USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 81
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In February, 1757, by enactment of the General Assembly of Connecticut (see "Colonial Records of Connecticut," X : 601), Phineas Lyman (mentioned hereinbefore) was appointed Colonel of the regiment to be raised in the Colony "to act in conjunction with His Majesty's forces under the Earl of Loudoun in the next campaign." Israel Putnam of Pomfret, Windham County, was commissioned Captain of the 4th Company of this regiment, and Adonijah Fitch and John Durkee were commissioned Captain and First Lieutenant, respectively, of the 7th Company-which was to be raised from among the men of the 3d Regiment of the Colony militia. During the greater part of the time that Lyman's regiment was in service it was at Fort Edward, mentioned on page 282. As shown by an original muster-roll on file in the Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Lieutenant John Durkee was in service from February 23d to November 3, 1757.
In March, 1758, the General Assembly of Connecticut voted to raise 5,000 troops, to be divided into four regiments, to be used for the purpose of "invading Canada with the King's forces." (See next to the last paragraph on page 297, ante.) Eliphalet Dyer (see page 393) was at that time commissioned Colonel of the 3d Regiment, and John Durkee was commissioned Captain of the 9th Company of the regi- ment. But Colonel Dyer soon afterwards resigned his commission, and Lieut. Col. Eleazar Fitch (me11- tioned on page 448) was promoted Colonel of the regiment. Israel Putnam was Major. The "3d" was one of the organizations that took part in the Ticonderoga expedition mentioned on page 297, and July 3, 1758, the regiment was at "Lake George" and August 16th at "Camp Fort Edward"-as shown by an orig- inal "Memorandum Book, for stores belonging to the Colony of Connecticut," which was kept at the time by Lieut. Zebulon Butler, Quartermaster of the regiment, and which is now in the possession of the Wyo- ming Historical and Geological Society. Captain Durkee was in service with his company throughout the campaign, as is shown by an original muster-roll (dated Fort Edward, October 19, 1758) now preserved in the Connecticut State Library.
One of the privates in Captain Durkee's company who served through the campaign of 1758 was a young man-then in the eighteenth year of his life-who subsequently achieved undying fame as a brave and sagacious officer in the Revolutionary War-Thomas Knowlton of Ashford, Windham County. On the 8th of August was fought the battle of Wood Creek, when Major Putnam of the "3d," having been cap- tured by an Indian warrior, was tied to a tree, where, during a considerable part of the fight, he was ex- posed to the fire of both friends and foes. About the 5th of August a scouting party, embracing Captain Durkee's company, had been sent out from the English camp to intercept or capture the French and Indian stragglers who were thought to be ranging the forests in the vicinity. While thus engaged they found at Wood Creek an encampment bearing marks of recent occupation. There was every indication that the enemy intended to return. Therefore the scouting party took possession of the site and waited for a day or two, but without any result. They then broke camp and started in search of their foes. While cautiously advancing in single file through a heavy forest a storm of bullets was suddenly showered upon them by an ambuscade of French and Indians. So thick was the undergrowth that not a foe was visible, the smoke from the muskets alone revealing their lurking places. The Enghsh quickly sought shelter behind the trunks of trees, and then all-officers and soldiers-fought independently of each other.
At an early stage of this battle the attention of Thomas Knowlton was attracted by a quivering among the brakes near by, and a moment later he saw an Indian creeping stealthily into the path over which the English had marched. He immediately shot the Indian, and, having reloaded his musket, sprang forward to secure as a trophy the scalp of the dead warrior. Just as he reached the body ten or twelve Indians jumped out of the underbrush on all sides of him. The boy-soldier, with a boldness and dexterity that for a moment paralyzed the energies of the Indians, shot down the nearest warrior and, bounding
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over his prostrate body, regained his comrades in safety, though pursued by a shower of balls. Mean- while the action had become general, and both parties fought desperately ; but at length the New Eng- landers had become so scattered that all regularity was lost-each one managing and fighting for himself. About that time Knowlton, on entering a small open space, saw a Frenchman enter on the opposite side. Each snapped his musket, but both weapons missed fire. As neither of them had bayonets the French- man endeavored to draw a dirk, but before he could succeed Knowlton had clasped him around the waist and then exerted all his strength to throw him. But the strength of the large and powerful man proved to be too much for the immature though active youth, and so Knowlton was thrown. At that moment, however, Captain Durkee fortunately entered the arena, when the Frenchman begged for quarter. Knowlton having reprimed his gun he and Durkee started to the rear with their prisoner, when he sprang from their grasp and endeavored to escape ; but his flight was quickly stopped by a death-dealing ball from Knowlton's gun. Durkee and Knowlton, who had become separated from the rest of their party by the retreat of the latter, now attempted to regain the main body of troops. After running in different directions, and being shot at several times, they gained the rear of the English unharmed. For the valor exhibited by Knowlton at Wood Creek he was promoted a sergeant, and before the war closed he was commissioned a Lieutenant.
