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 74
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In April, 1765, Papoonhank and the Moravian Indians at Province Island (see page 435) were removed to Bethlehem, whence Zeisberger conducted them to Wyalusing and founded the town of Friedenshütten -as described in the note on page 220. Heckewelder, in the unpub- lished letter mentioned on page 279, states :
"In 1763 a new war broke out, when from that time the place [Wyoming] was not visited [by the Moravian Brethren] until the Spring of 1765, after a peace having been concluded with the hostile Indians. Christian Indians then [1765] removed from Phila- delphia * * in a body to Wyalusing. * * * When the Christian Indians removed to Wyalusing there were no Indians living at Wyoming, nor any other place lower down the River than Sheshequanni ;* nor were any white people settled there."
At Philadelphia, September 25, 1766, Governor Penn held a con- ference with "Jemmy Nanticoke," "John Toby," "Anthony Turkey" and other Indians of the Nanticoke-Conoy and Mohegan tribes living at Chenango, or Otsiningo-mentioned in the notes on pages 219 and
* Sheshequin, in the present Bradford County, Pennsylvania, on the left bank of the Susquehanna, north-west from Wyalusing about twenty miles in a bee-line. In the Moravian diaries of 1768 Sheshequin is called "Schechschiquanink" ; and in February, 1768, it is recorded that James Davis, or Davies, the Chief of the village-who had formerly been Chief at Matchasaung (see page 359) and later at a village in New York lying between Assinnissink and Passekawkung (see page 389)-"made application at Friedenshütten for stated preaching of the gospel" at Sheshequin.
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239. The three Indians named-and, undoubtedly, all the others then present-had formerly lived in Wyoming, and subsequently "Anthony Turkey" and "Toby" returned here-the last-named living for some time-on friendly terms with the white settlers-near the mouth of the creek which for many years now has borne his name. (See page 53.) After the usual preliminaries observed at Indian conferences "Jemmy Nanticoke" produced a belt of black wampum, and, speaking for all the Indians present, said *:
"Brother, it is now proper for us to mention to you that there has been a great deal of wickedness of late, which hangs like a cloud in the air and hinders us from see- ing each other and from transacting or settling such business as we may have with one another. By this belt, therefore, we remove these clouds, and we now present it to you to show our joy that the great God of Heaven has brought us again together to see one another with the same brotherly affection we used formerly to do. *
* As we came down from our country we stopped at Wyoming, where we had a mine in two places, and we discovered that some white people had been at work in the mine and had filled three canoes with the ore ; and we saw their tools with which they had dug it out of the ground, where they had made a hole at least forty feet long and five or six feet deep. It happened formerly that some white people did now and then take only a small bit and carried it away, but these people have been working at the mine and have filled their canoes.
"You know, Brother, that by our ancient treaties we are obliged to acquaint each other when anything hurtful shall happen to either of us. According to this we now inform you of this injury done to us, which is a very bad thing, and may produce mis- chief between us. *
* We also inform you that there is one John Anderson, a trader, now living at Wyoming, and we suspect that either he or somebody employed by him has robbed our mine. This man has a store of goods there, and it may happen, when the Indians see their mine robbed, they will come and take away his goods."
In reply to this speech Governor Penn said, among other things :
"We have heard what you say about the mine at Wyoming, and we assure you that we know nothing of this matter; and if Anderson has settled there he has been guilty of a breach of our general order. * * If any of our people should attempt to take away any ore from your mine you will endeavor to learn their names, and give the Governor early information."
We have heretofore referred (on pages 180, 210 and 279) to the belief of the Indians respecting the existence of mines of valuable minerals in Wyoming Valley. In the circumstances, then, there is no doubt that the "mine" from which "ore" was taken in 1766, as reported to Governor Penn by the Indians, was the coal-bed mentioned in the note on page 210, and that the supposed "ore" was "stone-coal" (as it was then called), or anthracite. On "A Plot of the Manor of Sunbury," on page 454, the location of the beforementioned coal-bed is noted by the words "stone coal." Where the second mine, to which the Indians referred, was situated, we do not know; but it was probably within the present limits of Wilkes-Barré. However, the subject of coal-mines and the earliest mining and use of coal in Wyoming Valley is fully dealt with in Chapter LI.
As to John Anderson, the trader, referred to by the Indians : Early in 1765 Sir William Johnson, as well as the Commissioners of Indian Affairs for Pennsylvania, granted to Capt. Amos Ogden of New Jersey the right to establish and carry on a trading-post at Wyoming. Asso- ciated with Ogden in this enterprise were Capt. John Dick and John Anderson, and in the Summer of 1765 they repaired to the valley and erected, near the site of Teedyuscung's former town, a substantial log building for their use as a store- and dwelling-house.} Heckewelder says that John Anderson was called by the Indians "the honest Quaker
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IX : 329.
