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 II, Part 110

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 680

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 II > Part 110

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On June 12th Sullivan wrote to General Washington, giving him in detail the difficulties he had been compelled to meet. In reply the Commander-in-Chief wrote : "I am very sorry you are like to be dis- appointed in the independent companies expected from Pennsylvania, and that you have encountered greater difficulties than you looked for. I am satisfied that every exertion in your power will be made, and I hope that your eventful operations will be attended with fewer obstacles."

At Easton, on Saturday, June 12, 1779, three soldiers belonging to the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment were hanged for highway robbery and

* See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, VII: 473.

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murder. They had been tried before the Northampton County Court, found guilty, and sentenced to death eleven months previously. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 12th all the troops in Easton were paraded and marched to the place of execution. Sergeant Thomas Roberts, referring to this incident, states in his journal of the Sullivan Expedi- tion : "I never saw so many spectators in my life, I think. Accord- ing to my opinion there were 4,000."

A day or two later Mrs. Washington, the wife of the Commander- in-Chief, arrived in Easton from her husband's camp, en route to her home in Virginia. The following is an extract from one of the diaries preserved in the Moravian archives at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania .*

" [Bethlehem] 15 June, 1779. Early this morning Lady Washington arrived here from Easton in company with Generals Sullivan, Poor and Maxwell, and some twenty other officers. After dinner Brother Ettwein escorted Lady Washington through the large buildings [of the Moravians], and in the evening, with her suite, she attended the service-Brother Ettwein speaking in English. 16 June .- Lady Washington set out for Virginia this morning."

On June 17th all the troops at Easton received orders to prepare to inarch for Wyoming on the 18th. On that day, at three o'clock in the morning, a cannon was fired ; a half hour later the generale was beaten, and at four the assembly was sounded. Whereupon, all the tents hav- ing been struck, and, with the baggage of the troops, loaded upon pack- horses and wagons, the head of the column was put in motion. The first day's march extended only to " Heller's," a halt being made on the way there for breakfast. At four o'clock in the morning of the 19th the march was continued to Brinker's Mills, or "Sullivan's Stores," where, at seven o'clock, a halt was made and four days' provisions were drawn. The march was then continued to " Learn's," where the command biv- ouacked until the next morning-Sunday, June 20th-when, at eight o'clock, the march was resumed and continued for about six miles to "Rum Bridge." (This locality, situated in Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County, has been known for many years now as "Hungry Hill.") The Rev. Dr. Rogers, in his account of this day's march and bivouac, in his journal of the Sullivan Expedition, states :

"Marched this morning in the following order : General Maxwell's brigade in front. Next Colonel Procter's regiment ; then Poor's brigade ; afterwards the baggage. Halted at Rum Bridge for the night, six miles from the last inhabited house towards Wyoming. The camp is called ' Chowder Camp,' from the Commander-in-Chief dining this day on chowder made of trout. The artillery soldiers killed two or three rattle- snakes, and made, as I understand, a good meal of them. Owing to Pocono Mountain and other eminences, found this day's march very fatiguing to the horses belonging to the artillery."

The march of June 21st was the longest and severest experienced on the route from Easton to Wilkes-Barre. Sergeant Moses Fellows makes the following reference to it in his journal :

" Marched twenty miles through a rough country and a new road-the land cov- ered with pine, hemlock, spruce, etc. We ate breakfast at a small river called Tunk- hanna ; passed another stream called Tobyhanna, and another the Leltigh. We passed what is called the Shades of Death-a gloomy, thick part of the swamp."

Maj. James Norris describes this day's inarch as follows :

" This day's march of twenty-one miles was as severe as it was unnecessary, through a wilderness where there had been only an Indian path till the troops cut a road this Spring for the passage of Sullivan's army. The fatigues of this day mnight have been prevented by a longer march yesterday ; but after crossing two considerable streams called Tunkhanna and Tobyhanna, there is no proper ground for an encampment till we get through the swamp. After we had crossed the creek we came to the Lehigh, tlie

* See the Pennsylvania Magazine, XIII : 87.

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western branch of the Delaware ; and having passed this we enter a gloomy grove of cypress, hemlock, pine, spruce, &c., called the Shades of Death. The growth of tiniber in the swamp is amazing."

In the journal of the Rev. Dr. Rogers we find the following account of the march of June 21st :

" This day we marched through the Great Swamp and Bear Swamp .* The Great Swamp, which is eleven or twelve miles through, contains what is called in our maps the ' Shades of Death,' by reason of its darkness. * * The roads in some places are toler- able, but in other places exceedingly bad, by reason of which, and a long though neces- sary march, three of our wagons and tlie carriages of two field-pieces were broken down. This day we proceeded twenty miles, and encamped late in the evening at a spot which the Commander named ' Camp Fatigue.' The troops were tired and hungry. ** In * the Great Swamp is Locust Hill, where we discovered evident marks of a destroyed Indian village. t * The army continued at Camp Fatigue until two o'clock P. M. [Tuesday, June 22d], on account of their great march the preceding day-many of the wagons of the rear guard not getting in until midnight. A bear and a wolf were seen by a New Hampshire sentinel, and several deer by a scouting party ; but none were shot."

