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 71
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"That they were soon joined by a large number, being mostly those who had been on the preceding year; that they took on with them horses, oxen, cows and farming utensils ; that they proceeded to plowing, planting corn and sowing grain of different kinds, building houses and fences and [doing] all kinds of farmer's business ; that they
Delawares numbered 1,132, they having been joined some years previously by the small band of their nation from Upper Sandusky, Ohio. In 1854 the Hon. Andrew H. Reeder (for many years a resident of Easton, Pennsylvania, in the "Forks of the Delaware," but then serving as the first Governor of the newly organized Territory of Kansas) visited the Delawares at their reservation on the Kansas River. Their Chief at that time was "Captain Ketchum," considerably more than eighty years of age, who told the Governor that he was born in Wyoming Valley, but, being very young when his people removed to the West, he remembered nothing of the valley. In the American Civil War the Delawares, out of an able-bodied male population of 201, furnished 170 soldiers to the Union cause. In 1866 the Delawares sold their lands in Kansas to the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and 1,064 of them bought lands and citizen- ship in the Cherokee Nation (mentioned on pages 163 and 165) under a contract executed with that Nation in April, 1867. The remainder of the Kansas Delawares (114 in number), forming a part of "Black Beaver's" band, moved south to Red River, where they settled among the Kiowas and Wichitas in what was formerly Indian Territory and is now Oklahoma. "Black Beaver" was a leader among all western Indians from 1857 till his death, and was an orator as well as a statesman. He was a Captain in a Kansas regiment during the American Civil War, and served with honor and distinction. As a guide he had few equals, and was much sought for by army officers. His memory was tenacious and his word as good as a bond. The Oklahoma Delawares numbered forty-one in 1885 and ninety-five in 1890.
According to the "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census" (1890) there were then 754 Delawares in the Cherokee Nation. About 175 of these were full-blooded-95 of whom did not speak English. All were, and are, citizens of the Nation. They reside in a compact body by themselves in two districts, and "are in much better circumstances than many of the white people in several adjoin- ing States. Among the Delawares nearly every farmer of any pretensions has an orchard. Among them we find some of the best merchants, and there are mills of various kinds owned by them in the different settlements. Their houses are for the most part well built and substantial. No one who has visited the Delaware settlements could fail to note that they are among the most thrifty and intelligent Indians in the entire Indian country. The Delawares are the traders and business men of the North American Indians. The census of 1890 showed that some of them were in almost all of the western tribes, and that all of them were men of shrewdness and ability."
The Delawares in the Cherokee Nation have no separate government, but send representatives to the Cherokee National Council. However, they preserve their autonomy and are largely governed by their own tribal laws and traditions. They have a Chief, who either inherits his chieftancy or is elected by the tribe for some act of bravery he has done, and who serves for life. In 1890 the Rev. Charles Journeycake was their Chief. In December, 1862, while living in Kansas, the Delawares adopted a code of laws by which, in many particulars, they are still controlled-the criminal sections, and some other details, being now superseded by the Cherokee laws. This code, written by a full-blooded Delaware, was formerly administered by the chiefs and councilors.
In 1853 there were small numbers of Monseys, or Munsees, living with the Stockbridge Indians on their reservations in Indian Territory and Wisconsin ; 'and there are now a few settled with the Stock- bridges at the Green Bay Agency in Wisconsin, and with the Chippewas in Brown County, Kansas. In 1890 there were 553 Delawares, including 136 Munsees on the River Thames, living in Canada.
* See page 417. + In "The Poetry and History of Wyoming," page 144.
Oxen and their congeners, of whatever color.
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made large improvements in Wilkes-Barré, Kingston, Plymouth and Hanover (as they are now [in 1794] called); that they improved several hundred acres of land with corn and other grain and procured a large quantity of hay ; * * that during their residence at Wyoming this season, according to his best recollection, there were about 150 settlers who made improvements-though not so great a number on the ground at any one time ; that he also well recollects lands being laid out and lotted on the Susquehanna River the same year, and that he, the deponent, drew a lot at that time in Wilkes-Barré (as it is now called )."
