A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 108

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683

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. II > Part 108

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Having passed the deserted house of Nathan Bullock, three miles from Bear Creek, and crossed the Moosic, or Wyoming, Mountain (see page 44, Vol. I), the head of the column arrived at the point where the " Lower Road " crossed Laurel Run-sixty-one and three-fourths miles from Easton, and six miles (by the road, but only three miles in a bee- line) from Fort Wyoming. There the vanguard reported that they had seen several deer browsing but a few minutes before ; whereupon, by permission of Major Prowell, Capt. Joseph Davis, # Lieut. William Jones, §

* The settlement at Brinker's Mills (previously mentioned on page 646) became known in 1779 as "Sullivan's Stores," owing to the fact that a large store-house, surrounded by a palisade, had been erected there for use as a magazine, or depot, for provisions and other supplies for the Conti- nental troops. Capt. Alexander Patterson (previously mentioned, particularly on page 1064), Deputy Quartermaster General, was in charge of this depot, while Capt. Luke Brodhead and a small body of Northampton County militia composed the guard on duty there.

t Learn's log tavern was located at what is now Tannersville, in Pocono Township, Monroe County, twenty-eight miles from Easton. On July 3, 1781, Mr. Learn was shot and scalped near his house by a band of Indians, as was also his son George. Another son, John, shot one of the Indians, who was left by his companions on the spot where he fell. The remaining Indians carried off the wife of George Learn and her four-months-old infant; but not wishing to be encumbered with the child, dashed out its brains. In some of the journals of the officers of the Sullivan Expedition Learn's tavern is referred to as "Larnard's" and as "Larner's," and at a later day the place was sometimes called "Larner's." (See the map of North-eastern Pennsylvania in Chapter XXIII.)

#JOSEPH DAVIS, undoubtedly a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was appointed Ensign of Capt. Abraham Marshall's company, in Col. Samuel J. Atlee's "Musketry Battalion," March 27, 1776. This battalion was embodied strictly for the defense of Pennsylvania, under a resolution of the Provincial Assembly passed March 5, 1776. Early in the following August, however, the battalion was ordered over to New York, where it was made a part of the brigade commanded by Lord Stirling, and later took part in the battle of Long Island-in which engagement Colonel Atlee was captured by the enemy, and was held a prisoner for nearly two years. Some time in the latter part of 1776 En- sign Davis was promoted First Lieutenant, and, January 15, 1777, was transferred to the 9th Penn- sylvania Regiment, Continental Line, commanded by Col. James Irvine. Shortly afterwards, upon the organization of "Hartley's Regiment" (see page 1108), Lieutenant Davis was transferred to that regiment, and June 5, 1778, was promoted Captain.

When, in January, 1779, Congress resolved (as noted on page 1108) that "Hartley's Regiment," certain companies of "Patton's Regiment," and several independent Pennsylvania companies annexed to Colonel Malcolm's regiment, should be incorporated together to form the "New 11th Regiment" of Pennsylvania in the Continental Line, Captain Davis became Captain of the 1st, or Colonel's, Com- pany of the new regiment. After Colonel Hartley's resignation in February, 1779, the 1st Company was designated as the "Lieutenant Colonel's Company."

§ WILLIAM JONES was a native of Delaware. As noted on page 1108, Congress authorized Gen- eral Washington in December, 1776, to raise sixteen "additional" battalions of troops "from any and

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Corporal Butler and four privates, all armed with rifles, crossed the "Run" and hurried forward along the path. They had gone but a short distance, and were nearing the crest of Wilkes-Barre Mountain, when they were fired upon by a band of Indians (believed to have numbered about twenty) in ambush, and every one of them* was either instantly slain or mortally wounded. The savages rushed from their covert, secured the scalps of their victims, and disappeared in the thick woods before a single man of the main body of troops could be hur- ried up to the spot. Dr. Ebenezer Elmer, Surgeon of the 2d New Jer- sey Regiment (which took part in the Sullivan Expedition), wrote in his journal, at Wilkes-Barré, June 25, 1779, relative to this event : " What renders the action peculiarly inhuman was that the scalps were all taken off by a squaw, consort to a sachem; and at that, of some while they were alive."

