A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II, Part 16

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 16

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).

By the erection and occupancy of the four redoubts mentioned Fort Wyoming was com- pletely invested, and all communication with the surrounding country, either by land or· water, was entirely cut off. Fort Defiance commanded not only the river (as did the redoubt on the Kings- ton shore), but also the usual approach to the Upper Road to the Delaware. However, the inmates of Fort Wyoming possessed the means of defending themselves so long as their provisions and ammunition should THE REMAINS OF "THE REDOUBT" IN MAY, 1902. last.

*See an article by Prof. Benjamin Silliman of Yale College in the July. 1880, number (Vol. XVIII, No. 2) of The American Journal of Science and Arts.

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Messrs. Tilghman and Shippen, having returned from the "rendez- vous beyond the mountain" (see page 696) to Bethlehem, wrote from the latter place under date of July 26th to Justice Lewis Gordon, as follows* :

"We have received an account this morning from Wyoming that the block-house is invested by four different camps of the Yankees, so that we have ordered Dick's party to be strengthened, and he is determined to get into the block-house with as much flour as he can. In the meantime we must be collecting what force we can to send against them ; and in this service we must request the assistance of the magistracy and the Sheriff, in order to give some relief to the distresses of the people in the block-house, which are greatly increased by the women and children who were out of the place being all driven in. As it is plain a considerable part of this assistance must be procured by the endeavors of Captain Ogden and Mr. [Charles] Stewart, we hope the Sheriff and magis- trates will co-operate with them and dismiss any resentment which may heretofore have arisen towards the people of the Jerseys-which really ought to give way to considerations of public peace and the relief of the distressed, though it may not be an easy matter totally to suppress it.

"It has been frequently repeated by John Jenningst that the Sheriff and Under Sheriff ought to exert themselves in this service. What he may mean by these repetitions we know not, but as you are the Sheriff's friend it may not be amiss to give him an in- timation of this matter, as it may not only promote the service, but put him on his guard. If men can be got to go to Wioming, the Sheriff or his Under Sheriff must go to make the proclamation required by the Riot Act. We wish it could be settled by Mr. Stewart and the Sheriff how many men could be got from this county. If it could, Mr. Stewart and Ogden would get the remainder from Jersey. * * If we could make up but sixty good men to add to twenty who will go with Dick, and what are in the fort, we think the business might be done. * * It must really give the greatest concern to every well- wisher to the honor and peace of this Government to see a pack of criminals and intruders putting the power of the Government at defiance. We would have the men who will undertake or engage to go, to be at Heller's on Monday fortnight [August 12, 1771]-if such notice be not countermanded before ; and they must not go there sooner. We pitch upon Heller's for the place of rendezvous because the provisions are there.

"When the Sheriff and Justices arrive at Wioming, it will be proper for some of them to apply to the rioters and demand of them to hear the proclamation mentioned in the Riot Act read amongst them. If they refuse this and use any threats the proclamation must be made with a loud voice, as near to the rioters as the person who makes it can come with safety. Let the Sheriff, or Justice, who makes the proclamation, take with him a few persons for witnesses, who are best acquainted with the persons of the rioters. And there must be twelve, at least, of the rioters together when proclamation is made ; and if they do not disperse within an hour after proclamation is made, the Sheriff with the posse may arrest them and make use of force in case they are resisted. But it will be prudential to wait more than an hour before the arrest is attempted. It will be likewise prudent to reason and expostulate with the rioters, in order to induce them to desist from their unlawful undertaking.

"The Sheriff will also have the King's writ for several persons who are amongst the rioters, which he may execute in case the rioters should have the precaution not to appear to the number of twelve or more together. * * If the persons named in the writ should retire to any house or place of defence and refuse to admit the Sheriff, he must first demand entrance, and inform those within that he hath the King's writ. And if they afterwards refuse to open the doors or gates, the Sheriff will be justified in breaking them open and entering to make the arrest. * * As from the best information the New England party are in arms, it will be proper that the Sheriff and others should go armed for their own defence and preservation ; but they should not make use of their arms unless reduced to the necessity of doing it by an illegal and violent resistance, in which case force may be opposed to force. However, it is warmly recommended to exer- cise on this unhappy occasion the utmost moderation, discretion and prudence to avoid the effusion of blood ; and that neither the Sheriff nor any of the party strike, fire on or wound any of the rioters unless they are first stricken, fired upon or wounded by the rioters. At the same time that it is required of the Sheriff and Justices and their party to act a spirited and resolute part in endeavoring to bring the offenders to justice, it is not expected or desired that they should expose themselves to any unnecessary danger, or run great hazards, if they should be opposed by numbers so greatly superior as may leave no probability of succeeding in the attempt. If any arrests should be made, the persons are to be treated with all the humanity and tenderness the case may admit of. As to Lazarus Stewart and others against whom proclamations are issued, and who are supposed to be amongst the rioters, they may be arrested by anybody, and if opposed by force they may use force to take them."

