jurisdiction, but for the soil,
and the General Assembly took immediate measures preparatory to a sweeping ejectment of the
settlers. The decree from Trenton having been
received, the General Assembly passed a resolution, on the 20th of February, declaring the people then settled in Wyoming, on yielding obedience to the laws, to be entitled to protection, and
the benefits of civil government, in common with
* Chapman.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.            323
other citizens of the State.  On the 25th of the
same month, three Commissioners were appointed,
who were to act as magistrates, in Wyoming, inquire into the state of the country, and recommend
proper measures for adoption toward the settlers.*
These Commissioners were directed to repair to
Wyoming in April; meantime, in the month of
March, under the transparent pretext of affording
protection to the settlement) the Council ordered
two companies of rangers to be raised and stationed there, under the command of Captains
Thomas Robinson and Philip Shrawder.  These
companies arrived on the 21st and 24th of March,
and taking possession of Fort Wyoming, changed
its name to Fort Dickinson, in honor of the President of the Council of State.t
It was very natural that this military demonstration, the object of which, the war being over,
could not be misconceived, would create great
uneasiness; which feeling, when the Commissioners came to report, was at once aroused to the
verge of insurrection.  They reported that a reasonable compensation in land should be made to
the families of those who had fallen in arms
against the common enemy, and to such other set* These Commissioners were William Montgomery, Moses M'Lean, and
John Montgomery.
t Under the first State Constitution of Pennsylvania, there was no Governor or Senate.




324         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
tiers holding under proper Connecticut titles, as
were actual residents of Wyoming at the date of
the Trenton decree; conditioned that they should
relinquish all claim to the soil then in their possession, and make a full and entire surrender of their
tenures. In other words, they were to relinquish
all their present lands and improvements, purchased by unheard-of sufferings, and consecrated by
the blood of their kindred; in lieu of which they
were to receive an indefinite compensation, at the
option of their enemies, in the wild lands of some
region unknown. Conditions like these they were
in no temper to brook, more especially as the arrogant conduct of the troops stationed there had
already exasperated them almost to a point beyond
which endurance ceases to be a virtue. The summer of that year, (1782,) was therefore passed in
a state of high excitement,-tlhe troops deporting
themselves in a spirit of tyrannical domination,
and committing many outrages, disgraceful to the
character of civilized men.
In the month of September, Captain Robinson's
company was relieved by another detachment of
State troops, under Captain Christie, the command
of the station at the same time being conferred
upon a militia Major named James Moore. Two
special Justices of the Peace were likewise appointed for the district, the names of whom were
Patterson and West, with directions to repair to




HISTORY OF WYOMING.            325
the disputed territory, with Major Moore, and by
the aid and protection of the military, form a tribunal for the adjudication of all questions arising
under the civil law.  The immediate object of
constituting this tribunal, the authority of which
was to be sustained by the bayonet, very soon become apparent.  It was none other than to dispossess the Connecticut settlers of their plantations:
per JIs aut nefas, and award them to such claimants as might present themselves under the Pennsylvania title.  They began their judicial labors
in the most arbitrary and oppressive manner, and
the military executed their decrees in a spirit of
cruelty and vindictiveness, which would have re-,
flected discredit upon the hordes led into that afflicted region four years before by Gi-en-gwah-toh
himself. The people were not only subjected to
insult, but their crops were destroyed in the fields,
their cattle were seized and driven away, and in
some instances their houses were destroyed by fire,
and the females rendered the victims of armed Iicentiousness.* The real object of this rigorous
treatment was not only to strip the people of their
possessions, but by wearying them of their " promised land," drive them from the valley.t
Considering the indomitable and fiery spirit
characterizing the Connecticut emigrants during
* Chaprnan.          t Pickering's Letter,
29




326         HISTOR~Y OF WYOMiNG~.
the severe trials they had encountered in preceding
years, it is a subject of surprise that these oppressive acts were submitted to, even for a single week;
and it can only be accounted for upon the supposition, that, wearied by the harrassing contentions
of years, they were now earnestly seeking repose.
Instead, therefore, of an immediate appeal to arms,
they now sought redress by an appeal to the Legislature of Pennsylvania for protection. Their first
memorial, which ought to have been acted upon
in December, seeming to be unheeded, the people
next spread their case before Congress, and prayed for the intervention of that body, by the appointment of a commission, under the ninth Article of the Confederation, to hear and determine
the question -as to the right of soil. The memorial was favorably received, and it was ordered on
the 23d of January, 1784, that Congress, or a committee of the States,.should hear the parties on
the fourth Monday of the then ensuing month of
June.  But greatly to the disappointment of the
people, neither Congress nor a committee of the
states was in session at the time designated, "and
the controversy came to no determination."
Meantime, however, the inhabitants had been
doomed to suffer from  a calamity of a different
character, inflicted by an arm more powerful than
that of man. The winter of 1783-'84, was one
of uncommon severity.  The weather was so irn



HISTORY OF WYOMING.               327
tensely cold that the ice upon the surface of the
river formed to an unusual thickness, and the
snow fell to an extraordinary depth. Protected
from the gradual action of the sun by the dense
forests overspreading almost the entire country,
the snow lay upon the mountains, and was piled
up in the ravines, in immense masses, when suddenly a warm  rain set in on the 13th of March,
which continued falling until the 15th. A rapid
dissolution of the snow  caused  a corresponding
swelling of the streams tributary to the Susquehanna, and a premature breaking up of the ice
was the consequence.   The first breaking was at
the successive rapids, from each of which the ice
was borne along in masses over the still sections
of the river yet sleeping beneath its frozen chains,
until arrested by trees, or some other intervening
obstacles, against which it lodged. By this process several dams were formed in the valley, especially at the lower end, where it is almost cut off
by the approximating points of the mountains
upon either side. These dams caused the waters
to flow back and accumulate, until the entire valley was overflowed, and the inhabitants compelled
to flee to the little hills rising in the valley,* and
* One of these elevations which impart an agreeable variety to the aspect
of the valley, juts out sharply almost into the river, not far above the intersection of M ill-Creek. It was the site of one of the Yankee defences
against Ogden, heretofore mentioned. From its crest, the landscape is as
beautiful as fancy can paint. Upon the summit of this hill sleep the re



328            HISTORY OF WYOMINGo
to the mountains, for their lives, leaving their cattle and  flocks, their provisions, and  the greater
part of their household goods to the mercy of the
flood.  Some of them  had more than once been
compelled to look back upon the valley from the
same mountains, when blazing like a sea of fire.
Equally appalling, and if possible more dreary, was
the spectacle, now that the valley resembled a hyperborean lake, the ice of which had been broken
into floating masses by a tempest.   The waters
continued  to  accumulate  for many  hours, upraising houses, barns, and fences upon their bosom, until at length a large dam in the mountaingorge above the valley gave way, causing at once
a mighty increase, and a tremendous rush of the
flood, which, as it hurried  impetuously  down,
swept every thing before it.  The fetters of the
more tranquil sections of the river gave way at
the same time, the ice heaving up in ponderous
masses, and making the valley to echo with their
thunder as they broke. It was a scene of terrific
grandeur, to behold the maddened floods rolling
onward in their irresistible strength, and bearing
mains of the Rev. Mr. Johnstone, the first clergyman of Wyoming. He
was a good scholar and a man of talents-greatly beloved by the flock
over which he watched for many years. He was, however, an eccentric
man, entertaining some peculiar views in theology. He believed in the
second coming and personal reign of Christ upon earth; and insisted upon
being buried here, facing the east, so that he could see the glorious pageant of the Messiah in his second descent.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         329
upon their bosom the wrecks of houses and barns,
with stacks of hay, and huge trunks of trees, and
broken fragments of timber, with piles of ice and
drowned cattle, all mingled in destructive confusion together, and hurrying forward as though
anxious to escape such a region of desolation for
the more tranquil repose of the ocean. But it was
a heart-rending spectacle to the poor settlers, thus
again to look upon the entire destruction of their
earthly goods, with the certainty that when the
flood should abate, they could only return to wander in destitution amidst the " wreck of matter,"
while even the sunny face of hope had become
almost as dark as despair. As the waters subsided,
huge piles of ice were deposited upon the plain of
Wilkesbarr6, so thick that the fervid heat of almost the whole summer was required for its dissolution.*
Disheartened, but not broken, the people returned as soon as the floods would permit, and
with the opening spring commenced once more
the labor of repairing their dilapidated fortunes,with which the never-ending still-beginning labors of the fabled Sisyphus were but as child's
play in comparison, and, judging from the past,
scarcely less promising for the future.  The destruction of their cattle and provisions had been
* Chapman.
29*




330         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
so general, that gloomy apprehensions of a famine
pressed upon their minds, and there must have
been great suffering but for the assistance received from abroad.  And what little of food had
been preserved, or was furnished to them, was
snatched almost from their mouths by the soldiers, sent thither to guard and torment them,
and who now became more ungovernable and
rapacious than before.  Stuch an accumulation of
calamities was well calculated to awaken the sympathies of the people wherever the story was rehearsed, and those sympathies, generally, were
not appealed to in vain. Mr. Dickinson, the President of the Council of State, spontaneously invited the attention of that body to the subject,
and recommended the adoption of measures for
the immediate relief of the sufferers; but the General Assembly looked coldly upon a people whose
coming into the state had been without leave, and
whose presence had caused them so much trouble.
The efforts of the President were therefore not
seconded by those holding the keys of the treasury.
The sufferers, however, sustained by the allconquering spirit of their race, recommenced their.labors with their wonted energy; and but for the
conduct of he soldiery, the valley might again
have become the home of peace, smiling once
more in beauty. But the magistrates sent thither




HISTORY 0O' WYOMING.         331
for that purpose revived their oppressive measures,
and countenanced the outrages of the soldiers, until the people, chafed beyond longer endurance,
determined upon forcible resistance to their mandates. Enraged at this resolution, the magistrates
proceeded against the settlers as though they were
insurgents.   On the 12th of May the soldiers
of the garrison were sent to disarm the people,
and in the progress of the work " one hundred and
fifty families were turned out of their newly constructed dwellings, many of which were burnt,
and all ages and sexes reduced once more to a
state of destitution.  After being plundered of
their lttle remaining property, they were drivenl
from the valley, and compelled to proceed on foot
through the wilderness by the way of the Lackawaxen river to the Delaware-a distance of eighty
miles. During this journey the unhappy fugitives
suffered all the miseries which human nature appears capable of enduring.  Old men, whose sons
had been slain in battle, widows, with their infant
children, and children without parents to protect
them, were here companions in exile and sorrow,
and wandering in a wilderness where famine and
ravenous beasts daily reduced the number of the
sufferers. One shocking instance of suffering is
related by a survivor of this scene of death: it is
the case of a mother, wdhose infant having died,
she was driven to the dreadful alternative of roast



332         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
ing the body by piecemeal for the daily subsistence of her remaining children!"*
It must not be supposed that atrocities like these
would be sanctioned by the government of any
civilized community. The General Assembly, in
refusing a vote of supplies for the sufferers by the
flood, were believed to have been acting under
the influence of the Pennsylvania claimants to the
lands of Wyoming; and the instigations of these
avaricious men, beyond doubt, had prompted Justices Patterson and West, and the soldiers under
them, to the course of wrong and outrage that had
been pursued.  When, however, the naked facts
came to be known to the government, great indignation was produced. A commission was despatched to Wyoming, to inquire into the state of
the settlement, and their report was such as to
cause the discharge of the troops, with the exception of a small guard left at Fort Dickinson. A
proclamation was likewise issued, inviting the
people who had been driven away, to return to
their homes, with a promise of protection on a
due submission to the laws. To a considerable extent this proclamation produced the desired effect,
and the people returned.
But the valley was not yet destined to become
a place of quiet. The discharged soldiers had be* Chapman,.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.        333
come partisans of the Pennsylvania land claimants. Many of them were, moreover, dissolute;
and after being disbanded, they hung around the
settlements, living like banditti upon plunder. By
the middle of July, so many of them had rejoined
the guard in Fort Dickinson, that the garrison was
becoming formidable, and the inhabitants, for selfprotection, repaired and garrisoned Fort Forty.
On the 20th of July, a party of the people in that
fort, having occasion to visit their fields of grain
five miles below, were fired upon by a detachment
of thirty of Justice Patterson's men, from Fort
Dickinson, commanded by a man named William
Brink, and two of the people, Chester Pierce and
Elisha Garret, young men of promise, were killed.
The loss of these distinguished young men was
deeply lamented, and the inhabitants determined
that their death should be avenged. Three days
afterward, the garrison of Fort Forty marched upon Wilkesbarre in the night, for the purpose of
making prisoners of Patterson and his men, who
were in the habit of lodging without the fort,
when not apprehensive of danger; but having
been apprized of the intention of the people, they
had disposed themselves again for the night within
the fort, and made preparations for defence. Not
being prepared to invest the fortress immediately, the people took possession of the flouring mill,
which had been occupied by Patterson and his re



334         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
tainers, and having laid in a store of provisions for
themselves at Fort Forty, they retired thither for
the purpose of counsel and preparation for ulterior measures.
Three days afterward the fort was invested by
the people. - The garrison consisted of about sixty
men, provided with four pieces of ordnance, and
one hundred and sixty muskets. For the cannon
there was no ammunition; but having a good supply for their small arms, and having despatched
an express to Philadelphia for assistance, they determined to hold out until the arrival of reinforcemnents. The leader of the besiegers in this insurrection - if such it might be properly called - was
John Franklin, a native of Connecticut —an influential and resolute man —prime agent of the
Susquehanna Company, and a colonel by popular
election.+ On the 27th of July, it having been
determined to attempt carrying the fort by storm,
Franklin, " in the name and on the behalf of the
injured and incensed inhabitants holding their lands
under the Connecticut claim," sent a formal summons to the garrison to surrender, not the fortress
only, but likewise the possessions and other property of the besiegers, which had been taken from
them "' in a hostile and unconstitutional manner."
it was added that if the summons should be com$ Letter of Colonel Pickering.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         533
plied with, they " should be treated with humanity
and commiseration - otherwise, the consequences
would prove fatal and bloody to every person
found in the garrison." Two hours were allowed
them for an answer. But before these two hours
had elapsed, information was received from below,
that the magistrates of the county of Northumberland, (to which Wyoming had been attached,) at
the head of a body of troops, were marching to the
succor of the garrison; whereupon the siege was
immediately raised, and the assailants returned to
Fort Forty, resolving to remain there until the
magistrates should arrive.
The belligerent proceedings of the inhabitants
in this emergency can the more readily be justified, when it is considered that the party in the
fort, at the head of which was Justice Patterson,
was now making war upon them in behalf of the
Pennsylvania claimants, on their own account.
Under these circumstances, the people had a right,
not only to protect themselves, but to repel force by
force. That such was the fact appears from the
official proceedings of the Council of the State.
On hearing of the affair of the 20th, in which
two of the inhabitants had been wantonly murdered, the Council forthwith appointed a commission with instructions to proceed to Wyoming, and restore peace by disarming both parties. And it happened to be the approach of the




336         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
commissioners under this resolution, that caused
the raising of the siege of Fort Dickinson.  They
arrived on the 29th, and on the following day a
conference was held between both parties, but
without any reconciliation being effected. The
commissioners* next made a demand, under the
authority of the State, for the mutual surrender of
the arms of the parties, and also of a suitable number of persons as hostages, for the preservation of
the peace.
But neither persuasion nor demand produced
the slightest effect upon either party.  The truth
was, both had heard that after the arrival of the
express in Philadelphia, announcing the beleaguerment of the fort by the people, the Council of State
had'directed the Lieutenant of the county of Northampton to call forth a body of three hundred infantry, with a squadron of dragoons, to march for
the subjugation of the people of Wyoming.  A
simultaneous order was also given to the Sheriff
of Northumberland to proceed with the power of
his county, to the aid of the Lieutenant of Northampton.  On the same day, viz: the 29th of July,
the Honorable John Boyd and Colonel John Armstrong were appointed commissioners for concerting
and executing such measures as they should judge
necessary for establishing the peace and good
* Chapman is the authority for these details. The commissioners wcrie
Thomas hewitt, David Mead, and Robert Martin,




HISTORY OF WYOMING.             337
norder of the disaffected district.   Under these
cricumstances, neithet party would listen to the
proposition  for disarming.   The  Pennamites *
counted upon adequate military support, while the
Yankees were not disposed to surrender their arms,
at a moment when a larger military force than
any they had yet encountered was marching for
their subjugation.
Colonel Armstrong proceeded to Easton on the
Ist of August, where his forces were already collecting.  On the 3d he advanced to the eastern
verge of the Pokono mountain.  He had, however, previously detached Colonel Moore, with a
party of volunteers, to a station called Locust Hill,
about midway of the mountains, which the Major
was directed to hold for the purpose of keeping
the passage clear.  Hearing of this advance of
Moore,  the people of Wyoming sent forward a
company under the command of Captain Swift,
to meet and repel him.  This enterprise was executed with fidelity.   Swift took the party of
Moore by surprise early in the morning of the
2d of August, and after a brisk attack upon the
log-house in which they were sheltered, Moore
retreated with the loss of one man killed, and several wounded.  Swift thereupon returned to Wy* Penmll7ites was the name given the Pennsylvanians by the Connecticut
settlers, who in turn were designated as Yankees,-Intruders,-lnsurlgents
&c. Those civil broils are still called the Pennantite woars in Wyoming.
30




