USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > Reports and papers. Fairfield County Historical Society, Bridgeport, Conn. 1882-1896-97 > Part 45
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created savoring of the classical ideas then so much in vogue, called "The Council of Censors." It was a body elected by the people and directed to meet every seventh year; and its duty in the language of the Constitution was "to inquire whether the Constitution has been observed inviolate in every part and whether the Legislative and Executive branches of the Government have performed their duty as guardians of the people or assumed to themselves or exercised other or greater powers than they are entitled to by the Constitution." In the discharge of these duties the Council had power to send for persons and papers, and also "authority to pass pub- lic censures; to order impeachments; and to recommend to the Legislature the repealing of such laws as appeared to them to have been enacted contrary to the principles of the Constitution." In 178t this Council met at Philadelphia. It was composed of 26 of the most distinguished and upright of the citizens of Pennsylvania, Frederick A Muhlenberg being its President. In September having received information of Armstrong's transactions at Wyoming, the Council immediate. ly called upon the Supreme Executive Council and its legal advisers to furnish certain documents in relation to the pro- ceedings at that place. Such documents as were in the pos- session of the lawyers were immediately delivered up. but as to the others, the Executive Council declared that they had been sent to the Assembly. On the following day the Coun- cil of Censors required the Assembly to furnish the papers. The Assembly refused to comply. The Council of Censors then issued a formal and peremptory mandamus to the As- sembly to send the papers without excuse or delay. The mandamus was disregarded and unanswered. Thereupon the Council of Censors placed on record a solemn declaration of opinion with regard to the measures which had been pursued against the Wyoming settlers. The opinion was unanimous. It is not long and lest it should be suspected that the view I have given of the Pennsylvania proceedings has been colored by Connecticut prejudice, I will give the paper entire. It is as follows :
"It is the opinion of this Council that the decision made at
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Trenton early in 1783, between the State of Connecticut and this Commonwealth concerning the territorial rights of both was favorable to Pennsylvania. It likewise promised the happiest consequences to the Confederacy, as an example was thereby set of two contending sovereignties adjusting their differencies in a Court of Justice instead of involving them- selves and perhaps their confederates in war and bloodshed. It is much to be regretted that this happy event was not im- proved on the part of this State as it might have been. That the persons claiming lands at and near Wyoming occupied by the Emigrants from Connecticut, now become subjects of Pennsylvania, were not left to proseente their claims in the proper course without the intervention of the Legislature. That a body of troops was enlisted after the Indian war had ceased and the civil code had been established, and was sta- tioned at Wyoming for no apparent purpose but that of pro- moting the interests of the Claimants under the former grants of Pennsylvania. That these troops were kept up and continued there without the license of Congress in violation of the Confederation. That they were suffered without res- traint to injure and oppose the neighboring inhabitants dur- ing the course of the last winter. That the injuries done to these people excited the compassion and interposition of the State of Connecticut, who thereupon demanded of Congress another hearing in order to investigate the private claims of the settlers at Wyoming, formerly inhabitants of New Eng- land, who from this instance of partiality in our own rulers have been led to distrust the justice of the State: while in the meantime numbers of these soldiers and other disorderly persons in a most riotous and inhuman manner expelled the New England settlers before mentioned from their habitations and drove them towards the Delaware through unsettled and almost impassable ways leaving those unhappy outcasts to suffer every species of misery and distress. That this armed foree stationed as aforesaid at Wyoming as far as we can see without any public advantages in view-has eost the Com- monwealth the sum of £4460 and upwards for the bare levy- ing, providing, and paying of them, besides other expendit-
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ures of public monies. That the authority for embodying these troops was given privately and unknown to the good peo- ple of Pennsylvania, the same being directed by a mere resolve by the House of Assembly brought in and read the first time on Mouday the 22nd September 1783, when on motion and by special order the same was read a second time and adopt- ed. That the putting this Resolve on the Secret Journal of the House and concealing it from the people after the war with the savages bad ceased, and the inhabitants of Wyoming had submitted to the Government of the State sufficiently marks and fixes the clandestine and partial interests of the Armament, no such condition having been thought necessary in the defense of the Northern and Western frontiers during the late war. And lastly we regret the fatal example which- this transaction has set of private persons, at least equally able with their opponents to maintain their own cause, pro- curing the interest of the commonwealth in their behalf and the aid of the public treasury. The opprobrium which from hence has resulted to this State and the dissatisfaction and prospect of dissension now existing with one of our sister States, the violation of the Confederation, and the injury hereby done to such of the Pennsylvania Claimants of lands at Wyoming occupied as aforesaid as have given no counten- ance to but on the contrary have disavowed these extravagant proceedings. In short we lament that our Government has in this business manifested little wisdom or foresight -- nor have acted as guardians of the rights of the people committed to their care .. Impressed with the multiplied evils which have sprung from this imprudent management of this business WE HOLD IT UP TO PUBLIC CENSURE to prevent if possible further instances of bad government which might convulse and dis- tract our new formed nation."
