A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 111

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 111

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

several occasions men went out gunning for deer and wild turkeys, with which the region abounded; but as a rule this sport was, for several reasons, prohibited. Lieut. Colonel Dearborn recorded under the date of July 1st : "A number of us discovered a fine buck to-day on an island, which we surrounded and killed." Thomas Roberts (previously mentioned) states that at Lackawanna, on July 31st, the wild turkeys were " very plenty-the young ones yelping through the woods as if it was inhabited ever so thick."

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On Thursday, June 24th, the 1st New Jersey Regiment set out from Wilkes-Barre to march to Fort Jenkins, to meet at that point, and con- voy up the river, a fleet of boats which had been sent down to Sunbury from Wilkes-Barre on June 20th (in charge of a detachment from the 2d New York Regiment) to be loaded with flour and beef.

During the Revolutionary War military, or army, lodges of the Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons existed in the American army, charters, or warrants, for such lodges being granted by the Provincial Grand Lodges of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York. These " traveling " lodges were organized at various times, and accompanied the regiments to which they were attached in all their expeditions and encampments. According to the records of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania a warrant was granted May 18, 1779, for a "Military Lodge, No. 19, in the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Artillery," or " Procter's Artillery Regiment," as it was usually denominated. In that warrant-which was the first one granted by the Grand Lodge of Penn- sylvania for a military lodge in the American army-Col. Thomas Procter* (in command of the regiment mentioned) was named as Wor- shipful Master, Charles Young as Senior Warden, and John Melbeck as

* THOMAS PROCTER was born in county Longford, Ireland, in 1739, and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, prior to 1772. The Committee of Safety of Philadelphia adopted on October 16, 1775, a resolution providing for the raising of an artillery company, to be placed on Fort Island, and to serve the Province for twelve months. On October 27th, upon his own application, Thomas Procter was appointed and commissioned Captain of this company. (In December, 1778, Procter wrote to President Reed of Pennsylvania: "I claim the honor of having enlisted the first company appointed to be raised by the Council of this Commonwealth in October, 1775.") November 3, 1775, Procter's company was received into the barracks at Philadelphia, and furnished with the bedding "late belong- ing to the Royal Artillery Company." Under a resolution of the State Executive Council adopted August 14, 1776, Procter's force was augmented to 200 men, to be formed into two companies-each officered by a Captain and three Lieutenants-the whole to be commanded by a Major, to which rank Captain Procter was forthwith promoted. The organization remained at Fort Island until late in December, 1776, when part of it was ordered to New Jersey, and assisted in the capture of the Hes- sians at Trenton. Major Procter joined this detachment of his command, and took part in the battle of Princeton, where he captured a brass 6-pounder, which he presented to the State of Pennsylvania. January 17, 1777, Brig. Gen. Henry Knox left New Jersey for New England, leaving Major Procter, at Morristown, in command of all the Continental artillery.

February 6, 1777, the Pennsylvania Council of Safety resolved to organize a regiment of artillery for the defense of the State, with Procter's command as a nucleus. Major Procter was immediately promoted Colonel, and appointed to the command of the regiment, which was designated as the "Penn- sylvania State Regiment of Artillery." It comprised eight companies and, in addition to eight drum- mers and eight fifers, a band of twelve musicians. By a resolution of the Council of Safety adopted February 28, 1777, the regiment was to serve in any part of the United States. Its first disaster occurred at Bound Brook, New Jersey, April 13, 1777, where two Lieutenants, twenty privates, and two pieces of artillery were captured by the British. Its next disaster was at the battle of the Brandy- wine, where Procter bravely maintained his position at Chadd's Ford, until the defeat of the right wing forced his retreat, with the loss of some guns and ammunition. At Germantown, in October, 1777, a part of the regiment was engaged-being stationed in the street nearly opposite Chew's house. The regiment spent the Winter of 1777-'78 at Valley Forge.

The battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, was fought June 28, 1778, and the regiment of Colonel Procter participated in it. One of his gunners, John Hays by name, was killed during the engage- ment. His wife, known in history and to fame as "Molly Pitcher," who had accompanied the reg- iment thither, continually carried water from a nearby well to her husband while he worked at his gun. Finally, when he was shot down by a sharpshooter, an order was given for the gun to be removed to the rear. "Molly," overhearing the order, declared that she would take the place of her husband and avenge his death. Thenceforth, then, till the close of the battle, she assisted in loading and firing the piece, and by her heroic work inspired those about her to deeds of fearlessness and courage. We are told that on the following morning, after the battle had been won by the Amer- icans, "Molly" was presented to General Washington, who complimented her for her bravery, and dubbed her a Sergeant. Shortly afterwards she left the camp and went to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she lived until her death in January, 1828.

In September, 1778, Procter's regiment was, by resolution of Congress, made a part of the quota of troops to be furnished by Pennsylvania for the Continental army. In December, 1778, the reg- iment numbered 208, including all the officers, and in March, 1779, the total "effective force" of the regiment was only 142 men. When the regiment came to Wilkes-Barre its guns consisted of two 6- pounders, four 3-pounders, two howitzers, carrying five and one-half inch shells, and one coehorn. March 29, 1780, the regiment numbered 189, including Colonel Procter, Lieut. Colonel Forrest, eight Captains and eight Captain-Lieutenants. In the Spring of 1780 the regiment became the "Fourth Regiment of Artillery, Continental Line," and on the 21st of April Procter was commissioned Colonel by Congress. He resigned from the service April 9, 1781, and returned to his home in Philadelphia. In 1783 he became a member of the Pennsylvania Branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was a member of the Carpenters' Association of Philadelphia from 1772 until his death. In 1785 he became a member of the Society of the Sons of St. Tammany of Philadelphia.

Colonel Procter was active and prominent as a Free Mason, and as early as February, 1779, was a Knight Templar. He served as Master of Military Lodge, No. 19, from its constitution until his retirement from the military service, when he was succeeded in "the East" by Brig. Gen. Edward Hand, previously mentioned. As narrated in the note following this, Colonel Procter became one of the original members of Montgomery Lodge, No. 19, F. and A. M., in 1784. For several years about that time he was Grand Marshal of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and upon the death of General

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Junior Warden, of the new lodge. A considerable number of the officers, not only of Procter's regiment, but of some of the other organizations which formed the Sullivan Expedition, became members of Lodge No. 19 .*

June 24, 1779, was the anniversary of St. John the Baptist-it being the first festival-day in the Masonic calendar that had occurred since the constitution of Lodge No. 19. In conformity, therefore, with the usual custom of Free Masons at that period, the day was duly observed by the Brethren of the lodge; their meeting being held in the marquee of Colonel Procter, on the bank of the river below the bend, within the present limits of the Tenth Ward of Wilkes-Barre-almost, if not exactly, on the spot where, twenty years before, the Indian village of Teedy- uscung had been located. (See page 371, Vol. I, and, in Chapter XXVIII, the "Map of Wilkes-Barre and its Suburbs in 1872.") By invi- tation of Worshipful Master Procter the Rev. William Rogers, t D. D., Washington, a Brother of the Craft, he acted as "Master of Ceremonies" at the impressive Masonic funeral ceremonies and procession held in Philadelphia December 26, 1799.

Colonel Procter was High Sheriff of the county of Philadelphia from October, 1783, till October, 1785, and a few years later he became a Brigadier General in the Pennsylvania militia. About the year 1800 he owned certain large tracts of land in the county of Luzerne, and made a business visit to Wilkes-Barre. The records of Lodge No. 61 show that at the meeting of the lodge held March 3, 1800, "Bro. Gen. Thomas Procter, a visiting Brother," was present. General Procter died in Phila- delphia March 16, 1806, and was buried in the yard of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where a mon- ument was erected to his memory by the Carpenters' Association.

* During the first year of the existence of Lodge No. 19 Colonel Procter paid from its fees to the charity fund of the Grand Lodge £150 sterling; which shows that the work and the membership of the lodge must have been considerable. In December, 1779, Colonel Procter's regiment was encamped at Morristown, New Jersey, and on St. John the Evangelist's Day. (December 27th) a meet- ing of Lodge No. 19 was held, at which Generals Washington and Lafayette, Colonel Procter, and other prominent members of the Craft were present. At that meeting a petition was presented, and considered, calling for the appointment of a committee to take into consideration "the existing state of Masonry in our infant Republic;" and out of that meeting and its proceedings grew the move- ment which ultimately brought about the severance of the connection between the Grand Lodge of England and the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and led to the establishment of the inde- pendence of the present Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, F. and A. M., in September, 1786. In the year 1784, the 4th Regiment of Artillery, Continental Line, having ceased to exist (in November, 1783), the Charter of Military Lodge No. 19 was surrendered, and the number of the lodge was transferred to a new lodge, organized in Philadelphia about that time by General Procter and other Brethren. This lodge, under the name of Montgomery Lodge, No. 19, F. and A. M., exists to-day.