338         HISTORY OF WYOMINt6
oming, where Colonel Armstrong soon appeared
at the head, all told, of about four hundred men,
including Patterson's troops, and a few milita-men
from Northumberland.
The armed forces of the people were so strongly
entrenched in Fort Forty, that Armstrong dared
not hazard an attack. He therefore had recourse
to stratagem. A plausible manifesto was issued,
declaring that he had come merely for the dispensation of justice, and the pacification of the valley.
His object was the protection of the peaceable inhabitants, to which end it was necessary that both
parties should be disarmed. For a time his professions were distrusted by the people; but ultimately the earnestness and apparent sincerity of
his protestations overcame their scruples, and
numbers of them repaired to Fort Dickinson, to
comply with his terms, and also to make reclamation of the property of which they had been plun-K
dered. But they had ample cause to lament their
credulity, being arrested by scores, pinioned with
strong cords, and marched off in pairs, strongly
guarded, to the prisons of Easton and Sunbury.
Forty-two were sent to the latter prison, ten of
whom, however, escaped on the morning after
their arrival. In both prisons they were treated
with inhumanity; but the imprisonment at Easton was of short duration. On the morning of
September 17th, as the jailor was conveying their




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         339
breakfast to them, he was knocked down by a
young man named Inman, and the whole body
made their escape..On the departure of the prisoners, Armstrong
had discharged the principal part of his forces, and
made preparations with the residue to gather the
crops planted to his hands by those whom he had
dispossessed. But his army had been prematurely
disbanded. With the return of the self-liberated
prisoners, the residue of the inhabitants took arms,
and being strengthened by a body of emigrants
from Vermont, Fort Forty was again occupied,
and dispositions promptly made to protect what
remained unharvested of their crops.  On the
20th of September, a party of Armstrong's men,
engaged in harvesting grain that did not belong
to them, were attacked and driven into Fort Dickinson.  A  strong detachment was immediately
despatched in pursuit of the " Insurgents," as
Armstrong now called the people in arms; but
the latter took refuge in a log-house, which they
defended with such spirit as to repulse their assailants, who bore away, as their only trophies,
two wounded men.
The people were suffering greatly by reason
of the surrender of their fire arms; and hearing
that Colonel Armstrong had sent to Philadelphia
for reinforcements, they resolved to make an effort
for the recovery of those arms, before any more




340           HISTORY OF WYOMING.
troops should arrive.  Having ascertained the particular block-house in which the arms were de —
posited, they made an attack on the night -of the,
25th, but were repulsed.  On the following day
Colonel Armstrong proceeded  to  Philadelphia;~
and on the next, the block-house was carried by
the people under John  Franklin, two of the Pennamite magistrates, Reed and Henderson, mortally
wounded, and the arms- recovered.  A  full statement of the transaction was forwarded to the government by Franklin, acting for the people, in
which it was declared that they  had not been.
prompted  by any  disposition  to  disregard  the,
laws, but only to be avenged upon Patterson and
Armstrong for their treachery,*
Another military expedition ag ainst the "'"insur-.
gents" was, immediately determined upon by the
Council, to consist of two companies of fifty men
each.   The command  was again  entrusted  to
Colonel Armstrong, who. was simultaneously promoted to the office of Adjutant General of the
State.   The President, Mr, Dickinson, made a
strong remonstrance against this proceeding, in
writing; but the Council was resolutely bent upon
perseverence,.'t  The people of the state, however,,
* Chapman.
t Pennsylvania, at that time, had no officer bearing the title ofgovernonr
Under its first independent state constitution, the government of the commonwealth was vested in a House of Representatives, a President, and a
CQounci.. AThere was also another branch of the government instituted by




HISTORY  OF WYOMINO.               341
were by this time becoming weary of the contest.
Afar -:as this all: they were beginning  to look
upon the settlers of Wyoming as the persecuted
party, and their sympathies were kindling in their
favor.   With  all his efforts, therefore, the new
Adjutant General was enabled to raise only forty
men, at the head of whom  he reappeared in the
valley on the 16th of October. Fort Forty was
immediately garrisoned by seventy men, under Mr.
Franklin. These Armstrong did not feel strong
enough to attack, and he called loudly upon the
counties of Northampton, Berks, and Bucks, for
assistance; but in vain, Neither the Council, nor
the leaders of the Pennsylvania claimants, could
induce a single recruit more to engage in a service
now becoming not unpopular merely, but odious.
Meantime the period for the septennial meeting
of the Council of Censors had arrived, and the feelings of that body had become warmly enlisted in
regard  to the Wyoming  proceedings.   Having
cognizance of the case, the Council called upon
the General Assembly for the papers and documents connected with the controversy. The Assembly disregarded the call, and a mandamus was
that constitution, called a Board of Censors, chosen by the people, and directed to meet once in seven years, to inquire whether tile constitution had
in the meantime been violated; whether the legislative and executive
branches had performed their duties faithfully; whether the laws had been
duly and equally executed, &c. &c, They could also try impeachments,
and recommend the repeal of unwholesome laws, &c.
30*




HISiTORY OF' WYOMINw.
issued, which was received and treated with per'feet contempt.  Finding their authority thus contemnned and utterly disregarded, the Council openly
espoused the cause of the Connecticut settlers, and
passed a public censure upon the government of
the state, couched in strong language, for its conduct toward those people - not indeed sanctioning
the claim of the latter to the soil, but condemning
all the military and pretended civil proceedings that
had been adopted against them - especially for the
reason, that, after becoming subjects of Pennsylvania, the settlers had not been left to prosecute their
claims in the proper course, without the intervention of the legislature.
The stand thus taken by the Censors strengthened the hands of the colonists, and also those of
their friends in other parts of the state.  The declaration of the Censors also furnished a reasonable
excuse to the people to disobey alike the orders of
the Council of State, and of Colonel Armstrong.
Not another recruit, therefore, could be obtained;
and Armstromg found himself shut up in a blockhouse with a force too weak for offensive action, or
even to forage for supplies.  But the people themselves, even had they not been annoyed by the
presence of the soldiery, were in a deplorable condition.  All their movable possessions had been
swept away by the flood in March, and the labors
of the spring and summer had been subjected to




HISTORY~ OF WYCoMItN.,43
such incessant interruptions, while a large por'tioof their corps had been taken to glut the rapacity
of their enemies, that they looked forward to the
approaching  winter  with  gloomy  forebodings.
They  again petitioned  Congress, and  likewise
made an affecting appeal for the friendly interposition of the Legislature of Connecticut.  In this
latter appeal they  stated " that their numbers
were reduced to about two thousand souls, most
of whom  were women and children, driven, in
many cases, from  their proper habitations, and
living in huts of bark in the woods, without provisions  for the approaching  winter, while the
Pennsylvania troops and land-claimants were in
possession of their houses and farms, and wasting
and destroying their cattle and subsistence."  The
legislature of Connecticut, acknowledging their
want of jurisdiction, could only express their sympathy, and promise the exertion of their friendly
offices in behalf of the memorialists, both with
Congress and the government of Pennsylvania.
Happily, however, the settlers were speedily relieved from the presence of the military, and that by
no father effort of their own. As winter approached, finding that he could obtain neither recruits
nor supplies, Colonel Armstrong discharged his
troops, and returned to Philadelphia.*
* Colonel Armstrong, author of the celebrated Newburgh Letters, so
fraught with danger on the disbanding of the army at the close of the war




344           HISTORY OF WYOMING.
But although this was the last military demonstration of Pennsylvania against Wyoming, the
controversy was not yet ended.  The people, it is
true, were left to the quiet pursuit of their labors
during the two succeeding years; still, the question
of their land titles was unadjusted, and they knew
not how soon farther attempts might be made to
dispossess them. There was indeed a kindlier
feeling arising mutually between the parties; but
every effort of the people to obtain a tribunal before which their title question should be submitted
for a final decision, during these two years, was
nevertheless unavailing.  The population, however, continued to increase rapidly, not only in their
own valley, but also above, below and around it;
and in the autumn of 1786, the legislature, on the
petition of the people of Wyoming, and the region
north of it, to whom it was a great inconvenience
to attend the court sixty and a hundred miles distant, at Sunbury, formed their territory into a new
county, named "Luzerne," in honor of the Chevalier De La Luzerne, who had just at that period
returned to France from his embassy to the United
States. Indeed the indications, upon both sides,
rendered it obvious that a compromise was desired
by each.
of the revolution, and afterward distinguished in the political and literary
history of the country. I-e was the son of General John Armstrong of
Pennsylvania, distinguished in the earlier Indian wars, and sometimes
called "the hero of Kittinaing."  The subject of the present note died
early in the year 1843, at his seat in Dutchess County, N. Y.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         345
It happened at about the same period that Colonel
Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts, but at that
time a resident of Pennsylvania, made a journey
through Wyoming, to visit a tract of land in which
he was interested, in and about the G-reat Bend
of the Susquehanna, near the New-York line.
While in Wyoming, Colonel Pickering embraced
every opportunity to learn the feelings of the people in regard to the protracted dispute, and to ascertain the terms upon which their peaceable submission to Pennsylvania might be effected. Being
convinced that the settlers were entirely satisfied
with the constitution of the state, and were willing
to submit to its government, provided they could
be quieted in the possession of their farms, on
his return to Philadelphia he reported the result
of his inquiries and convictions to several distinguished gentlemen, among whom were Doctor
Rush, and Mr. Wilson, an eminent lawyer, and
afterward a judge of the Supreme Court of the
United States.  The idea was then suggested to
the minds of the Pennsylvanians, that being a New
England man, of high character, the services of
Colonel Pickering might be of great importance
in effecting an arrangement between the parties.
The subject was proposed to Mr. Pickering by Dr.
Rush, with the proffer of an appointment to the
five principal county offices, if he would remove
to. Wyoming with a view of exerting himself to




346         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
put an end to the inveterate and disastrous controversy. After taking time for consideration, the
proposition was accepted upon the basis already
indicated,-viz: that he might assure the Connecticut settlers that the Pennsylvania legislature
would pass a law quieting them in their possessions. With this understanding. Colonel Pickering took the offices, and clothed with the necessary power by the legislature, to hold elections
and organize the county, proceeded to Wyoming
in January, 1787. After spending a full month in
visiting the people, the Colonel succeeded in persuading them to apply to the legislature for a compromise law, upon the principle heretofore suggested. His object, however, had well nigh been
defeated, at one of the preliminary meetings, by a
suggestion from Major John Jenkins,-known to
the reader in a former chapter as Lieutenant Jenkins,-who rose and remarked that they had too
often experienced the bad faith of Pennsylvania,
to place confidence in any new measure of its legislature; and that if they were to enact a quieting
law, they would repeal it as soon as the Connecticut settlers submitted and were completely saddled with the laws of the state. Colonel Pickering, not anticipating any such act of Punic faith,
repelled the suggestion with great earnestness, and
at length succeeded in procuring the application.
The proposition of the memorial was, that in case




RISTORY OF WYOMING.             341
the commonwealth would grant them the seventeen
townships which had been laid out, and in which
settlements had been commenced previous to the
decree of Trenton, they would on their part relinquish all their claims to any other lands within
the limits of the Susquehanna purchase.* The
towns were represented to be as nearly square as
circumstances would permit, and to be about five
miles on a side, and severally divided into lots of
three hundred acres each.  Some of these lots
were set apart as glebes, some for schools, and
others for various town purposes, &c.
Cdlonel Pickering proceeded to Philadelphia
with the memorial, and aided, by his advice and
counsel, the passage of the law. The case was
environed with difficulties, not the least of which
was the fact that many of the best lands, occupied
by the Connecticut claimants, had likewise been
granted by the Government of Pennsylvania to its
own citizens.  It was of course necessary that
these claims should be quieted likewise.  But as
the state had three years before extinguished the
Indian title to several millions of acres of land,
there was no lack of means for making new grants
to those who might suffer in the arrangement
* Chapman. These townships were, Salem, Newport, I-Ianover, Wilkesbarr6, Pittston, Westmor-lanrd, Putnam, Braintlee, Springfield, Claverack, Ulster, Exeter, Kingston, Plymouth, Bedford, Huntington, and
Providence.




848         H~IfSTORY OF WYOMIMNi 
with the Connecticut settlers.  Be that as it might,
the difficulties were surmounted; a law, which it
was supposed would answer every purpose intended, was passed; under which commissioners were
appointed to examine the claims on both sides;*
those of the Connecticut settlers to ascertain who
were entitled to hold by the terms of the law;
those of the Pennsylvanians, to ascertain the quality, and appraise the value of each tract.
The commissioners met in Wyoming in May,
and made their arrangements preliminary to a formal examination and adjustment of such claims as
might be presented to them at another session, to
be held in August and September.  The law gave
general satisfaction to the people within the seventeen townships embraced in its provisions; and
the commissioners entered upon their labors, at
the time appointed, with a fair prospect of completing the work within a reasonable time. But
fresh difficulties arose in another quarter.  The
Connecticut settlements had been extended, in
several directions, considerably beyond the limits
of the towns designated, and the people of those
settlements were greatly dissatisfied because they
were not included in the arrangement.  It is believed, moreover, that pending the negotiations for
the compromise, the Susquehanna Company had
* The commissioners were Timothy Pickering, William Montgomery,
and Stephen  Balliott.




HISTORY Or WYOMING.         349
been'exerting themselves to pour as many settlers
into those unincluded districts as possible. Colonel Pickering asserts positively, that " they invited
and encouraged emigrations from the states eastward of Pennsylvania, of all men destitute of property, who could be tempted by the gratuitous offer
of lands, on the single condition that they should
enter upon them arm ed' to man their rights,'
according to the cant phrase of the day. By this
arrangement the Company hoped to pour in such
a mass of young and able-bodied men as would
appear formidable to the Pennsylvania government,
to subdue and expel whom would require a considerable military force, to be raised and maintained
at a heavy expense of treasure, and perhaps of
blood;" to avoid which evils they hoped that
Pennsylvania would ultimately be brought to their
own terms. John Franklin had exerted himself,
beyond doubt, for that object; and he now became
the leader of a new party, determined to defeat
the execution of the law. He was a man of activity, shrewdness, and great energy and influence;
and by visiting the people of the settlements, he
soon stirred up a commotion that compelled the
commissioners to flee from the country for safety.
Evidence of his practices having been communicated to Chief Justice M'Kean, his warrant was issued
for the arrest of Franklin on a charge of treason.
It was not judged advisable to direct the sheriff of
31




350         HISTORY OF WYOMING&
Luzerne, who had just been elected, and whose
residence was among the turbulent men under the
influence of Franklin, to serve the writ, and it was
therefore directed to four gentlemen of known
fortitude, two of whom had served in the army of
the revolution. Franklin was at the time absent
on an incendiary mission, thirty-five miles farther
down the valley. On his return, every necessary
preparation having been made for his safe conduct
to Philadelphia, he was arrested. He resisted the
special officers, however, to the utmost, and would
unquestionably have effected his escape, or been
rescued, -for the people were already assembling
with that design, - had it not been for the exertions and the courage of Colonel Pickering. Observing the commotion from the window, he rushed
out with a pair of loaded pistols, and caused
Franklin to be secured by cords, and bound upon
the horse prepared for his journey. Hle was then
conducted off, and taken in safety to Philadelphia,
and thrown into prison.
Colonel Pickering always avowed that he should
not have interfered in the case but for the conviction that the welfare of the people and the public
peace depended upon securing the person of that
daring man. Deeply, however, did he incur the
resentment of Franklin's partizans. Their leader
had scarcely disappeared in.the direction of Philadelphia, before symptoms were discovered that




ITISTORY OF WYOMING.        351
vengeance was to be wreaked upon the head of
Colonel Pickering, and he was admonished by his
friendly neighbors that it would be wise for him
to leave his domicil for a short period, until their
passions had time to cool.  He listened to the
admonition, just in time to secrete himself in a
neighboring wood before "the Philistines were
upon him." Returning to his family in the evening, some of his neighbors assembled in arms for
his protection; but before he had finished his supper, tidings came that Franklin's men were embodying in arms on the opposite side of the river,
and were even then preparing to cross over and
attack him. Taking a loaded pistol with him, and
a few small biscuits, the Colonel retired to a neighboring field, and was soon apprised by the yells of
the insurgents that he had not effected his escape
a moment too soon,  The noise subsiding, he
correctly judged that the neighbors who had armed for his defence, and had fastened the house,
had been compelled to surrender. Such proved
to be the fact, and the insurgents made a thorough
search of the house in the hope of finding the object of their vengeance. Having been joined by
Mr. Evan Griffith, Secretary of the Commissioners,
and an inmate of Colonel Pickering's house, the
two retired to the mountains, where they passed
the night. Through a German friend occupying
ne of his farms, the Colonel was enabled on the




