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 early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume I > Part 60
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Just at this time there was a feeling of unrest and insecurity through- out the country. On the northern confines a powerful French force threatened the New England Colonies, as noted on page 297. Further- more, news had been received only a short time previously to the effect that the King had issued his commands for a large force to be raised in Pennsylvania and the Colonies to the south, to take the field under the command of Brig. Gen. John Forbes as soon after the 1st of May as pos- sible. Therefore, two days after Teedyuscung's conference with the Governor the Assembly sent to the latter a notification in part as follows :
"We find that far distant tribes of Indians have freely entered into our alliance, and wait for nothing-but the faithful performance of the Articles of Peace stipulated on your part at the treaty held at Easton-to join heartily in the British interest. On this important occasion, when the peace of this and the neighboring Colonies and the success of His Majesty's arms in the ensuing campaign seem deeply interested in your delibera- tions, we do assure you that, to effectuate these good purposes and strengthen your hands, we will cheerfully contribute everything which can be reasonably expected from us to confirm the Indians in their good dispositions toward us."
A week after this conference the Governor and Council met to con- sider a proper reply to Teedyuscung's speech. This having been care-
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 32.
t The Secretary of the Council noted on the minutes of the conference that the eight nations, then referred to by Teedyuscung, were : "The Ottawas, who live north-west of Fort Detroit ; the Twightwees ; the Chippewas ; the Toawaws, living south of Lake Erie ; the Caughnawagas; the Mahoowas, living on an island in one of the lakes ; the Pietoatomaws, living westward of Detroit, and the Nalashawawnas, living north of New England."
Į See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 39.
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fully prepared it was publicly spoken the same day (March 22d) at the State House by the Governor, who, at the same time, delivered to Tee- dyuscung "the great Peace Belt." The King responded with some general remarks, and then presented to the Governor and had read aloud a paper which had been written by Charles Thomson and signed by the King. It was as follows* :
"BROTHERS : We formerly told you that we desired to be instructed in the prin- ciples of the Christian religion, and requested that we might have ministers and school- masters supported among us for that purpose. We now renew our request, and, as many of our brethren are ready to lay hold on the Chain of Peace, we think it necessary to in- form you that less than two ministers besides schoolmasters will be insufficient for that purpose ; and though we expect our brethren the English will support them, yet as they are designed for the benefit of us and our cliildren, we judge it both reasonable and neces- sary that we should have liberty to choose them ourselves, after having made the best inquiries we are able into the characters of those who are to watch for our souls, and to whose care our eternal interests are under God to be committed. This, brothers, is an affair that deserves your most serious attention, and we hope it will be seriously considered by our brethren, the English.
"Brothers, you are wise men. You tell us the Christian religion is good, and we believe it to be so-partly upon the credit of your words and partly because we see that some of our brother Indians who were wicked before they became Christians, live better lives now than they formerly did. But, brothers, we have got bodies as well as souls, and though our time in this world is short, it is nevertheless necessary to provide for our- selves and families while we are in it. This is what our own reason and experience teacheth us, and we are confirmed in our sentiments by the universal practise of Christ- ians as well as Indians. And, since we see that our brethren the English manage the affairs which concern their worldly estates and interests with more wisdom than the Indi- ans do, our next request is that our brethren will support two honest men amongst us to be our counselors and instructors in temporal affairs, and at the sanie time to be the guardians of our interests, And that we may be the more certain that we are not deceived by our counselors, we think it necessary to have the choice of them ourselves. We desire to have two, that if one of them should prove a dishonest man the other may prevent his imposing on us. And we hope our brethren, the English, will put the support of our counselors on such a foundation as will leave them under no temptations to betray our interests for the sake of their own temporal gain ; and as an additional security for their acting honestly we shall judge it necessary, before admitting them into our service, that they solemnly swear after the English manner that they will conscientiously perform the trusts reposed in them, according to the best of their skill and understanding.
"Brothers, these are things that appear to us so just and reasonable that we hope our brethren, the English, who profess to have a sincere regard both for our temporal and eternal interests, will readily agree to them. A friendship that is founded on justice and equity, where a proper regard is had to the interests of both parties, may reasonably be expected to prove durable ; and such we desire may be the friendship between us and our brethren the English. But a peace that is founded on injustice and deceit must end whenever the fraud is discovered.