+ See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, IV : 401.
Į See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," I : 202.
VIEW OF SOLOMON'S GAP (MENTIONED ON PAGE 445) FROM ASHLEY CEMETERY. From a photograph taken in 1901.
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trader"; and that between May, 1765, and June, 1769, he went twice a year from Wyoming up the Susquehanna to Friedenshütten, Sheshequin, Tioga Point and other Indian towns on trading expeditions. In Novem- ber, 1765, John Jennings, of Northampton County, accompanied Ander- son from Wyoming to Friedenshütten.
Dr. F. C. Johnson, in his paper mentioned on page 204, says :
"Bishop John Ettwein, who several times passed through Wyoming on his way from Bethlehem to Wyalusing, states in his journal of 1767 : 'On descending the Wyo- ming Mountain* into the valley, my Indian guide pointed out a pile of stones, said to in- dicate the number of Indians who had already climbed the mountain-it being the custom for each one to add one [stone] to the heap on passing that way. At 2 P. M. I reached Mr. Ogden's, where I was hospitably entertained. The Shawanese have all left the valley, and the only traces of them are their places of burial, in crevices and caves in the rocks, at whose entrances stand large stones, painted. *
* Continued my journey to Wyalusing. Rode up the east bank of the Susquehanna, through a large flat nine [sic] miles to Lechawah-hanneck [Lackawanna River], where there was an Indian townt up to 1755, and where our missionaries occasionally preached. It is now totally deserted by the Indians. Alongside of the path is a grave-yard,¿ and upwards of thirty graves can be seen."
Heckewelder, in his letter mentioned on page 279, says: "In 1768, when I again traveled through that country [Wyoming Valley], § a Mr. Ogden had a store where the old Indian path struck the river path, about 80 or 100 yards from the river."
The "river path", abovementioned, started in at Teedyuscung's town and ran thence up along the Susquehanna, on or near the left bank of the river, while the "old Indian path" branched off from the "river path" near the intersection of the present Ross and West River Streets,|| and, following very closely the course which Ross Street and Hazle Avenue now take, passed through Solomon's Gap (see pages 47 and 56), on over the mountains and through the intervening valleys to and through the Wind Gap (see page 45), and thence onward to Easton. After Teedyuscung's town was established this path through Solomon's Gap (the nearest of all the mountain gaps to the site of the town) was marked out by the Indians and traveled by them in their frequent journeys to and from Easton and points beyond. It soon became the most traveled trail connecting Wyoming with the "Forks of the Dela- ware"; the older trail, leading from Hanover township to Fort Allen on the Lehigh (see page 237), being thenceforth seldom used. On the reproduction of "A Plot of the Manor of Stoke" (see page 455) the loca- tion of Ogden's "store" and the course of the "path to the Wind Gap" are indicated ; and, judging by this plot and the paragraph quoted from Heckewelder's letter, the site of the store-house was undoubtedly near where the north-east corner of Ross and West River Streets is now situ- ated. On the reproduction of the "Sketch of the Encampment at Wyoming," drawn by Lieutenant Colonel Hubley in 1779 (see Chapter XVIII), the dotted lines intersecting each other, opposite the "redoubt" south-west of the "Fort" on the river bank, represent the two Indian paths, or trails, abovementioned.
Beginning with 1766, and continuing for several years, the Indians at Friedenshütten, Sheshequin, Tioga and other points on the Susque-
* What is now known as "Wilkes-Barré Mountain." See page 44.
+ Asserughney, mentioned on page 187, etc.
Į Undoubtedly at or near the site of the former village of Matchasaung, mentioned on page 213. See, also, the last paragraph on page 174.
§ With David Zeisberger, Bishop John Ettwein and Gottlieb Sensemann, en route to Friedenshütten. | See "Map of Wilkes-Barre and its Suburbs in 1872," in Chapter XXVIII.
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hanna to the northward, came down to Wyoming on their Winter hunt- ing expeditions ; and, according to the Moravian diarist* at Friedens- hütten, Papoonhank established "a hunting-lodge at Menachningk" (Monocanock Island, described on page 50, ante) in 1767.
