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 4
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Early in January, 1777, Colonel Butler joined the army at Morristown, New Jersey (as described in Chapter XIII), and during the ensuing April and May-and perhaps longer-he was "in command of a detachment of Connecticut troops" there, as is shown by a letter from General Washington to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut under date of May 23d. Under date of June 19, 1777, Mrs. Lydia ( Johnson ) Butler wrote from Wilkes-Barre to her husband, "in camp with his regiment," as follows: "My Dearest Friend -You will be informed by this that I have had the small-pox very lite alltho I was very sicke for tow days. * * That dear little boy [Zebulon, Jr. ] has not had the small pox yet, is well & harty & very knoing. Plese to fetch me some snuff, and supply your self with shirts and other things that you will want for there is nothing to be got here. * * I conclude you have heard the great Honnor you have had done you to be Apinted one of Justice Jinkins Assistent Judges. Hope you want overcame with joy when you heard it."
In January, 1778, Colonel Butler was with his regiment at "Sawpitts" on the Hudson, not far from Tarrytown. Early in the following June he returned to Wilkes-Barre on leave of absence. November 15, 1778, "in orders issued by Major General Putnam," he was promoted Colonel of the 2d Regiment, Connecticut Line, in the Continental service, to date from March 13, 1778. This regiment had been raised early in 1777 (see Vol. I, page 485, paragraph 6), its Colonel being Charles Webb (who resigned March 13, 1778) and its Lieutenant Colonel being Isaac Sherman of New Haven, third son of the Hon. Roger Sher- man-mentioned hereinafter-and a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1770. Upon the resignation of Colonel Webb, Lieut. Colonel Sherman sought promotion to the vacancy, but Lieut. Colonel Butler received the preferment. Under date of January 22, 1779, Maj. William Judd wrote from Hartford to Colonel Butler at Wilkes-Barre as follows : "Since Lieutenant [Obadiah] Gore left camp you are in orders as Colonel of the 2d Connecticut Regiment. Lieut. Colonel Sherman is gone to the Board of War and purposeth to be appointed Colonel of that regiment. General Parsons has wrote to Colonel Dyer upon the subject, and insists the place is yours and the promotion your due." In the latter part of Feb- ruary, 1779, a Board of Officers-presided over by Lieut. Col. Thomas Grosvenor, mentioned on page 486- was convened to hear and determine the "pretensions to rank of Colonel Butler and Lieut. Colonel Sherman." This Board having made its report, Zebulon Butler was duly commissioned by Congress March 17, 1779, Colonel of the 2d Regiment, Connecticut Line, to rank from March 13, 1778. His commis- sion was signed by the Hon. John Jay, President of Congress. Of the Colonels commanding the eight Connecticut regiments in the Continental service at that time, Zebulon Butler stood eighth in lineal rank -Col. Samuel Wyllys standing first and Col. John Durkee second.
Colonel Butler remained in command of the "Wyoming Post" at Wilkes-Barre until February 22, 1781 (see Chapter XX), when he was ordered to join, as its Colonel, the new 4th Regiment of the Connecticut Line at Camp "Connecticut Village" on the Hudson. Under a resolution of Congress passed in October,
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1780, the non-commissioned officers and privates of the 6th Regiment were to compose the 4th Regiment of the new formation of the Connecticut Line. (See Vol. I, page 486, paragraphs 1 and 2.) The new arrangement was to go into effect' January 1, 1781, and Zebulon Butler and Ebenezer Gray (mentioned on page 510) were respectively commissioned Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel of the new "4th." Samuel H. Parsons, promoted Major General, was placed in command of the Connecticut troops. June 26, 1781, when Colonel Butler was on duty with his regiment near Peekskill on the Hudson, his wife died at Wilkes- Barré of typhus fever after a brief illness. She was buried the following day in the family burial-ground of her father, the Rev. Jacob Johnson, on the hill near the present Memorial Presbyterian Church. The 4th Regiment continued in service along the Hudson until November, 1781, when it again went into winter-quarters at "Connecticut Village."
February 11, 1782, Maj. William Judd, at Farmington, wrote to Colonel Butler as follows : "I am most sincerely sorry the situation of the army will uot permit you to call on us this Winter, nor suffer you to visit your family, which I am very sensible will disoblige you much. I saw Colonel Gray at Hartford week before last. He then informed me he should repair to camp immediately, and most particularly on your account. He frequently mentioned your situation, and wished to finish his business as soon as pos- sible that you might have an opportunity of repairing into the country and be in a way to provide your- self a helpmeet. I have not the least doubt many a lady would think 'herself happy in your arms, tho at times she might be obliged to tuck up her pettycoat and march with a soldier, if she thereby might contribute to your happiness or even convenience. * * I hope you will yet be relieved from camp and pay us a visit before Spring, and if any exertions of mine can facilitate a counection for you with an agree- able woman, you may command my services."