In contemptuous reply to this manifesto the Executive Council and the Assembly forthwith promoted Col. Arm- strong to the rank of Adjutant General, "as a token," they de- clared," of extraordinary merit and valuable services." They a'so authorized him to raise a competent force of militia with which to proceed to Wyoming and to complete the work of
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expelling the Connecticut settlers. President Dickinson of the Executive Council disapproved of this action and sent from a sick bed a strong remonstrance against it but in vain. The Council read the remonstrance and immediately voted that "the measures adopted be pursued." and on the same day issued a proclamation offering £25 for the apprehension of eighteen of the principal inhabitants, their names being given.
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Fortified and encouraged by his promotion Col. Arm- strong endeavored to collect the competent force of militia authorized by the Executive Council. But such was the pop- ular sympathy with the settlers that the men generally re- fused to march, and it was with only 40 men that he reached Wyoming on the 19th of October On the next day he at- tacked a post consisting of four block houses occupied by Connecticut men, but after a sharp battle of an hour was for- ced to retreat. On the day following he evicted 30 families who had returned to their farms, and set his troops to gath- ering in the harvest. A body of Yankees surprised this force, captured their arms and their stolen grain. and took them all prisoners. The garrison at the fort turned out to the rescue with cannon but the Yankees placed their prisoners in front as a shield and thus prevented an attack. More than 100 bushels of grain were thus saved-a supply of great import- auce to the settlers whose sowing and reaping had been al- most entirely prevented during this disastrous summer.
Meantime too many influences had been working on the Pennsylvania Assembly to permit them to continue in a com- plete defiance of public opinion The rebuke of the Council of Censors, the disapproval of the President of the Execut- ive Council, the refusal of the militia to march, and the gen- eral sentiment of sympathy with the armed resistance of the settlers furnished a part of these influences. Besides this the petition of the settlers to Congress for a trial of their rights in the soil was pending before that body and was being vigorously pressed, with a prospect that it would be granted. Some show of conciliation could no longer be avoided. On the 15th of September an act was passed recalling Armstrong
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and Patterson and ordering that the families who had been evicted the previous May should be allowed to occupy their former holdings. This was all-the act did not recognize the titles of the dispossessed families. Still less did it con- cede any rights to the general body of settlers. Nevertheless it was hailed at Wyoming as a sign that the tide bad at last begun to turn, and as throwing a ray of hope on the gloomy situation. Two immediate results of the act, it concerns our story to mention. The first was an order of Congress dated September 25th, ten days after the passage of the act-re- pealing the resolutions previously passed which secured to the Wyoming settlers a trial of their rights to the soil. The second is tersely stated in a journal kept by Capt Johu Franklin at Wyoming as follows :-- "November 27th, The Pennymites evacuated the fort. November 30th, The Yank- ees destroyed the fort."