About the 20th of March, 1767, two Tuscaroras arrived at Wyo- ming, avant-couriers of a band of their tribe numbering upwards of seventy men, women and children whom they had left behind at Sha- mokin. These were the last of the Tuscaroras from North Carolina (see page 116), and the two messengers who came to Wyoming proceeded onward, after a short stop, to Friedenshütten to collect corn and request its transportation to Shamokin, without delay, for the use of the Tuscarora emigrants. One of these messengers, a few days later, set out from Friedenshütten for the country of the Cayugas, his object being to ask of those Indians-who, in conjunction with the Oneidas, claimed a special proprietorship in the Wyoming lands (see page 268) -permission for the Tuscaroras "to settle and plant at Lackawanna"; presumably on the site of the old Monsey town, Asserughney. About the 1st of May another messenger from Shamokin passed through Wyo- ming on his way to Friedenshütten, carrying the information that the Tuscaroras had broken camp and were moving up the river. Two days afterwards twenty of the emigrants passed through the valley north- ward, and a few days later upwards of forty. Most of these Tuscaroras went on to Otsiningo, but a few remained at Friedenshütten through the Summer and ensuing Winter.
About the first of September, 1767, fifty-seven Nanticokes arrived in Wyoming Valley f and set up their wigwams on the island of Menachningk, mentioned above. They were the remnants of the last of their tribe who had left Maryland about 1750, and since then had been living on or near the Juniata River in southern Pennsylvania. They were on their way to Otsiningo, and they sojourned at Menach- ningk nearly three weeks-sending, in the meantime, two of their number to Friedenshütten to beg for corn, and to request "the loan of canoes in which to bring up their aged and infirin."
In September, 1767, The Susquehanna Company held a meeting -the first since May, 1765-but no business of interest or importance was transacted. Another meeting was held on November 11th, when it was "Voted, That Joseph Galloway, Esq.,§ and Mr. Peletiah Web- ster, of the city of Philadelphia, be each entitled to one whole right in The Susquehanna Company in testimony of the grateful sense this Company has of their kind services for the said Company." What those services were we have been unable to ascertain. The next meet- ing of the Company was held at Windham January 6, 1768, when Col. Eliphalet Dyer was directed to proceed to London immediately "to appear before the King's most excellent majesty and obtain his confir- mation of the Company's project and proceedings with respect to estab- lishing a new Colony in the Wyoming region. In order to raise sufficient funds "to be used in prosecuting the cause in England," a committee was appointed to collect one dollar and a-half on each right in the Com- pany. It was also voted to raise, at the same time, "one-half dollar on
* See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," I : 198. + See ibid., 199.
į See the last two paragraphs on page 219, and the last paragraph on page 239.
§ A Pennsylvanian of prominence, to whom fuller reference will be made in a subsequent chapter.
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each share, to be paid to John Henry Lydius towards the balance of his account against the Company, as also a gratuity to said Lydius for his services in making said purchase for said Company."
The committee thus referred to consisted of the following-named -all of Connecticut, except where otherwise indicated : "Elizur Tal- cott, Glastonbury ; Daniel Lyman, New Haven ; Benjamin Stevens, Canaan ; Josiah Lindal, Newport [Rhode Island]; Joseph Eaton, Plain- field ; John Jenkins, Colchester; Ezra Dean, East Greenwich [Rhode Island]; Job Randall, Scituate [Rhode Island]; Capt. Robert Dixson, Voluntown ; Capt. Jonathan Pettebone, Simsbury ; Capt. James Bird, Salisbury ; Benjamin Giles, Groton ; Isaac Tracy, Norwich ; Benjamin Kinyon, Dutchess County [New York]; Richard Goldsmith, Bethle- hem; Benjamin Yale, Farmington ; William Buck, Amenia Precinct [New York]; Samuel Gray, Windham ; Simeon Draper, Beekman's Precinct [ New York]; Increase Moseley, Woodbury ; Elihu Marsh, New Fairfield."
Notwithstanding the surrender to the Six Nations by the Proprie- taries of Pennsylvania, in September, 1758, of "all the territory lying to the northward and westward of the Allegheny Mountains" (as mentioned on page 381), white settlers continued to encroach on the hunting- grounds of the Indians, particularly after the close of Pontiac's War. Proclamations were fulminated against them, and finally, February 3, 1768, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an Act on the subject. After the preamble, which was in these words-"Whereas, many disorderly people, in violation of His Majesty's proclamation, have presumed to settle upon lands not yet purchased from the Indians (to their damage and great dissatisfacton), which may be attended with dangerous and fatal consequences to the peace and safety of this Province"-it was enacted that if any persons, already settled on the unpurchased lands, neglected or refused to remove from the same within thirty days after they were required so to do by the Governor, *
* or if any persons, contrary to due notice or warning, should subsequently settle and reside on such lands, every person so neglecting or refusing to remove, or settling after notice prohibiting occupancy as aforesaid, being legally convicted, was to be punished with death without benefit of clergy. And if any person or persons, singly or in companies, presumed to enter on such unpurchased lands for the purpose of making surveys thereof, or to mark or cut down trees thereon, and should be convicted thereof, was, or were, to be punished by a fine of £50 and three months' imprison- ment. This Act was limited to one year, and was not to apply to persons who, like Captain Amos Ogden and his associates at Wyoming, were located on the unpurchased lands under special permission for specific purposes.