Major Prowell, fearing that he had a large force of savages to cope with, halted his men and prepared for an attack. In the meantime he despatched to Colonel Butler the Surgeon of the detachment (who had volunteered for the duty) and John Halstead (a private of Captain Spal- ding's company, who had met the detachment en route, and was acting as guide), bearing information as to the situation of affairs on the moun- tain. Colonel Butler immediately called out the German Regiment and ordered it to march to the relief of Major Prowellt and his men and escort them to Fort Wyoming. This duty was done without delay ; but, first, the remains of the seven slain soldiers were decently buried alongside the path where they had fallen. Over the grave of Captain Davis there was set up a piece of a board, bearing these words, written with a piece of charred wood : "The place where Capt. Davis was murdered by the Savages April 23d 1779." At the grave of Lieutenant Jones there was also placed a board, which was smeared with his blood and had inscribed upon it, " The blood of Lt. Jones."

On the same day that the Indians murdered these men, six cows were driven off from Plymouth by a band of Indians. On the same day, also, the following letter was written at Fort Penn (now Strouds- burg, Monroe County, Pennsylvania) and despatched to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barré.

all of the United States." One of the battalions raised in pursuance of this resolution was com- manded by Col. John Patton of Philadelphia, and was known as "Patton's Regiment." Peter Scull, subsequently Secretary of the Board of War, was the first Major of this battalion, and Joseph Prowell was one of the original Captains. The latter was promoted Major January 1, 1778, and, upon the organization of the "New 11th Regiment," was transferred to that command. "Patton's Regiment" drew contributions, both in officers and men, from New Jersey and Delaware-one of the companies being Capt. Allan McLane's Partizan Company of Foot, composed entirely of Delawareans. William Jones was commissioned Second Lieutenant of this company January 13, 1777, and was still in service with the company when Congress directed that certain companies of "Patton's Regiment" (excepting Captain McLane's company, which should be annexed to the "Delaware Regiment' ) should be incor- porated with other companies to constitute the "New 11th Regiment"-as related in the preceding note. It was not until June 1, 1779, that, by resolution of the Executive Council of Delaware, Mc- Lane's company was actually annexed to the "Delaware Regiment." Meanwhile the company had continued in service temporarily attached to the 11th Regiment, under the command of Lieut. Colonel Hubley, who had succeeded Colonel Hartley. Thus it happened that, when a detachment of soldiers from the 11th Regiment was despatched to Wyoming from the general camp near Millstone, New Jersey (where only a few companies of the "11th" were encamped; the remaining companies being on duty at and near Sunbury, Pennsylvania), Lieutenant Jones came to be one of the subaltern offi- cers of the detachment.

* Lieut. John Jenkins states in his journal that "Captain Davis, Lieutenant Jones, and three men were killed, and two others were missing." The other diarists of the expedition have recorded that the two officers named and five men were killed and scalped.

# Miner says that "Major Prowell, having leave to resign, soon left the army." Lieut. Colonel Hubley, in a letter to Brig. General Hand, written at Sunbury, June 22, 1779, said: "A board of gen- eral officers to determine the dispute of rank between Major Prowell and the Captains of the Penn- sylvania Line, determined in favor of the latter; in consequence of which he will be removed from the rank he now holds, and a senior Captain take his place. I am extremely sorry for the loss of Major Prowell. He is a worthy, good officer."

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"Dear Sir .- not being certain whether General Hand is yet arrived at Wyoming, make Bold to write you as Commanding officer at that Post. I have this Instant sent off seven Pack horses loaded with the Baggage of the German Regt, Armangs and Schoots Cores, which I hope will arrive safe. I shall continue that number in Employ constantly, and would Employ more but for the scarcity of forage at this Place. However I hope to have better Provision made for them shortly.

"You will please to let me know how you stand in respect of amunition, as I have 5,000 Rounds at this Place that I intend to send you, but if it would be convenient would rather send the oficers bagage first as they are rather in my way at Present. I wish you would consult General hand if arrived, if not would be glad you would think it right to send a party of men to causeway that bad Place at Tobyhannah, as I am informed it is almost Imposible to pass it and it will doubtless get worse Dayly.

"Should be glad to know if you have any regular apointed Quartermaster and who he is. Please to let me know how you are in the forage way. You will please to present my best compliments to the officers of my acquaintance in general.

"I am, Sir, your Humble Sert, [Signed] "ALEXR PATTERSON, D. Q. M. G."

"Lieut. Col. ZEBULON BUTTLER, Wyoming. "By Lieut. SWARTS.

"On Publick Service.

