A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 109

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 109

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The late Hon. G. M. Harding of Wilkes-Barre, in a paper entitled " The Sullivan Road," read before Wyoming Valley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and published in 1899, states :

"Contemporaneous with the orders given to Colonels Courtlandt and Spencer for opening a road from Larner's [Learn's] westward toward the Susquehanna, orders were also issued to Col. Zebulon Butler, who was in command of the fort at Wilkes-Barre, to open a like road from the latter place easterly, over and beyond what was then known as the ' Three-Mile Mountain ' [Wilkes-Barre Mountain]. No particular or definite point was indicated for the meeting of the two divisions of the contemplated through road. Both divisions were to be pushed forward with all possible despatch-each in its proper direction-until a meeting was had, no matter where. Colonel Butler was aware that a road constructed on the line of the bridle-path (already described) from the level land below, up by ' Prospect Rock ' to the top of the ' Three-Mile Mountain,' would be too rough and too steep for the safe passage downwards of the artillery and the supply trains of the coming army. He at once selected a more feasible route. Competent engineers, and a force of road-builders consisting mostly of the then necessarily idle settlers in the Val- ley, entered vigorously upon the work. The road started at the westerly foot of the mountain, near a spring known as 'Bowman's Spring,' and not far from the present breaker of the Franklin Coal Company. The course up the mountain was generally easterly, along the mountain side, though in places it followed depressions, and was here and there somewhat circuitous. Reaching the summit, it passed on for a considerable distance. * * It descended the easterly side of the mountain to a point within about fifty yards westerly from the [Laurel Run] station of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. From this point the road continued directly up Laurel Run for a mile and a-quarter."

In the foregoing statement there are several important errors, due, chiefly, to the undoubted fact that Judge Harding never saw the origi- nal maps, or plots, of the surveys made by the topographical engineers of Sullivan's army-which maps are more fully referred to on pages 1099 and 1172. As previously stated, the entire course which it was intended the "Sullivan Road " should follow from " Learn's " to Wilkes- Barré was surveyed and marked out by the engineers, who worked in advance of the road-builders proper. The engineers followed pretty closely the old bridle-path, known as the "Lower Road," up to a point a short distance beyond where it crossed Laurel Run, and near where Captain Davis and Lieutenant Jones had been murdered. Thencefor- ward, instead of following that path* down along the south-eastern base

* The bridle-path, or "Lower Road," did not run over the crest of Wilkes-Barre Mountain, and down "by Prospect Rock," as stated by Judge Harding.

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of Wilkes-Barre Mountain to and through Solomon's Gap, the engi- neers went diagonally up the face of the mountain, passed over its crest, and continued down the other side-at first, diagonally (passing in the rear of Prospect Rock), and then in a zig-zag course. Having reached the foot of the mountain, the course of the . proposed road was run in a north-westerly direction, over the foot-hills, till it terminated at the head of Northampton Street in the town-plot of Wilkes-Barre. In other words, the present Northampton Street, from Pennsylvania Avenue (formerly Canal Street) south-east to the city line, and continuing thence as a township highway through "Georgetown," past Prospect Rock, and on over the mountain to Laurel Run (forming what was once a sec- tion of the Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike), follows a course almost identical with that of the old "Sullivan Road " for the same distance.

The section of the " Sullivan Road " extending from "Bullock's" to Northampton Street was not built in its entirety by the men of Colonel Butler's command (as stated by Judge Harding on page 17 of his pam- phlet), but only that stretch of it lying between the crest of the moun- tain and Northampton Street-as is shown by the "journals" of the Sullivan Expedition. And, as a matter of course (the whole line of the pro- posed road having been surveyed), in opening up this Wyoming section of the road, a " particular, or definite, point was indicated for the meeting " of this section with the section which was being constructed under the direction of Colonel Van Cortlandt.

The road which Judge Harding mentions as having "started at the westerly foot of the mountain near a spring known as Bowman's Spring," was not the "Sullivan Road " or any part of it, but was a public road which was constructed in 1788 or '89 to supersede that portion of the "Sullivan Road " which passed up and over the mountain in the neigh- borhood of Prospect Rock. This " Bowman's Spring " road is referred to more fully in a subsequent chapter.