A substantial log block-house, which had been begun in the previous Autumn, was completed, and several log cabins were erected adjacent to it. All these buildings stood just north of Beaver Brook, near its confluence with the Susquehanna; and on the north bank of the brook (where the plant of the Wyoming Valley Electric Light, Heat and Power Company now stands) a small saw-mill was erected- in consequence of which that streain has ever since borne the name "Mill Creek." Pearce makes the erroneous statement* that these build- ings were erected "a short distance below the present site of Wilkes- Barré"; and some other writers following him have erred similarly. All the settlers lived together, compactly, at Mill Creek, going thence to the flats, at different points in the valley, to carry on their simple agricultural operations. According to the affidavit (previously referred to) of Parshall Terry "Timothy Hollister, t a surveyor from Connecticut, laid out" certain lots in the Summer of 1763-some of them being in what was afterwards the township of Wilkes-Barré. So far as known there are no records now in existence to show just where those lots were located. It is probable, however, that no more than the two "gratuity" townships (see pages 401 and 402) were surveyed and allotted. In the meantime the settlers worked earnestly and harmoniously to establish themselves in their new homes, apparently either unacquainted with or unconcerned about the perilous conditions which then existed west of the Allegheny Mountains and in what is now southern-central Penn- sylvania.
About the 8th of July, 1763, information was brought to Phila- delphia by a special messenger that Presqu' Isle, Le Bœuf and Venango had been captured by the Indians (see page 417), and that the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia were being over- run by scalping parties, who, wherever they went, marked their way with blood and devastation. The situation of the frontiers was, indeed, most alarming. Therefore, on the 11th of July, Governor Hamilton issued military commissions to Col. John Armstrong (previously men- tioned) of Cumberland County, the Rev John Eldert of Lancaster County, Jonas Seeley, Esq., of Berks County and Timothy Horsfield, Esq., of Bethlehem, with directions to enlist certain volunteers forthwith- as mentioned in the note on page 233, ante. Through the Rev. Mr. Elder's exertions the able-bodied men of the Paxtang region in Lancas- ter County were soon organized into a mounted military battalion of several companies, under the name of the "Paxtang Rangers," or "Pax- tang Boys," with Elder as Colonel in command. "Swift on foot, excel- lent horsemen, good shots, skillful in pursuit or in escape, dexterous as
* In "Annals of Luzerne County," pages 61 and 277.
+ He was Capt. Timothy Hollister, who had purchased one "right" in The Susquehanna Company in May, 1762, from Z. Clark, of Stratford, Connecticut, an agent of the Company.
Į JOHN ELDER was born January 26, 1706, in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. He was graduated at the University of Edinburgh, and then, having studied divinity, was licensed to preach in 1732. A few years later he immigrated to America-whither his parents had preceded him in 1730. November 22, 1738, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Paxtang, and until his death (July 17, 1792) he continued the faithful minister of that Church.
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scouts and expert in maneuvering," the "Rangers" became the terror of the Indians. And yet, during the Summer and early Autumn of that year, numerous depredations and murders were committed by Indians in the counties of Lancaster and Northampton.
On Sunday, August 7th, Capt. Andrew Montour* arrived at Fort Augusta from up the West Branch and informed Colonel Burd that Forts Pitt and Ligonier had been captured by the Indians. Later this news was learned to be false. In the latter part of August a party of over one hundred volunteers set out from the counties of Cumberland and Lancaster for Great Island (mentioned in the note on page 226), to attack the Indian village there. Under date of September 1, 1763, Governor Hamilton wrotet to Timothy Horsfield concerning this expe- dition. After referring to "the unbridled and undistinguishing rage of the people of Cumberland," the Governor wrote :
"Those are the most unaccountable, headstrong people, and have no authority from me for what they are doing ; on the contrary, had I known of their intentions sooner I would have endeavored to put it [the expedition] under the direction of some person on whose prudence I could have relied; * but I understand those people were actually set off before I had any intelligence of it. They are certainly doing a very illegal and unjustifiable thing, and what, in more quiet and settled times, would subject them to grievous punishment."