Thus ended the Fourth Pennymite War. Says Miner, "It is true and honorable to those who effected it that the New England people were repossessed of their farms. But a sum- mer of exile and war had left them no harvest to reap and they returned to their empty granaries and desolate homes, crushed by the memories of the Indian invasion, mourners over fields of more recent slaughter. destitute of food, with scarce clothing to cover them through the rigor of a Northern winter, while clouds and darkness shrouded all their future. Assuredly the people of Wyoming were objects of deepest commiseration and the heart must be harder and colder than marble that could look upon their suffering without a tear of tenderest pity."
CHAPTER VIII.
The fiercest of the storm was apparently over. but the ele- ments had been too long and too deeply stirred to subside at once into peace. Moreover clonds still hung threateningly in the sky. Pennsylvania had yielded nothing except reposses- sion to a few evicted families from motives of humanity. It had made no provision and promised none for a general quiet- ing of titles, and Congress had finally refused to grant the
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only measure which could legally determine the settlers' rights. It was inevitable therefore that there should exist among the people so long oppressed by violence and outrage a strong resentment against the state which had subjected them to such sufferings, as well as jealousy and suspicion with regard to its future course. Among those who most strongly shared these feelings was Capt. John Franklin, a native of Canaan in Litchfield County, Connecticut, and one of the early settlers of Wyoming. He was one of the sur- vivors of the massacre, a brave soldier, a fluent and impas- sioned speaker and an indefatigable champion of the Connec- ticut interests. In one of the conflicts with Patterson and Armstrong, as a comrade fell by his side he had seized the bloody rifle of the dying man and sworn a solemn oath upon it that he would never lay down his arms until the people were restored to their rights of possession, and & legal trial guaranteed to every citizen by the Constitution, by justice and by the law. During this year (1784) when he was not fighting in the field he was attending the Sessions of Con- gress, urging forward the abortive petition of the Connecti- cut people for a trial of their titles, or travelling back and forth between Wyoming and Connecticut addressing crowded meetings with fiery zeal, and pressing the cause of Wyoming on private individuals. on public officials, and especially on the Susquehanna Company. The Company immediately after the Trenton decree had protested against the result and de- clared its determination to pursue its just claim to the own- ership of the lands which they had purchased from the Indian proprietors, and to protect the Connecticut settlers in their titles until Congress should have adjudicated the same, and had been active in pressing the unsuccessful application to Congress for such adjudication. Inspired by Franklin's ap- peals the General Assembly and the Governor had sent pro- tests to Congress and to Pennsylvania in behalf of the set- tlers; hardy and adventurous volunteers were flocking into Wyoming to support their canse; and now the Susquehanna Company finding all hope of justice through Congress lost held a meeting at Hartford July 13, 1785. and took new and vigorous action.
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In a series of energetic resolutions it declared "that the company had expended large sums of money in the purchase, settlement and defence of the lands on the Susquehanna river. That the purchase had been made in good faith un- der the Charter of Connecticut." which then it says "never had been and never ought to be called into question." The resolutions proceed to declare that "though the Court at Tren- ton by a decision which astonished the world gave Pennsyl- vania jurisdiction over the territory, yet our title to the soil · is clear and unquestionable and we cannot and will not give it up." The company then arraigned the conduct of Penn- sylvania as impolitic, unjust and tyrannical, and as having a tendency to interrupt the harmony of the States. It further declared "that the company would support its claim and right to the soil," and would support the settlers in their pe- tition to Congress, and would protect them from all lawless outrage, unjustifiable and wanton depredations of property or personal abuse, whether under countenance of law or oth- erwise until their rights were justly determined." It did not confine itself to words, but proceeded to offer to every able bodied man, not exceeding 400 in all, who would repair to Wyoming before the Ist of the following October, and there submit himself to the orders of the company for three years. a half share right in the company. A committee was ap- pointed to carry out this vote and 600 rights in the general tract of country were placed at their disposal to be used at their discretion.