The troops under the command of Colonel Van Cortlandt having completed the construction of the road from "Learn's" to White Oak Run (a distance of about six miles), removed their camp early in the morning of May 17th to the west side of this little creek-giving the name " Rum Bridge " to the locality. There the camp remained until Sunday, May 23d, the men working meanwhile on the road in front, although the weather was either foggy or rainy every day. In the morn- ing of the 23d tents were struck, and the camp was removed some six miles to a point in the Great Swamp between Tunkhanna and Toby- hanna Creeks. In the evening of the same day a Sergeant and five men were sent forward to Wilkes-Barre with letters from General Sullivan to General Hand. They reached Wilkes-Barre safely, and returned to camp in the evening of May 26. The troops remained at the camp last mentioned exactly one week, working industriously on the road in front, and also building a substantial bridge across the Tobyhanna, together with a connecting causeway-the whole being 115 paces in length. While stationed there Colonel Van Cortlandt wrote to Gover- nor Clinton of New York, dating his letter May 26, 1779, at "Great Swamp Wilderness, of the Shades of Death, 25 miles from Wyomen." The letter reads in part as follows* :

"By an officer passing to your State [I] have just time to inform you of the good health and spirits of the officers and men under my command. I have, in a letter sent * See the "Public Papers of George Clinton," IV : 851.

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by Lieutenant Livingston, informed you of the nature of the command I am ordered upon, which is to make a road to Wyomen for the transportation of artillery, which is coming in with General Sullivan, and is now at Easton. * * * I just received a letter from General Hand, who is at Wyomen. Things go on well in that quarter. Provisions are transported up the Susquehanna, and meet with no obstruction as yet from the sav- ages ; although small parties are very frequently seen near the fort, and have been on the path from this [point ] to Wyomen, but have not as yet attempted anything to the prejudice of my party. ** * The danger will be when I advance beyond the swamp."

On May 29th, while in camp near Tobyhanna, two soldiers of Col- onel Van Cortlandt's detachment were tried by a drum-head court- martial for stealing rum from the commissary stores. Both men were found guilty, and were sentenced, one to receive seventy-five lashes and the other fifty lashes-which sentence was executed immediately. In the evening of that day General Sullivan, accompanied by Maj. Adam Hoops, one of his aides-de-camp, arrived at the camp from Easton. They remained there over night, and set out early the next morning on their return to Easton, where, on May 31st, in general orders, General Sullivan extended " his most sincere thanks to Colonels Van Cortlandt and Spencer, and to the officers and soldiers under their command, for their unparalleled exertions in clearing and repairing the road to Wyo- ming." In conclusion he declared :

"He [Sullivan] cannot help promising himself success in an expedition in which he is to be honored with the command of troops who give such pleasing evidence of their zeal for the service, and manifest so strong a desire to advance against the inhuman mur- derers of their friends and countrymen."

At the same time General Sullivan wrote to President Reed of Pennsylvania as follows :

"I yesterday returned from the Great Swamps. I find the road in such forward- ness that I shall march the army for Wyoming this week. I have already sent on 500 men to strengthen that Garrison, as I find Colonel [John] Butler is on his march down- ward with 900 men."

Meanwhile, by order of General Sullivan, the 1st New Hampshire Regiment (commanded by Col. Joseph Cilley)-which had arrived at Easton on May 18th and taken up its quarters "in the Court House and other spare buildings"-had marched from Easton on May 28th to join Van Cortlandt's detachment. The latter broke camp at Toby- hanna on May 30th and removed five or six miles to Locust Hill, where, on the 31st, the men of Colonel Cilley's regiment arrived, pitched their tents, and went to work on the road. On the next day a detachment of 200 men, selected from the three regiments then at Locust Hill, marched forward to Wilkes-Barre under the command of Lieut. Col. William S. Smith of the 5th New Jersey Regiment. This detachment was accom- panied onward from Locust Hill by the 1st New Jersey Regiment (Mat- thias Ogden, Colonel, and David Brearly, Lieut. Colonel), which had just marched up from Easton on its way to Wilkes-Barre. Here, on June 3d, these combined bodies arrived and went into camp on the bank of the river, erecting " bush huts" for their shelter. (The baggage and camp equipage of the 1st New Jersey Regiment had been left at Easton in charge of one of the companies of the regiment, by which it was brought on pack-horses to Wilkes-Barre on June 12th.)