About the middle of September Colonel Armstrong collected a force of some 300 volunteers-chiefly inhabitants of Cumberland County -for the purpose of attacking the Indian settlements at Muncy and Great Island, where the hostile Indians were in the habit of rendez- vousing previous to making forays on the settlements below. This little army left Fort Shirley, at Aughwick, in what is now Huntingdon County, on the 30th of September. Arriving at their destination they found that the Indians had deserted their settlements and moved rapidly westward some days previously. Armstrong then directed his force against, and destroyed, some small Indian settlements at the mouth of Kettle Creek and at Monseytown (west of the present Lock Haven). Then, states Meginness, in his "History of the West Branch Valley" (Edition of 1889), I: 302, 303, some dispute arising between Colonel Armstrong and five Captains of his command the latter, with their 200 men, separated from Armstrong above Fort Augusta, and he went on to Carlisle with the residue of his force. This expedition of Armstrong's was, states Meginness, "the largest that had invaded the West Branch Valley up to that time ; but, instead of wiping out the savages and ren- dering them powerless, it only tended to still further enrage and cause them to commit greater deeds of blood."
On the same day that Armstrong and his command set out from Fort Shirley the Rev. John Elder, at Paxtang, wrote to Governor Hamilton as follows :
"As a number of volunteers from this County, on the return of Colonel Armstrong, design to scout a little way into the enemy's country, our troops would gladly join the volunteers, if it's agreeable to your Honour ; and as that favour, they imagine, has been granted the troops on the other [the west] side of the Susquehanna, they flatter theni- selves it will not be refused these two companies. Their principal view is to destroy the immense quantity of corn left by the New England men at Wyoming, which, if not con-
* Mentioned in foot-note (III) on page 206. Since that note was printed I have ascertained that in 1756, during the Indian hostilities in Pennsylvania, three of Andrew Montour's children, who were in Philadelphia, were put under the care of Governor Morris, "independent of their mother"; as also a twelve-year old son of Montour's "by a former wife, a Delaware, granddaughter of Allummapees," men- tioned on page 186. Montour also had at that time a daughter named Kayodaghscroony, or "Madelina," who was living among the Delawares. (See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 95.)
+ See original letter among "The Horsfield Papers," previously referred to.
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sumed, will be a considerable magazine to the enemy, and enable them, with more ease, to distress the inhabitants, etc."
Governor Hamilton replied to this communication on the 5th of October, and stated that he "could have no objection to their scouting as far as Wyoming and destroying the corn, if any be left there," but he positively prohibited the marching of the troops to, and the destruction of, the Indian town at Wyalusing, as was contemplated by the Lancas- ter and Cumberland officers. The inhabitants of southern Pennsyl- vania and the Governor at Philadelphia were, without doubt, under the impression at this time that the settlers at Wyoming, in consequence of the proclamation of the Governor ordering them to depart from the valley, and in view of the perilous condition of the times, had, without delay, suspended their operations and returned whence they came. Such, however, was not the case. On the 10th of October the Gover- nor wrote again to the Rev. Mr. Elder, as follows :
"I should not have anything to add at this time but for a letter the Commissioners and I have received from Mr. Robert Callender, acquainting us that Major Clayton* has applied to him to furnish provisions for 200 men for twenty days; by which it is con- ceived that he hath an intention of going upon some expedition against the Indians, without having communicated the same to me and received my approbation-a step I can by no means approve in an officer bearing the King's commission."
On the same day Governor Hamilton wrote to Timothy Horsfield as followst:
"Repeated applications have been made to me from the officers of the Lancaster companies, with some volunteers of that frontier, for permission to scout as far as Wyo- ming and destroy a great quantity of corn left, as they say, by the Connecticut men ; and from thence to proceed and attack Wihilusing, which they look upon as a receptacle and retreat to all the scalping parties that have invested our northern frontier. I have, in consideration of Papoonhank and the other religious Indians who live there, absolutely forbid them to go near that place for the present, till I can learn whether the enemy Indians are received and harbored by them. If that should turn out to be the case, they would richly deserve whatever mischief could befall them ; but, whether it is or not the case, I am of opinion it will not be long possible to restrain the ardor of the people for revenging-on all of that colour, whether friends or foes, wherever they come across them-the horrid cruelties daily committed on our inhabitants. It is indeed enough to wear out the patience of a saint !"