The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in October, 1781, virtually put an end to the war between England and the United States, and during the Spring and Summer of 1782 the main part of the American army lay along the Hudson River from Peekskill to Newburg (where Washington had his headquarters), watching Sir Guy Carleton and his British forces still in the occupancy of the city of New York and its vicinity. Early in May, 1782, while his regiment was stationed at "Camp Highlands," near West Point, Colonel Butler paid a hasty visit to his family at Wilkes-Barré. He returned to camp in time to take part in the celebration by the army in the Highlands of the birth of the Dauphin of France. By General Washington's orders the officers repaired in the afternoon of May 31st to West Point, where the General requested the pleasure of their company at dinner At the table there were drunk thirteen toasts, each of which was announced by a discharge of artillery. In the evening there was an elaborate display of fireworks. Colonel Butler commanded his regiment at the review of the 2nd Connecticut Brigade June 17, 1782, by Washington, who, the next day, issued the following order from headquarters : "The General informs the ariny he had great occasion to be satisfied at the review of the 2d Connecticut Brigade yesterday-especially with the soldier-like and veteran appearance of the men, and the exact- ness with which the firings were performed." In the latter part of July Colonel Butler paid another visit to Wilkes-Barre. In the latter part of August, 1782, the troops moved from the Highlands to Ver- planck's Point-floating down the Hudson in a fleet of bateaux and barges. In the new encampment the troops remained through September and October, making proficiency in drill and discipline under the instruction of Baron Steuben. Early in November the Connecticut Line marched to West Point and vicinity, and there a new formation was inade to go into effect January 1, 1783. The five regiments of the State were consolidated into three, and Colonel Butler was placed in command of the new "Ist", which was composed of the old "Ist" and part of the old "4th." The new "Ist" remained in camp at West Point and near by until early in June, 1783, when the dissolution of the ariny was begun, and the "Ist" was disbanded by orders from headquarters. About that time Colonel Butler became an original member of the Connecticut section, or branch, of the Society of the Cincinnati. Also, about that time, he was married to Phebe (born 1756), daughter of Daniel Haight of Dutchess County, New York. The latter, from 1779 to 1783-and perhaps earlier-kept an inn on the crossroads leading to the Peekskill and Coldspring turnpike, in Philipstown, Dutchess County, and General Washington was a guest there upon several occasions. Accompanied by his wife Colonel Butler arrived in Wilkes-Barre August 20, 1783.
August 30, 1787, Colonel Butler was commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania "Lieutenant of the County," in and for the new county of Luzerne. In January, 1791, when it was ex- pected that Colonel Butler was about to be reappointed to this office for a second term, Col. Timothy Pickering and Judge Obadiah Gore of Luzerne County opposed the reappointment in a letter to Governor Mifflin. (See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 692.) To this letter the Governor replied that the County Lieutenant must, under the terms of his appointment, continue in the exercise of the duties of his office until September 1, 1791 ; "but," wrote the Governor, "at that period I shall certainly pay all the due attention to the communication which you have been pleased to make." Colonel Butler continued to hold this office until January 10, 1792, when Jesse Fell of Wilkes-Barre was appointed by Governor Mifflin to succeed him. In the ensuing Spring Colonel Butler removed from his house at the corner of River and Northampton Streets to his farm-house on Coal Brook, as previously mentioned. In 1789 and 1790 he was Supervisor of Highways in the township of Wilkes-Barre. Colonel Butler died at the Coal Brook farm July 28, 1795, and his remains were interred in the old grave-yard on East Market Street, Wilkes-Barré, where, subsequently, a grave-stone was erected "embellished with the uncouth but pious rhymes of some poet of the wilderness, reading as follows :
'Distinguished by his usefulness At home and when abroad ; In court, in camp, and in recess Protected still by God.' "
Mrs. Phebe (Haight) Butler died at the residence of her son in Wilkes-Barré January 19, 1837, aged eighty-one years, and was buried in the East Market Street grave-yard. Subsequently the remains of Colonel Butler and his wife Phebe were re-interred in Hollenback Cemetery, and the old grave-stone which for many years had marked Colonel Butler's grave was replaced by a new one bearing a different inscription.