35$2        HISTORY OF WYOMING.
following day to communicate with his family.
Ascertaining in this way that it would be unsafe
for him to return, and that the search for him was
yet continued, Colonel Pickering determined to
make his way to Philadelphia, and from the distance watch the course of events. It was near
the middle of October. He was without provisions, and thinly clad; but no time was to be lost,
and he was compelled to direct his course through
the deep forests and over the mountains heretofore
described. There was, indeed, an indifferent road
leading in the proper direction; but by attempting
to travel upon this, he had well nigh fallen into
the hands of a. party of insurgents who were on
the watch to intercept his flight. Yet, after a severe journey, the Colonel arrived in safety at Philadelphia, about a month after the convention that
formed the Constitution of the United States had
adjourned.
Franklin had arrived there before him, and was
in jail. Deprived of his counsel and leadership,
his insurgent partizans, reflecting upon the- rashness of their conduct, and also upon its illegality,
began to relent, and sent a petition to. the Council,
acknowledging their offence, and praying for a pardon. This was readily granted, and conveyed to
them by Colonel Dennison, member of the Council
from Luzerne. Colonel Pickering now supposed
of course that he could join his family in safety;




MISTORY OF WYOMING           353
but having arrived within twenty-five miles of
Wyoming, a messenger whom he had despatched
in advance, to ascertain the popular feeling, met
him with a message from his friends that it would
yet be unsafe for him to come into the valley.
Upon the receipt of these advices, he returned to
Philadelphia, where he remained until January.
Meantime a state convention had been called to
deliberate upon the draft of a constitution submitted to the people of the United States by the national convention on the 17th of September,-to
which state convention Colonel Pickering was
chosen a delegate by the people of that very county
from, which he was kept in banishment! What a
striking illustration does this fact present, of the
inconsistencies into which the people may be hurried by passion and caprice! They would select
Colonel Pickering, of all others, to sit in judgment
upon an instrument, which, if adopted, was to become the grand regulating machine of their political and religious principleg, —the charter of their
liberty, and that of their posterity, in all time to
come,-while they would not trust the same imdividual to decide for them  in the matter of a
contested title to a few hundred dollars worth of
land!
Having attended to his duties in the conven,
tion, Colonel Pickering presented himtself among
his constituents in January, 1788. Franlkla yet
31*




354:        HPISTORY' OF WYOMING..
remained in prison.  Next to his confinement, the,
out-and-out opponents of the compromise law
deemed the presence of Colbnel Pickering within
the disputed' territory, as working the greatest
detriment to their schemes.  There were various
indications, therefore, for severalweeks, that a conspiracy was- on foot to; drive him from the county.
Indeed' it was menacingly intimated to him by
Major J~enkins, in the'month of' April, that such
was the fact.  But the Colonel was neither disposed to relinquish the cause of pacification in
which he had engaged; nor to abandon his farms
and improvements.  He therefore pursued his occupations as usual; until the- night of the 26th of
June,. when he was awakened from liis sleep by a
violent opening of the door of his apartment."Who is there?7" he demanded.  "Get up," %was
tihe answer.' "Don't strike," said Colonecl Piclering; " I have an infant on my arm."  Then rolling-ttie child from his arm, the Colonel, arose and.
diessed, while Mrs. Pickering slipped out of bed
on the other side, and throwing on a few clothesgroped her way to the kitelen for a ligh t, on returning with which they saw the room filled with
men- armed& with guns and hatchets, with blaclened' faces, and handkerchiefs tied around their
heads.  Their first act. was to pinion tlhe Colonel
by tying his arms across his back with a strong.'
cord, —lng enough for one of the party to hold.




~ISTORY' OF WYOMING.         355
in order to prevent an escape,-having in the
course of their proceedings admonished Mrs. Pickering that they would tomahawk her if she made
any noise., Having thus secured: his person, they
advised' him to- take, a blanket, or a thick outer
garment with him, as he would be a, long time in
a situation to need it. Mrs. Pickering thereupon
handed. the Colonel" hi's surtout,. andm they departed with their captive.  Tt appeared" that there
were fifteen of the ruffians.  Not a word more
than was, necessary was spoken:. and; their march
in the darkness and stillness of the night was
along- the. valley north to- Pittstown, ten miles,
where they halted at aa tavern for a few minutes.
After refreshing themselves with whiskey,-not
omitting to offer some to their captive, which was
d'eclined, -they- pursued' their journey, while it
was- yet dark as Erebus.. They had not proceeded far fromn the tavern, before one of'the ruffians
marching by the Colonel's side broke silence by
saying --
" Now, if'you will only write two or three lines"
to the- Executive Council, they will discharge Colonel' Franklin, and we will release you."
The object of the abdiction was, at once disclosed. But the ruffians had mistaken: their man.o
The instant reply of the Colonel; was, —
"'SThe Executive Council better understand theiK




356         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
duty than to discharge a traitor to procure the release of an innocent man."
" Damn him!" exclaimed one of the party,
marching as a guard in the rear, whose wrath had
been excited by the application of the epithet
"traitor" to Franklin, "why don't you tomahawk
him?"
Their march was then continued in the same
sullen silence as before. Bad as they were, however, these misguided men were not altogether
destitute of civility, or kind feelings. On their
arrival at the Lackawannock river, finding the
water so low that the canoe grounded in crossing
it, one of the party waded to the shore, and divesting himself of his pack, returned and carried the
Colonel over on his back.
In the course of the morning they crossed to the
west side of the Susquehanna, by a ferry, and pursued their journey thirty miles from Wiikesbarr6,
to a log-house, near the river, at which they halted,
and cooked some victuals, of which they all made
a hearty meal- it being the first food they had
tasted since the night before.  Seeing a bed in the
room, Colonel Pickering lay down to rest, and
found himself unpinioned when he arose. While
he was on the bed, and, as the party supposed,
asleep, they were overtaken by a man from Joseph's
Plains, two miles from Wilkesbarr6, who informed
them that the militia had turned out, and were ilx




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         357
pursuit.  The insurgents immediately disturbed
the repose of their prisoner, and retired back from
the river about a quarter of a mile, encamping
behind a hill in the woods. Here they remained
during the night, encountering a severe thunderstorm. In the morning, finding all quiet at the
river, they returned to the house, where theyobtained breakfast.  At about ten o'clock, a man
was descried on the opposite side of the river,,
leading his horse, at which one of the party exclaimed -" There goes Major Jenkiins, now,- a
d-d stinking son of a,!"  It was obvious
from this remark, that Jenkins had been prompting the outrage, but with more cunning than boldness, had avoided any direct participation in its
execution. He was indeed at that time leaving
Wyoming for the state of New-York, where he
employed himself as a land surveyor until tranquility had been restored.
Preparations were now making to cross to the
eastern side of the Susquehanna; and as the
blacking began by this time to disappear from the
faces of the captors, Colonel Pickering discerned
among the party two sons of a near neighbor,
named Dudley - Gideon and Jacob. These were
the only persons of the gang whom he knew.
Before entering the canoe, one of them attempted
to manacle the prisoner with a pair of handcuffs,
against which he remonstrated; and at the inter



358         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
position of a man named Earl, who also had two
sons of the party, the Colonel was spared that inconvenience and degradation.  Having crossed
the river, after an hour's march, the leader of the
party despatched all but four of his men upon separate duty. With these four to guard the prisoner, the leader struck off directly into the woods.
The Colonel's apprehensions were somewhat excited by this movement-more so from the circumstance that he had heard the leader described as a
bold, bad man. But his apprehensions of personal
injury were groundless. They had not travelled
more than an hour before a fawn was started,
"and as he bounded along, this leader, who was
an expert hunter, shot him, and in five minutes
he had his skin off, and the carcass slung upon
his back."  At the distance of three or four miles
from the river, on arriving at a brook that came
dancing across their course, they halted, struck a
fire, and began to cook some of their venison.
" The hunter who had killed it,-their leader,took the first cut. They sharpened small sticks
at both ends, running one into a slice of the fawn,,
and setting the other into the ground, the top of
the stick being so near the fire as to broil the
flesh,"  Being hungry, the Colonel borrowed one
of their knives and began cooking for himself.
He observed that the hunter was tending his steak
with great nicety, —sprinkling it with salt, —and




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         359
as soon as it was done, with a very good grace,
he presented it to their captive.
They erected a booth with branches of trees,
and remained at this place about a week-most
of the time upon short allowance of food, and that
of a coarse quality, In the course of their conversations, they had informed the Colonel that
they were to be supported by a body of four hundred men. He assured them that they were deceiving themselves, and that they would be sorry
for what they were doing, since, so far from being
supported, they would be abandoned to their fate.
From this station they removed to another, in a
narrow sequestered valley, not more than two or
three miles from the river. Here they produced
a chain five or six feet long, having at one end a
fetter for the anckle. They said they were reluctant to put the chain upon him, but Colonel
Franklin had been put in irons, and " their great
men required it.' The chain was then made fast
to the prisoner's leg, and the other end fastened to
a tree by a staple. Escape was now impossible.
Another booth was erected, and when they lay
down for the night, one of the guards wound the
chain around one of his own leg. But the Colonel had no design of attempting an escape. Satisfied that they did not intend to take his life, he
determined in his own mind to await the course




360                HISTORY OF WYOMIlNGG,of events with as much patience as he could command.
They had been at this place but two or three
days, when, one morning) before his guards were
awake, the Colonel heard a brisk firing, as of
musketry) in the direction of the river. But of
this circumstance he  said nothing  to  his keepers,
not doubting, in his own mind, that it was a skirmish  between  the  insurgents and the militia, sent
after them, and for his rescue. Such proved to
be the fact. After breakfast one of his keepers
went down to a house in their interest by the
river, but returned  in  haste, to  inform   his comrades that "'the boys," as they called their associates, had met the militia, and that Captain Ross,
who commanded the latter, was mortally wounded.*  They were now at Black Walnut Bottom,
forty-four miles above Wilkesbarre. During the
whole time, the guards of Colonel Pickering were
in communication with their comrades in the vi* Ha.ppily this statement was errbneous. The Captain Ross here spoken
of, is the late General Ross of Wilkesbarre. " A company of about fifteen men under Captain William Ross pursued the rioters, but as they had
concealed themselves in the woods, among the mountains of Mahoopeny,
the place of their retreat Was hot easily ascertained, particularly as their
movements were only in the night; for during the day they lay concealed
to guard their prisoner, who was kept bound to a tree. About the dawn
of the day, Captain Ross's company fell in with a company of the rioters,
near the mouth of Meshoppen Creek, and a skirmish ensued in wllich
Captain Ross was wounded.  Colonel Myers and Captain Schotts also
proceeded with a portion of the militia, in pursuit of the rioters. A sword
was afterward presented to Captain Ross, by the Supreme Executive Council, for his gallantry in this affair." —Csalmnan.




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         361
cinity; and after,this affair with Captain Ross,
thaey were evidently becoming more uneasy every
hour. They changed their stations several time,,
and again crossed to the west side of the river,
under cover of the night. On the 15th of July,
Gideon Dudley, who seemed to have become the
leader of the party, visited the station where Colonel Pickering was kept, and attempted to renew
the negotiation for his influence in behalf of
Franklin. But the Colonel positively refused to
purchase his own liberty in that manner. He
was then -asked by Dudl!ey if he would intercede
for their pardon, in the event of his release.  He
told them he would answer no questions until
they knocked off his chain. It was instantly
taken off. The Colonel then said to them, that in
the belief that they had been deluded and deceived,-that they had been acting in obedience
to the orders of those whom they called their
" great men," — he would exert his influence for
their pardon, if they would give him their names;
adding, that he entertained no doubt of being able
to obtain it. The demand of names was not readily assented to, causing the delay of a day in the
negotiation. On the 16th they removed to the
house of a man named Kilburne, father of two of
the party. The Colonel, who had been nineteen
days without a razor for his beard, or a change
of clothes, was here provided with shaving ap32




362         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
paratus and a clean shirt and stockings, and thenr
informed that he was at liberty, A comfortable
dinner was next prepared, after which "' the boys"
importunately renewed their application in behalf
of Franklin. This request was again peremptorily
refused.  In regard to themselves,-thirty-two
of the party being then present,-the Colonel
again proffered his influence in their behalf, on
condition that the names of their "great men'"
should be given up. But after a side consultation they rejected the terms, declaring that the
severest punishment in the world to come ought
to be meted to any one of their number who
should betray them.
Their last request to Colonel Pickering was,
that he would write a petition for them to the Executive Council, and be the bearer of it himself to
Wilkesbarre, whence he might forward it for them
to Philadelphia. To this request he assented;
and forthwith took his departure for his own home
where he arrived on the following day without
farther molestation.
The sequel to this singular outrage upon Colonel Pickering is briefly told. Without waiting for
the result of their petition to the Council, most
of the actual perpetrators of the outrage fled northward, taking refuge in the State of New-York.
On their way thither they encountered a detachment of militia, under the command of Captain




HISTORY OF WYOMING.         363
Roswell Franklin, who had been sent out in pursuit of them, and with whom they exchanged several shots. By one of them Joseph Dudley was
badly wounded. The others escaped. Dudley
was conveyed to Wilkesbarre, a distance of sixty
or seventy miles, in a canoe. The physician who
was sent for had no medicine, and the wants of
the wounded man were supplied from the medicine chest of Colonel Pickering, which had been
made up by Dr. Rush. Hfe survived but a few
days, and Mrs. Pickering furnished a winding
sheet for his burial.
At the Oyer and Terminer held in Wilkesbarr6
the succeeding autumn, several of the rioters were
tried and convicted. " They were fined and imprisoned, in different sums, and for different
lengths of time, according to the aggravation of
their offence. But they had no money wherewith
to pay their fines, and the jail at Wilkesbarre was
so insufficient, that they all made their escape, excepting Stephen Jenkins, brother of Major John
Jenkins." Although concerned in the plot, he
was not in arms with the insurgents; and when
the others escaped, he preferred to remain and
trust to the clemency of the government. The
consequence was that he soon afterward received
a pardon.
Captain Roswell Franklin, whose name has just
been mentioned, is pronounced by Colonel Picker



364               HISTORY OF WYOM.ING.
ing to have been a worthy man, but he came to
a melancholy end.  "Wearied with the disorders
and uncertain state of things at Wyoming, he removed with his family into the State of NewYork, and sat down upon a piece of land to which
he had no title.. Others had done the same. The
country awas: new and without inhabitants.  They
cleared land, and raised crops, to subsist the:ir
families and stock. In two or three years, after
all their crops for the season were ha vested, th  ir
hay and grain in stack, and they anticipated  Ijassing the approaching winter comfortably, Governor
George Clinton sent orders to the sheriff of the
nearest county  to raise  the  militia  and  drive  cff
the untitled  occupants.   These orders were as severely as promptly executed, and th3 barns and
crops all burnt. Reduced, thus to despair, Captain  Franklin  shot himself":  John  Franklin, so
* Pickering's Letter to his Son. There is reason, however, to question
the accuracy of this statement as to the su'icidfe of Roswell Franklin, as
will be seen by the following obituary notice,: copied from a newspaper
published at Auburn, (N. Y.) in the Spring of 1843:-"- DIED, on the 28th.
ulnit., at his late residence near Aurora, Maj. RoswELL. FRANKLIN, in the
75th year of his age. The deceased was a native of Connecticut - his father emigrated to the valley of Wyoming, Pennsylvania, - both were engaged in the battle with the Indians and English at that place, which was
so disastrous to the States. The mother and one sister were butchered
before their eyes, another sister was taken prisoner by the Indians and
retained among them eleven years at Niagara. The deceased was also
taken prisoner and retained among them about three years near Mount
Morris, Livingston county. In the spring of 1787, the deceased emigrated
with his father to the banks of Cayuga Lake, w-here the now beautiful village of Auroia stands. With boughs and barks they formed a shelter, and
in the Aqtumn of that year, the first' log cabin' ever erected in Cayuga




HISTORY OF WYOMINGT                            365
often mentioned, and whose arrest and imprisonment for his treasonable practices was the cause
of the abduction of Colonel Pickering, was indicted, and remained in prison for a considerable period. He was ultimately liberated on bail; and
after all opposition to the government in Luzerne
county had ceased, he was fully discharged. His
popularity with the people remained, and he was
afterward, for several years, a member of the Pennsylvania  Legislature.   Meeting  with  Colonel
Pickering in subsequent years, they interchanged
the ordinary civilities that pass between gentlemren.*
The prediction of Major John Jenkins to Colonel Pickering, at the time when the latter gentleman undertook the pacification of the valley, that
even should the General Assembly pass the desired compromise act, they would repeal it at their
county by civilized man, was raised by them, (only twelve feet square.)
A gentleman of Aurora has in his possession, a portion of the sill of this
Cabin, also a portion of'the Oalk stump which stood near the door, dug out
and used for pounding corn. The deceased was a most exemplary nlan.For more than forty years lie was a deacon inl the Presbyterian churches
of Aurora and Genoa."  The place where Captain Roswell Franklin settled, therefore, was not upon the disputed territory referred to by Colonel
Pickering, nor do the circulmstances narrated agree with the facts indicated in this obituary of the Son,
- * In closing this narrative of the captivity of Colonel Pickering in Wyoming, it is proper to say that the facts have been drawn immediately from
the letter to his sorn, cited occasionally in the notes to some of the precedin~g chapters. For a copy of'this letter, which was first read by the author
about ten years ago, he is indebted to William N1'Ilhenny, Esq., Librarian
of the Philadelphia Atbenreum, who found it-in Hazard-'s Pernssylvania
Register, where it was published in the spring of 1831i
32*




366          HISTORY OF WYOMING.
own plcasure was verified, sooner, perhaps, than
the prophet himself- anticipated. But the turbulent settlers had themselves to thank for this violation of the publil faith, if a violation of faith itcould be called which was superinduced by the
bad conduct of many, of those for whose chief benefit the law had been originally designed.  The
law was suspended in the year succeeding the
transactions detailed in the present chapter, and
was afterward entirelyy repealed,   "Thus the
question of title was again thrown into its former
position, and during the succeeding ten years
continued to retard the settlement of the country,
and to, create continual contention and distrust
between the respective claimants.  But the situation of the inhabitants was very different from
what it had been in former stages of the controversy.  They were represented in the General
Assembly by one of their own number, and were
the executors of the laws within their own district,
Pennsylvania had adopted a newconstitution, and
was governed by a more liberal policy.. Petitions
were againi presented to the legislature for the
passage of another law, upon the principles of the
one which had been repealed, and, in April, 1799,
an act was passed in conformity to the prayer of
the petition, so far as it regarded the seventeen
townships contemplated by the original law."f* Chapman.