October 13th Major Clayton, with a force of eighty soldiers and volunteers from Lancaster County, arrived at Fort Augusta en route to Wyoming. Joined by Lieut. Samuel Hunter and twenty-four men belonging to the garrison of the fort, the party set off on Saturday the 15th for their destination up the river. On the following Monday (October 17th) the Rev. Mr. Elder, at Paxtang, wrote to the Governor as follows :
"Your favor of the 10th I received last night, and am sorry to find that our pro- ceedings are any way disagreeable to the Legislature. Our two companies, fired with resentment on hearing the barbarities committed by the savages, and willing to serve their country to the utmost of their power, signified to me their strong desire to join in any expedition that might be undertaken against the common enemy. And encouraged by your acquainting me that you 'had no objection against our destroying the corn left at Wyoming, I ordered them to proceed on that service ; strictly prohibiting them, in obedience to your Honour's command, to make any attack on Wialusing. The party, though small, set out from Hunter'st last Tuesday [October 11th] in high spirits ; so that it is impossible to suspend the expedition now, as the troops are, by this time,
* ASHER CLAYTON was appointed and commissioned by Governor Morris, May 24, 1756, Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Pennsylvania Regiment commanded by Col. William Clapham, and in July, 1756, was with the regiment in camp at Shamokin. (See pages 339 and 360.) January 9, 1758, he was commis- sioned Captain in the Second Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment, then commanded by Col. James Burd, and was stationed at Fort Augusta. In June, 1760, he was still in service as Captain in this Battalion. Upon the organization of the "Rangers" by the Rev. John Elder in 1763 Asher Clayton was commissioned Major of the battalion, and early in 1764 he succeeded Elder as Colonel of the same. In 1771 he resided in Philadelphia.
¡ For the original letter see "The Horsfield Papers."
į Hunter's Mill, mentioned on page 320.
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advanced, I doubt not, as far as Wyoming. What success they may have I know not ; but if they destroy the corn and improvements-made there by the New England men to the great displeasure of the Indians and in contempt of your Honour's authority- and can happily intercept the murdering party on their return from Northampton, I pre- sume it will be of considerable service."
The "murdering party" referred to in the foregoing letter was a band of hostile Delawares led by Teedyuscung's son "Captain Bull", previously mentioned* ; and concerning their depredations Governor Hamilton had sent a message to the Provincial Assembly on October 15th, in these wordst:
"Within a few days past I have received well attested accounts of many barbarous and shocking murders and other depredations having been committed by Indians on the inhabitants of Northampton County, in consequence whereof great numbers of those who escaped the rage of the enemy have already deserted, and are daily deserting, their habitations ; so that, unless some effectual aid can be speedily granted them, to induce them to stand their ground, it is difficult to say where these desertions will stop, or to how small a distance from the capital our frontier may be reduced."
The Quakers who controlled the Government of the Province "seemed resolved," says Francis Parkman in his "History of the Con- spiracy of Pontiac," "that they would neither defend the people of the frontier nor allow them to defend themselves, and vehemently inveighed against all expeditions to cut off the Indian marauders. Their security was owing to their local situation, being confined to the eastern part of the Province." Only a short time before this General Amherst, annoyed by the apparent deafness to all entreaties of the persons in con- trol of the Pennsylvania Government, wrote: "The conduct of the Pennsylvania Assembly is altogether so infatuated and stupidly obsti- nate, that I want words to express my indignation thereat."
"Captain Bull", who headed the war-party of western Delawares in its destructive incursion into eastern Pennsylvania, had, as we have previously noted, spent at least ten years of his life among the western Delawares. He was, therefore-it may be presumed-thoroughly im- bued with the sentiments which generally prevailed among those Indians with reference to the English. In the Spring of 1760 he visited his father at Wyoming, and in June accompanied the latter on his peace mission to the western tribes-as we have shown on page 388. Whether or not he returned from that mission to Wyoming with his father we have no means of ascertaining ; nor can we learn whether he was at Wyoming or on the Ohio when Teedyuscung came to his sudden and fiery end. It is quite probable, however, that he was at one of the Mingo-Delaware towns in what is now Steuben County, New York ; or, perhaps, was in the region west of the Alleghenies.
The first intimation the inhabitants of the eastern borders of Penn- sylvania had that there were hostile Indians in their midst came to them on the 8th of October, 1763, when, before daybreak, "Captain Bull" and his band attacked the house of John Stenton, on the main road from Bethlehem to Fort Allen, where Capt. Jacob Wetterhold and a squad of soldiers, of the Provincial service, were lodging for the night. In this attack Wetterhold and several others of the whites were wounded and three were killed. Only one of the attacking party was killed. The same day the Indians plundered and destroyed several other houses and killed a number of people in that locality. A day or two later Yost's mill, about eleven miles from Bethlehem, was destroyed, and all the
* See the fourth paragraph of the note on page 308 ; also, pages 388 and 389.