At his headquarters in New Jersey, under the date of May 31, 1779, General Washington issued his instructions to General Sullivan relative to the campaign against the Indians for which preparations were then being made. The immediate objects of the Sullivan Expedition, declared Washington, were the total destruction and devastation of the settle-

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ments of the Six Nations, as well as of their adherents and associates, and the capture of as many persons as possible, of every age and sex. Having established some central post, Sullivan was directed to detach parties "to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in an effectual manner, that the country may be not merely overrun, but destroyed." Until this should be thoroughly done, he was not to listen for a moment to any proposals of peace. He was ordered to "make, rather than receive, attacks, attended with as much shouting and noise as possible." If, after he had thoroughly destroyed their settlements, the Indians should show a disposition for peace, Sullivan was to encourage it, on the condition that they should give " some decisive evidence of their sincerity" by delivering up into the hands of the Americans "some of the principal instigators of their past hostility-Butler, Brant, and the most mischievous of the Tories " that had joined them.

The camp of Colonel Van Cortlandt's road-builders remained at Locust Hill until the morning of June 7th, when it was moved forward about six miles-" across the Lehigh, to the side of a swamp called the 'Shades of Death '," as recorded by one of the officers in his journal. In the afternoon of the 8th the camp was again moved forward, through the "Shades," to a point within one mile of Bear Swamp,* where it was located until the 11th-the men, in the meantime, working hard on the road in front. A removal was made to "Bullock's " early in the morn- ing of the 11th, and during all that day and the two following days the men worked diligently building the road over Wyoming Mountain, along and across Laurel Run, and thence up the eastern slope of Wilkes- Barré Mountain. In the evening of the third day (Sunday, June 13th) Van Cortlandt's men formed a junction with Butler's men, who (as mentioned on page 1174) had been opening the road from Wilkes-Barré town-plot to and beyond Prospect Rock. Thus the "Sullivan Road" was at last completed-whereat there was great rejoicing on the part of its builders ; and at six o'clock in the morning of June 14th the generale was beaten, tents were struck, and the troops marched down the moun- tain to Wilkes-Barre and went into camp on the bank of the river. Three days later the regiments of Colonels Van Cortlandt, Spencer and Cilley were ordered by General Hand to go into camp four miles north- east of Fort Wyoming, on Jacob's Plains, near the bank of the river.

While the "Sullivan Road" was being constructed the soldiers and citizens of Wilkes-Barre were kept busy in a variety of ways; chiefly, however, in arranging for the suitable care and accommodation of the large force of troops soon to rendezvous here. Early in May Colonel Denison and "Deacon " Hurlbut, Representatives from Westmoreland to the General Assembly of Connecticut (see page 1166), set out for Hartford to attend the May session of that body. During the session the Assembly appointed, and Governor Trumbull commissioned, for the ensuing year, the following officers in and for the county of Westmore- land : Col. Zebulon Butler, Judge of the County Court; Col. Nathan Denison and Zerah Beach, Justices of the Peace and the Quorum ; Col. Zebulon Butler, Maj. William Judd, Dr. Joseph Hamilton, Capt. John

* In October. 1898, the members of the Wilkes-Barre Branch of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America erected (and dedicated with interesting ceremonies) on the banks of Ten Mile Run, near Bear Creek, a monument to mark the site of a bridge constructed by Sullivan's road- builders across the creek mentioned. The monument in question consists of a boulder, having affixed to it a bronze tablet bearing this inscription: "This stone marks the site of a bridge built by Sulli- van's Army on its march against the Six Nations, 1779. It was presented by Mr. Albert Lewis to the Wilkes-Barre Branch of the Colonial Dames, and by them inscribed, 1898."

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GEN. LORD BUTLER. Photo-reproduction of a lithograph by P. S. Duval, Philadelphia 1850.

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Franklin, Zebulon Marcy, John Hurlbut, Obadiah Gore, Uriah Chapman and Capt. Stephen Harding, Justices of the Peace.