The children of Zebulon and Anne (Lord ) Butler were the following-all born at Lyme, Connecticut :
(i) Lord, born December 11, 1761 ; died at Wilkes-Barre March 3, 1824. (For a sketch of his life, and his portrait, see Chapter XVIII.) (ii) Zebulon, born November 12, 1767 ; died at Wilkes-Barre in the Spring of 1773. (iv) Hannah, born February 28, 1770; married in 1788 to Rosewell Welles, Esq. (a sketch of whose life will be found in a subsequent chapter); died at Wilkes-Barre October 31, 1807.
The only child of Col. Zebulon and Lydia (Johnson ) Butler was Zebulon, born at Wilkes-Barre in May, 1776, and died here March 23, 1817. (For a sketch of his life see a subsequent chapter.)
The children of Col. Zebulon and Phebe (Haight) Butler were the following-all born in Wilkes- Barré : (i) Lydia, born 1784; married July 3, 1801, to George Griffin, Esq. (a sketch of whose life will be found in a subsequent chapter) ; died in the city of New York May 1, 1864. (ii) Anne, born 1787 ; married January 12, 1808, to John W. Robinson (a sketch of whose life will be found hereinafter); died in Wilkes-Barre May 11, 1856. (iii) Steuben, born March 7, 1789 ; died in Wilkes-Barré August 12, 1881. (For a sketch of his life see a subsequent chapter.)
On page 502 reference is inade to the men of the Paxtang region in Pennsylvania and their desire to settle in Wyoming. Some of them were here in the Summer and Autumn of 1769, when they signed the petition referred to on page 512. Those of them who were here when
A SCENE IN HOLLENBACK CEMETERY.
The tall monument in the foreground marks the burial-place of the late Hon. John N. Conyngham, while the flat, low-lying tomb at the right side of the picture is that of Col. Zebulon Butler.
From a photograph taken in October 1001
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Fort Durkee was surrendered returned to their homes in Lancaster County without delay, and there, a few weeks later, they addressed in behalf of themselves and a number of their neighbors a communication to Major Durkee, in which they renewed their former proposals relative to assisting the New Englanders to settle and hold possession of the Wyoming lands. This letter was turned over to the Standing Com- mittee by Major Durkee at the meeting of the Company on January 10th, and a few days later the Committee replied to it as follows (see "History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania," page 70):
"COLONY OF CONNECTICUT,
"Windhanı, Jany 15, 1770.
"JOHN MONTGOMERY* & LAZARUS YOUNG, Esqrs. Gentle» : We received a letter some time ago directed to Maj. John Durkee, wherein it was proposed by John Mont- gomery, Lazarus Young and others that, as we have been so unjustly treated in removing our Settlers off from the Wyoming lands, if we would give unto the said Montgomery, Young and their Associates, to the number of Fifty, a township of land six miles square in our Purchase Att some suitable and commodious place, that the said Montgomery, &c., to the number of Fifty, would immediately enter on our lands at Wyoming, Take cair of our houses and effects and, with our people that are there and such as shall from time to time joyn them on said land, hold possession of those lands with us.
"We have, with the advice of a large Commtee of said Company, considered of s'd proposal, and do, in behalf of ourselves and the Susquehanna Purchase, agree to and with the said Montgomery, Young and their associates, to the number of Fifty, that they shall have a good township of land six miles square within s'd Purchase, invested with the same right to s'd township as the's'd Company now have, and shall further promise to be laid out when it shall be convenient for the purpose aforesaid, and not so as to prejudice, but in aid of, our settlers that have already been on. And it is to be understood that the said Montgomery, Young, &c., are to become parcel of our said settlers, and under the same regulations with our settlers as such. And we have sent herewith two of our pro- prietors as a Commtee to treat with you on the affair and go with you to Wyoming, to wit : Capt. Zebulon Butler and Mr. Ebenezer Backus, t and to lay out said township as they and you shall agree, if you think best-Captain Butler to remain at Wyoming with you, Mr. Backus to return and bring us advice as soon as the circumstances of the case will permit. You may expect Major Durkee to join you as soon as his affairs will permit ; and whereas many of the Settlers will joyn you soon, we have a good deal of reason to expect success with our Assembly in May. Now as there are sundry things in favor of the Colony title that we have discovered lately, we wish you good success in this and every lawful enterprise, and are your sincere friends and very humble Servants,
[Signed] "ELIPHALET DYER, Commitee
"SAML GRAY, for s'd
"NATHL WALES, Jun., } Company."