Under the date of April 13, 1779, William Stewart, Purchasing Commissary, wrote from "Coxtown" to Col. Zebulon Butler, informing him that 150 small boats were being built at Middletown (see page 859) for the Continental service. He also stated that he had seen at Carlisle Colonel Blaine, Commissary General of Purchases, who desired that he (Stewart) would remain in the locality where he was then stationed until the Commissary Department could get together 1,000 barrels of flour and 600 barrels of beef for the use of the troops that would rendezvous at Wyoming.

At Estherton, Pennsylvania, under the date of April 23, 1779, Brig. General Hand wrote to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barre as follows :

"Immediately on the receipt hereof I beg you may send a sufficient party, under the command of a prudent, careful officer, to Fort Jenkins [see page 995, ante] to meet Captain Schott, who has the charge of a quantity of stores for your Post, to protect him and the stores from Fort Jenkins upwards. If anything material happens before I have the pleasure of joining you, please to give me notice-directing your letters to the care of the commanding officer at Sunbury, to be forwarded if necessary."

At Fort Jenkins, under the date of April 25, 1779, Capt. Isaac Sweeny, of the 8th Company, 11th Pennsylvania Regiment, wrote to Colonel Butler informing him that Commissary Stewart had left Sun- bury on the preceding day with a large boat-load of stores for Wyoming Garrison. He stated further :

"This day a party of fifty or more Indians came within one-fourth of a mile of the Garrison [Fort Jenkins], and took three families prisoners. I sent out thirty men with Lieut. [William] Lemmon and Ensign [Francis] Thornbury. The savages discovered the party, left their plunder, and took to the woods. A smart skirmish took place, and two men of the Garrison party were killed, four wounded, and one missing. In the meantime the prisoners escaped from the Indians. I expect your stores here next Wednesday [April 28th], where they will remain till you send a guard for them, as I am too weak here to furnish one."

At Sullivan's Stores (Brinker's Mills), under the date of May 6, 1779, Capt. Alexander Patterson wrote to Colonel Butler at Wilkes- Barré as follows* :

"Dear Sir : Imediately upon the receipt of your Letter of the 4th Inst. I Dispatched an Express to Col. Spencer in Easton to enquire what time he would March for your Post. he Returns Me for answer that he believes he will March in Two or Three Days and will take the amunition &c. on with him. I have sent the same Men back who came down- hope they will arrive safe at your Place.

"We have at this time six officers at this Place waiting to go in [to Wyoming], and perhaps 20 men, but as there Certainly will a body of Men march very soon for Wyo- ming think it is best to run no risks. I am extreamly sorry for the misfortune of Major

* The original letter is in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

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Prowells party as also for the poor people on Fishing Creek and the West Branch. I should have sent you Inteligence after the receipt of your first letter after Major Prowels arrival, but could not get any Person to venture to go. Dont be discouraged, there will a large body March your way shortly. I am ordered not to communicate a word to the wise.

" My complements to the Gentlemen in general. If you think it necessary, send the Express down again. Do you certify for them, I will pay them. Dont let Publick Service suffer for a trifling expence.

"I am, Sir, your real Friend and Very Humble Sert, [Signed ] "ALEXR PATTERSON."

"Col. ZEBULON BUTLER. "N. B .- Col: Malcolms & Spencers Regts are joined togather in this new arrange- ment. There is a Disatisfaction about it which has impeaded thier March. [Signed] "A. P-"

General Sullivan arrived at Easton, Pennsylvania, and established his headquarters there, May 7, 1779. The next day he wrote to Gen- eral Washington :

" I will do everything in my power to set the wheels in motion, and make the necessary preparations for the army to move on. * * The expedition is no secret in this quarter. A Sergeant of Spencer's [regiment] who was made prisoner at Mohacamoe and carried to Chemung, has just returned. He says they [the enemy] know of the expedition, and are taking every step to destroy the communications on the Susque- hanna. * * I think the sooner we can get into the [Indian] country the better."

" This last sentence," says Dr. Craft, " was in allusion to the verbal instructions of Washington not to hasten the march from Easton until it was known what would be the future movements of D'Estaing, then in the West Indies, who was expected soon to sail north, and with whom the Commander-in-Chief wished to be ready to co-operate in striking some decisive blow upon the enemy." General Sullivan had also been directed so to time his movements as to be able to destroy the crops of the Indians before they could gather them ; and at the same time to do this so late in the season that the crops could not be replanted. On May 11th Sullivan wrote again to Washington, complaining of his ina- bility to procure wagons and horses necessary for forwarding from Easton to Wyoming the stores, etc., required for the Expedition.