"Brothers, these are things that lie heavy on our hearts. Let them sink deep into the hearts of our brothers ; and if they act conformably to these sentiments both they and their children, as well as we and our children, will feel the good effects of them till the sun ceases to shine and the rivers to run."
his
[Signed] "TEEDY S USCUNG." mark
On March 25th the Governor held a final conference with Tee- dyuscung and his retinue, during which he stated that the matter of providing schoolmasters and ministers for the benefit of the Indians under Teedyuscung, when they should be settled at Wyoming, had been laid before the Assembly and would be acted upon in due time. Con- tinuing, the Governor saidt :
"I think proper that our Peace Belt that I gave you the other day should be sent with the greatest despatch, and in the safest manner you can, to the Indian towns on the Ohio, and the other towns which have not entered into our alliance. Take with you this, my calumet pipe, for our friendly Indians to smoke out of. It is the pipe our old Pro- prietor, William Penn, smoked in (on his first arrival in this country) with all the Indi- ans that then entered into a covenant chain with him, and has been preserved by his
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 47.
+ See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 54.
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order to this day for that good purpose. I recommend it particularly to the Delawares, our brethren, and their grandchildren, the Shawanese, to smoke out of it heartily, as it has now been filled with the same good tobacco; and they, the Delawares and Shaw- anese, will then remember their mother country-for the ground in Pennsylvania is the ground they came out of. * *
* You may remember that at first, when the clouds were beginning to be dispelled, a little foot-path was opened [passing] by Fort Allen to Wyoming for our messengers to pass through with messages. But as now the clouds are entirely dispelled between us and the Indians on the Susquehanna, I think it necessary to open a great road ; that is, from Diahoga and the heads of the Susquehanna down to Fort Augusta, called by the Indians Shamokin."
Teedyuscung having expressed some dissatisfaction with this sug- gestion respecting a road, the Governor stated that it was intended to be only in the nature of "a proposal for him to consult the Indians at Wyoming upon." A day or two later Teedyuscung and his Indian companions left Philadelphia for Bethlehem ; but on the 10th of April the King, his sons Amos and John Jacob, one of his nephews, his counselor Tapescawen, Isaac Still, Essowyonalund, or "Daniel" (a mes- senger from the Wanamies), and other Indians made their appearance in Philadelphia. Two days later, accompanied by Charles Thomson as clerk, they met the Governor and Council in conference at the State House. Teedyuscung, having talked for some time concerning the Easton Treaty of 1757, the recent Philadelphia conference and the news lately received regarding the disturbances among the Indians in the West, said :
"I desire you and the rest of the English not to trouble yourselves to go against the Ohios. I will do it myself. They are all within my dish. Leave them for me. I will give them one blow, and if any escape that I will drive them to the sea for you. * * * I will take notice of all those that pretend to join us, and if they do not do right I will run my hand down their throats and bring up their hearts and lay them before you, for may be it was they that did this mischief. * *
* The next time we meet I shall talk freely about our private affairs-namely, about our building and settling at Wyoming."
This conference was continued the next day, when Teedyuscung was informed that an army had been raised by the English, and that it would not be possible to send him and his Indians alone to fight the hostile Indians on the Ohio. However, Teedyuscung could accompany the soldiers; but, as some of the enemy had been murdering certain white settlers on Swatara Creek in Lancaster County and carrying off others into captivity, he was pressed to return to Bethlehem, where a number of his young braves were loitering, and send a party of them out to scour the frontiers. He was urged, also, to take steps to have delivered up all prisoners who had been taken and were still held cap- tive. The King agreed to use his utmost endeavors to collect as many of the prisoners . in the Indian country as he could and bring them in. As to going "to the front" with the English soldiers he said : "I will not enlist under your Captains and officers, but I will have Captains of my own. My son [John Jacob], here, is one of my Captains. We will join with you, but we will have Captains of our own."*
Teedyuscung and his Indians again returned to Bethlehem, and on the 17th of April the King sent a number of Delawares from Bethlehem to Fort Allen to join Captain Arndt's soldiers in ranging the frontiers. At the same time he despatched, by way of Fort Allen, his son John Jacob, as Captain, accompanied by his (Teedyuscung's) son Amos, Paul and John, brothers, and Isaac-all Delawares-"to the three Indian nations over Allegheny, viz .: the Delaware, Shawanese and Quahano- quesie-of which last Castareega is Chief." Teedyuscung delivered to
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 89.