On June 22d the troops mnoved only five miles, to "Bullock's," where they found large meadows and plenty of grass for their horses, as the diarists of the Expedition have recorded. They were now within seven miles of Fort Wyoming, on the River Common, at the foot of North- ampton Street, Wilkes-Barré, by way of the newly-completed road from " Bullock's," and early in the morning of June 23d General Sullivan issued his orders relative to the last stage of their six day's march. Finally the column inoved forward, crossed over Wilkes-Barré Mountain and on down into the Valley, and about midday went into camp at the bend of the river, about half a mile below Fort Wyoming. The fol- lowing extract from the journalt of the Rev. Dr. Rogers relates to the incidents of June 23d.

"The troops prepared themselves for Wyoming, front which we were now distant only seven miles. This day we marched with regularity, and at a distance of three miles came to the place where Captain Davis and Lieutenant Jones, with a Corporal and four privates, were scalped, tomahawked and speared by the savages, fifteen or twenty in number. Two boards are fixed at the spot where Davis and Jones fell, with their names on each-Jones' being besmeared with his own blood. In passing this melancholy vale, an universal gloom appeared on the countenances of both officers and men without dis- tinction, and from the eyes of many, as by a sudden impulse, dropped the sympathizing tear. Colonel Procter, out of respect to the deceased, ordered the music to play the tune of ' Roslin Castle,'§ the soft and moving notes of which, together with what so forcibly struck the eye, tended greatly to fill our breasts with pity, and to renew our grief for our worthy departed friends and brethren. * *

"Getting within two miles of Wyoming, we had from a fine eminence|| an excel- lent view of the settlement. * * At present there are a few log houses, newly built, a fort, one or two stockaded redoubts, and a row of barracks. * * Thursday, June 24th,

* This is an error. The troops marched through the Great Swamp and the Shades of Death, and almost, if not quite, to the eastern border of Bear Swamp, where they bivouacked. They were then within about twelve miles, by the Sullivan Road, of Fort Wyoming.

" See the reference to "Indian Field" on page 1172.

# See "Journals of the Military Expedition of Maj. Gen. John Sullivan," page 248.

§ The castle of Roslin is an ancient ruin near Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the seat of the St. Clair family, Lords of Roslin, and Sir Walter Scott, in one of his poems, refers to it thus:

"O'er Roslin all that dreary night A wond'rous blaze was seen to gleam; 'Twas broader than the watch-fire's light, And redder than the bright moonbeam."

A song entitled "Roslin Castle," written by Richard Hewitt, was first published in Herd's Col- lection, in 1776. One of its stanzas is as follows:

"Of Nannie's charms the shepherd sung; The hills and dales with Nannie rung;

While Roslin Castle heard the swain, And echoed back his cheerful strain."

The tune of "Roslin Castle," mournful in its character, was always (up to at least seventy years ago) played by a military band, with muffled drums, when a dead soldier was horne to his grave. After the reading of Washington's Farewell Address to the army in 1783, the bands struck up "Ros- lin Castle," and as the sad strains were wafted to the ears of the listeners, the Continental soldiers broke ranks for the last time.

|| PROSPECT ROCK, undoubtedly.

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I was introduced to Col. Zebulon Butler, the gentleman of whom much has been said on account of his persevering conduct in opposing the savages. Had an interview with Mr. Ludwig, baker-in-chief for the army, who was sent on from Easton to this post to prepare bread for the troops. Owing to his activity a bake-house was built in eleven days, and a large quantity of bread was in readiness for delivery on our arrival."

In the journals of several of the other officers of the Sullivan Expe- dition there are some brief, but interesting, paragraphs descriptive of Wilkes-Barré as it appeared at that time to the writers. Lieut. William Barton states :

"The land level, but not so good whereon the town stood, as in many other places adjacent. It is on the Eastern Branch of the river, sixty-six miles above Sunbury. This Branch is an exceedingly fine, pretty river, and opposite the town, in midsummer, five or six fathoms of water, as clear as it can be. Some places, above and below, shoal enough to be forded ; about 150 yards wide, and in times of great freshets said to rise fifteen feet, overflowing a great part of the lowlands. * * The mornings and evenings at this place very cool, and notwithstanding heavy fogs till eight and nine o'clock in the morning, yet the place is said to be very healthy.