Three weeks after the enactment of the forgoing law Governor Penn issued a proclamation, "giving notice to all and every such person or persons settled upon any lands within the boundaries of the Province, not purchased of the Indians by the Proprietaries thereof, to remove themselves and their families off and from the said lands on or before the first day of May next ensuing."
But proclamations, edicts and Acts seemed to be of no avail, and the disputes between the whites and Indians as to the proper boundaries or limits between them became frequent. The Indians did not hesitate
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to show by words and actions that they "disliked the white man's inor- dinate 'thirst for land.' "' At length, in the Summer of 1768, Sir William Johnson determined to hold a great council with the Indians, not only for the purpose of renewing "the ancient covenant chain between the Indians and the English, but to establish a scientific frontier." Francis W. Halsey (in "The Old New York Frontier," page 99) says :
"In preparation for this council some twenty large bateaux, laden with presents best suited to propitiate the Indians, had been conveyed to Fort Stanwix .* From his agent at Albany Sir William ordered sixty barrels of flour, fifty barrels of pork, six barrels of rice and seventy barrels of other provisions. When the Congress opened 3,200 Indians were present, 'each of whom,' wrote Johnson, 'consumes daily more than two ordinary men amongst us ; and would be extremely dissatisfied if stinted when convened for business.' "
The Indians invited to the council, or congress, began to assemble at Fort Stanwix early in October, 1768, and by the middle of the month Sir William Johnson and the various officials expected to be present were on the ground. From Pennsylvania came the Rev. Richard Peters, Benjamin Franklin, James Tilghman and Gov. John Penn-the last- named, however, being present during the preliminary negotiations only, as before the formal opening of the council occurred he was obliged by the affairs of his Province to set off for Philadelphia. Messrs. Peters and Tilghman, therefore, represented Pennsylvania as Commissioners. Capt. Amos Ogden was there from Wyoming,t although not in an official capacity. Gov. William Franklin and Chief Justice Frederick Smith of New Jersey represented that Province, and Thomas Walker was a Commissioner from Virginia. Col. Eleazar Fitch,¿ of Windham, Connecticut, was there; but whether as a Commissioner to represent Connecticut, or as an agent or attorney for private parties, we are unable to state. It is not probable, however, that he appeared in behalf of The
* FORT STANWIX was built under the supervision of, and named for, Brig. Gen. John Stanwix, men" tioned in the note on page 346, and stood within the present limits of the city of Rome, Oneida County, New York-on the Mohawk River, ninety-four miles north-west of Albany in a bee-line. It is said to have been "the largest and strongest fort ever erected in the Province of New York, except Crown Point and Ticonderoga." Under orders from General Abercrombie its construction was begun in August, 1758, and completed in the following November at a cost of £60,000. It occupied about one-half an acre of ground, and would accommodate 1,000 persons.
At the beginning of the American Revolution Fort Stanwix was repaired and named Fort Schuyler, in honor of Gen. Philip Schuyler of New York. August 2, 1777, the fort was garrisoned by 750 men com- manded by Col. Peter Gansevoort, with Lieut. Col. Marinus Willett second in command ; and on that day the investment of the fort was begun by an advance party of the enemy composed in part of a band of Indians led by Joseph Brant (mentioned on page 299). Within a few days the investing force had been increased to 1,000 Indians and 700 British regulars, Hessians, Canadians and Tories-Col. Barry St. Leger. being in command. General Herkimer came to the rescue, and the battle of Oriskany was fought on the 6th of August. Benedict Arnold marched to the relief of the garrison on the 22nd of August, and the siege was raised.