*See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 420.

t Formerly Sheriff of Northampton County. See page 458, Vol. I.

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On July 30th or 31st Messrs. Tilghman and Shippen returned to Philadelphia, and August 3d they made to the Council a report* of their doings in Northampton County. On Sunday, July 28th, Cap- tains Dick and Morris and their party set out for Wyoming from their place of rendezvous north of the Blue Mountains. Taking the "Penn- amites' Path" they arrived in Wyoming Valley shortly before daybreak on July 30th. Concerning their arrival here, and their reception by the Yankees, we have the following account,t written by Captain Dick at Fort Wyoming August 1, 1771, and forwarded by a messenger to Justice Gordon at Easton.

"Last Tuesday, about break of day, I arrived at this place with thirty-one men and the provisions, and was attacked by the Yankeys (who had information of our coming by a letter falling into their hands which an Indian was sent with by Captain Ogden). We were surrounded by their fire ; we lost two [horse] loads of flour, and got in with the remainder, with twenty-two of our men. Nine of our men are missing. They have kept an almost constant fire on the block-house from four intrenchments ever since. We have forty-nine men able to bear arms, besides two wounded, and forty-eight women and children, and are determined to hold out to the last extremity. We had information by an Indian that the other party has three killed and a number wounded."

In a deposition made before Justice James Biddle at Philadelphia, August 22, 1771, Captain Morris gave his version of the experiences of himself and his associates in making their way into Fort Wyoming.' It is as followst :

"Having advanced to within about 200 yards of a block-house, a man posted as a sentinel presented his firelock and challenged the people with the deponent, calling out : 'Who goes there?' That they answered that they were friends; that the sentinel bid them stop, and threatened to fire if they advanced. Upon which John Dick, one of the party with the deponent, told him they were going peaceably to the block-house and did not intend to hurt any one, and desired him not to fire. But the sentinel persisted in declaring his resolution to fire, and then Dick, raising up his gun, bid him fire at his peril. That the sentinel then stepped a little aside, and a number of men-about eighteen or twenty-who lay concealed a small distance to the right hand, started up suddenly, fired upon the deponent and the party with him, who presently after received another fire from the left, and from the sentinel. That finding themselves attacked in this hostile manner they found it necessary to defend themselves, and being provided with arms, re- turned the fire on their assailants, and hastening to the block-house under a constant fire from several parties of the Connecticut men, twenty-two of them got in, the rest being driven back, with the loss of four horses, with their loading-having had one of their men, Gilbert Ogden, dangerously wounded, and two others slightly hurt."

The nine men of the Dick and Morris party who failed to gain an entrance into Fort Wyoming made their way back to Easton, where three of them-Thomas Neal, Valentine Arnott and Thomas Scott- made a deposition before Capt. Amos Ogden as follows :

"July 30, 1771, they were in company with Capt. Joseph Morris and John Dick, who commanded a party of men sent to Wyoming with provisions for the relief of the block-house ; and when within 300 to 400 yards of the block-house they got between two breastworks, and were fired upon from the breastworks and the woods. The fire soon became general. Morris and Dick's party returned the fire and took to the trees. But these deponents did not continue but a very short time before they thought it time to make their escape, as they saw the number of their enemies increase. The fire grew hot ; these deponents saw some of their own men fall ; they returned to a thick wood a mile or two from the block-house, where they lay the greatest part of the day, and then made the best of their way back."

Colonel Clayton, in his affidavit previously mentioned (see page 693), deposed as follows concerning the siege of Fort Wyoming and the arrival of Captain Dick's party.