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these messengers : First, four strings of wampum, to acquaint the said nations that he had twice received good news from them, and had lately heard that they inclined to be at peace with the English. Second, a large black belt, with five strokes across it made of white wampum. Third, a white belt, with black strokes across, set with black wam- pum. Fourth, a white belt, set with black wampum across.
Teedyuscung remained at Bethlehem, and Justice Horsfield wrote on April 18th : "I never before was so much convinced of Teedyus- cung's zeal for the English cause." Five days later, however, a soldier came to Bethlehem from Fort Allen with a letter from Captain Arndt in which he stated that he was having trouble with the Indians sent to the fort by Teedyuscung-the messengers (who were still there) as well as those who were to range being continually drunk, having brought with them some casks of rum from Easton. When the casks had been emptied, the five messengers continued their journey to the West.
On the 1st of May Teedyuscung appeared once more in Philadel- phia, accompanied by his seemingly inseparable companions-Tapes- cawen and Isaac Still-and the next day they were received by the Governor. The chief object of this visit was that the King might say to the Governor* : "The Indians want to see the houses built at Wyo- ming, and then they will remove there. All the Indians expect that the houses will be built this Spring; and if they be not, they will blame me much, and say it is my fault." In reply to this the Governor reminded Teedyuscung that the escort that attended the Wyoming Com- missioners in the previous Fall had consisted of three of the Provincial companies, and the soldiers were employed in erecting the houses. He then asked the King how much time it would take, with the same number of men, to complete the work begun, and the King replied, "Three weeks." Brig. Gen. John Forbes, in command of His Majesty's troops in Pennsylvania, being then in Philadelphia, Governor Denny immediately communicated with him in reference to this subject. On the following day General Forbes replied as follows :
"I really think Teedyuscung's demands ought to be agreed with, as he has the public faith for the making such a settlement ; although I would parry off all convoy of troops, as ax-men and carpenters will answer all his purposes. I think he and his tribes ought to be our guards for those back settlements this Summer, as we shall want all the troops somewhere else."
Upon receipt of this communication Governor Denny forwarded it to the Provincial Assembly, accompanied by the information that he pur- posed to send to Wyoming the same gentlemen who were appointed in 1757 to erect the houses there. The same day (May 3d) the Speaker of the Assembly replied to the Governor as follows :
"We much approve of your designs in sending the same gentlemen that were appointed last year, to finish the houses begun at Wioming at Teedyuscung's request ; and as the more expeditiously this measure is executed, the sooner we shall have an Indian barrier in that quarter, we hope no time will be lost in despatching them."
The next day (May 4, 1758) the Governor addressed to Messrs. John Hughes, Edward Shippen, Jaines Galbraith and Francis Tomlin the following communicationt :
"GENTLEMEN : Teedyuscung having demanded the performance of the engage- ments made by this Government in building houses, clearing ground and making some other improvements at Wyoming, and having fixed the time for doing it to be within three weeks after this date, and the Assembly having very much approved of my inten-
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 101.
t See "The Shippen Papers," page 117.
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tion to employ the gentlemen already commissionated, and recommended it to me to use the utmost despatch in forwarding this work, I make you acquainted therewith, and desire you would once more undertake the journey to Wyoming and superintend the finishing of the buildings and other works to be done there in consequence of my promises.
"I must particularly desire of Mr. Hughes, as he is in town and one of the Pro- vincial Commissioners, to settle everything with them [the Provincial Indian Commis- sioners ] respecting the number of carpenters and workmen, as well as the sums of money necessary to be engaged and provided for this service ; and further, that he will confer with Teedyuscung, and fix with him such matters as he shall think proper should be pre- viously agreed upon, and to give notice thereof to the other Commissioners, that they may conform thereto, so as not to miss of one another, or to suffer anything necessary for the work to be left behind. I understand that the provisions for the Commissioners and their company must be sent from Fort Augusta, together with the tools and many other things which were left there. The Commissioners who go by Augusta will take them with them. And if no Commissioners go by the way of Fort Augusta, they are nevertheless to give directions that the provisions be sent in bateaux to Wyoming ; and the command- ing officer at that fort is hereby ordered to yield obedience to the directions of the Com- missioners, and send them up with a proper escort, to consist of an officer and twenty men, which is to return to the garrison immediately on delivering the provisions, etc., to the Commissioners at Wyoming.