+ See "Pennsylvania Archives," Fourth Series, III : 217.
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people at the place, excepting a young man, were cut off. These dep- redations and murders were all committed within only a few miles of "Captain Bull's" ancestral home. Altogether twenty-three persons were killed and many dangerously wounded. The settlers were thrown into the utmost distress, fleeing from their plantations with hardly a suffi- ciency of clothing with which to cover themselves, and coming into the town of Northampton (now Allentown) where "there were but four guns at the time, and three of them unfit for use-with the enemy four miles from the place." The Indians, however, fled to the mountains, and made their way in the direction of Wyoming.
On Saturday, October 15th-the self-same day that Maj. Asher Clay- ton's expedition set out from Fort Augusta for Wyoming, and that - Governor Hamilton, at Philadelphia, notified the Provincial Assembly of the outrages which had been committed in Northampton County- the settlers at Mill Creek, in Wyoming Valley, were busily engaged in their various occupations at different points-unsuspicious of danger and unprepared for disaster. Some of the men were at work about the mill, others were in the fields on the flats ; some were felling trees along the edge of the forest, others were erecting two or three additional log cabins needed for the more comfortable accommodation of the growing colony, while nearly all the women and children of the settlement were occupied in and about the block-house and the various cabins. It was near the hour of noon, and all was peaceful and serene in the little settlement on that bright and cheerful Autumn day, when, suddenly,
"Whoop after whoop with rack the ear assail'd,
As if unearthly fiends had burst their bar ! And sounds that mingled laugh and shout and scream- To freeze the blood in one discordant jar- Rang to the pealing thunderbolts of war."
"Captain Bull" and his warriors-increased in number to 135* since their devastating descent upon the Lehigh settlements-had swooped down upon the unsuspecting people of Wyoming, and death, dispersion and destruction quickly followed. Not all the names of those who were either killed or carried away into captivity on that direful occasion have been preserved. Some eighteen or twenty persons were killed, among whom were the Rev. William Marsht (the minister of the settlement), Thomas Marsh, Timothy Hollister, Sr., Timothy Hollister, Jr., Samuel Richards, Nathaniel Terry (a brother of Parshall Terry, previously mentioned), Wright Smith, Jesse Wiggins and Zur-
* According to the printed statement of Isaac Hollister. See page 439.
+ The Rev. WILLIAM MARSH became one of the proprietors of The Susquehanna Company in May, 1762, by the purchase of one "right" from Z. Clark of Stratford, Connecticut, an agent of the Company. At the same time Elihu Marsh-presumably a relative of the Rev. William-purchased one "right" front agent Clark, As previously noted, William Marsh was one of the original settlers at Mill Creek in the Autumn of 1762 ; and when the Company voted (see page 413) that "some proper well-disposed person be procured * * * to carry on religious instruction and worship" among the Company's Wyoming set- tlers, the Directing Committee selected Mr. Marsh,
The present writer is indebted to the Rev. John T. Griffith, D. D., of Edwardsville, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, for the following interesting information concerning the Rev. William Marsh, extracted from a paper, entitled "Early Religious Movements in the Wyoming Valley," read by Dr. Griffith in March, 1904, before the "Cleric" of Wilkes-Barré, and in June, 1904, before the Baptist Ministers' Confer- ence of Scranton.
"Morgan Edwards, the Baptist historian, says that William Marsh was born at Wrentham [Norfolk County, Massachusetts], and ordained among the 'Separate' branch of the Congregationalists. About 1749 he, with sixteen others, formed an independent Church at Mansfield, in Tolland County [adjoining Windham County], Connecticut, of which he became pastor. In 1751 they settled in the north part of Newtown, Sussex County, New Jersey, where, in 1756, Mr. Marsh and eight others originated the first Baptist Church organized at Wantage. Mr. Marsh was baptized at Newtown by Elkanah Fuller in 1752. This company of 'Separates' or 'New Lights,' who had emigrated in a body from Mansfield to Newtown, had not been long in their settlement before some (who at Mansfield had had scruples about infant baptism) declared openly for the baptism of believers. But now the same question puzzled them which had puzzled others, both in England, Germany and elsewhere, viz. : 'Whether baptism administered by an unbaptized person is valid'-for they considered infant baptism as a nullity. However, they decided
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