"That on the 21st of July, at about twelve o'clock at night, the block-house was surrounded by the Connecticut party, who from that time kept the block-house invested, and secured themselves by intrenchments ; that the same night they called to the depo- nent and told him he had had time enough to go off, and swore that if he did not sur-

* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 750.

t See ibid., 758.

Į See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 769.

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render up the block-house by eight o'clock the next day they would blow him and the people with him to hell. That the next day some of them appeared near the block-house and endeavored by various threats and persuasions to induce the inhabitants to desert it ; that they seized on horses, cattle and such other effects of the inhabitants as they could get into their hands ; that on the 29th a number of them drew nigh the block-house with their fire-arms in their hands, and the deponent, suspecting that they intended to sur- prise it, gave them notice that he was determined to maintain his possession, and forbade their approaching nigher.

"That on the 30th July, a little after daybreak, the deponent was alarmed by the firing of guns, and, expecting an attack, the inhabitants prepared to defend themselves and fired from the block-house towards the quarter from which they expected it, and found it to be an engagement between the Connecticut party and the men coming with relief-twenty-two of whom got into the block-house, the rest being repelled. Then the Connecticut men began to fire at the block-house with ball, which was continued with little intermission, night and day, until Saturday, August 10th-the people in the block- house returning the fire."

On August 5th Justice Gordon forwarded to the authorities at Philadelphia the letter which he had received from Captain Dick, and the joint-affidavit of Neal, Arnott and Scott, together with a brief com- munication from himself, in which he stated that that was "the day ap- pointed by the Sheriff and the Justices for the rendezvous at Heller's, but owing to the bad news from Wyoming the men refused to go." Upon the receipt of Gordon's letter and the accompanying documents on August 6th, the Provincial Council agreed that orders should be issued for raising "100 men with the utmost expedition" to accompany the Sheriff to Wyoming. President Hamilton offered to advance £300 to pay expenses, if it should be necessary. On Thursday, August 8th, Justice Gordon wrote from Easton to James Tilghman at Philadelphia as follows :

"By Saturday or Sunday next it is not unlikely that 100 effective men may be ready to march for the relief of the block-house. I have recommended it to Captain Ogden, if it be at all practicable to throw in succor to the sufferers, whether it would not be most eligible to do it through means of Job Chillaway,* the Indian, and his friends at Wya- loosing, who, being neutrals in the dispute, may perform this service by water carriage with great safety, and even without suspicion ; whereas our men must run the greatest risque. I observe what you say with respect to the decoy letter, but I am afraid old birds will not be taken by chaff. They have been served so before, and discovered it too late ; therefore they are no doubt on their guard. However, nothing can be lost by the ex- periment. The business shall be expedited with the utmost activity, which, as you well observe, is the life of the cause ; but you do not seem sufficiently to consider under what embarrassments we labour for want of money, which is the soul of it. There is a differ- ence between bad pay and no pay at all. Shoes and other necessaries are wanting, and therefore it is expected that you will send money without delay."

On Sunday, August 11th, Justice Gordon wrote from Easton to James Tilghman at Philadelphia, informing him that the raising of the posse had not succeeded, for at the muster on the previous day at "Reemey's" only about twenty-five men had appeared instead of the one hundred expected-the others having been "drawn away by their friends," who looked upon "the attempt as too dangerous." "It now appears to me," wrote Gordon, "that you cannot depend upon raising a sufficient force in these parts to disperse them, as the bulk of the County is averse to it, and even exclaim against it." However, while Mr. Gordon was writing the above letter, Charles Stewart, Amos Ogden, John Van Campen, Dr. Andrew Ledlie and others, having extensive land-claims in Wyoming Valley under Proprietary grants, were bestir- ring themselves to induce men to go on the Wyoming expedition, and by Monday morning, August 12th, they had mustered at "Reemey's" sixty-two men, who, at noon on that day, marched Wyoming-ward over the "Pennamites' Path" in command of Dr. Andrew Ledlie. Captain * See page 650.

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Ogden and Charles Stewart did not accompany the party, which arrived about three o'clock in the afternoon of August 15th at "Ten-mile Run,"* where they bivouacked and prepared to send forward to Fort Wyoming a supply of provisions-having first despatched David Ogden and an Indian as messengers to notify the inmates of the fort of the coming of supplies and reinforcements.