t The Rev. WILLIAM ROGERS, D. D., whose name is several times mentioned in this chapter, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, July 22, 1751, the son of Wil- liam Rogers, a merchant there. He was graduated at Rhode Island College in 1769, and in 1771 was called and licensed to preach the gospel by the Baptist Church in Newport. In the latter part of the same year he was called as pastor to the Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where he served until June, 1775. The "Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment" (commanded by Col. Samuel Miles) was organized in March, 1776, under a resolution passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and April 6, 1776, the Rev. William Rogers was appointed Chaplain of the regiment. In the following August the regiment was ordered over to New York, where it took part in the battle of Long Island (August 27th) and lost, by death and capture, many officers and men. Among those captured was Colonel Miles. In June, 1778, Mr. Rogers was pro- moted Brigade Chaplain in the Pennsylvania Line, and in the following December was assigned to duty at the Philadelphia Garrison. There he remained un- til June 1, 1779, when he was ordered to join the Sul- livan Expedition as Chaplain of the 3d Brigade (Gen- eral Hand's). He left Philadelphia June 15th, and two days later arrived at Easton-one day prior to the marching of General Sullivan and the troops from there for Wilkes-Barre.

Chaplain Rogers retired from the military service January 16, 1781, and returned to Philadelphia, where, shortly afterwards, he became pastor of the Baptist Church. In 1789 he was appointed Professor of Eng- lish and Oratory in the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, which position he held until 1792, when he was appointed to the chair of English and Belles Lettres in the same institution. In 1812 he resigned from the faculty. In 1816 and '17 he was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature from Philadelphia. Many years before this the colleges of Yale and Princeton had each conferred upon him the degree of A. M., and the University of Pennsylvania had made . him a Doctor of Divinity. He died in Phila- delphia April 7, 1824, being, at the time of his death, the last surviving Chaplain of the Revolutionary army.

(From an original oil-painting.)

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Chaplain of the 3d Brigade (General Hand's) of the Sullivan Expedition, was present, although not a member of the Craft, and read to the assem- bled Brethren the sermon which had been preached by the Rev. Wil- liam Smith, D. D., Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, at the St. John's Day celebration in Philadelphia in December, 1778, as narrated in the note on page 784, ante. The text of this sermon was from I Peter, II : 16-"As Free, and not using your Liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." We are able to print the following paragraphs from this sermon.

" * * The doctrine delivered in my text for the enjoyment and exercise of Liberty, among Christians in general, is what the members of this Ancient Society (by whose appointment I appear in this place) have bound themselves by the strongest obli- gations to follow in the several relations they sustain, viz .: First, in all their meetings and communications with each other ; Secondly, in society at large ; Thirdly, in private life-as individuals glowing with the love of their species, and seeking to promote their happiness, as far as opportunities can reach, or the wide wish of Benevolence extend. Upon these three grand pillars, founded on the adamantine rock of Eternal Truth, we profess to support the fabric of our labours ; convinced that other foundation, than what the great Master Builder hath laid, can no man lay. * *

" Whatever curiosity might have at first prompted me to pry into the secrets of this science, the most solemn obligations could not have engaged my adherence to it, when found repugnant to antecedent obligations, which are indispensible, and therefore more solemn. * * * As to you, Brethren, I hope I need not remind you that, if none be accepted among us but such as strive daily, through the Grace of Heaven, to lay aside those evil passions condemned by the Apostle, then shall the Lodge be truly denominated a 'Spiritual House,' and all its members ' Living Stones,' hewn out of the Rock of Ages and adorned with jewels of unspeakable value. Then shall they be Free, indeed, for the great Spiritual Master shall have set them free from the turbulence of Passion, the stings of Guilt, and the thraldom of Slavery, both of body and mind. In Wisdom, Strength and Beauty shall they ever appear * * *