Lieut. Col. Adamı Hubley wrote :

"Wyoming [Wilkes-Barre] is situated on the east side of the East Branch of the Susquehanna, the town consisting of about seventy houses, chiefly log buildings. Besides these buildings there are sundry larger ones which were erected by the army for the pur- pose of receiving stores, etc .; a large bake-house, and smoke-houses. There is likewise a small fort erected in the town, with a strong abattis around it, and a small redoubt to shelter the inhabitants in case of an alarm. *

* I cannot omit taking notice of the poor inhabitants of the town ; two-thirds of them are widows and orphans, who, by the vile hands of the savages, * * are left totally dependent on the public, and are become absolute objects of charity."

Maj. James Norris wrote :

"About twelve o'clock we entered the town of Wyoming [Wilkes-Barre], which exhibits a melancholy scene of desolation, in ruined houses, wasted fields, and fatherless children and widows. * * * All the houses along this river have been burnt, and the gardens and fields-the most fertile I ever beheld-grown over with weeds and bushes, exhibit a melancholy picture of savage rage and desolation."

During their stay in Wyoming Valley the officers of the Expedi- tion-as we learn from the journals of several of thein-whiled away the time not devoted to drills, inspections, and other military duties, by engaging in various pastimes and diversions. Dinners were frequently given at the different brigade and regimental headquarters, and upon several evenings there was dancing on the River Common-styled by the officers the " Green." A number of the officers played shinney at times, or took part in " a hearty game " called " bandy-wicket "-a sport akin to cricket. Fishing in the river, both with a seine and hook and line, was frequently engaged in, and garfish, pike, salmon-trout, chubs, suckers, bass, rock, shad, and common trout were "pretty plenty." Chaplain Rogers records the catching of a rock-fish on June 25th which measured two feet and nine inches in length, and weighed twenty-seven pounds. Under the date of June 29, 1779, at Wilkes-Barré, Thomas Roberts (of Middletown Point, New Jersey), a Sergeant in the 5th New Jersey Regiment, wrote : "The shad lays in the river and on the shore as thick as moss-bunkers at Middletown shore." Upon several occasions men went out gunning for deer and wild turkeys, with which the region abounded; but as a rule this sport was, for several reasons, prohibited. Lieut. Colonel Dearborn recorded under the date of July 1st : "A number of us discovered a fine buck to-day on an island, which we surrounded and killed." Thomas Roberts (previously mentioned) states that at Lackawanna, on July 31st, the wild turkeys were " very plenty-the young ones yelping through the woods as if it was inhabited ever so thick."

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

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

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

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

The battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, was fought June 28, 1778, and the regiment of Colonel Procter participated in it. One of his gunners, John Hays by name, was killed during the engage- ment. His wife, known in history and to fame as "Molly Pitcher," who had accompanied the reg- iment thither, continually carried water from a nearby well to her husband while be worked at his gun. Finally, when he was shot down by a sharpshooter, an order was given for the gun to be removed to the rear. "Molly," overhearing the order, declared that she would take the place of her husband and avenge his death. Thenceforth, then, till the close of the battle, she assisted in loading and firing the piece, and by her heroic work inspired those about her to deeds of fearlessness and courage. We are told that on the following morning, after the battle had been won by the Amer- icans, "Molly" was presented to General Washington, who complimented her for her bravery, and dubbed her a Sergeant. Shortly afterwards she left the camp and went to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she lived until her death in January, 1823.

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

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

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

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

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

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

¡ The Rev. WILLIAM ROGERS, D. D., whose name is several times mentioned in this chapter, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, July 22, 1751, the son of Wil- liam Rogers, a merchant there. He was graduated at Rhode Island College in 1769, and in 1771 was called and licensed to preach the gospel by the Baptist Church in Newport. In the latter part of the same year he was called as pastor to the Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where he served until June, 1775. The "Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment" (commanded by Col. Samuel Miles) was organized in March, 1776, under a resolution passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and April 6, 1776, the Rev. William Rogers was appointed Chaplain of the regiment. In the following August the regiment was ordered over to New York, where it took part in the battle of Long Island (August 27th) and lost, by death and capture, inany officers and men. Among those captured was Colonel Miles. In June, 1778, Mr. Rogers was pro- inoted Brigade Chaplain in the Pennsylvania Line, and in the following December was assigned to duty at the Philadelphia Garrison. There he remained un- til June 1, 1779, when he was ordered to join the Sul- livan Expedition as Chaplain of the 3d Brigade (Gen- eral Hand's). He left Philadelphia June 15th, and two days later arrived at Easton-one day prior to the marching of General Sullivan and the troops from there for Wilkes-Barre.

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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 early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume II, Part 110

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press Number of Pages: 680

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 680