John Van Campen, who was a member of Ledlie's party, subse- quently made a report in writing to Charles Stewart concerning some matters connected with this expedition. He stated that at four o'clock in the morning of August 9th he had received a letter from Lewis Gordon requesting him to raise a party of men to join others at "Ramey's" Sunday evening, August 11th. Continuing, Van Campen wrote :

"Friday went up along the Delaware River towards Minisink, and by Saturday evening collected nineteen men and marched them as far as his [Van Campen's] own house. Sunday proceeded to Ramey's, expecting to be joined there by parties from over the mountain, on the south side. Monday the said party proceeded with King and Led- lie's party, and each man [had] three days' provisions, but no provision being provided for the relief of the garrison, nor pack-horses to carry it, he [Van Campen] was obliged to spend Tuesday and Tuesday night collecting pack-horses, and to get wheat threshed and ground into flour. By Wednesday morning got about four horse-loads of flour ready, and set out very early that day, and that night joined the whole party at the Big Creek.t Thursday [August 15th] the whole party moved on to the forks of Lahawanak and Wyo- ming paths [at Ten-mile Run]. Got there about three o'clock P. M. Flung up a kind of breastworks. It was agreed to endeavor to throw a supply of flour into the block- house by water from above Wioming, and at the same time to attack the camp [the Yankee's redoubt] on the west side of the river-the practicability of which appeared to us by intelligence received from Thomas Forster and Samuel Simpson, Paxton men, who had come up the river with provisions for the block-house, of part of which they were robbed. Another canoe load they escaped with and hid on an island below the [Nanti- coke] Falls. A party to throw in the supplies was prepared, and volunteers to attack the camp under the direction of Samuel Simpson and Robert Duchee, who offered to conduct this attack."

Leaving the Pennamite relief corps at Ten-mile Run, let us return to Wyoming and learn what transpired here between Saturday, August 10th, and Thursday the 15th. In the first place we learn, from the original "List of Settlers" mentioned on page 694, that, between the 21st of July (when Fort Wyoming was regularly invested) and August 15th, the Yankee force was increased by the arrival of the following- named men (twenty-two in number) :

Bates, Caleb

Gaylord, Lieut. Samuel

Buck, Asahel

Haines, Benjamin

Peirce, Abel Satterlee, William

Cole, Leonard

Hopkins, Frank

Seeley, Bezaleel

Cook, Reuben

Hopkins, Ichabod

Stephens, John

Crooker, Joseph

Hopkins, Robert

Windecker, Henry

Davis, Peter

Hopkins, Timothy

Woodcock, Derrick

Goss, Nathaniel

Hotchkiss, Samuel

Young, John ---

John, Frederick-Jr.

From the deposition of Colonel Clayton (from which we have here- tofore quoted) we learn :

"[Sunday], August 11th, Butler and Stewart sent a man with a flag to summon the Pennsylvania people to surrender. This was refused, and soon after the Yankees began to fire at the block-house with small arms and from a wooden cannon,; which burst at

* Undoubtedly the stream now known as Bear Creek. It was crossed by the "Pennamites' Path" at a point ten miles distant from Wilkes-Barre. See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 427.

t The stream later, and now, known as Tobyhanna Creek, in Monroe County.

Miner says ("History of Wyoming," page 128) that the old Fort Augusta 4-pounder was in the pos- session of the Yankees during the siege, having "been carefully hid by them" when they left the valley in January, 1771, and that it was placed on the redoubt called Fort Defiance, where, "with skilful gunners, it would have completely commanded" Fort Wyoming. "But distance and want of skill rendered it in a very slight degree effective." That the cannon referred to was in the possession of the Yankees at that time is quite improbable, for, undoubtedly, it fell into the hands of the Pennamites when they took pos- session of the fort in January, 1771. At any rate, Parshall Terry. who was on the ground at the time of the siege, states in his affidavit mentioned on page 403, Vol. I, that on their arrival at Wyoming in July, 1771, the Yankees "found the Pennsylvanians in possession of a garrison, commanded by a Col. Asher

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the second discharge ; that the firing continued on both sides until August 15th, when, the people in the block-house having suffered greatly for want of provisions, which were entirely consumed, and seeing no prospect of relief, he [Clayton ] sent out a flag of truce, and after several messages, having obtained the best terms he could, a capitulation was signed. That during the siege Isaac Dalston was wounded and William Ridgyard* killed in the block-house by shot from the Connecticut party ; and the deponent hath heard and believes that several of that party were killed and wounded by shot from the block- house."