One of the busiest men in Wilkes-Barre in the Spring of 1779 was the youthful "Acting Quartermaster at the Wyoming Garrison "-Lord Butler,* then only seventeen and a-half years old. One of his duties

* LORD BUTLER, eldest child of Col. Zebulon and Anne (Lord) Butler (see page 638), was born December 11, 1761, in the North Society, or Parish, of the town of Lyme, New London County, Con- necticut. He removed thence to Wilkes-Barre in December, 1772, with the other members of his father's family. Here he lived the remainder of his life, except for two or three years prior to 1778, spent at school in Connecticut. In October, 1778, he was appointed by his father Quartermaster at the Wyoming Post-as related on page 1095. The duties of this appointment he performed until the following January, when he was appointed Acting Deputy Quartermaster in the Continental establish- ment, and Quartermaster at the Wyoming Post. He was then only a few weeks over seventeen years of age. Before June, 1779, he was promoted Acting Quartermaster in the Continental establishment, and in the following October was promoted Acting Deputy Quartermaster General, with an assign- ment to the Wyoming Post. This office he held until February, 1783, when the Continental garrison was withdrawn from Wyoming.

When the "Second Pennamite-Yankee War" was begun in the Autumn of 1783, Lord Butler was one of the foremost of the younger men identified with the Connecticut party in Wyoming to come to the front to oppose the schemes and impositions of the Pennamites-as is more fully shown in the following pages. He was one of the thirty-seven "effective men" who, in August, 1784, under the command of Capt. John Swift, marched over the mountains to Locust Hill and attacked a band of invading Pennamites. A few weeks later he was one of thirty Wyoming settlers who were taken prisoners by the Pennamites, bound, and marched under guard to Easton, where they were lodged in

. the jail of Northampton County. (See Chapter XXI.) In April, 1787, the new county of Luzerne having been organized, Lord Butler was appointed and commissioned by the Supreme Executive Coun- cil of the State Sheriff of the county, to serve until the election of his successor. In the following October he was elected to serve a full term as Sheriff, and in November was duly commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council. He served until the last of October, 1789, when he was succeeded by Jesse Fell of Wilkes-Barre.

In May, 1788, Lord Butler was elected First Lieutenant of the Troop of Light Dragoons of the Luzerne County militia. Prior to 1798 he became Captain of this Troop, and in April, 1799, he was commissioned a Brigadier General of the Pennsylvania militia. He was a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania from October 30, 1789, till December 20, 1790, when the Council went out of existence. He was appointed and commissioned, August 17, 1791, as the successor of Col. Timothy Pickering, Prothonotary, Clerk of the Orphans' Court and of the Court of Quarter Ses- sions, Register of Wills, and Recorder of Deeds in and for Luzerne County. These various offices he held until January, 1800, when he was removed from them by Governor Mckean for political reasons only. Following this action of the Governor, General Butler prepared an address to the public, which was printed in the Wilkes-Barre Gazette of February 18, 1800. It read, in part, as follows:

"Other principles seemed to govern him [Governor Mifflin], than those of our present chief mag- istrate; but which of them was the most pure is not for me, at present, to say. Suffice it to mention, that he [ Mifflin] removed no good officer who only exercised his right as a freeman. The herd of office-hunters approached him not (with their pockets filled with affidavits) the moment his election was sure, to show that this and the other office-holder voted for his competitor, and therefore ought to be removed. Either the times were more honest then, or the loaves and fishes were not purchase- able through such means. Having done well in office, differing from him in politics was not a subject of enquiry. But times have changed! Dare but to adhere to a system of politics contrary to that of the Governor, and you at once draw to a close your public offices that are at his disposal. Dare to vote for another, and your name is as soon with the proscribed. Political opinion, rather than a faithful discharge of trust, seems to be studied.

"Although my offices have been taken from me in this manner, yet, fellow-citizens, I trust your affection for me remains. For these eight years past I have endeavoured a faithful discharge of the several duties incident to my offices; and how far I have succeeded you can best attest. Error may have escaped me, but in no one instance have I intentionally done wrong. A discharge of duty has, I trust, never been delayed because the office fees were not promptly tendered. For the truth of this I appeal to the orphan, the widow, and all others who have claimed my official services, under a con- viction that I have never oppressed, and with an approving conscience of having spared no pains in acquitting myself worthily as an officer and public servant for the best part of my days. I take my official adieu of you, trusting that in private life I shall never lose sight of those principles of integ- rity and virtue which, as they should guide in public, are not less essential in retirement."