HISTORY OY WYOMING.                367
The difficulties connected with the settlement of
that portion of the Susquehanna Company's claim
not included by the act, were continued two dr
three years longer, during which the Company
exerted itself as before, in sending forward clouds
of adventurous spirits to plant themselves upon
the disputed territory; nor did they desist until
the Legislature of Pennsylvania had provided
against farther intrusions by a bill of severe pains
and penalties. Ultimately the claims were all quieted, and the Pennsylvania titles fairly established.
The population of that portion of Pennsylvania,
is chiefly  from   New-England;  and for the last
thirty-five years the valley of Wyoming has been
as remarkable for its tranquillity, as for the fifty
preceding years it had been for its turbulence.
It is indeed a lovely spot, which, had Milton seen
it before the composition of his immortal Epic,
mig'ht well have suggested some portions of his gorgeous description of Paradise. The'lofty and verdant mountains which shut the valley from the rest
of the world, correspond well with the great poet's.-...-. —..enclosure green.,
Of a steep wilderness; whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild-,
Access denied; while overhead up grew
Insuperablte height of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm.,
A sylvan scene; and as the ranks ascend,,
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view.',




368         HISTORY OF WYOMING.
Wyoming is larger, by far, than the Thessalian
vale which the poets of old so often sang, though
not less beautiful.  If its mountain-barriers are
not honored by the classic names of Ossa and
Olympus, they are much more lofty. Instead of
the Peneus, a mightier river rolls its volume
through its verdant meadows; and if the gods of
the Greek Mythology'were wont to honor TEmPR:
with their presence, in times of old, they would
prove their good taste, and their love of the ro-.
mantic and beautiful, in these modern days, by
taking an occasional stroll among the cool shades
and flowery paths of WAYomXG.




NOTES
TO GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
PART 1.
STANZA 3, 1. 6.
aFrom merry mock-bird's so o.
THiE mocking-bi'rd is of the form, but larger, than the thrush; and the
colors are a mixture of blIck, white, and gray. What is said of the nightingale by its greatest admirers, is what may with more propriety apply to
this bird, who, in a natulral state, sings with very superior taste. Towards
evening I have heard one begin softly, reserving its breath to swell certain
notes, which, by this means, had a most astonishing effect. A gentleman
in London had one of these birds for six years. During the space of a minute he was heard to imitate the woodlark, chaffinch, blackbird, thrush, and
sparrow. In this country (America) I have fiequently known the mocking-birds so engaged in this mimicry, that it was with much dihsculty 1
could ever obtain an opportunity of hearing their own natural note. Some
go so far as to say, that they have neither peculiar notes, nor favorite inmitations. This may be denied. Their few natural notes resemble those of
the- (European) nightingale. Their song, however, has a greater compass
and volume than the nightingale, and they have the faculty of varying all
intermediate notes in a manner which is truly delightful,- -.she's Travels
ir7.omerica, vol. ii. p. 73.
STarNzA 5, 1. 9..and distant istes that hear the loud C'orbireehta roar,.
The Corybrechtan, or Corbrechtan, is a whirlpool on the western coast
of Scotland, near the island of Jura, which is heard at a prodigious distance.
Its name signifies the whirlpool of the Prince of Denmark; and there is a
tradition that a Danish Prince once undertook, for a wager, to cast anchor
in it. tie is said to have used wollen instead of hempen ropes, for greater
strength, but perished in the attempt. On the shores of Argyleshire, I have
often listened with great delight to the sound of this vortex, at the distance




370               GERTRUDE OF WYOMING,
of many leagues. When tile weather is calm, and the adjacent sea scarcely heard on these picturesque shores, its sound, which is like the sound of
innumerable chariots, create a magnificent and fine effect.
STANZA 13, 1. 4.
Of buskiin'd limb and swarthy lineament.
In the Indian tribes there is a great similarity in their color, stature, &c.
They are all, except the Snake Indians, tall in sta.ure, straight, and robust.
It is very seldom they are deformed, which has given rise to the supposition
that they put to death their deformed children. Their skin is of a copper
color; their eyes large, bright, black, and sparkling, indicative of a subtle
and discerning mind; their hair is of the same color, and prone to be long,
seldom or never curled. Their teeth are large and white; I never observed any decayed among them, which makes their breath as sweet as the
air they inhale. - Travels throughl.4dmerica by Capts. Lewis and Clarke, in
1824 —5-6,
STANZA 14, 1. 6.
Peace be to thee! nwy words this belt approve.
The Indians of North America accompany every formal address to strangers, with whom they form or recognise a treaty of amity, with a present
of a string or belt of Wampum. Wampum (says Cadwallader Colden) is
made of the large whelk shell, Buccinum, and shaped \liked long beads;
it is the current money of the lndians.-History of the Olive 1~?dian N7ations,
p. 34.-JV'ese- York edition,
STANZA 14, 1. 7.
The paths of peace sny steps have hither led.
In relating an interview of Mohawk Indians with the Governor of NewYork, Colden quotes the following passage as a specimen of their metaphorical manner: " Where shall I seek the chair of peace? Where shall I find
it but upon our path? and whither doth our path lead us but unto this
house?"
STArNZA 15, I 2.
Our wampum leagpue thy brethren did embrace.
When they solicit the alliance, offensive or defensive, of a whole nation;
they send an embassy with a large belt of wampum and a bloody hatchet,
inviting them to come and drink the bloodl of their enemies. The wampum
made use of on these and other occasions, before their acquaintance with
the Europeans, was nothing but small shells which they picked up by the
sea-coasts, and on the banks of the lakes; and now it is nothing but a
kind of cylindrical beads, made of shells, white and black, which are esteemed among them as silver and gold are among us. The black they call




NOTES TO PART I.                            371
the most valuable, and both together are their greatest riches and ornaments;these among them answering all the end that money does with us. They
have the art of stringing, twisting, and interweaving them into their belts,
collars, blankets, and moccasins, &c., in ten thousand different sizes,
for'ms, and figures, so as to be ornaments for every part of dress, and expressive to them of all their important transactions. They dye the wampum of various colors and shades, and mix and dispose them with great
ingenuity and order, and so as to be significant among themselves of almost
every thing they please; so that by these their words are kept, and their
thoughts communicated to one another, as ours are by writing. The belts
that pass from one nation to another in all treaties, declarations, and important transactions, are very carefully preserved in the cabins of their
chiefs, and serve not only as a kind of record or history, but as a public
treasure.-JiMajor Rogesrs's A/ccosunt of Jtorh,i America.
STANZA 17, 1. 5.
Jds when the evil Jlesanitou.
It is certain that the Indians acknowledge one Supreme Being, or Giver
of'Life, who presides over all things; that is, the Great Spirit; and they
look up to him  as the source of good, from whence no evil can proceed.
They also believe in a bad Spirit, to whom they ascribe great power; and
suppose that through his power all the evils which befall mankind are afflicted. To hilt, therefore, they pray in their distresses, begging that he
would either avert their troubles, or moderate them  when they are no
longer unavoidable;
They hold also that there are good Spirits of a lower degree, who have
their particular departments, in which they are constantly contributing to
the happiness of mortals. These they suppose to preside over all the extraordinary productions of Nature, such as those lakes, rivers, and mountains, that are of uncommon magnitude; and likewise the beasts, birds,
fishes, and even vegetables or stones, that exceed the rest of their species
in size or singularity.-Clarhe's Travels mssonsg the Ildians,
The Supreme Spirit of good is called by the Indians Kitchi Manitou 
and the Spirit of evil, Matchi Manitou.
STANZA 19, 1. 9.
Fever-balm and sweet sageamile.
The fever-balm is a medicine used by these tribes; it is a decoction of a
bush called the Fever Tree. Sagamite is a kind of soup administered to
their sick.
TANZA 20, 1. A
And I,   tae egle of my tribe, have r'uesld with this ltonA dove.
The testimony of all travellers among the American Indians who mention
their hieroglyphics, authorizes me in putting this figurative language in the




372                GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
mloth of Outalissi. The dove is among tihem, as elsewhere, an emblemn
of meekiness; and the eagle, that'of a bold, noble, atd liberal mind. When
the Indians speak of a warrior who soars above the multitude in person
uand endownellts, they say, "< he is like the eagle, who destroys his enemies, and gives protectioin aind abundance to tile Weak of his own tribe-."
STANZA 23, 1. 2
Par di:brently, thle nmote Onieda took, etc.'They are extremely circumspect and deliberate in every word and action g
hothing hurries them  into any intemperate wrath, but that inveteracy to
their enemies, which is rooted in every Indian's breast. In all other instances they are cool and alelibelate, taking care to suppress the emotions
oi'the heart. lf an Indian has discovered that a friend of his is in danger
of being cut off by a lurking enenmy, he does not tell him of his danger in
direct terms, as though lie were in fear, but he first coolly asks him which
way le is going that day, and having his answer, with the same indifference tells himl that. he has been inlfrnmed tiat a noxious beast lies on the'route he is golig. This hint proves *ulficient, and his firiend avoids the
dfan'eit vith as m'lich caution as though every design and motion of his
ellem'y b]ad been poiinted out to him.
If an Inldian has been engaaed for several days in the chase, anda by aecident continued long Withotit food, when he arriVes at the hut of a friend
where he knows  his wants wviii be immediately supplied, he takes care
not to show the least sy'i~ptoms o;P in'patliehiie, or betray the extreime hurnger that he is tortured withl; baut on lieing invited in, sits contentedly down
abdl smo1kes his pipe with ias much composure as if his appetite was cloyed,
aind lhe vas perfectly at ease.  IHe does the same if amnong strangers.  This
custom is strictly adhered to by every tribe, as they esteem it as a proof of
fortitude, and think the reverse would entitle them to the appellation of
old wonimen.
if you tell an Indian that his childreln have greatly signalized themselves
against an enemy, have takenrt iiany scalps, and brought home many prisoners, he does not appear to feel ansy strong emotions of pleasure on the
occasion; his answer geiierally is - tihe  have'" done well," and he makes
lbut very little inquiry iabhott the mnatter; on the contrary, if you inform him
that hIis children are slain or tak'en prisoners, he umakes ho complaints: he
only replies, " It is unifortunalte: — ad for some time asks no questions
about how it happened.-L,:;is and Clcarkels Travels,
S-r.NZA 23, 1. 3.
His cahltiiet of peace,'Cn
Nor is the calumet of less importance or less revered than the wampum,
in many transactions relative both to peace and war. The bowl of this
pipe is made of a kind of soft red stone, which is easily wrought and hol



NOTES TO PART i.                           873
Bowed out; the stem is of cane, -alder, or some kind of light wood, paintea
with different colors, and decorated with the heads, tails, and feathers of
the most beautiful birds. The use of the calumet is to smoke either tobacco, or some bark, leaf, or herb, which they often use instead of it, when
they enter into an alliance, or any serious occasion, or solemn engaged
ments; this being among them the most sacred oath that can be taken, the
violation of which is esteemed most infamous, and deserving of severe
punishment from Heaven. When they treat of war, the whole pipe and all
its ornaments are red; sometimes it is only red on one side) and by the
disposition of'the'feathers, &c., one acquainted with their customs will
know at first sight what the nation who presents it intends or desires.
Smoking the calurnet is also a religious ceremony on some occasions, and
in all treaties is considered as a witness between the parties, or rather as
an instrument by which they invoke the sun and moon to witness their
sincerity, and to be, as it were, a guarantee of the treaty between them.
This custom of the Indians, though to appearance somewhat ridiculous) is
not without its reasons; for as they find that smoking tends to disperse
the vapors of the brain, to raise the spirits, and to qualify them for thinking and judging properly, they introduced it into their councils, where, after their resolves, the pipe was considered as a seal of their decrees, and
as a pledge of their performance thereof, it was sent to those they were
consulting, in alliance or treaty with; so that smoking among them at the
same pipe, is equivalent to our drinking together, and out of the same cup.
-3Major Rogers's Account of.A'orth?lszerica, 1766.
The lighted calumet is also used among them for a purpose still more interesting than the expression of social friendship. The austere manners
of the In: ians forbid any appearance of gallantry between the sexes in
day time; but at night the young lover goes a calumeting, as his courtship
is called. As these people live in a state of equality, and without fear of'
internal violence or theft in their own tribes, they leave their doors open
by night as well as by day. The lover takes advantage of this liberty,
lights his calumet, enters the cabin of his mistress, and gently presents it
to her. If she extinguishes it, she admits his addresses; but if she suffer
it to burn unnoticed, lie retires with a disappointed and throbbing heart. —.ashe's Travels.
STANZA 23, 1. 6.
Train'dfrost his tree-rock'd cradle to his bier.
An Indian child, as soon as he is born, is swathed with clothes, or skins,
and being laid upon his back, is bound down on a piece of thick board,
spread over with soft moss. The board is somewhat larger and broader
than the child, and bent pieces of wood, like pieces of hoops, are placed
over its face to protect it, so that if the machine were suffered to fall, the
child probably would not be injured. When the women have any business to transact at home, they hang the board on a tree, if there be one at
33




374               GERTRUDE OF WYOMINtGs
hand, and set them a-swinging from side to side, like a pendulum, in: o&f
der to exercise the children.- Weld, vol. ii. p. 246.
STANZA 23, 1. 7.
The fierce extremes of good aned ill to brook
fmnpassive —
Of the active as well as passive fortitude of the Indian character, the
following is an instance related by Adair, in his Travels:A party of the Seneca Indians came to war against the Katahba, bitter
enemies to each other, In the woods the former discovered a sprightly
Warrior belonging to the latter, hunting in their usual light dress: on his
perceiving them, he sprang off for a hollow rock four or five miles distant,
as they intercepted him from running homeward. He was so extremely
swift and skilful with the gun, as to kill seven of them in the running
fight, before they were able to surround and take him. They carried him
to their counitry in sad triumph; but though he had filled them with unJ
common grief and shame for the loss of so many of their kindred, yet the
love of martial virtue induced them to treat him during their long journey,
with a great deal more civility than if he had acted the part of a coward.
The women and children, when they met him at their several'towns, beat
him and Whlipped him in as severe a manner as the occasion required, according to their law ofjustice, and at last he was condemned to die by the
fiery torture. It might reasonably be imagined that what he had for some
time gone through, by being fed with a scanty hand, a tedious march, lying
at night on the bare ground, exposed to the changes of the weather, with
his arms and legs extended in a pair of rough stocks, and suffering such
punishment on his entering into their hostile towns, as a prelude to those
sharp torments for which he Was destined, would have so impaired his
health and affected his imagination, as to have sent him to his long sleep,
out of the way of any more sufferings. -Probably this would have been
the case With the major part of white people under similar circumstances;
but I never knew this with any of the Indians; and this cool-headed,
brave Warrior, did not deviate from their rough lessons of martial virtue,
but he acted his part so well as to surprise and sorely vex his numerous
enemies: —for when they were taking him, unpinioned, in their wild par
rade, to the place of torture, which lay near to a river, he suddenly dashed down those who stood in his way, sprang off, and plunged into the
waters, swimming underneath like an otter, only rising to take breath,
till he reached the opposite shore. He now ascended the steep bank, but
though he had good reason to be in a hurry, as many of the enemy
were in the water, and others running very like bloodhounds, in pursuit
of him, and the bullets flying around him from the time he took to the river, yet his heart did not allow him to leave them abruptly, without taking
leave in a formal manner, in return for the extraordinary favors they had
done, and intended to do him. After slapping a pait of his body, in de,




NOTES TO PART I.                          3'75
fiance to them, (continues the author,) he put up the shrill warhoop, as
his last salute, till some more convenient opportunity offered, and darted
off in the manner of a beast broke loose from its torturing enemies. He
continued his speed, so as to run by about midnight of the same day as far
as his eager pursuers were two days in reaching. There he rested till he
happily discovered five of those Indians who had pursued him: —he lay
hid a little way off their camp, till they were sound asleep. Every circumstance of his situation occurred to him, and inspired him with hefoism. Ile was naked, torn, and hungry, and his enraged enemies were
come up with him; but there was now every thing to relieve his wants,
and a fair opportunity to save his life, and get great honor and sweet revenge, by cutting them off. Resolution, a convenient spot, and sudden
surprise, would effect the main object of all his wishes and hopes. He
accordingly creeped, took one of their tomahawks, and killed them all on
the spot,-clothed himself, took a choice gun, and as much ammunition
and provisions as he could well carry in a running march. He set off
afresh with a light heart, and did not sleep for several successive nights,
only when he reclined as usual, a little before day, with his back to a tree.
As it were by instinct, when he found he was fiee fronm the pursuing enemy, he made directly to tile very place where he had killed seven of his
enemies, and was taken by them for the fiery torture. He digged them up,
burned their bodies to ashes, and went home in triumph. Other pursuing
enemies came, on the evening of the second day, to the camp of their
dead people, when the sight gave them a greater shock than they had ever
known before. In their chilled war-council they concluded, that as he
had done such surprising things in his defence before he was captivated,
and since that in his naked condition, and now  was well-armed, if they
continued the pursuit he would spoil them all, for surely he was an enemy wizard, and therefore they returned home. —,qdair's General Observations on the tqmerican Indians, p. 394.
It is surprising, says the same author, to see tile long continued speed of
the Indians. Though some of us have often run the swiftest of them out
of sight for about the distance of twelve miles, yet afterward, without
any seenming toil, they would stretch on, leave us out of sight, and outwind any horse.-Ibid. p. 318.
If an Indian were driven out into the extensive woods, with only a
knife and a tomahawk, or a small hatchet, it is not to be doubted but he
would fatten even where a wolf would starve. He would soon collect
fire by rubbing two dry pieces of wood together, make a bark hut, earthen vessels, and a bow and arrows: then kill wild game, fish, fresh-water
tortoises, gather a plentiful variety of vegetables, and live in affluence,Ibid. p. 410.
STANZA 24, 1. 7.
MIoc sins is a sort of Indian buskins.