* The late Dr. W. H. Egle, in an address before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society (see the Society's "Proceedings," VI : 100), said : "Some of the original signers [of the letter to Major Durkee] did not leave Paxtang, but their places were taken by others. The first named to whom this proposition was addressed-John Montgomery-located on the West Branch, where his descendants are to-day."
Montgomery evidently had some thought of locating in Wyoming, for he visited Wilkes-Barre in May, 1770, and bought a right in the Susquehanna Purchase-as is shown by the recorded copy of a receipt given to him by Major Durkee. The paper was subsequently filed with the Clerk of The Susque- hanna Company, and is recorded 011 page 77, Book "E" of the Company's records, as follows :
"Wilksbarre 4 May, 1770, rec'd of John Montgomery 40 dollars, which entitles him to one whole share, or right, of land in the Susquehanna Purchase, so called. By order of the Proprietors.
[Signed] "JOHN DURKEE, President of settlers."
t Stephen Backus was an early proprietor in Norwich, Connecticut. He was married in 1666 to Sarah Spencer, and they were, undoubtedly, the progenitors of all the Backuses of Norwich. After a residence of about thirty years in Norwich Stephen removed to Canterbury, Connecticut, where he died in 1695. Some of the Norwich Backuses early removed to what afterwards hecame the town of Windham. It was a saying that the Backuses always settled, if possible, near a stream of water or a pond, in order that they might make use of the water power for some mechanical contrivance. Ebenezer Backus, above- mentioned, was a merchant in Norwich, and in 1762 and '64 was one of the Representatives in the General Assembly of Connecticut from Norwich. About 1769 he removed to Windham, Connecticut, where he continued in mercantile business until, at least, 1782. In May, 1768, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace in and for New London County. In October, 1769, he was established by the General Assembly of Connecticut Cornet of the troop of horse attached to the 5th Regiment, Connecticut Militia (mentioned in the note on page 463); in May, 1770, he was promoted Lientenant, and in May, 1772, he was promoted Captain, of this troop. In June, 1776, Captain Backus was appointed and commissioned Major of the 4th Regiment of Horse, Connecticut Militia, which had been established by the General Assembly in the previous month ; and September 11, 1776, he was assigned by the General Assembly to be "commander of the 2nd and 4th Regiinents of Horse ordered to march towards New York." He was an original owner of one right in the Susquehanna Purchase, and in 1768 and '69 acquired other rights. Without doubt he was at Fort Durkee, Wilkes-Barre, in November, 1769. (See his uame in the list on page 634.) His daughter Eunice became the wife of Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., in 1767, as mentioned in the note on page 471.
# The WALES family was one of the oldest families of Windham, Connecticut. Nathaniel Wales, Jr. (mentioned above), was born about 1700, the son of "Deacon" Nathaniel Wales (who died January 22, 1744) and his first wife, Susanna - (who died February 5, 1730, aged 67 years). Nathaniel Wales, Jr.,
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January 18, 1770, Captain Butler and Mr. Backus, carrying with them the foregoing letter, set out on horseback from New London County, Connecticut, for Hanover Township, Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania, where they arrived about February 1st. On February 2nd the following communication was printed in The New London Gazette, in answer to the article which had appeared in The Pennsylvania Gazette of December 21, 1769 (see page 631, ante), and which was re- published in The New London Gazette of January 5th.
"We, the claimers under the Susquehanna Purchase, have always, of design, avoided disputing our claim by way of the public papers, as every one knows the title to land can- not be settled in that way. But since the author of the piece above referred to has col- lected together so many falsehoods and has so basely misrepresented the character of the settlers and our claim, I beg to be indulged in observing a few things in vindication of our settlers and claim. We never supposed, nor do yet believe, that we are such deluded and riotous people as he would represent us to be. In vindication of ourselves we say that we entered on those lands at Wyoming in an orderly manner, claiming the same by virtue of a bona fide purchase made of the Six Nations at Albany in the year 1754, for a large consideration in cash paid therefor ; which purchase was in May, 1755, approved of by the General Assembly of this Colony as a bona fide purchase, and also as lands in- cluded in and granted by his late Majesty King Charles II to the Colony of Connecticut in 1662-which grant to the Colony of Connecticut includes the lands at Wyoming where our people were settled, and is two years before the grant of the Province of New York, and is eighteen years before the grant to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, or any of their predecessors ; and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania have no pretence of purchasing those lands till the late Congress at Fort Stanwix in the year 1768. These, and many other stubborn facts, we have on our side to show that we are not deluded or riotous.