In March, 1759, the General Assembly of Connecticut appointed Phineas Lyman to be Major General of the troops, and Colonel of the 1st Regiment, ordered to be raised in the Colony "for the ensuing cam- paign"-referred to on pages 297 and 298, ante. At the same time Col. Eleazar Fitch, Israel Putnam and John Durkee were appointed and commissioned Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major, respectively, of the 4th Regiment, and Major Durkee was also appointed Captain of the 3d Company. (See "Colonial Records of Connecticut," XI : 226.) In April following Major Durkee's company was mustered at Nor- wich (see original roll in the State Library, Hartford), and soon thereafter the Connecticut troops joined General Amherst's command and took part in the campaign which resulted in the expulsion of the French from Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Major Durkee was with his regiment during its whole tour of service in this year.
In March, 1760, the General Assembly of Connecticut resolved to raise 5,000 troops, to be divided into four regiments, to co-operate with the King's forces in "the ensuing expedition (see page 298, ante) against Montreal and all French posts in Canada; and further to annoy the enemy in such manner as His Majesty's commander-in-chief shall judge practicable." In this campaign Colonel Fitch, Lieutenant Colonel Putnam and Major Durkee were again, by appointment of the Assembly, the three principal officers of the 4th Connecticut Regiment. It is interesting to note that in the campaign of 1760, among the Indians who, under the command of Sir William Johnson, formed the third division of Amherst's army, were Coruplanter, Jean Montour and Joseph Brant, previously mentioned. The second division of the army, composed almost wholly of the New England Provincials (including, of course, the Connecticut contingent), was commanded by Col. Frederick Haldimand-seventeen years later Gen. Sir Frederick Haldimand, Governor General of the Province of Quebec. (See a sketch of his life in Chapter XIV.)
In March, 1761, Phineas Lyman and John Durkee were appointed and commissioned Colonel and Major, respectively, of the 1st Connecticut Regiment "in the forces to be raised for the [then] current year," and according to an original muster-roll in the State Library, Hartford, Major Durkee was in active service from April till December, 1761. In January, 1762, the King of Great Britain declared war against Spain, and it was decided to send a force of British Regulars and Provincials to capture the City of Havana on the Island of Cuba-the "Key to the New World." In March, 1762, the Connecticut Assembly ap- pointed Phineas Lyman "Major General of the forces, and Colonel of the 1st Regiment, to be raised" in the Colony for the service mentioned. Israel Putnam was appointed and commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Regiment, and John Durkee Major of the regiment and Captain of the 3d Company. Subsequently General Lyman was given command of all the Provincials. The 1st Connecticut Regiment consisted of twelve companies, and all of them except the 10th joined the expedition against Havana. The eleven companies numbered 917 men.
The chief command of this expedition was given to Lord Albemarle, and March 5, 1762, he set sail from Portsmouth, England, with nineteen ships of the line, eighteen smaller men-of-war, and 150 trans- ports with 10,000 troops. This fleet arrived off the harbor of Havana three months later. In the harbor were twelve Spanish ships of the line, and in the fortifications on shore a force of troops numerically equal to the invaders. The British force was safely landed, and on June 12th began the construction of batteries. On the 11th of June the first detachment of troops from the North American Colonies sailed from New York in eleven transports, and some time later the second detachment sailed. The safe arrival of these troops at Havana increased the British force there to the largest that America had ever seen. The Morro Castle (the same old "Morro" of the Spanish-American War of 1898) was taken by assault on the 30th of July, and then the British began to plant batteries against the city. These opened fire August 11th, with- in six hours silenced the defenses, and two days later compelled the Spaniards to enter into a capitulation by which they surrendered the city, all the ships in the harbor and the whole west end of the island. An immense quantity of booty came into the possession of the victors, and a large amount of prize-money was awarded to the Colonial officers and soldiers. During and immediately after the siege the American soldiers were terribly scourged by disease-suffering more from the Cuban climate than from the Spanish soldiers. Large numbers died-on the island and on the homeward voyage-from what was called "putrid fever." The Connecticut troops returned home in November, 1762.