376               GERTRUDE OF WYOMiING
STArNZA 25, 1. 1',
Sleep,?vearied one! and in thle dCeanmin Tand
Shouldst thou to-7norrow with thy nmothcr meet.
There is nothing (says Charlevoix) in which these barbarians carry thieiL
superstitions further, than in what regards dreams: but they vary greatly
in their manner of explaining themselves on this point. Sometimes it is
the reasonable soul which ranges abroad, while the sensitive continues to
animate the body. Sometimes it is the familiar genius who gives salutary
counsel with respect to what is going to happen.  iomeijmes it is a visit
made by the soul of the object of whicrl he dreams. But in whatever
manner the dream is conceived it is always looked upon as a thing sacred,
and as the most ordinary way in which the gods make known their will
to men. Filled with this idea, they cannot conceive how we should pay
no regard to them. For the most part they look upon them either as a desie of the soil, inspired by some genius, or an order from him,and in consequence of this principle they hold it a religious duty to obey them.  Anr
Indian having dreamt of having a finger cut of;, had it really cut off as
soon as he awoke, h tying first prepared himself for this important action
by a fmast. Another having dreamt of being a prisoner, and in the hands
of his enemies, was much at a loss what to do. He consulted the jugglers, and by their advice caused himself to be tied to a post, and burnt in
several parts of the body.-COharlevoix  Journsal of a Voyage to Jr'orta
qtnmerica.
STANZA 26, 1 5.
The crocodile, the condor of the rockThe alligator, or American crocodile, when full grown, (says Blertramrn,
is a very large and terrible creature, and of prodigious strength, activity,
and swiftness in the water. I have seen them twenty feet in length, and
some are supposed to be twenty-two or twenty-three feet in length. Their
body is as large as that of a horse, their shape usually resembles that of a
lizard, which is flat, or cuneiform, being compressed on each side, and
gradually diminishing from the abdomen to the extremity, which, with
the whole body, is covered with horny plates of squanme, impenetrable
when on the body of the live animal, even to a rifle-lall, except about
their head, and just behind their fore-legs or arms, where, it is said, they
are only vulnerable. The head of a full grown one is about three feet, and
the mouth opens nearly the same length. Their eyes are small in proportion, and seem sunk in the head, by means of the prominency of the
brows; the nostrils are large, inflated, and prominent on the top, so that
the head on the water resembles at a distance, a great chunk of wood
floating about: only the upper jaw moves, which they raise almost perpendicular, so as to form a right angle with the lower one. In the forepart of the upper jaw, on each side, just under the nostrils, are two very
large, thick, strong teeth, or tusks, not very sharp, but rather the shape of




'NOTES TO  PART  I.                      377
a ef6he; these are as white as the finest polished ivory, and are not covered by ally skin or lips, but always in sight, which gives the creature a
frightful appearance; in the lower jaw are holes opposite to these teeth to
receive them; when they clap their jaws together, it causes a surprising
noise, like that which is made by forcing a heavy plank with violence
upon the ground, and may be heard at a great distance. But what is yet
more surprising to a stranger, is the incredibly loud and terrifying roar
which they are capable of making, especially in breeding-time. It most
resembles very heavy distant thunder, not only shaking the air and waters, but causing the earth to tremble; and when hundreds are roaring at
the same time, you can scarcely be persuaded but that the whole globe is
violently and dangerously agitated. An old champion, who is, perhaps,
absolute sovereign of a little lake or lagoon, (when fifty less than himself
are obliged to content themselves with swelling and roaring ill little coves
round about,) darts forth from the reedy coverts, all at once, on the surface of the waters in a right line, at first seemingly as rapid as lightning,
but gradually more slowly, until he arrives at the centre of the lake,
where he stops, He now swells himself by drawing in wind and water
through his mouth, which causes a loud sonorous rattling in the throat
for near a minute; but it is immediately forced out again through his
Imouth and nostrils with a loud noise, brandishing his tail in the air, and
the vapor running from his nostrils like smoke. At other times, when
swoln to an extent ready to burst, his head and tail lifted up, he spins or
twirls round on the surface of the water. He acts his part like an Indian
chief, when rehearsing his feats of war,? —Bertram's Travcls in,sortl,lmerica.
STANZA 27, 1. 4.
Thensfosrth stprose that lone wayfarisg' man.
They discover an amazing sagacity, and acquire, with the greatest
readiness, anything that depends upon the attention of the mind. By experience, and an acute observation, they attain many perfections to which
Americans are, strangers. For instance, they will cross a forest or a plain,
which is two hundred miles in breadth, so as to reach, with great exactness, the point at which they intend to arrive, keeping, during the whole
of that space, in a direct line, without any material deviations; and this
they will do with the same ease, let the weather be fair or cloudy. With
equal acuteness they will point to that part of the heavens the sun is in,
though it be intercepted by clouds or fogs.  Besides this, they are able to
pursue, with incredible facility, the traces of man or beast, either on
leaves or grass; and on this account it is with great difficulty they escape
discovery. Thley are indebted for these talents, not only to nature, but to
an extraordinary command of the intellectual qualities, which can only
be acquired  by an unremitted attention, and by long experience.
They are, in general, very happy in a retentive memory. They can
recapitulate every particular that has been treated of in council, and




378              GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
remember the exact time when they were held. Their belts of wampum
preserve the substance of the treaties they have concluded with the
neighboring tribes for ages back, to which they will appeal and refer with
as much perspicuity and readiness as Europeans can to their written records.
The Indians are totally unskilled in geography, as well as all the other
sciences, and yet they draw on their birch-bark very exact charts or maps
of the countries they are acquainted with. The latitude and longitude
only are wanting to make them tolerably complete.
Their sole knowledge in astronomy consists in being able to point out
the polar star, by which they regulate their course when they travel in the
night.
They reckon the distance of places, not by miles or leagues, but by a
day's journey which, according to the best calculation I could make, appears to be about twenty English miles. These they also divide into
halves and quarters, and will demonstrate them in their maps with great
exactness by the hieroglyphics just mentioned, when they regulate in
council their war-parties or their most distant hunting excursions.-Lesis
iand Clarke's Travels.
Some of the French missionaries have supposed that the Indians are
guided by instinct, and have pretended that Indian children can find their
way through a forest as easily as a person of maturer years; but this is a
most absurd notion. It is unquestionably by a close attention to the
growth of the trees, and position of the sun, that they find their way. On
the northern side of a tree there is generally the most moss; and the bark
)n tlhat side, in general, differs from  that on the opposite one. The
branches towards the south are, for the most part, more luxuriant than
those on the other sides oftrees and several other distinctions also subsist
between the northern and southern sides, conspicmous to Indians, being
taught from their infancy to attend to them, which a common observer
wouldl, perhaps, never notice. Being accustomed from their infancy
likewise to pay great attention to the position of the sun, they learn to
snake the most accurate allowance for its apparent motion fiom one part of
the heavens to another; and in every part of the day they will point to
the part of the heavens where it is, although the sky be obscured by clouds
or mists.
An instance of their dexterity in finding their way through an unknown
country came under my observation when I was at Staunton, situated behind the Blue Mountainq,Virginia. A number of the Creelk nation had
arrived at that town on their way to Philadelphia, whither they were going upon some aflhirs of importance, and had stopped there for the night.
In the morning, some circumstance or other which could not be learned,
induced one half of the Indians to set off without their companions, who
did not follow until some hours afterward. When these last were ready
to pursue their journey, several of the towns-people mounted their horses
to escort them part of the way. They proceeded along the high road some




NOTES TO PART I.                        379
miles, but, all at once, hastily turning aside into the woods, though there
was no path, the Indians advanced confidently forward. The people who
accompanied them, surprised at this movement, informed them that they
were quitting the road to Philadelphia, and expressed their fear lest they
should miss their companions who had gone on before. They answered
that they knew better, that the way through the woods was the shortest
to Philadelphia, and that they knew very well that their companions had
entered the wood at the very place where they did. Curiosity led some of
the horsemen to go on; and to their astonishment, for there was apparently no track, they overtook the other Indians in the thickest part of the
wood.  But what appeared most singular was, that the route which
they took was found, on examining a map, to be as direct for Philadelphia
as if they had taken the bearings by a mariner's compass. From others of
their nation who had been at Philadelphia at a former period, they had
probably learned the exact direction of that city from their villages, and
had never lost sight of it, although they had already travelled three hundred miles through the woods, and had upwards of four hundred miles
more to go before they could reach the place of their destination.-Of the
exactness with which they can find out a strange place to which they
have been once directed by their own people, a striking example is furnished, I think, by Mr. Jefferson, in his account of the Indian graves in
Virginia. These graves are nothing more than large mounds of earth in
the woods, which on being opened, are found to contain skeletons in an
erect postulle: the Indian mode of sepulture has been too often described
to remain unknown to you. But to come to my story. A party of Indians that were passing on to some of the seaports on the Atlantic, just as
the Creeks, above mentioned, were going to Philadelphia, were observed,
all on a sudden, to quit the straight road by which they were proceeding,
and without asking any questions, to strike through the woods, in a direct
line, to one of these graves, which lay at the distance of some miles from
the road. Now very near a century must have passed over since the part
of the Virginia in which this grave was situated, had been inhabited by
Indians, and these Indian travellers, who were to visit it by themselves,
had unquestionably never been in that part of the country before; they
must have found their way to it simply from the description of its situation, that had been handed downt to them by tradition.- Weld's Travels in
sXortts.=mcica, vol. ii,




NOTE S
TO GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
PART II.
STANZA 16, 1. 4.
The JMammoth comes.
THAT I am justified in malting the Indian chief allude to the mammoth
as an emblem of terror and destruction, will be seen by the authority
quoted below. Speaking of the mammoth or big buffalo, Mr. Jefferson
states, that a tradition is preserved among the Indians of that animal still
existing in the northern parts of America.
" A delegation of warriors from the Delaware tribe having visited the
governor of Virginia during the revolution, oni matters of business, the governor asked them some questions relative to their country, and among
others, what they knew or had heard vf the animal whose bones were
found at the Saltliclis, on the Ohio. Their chief speaker immediately put
himself into an attitude of oratory, and with a pomp suited to what he
conceived the elevation of his subject, informed him, that it was a tradition handed down from their fathers, that in ancient times a herd of these
tremendous animals came to the Big —bone-licks, and began a universal
destruction of the bear, deer, elk, buffalo, anid other animals which had
been created for the use of the Indians. That the Great Man above looking down and seeing this, was so enraged, that he seized his lightning,
descended on the earth, seated himself on a neighboring mountain on a
rock, of which his seat and the prints of his feet are still to be seen, and
hurled his bolts among them, till the whole were slaughtered, except the
big bull, who, presenting his forehead to the shafts, shook theni off as they
fell, but missing one, at length it wounded himi in the side, whereon,
springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, over the Wabash, the Illinois,
and finally over the great lakes, where he-is living at this day."-Jeffevson's J3otes o01 Virgrinia.




NOTES TO PART III.                         381
STANZA 17, 1. 1.
Scorning to wield the hatchetfor.Lis bribe,
I Gainst Brant himself Iswent to battle forth.
I took the character of Brant in the poem of Gertrude, from the commnon Histories of England, all of which represented him as a bloody and
bad man, (even among savages,) and chief agent in the horrible desolation of Wyoming. Some years after this poem appeared, the son of Brant,
a most interesting and intelligent youth, came over to England, and I
formed an acquaintance with him, on which I still look back with pleasure. He appealed to my sense of honor and justice, on his own part and
on that of his sister, to retract the unfair aspersions which unconscious of
its unfairness, I had cast on his ftther's memory.
He then referred me 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 similar Histories of England
were gross errors, and that, in point of fact, Brant was not even present
at that scene of desolation,
It is, unhappily, to Britons and Anglo-Americans that we must refer the
chief blame in this horrible business. I published a letter expressing this
belief in the.New JMonthly JlMaazine, in the year 1822, to which I must refer the reader-if he has any curiosity on the subject-for an antidote to
ny fanciful description of Brant. Among other expressions to young
Brant, I made use of the following words: " Had I learnt all this of your
father when I was writing my poem, he should not have figured in it as
the hero of mischief." It was but bare justice to say thus much of a Mohawk Indian, who spoke English fluently, and was thought capable of
having written a history of the Six Nations. I ascertained also that he
often strove to mitigate the cruelty of Indian warfare.  The name of
Brant, therefore, remains in my poem a pure and declared character of
fiction,
STArnza 17, 1. 8 and 9.
To whom nor relative nor blood remainss,
JN'o, not a kindred drop that runs in human veins,
Every one who recollects the specimen of Indian eloquence given in the
speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, to the Governor of Virginia, will per,
ceive that I have attempted to paraphrase its concluding and most striking
expressions;-" There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any
living creature."  The similar salutation of the fictitious personage in
my story, and the real Indian orator, makes it surely allowable to borrow
such an expression; and if it appears, as it cannot but appear, to less advantage than in the original, I beg the reader to reflect how  difficult it is
to transpose such exquisitely simple words without sacrificing a portion of
their effect.




382             GERTRUDE OF WYOMING.
In the spring of 1774, a robbery and murder were committed on an inhabitant of the frontiers of Virginia, by two Indians of the Shawanee
tribe. The neighboring whites, according to their custom, undertook to
punish this outrage in a summary manner. Colonel Cresap, a man infamous for the many murders he had committed on those much injured people, collected a party and proceeded down the Kanaway in quest of vengeance; unfortunately, a canoe with women and children, with one man
only, was seen coming from the opposite shore, unarmed, and unsuspecting an attack from the whites. Cresap and his party concealed themselves
on the bank of the river, and the moment the canoe reached the shore,
singled out their objects, and at one fire killed every person in it. This
happened to be the family of Logan, who had long been distinguished as a
friend to the whites. This unworthy return provoked his vengeance; he
accordingly signalized himself in the war which ensued. In the autumn
of the same year a decisive battle was fought at the mouth of the great
Kanaway, in which the collected forces of the Shawanese, Mingoes, and
Delawares, were defeated by a detachment of the Virginia militia. The
Indians sued for peace. Logan, however, disdained to be seen among the
supplicants; but lest the sincerity of a treaty should be disturbed, from
which so distinguished a chief abstracted himself, he sent by a messenger
the following speech to be delivered to Lord Dunmore:" I appeal to any white man if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry,
and he gave him not to eat; if he ever came cold and naked, and he
clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love
for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, Logan is the friend of white men. I have even thought to have lived with
you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in
cold blood, murdered all the relations of Logan, even my women and
children.
" There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature;
— this called on me for revenge. I have fought for it.  I have killed
many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at
the beams of peace: —but do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of
fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life.
Who is there to mourn for Lo-an? not one "-.Jefferson's,Botes on Viritsiar.