"The author of said piece is also pleased to make free with the characters of our settlers, and is pleased to call them 'the dregs of Connecticut, Pendergast's gang, mis- creants,' &c., &c. It is an easy matter for a person that pays no regard to truth to throw out such invectives ; but we challenge the author, and every other slave concerned with him, to make out his assertions. They're public and established characters, many of them being gentlemen of education and fortune. As for any person's running away for debt-I have heard of but three or four, and they were in the party that appeared to molest our settlers, and one of them was from the Jersies and in the Proprietaries' interest and made a Justice of the Peace* in order to carry on the malicious, illegal and unjust prosecution against our settlers. The trade of horse-stealing that was carried on was by the party that came to remove us off from the land. One of them got a good flogging for it, and there were twenty more of that party that deserved the same for the same crime, and ought to have had it ; and if the laws of our Nation and this land had been duly executed, a number of the same party must have suffered death for the robbery committed upon our people near Fort Augusta last September.
"The agreement upon which our people removed, as mentioned in said piece, was obtained by threats, oaths and curses, and was never agreed to by the people then present, but was agreed to only by two committee-men of the settlers out of sixteen. We expect Penn's party will avail themselves of it as much as they can. We quite disagree about the tender mercies of our persecutors. We say-and can vindicate it before any impartial tribunal-that they are cruelty against law and right and everything that has the remotest appearance of a civilized people, and they proceed from a consciousness of the badness of their cause, and the unjustness of the claim of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. * * * With respect to the last suggestion mentioned by the author in said piece, viz .: That the attempt of the Connecticut people to settle at Wyoming was the occasion of the late bloody war with the Indians-the author himself can't but know that it is false and ground- less, and that he has rendered himself infamous by publishing it.
[Signed] "BY A PROPRIETOR UNDER THE CONNECTICUT CLAIM."
Upon the arrival of Zebulon Butler and Ebenezer Backus at Han- over Township in Lancaster County they found about forty men (the majority of whom had been members of the old "Paxtang Rangers") banded together with Lazarus Stewartt as their Captain, ready to march
who also became a Deacon in the Church at Windham, was married (Ist) December 27, 1726, to Prudence Denison of New London County, Connecticut. Their fourth child was Nathaniel Wales (born June 5, 1733), who was at Wyoming in 1769 (see pages 472 and 515), 1770, 1773 and probably in other years. About 1770 he was generally known as "Nathaniel Wales. 3d." Nathaniel Wales, Jr., was one of the grantees in the Indian deed of 1754 (see page 272), and during the Revolutionary War was a member of the Connecticut Council of Safety mentioned on page 283. (See also Vol. I, page 463.) He died at Windham November 11, 1782.
* Either Amos Ogden or Charles Stewart is here alluded to.
+ LAZARUS STEWART, the second child of James and Margaret (Stewart) Stewart, was born about 1734 in that part of Derry Township which later became Hanover Township, in Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania. James Stewart and Margaret Stewart, who were married about 1731, were first cousins, the
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former being the son of Charles Stewart and the latter the daughter of Lazarus Stewart, Ist, who had emigrated with their respective families from the North of Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1729. In the Spring of 1755, when General Braddock's expedition against the French and Indians on the Ohio River was organized, Lazarus Stewart raised and commanded a company of Provincial volunteers which formed a part of the English forces; and in all the dangers and disasters of the campaign which terminated in the defeat and death of the brave but rash Braddock (see page 304), Captain Stewart fully shared. Rel- ative to the condition of affairs on the frontiers of Pennsylvania after Braddock's defeat, see pages 320, 321, et seq.
During the three years following the event referred to the situation on the frontiers was truly des- perate, and nothing substantial was accomplished by the Provincial Government towards securing the peace and safety of the border inhabitants. Finally, in the Summer of 1758, the British Home Govern- ment took hold of the difficulty and steps were taken to prosecute with earnestness and vigor a war against the French and Indians. During this war-which was concluded in the latter part of 1762- Captain Stewart performed valiant services. He was in command of a company of "Rangers" detailed to guard the settlements along the Juniata River. "Several skirmishes took place between his "Rangers" and the savage foe during a period of two or three years. In these engagements he exhibited that impetuous daring and great firmness which were characteristic of the man. He was always on the alert ; his vigi- lance never slept, and his powers of endurance were the admiration of all. His courage and fortitude were equal to every undertaking, and woe betide the red men when their blood-stained tracks once met his eye."
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