In 1761 Major Durkee became a member of The Susquehanna Company by the purchase of a "half- right" from Isaac Tracy of New London, and in 1763 he was active in helping to organize "The Company of Military Adventurers," mentioned on page 458. He was then, and had been for several years, engaged in mercantile business in Norwich in partnership with Elisha Lord and Joshua Abell, Jr. This partner- ship was dissolved January 11, 1764, but the business was continued at the same stand by Lord, who ad- vertised "a good assortment of English and West India goods; also, good wine." January 23, 1764, an agreement was executed by Messrs. Lord, Durkee and Abell, and placed on record, which set forth that the three men for some years then past had been in partnership, "and have practised and carried on trade and merchantdise in said Norwich and partnership and company in equal proportions; which partnership ended the 11th instant, and there now remains a considerable quantity of goods, wares and merchantdise on hand, and also the shop and appurtenances where the trade was carried on, and also the sloop Three Friends, of sixty tons (and also her cargo), Capt. Benjamin Edgerton, Master, now at sea, bound on a voyage to the Island of Antigua." Joshua Abell, Jr., sold all his right in the foregoing to Elisha Lord, on the date last mentioned, and shortly thereafter Lord sold to Major Durkee an interest in the business, which thenceforth was continued under the name of Durkee and Lord. Early in 1767 Lord died, "greatly insolvent," and in April of that year Major Durkee was compelled to mortgage his "dwell- ing house and adjacent lands in the town-plot of Norwich, his orchard on the north side of the town street, his lot and barn on the south side of the street, two acres near Needham and ten acres in 'The Quarter,' so called," as well as other property, for debts amounting to upwards of £506 due from Durkee and Lord to Theophilus Beach and Perry and Hayes, New York. About that time-or probably as early as 1765-Major Durkee began keeping an inn on "Bean Hill," in the town of Norwich.
In the Spring of 1765 the British Parliament passed the "Stamp Act." applying to the American Colo- nies. As soon as the fact became known throughout the Colonies very general discontent was manifested by the people, and there sprang into existence an organization-having numerous branches throughout the country-which assumed the name "Sons of Liberty." One of the avowed objects of this organiza- tion was the opposing of the enforcement of the Stamp Act. (A very full account of the Stamp Act, as well as of the Sons of Liberty and their doings, will be found in Chapter X.) The headquarters of the Sons of Liberty in Connecticut was at Norwich, and Major Durkee was, from the beginning, a very active and influential member of the organization. In September, 1765, a band of 500 of the stalwart "Sons" of
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the counties of New London and Windham set out on horseback, with eight days' provisions, determined to find Jared Ingersoll (see page 405 and Chapter X), the newly appointed Stamp Agent for Connecticut, and make him resign his office. The New London contingent of this band crossed the Connecticut River at North Lyme, where quite a number of 1,yme "Sons"-including Capt. Zebulon Butler, Benjamin Harvey. Capt. Harris Colt and others joined the party. They marched up the west side of the river, and united with the Windham contingent near the town of Wethersfield.
Major Durkee commanded the combined band (which comprised many men who, a few years later. were to become active and prominent as settlers at Wyoming under the Susquehanna Company), and rode at its head dressed in full military costume, and accompanied by three trumpeters who awoke the echoes with their blasts. The men, who rode two abreast, each bore a ponderous peeled club in im- itation of the baton carried in those days by an officer of the peace. Jared Ingersoll, who happened to be on his way from New Haven to Hartford, was met by the "Sons" near the village of Wethersfield, into the main street of which he was escorted with a flourish of trumpets. The procession having hatted and opened ranks, Major Durkee called upon Ingersoll to resign his office. "Is it fair," expostulated the lat- ter, "for two counties to dictate to the rest of the Colony ?" "It doesn't signify to partey ; a great many people are waiting, and you must resign," was the prompt reply. "I must wait to learn the sense of the Government," said Ingersoll. "Here is the sense of the Government," declared Durkee, "and no man shall exercise your office !" "A few moments later Ingersoll wrote his name to the formal resignation prepared for him. That was well, but it was not enough. He was required to swear to it in a loud voice, and then shout 'Liberty and Property "' three times. This last ceremony he performed swinging his hat about his head. He was then escorted to the city of Hartford, a few miles distant, by the 500 club-bearers, riding four abreast, The procession halted at the Court Ilouse, where Major Durkee read to a large assemblage of citizens the resignation of Mr. Ingersoll. The latter was then ordered to shout again three times 'Liberty and Property !' After this the Sons of Liberty quietly dispersed to their respective homes."