To appreciate the significance of this manifesto which was little else than a declaration of war against Pennsylvania, and the movements which followed, let us recall the material and political condition of the country at the close of the Revolu- tion. Back of a few seaboard towns the whole continent was a wilderness Wyoming was on the extreme frontier, having only forests and savages on the North and West, and was separated from southern Pennsylvania by wild and almost pathless mountains. The jurisdiction of Pennsylvania over the valley had indeed been established by Congress, but Con- gress was then a body without power and almost without pub-
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lic respect. The Confederacy was fast falling to pieces The several states, unaccustomed to mutual action, were getting ready each to secure as much for itself as possible when the disruption should come and a general conflict with new ar- rangements of boundaries seemed almost inevitable. In such a case if Wyoming should be in rebellion, Pennsylvania which had been unable to enforce its claim hitherto, would be still less able to do so impoverished by the revolution and embarrassed by the danger of being embroiled with other states. The ex- perience of New York with the people of the New Hampshire Grants, (now Vermont,) was fresh and instructive. For twenty years it had been vainly striving to bring them under its jur- isdiction and had finally been compelled to recognise their independence. There was no reason why Wyoming should not with equal success throw off its allegiance to Pennsylvania supported as it would be by the resources and influence of the Susquehanna Company and perhaps the state of Connecti- cut, by bands of volunteers who were already moving into the valley and by the sympathies of the whole country including a large proportion of the people of Pennsylvania itself. Over- tures could also if necessary be made to the state of New York, offering annexation as the price of assistance.
Such was the view held out by Franklin and accepted by the Susquehanna Company as the basis of its action. It fol- lowed up energetically its declaration of war. Wyoming be- gan to swarm with able bodied men, old soldiers many of them, from the disbanded Continental Army, having arms in their hands and half-share rights in their pockets. Public meetings were held fiery with the spirit of resistance and in- dependence. A militia force was enrolled and Franklin was appointed its commander. These ominous proceedings were not without effect on Pennsylvania. Late in December 1785, the Assembly enacted a law "to quiet disturbances at Wyo- ming, for pardoning certain offenders, and for other purposes therein mentioned " This law provided that all offences com- mitted before November 1, should be pardoned and put in oblivion provided the offenders should surrender themselves before the coming April, and give bonds to obey the laws."
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The act excited only contempt in those whom it was designed to conciliate. No notice was taken of it and it remained a dead letter on the Statute book. Thus close the annals of 1785.
The spring of 1786 found the Susquehanna Company actively pursuing its programme of defiance, with political separation in the background. At a meeting held at Hart- ford in May 1786 it reiterated its resolution "to maintain its own claims to the lands bona fide purchased from the Indians and to effectually justify and support the settlers holding under it." As a measure of policy and perhaps of contrast it recognized and confirmed the possession of all actual resi- dents in the valley holding under Pennsylvania titles. It also appointed a committee consisting of Col. John Franklin, Gen. Ethen Allen, Major John Jenkins, and Col. Zebulon Butler to locate townships, establish titles, and admit proprietors in Wyoming. Gen. Ethan Allen was in fact already on the ground, loaded down with company shares, promising to settle in Wyoming and to bring with him his Green Mountain boys to assist in defending against Pennsylvania claims. But these were hardly needed. Hundreds of former settlers were returning to rebuild their former homes: new adventurers had come to purchase; farms were being restored and frame buildings erected on all sides, and upwards of 600 fighting men were enrolled ready and determined to "man their rights." The civil authority of Pennsylvania in the valley was but nominal. Its laws were not resorted to and the settlers governed themselves as before by a committee of magistrates which tried and punished offenders. The shares of the Susquehanna Company carrying rights to land were selling freely at about forty dollars a share. It was time for Pennsylvania to awake to the gravity of the situation and to adopt conciliatory measures quickly if she would save to her- self this fairest part of her domain.