At Philadelphia, June 14, 1777, the American Congress established by its resolution a national flag, as follows : "That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." Although the reso- lution establishing the flag was not officially promulgated until September 3, 1777, yet news of the Resolve of Congress reached Fort Schuyler just prior to its investment, and the officers of the garrison determined to improvise a flag. "Shirts were cut up," says the historian Lossing, "to form the white stripes ; bits of scarlet cloth were joined for the red, and the blue ground for the stars was composed of a cloth cloak belonging to Capt. Abraham Swartwout of Dutchess County, who was then in the fort." This flag was hoisted at Fort Schuyler (formerly Fort Stanwix) at sunrise on the day that the battle of Oriskany was fought-August 6, 1777-and was, undoubtedly, the first American flag (of the "Stars and Stripes" pattern) to be not only raised above a fort, but unfurled in the face of the enemy.
About 1785 a settlement was begun near Fort Stanwix-which, after the close of the Revolution, had received back its original name. The population slowly increased, and eleven years later the town of Rome, with an area of 46,000 acres, was incorporated. About 1799 a general Indian war was feared, and Fort Stanwix was repaired and garrisoned. The war did not happen, however, and soon afterwards the fort was abandoned and fell into decay.
+ See "Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society," I : 202.
Į See his name as one of the grantees in the Indian deed of 1754, page 271, ante ; also, see page 402. Miner says ("Wyoming," page 98) that Fitch was at Fort Stanwix "in the Penn interest."
ELEAZAR FITCH, abovementioned, was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, August 27, 1726, the son of Joseph and Anne (Whiting) Fitch. He was graduated at Yale College in 1743. He inherited a con- siderable estate from his father, and some years after leaving college became a merchant in Lebanon. Later he removed to Windham. April 4, 1746, he was married to Amy Bowen of Providence, Rhode Island. In 1750 he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Connecticut Militia, and in 1755 served as Major in the Connecticut regiment sent against Crown Point. In a similar expedition sent out in 1756 he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1758 he was promoted Colonel of the 4th Connecticut Regiment, of which, in 1759 and '60, Israel Putnam was Lieutenant Colonel. In 1753 Colonel Fitch was appointed Sheriff of Wind- ham County, and in that office was continued, by successive appointments, until 1776, when, on account
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Susquehanna Company, although he was at that time, or, at least, had been, a member of the Company. Eight Indian tribes-including the Delawares, the Shawanese and all the tribes of the Six Nations-were present in large numbers, while other tribes were represented by small delegations.
Among the large number of private citizens attracted to Fort Stan- wix, either through curiosity or by reason of some personal interest in the proceedings, were the Rev. Jacob Johnson, referred to on page 82, and the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, mentioned on page 290. At that time both these men were engaged in missionary labors among the Oneida Indians, and the former resided at the "Upper Castle" of the nation, in what is now Oneida County, New York, and at no great distance from Fort Stanwix. Mr. Kirkland, who had previously spent over a year as a missionary at the Seneca town of Kanadesaga, heretofore mentioned, was then located at Kanoalohale (now known as Oneida Castle), the prin- cipal town of the Oneidas, situated in the present Madison County, New York, about twelve miles south-east of the eastern end of Oneida Lake.
It seems that Sir William Johnson, the Commissioners and the other gentlemen in attendance at Fort Stanwix, dined together in com- pany each day during the progress of the council ; and, in the course of or after the meal, formally drank various toasts-as was usual in those times. At dinner on October 19th the Rev. Jacob Johnson, in proposing a toast to the King's health, made use of some language which, apparently, gave offense to certain of the King's officers at the table. Whereupon Mr. Johnson wrote the following letter,* which was read at dinner the next day.
"To Sir William Johnson, Gov. Franklin, Rev. Mr. Peters, Chief Justice Smyth, Col. Johnson and the other respectable gentlemen of this table, Health and prosperity to you all !
"In as much as I am a minister of Christ, & my Work principally to preach the Gospel to the lower rank of people, I have not used my self much to the company, & converse of Gentn of the Civil & Military order especially in the pleasure and practice of drinking Healths, Loyal Toasts &c wherefore I may easily offend in this respect, with no ill meaning. And in as much as in drinking the Kings health yesterday, I used such terms as to offend Col Johnson Mr Chief Justice & it may be some others, in saying I drink the King of New Engd Health, the Health of the King that hears our Prayers, &c. I do hereby honestly, and before him that knoweth all things, protest I had no other meaning then, or now, but what is express'd or imply'd in these words-I drink the Health of King George iii of Great Britain &c., comprehending New Engd & all the British Colonies & provinces in North America. And I mean to drink such a Health to his British Majesty when occasion serves, so long as his Royal Majesty shall govern his British & American subjects according to Magna Charta, or the great charter of English Liberties, and hears the prayers of his American subjects, when properly laid before Him.
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