"From the bosom of the Lodge, seated on an eminence, its foundations reaching the centre and its summit the sky, we have beheld, as upon a turbulent ocean at an immense distance beneath us, the States of this world alternately mounted up and cast down as they have regarded or neglected the principles described above ; while, sup- ported by them, the sublime fabric of our Constitution has remained unshaken through ages-and, thus supported, it shall still remain while the Sun opens the Day, to gild its cloud-capped towers, or the Moon leads on the Night, to chequer its starry canopy. * * The doctrine that one man's grandeur, or the grandeur of a few, is to be the misery of all, can have no reception among us. * * In our estimation, therefore, no government can be of Divine original but as it resembles God's own government-round whose eter- nal throne Justice and Mercy wait. And all governments must be so far Divine, as the Laws rule, and everything is ordered, under God, by free and common consent. To con- tend for such governments with a holy, enlightened and unquenchable zeal is the high- est temporal glory. * *

"They who-from a sense of duty to God and their country, seeking that liberty and peace which Heaven approves-have thus acted their part ( whether in more elevated or inferior stations), form the first class in the roll of worthies. And when they descend again into private life, casting behind them vain pomp and fastidious pride, to mingle with their fellow-citizens, * * their characters become, if possible, still more illustrious. Their very maims and scars are nobly honorable. Such, to name no more, was the character of a Cincinnatus in ancient times, rising 'awful from the plough ' to save his country ; and, his country saved, returning to the plough again with increased dignity and luster. Such, too, if we divine aright, will future ages pronounce to have been the character of a-but you all anticipate a name [WASHINGTON] which delicacy forbids me, on this occasion, to mention. Honoured with his presence as a Brother, you will seek to derive virtue from his example ; and never let it be said that any principles you profess can render you deaf to the calls of your country, but on the contrary, have animated you with intrepidity in the hour of danger, and humanity in the moments of triumph."

With the army there came from Easton to Wilkes-Barre four Stock- bridge, or Mohegan, Indians, who had been engaged by General Sul- livan to act as guides and scouts. The journalists of the Expedition refer to one of these Indians as "Captain Jehoiakim." This was the same Indian who had come from Stockbridge to Wilkes-Barre with his family in 1772, as narrated on page 731. It is probable that on the breaking out of the Revolutionary War Jehoiakim had returned to

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Stockbridge. Schoolcraft states* that "the ancient tribe of Mohicans of the Housatonic, whose history has been impressed upon popular memory by their long residence at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, had been for a long period classed among the followers of the gospel ; but, as the martial spirit of the [Revolutionary] era aroused all their war- rior feelings, they enlisted themselves on the side of the Colonies and furnished an efficient company of spies and flankers for the American army."

From the journal of Chaplain Rogers we learn that on June 26th "Captain " Jehoiakim, two other Stockbridge Indians, and five soldiers of Colonel Cilley's regiment were sent forth from the camp at Wilkes- Barre on a scout. On the same day several court-martial sentences were carried out, in pursuance of the following order issued by General Sullivan on June 25th.

"At a general court-martial held on the 8th inst., whereof Major Fish was Presi- dent, Oliver Arnold of the 2d New York Regiment was tried for desertion, found guilty, and sentenced to be shot to death. The General approves the sentence and orders it to be executed at the head of the regiment to-morrow afternoon at six o'clock. Edward Tyler of the same regiment, tried by the same court for desertion, found guilty, and sen- tenced to run the gantlet through Cortlandt's, Spencer's and Cilley's regiments, with a centinel at his breast to regulate his pace. The General approves the sentence, and orders it executed to-morrow afternoon at five o'clock. John Stevens of the same regi- ment, tried for desertion, found guilty, and sentenced to receive one hundred lashes. The General approves the sentence, and orders it executed at the head of the regiment to-morrow afternoon at six o'clock."