The next day after Sullivan's arrival at Easton Brig. General Hand reached Wilkes-Barre from Sunbury, and formally assumed command of Fort Wyoming and all the troops stationed in Wyoming Valley and at Fort Jenkins and elsewhere on the Susquehanna. On May 15th he wrote to President Reed, at Philadelphia, with reference to the ravages committed by Indians on the frontiers of Northumberland County in the previous April, and stated: "We have at present about 400 rank and file for duty here, and 100 at Fort Jenkins."

At "Brinker's Mills, May 14, 1779," Capt. Alexander Patterson wrote to General Hand at Wilkes-Barré as follows* :

"Dear General: I am glad to hear of your safe arrival at Wyoming. * * I am sorry that I could not comply with your request respecting the rum, as there is not any arrived yet at this Post. I am in hopes Colonels Courtland and Spencer will soon make a road, so as we shall be able to supply you by hogsheads. Captain Spalding will adver- tise you of the approach of the party marching with the baggage of the German Battalion, Prowel's, Armang's and Schoot's cores [corps]. * * How the horses will live that are necessary to be upon the road while making, I cannot conceive, as we have not one handful of grain for them. I foresee many other difficulties. Would point them out, but might be deemed impertinent."

On May 23d Captain Patterson wrote from Brinker's Mills to Col- onel Butler : "Never was man more hurried. The troops all coming on, and everything wanting."

During the Winter of 1778-'79 the 2d New York Regiment, Conti- nental Line, commanded by Col. Philip Van Cortlandt, was quartered

* The original letter is in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

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at Wawarsing, in the south-western part of Ulster County, New York. In pursuance of orders to join the Sullivan Expedition, this regiment broke camp May 4, 1779, and marched across the country to what is now Port Jervis, on the Delaware River. Thence they proceeded down along the New Jersey shore of the river to Decker's Ferry (see the map in Chapter XXIII), at the mouth of Big Bushkill Creek, and some thirteen miles from Fort Penn (Stroudsburg). Crossing the river at Decker's they marched to the fort, where they arrived in the evening of May 11th. There they remained until the afternoon of May 14th, when, in obedience to orders received from General Sullivan, they marched in a north-westerly direction from Fort Penn a distance of about five miles, into the woods, and bivouacked for the night. Early the next morning the regiment proceeded to Learn's Tavern (mentioned on page 1167) and encamped in the fields near by, where, on Sunday, May 16th, they were joined by the 5th New Jersey Regiment, Conti- nental Line, commanded by Col. Oliver Spencer. This regiment had marched from Easton, having been encamped there for a week or ten days.

The men of these two regiments-numbering in all about 500- began, forthwith, the work of building a military road from "Learn's" to Wilkes-Barre. The course of this road-which came in time to be called the "Sullivan Road," and which followed very closely the old bridle-path known for a number of years previously as the "Lower Road to the Delaware," and frequently referred to hereinbefore-was carefully surveyed, measured and plotted by Lieut. Benjamin Lodge, "Geographer " (Topographical Engineer) to the Sullivan Expedition, and his assistants. (Colonel Van Cortlandt, who was in immediate command of the forces engaged in laying out and building the road, was himself a practical surveyor ; having followed land-surveying as an occupation for several years before entering the army.) In the collec- tions of the New York Historical Society there is now preserved a con- siderable number of the original manuscript maps which were plotted by Lieutenant Lodge and his assistants while making the surveys from Easton to Wilkes-Barre for the " Sullivan Road." Some of these maps are drawn on a scale of two inches to one mile, and others on a scale of one inch to two miles. They are all in a fairly good state of preserva- tion, and appear to have been made with care. The present writer has recently studied these maps with much interest, and, while unable to print herein a reproduction of any one of them, is able to give a satis- factory description of the course which the road followed, the principal localities through which it passed, and the measured distances between those various localities.

The Sullivan Road started in Easton near where the present Third Street bridge spans Bushkill Creek. It ran along the left bank of that stream a short distance westward ; then took its way around the north shoulder of the hill on which Lafayette College now stands, and then ran over that hill in a northerly direction to Chestnut Hill. A portion of the road on College Hill was known in the writer's student-days as " Lovers' Lane." It is now called Sullivan Street .* From Chestnut

* Alongside this street, on a huge rock near the residence of Prof. Francis A. March, Sr., of Lafayette College, a bronze tablet was placed by George Taylor Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, in June, 1900, with appropriate ceremonies. The tablet bears the following inscription: "This stone marks the road over which Gen. John Sullivan marched June 18, 1779, to quell the Indian insurrection and avenge the Wyoming massacre. Erected by the George Taylor Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, June 18, 1900."