"You are to act agreeable to my commission of the 5th day of October last. If it shall happen that only one Commissioner can attend, the person attending is hereby invested with the same power and authority as if the whole were present. * * If Mr. Hughes should choose to go by way of Fort Allen, and a convoy be wanted for him and his attendants, Captain Arndt, or the officer commanding there, is hereby ordered to send along with them fifteen or twenty of his men, with an officer, for a guard-who are to conduct them to Wyoming, make no stay there, and return forthwith to the Governor. I recommend it to you to take care that everything be done in the premises that the Government stands engaged to do, as far as in your power. You will consult the Indi- ans in the course of the work, and act to their satisfaction."
On the 5th of May, Teedyuscung being still in Philadelphia, he was notified by the Governor that all that he had requested would "be complied with, and with the utmost despatch." He thereupon hastened to Bethlehem, and there, says Reichel, "when the swelling of maple buds and the whitening of the shad-bush on the river's bank betokened the advent of Spring, there were busy preparations going on in 'Tee- dyuscung's company over the water' for their long-expected removal to the Indian Eldorado on the flats of the Winding River. It was the 16th of corn-planting month [May], the month called Tauwinipen, when the Delaware King, his Queen, his counselors and his warriors, led by the Commissioners, * took up the line of march for Fort Allen ; beyond there to strike the Indian trail that led over the mountains to Wyoming Valley. * And on the going out of these spirits "The Crown'* was swept and garnished, and Ephraim Colver, the publican, had rest."
Shortly before this Conrad Weiser reported to Governor Denny that some Indians from the Susquehanna had just informed him "that a Dela- ware family that came from Tioga had settled on Susquehanna River between Wyoming and Fort Augusta, and more would soon follow ; but they would not be commanded by Teedyuscung, who is reported as one that wants to make Englishmen of the Indians, and that his way of acting was disagreeable to the Indians about Tioga. Further, that the Indians about Tioga are well affected to the English, and in 110 danger of breaking with them again."
Edward Shippen and James Galbraith would not consent to go to Wyoming again as Commissioners, and Francis Tomlin was unable to go. Therefore the Governor commissioned John Hughes and Henry Pawling (previously mentioned in connection with this business) to pro- ceed with the proposed work without delay. These gentlemen joined
* See page 357.
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each other at Bethlehem on Monday, May 15th, and the next day set out for Wyoming, accompanied by their workmen and escorted by Tee- dyuscung and upwards of one hundred Indians-men and women, old and young, and a numerous brood of children. Under date of June 7, 1758, Mr. Hughes made the following report to Governor Denny* :
"At Bethlehem I met my companion Mr. Pawling, and the next day [May 16th] we marched with between fifty and sixty carpenters, masons and laborers. After a very fatiguing journey we arrived at Wyoming on the 22d, and the next day we put the hands to work. As the bateaux did not arrive from Fort Augusta at the time appointed, we were brought to a very short allowance in provisions, etc. For several days we had no bread at all. We kept the business going forward as well as we could until the 27th [of May], when Joseph Croker, one of our masons, was killed and scalped by six of the enemy Indians.t This misfortune made our people very uneasy. The bateaux arrived the next day with provisions, which enabled us to carry on the work until we finished ten (10) houses, mostly 20 x 14 feet in the clear, and one of them [presumably for the King] 24 x 16 feet, of squared logs and dovetailed. We also ploughed some ground for them to plant in, and we split some rails to fence it. After which they [the Indians] thought it proper to let us know that as it was late in the season, and the grass was grown very high, we might return [home] until a more favorable opportunity-which we complied with, leaving there Friday, June 2d, and getting safe home Tuesday evening, June 6th."