When making the memorable journey from Wethersfield to Hartford Mr. Ingersoll was mounted on a white horse. As he rode silently along in the midst of the "Sons" some one asked him what he was think- ing of. "Death on a pale horse and Hell following," was his quick retort.
In 1766 Major Durkee was one of the two Deputies chosen to represent Norwich in the General Assembly of Connecticut.
After his release from his imprisonment of almost two years at Philadelphia (an account of which is given hereinafter), Major Durkee repaired to Norwich, where his wife and children were still residing -- they having never removed to Wyoming. Charles Miner says ("History of Wyoming"): "Several months' imprisonment extinguished his [Durkee's] ardor for the settlement at Wyoming, and he returned to Norwich." In 1773 and 1774 he made brief visits to Wyoming-his last one being made during the months of March-May, 1774, when, as a member of the "Committee to order and direct the laying out of towns," he signed certain documents, and, as "President of the Settlers," gave receipts, or certificates, for payments made by several buyers of rights in the Susquehanna Purchase.
In England, in March, 1774, the leaders of the Government, under Lord North, proposed and carried very drastic measures in relation to the American Colonies. Says Woodrow Wilson (in "A History of the American People," II : 187, 209): "By one bill they closed the port of Boston, transferring its trade after the first of June to the older port of Salem. * * By another Bill they suspended the Charter of the
Colony. By a third they made provision for the quartering of troops within the Province ; and by a fourth they legalized the transfer to England of trials growing out of attempts to quell riots in the Colony. * * It was the 2d of June [1774] before the text of the new statutes was known in Boston. That same month -almost upon that very day-Thomas Hutchinson, the constant-minded Governor whom Samuel Adams had tricked, hated, and beaten in the game of politics, left his perplexing post and took ship for England, never to return. * * * Mr. Hutchinson left General [Thomas] Gage Governor in his stead-at once Governor and military commander. Gage was to face a season of infinite trouble, and, as men soon learned, did not know how to face it either with patience or with tact and judgment. * * Samnel Adams and those who acted with him very carefully saw to it that agitation should not lose its zest or decline to the humdrum levels of ordinary excitement. They kept their alarm-bells pealing night and day, and were vigilant that feeling should not subside or fall tame."
On Saturday, September 3, 1774, there arrived at Norwich, Connecticut, an express from Col. Israel Putnam at Pomfret with information that an attack had been made the night before by General Gage's soldiers upon certain citizens of Boston, and that six of them had been killed. This was only a rumor. but it caused the greatest consternation, and the citizens assembled around the "Liberty Tree"-a tall pole, which, as early as 1765, had been erected by the Sons of Liberty in the center of the village "Green." From the "Liberty Tree" the crowd adjourned to the Court House, where a full and free discussion of the news took place. The next morning, Sunday, April 4th-which was the day preceding that upon which the First Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia (see page 354)-461 men, well armed, and the greater part mounted on good horses, started from Norwich for Boston under the command of Major Durkee. Seven miles from Norwich they were met by an express from Providence, Rhode Island, with intelligence that the report of the previous day was without foundation ; wherenpon the company dis- persed. This false alarm had for its basis what was really an aggressive act on the part of General Gage. He had landed a body of troops and removed the military stores from Charlestown, together with two field-pieces from Cambridge, to Castle William. This excited a tumult in Boston, the news of which, distorted and intensified by rumor, was delivered verbally by a inessenger hastily sent to Colonel Put- nam. Putnam condensed the intelligence in a despatch to Captain Cleveland at Canterbury, who sent it on by express to Major Durkee.