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Hill the road ran north by west to "Heller's" (twelve miles from Easton) ; thence about a mile and a-half to and through the Wind Gap; thence to Brinker's Mills (about nineteen miles from Easton). Some three and a-quarter miles beyond "Brinker's" a road leading to Fort Penn branched off to the right. (This was the road which had been used for several years by persons traveling from Wyoming to Fort Penn, and to the Delaware River a few miles farther on.) The distanceto"Learn's"from where the Fort Penn road branched off was six and a-quarter miles ; or, as pre- viously noted, twenty-eight and a-half miles from Easton.

Six milesbeyond "Learn's" the road crossed White Oak Run at what was latercalled "Rum Bridge." This was near the west line of the present Pocono Township, Monroe County. Atthethirty-seventh mile- post the road entered the Great Swamp (previously described here- in), and about two and a-half miles VIEW OF LAFAYETTE COLLEGE HILL FROM MT. JEFFERSON, IN 1871. farther on crossed Tunkhanna Creek, near which was a locality known as "Indian Field." At exactly the forty-first mile-post the road crossed Tobyhanna Creek, over which a bridge was constructed, not far from the present hamlet of Tompkinsville in Tobyhanna Town- ship, Monroe County. The forty-fifth mile-post was at Locust Hill, or Locust Ridge-so called because the elevated ground at that point was covered with a growth of small locust trees. The forty-seventh mile-post was at the western end of what the surveyors called the "Great Swamp"-Locust Hill lying within the territory covered by this swamp. Passing this locality the road descended a mountain diagonally to the Lehigh River, which it crossed at or near what is now Thornhurst, in Lehigh Township, Lackawanna County. At the place of crossing the water was shallow and the river bottom smooth and solid. No bridge was necessary. From the Lehigh onward, for three miles, the country was of a rolling character, covered with very heavy timber and with an almost impenetrable growth of laurel. Boulders, too, of great size, were scattered apparently in all directions. In order to avoid this stretch of bad lands the road was turned in a slightly more westerly direction, and at the entrance to a small swamp-which the surveyors named " Shades of Death "-the fifty-first mile-post was set, while the fifty-third mile-post marked the farther border of this swamp. At the fifty-fifth mile the road entered " Bear Swamp," passing through it for a distance of one mile, and crossing, a little more than midway, Bear Creek-which the surveyors designated "a Branch of Schuylkill." From Bear Swamp the road ran in an almost straight course two and three-quarters miles to Nathan Bullock's property-passing his house and clearing on the south. At sixty miles the road passed through a notch, or gorge, in what the surveyors called " Moosic Mountain " (now known as Wyoming Mountain, as explained on page 44, Vol. I); and at sixty-one and three-quarters miles Laurel Run-along the right bank

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VIEW OF BEAR CREEK FROM " TOP-KNOT" COTTAGE. From a photograph taken in August, 1904.

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of which the road ran for a mile or more-was crossed, at a point where the creek turned towards the north-east, to continue its course along the south-eastern base of Wilkes-Barre Mountain. On this mountain (called by the surveyors "Susquehanna Mountain ") the sixty-second and sixty-third mile-posts were set-the former on the south-eastern slope of the mountain (not far from where Captain Davis and Lieuten- ant Jones and their companions had been massacred), and the latter on the north-western slope of the mountain, a full quarter of a mile west by south from the bold, jutting ledge known since that day as Prospect Rock. (See page 49, Vol. I.) From this point the road continued on down the slope of the mountain, and then over the foot-hills in a course almost north-westerly, until it terminated in Northampton Street in the town-plot of Wilkes-Barre. At the sixty-fifth mile from Easton the road crossed the small creek described on pages 58 and 59, Vol. I, and from that point to Fort Wyoming, via Northampton Street, the distance was half a mile-making the total distance from Easton to Fort Wyoming by this new route sixty-five and one-half miles; being from one and a-half to two miles shorter than by the route leading from "Bullock's" to and through Solomon's Gap, and thence in a northerly direction to the Wilkes-Barré town-plot.

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A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 108

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press] Number of Pages: 683

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre [Raeder press]
Number of Pages: 683