Happily wisdom at last prevailed. In September 1786 an act passed the Assembly for organizing the whole Wyom- ing district into the county of Luzerne, providing for elections there and appointing Zebulon Butler and others Commission-
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ers of the county buildings. Owing to a defect in the law the elections could not be held that year so that the county still remained unorganized Meantime the Susquehanna Company aud its indefatigable agent Franklin, utterly irreconcileable in spirit toward Pennsylvania, were pushing forward their revolutionary schemes. The names which figure at this period in the records of the company's meetings, suggest the high character and powerful influence which were behind it, ren- dering it an important factor in the controversy. On Decem- ber 26, 1786 Joel Barlow, three of the Wolcott family (including Oliver Wolcott, Jr.,) Dr. Timothy Horner, Ebenezer and Samuel Gray and others were appointed commissioners to make out a list of all the persons entitled to lands in the valley with descriptions of their holdings as a full and com- plete record evidence of their titles, and to assign new locations to intending settlers. They were also constituted a court for the trial and settlement of all controversies at law. until "in the language of the vote" a form of internal govern- ment shall be established in the county; "and said commis- sioners, the vote significantly adds, shall likewise have full power to do and transact any other matters and things which they may judge necessary for the security and protection of the settlers on said lands and for the benefit of said company of proprietors." This vote was passed two months after the failure to hold the county election of Luzern county under the laws of Pennsylvania. On the same day the Pennsylvania Assembly passed a supplemental act which introduces a new personage of national distinction, and occasioned new and exciting episodes in the political drama.
This supplemental aet provided that Timothy Pickering, Zebulon Butler and John Franklin should give notice of an election to be held in the county of Luzerne for county offi- cers, February 1, 1787, and correct the defects of the pre- vious election acts. The olive branch could hardly have beeu more conspicuously tendered than by naming John Franklin as one of the commissioners, engaged as he had been for months previous in openly planning and waging hostilities against the state. Zebulon Butler was also wisely selected
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as the most eminent and able man among the settlers, whose influence over them would be paramount whether for concilia- tion or controversy, and whose sound and conservative judgement had kept him from taking part in the violent action of Franklin and the Susquehanna company. The ad- dition of Timothy Pickering was a remarkable one, and indicated in the clearest manner that the disposition of Penn- sylvania was now fully awakened to bring the unhappy con- dition of Wyoming to a close honorable to both parties A native of Massachusetts, he had held during the war the im- portant posts of Adjutant General, and Quartermaster Gen- eral of the Army, and at the close of the war he had settled in Philadelphia where he was now residing, held in the highest esteem for his ability. integrity and moderation. At later periods he filled many conspicuous positions in the national and state governments He was Postmaster General, Secre- tary of War and Secretary of State successively in Washing- ton's administration. Then having returned to Massechusetts in 1801, he became Judge of a Massachusetts court, afterwards U. S. Senator and later still a member of Congress from that state. In 1786 he had had occasion to visit Wyoming and had interested himself while there to ascertain the real feelings of the inhabitants with regard to submission to Pennsylvania. Having become satisfied that the great majority would readily assent to it if their land titles could be recognized and quieted by the state he returned to Philadelphia and exerted himself to bring about an accommodation on that basis. By his in- fluence with leading citizens he secured the passage of the supplemental act referred to and a pledge was given him that if the Connecticut settlers would accept it and organize the county under Pennsylvania laws, a statute should be passed quieting them in their possessions. He was selected as the head of the commission froid confidence in his abilities, integ. rity and impartiality and because it was thought his New England birth would inspire confidence in the Wyoming people. Armed with the authority conferred by the act and with the assurances behind it, he returned to Wyoming and laid the matter before the Connecticut settlers.
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The effect became speedily apparent The more prudent and conservative class including Col. Butler were for concili- ation and peace. Another party led by the fiery Franklin who refused to act under his appointment by the state, and including the newly arrived enlisted men of the company were for opposition and separation. The discord between the parties soon became rife. The cry was no longer "Penny- mite against Yankee" but "old settlers against the wild Yan- kees and half-share men." Pennsylvania had succeeded in dividing the community and thus the first great step toward their absorption was accomplished.
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