COPY OF THE DEED OF PURCHASE,
REFERRED TO IN THE FOREGOING WORK.
To all People to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting; Know
ye that we Ka-hick-to-ton, Abraham Pieters, Willem Tharigjoris (Brant
Cauwignoge) (Henderick Pieters Tejanoge) (Canageogaije Set I-ta-va-rie)
(Johans  So-ge-howane) (Johani Canadegaie) (Nikes Carigiagtadie)
(Conaggnause) (Johanes Signagerat) Cores-tago Senosses A-gwe-iota.Being Chief Sachems and Heads of the five Nations of Indians called
the Irequois and the Native Proprietors of a large Tract of Land on, about,
find adjacent to the River Susquehannah, between the forty-first and
forty-third Degrees of North Latitude, and being within the Limits and
Bounds of the Charter and Grant of his late Majesty King Charles the
Second to the Colony of Connecticut-andWhereas a large Number of the leige and good Subjects of his Royal
Majesty George 2nd of Great Britain, &c., King, inhabitants of his Said
Majesty's English Colony of Connecticut, &c., to the Number of about Six
Hundred have applyed to us for the Purchase of said above mentioned
Tract of Land, for a Plantation to settle upon.
Thereupon Whereas a constant and cordial Friendship from the time of
our Progenitors and Predecessors to this Day hath always been subsisting
between us and our Brethren the English Subjects of this Said Majesty
King George, and of his Royal Predecessors, Kings and Queens of Great
Britain, and tile Continuation of which we heartily desire. And Whereas,
the Enabling and Incouraging our Said English Brethren to Plant and
Settle in a nearer Neighbourhood to us than heretofore, may greatly contribute to our safety and Defense against the unjust Encroachments and
Insults of French and Indians in Alliance with them, and to the Benefitt
and Increase of our Trade, and also may be very conducive to our obtaining a more full and clear Knowledge of the true God and the Christian Religon and thereby Fix and Establish a more firm Solid and lasting Friendship with his said Majesties English Subjects.
Now Thereupon for and in Consideration of the Sum of Two Thousand
Pounds of Current Money of the Province of New York to us, to our full
satisfaction,before the Ensealing hereof Contented and Paid, the Receipt
whereof to full content we do hereby Acknowledge, and thereupon do
Give, Grant, Bargain, Sell, Convey And Confirm —--




'94                 DEED  OF  WYOMRIGo
UXfTOHez. Huntington, Esq. Josiah Dean, Jun.      John Leavins
Roger Wolcott, Jr. Esq. Asa Douglass         Ebenezer Larnard
Col. Elisha Williams   Gideon Demoring       Stephen Lee
Phineas Lyman, Esq.  Jos. Eaton             Isaac Lee
Daniel Edwards, Esq. Josh. Elderkin         Edward Mott
Col. Samuel Talcott   Edward Ewings         James Montgomery
George Wyllys, Esq.   Elias Frink           John Montgomery
Thos. Wells, Esq.     Elijah Frances        Gaun Miller
Eliphalet Dyer, Esq.   John Gaston           Samuel McFarland
Jabez Fitch, Esq.     John Grosvenor        John Montgomery, Jun.
John Smith, Esq.      Eben. Grosvenor       Joseph Mofflitt
Ezekiel Pierce, Esq.   Stephen Gardner      Manassah'Minor
Thos. Saymore         Stephen Gardner, Jun.'Ihomas Mansfield
Wm. Pitkin, Jun. Esq. Jonathan Gardner      John Maning, Jun
Eleazar Fitch, Esq.    David Griswold       Josiah Orcutt
John Fitch            Elijah Griswold       Wil. Parkes
Samuel Grey, Esq,    Robert Hunter          Mathew Patrick
Jedediah Elderkin     John Hunter           Jacob Patrick
John Abbe             Henry Itewett         Joseph Phillips
William Andrews       John Howard           Benj. Pierce, Jun.
Moses Barnett         Sarah Huntington      Robert Parkes
John Backus           Stephen Hardoen       Nathan Parkes
Noah Briggs           John Hough            Jeremiah Ross
Caleb Bates           Josiah Horsford       Stephen Rodes
Jonathan Baker        Daniel IHorsford       Obediah Rodes
Nehemiah Barker       John Judd             Noah Stantly
Ezra Belding          Win. Jackson          John Stantly
Winm. Buck            John Jenkes            Tim. Stantly
Jehial Barnam         Joseph Kyle            Thomas Snell
Gideon Bingham        Archibald Casson      Lemuel Smith
Robert Crery, Jun,    Samuel Casson         John Stephens
Benjaman Crery        Adam Kason            Isaac Shepard
Christopher Crery     Jeremiah Kenny        Jesse Spaldwen
Abijah Crery          Moses Kenny            Thomas Stewart
Giles Chirchel        Gideon Kenny          John Streater
Barnet Dixon          Nathan Kenny           Nehemiah Stephens
David Downing         John Kenny            Andrew Stephens
John Dixon            Spencer Kenny         B3enj. Stephens
John Dorrance         John Kagwin           Solomon Stoddard
James Dixon           Hugh Kennady, Jun.  Ebenezer Smith, Jun.
Nathaniel Daniels     Thomas Kennady, Jun. Eben Smith
Samuel Dorrance       Seth Kent             Uriah Stephens
Richard Dlowner       James Kasson          Joseph S mith, Jun.




DEED OF WY~OMiXG.                        385
Samuel Silsby        Joseph Olhurch         Thomas Stephens, Jun.
Simon Tubibs          Ezekiel Williams      Benj. Lee
Jos. Ttilor          Jolin Humphry, Esq.   Stephen Fuller
Philip Turner         Roger Hooker          Paul Holt
Lehuel Taylor        Alexander Walcott    Benj. Collings
iJudah Wright         Samuel Talcott       James Wilson!Eliphalet Whittlesey   Thos. Hosmore, Esq. -James Douglass
Jos. Watden           Jonathan Hale, Esq.   John Campbell!David Waters         Abner Moseley         Hugh Wyley, Juin'Isaac Warner         Peletiah Mills       -Benj. Parke
Wm. Williams          Daniel Goodwinh       Bartholemew Arthur
John Wiley, Jun.      Jonathan Humphiy'h hos. Jones
Thos. Wiley           Jonathan Pettiboihe    Joseph Taylor
Hugh Wiley            Andrew Robe          John Read,James Wiley'David Phelpes         Won. Swetland
Eben,. Wright         Hezekiah Humlphry    Peter Swetland'Isaac Woodwarth    HIezekiah Pheapes       Jonathan Harriss
tnVm. Whiting         John Veites           Elisha Scovil'WVm. Churchill       Joseph Welles         Eben. Williams
Josiah Curtice        Timothy Seymore       Abel Griswold
Nathan Booth          Russell ~Woodbridge    Stephen Jenkins
Icdhabod Weiles       Wm. Stantly           David Deway
7Phiheas Judd         Samuel Welles         Gershom Breed'Stephen Skiniher     John Wait             John Newton'VWm. Fitch           Ber.jamin Caldwell  -John Grant
4James Bradford       Alexander Gaston      Ephraim Gardner
Matthew Patrick, Jun. Rowland Burton,Gershom Hinkley
Nathaniel Wales, Jun. Alexander Phelpes    Joshua Ransome
Nathaniel llovey      Niles Colman          Miles Gordon
Prince Tracy          David Barker         Isaac Tracey
Noah Gilbert          Benj. Pumroy         James Hide
Daniel Knowlton      John Fitch, Jun.       Asa Waterman
William H-lustonl    Joseph Warren         John Baldwen
Moses Fish           Seth Dean             Elijah Backus
Jolin Johnson, Jun.    Samuel Hunten       Phinehas Holden
Wmin. Chandler, Esq.   Noah Webster         Christopher Palmer
Nathaniel Warner     Thomas Howard          Thomas Anderson
Gershom l)urrance    Zebulon Warterman    Allen WillQy
Thomas Pierce        Eben. Leach,John Rothbone
Samuel Chandler, Esq. Penuel Bowen        -Daniel Ely
Nathaniel Berry      Israel Dimock        -David Dodge, Jun.
Nathaniel Wales, Esq. Abiel Abbott:Eben. Watson
Zebediab Farrum      Thomas Stedman       ~Sam. Stoughton
Daniel Stoughton     James Stedman          Sam. Welles, Jun.
Jonas Shephard       Eben. Griffin         Isaac Sheldon
Matthew Tolcutt'Thomas Stephens      Eben. Beacher,34




336                DEED OF WYOMING.
Oliver Wolcott       Samuel Lee           Joseph Arnold
Elijah Sheldon       Elier Andrews        Benj. Thompson
Eben. Marsh, Esq.    William Phellows     Daniel Morriss
Sam. Cockrin         Seth Norton          John Andrews
Benj. Green          Levi Watson          Benj. Rhamsey, Jul,
Ephraim Andrews      Eliphalet Ensign     Josiah Wakeman
Daniel Turner        Lemuel Orten         Daniel Sherwood
George Palmer        Eleizer Gooderi      Cornelius Hull
Capt. Uriah Stephens  Daniel Wilcoxg      Stephen WakemaniJur,
Samuel Orton         Sam. Gooden          Thomas Couch
Jacob Hensdel        Turbal Whitney       Josiah Beardsely
Thos. Williams       James Bird           Ephraim Bennet
Zebulon Stephens     Thomas Bird          Matthew Curtice
Thos. Watson         John Miner            Jonathan Booth
Jos. Bird, Esq.      Joseph Allen         Caleb Baldwen
John Holmes          James Dunhanm        Jonathan Willard
John Dean           Robert Wincott        Doctor Moffitt
Increase mlosely, Esq. Thos. Stephens     Thomas Stantly
John Hutchinson, Esq. Joshua R othboie    Joshua Wylls
Eben. Fletcher       Jonathan Rothbone    Joseph Hubbart
Joshua Whitney       Elijah Dean          Isaac Sayer
Sam. Slaughter       John Read             Samuel Flag
Robert Hannis        Edward Waldow        Daniel Lothrop
Noah Stephens        Jacob Rothbone       John Elderkin
David Whitney, Esq.  Isaac Gallop          Stephen BeckWith
Jedediah Stepheos    Jonathan Wealder    Jeremiah Clements
Jonathan Smith       Dahiel Rothbone      Samuel Gore
Thos. Parmely        Daniel Miner         Benjamin Gale
Oliver Sanford       Valentine Rothbone   William Whitney
Azeriah Orton        Auger Judson          Barsillai Handel
Josiah Everit        Zachariah Clark      Isaac Lawrance
Francis Everit       Peter Curtice        Joseph Palmeter
Josiah Everit        James Levingworth    Malachi Butler
Timothy Rose         Jedediah Mills       Joseph Toleate
Timothy Everit       Sam. Defouest        John Spencer, Jun.
Silas Storey         Elisha Mills         Elijah Hide
Hezekiah Hooker      Francis Hawley       Nathaniel Cushman
Jedediah Richards    Edmund Lewis, Jun.  Caleb Hide
Peter Granson        Daniel Hide          Obediah Newcomb
Richard Reat         Josiah Lewis, Jun,    Joseph Bingham, Jun.
Eben. Gransan        John Laboree         John Strong
Daniel Berry         Ephraim Judson       Noah Dewey
John Franklin        John French          Joseph Slkiff
Robert Walker        Jabez Sommers        Jonathan Hale
Edward Spaldwen      Josiah Robingson     Jabez Dean
Josiah Cleavland     Nathaniel Baker      Joseph.Weight




DEED OF WYOMING.                        387
Obediah Gore         Jacob Kimball         Silas Wells
Abel Clarke          Thomas Boles          John Wells
Seth Smith           Elisha Tracy          Samuel Barns
John Birchard, 3d.    Joseph Tracy, Jun.    Constant Catlin
Joseph Dennison, Esq. Isaac Saben          John Hanford
Samuel Tracy         William Lothrop       Jedediah Norton
Ephraim Bill         Daniel Rockwell       Elisha Hale
Herbart Pride        Benedick Arnold       Jacob Drake
Thomas Welles        Nathaniel Parkes      Ashael Drake
Thos. Fish           George Danniss        Barnabas Hatch
Thomas Branch, Jun.  Rachel Milner         Josiah Cowls
Benjamin Wentworth  John Edgerton          John Webster
Simon Huntington     Samuel Walworth       John Cooke
Isaac Tracy, Jun.    Christopher Storke    Reubin Swift
John Wood             Thomas Walworth    Isaac Mosley
Oliver Spicer        Stephen Billings     Jonathan Landon
Benjamin Giles       Jonathan Stricklin    John Patterson
Thomas Giles         John Bliss            Nathan Pason
Jonathan Gennings    Samuel Hunn           Oliver Badcock
Simon Backus         Seth Alden            Solomon Grant
Ebenezer Grover, Jun. John Burchard        Benjamin Newcomb
Joseph Billings, Jun.  Robert Boyington    Joseph Lippit
Robert Kenady        Macock Ward           Samuel How
John Williams        Jacob Drake, Jun.     Walter Hewit
Daniel Lathan        Ashbel Woodbridge    Henry Stephens
John Choate          Eleizer Talcott
All of ye aforesaid Colony of Connecticut in New England;
AND TO
Jabez Bowen, Esq.    Samuel Dorrance       Jonathan Moray
Jonathan Randale,Esq. Michael Dorrance     Charles Harris
Rob. Randale, Esq.    Elnathan WValker     William Sheldon
Jonathan Nicolls     Amos Stafford, Jun.   Eliakam Walker
Robert Hazzard        Simeon Draper        Richard Charnton
Benjamin Bowen       Thomas Mattison       Beriah Brown
Francis Colgrove     Daniel Lawrence       John Reynolds
Martin Howard        Amos Stafford         John Reynolds, Jun.
Philip Wilkinson     Samuel Drown          Jonathan Reynolds
Daniel Ayrault       John Bucklin          Benjamin Sheffield
George Dorrance      Thomas Burt           Jonathan Hamilton
Of the Colony of Rhode Island, in New England, aforesaid:
AND TO
Daniel Shoemaker     John Adkins, Esq.     Daniel Henshaw
Benjamin Shoemaker  Samuel Depew, Esq.   Aaron Depew
Joseph Skinner       John Panather, Esq.   Solomon Gennings
Abram Fencumps, Esq.
All of the Government of Pennsylvania:




388                DEID.. OF; W,1OM.NG-:,
AND.TO
Timothy Woodbridge: David King            John.Wiing, Juas.
John Wing
Of the Province of ye Massachusetts Bay;
AND TO
Hendrick Burghert,Jun. Jacob Boseboom     Jonathan Buck;
Aaron Sheldon        Kiliaen De Kidder    Baltazar Lydius
Joseph Woodbridge    John Henry Lydius,Esqb.John Rosa
Benjamin Ashby       Jeremiah Hogeboom,
Of the Province of New York.:
Being in all fiye Hundred and'Thirty-four in NumberTo eachasld every of the Persons before and above mentioned, and
Naamed, Two Twelve Hundred and Twenty four parts of'the Large Tract
or Parcel of Land as hereafter Described and Bounded.
And we do also for and upon the Consideration Afore Saidj give,,grant,
Bargain, Sell,; Convey and Confirm,,
-. UJTO —
[HERE BEGINS HALF SHARES.]'.Eliphalet Newel:    Gideon Baldwin        Gideon Lawrence
Jacob Dana:          Abel Barnes          Jesse Stephens
Johlr Webb,          Hezekiah Orton       Alexander Hinman
Oliver Parish        John lWough          Nathaniel Crandell
Paul Hebard          Thomas Lylly.        Joshua Birch
Hezekiah lIuntington  Samuel.Norton       Eli Colton
Eben Bebbens         Hezekiah Hooker      Daniel Alden
Abram Snow           Thomas Fellows       Nathaniel Loomis
Eleazar Dones.       James Hanna~;         OliverrCrery,
Joseph Spaulding     Joseph  Fellows.   Aaron Crery
Curtis Spaulding-    Henry Bass           George Crery
Thomas Brown,        Benjamin Follit      William Crery
John Eddy            Simeon, Dean,.       Eben Cheney
Judah Hay.           John.SteeL           John Cogswell
Joseph Alexander-,    Elisha Steel'       John Cone
John Campbell, 3d.    SamuelaChurch.      John Coleburt
James Campbell, Jun.  Eben Lewis.;         Abraham HIarden
Jacob Simons         Caleb Wheeler        Jonathan Sanger
Jeduthan Simons      jehial Bryant        Thomas, Steel
Benjamin Parks       Cotton Fletcher      Thomas Warner
Henry Arnold.        John Fellows         Zachariah Bicknale
John Wells           Samuel-Ford,         John Royce
Jacob Sisco          Job Marsh            Samuel Douglass
Hozekiah Demmon-   John Pirkens,          Joshua Dunlap
Samuel Douglass      Thomas Porter        Alexander Stewart
James Morriss        Andrew Bacon:    Benajah Bill
Samuel Jackson       Thomas Day           Elias Frink, Jun.
83amuel Gordon       David Bredwell       Joseph Hazen




DEED OF WYOMING.                         389
Samuel  WVebb,. Jun.   Jacob Simons, 3d.    Elisha Cornish
Seth Wright           Zebulon Hebard        Isaac Pettebone
John Larabe           Joshua Read           Timothy Moses
Nathaniel Hide        Gideon Hebard         Oliver Humphrey
Ephraim Dean          Joseph Badcock        Jacob Case
Phinehas Lewis        Samuel Bennit         Abel Pettebone
John Strong           David Palmer          William Manly, Jun.
Hezekiah May          Benajah Parks         Giles Pettibone
Thomas Wells         Josiah Parks           Abram Pettibone
Josiah Griswold       Gideon Haskell        John Barker
James Lockwood,       Jacob Geers           John Spencer
Elisha Williams, Jun.  Benjamin Geers       Samuel Hulbert
Ezekiel Porter        John Read, Jun.       Gideon Burr
Samuel May            Elnathan Street       Richard Cook
Joseph Webb-          Constant Castorn      Seth Loomiss
Thomas Belding, Jun.. William Manly         Joseph Case
Samuel Curtice        Caleb Moses           Jona. Levingsworth
John Hari              Mark Levingsworth    Thomas Humphries
Wm. Wadsworth         Jolmn Levingsworth    Moses Bellamy
Peter Judson          Ezra Stiles           Aaron Bellamy
Nehemiah Lewis        Jonathan Fitch        John Hagens
Lott Norton           Nathaniel Barns       Ephraim Robingson
David Bigilo, Jun.    James Case            John Andrews
John Young            Daniel Bale           Miles Riggs
All being of the Colony of Connecticut aforesaid, to the number of one
Hundred and Thirty-Six Persons; To.each one of the last mentioned persons to the aforesaid number of' one Hundred and Thirty-Six; The one
Twelve Hundred and Twenty-fourth part of the same Large Tract or
Parcel of' Land aforesaid, of all which afore Named Persons the sum aforesaid was Received, which Said given and' granted Tract of Land is Butted,
Bounded and Described, as Followeth, (Viz.)
Beginning from the one and fourtyeth Degree of North Latitude at ten
miles Distance East of Susqueannah River, and from thence with a northwardly line Ten miles East of the River To the 42d or beginning of
the forty Third Degree North Latitude, and so to extend West,Two Degrees
of Longitude, one hundred and Twent-y miles South, to the Beginning of
the forty-Second Degree, and from thence East to the afore mentioned
Bound, which is ten Miles East of Susquehannah River, together with all
and every,-the Mines,Minerals or Ore of what Iind soever, standing, growing, being found or to be found: upon any Part, or Parcel thereof, and all
other the Htereditaments and Appurtenances to the Said Parcel or Tract belonging orin any way appertaining, and the Reversion and Reversions, Remainder and Remainders, &e.
To have and to hold all- the above Granted' and Bargained Premises with
all the Appurtenances thereof,
Unto all the above and afore Na ed Persons, in Manner and Proportion
34*