The three men mentioned in this order, together with four others, had deserted from Van Cortlandt's regiment at "Learn's," on May 16th. On Sunday, June 27th, the Rev. Andrew Hunter, t Chaplain of the 1st Brigade, preached a sermon to the men of that brigade in a woods near their camp, while Chaplain Rogers preached to the men of the 3d Brigade (including the artillery regiment) near Fort Wyoming, at ten o'clock in the morning. General Sullivan and his staff attended Dr. Rogers' services. On the same day, in pursuance of orders, the 2d and 3d New Hampshire Regiments crossed the river at Wilkes-Barre and marched up to the remains of Forty Fort, where they established their camp-in the fort and along the bank of the river. Brig. General Poor moved his headquarters to the same locality at the same time. This change was made in order that all the regiments of Poor's brigade might be located near together-the regiments of Colonels Van Cortlandt and Cilley, which formed a part of the brigade, being encamped about two miles off from Forty Fort, on Jacobs' Plains, on the east side of the river, as narrated on page 1176.

In the morning of June 29th thirty-four boats, laden with flour, beef, and military stores, arrived at Wilkes-Barré from Sunbury, con- voyed by the troops that had been detached for the purpose, as men- tioned on page 1184. Dr. Ebenezer Elmer, Surgeon of the 2d New Jersey Regiment, in referring to the arrival of these supplies, states in his journal :

" This was very fortunate, as there was not one day's provision for the campaign. Through neglect and carelessness in the Commissaries, great quantities of beef was so

* In "History of the Indian Tribes of the United States," p. 277.

t The Rev. ANDREW HUNTER, the son of a British officer, was born in Virginia, and in 1773 was licensed to preach by the First Presbytery of Philadelphia. In 1788 he was elected a Trustee of Princeton College, and in 1804 was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in that insti- tution. About 1809 he was appointed a Chaplain in the United States Navy, which office he held until his death in February, 1823.

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damaged that the men could not possibly eat it. Such rascally conduct ought to meet with the severest punishment. The horses purchased for this Expedition, for want of care in the Conductors, are many of them lost."

On June 29th two soldiers of Colonel Spencer's regiment were pun- ished for having dressed up and painted themselves as Indians, and then threatened the lives of two officers of their regiment. One culprit received one hundred lashes at the whipping-post, and the other was required to run the gantlet through three regiments, each man of which was provided with a whip.

On this same day orders came out for the execution on July 1st, between the hours of two and four o'clock in the afternoon, of Law- rence Miller and Michael Rosebury, inhabitants of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, opposite Easton. (See page 1180.) Chaplain Rogers states in his journal, under the date of June 29th : "Mr. Kirkland* accompanied me in paying these two unfortunate men a visit. Found them ignorant and stupid. Our endeavors were upon this occasion to open unto them the nature of man's fall, and the dreadful situation of those who died in a state of impenitency and unbelief." The next day Messrs. Rogers and Kirkland visited the condemned men again. Says Rogers: "Mil- ler appeared much softened, distressed and anxious about his future state. Rosebury said but little. I enlarged, particularly, at this time on their awful condition by nature and practice; their amazing guilt in the sight of an holy God, * * and the great importance of a due

preparation for another world."

Before breakfast on Thursday, July 1st, Messrs. Rogers and Kirk- land paid another visit to the condemned Jerseymen. " We spoke to them," says Rogers, "on the realities of heaven and hell, and the justice and mercy of God. Miller appeared still more penitent, and freely con- fessed the sentence of death passed against him to be just. The other excused himself and insisted much on the innocency of his life. Mr. Kirkland and myself waited on the Commander-in-Chief [Sullivan], in order to recommend Miller to mercy. His Excellency was so obliging as to inform us that it was his purpose, on account of Miller's wife and numerous family, his decent behavior on trial, the recommendations of the court, and his former good character, to pardon him under the gal- lows, fifteen minutes after the execution of Rosebury ; and requested that it might remain a secret with us until it was publicly known." Towards four o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday Miller and Rose- bury, with their arms pinioned and hempen halters around their necks, were marched under guard from the fort to the place of execution, attended by Chaplains Rogers, Kirkland and Hunter. Says Rogers, in his journal : "In walking to the gallows we of course conversed with them on the most serious subjects. Upon arriving there, the military being under arms, and a number of the inhabitants present, it fell to my lot to address the spectators ; after which Mr. Kirkland prayed. Rose- bury was then turned off. He died to all appearances the same stupid man he was at the first of our visiting him. Poor Miller was much agitated at the sight, expecting every moment the same punishment. He was employed in commending himself to God, and upon hearing his pardon from the Commander-in-Chief read, was greatly affected. On recovering himself, he expressed the utmost thankfulness for his great deliverance. The scene throughout was very affecting."

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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 111

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