Lord Butler was the first postmaster of Wilkes-Barre, being appointed in 1794, and holding the office till 1802, when he took his seat for one term in the Pennsylvania Legislature as one of the two Representatives from Luzerne County. Upon the organization of the first Town Council of the bor- ough of Wilkes-Barre, in May, 1806, General Butler was elected President of that body, and this office he held until May, 1808. He was Burgess of the borough from May, 1811, till May, 1814. In 1801, and for several years thereafter, he held the office of County Treasurer, and from 1815 till 1818 he was one of the Commissioners of Luzerne County. He was one of the incorporators of the Wilkes- Barre Academy, and was a member of its Board of Trustees from 1807 until his death in 1824-for seven years of which time he was President of the Board.

General Butler was for many years one of the most prominent and influential men in public life in Luzerne County. Charles Miner, who knew him well, says of him ("History of Wyoming," Ap- pendix, page 7): "In all his various offices General Butler sustained the highest character for faith- fulness and ability. No public servant ever deserved better of the public. If he would not conde- scend to flatter their prejudices, he yet delighted all with his intelligence and zeal to promote their best interests. Decided in his political opinions, and free in expressing them, his opponents said he was proud. If an unworthy pride was meant, the charge was unjust. He was a man of stern integ- rity, and lived and died highly respected and esteemed, while in the family and social circle he was justly and tenderly loved. He was always and everywhere the gentleman." He died at his home on River Street, Wilkes-Barre, March 3, 1824.

Lord Butler was married May 30, 1786, to Mary (born in October, 1763; died October 28, 1834), third child of Abel and Ruth (Sheppard) Peirce, mentioned on page 711. Their children were as fol- lows, all born in Wilkes-Barre: (i) Lowisa, born February 23, 1787; died December 17, 1787. (ii) Peirce, born January 27, 1789; died March 30, 1848. (See next page.) (iii) Houghton, born November 8, 1791; died October 3, 1807. (iv) Sylvina Peirce, born March 5, 1794; married in June, 1811, to Garrick Mallery; died March 28, 1824. (See sketch and portrait of Garrick Mallery in a subsequent chapter.) (v) John Lord, born February 9, 1796; died August 4, 1858. (See a sketch of his life in a subsequent chapter.) (vi) Chester Peirce, born March 21, 1798: died October 5, 1850. (See a sketch .of his life in a subsequent chapter.) (vii) Ruth Ann, born January 11, 1801; married December 17,

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was to receive from the various "conductors " the numerous Continen- tal pack-horses which were brought here for the use of the Sullivan Expedition ; and also to provide for their proper care and sustenance. It is shown by original records in the collections of The Wyoming His- torical and Geological Society that, during the month of June, 1779, Lord Butler received here and took charge of 608 pack-horses, together with a large number of pack-saddles .*

At Estherton, Pennsylvania (on the Susquehanna, some fifty miles below Sunbury), under the date of June 8, 1779, Cornelius Cox, Deputy Quartermaster General, wrote to General Hand at Wilkes-Barre as follows:

"You will have the pleasure, by the arrival of this letter, of seeing the largest num- ber of boats that ever was together at one time on this river-and all loaded."

At Sunbury, Pennsylvania, under the date of June 22, 1779, Lieut. Col. Adam Hubleyt wrote to General Hand as follows :

" Dear General. - Your favour of the 19th came safe to hand last evening. I'm extremely happy to find I shall be under your command this campaign. I have com- municated this agreeable piece of news to a number of my officers, who equally express their happiness on the occasion ; and what adds to the happiness is, that your corps is to be a select one, to act as Light Infantry. Agreeably to your orders I have given directions for the [11th] regiment to be in readiness at a moment's warning. General Sullivan, it seems, is to determine on the continuance of the Dragoons in my regiment. I must beg you will use your influence with him to have them dismounted, unless they can be an-

nexed and do duty with us. * * * We shall be able to load the greatest part of the boats at this place. I expect they will be at Fort Jenkins about the 25th, at which place the officer commanding them will await your further orders. The remainder are on their way to Cox's town. Those, with what new ones may be finished, will be sufficient to- bring up what stores are at present there. Every step is taken to expedite the forward- ing of the stores, &c. I anxiously look forward for the moment when I shall have the pleasure of seeing you."

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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 109

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