390                  DEED OF WYOMING.
aforesaid, and to their Heirs and Assigns, and to their only proper use, benefit and behoof forever, as a free, Clear and Absolute Estate of Inheritance,
in fee simple, free of all incumbrances whatsoever.
And VWe the Afore Said, Cahik-to-ton, Abram Pieters, Willem Tarigjoris, tBrant) Cauwignoge, &c., &c., &c. Sachesns and Chiefs as aforesaid,
(do Hereby covenant to and with all the afore Named grantees, and each
and every of them, that at and until the Ensealing and Delivering hereof,
we' are the True, sole, and Lawful owners of the above granted Premisses,
and have good Right, Power, and authority to Bargain and Sell the Same
in Manner and Form as above Writen; and Furthermore, we the above
Named Cahik-to-ton, Abram Pieters, Willem Tharigjoris, (Brant) Cauwignoge, Sachems and Chiefs as afore said, do by these Presents for us, our
Heirs and Successors, Covenant and promise to and with all and every of
the afore Named Persons, Grantees in this Deed, all the above Granted and
Bargained Premisses and Appurtenances thereof, unto all and every of the
afore Namned Persons, Grantees in this Deed, and to their and every of their
Heirs and Assigns, in Manner and Proportion afore said, forever toWarraut,
Secure, and Defend-in Witness whereof we have each of us Set our Marks,
And Affixed our Seals, This Eleventh Day of July, in the Twenty-Eighth
Year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord George ye Second of Great Britain, &c. King, Anno Domini one Thousand Seven Hundredl and fifty-Four.
Sigled Sealed and Declivered in -Presence of
EPH. WILLIAMS, Jr.
JOSEPH KELLOGG.
his
KAHIK-TO-TON, [Racoon.] Chliefofye Senelas.         (Seal.)
mark.
his
ABRAHAM  [Letter A.] PIETERS,                       (Seal.)
mark. Sachem of Canajoharie of jye Tribe of ye Bear.
his
WILLEM  ['Iurtle.]THARIGJORtS,                     [Seal.
mark,             Sachem of Canajoharie.
his
BRANT  [ Wolf.] CAUWIGNOGE,                         [Seal.]
mark.                  Sachemn Johoks.




DEE)D OF WYOMING,                            391
Signed Sealed and Delivered in Presence of
JAMES SHARPE,
MARTIN LYNDE,
his
[Beaver.] CANAGEGATE.                                  [Seal.]
mlarkq                  QOne of the Sachems of Onondage.
hlis
SET   -    I-TA-VA-RIE.
mark.          [Seal.]          of Je iohoks ye Tertle,
his
JOHANIS [Letterl C   SOGIEHOWANE,
mark.            [Seal.]        Do.   Do.
his
SENOSIEN  [Turtle.  ]
mark.           [Seal.]    Onider.
his
JOI-IANIS [X  CANA-DEGA1R,
mark.         [Seal.]      Bear,   Do.
his
NIKES [Letter N.] CARIGIAGTA-TIE,
mark.         [Seal]      Wolf Canajoharie.
Signed Sealed and Delivered in presence of
SYBRANT VAN SCHACK, Jun.
JOHANNIS J. WENDEL,
his                                 1
CONAGGJESE [Turtle.]
mark.                     [Seal.]
O
JOHANS [Bear ]TEGNAGERAT,
mark,                           [Seal.]
his
OIWELOLA, [Turtle —.]
mark.                      [Seal.]




392                   EXTRACTS FROM
his
[eeazle.] CANSTAGO.                             [Seal.]
mark.
-sartford' ss. 2Oth January, 1755.
I, John Ledyard, one of his majesties Justices of the Peace for said County, have Examined and Compared the foregoing Deed with the originall
and find it to be a true Copy thereof.
J.OHN LEDYAR.D.
[EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF SIR WILLIAM. JOEHiNSo), R-ESPECTI-NO,
THE AFFAIRS BETWEEN THE INDIANS AND THE CONNECTICUT PURCHASERS OF THE WYOMING LANDS.]
Johnson Hall, Wednesday, Febsruarsy 9th, 1763.
Onaharissa with two other Onondagas arrived here and. acquainlted Sir
William, that the Sachems of' their Nation would wait on him in a few
days, on authority of a message delivered them from Sir William, lately,
by some Senecas who had been at his House, which as delivered to them,
was very alarming,.and. gave them all the greatest uneasiness.
4. Strings of Wampum.
Wednesdisy, JMlarchl 23d, 1763;
Had a meeting with ye Mohawks and several Senecas from Schenectady, at Fort Johnson,, when ye Molawks made claim to ye Lands from ye.
Flatts of Schenectady, to a place called' Ga-ga:-wariuni, alledging it never
was sold by their Forefathers, but lent by them for a Forage for their
Cattle.
*     *      if    a      *      *      *     e*     a
While they were in; Council, Colt Eliphalet Dyer and' Mr. Woodbridge,,
of Stockbridge, arrived at Fort Johnson, in order to know whether the SiX:
Nations were coming down to a Meeting proposed to be held at Albany
ye 22d. Inst., with them:and: the New England Peoplie, who were now come
toAlbany for ye purpose and had with them between three and four hundred:
pounds as a present to give ye Six Nations in case they would consent to
their (ye New England Peoples) settling, and enjoying the Land of and
about Skahandowana* on the Susquahana; also six Bullocks and three bar* One of the Indian names of Wyoming. W. L. S.




SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON S DIARY.    393
rels of Pork. This invitation was sent last autumn in writing, by one
John Smith, who was with a number of his Country People at Skahandowana, and delivered, to Thompas King of Oyhquago,, who I told them, had
not I thought delivered it to the-Six. Nations. As I heard them say nothing
about it when a few days ago assembled at my House. The before mentioned, gentlemen then made me an offer to be a. Partner in ye Land, and
to sendup the money to me, also the Bullocks and Pork., &c., that I might
call ye Six Nations and give it them provided they agreed. to theicr proposal, all, which I refused withl ye slight it deserved,, and gave them my
opinion on the whole affair, and also told: them., the unhappy consequences
that would. in all probability follow, should they (as they often hinted) forln
a, settlement in. them parts. After many fruitless efforts to prevail onme to
jpin and assist them, they returned to Albany.
Thp Mohawks who were yet present being desirous tokllnow their busiaess, were told it in part, and seemed very uneasy about; it:, giving it1 as
tjleir opinion, that if the New Englanders persisted, in. their-design. of. set,thing said Lands, it would be of very bad consequences..
Jomnson Hall,, Friday,,.March 25th, 1763.
Severaliof'ye, Mohawks came to acquaint me they had appointed properpersons to attend the Chenussio Meeting, and to know whether I would
have them wait for ye General's answer to, or opinion of, what passed at
ye, late Meeting with ye Six Nations. Then Abraham their Chief spoke
as follows:
Brother, We could not rest these two days past-, since we heard, that
our Brethren of Connecticut were so intent upon settling a, number:
of their People at Skahandowanasand; being fully sensible. of ye fatal consequences that must attend' a proceeding of'ye nature, we in a full meeting
of all our People resolved, to come to you, and beg you would with this belt
of Wainpum and, a letter from yourself aoquaint our Brother the Governor;
of Connecticut that there is to, be a Council of all ye Six Nations in a short
time at Clienussio, where that affair [among other matters] will be thorough.
ly considered, and therefore desire they may not move from New-England
before they are-made acquainted.wit-hithe result thereof., Gae a Belt.
To which Sir-William replied:.
BRr.THRN., I approve of your appointment, and' as I- understand that
some of your People are going to Canajoharie to morrow, I would advise
them to enquire of the Canajoharees what time they intend setting off for
ye Meeting, and should it be found necessary to set off before I receive
ye General's answer and opinion of what passed at ye late Meeting. I
will in that case forward it by a chosen Messenger, sothat the Chn.ussio.
people may be acquainted therewith, and act accordingly.,
BRETHREN, I think your proposal of sending a Message to,ye, Governor
of Connecticut to stop the People of his government going to Wioming or



394                  EXTRACTS FROM
Slahanldowzana until the result of the approaching Meeting of ye Six Nations
at Chenussio is known thereon, is a friendly and prudent step, wherefore
shall comply with your request, and hope the Governor may agree thereto~
Then the Meeting broke up.
[The following letter from Governor Fitch, together with the proceedings
of a council held with a Deputation of Chiefs sent from the Six Nations to
Hartford, to remonstrate against the settlement of Wyoming by the people
of Connecticut, I have discovered among the manuscripts of Sir William
Johnson: —
GOVERNOR FITCH TO SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON.
Hartford, 30th,.May, 1763.
SIR,
I have the Honour of your Letter by Lt. Johnson, acquainting me
with the Delegation of the Confederate Nations of Indians. Five of them
with the interpreter arrived here under Mr. Johnson's Conduct last Thursday, and on Saturday they were admitted to make their Speech and Deliver
the Message they said they were charged with in the presence of the
Council and Assembly. And this Day in like manner I made a Speech to
them with which as the Interpreter informed, they were well satisfied.-I
should have inclosed Copies of them but the Time is short and Lt. Johnson will have them, to which I beg leave to refer youSoon after receiving your Letter with the Speech and Belt some time
ago, I received Orders from theSecretary of State signifying it as his Majesty's Pleasure I should use both Authority and Influence to prevent the
prosecution of the Settlement of the Lands on the Susquehannah, &c., till
the matter could be laid before tihe King, and in Consequence of those
Orders (which I acquainted the principal Gentleman of the Company
with) they have agreed to stop all proceedings towards a Settlement and
acquiesce in the King's Order. I therefore conclude there will now remain
no uneasiness among the Indians.
I am Sir with great regard your most obedient
and most Irumble ServantTHOS. FITCH
SIR WILLIAM JoxssoqN, Baronet, fc.
A CONFERENCE WITH DEPUTIES OF THE SIX NATIONS OF
INDIANS.
In the Council Chamber at Hartford, in the Colony of Connecticut, on
the 28th Day of May, 1763.
rresent
The Governor, Council, and Assembly of said Colony.
Togwerote                     Mohock




SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON'S DIARY.    395
Sagagenguaraghta,(Speaker) Onondagas 
Toghuasquantha  OonagasDeputies of the
Soheres                                   Six Nationa
Oghsegwardna                 Cay ugas
G. Johnson, Esq., D. Agent, Attending
with William Printup, Interpreter, sent by Sir Wim. Johnson, Agent for
Indian Affairs.
The Deputies after being taken by the Hand, and bid Welcome into
the Government, seated themselves, Sagagenguaraghta, arose and delivered a Speech, which from the Interpreter Was taken as followeth, viz:
BRETHREN,
We were sent by the Chiefs of the six Nations, and it has pleased God
that We are arived safe at this place to see yoti.
BaRETHaiExR
We are Deputies irom all the Chiefs, and they understand that yosu are
not quite sound within, and we give this to clear your eyes that you may
see, and open yourears that you may hear, and cleanse your hearts that
you may entertain cordially what we shall speak to you.
A Belt of Wampum.
BRE THRE N
We have no Wrritings of it, but we have a Tradition that God, the
Maker of all things bath given to the Six Nations our large Country to
dwell and subsist in, and made them a strong People, and our Nations
have of Old appointed a Fire Place at Onondauga, and by that means
united together and so became a strong and Powerfull Confederacy, and
afterwards they saw at Albany a white People and found means to enter
into a Conference with them and made a Sliver Chain, a strong Chain of
Friendship, which they and We have froim Time to Time brightened and
kept clean, and at this first Interview liked you so well, that we gave you
room for you to settle upon our land, and you have since become very numerous and prosperous, for which we are glad and Rejoice.
AN'D BROTHERS,
We have been very helpfull and assisted one another against our Ene~
mies, and by the Help of God we have gained the superiority over them.
AND BROTHERS,
You'll excuse us, we have no Records of former Proceedings, but hint
at such things as were done formerly by our Forefathers and have nothing
further to offer on this Head.
Now we are come to another Head.
BROTHERS,
We have heard very grievous News this Winter, that you were about to
com'e with Three hundred families to settle oh our Lahds which was very
astonishing to Us, and that you designed to build Forts and strong Places,
on our Lands, and for that Reason our Sachems considered upon it and
have sent us down to this Place. By that Means, Brothers, we axe here to




396                 EXTRACTS FROM
acquaint you with what news we hear, that you have a Design to settib
on the Susquahannah River. and Claim the Land to the West Seas.
We have heretofore given away Land to the w'hite People but of the
sale of this Land the Six Nations kndw Nothinkg that they have ever given it away or sold it to a;y, and what Little we have left, we intend to
keep for-oitrselves: we know not of any such Sale, and if any such thing
has been asked, it must have'been done by particular persons in a separate nlanner, and not in any General Meeting or Council of the Six Nations as has been the usual Manner of their giving or selling'their Lands,
BROTHERS,
Our custom is not to keep anything secret. We have heard that one Lydius, at Albany has endeavored to purohase some Lands at Shasquahanna,
and it is not the manner of the Six Nations to keep anytfhing in Reserve,
he was up among the -Six Nations to'obtain -a Stile, but could not obtain
it, but.wehave heard that-he has since got a Deed from the Indians, which
bhe obtained fiom them singly, or one by one, and that from stragglers and;such as we know nothing of.
We -have often sold Lands to the white People, but then it was done
with consent of the whole in some General meeting; and this is the Land
which we have reserved for ourselves as we have but little left, and we
are surprised at such a measure being taken to obtain a Deod without our
General'kssnowledge or consent.
We have been told that Lytlias has reported that he paid a great deal of
money for this Land, which we know nothing of; and this is our hunting
Land which we depend upon for our support and are not willing by any
means to part with it.
[Then the Speaker presented a broad Belt which he held in his hands.]
BROTHERS,
We would have you take this matter into your serious Consideration.
We here present you the Emblem of the Six Castles belonging toour
Nations, and through it is the Road or Path through which we come to
strengthen and confirm our covenant Chain, and consider Whether settling
don those Lands in such amanner, may not unhappily tend to break this
-covenant (hain.,BROTHERS,
Seriously take it into your consideration, and think how you would like
it,'to have your lands taken from you in'an unfair and injurious manner.
You are a praying People, better acquainted with Books and Learning
than we, and must'heeds'knowbedtter what is right than to think it well
to have your Lands as we may say stolen from you. Surely you could not
l'ike to be treated in such a manner, to have your Land taken from you'that you depended uponoforyour support.
-BROTHERS,
Take it seriously into your Consideration how strong our Union used to




SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON)S DIARY.    397
be formerly, when we were as it were united under one head, and were
one Body, and Blood, and happily united in our Affections.
BROTHERS,
As I have told You before, that we have been sent here by our Chiefs
to let you know that we have heard about your Design of entering upon
our Land, and, we deliver in this Belt to show the minds of the confederate Nations, th:at you do not: incroach; on these.Lpnds which we have reserved and design to keep for ouaselves and our children to the latest posterity, and will not part with them; they are such as we set by and will
not sell.
BaROTHtRS,
If you proceed to incroach on our Landls W'e sheil' not be Easy, but,will
return Home to our own places and apply ourselves to the the King our
Father to obtain Justice, and I myself will got and on my going out of the
house will return home, and, leave yolto.consider on it;-and now I have
said all I have to say.
Then the Governor directe& t-he Interpreter to tell them that he was able
to give them a satisfactory Answer, and desiredi they would stay till the
Beginning of the Week at which; Time they shoudl- have an Answer.
To which they answered., that their Chiefs directed them to make no
Delay, but as soon as they had made their Speech they were to return, but
at the Governor's Desire they woul:-, stay for an Answer. They then
withdrew.
Att the Councill, Chlamher in Hartford, May 30th, A. D. 1763.
Present as above,
viz: The Governor made answer to the Foregoing Speech in the words
following.
BRETHREN,
We heartily welcome You to this Place, and are glad to see You safe
arrived, and that You, azesent- by Your Chiefs to brighten the Covenant
Chain made by our Fore-Fathers.
You tell us Your Chiefs think we are not all: sound within, and give a
Belt to Clear our Eyes to see, open our:.Ears to hear, and make our Hearts
clean that we may cordially receive what You speak to us.
BRETHREN:
We are sorry your Chiefs think we are not soundiwithisn; we assure
You our Eyes are clear, our Ears are open, and: we cordiallD receive You
as Friends and kindly receive, your message.
BRETHREN,
We rejoice with. You that God has prospered: the arms of-hVe Great King
George our Common Father, so that Yowu and: our Enemies are subdued,
and now we hope we shall. live in, Peace andi Friendship as long as the Sun
and Moon shall endure.
We come now to Your Message.
3:5,