From the records of The Susquehanna Company and other authentic sources we learn that of the Yankee forces Richard Cook was killed on July 30th, and that John Chase was killed at some other time during the siege. Whether or not others were killed, and how many or who were wounded, we have been unable to learn. The Articles of Capitu- lation of Fort Wyoming, which, according to the deposition of Captain Morris, were "transcribed" by him, read as followst :

"ARTICLES of CAPITULATION agreed upon the 15th day of August, 1771, betwixt Col. ASHUR CLAYTON, JOSEPH MORRIS and JOHN DICK, Commandants of the Block- house, in Behalf of the Honourable the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and the Subscribers on behalf of the Colony of Connecticut, on Surrender of the Fort to the latter.

"1st. That 23 men shall go out armed, the Remainder unarmed, and to go from hence to their Respective Habitations, unmolested by the Opposite Party.

"2d. That the Men who have Families is to have liberty to stay on the land two Weeks, & to take off their Effects, which they are to do unmolested.

"3d. The sick & wounded is to have liberty to stay & keep such persons as they think proper for Nurses, and to send for a Doctor.

"The above articles we, the Subscribers, do bind ourselves by the honor & Faith of Gentlemen, to abide by and perform. "Testis-

"ALEXANDER PATTERSON,#

"EZEKIEL PEIRCE,

[Signed] "ZEBULON BUTLER,

"LAZARUS STEWART,

"JOHN SMITH."

As soon as the capitulation had been completed several of the men who had been inmates of the fort set out over the "Pennamites' Path" for Easton, and a day or two later Colonel Clayton and Captain Morris repaired to Philadelphia, where, on August 22nd, they made the deposi- tions previously mentioned.

About four o'clock in the afternoon of August 15th the Indian messenger, who had been sent forward to Fort Wyoming with David Ogden, returned to the relief corps at Ten-mile Run with news of the fall of the fort ; which was shortly confirmed upon the arrival of four men who had been inmates of the fort. On consultation it was agreed that John Van Campen should proceed with all haste to Easton, bearing news of the capitulation, and that the other men of the party should continue to patrol the several paths at and near Ten-mile Run until further orders. Dr. Ledlie sent by Van Campen to Sheriff Kachlein and Justice Gordon a message reading in part as follows :

Clayton, as was said, with about fifty men, armed ; their garrison mounted a cannon carrying a 4-pound shot ; that Butler and Stewart, with their party-the deponent being one-soon laid siege to the garrison ; that not having any artillery they made several wooden cannon."

Relative to the wooden cannon Mr. Miner has the following to say : "Among the new body of emi- grants were two of the Gore family from Norwich, * * Obadiah Gore, Esq., the father, and Daniel Gore, his son, blacksmiths by trade. * * They conceived the design of adding to the ordnance a new cannon. A large pepperage [pepperidge, or sour-gum, tree] log was fashioned, bored, and then hooped from breach to muzzle with stout bands of iron. Painted black, with a red mouth, and mounted on a wagon, its appearance at least was formidable. The first discharge excited at once admiration and hope among its friends. Reloaded-a heavier charge was driven home that a corresponding execution might be produced-the cannon split, and so terrible was the explosion that one of the iron bands, thrown 1,000 feet across the Susquehanna, was afterwards found in the willows on the river shore."

* He was shot and instantly killed on August 13th, while in the sentry-box on the side of the fort nearest the river. See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 428.

t See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records, " IX : 771.

{ In his petition mentioned in the note on page 626, Alexander Patterson makes the following re- markable statement relative to the siege of Fort Wyoming in July and August, 1771. "They [the Yan- kees] proceeded to Wyoming, and after having committed murder and many atrocious crimes, they drove the Pennsylvania settlers into a garrison, wherein was your petitioner, with many women and children, besieged nearly seven weeks, and was at length obliged to capitulate through famine, and deliver up the garrison to Butler and the outlaw Lazarus Stewart."

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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 16

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