The houses thus erected-which included those begun in Novem- ber, 1757-stood in the locality previously described (see page 363), and the expense of erecting them amounted to 1,800 Spanish milled dollars. This settlement was thenceforth known as the town, or village, of Wyo- ming-the site of the old Shawanese village of Wyoming having been deserted since the Spring of 1756, when Paxinosa and his followers removed thence to the vicinity of Tioga, as previously mentioned.
At Philadelphia, June 5, 1758, the Provincial Council was sum- moned by the Governor to consider proper messages to be forthwith sent to the Senecas and to the Indians on the Susquehanna, who had "grown dissatisfied and were for leaving their habitations, especially our old friend Paxinosa and his family and friends." It had been discovered by the Government that the cause of this sudden disaffection among the Susquehanna Indians was due to the presence in the Province of the Cherokees from the South. "The men of Cumberland County, Penn- sylvania, joining with Virginia and Mr. Atkin, the Southern Superin- tendent of Indian Affairs for the Crown, had secured the alliance of the Cherokees and other southern Indians. Their presence at Carlisle and Cumberland excited the Six Nations and the Delawares. If their old enemies were friends to the English, they, the northern Indians, would go over to the French." Some of the Susquehanna Indians asserted that they had heard that "the Cherokees were sent for by their brethren, the English, to cut them all off the Susquehanna ; and that the English were going to settle and build a fort at Wyoming."
This information was brought by Benjamin, a Mohegan, to Bethle- hem on May 29th. He lived near Bethlehem, but five weeks previously had received word from his sister-a widow with three children, who lived in the Nanticoke town at Otsiningo (see note, page 219)-that he should fetch her and her children to their friends at Bethlehem. He accordingly set off. From Bethlehem to Wyoming he saw no Indians, although he heard some at a little distance from him, "but had no mind to show himself unto them." Near Tioga [at Seekaughkunt] he found Paxinosa with all his family, including his sons-in-law, and Paxinosa
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 134.
+ So far as we now know this was the first death of a white man-from either a natural or any other cause-to occur in Wyoming Valley. The Indians who committed this murder were western Shawanese. (See page 374.)
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told Benjamin that all the Indians were in a hurry to remove from the Susquehanna because they had heard that the English had very bad designs against the Indians, and that those who did not fly from the Susquehanna would be murdered. Paxinosa said that he was going with his family to his land at the Ohio, where he was born. They had heard that the English would settle Wyoming under the pretense that it would be for the good of the Indians ; but their intentions were quite the contrary, for they would build a fort there and take the land from the Indians. Benjamin said that he had tried to pacify Paxinosa, and had told him what Teedyuscung had accomplished with the Govern- ment ; "but Paxinosa was quite deaf to hear anything in favor of the English, saying that they pretend well and mean ill." It seems that Paxinosa had been invited to attend a meeting of the Great Council at Onondaga, at which it would be determined what side the Indians should take; but as he had resolved to go to the Ohio he did not go to Onondaga. Paxinosa and his eldest son tried to persuade Benjamin to go with them to the Ohio.
On his way back to Bethlehem Benjamin saw in the Susquehanna, about twelve miles above Wyoming, four canoes and two floats with which strange Indians had crossed the river. Later he saw the Indians themselves. At Wyoming Benjamin did not go near the place where the Commissioners and their party were engaged in erecting the houses for Teedyuscung and his people. But not far from there he met the King, "with whom he sat down and related all that he had seen and heard at Diahoga and Ceningo, and on his way ; at which Teedyuscung seemed quite amazed-particularly that the Maquas [Mohawks] did now act in such a manner."*
In pursuance of plans adopted at the meeting of the Council held on June 5th, as previously noted, messages were duly prepared by Gov- ernor Denny and Brigadier General Forbes, jointly, addressed (1) "To Teedyuscung and the Indians at Wyoming," and (2) "To the Susque- hanna Indians." These messages related to the coming into Pennsyl- vania of the Cherokees (some of whom were just then in Philadelphia), and to the building of the houses at Wyoming for Teedyuscung and his band. Accompanying the messages were various belts and strings of wampum, to be delivered, according to Indian custom, to those to whom the messages were addressed. The message to Teedyuscung was, in part, as followst :
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