399                  EXTRACTS, &C.
BRETHREN,
You tell us the news You have heard, that we were about to come with
300 Families to settle an the Susquehannah River, which was very astono
ishing-to You, and that we designed to build Forts on Your Land,
BRETHREN:
We assure and tell You this Goverament has not given any Orders for
any such Settlement; We are no Ways concerned in that matter, only as
Friends to You have e.ndeaivoured to prevent the People from going to settle those Lands.
We have indeed been told that a Number of particular Persons, some
living in Connecticut, some in the Massachusetts, some in New-York, and
some in other Governments were about to settle on these Lands, but We
advised them not to proceed in their attenmpts. And Lately I received Orders
from the King our Common Father comman ding me to use my Authority
and Influence to prevent those People from, attempting to settle on those
Lands till the matter should be laid before the King.
In Obedience to his Majesty's Commnands I acquainted the Chief men
among them with the King's Orders and advised them to lay aside the
Prosecution of that Settlement for the Present.
AND BRETHREN,
I have now the Satisfaction to acquaint You that I am Well informed
those people have had a meeting and have in Testimony, as well of his
Majesty's fatherly Care as of their ready Submission to, and acquiescence
in, his Orders, unanimously agreed that no person whatever of their Company shall enter upon,or make any Settlement on any of those Lands until
his Majesty our common Father's pleasure be knowa ian that matter,
BIRETHREN:
Seeing we are Your Friends, and agreable to the King's Orders have
taken so much Care to prevent those Settlements which are so grevious to
You, and have now given You accounts that the attempts ace- Stopt, we
think You will be fully satisfied and inform our Brothers, your Chiefs and
your Nations of-this, and Rest easy and quiet.
We assure You of our cordial Friendship and wish You a safe Journey
Home: and desire You to,present our kind Complimaents. the Sachems of
the Six Nations. Farewell.
To which the D.epguty's of the Six Nations Replyed as follows, viz;
Brethren, we.have heard with attention what you have Said and are well
pleased with the Same, and we hope you will Endeavour to prevent any
more people from making purchases of us: and as to those Lands, we have
Talked about, we Do not at present Design to part withs them, but if ever
we Do, it Shall be to those purchasers of your people before any others If
they Desire it; We are to Receive no presents on this Occasion, but
as to your offer to Discharge our Expenses while in this town we Gratefully Accept and Acknowledge ttle Same and heartily bid you Farewell.
A true Copy examsined By
GEORGE WYLLYS, SEc'Y.




lbbott family, narrative of, 268..4lbert, judge, 6; home of, 19; falls in battle, 45.
dlison, Rev. David, teacher of Thomas Campbell, xii.
J.rmstrong, Colonel John, appointed commissioner for establish
ing peace, 336; proceeds against Wyoming, 337; disarms
the settlers by treachery, 338; second expedition against
Wyoming, 340; evacuates Wyoming, 343; note concerning his life, 343.
Bennett, Mr., narrative of, 245.
Bidlock, Rev. Benjamin, imprisonment, 186; narrative of, 247..Bidlock, Mrs., account of, 249.
Blackman family, 263.
Brainerd, Rev. David, where stationed, 66.
Brant, statement regarding the sovereignty of the Aquanuschioni, 84; vindication of his character, 213.
Broadhead's Creek, Indian name of, 71.
Butler, Colonel John, invades Wyoming, 200; besieges Fort
Forty, 211; conference with Col. Dennison at Fort Forty,
241; his character, 245.
Butler, Colonel Zebulon, taken at Fort Durkee, 172; invests
Fort Wyoming, 175; justice of the peace for Westmoreland,'184; commands the forces of Wyoming, 203; escape
froml Fort Forty, 211; vindication of his conduct in the
battle of Wyoming, 22.; Epitaph of, 225; return to Wyoming, 228; goes to the aid of Capt. Spalding, 229.
Campbell, Alexander, xii; residence in Virginia, xii.




400                       INDEX.
Campbell, Robert, brother of the poet, xii.
Campbell, Thomas, ix; birth of, xi; connexions of in America,
xii; education of, xii; residence in Argyleshire and Edinburgh, xiii; writes of the " Pleasures of Hope," xiv; embarks for Germany, xiv; plundered in the Tyrol, xv;
residence at Hamburgh, xv; return to England, xvi; description of the King of Clubs, xvii; marriage and settlement at Sydenham, xviii; publishes " Gertrude of
Wyoming," xviii; criticism on his works by Irving, xix;
publishes "' O'Connor's Child," xxii.
Canassateego, sale of land, 86; speech of at the council to the
Delawares, 88; anecdote concerninghim by Dr. Franklin,
91.
Canestogoe Indians, massacre of by fanatics, 154.
Carey, Samuel, narrative of, 264.
Connecticut, charter of, 130; project of regarding a colony at
Wyoming, 133.' Death of the Fratricide," poem by Whittier, 216.
Delaware Indians, prophecy regarding their destruction, 66;
legendary history of, 82; nomenclature of, 84; subjugation
of by the Six Nations, 85; council at Philadelphia, 86;
removal of to Shamokin and Wyoming, 92; subjugated'
by trtifice, 94; expel the Shawanese, 103; go over to the
French, 107; devastate Pennsylvania, 108; pacifiedl by the
Quakers, 109; council of at Easton, 111; overreached in
sale of land at Nashamony Creek, 115; reconciliation of
to the English, 117; intercept a French dispatch, 125;
send a message of peace to Sir William Johnson, 127; attack and destroy the settlement of the Susquehanna Company, 146; withdraw to Tioga, 154; ravage Wyoming and
attack tile Slocum family, 289.
Delaware Water Gap, view of, from Pequest river, 65; geological formation of, 67; appearance of at morning, 68; route
from to Wyoming, 71.
Dennison, Colonel, at the battle of Wyoming, 205; at Fort Forty, 211; vindication of his conduct, 225; account of his
life, 227.




INDEX.                      401
Denney, Lieutenant Governor, conducts the Council of Easton,
112.
Dorrance, Colonel Benjamin, account of the surrender of Fort
Forty, 214.
Dyer, Colonel Eliphalet, embassy of to England, 143; commissioner for deciding the Wyoming question, 321.
Easton, first council of, 111; second council of, 112; third
council of, 128; fourth council of, 128.
Ewing, Colonel George W., discovers Frances Slocum, 295;
publishes an account of her, 297; letter to J. J. Slocum,
303.
Fitch, Governor, disavows the acts of the Susquehanna -Company, 142; proclamation of, 144.
Five Nations, vide Six Nations.
Fort du Quesne, evacuation of by the French, 123.
Fort Durkee, built, 164; invested by Col. Francis, 165; surrender, 166; recaptured by the Susquehanna Company, 167;
surprised by Capt. Ogden, 171; retaken by Lazarus Stewart, 173; surrenders to the Pennsylvania Proprietaries, 174;
abandoned by Ogden, 175.
Fort Wyoming, built, 175; invested by Butler and Stewart, 175 
surrender, 179; name changed to Fort Dickinson, 323.
Franklin, Benjamin, anecdote by concerning Canassateego, 91.
Franklin, John, besieges Fort Dickinson, 333; garrisons Fort
Forty, 341; car/ies a block-house, 340; stirs up a commotion against Pennsylvania, 349; arrested 349; member of
the Legislature, 365.
Franklin, Captain Roswell, account of, 363.
Gertrude of Wyoming, 3; her extraction and infancy, 7; rmaidenhood of, 20; apostrophe of to England, 21; reads
Shakspeare in the woods, 23; meets Waldegrave, 24; recognizes Waldegrave, 26; her courtship and marriage, 29;
honeymoon, 33, 34; her fears at the approach of war, 36;
at the fort with Waldegrave, 44; is wounded, 45; her farewell, 45; her death, 47.
Gi-en-gwah-toh, commands the Indians at Wyoming, 205; description of, 214




402                        INDEX.
Hamilton, James, opposition of to the Susquehanna Company,
134.
Hammond, William, murder of, 218.
"Hazleton (The) Travellers," notice of, 214
Heath House, 63.
Hendriick, transactions of regarding the purchase of Wyoming,
126; death of, 126.
Hibbard, Zippera, narrative of, 264,
Hope, town of, 65; inn of, 65.
lopkins, Noah, escape of from massacre, 151.
Inman famity, narrative of, 252.
Jenkins, Mrs. Bethia, narrative of, 261.
Jenkins, Colonel John, narrative of, 255.
Johnson, Sir William, opposition of to war with the Delawares,
109; sends a deputation to the council at Lancaster, 118;
censures Teedynlscung, 118; efforts towards peace with the
Indians, 123; alienates the Senecas and Cayugas from the
French, 127; opposes the Susquehanna Company, 141;
letter io Gov. Fitch, 145.
Johnstone, Rev. Mr., 328.
Kent, Judge, country seat of, 61.
Kittanniny Hills, orthography of, 71.
Lehigh River, appearance of its waters, 75.
Lenelenappes, vide Delaware Indians.
Logan, derivation of his name, 91.
Luzerne County, organization of, 344.
Mackintosh, Sir James, xvii.
Montour, Catharine, or Queen Esther, account of, 208.
MIonument of Wyoming, 239.
lloravians, first visit of to Wyoming, 98; establish a mission
there, 102.
Moravian Indians, threatened by riotous zealots, 15 6; removal
to Mahackloosing, 158.
Morris, Governor, letter of to Gov. Shirley, 107; letter of to Sir
William Johnson, 110.
Munseys or Minisink Indians, 82.
Mulscontcong or Schooley's Mosuntains, description of, 62.




INDEX,                       403
Myers, Mrs., narrative of, 241.
Nanticolce Indians, settlement of at Wyoming, 98; removal to
Chemunk, 106.
Nanticoke Falls, description of, 98; fight there, 190.
Ogden, Amos, at the attack on Fort Durkee, 165; besieged in a
block-house, 167; surprises the Connecticut settlers, 170;
recaptures Fort Durkee, 171; third attack on Fort Durkee,
174; builds Fort Wyoming, 175; runs the blockade of Fort
Wyoming, 176; raises reinforcements, 177; wounded,
179.
Osetalissi, brings Waldegrave to Wyoming, 8; addresses Albert,
8; description of, 13; cradle song of, 13; departs, 15;
returns to Wyoming, 37; meets and addresses Waldegrave,
28; proclaims the approach of Brandt, 40; chants a battlesong, 42; death-song, 48.
Penn, Governor, refuses to treat with the Susquehanna Company, 138; opposes the colony of Westmoreland, 185.
Pennsylvania Proprietaries, oppose the Revolution, 319; their
government expires, 320; indemnity voted them by Pennsylvania, 320.
Pickering, Colonel Timothy, arbitrator, 345; assists in the arrest of John Franklin, 350; assailed by insurgents and escapes, 350; chosen a delegate, 353; returns to Wyoming,
353; abduction, 354.
Pike, Abraham, captured by Indians, 280; escape, 280; charac-ter, 283.
Plunkett, Colonel, marches against Wyoming, 188; abandons
the expedition, 193.
Plymouth Company, charter of, 129.
Pokono Moeuntain, view from the summit of, 74.
Post, Christian Frederick, embassy of to the Indians, 119; holds
a council at Fort du Quesne, 120; second embassy of, 123.
Prospect Rock, on Pokono Mountain, prospect from, 77.
Quakers, opposition of to war with the Delawares, 109; influence
with the Indians, 119.
Ross, General William, narrative of, 236,
Say and Seal, Lord, grant to, 130.




404                       INDEX.
Shamokin, location of, &c., 91.
Shliawanese Flatts, 84.
Shawanese Indians, wandering of, 83; settle at Wyoming, 84;
war with the Delawares and expulsion from Wyoming, 103;
war with the English, 108; message of peace to Sir William Johnson, 127.
Shoemaker, Captain, murder of, 218.
Six Nations, their sovereignty over the Delawares, 84; adoption
of the Tuscaroras, 85; council at Philadelphia, 85; artifice
for subjugating the Delawares, 94; Senecas and Cayugas
alienated from the French, 127; council at Easton, 128;
commencement of hostilities against the Americans, 196.
Slocum family, 288; losses in the battle of Wyoming, 288;
house attacked by Delawares, 289; second attack by the
Indians, 292.
Slocum, Frances, taken into captivity, 291; search made for her,
293; discovered, 295; visited by her relatives, 306; narratve of her captivity, 309.
Spalding, Captain, commands at Wilkesbarre, 229; assailed by
Indians, 229.
Stroudsburg, 71; becomes an asylum for the fugitives, 220.
Sullivan, General, passes through Wyoming, 231.
Susquehanna Company, formation of, 133; deputation of to the
council at Albany, 134; purchase Wyoming, 135; procure
a charter, 138; settle Wyoming, 140; settlement destroyed
by the Delawares, 146; resettle Wyoming, 160; apply to
Connecticut for protection, 182; elect a government of their
own, 182; their case submitted to English arbitration, 184;
received into the colony of Connecticut, 184; renew their
efforts to pour settlers into Wyoming, 348.
Tadame, murder of, 106.
Teedyuscusng, history of, 72; baptism of, 73; chosen chief sachem, 106; present at the council of Easton, 111; speech at
the council of Easton, 113; proposes a council at Lancaster,
118; his authority at the third council of Easton, 128; interposes in favor of the Susquehanna Company, 139; death,
146; remarks on his character, 148.




INDEX.                       405
Thomas, Lt. Gov. George, present at the Indian council, 85; remarks on the purchase of land, 87.
Thompson, Charles, appointed secretary to Teedyuscung, 113.
Tusrkey, Anthony, account of and death, 274.
Twightwees, outrage on at Fort du Quesne, 125.
Van Campen, Major Moses, builds a fort, 276; acts as spy on
Sullivan's expedition, 277; entrapped by Indians, 278; escapes, 280.
Waldegrave, brought to Wyoming, 8; returns from  foreign
climes, 24; describes his travels, 25; recognized by Gertrude, 26; marriage, 29; goes to the conflict, sorrow for
Gertrude, 48.
Weeksfamily, 275.
Weeks, Jonathan, driven from Wyoming, 273.
Wrekahela, account of, 113.
Weld, Isaac, account of Wyoming, 2.
West Branch Plantation, destruction of by Westmoreland militia, 186.
Westmoreland, chartered, 184.
Willkesbarre, valley of, 78; borough of, 79; burnt, 213; fort
built there, 229.
Williams family, narrative of, 272.
Wyoming, apostrophe to, 3; desolation of (poetic description),
35; poetic account of the battle of Wyoming, 41; route to,
61; topography of, 79; nomenclature of, 80; removalof
the Delawares to, 92; tradition concerning its silver mines,
97; first visited by the Moravians, 98; mission of the Moravians, 102; explored by the Susquehanna Company, 133;
purchased by the Susquehanna Company, 135; settled
from Connecticut, 140; purchased by the Pennsylvania
Proprietaries, 159; resettled by the Susquehanna Company,
160; leased to Charles Stewart, &c., 161; troubles between the Proprietaries and the Connecticut settlers, 162;
governed by the Connecticut settlers, 182; troubles with
Gov. Penn, 185; destruction of West Branch Plantation,
186; interposition of Congress, 187; invaded by Col. Plunkett, 188; population of, 194; espouses the cause of the




406                         INDEX.
Revolution, 195; seizure of suspected citizens, 196; commencement of tory and Indian hostilities, 197; forces and
defences, 199; invaded by Col. John Butler, 200; list of
tories settled. there, 201; battle, 204; defeat and slaughter
of the settlers, 206; list of the killed, 208; massacre in the
" Shades of Death," 210; atrocities of the tories, 214; fratricide, 215; incidents of the massacre, 218; return of the
fugitives to secure their crops, 228; arrival of Gen. Sullivan, 231; committee for the abatement of the State tax,
234; condition during the remainder of the war, 233;
monument, 239; opening of the grave of the massacred,
286; peopled after the Revolution from Connecticut, 318;
claimed by Pennsylvania, 320; Congress decides in favor
of Pennsylvania, 321; Pennsylvania endeavors to eject the
settlers, 322; memorial of the settlers to Congress, 326;
severe winter and flood, 326; the settlers plundered and
exiled by the Pennsylvania military, 331; the exiles invited to return, 332; struggle between the settlers and the
garrison of Fort Dickinson, 333; force sent to subjugate the
settlers, 336; Col. Armstrong disarms the settlers by treachery, 338; the council side with the settlers, 341; second
appeal of Wyoming to Congress, 343; Wyoming formed
into Luzerne County, 344; meeting of commissioners for
arbitration of claims, 348; new settlers poured in by the
Susquehanna Company, 348; Franklin stirs up new troubles, 349; Wyoming represented in the General Assembly,
366; final pacification, 367.
Yountg, Mrs. Phebe, narrative of, 284.
Zinzendowf, Count, visits Wyoming, 99; escapes assassination
by the Shawanese, 99.