Early in April, 1775, the Connecticut authorities established and commissioned Israel Putnam Colonel of the 3d Regiment and John Durkee Major of the Ist Regiment of the Colony. On the 19th of April, at Boston, General Gage detailed 800 of his troops to seize the military stores which the Provincials had gathered at Concord, and there followed an instant rising of the country. "Riders," says Wilson, "had sped through the country-side during the long night which preceded the movement of the troops, to give warning ; and before the troops could finish their errand armed men beset them at almost every turn of the road, swarming by companies ont of every hamlet and firing upon them from hedge and fence corner and village street as if they were outlaws running the gantlet."
News of the fight at Lexington was forwarded by the Town Clerk at Worcester, Massachusetts, to Brooklyn in the town of Pomfret, Windham County, Connecticut, the home of Colonel Putnam. It reached there in the morning of April 20th, and Putnam, who was plowing in one of his fields, left his plow and set out immediately for Boston. The despatch received at Brooklyn was sent on by messenger to Norwich, and soon, in the connties of Windham and New London, messengers on horseback, with beating drums, carried the news in all directions. Meanwhile a message came direct from Boston, to the effect that it would be expedient for every man who was "fit and willing" to repair to the scene of action. Putnam was then in Concord, whence he wrote on the 21st of April.
On Sunday, April 23d, at nine o'clock in the evening, an express arrived at Norwich with despatches for the Committee of Correspondence of the town, and a certified copy of a letter from Colonel Putnam dated at Cambridge, April 22d, and evidently written under a stress of excitement. He called for im- mediate supplies of troops and provisions. Volunteers were now almost daily departing for the army at Cambridge in squads of two, three and four, and regularly organized companies were not far behind. In the latter part of the month a special session of the Connecticut Assembly was held, and it was resolved that, for the safety and defense of the Colony, six regiments of ten companies each should be enlisted from the militia of the Colony, and organized and equipped without delay. The term of enlistment was fixed at seven months, and the regiments were raised almost with a rush.
As chief officers of the 3d Regiment of the six thus provided for the Assembly named Israel Putnam, Colonel ; Benedict Arnold, then of New Haven, but formerly of Norwich (see page 284), Lieutenant
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Colonel ; John Durkee, Major, and Captain of one of the companies. This regiment (with the exception of one company of 100 men-Durkee's-which was raised at Norwich) was recruited in Windham County. The company from Ashford was commanded by Capt. Thomas Knowlton. (See page 481.) In May the regiment was marched, by companies, to the camps forming around Boston. Durkee's company left Norwich for the scene of action May 23d, in charge of Lient. Joshua Huntington, Durkee having joined Putnam at Cambridge some days previously. The 3d Regiment took part in the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, and in the retreat of the Americans after the battle the men of Durkee's company lost twenty guns and forty blankets. Two days after this battle the Continental Congress appointed four Major Generals for the Continental Army, one of them being Col. Israel Putnam. By reason of Putnam's promotion Major Durkee succeeded to the temporary command of the 3d Regiment, inasmuch as Lieu- tenant Colonel Arnold was then at Ticonderoga. Eight days after the fight at Lexington Arnold had proposed that a force be sent northward for the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and early in May he went forward as the leader of such a force. Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain boys set out with the same object in view, and the two commanders came together on the way and pressed forward to success-Ticonderoga being captured on the 10th of May.
In July, 1775, the 3d Regiment was adopted as a Continental Regiment, and Lieut. Col. Benedict Arnold, Maj. John Durkee and Capt. Thomas Knowlton were respectively promoted and commissioned Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major. The regiment remained in camp at Cambridge until the expiration of its term of service in December, when it was reorganized with the same field officers, and the men were re- enlisted, for the campaign of 1776. The regiment was officially designated as the "20th Regiment, Conti- mental Foot," but was commonly referred to as "Arnold's Regiment." At that time the regiment was still in command of Durkee, Arnold having been sent in the early Autumn in command of an expedition against Quebec. During the Winter of 1775-'76 and the Spring of 1776 the "20th" formed part of the army which closely invested Boston. During the latter part of February, 1776, Major Knowlton was in com- mand of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Durkee being absent on account of ill health. After the evac- uation of Boston by the British in March, 1776, the 20th Regiment was transferred to the city of New York.
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