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 49
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[Dated at Westmoreland Dec. 9, 1775, and sworn to the same day before Silas Park, Justice of the Peace. ]
" HARMANUS BRINK, of Shippekunk, in the county of Sussex, in the Province of New Jersey, testifies that on the 6th day of this instant December he was at the house of Lieut. John Shaw, at Shohola, at evening, where a number of men came in with prison- ers from Lackawack, of the New England people settled there, and that he saw sundry of said party that he knew by name, viz .: Alexander Patterson, John Van Campen, Esq., John Van Allen, Isaac Jennings, Alexander Irving, Beniah Munday, John Sealy, William Smith, Joseph Smith, James Bacon, John Rinker, James Lawson, Manuel Van Allen, Daniel Decker, Gasebert Vangorde, Jacob Decker, Elias Decker, Hans Williams and [Henry] Fuller, the Sheriff of Northampton County, who went off from Shaw's with the said prisoners down towards the settlements of Pennsylvania while this deponent was at Shaw's house.
"That on Tuesday, the fifth day of this instant, this deponent remained at the house of Manuel Consolis*, in Lower Smithfield, when he saw Charles Stewart, of the Jerseys,
* Emanuel Gunsalus, or Gonzales (mentioned on pages 792 and 795, ante), who lived on Bushkill Creek near the Delaware River, in what is now Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where he owned a grist- mill. This was within the bounds of Westmoreland.
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and one Garrett Brodhead, Esq., of said Smithfield, have one Carver, one of the New England people settled at Wyoming, prisoner, whom the said Stewart said he would carry to jail, for he was afraid he would carry news to the Lackaway people of the party that was going against them; and this deponent proposed that it was a hardship to put a man to jail for that, and offered to take him along the road towards one Colefaxe's, which they consented to."
[Dated at Westmoreland December 11, 1775, and sworn to December 12, before Zebulon Butler, Justice of the Peace.]
"DANIEL Ross, of Westmoreland, testifies that some time about the first of Noveni- ber last he came to the mouth of Fishing Creek, on the East Branch of the Susquehanna River, as he was on his way from Fort Pitt to the settlement of the New England people at Wyoming, when one Capt. [John] Dolson* and one [Daniel] Fields and one Espy, who were settled near the mouth of said Fishing Creek, told me and one Abijah Harring- ton, who was my fellow traveler, that they were going to raise a party of men in Penn- sylvania to take all the New England people off at Wyoming; and that he, the said Dolson, had orders to enlist men, and that they should have £3 a month for their pay, and all found as to board and liquors besides, and leggings, blankets and shoes; and that they further said that they might come up to Wyoming and take off any horses, cattle or any other thing from the New England people, and they would be justified in so doing by the authority of Pennsylvania.
"And then this deponent and the abovenamed Harrington enlisted under the said Captain Dolson, as soldiers, to join with others to take the New England people off from Wyoming, and signed his enlisting orders, which were signed by Dr. Plunket, Captain Hunter, Esquire Troy, and Dr. Allison; and that, some days after, I heard that Mr. Avery of Wyoming had come from the Congress by the way of Shamokin, and that he reported that the Congress had settled a line between the two parties, and that the New England people were to hold down as far as within four miles of the Pointt on the East Branch; that the Pennsylvania people were to hold the West Branch; and that the title was settled. Some days after I was at Shamokin, and there heard from sundry per- sons that the stories that said Avery told were false, and that they had letters from the Congress, and they had done nothing about it then any way; and soon after Mr. Charles Stewart came to Sunbury and brought news from Philadelphia that the Congress had given orders to drive off the New England people, and that he had brought printed papers with Mr. Hancock's nanie to them, and others of the Congress (as the said Stewart said), that the said deponent often heard read at Sunbury and other places there; and that it was giving the Pennsylvania people liberty to drive off the New England people from Wyoming, and that when they had got them off the Congress would dare keep them off, and that this was so understood by the whole body of the people, and so reported at Sunbury, the Point, and other places in that county.
"And that this deponent conversed sundry times with the said Charles Stewart, and that I drank several bowls of punch with him; and while I was in his company he told publicly that if any of the people then at Sunbury, or in that county, would come up to Wyoming and distress the people of Wyoming, by taking their horses or cattle, or any other thing, that he would justify them in so doing, and bear them out in it, and that they might have for their own whatever they could get in that way. And that this de- ponent then came up to Wyoming in company with Abijah Harrington, Daniel Fields, Joseph Disburyt, Joseph Smith, and Gaspy Reymy, and at Wyoming, near by where one Frazier lives, they got two colts; and Reymy and Smith went back with them, and the other four of the company came up to Shawnee Flats and there took two more of the New England people's horses. Fields and Harrington went back with them, and then this deponent and Joseph Disbury came up to Kingston Flats and staid there one day and two nights, and then took two horses; the said Joseph Disbury catched one and said it was his, and told me that I might take that along, and took one other horse that he said belonged to one Smith of the New England settlers, and then we returned on the said horses to Captain Dolson's, where we found all the others of the party, and all the horses.
"And the said Dolson kept three of the horses about two days; and while this de- ponent was gone away from Dolson's the abovesaid Smith took the three horses, as the said Dolson told me, and was gone to the Jerseys, to Powling's Kill, and was to sell the horses if he could, and then bring back the money when he came into Wyoming with the party that should come from there; and if he could not sell them he was to put theni out to pasture on said Powling's Kill to be kept through the Winter; and soon after this Captain Dolson told this deponent, Abijah Harrington and one William Barr that the authorities at Shamokin had sent orders to have a party sent up to Wyoming to see if tlie people were intrenching in order to defend themselves, or if they were making wooden
* See page 688, ante.
{ The location of the present town of Northumberland.
į In "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," I : 363, we read: "The famous thief, 'Joe' Disbury, was tried at Sunbury in 1784 for some of his many misdemeanors, found guilty, sentenced to receive thirty-nine lashes, stand in the pillory one hour, have his ears cut off and nailed to the post, be imprisoned three months and pay a fine of £30." The name "Joseph Disberry" appears several times in these pages, as that of a tax-payer in Kingston, and a soldier in the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia.
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cannon* to defend with; and we set out for Wyoming and was there taken by Capt. [Samuel] Ransom, one of the constables of Westmoreland."
[Dated at Westmoreland December 11, 1775, aud sworn to December 12 before Zebulon Butler, Justice of the Peace. ]
Two days after the presentation of the foregoing documents to Congress (to wit, December 20, 1775), that body passed the following resolutiont:
" The Congress taking into consideration the dispute between the people of Penn- sylvania and Connecticut, on the waters of Susquehaunah, Resolve, That it is the opinion of this Congress, and it is accordingly recommended, that the contending parties immedi- ately cease all hostilities, and avoid every appearance of force, until the dispute can be legally decided; that all property taken and detained be restored to the original owners; that no interruption be given by either party to the free passing and repassing of persons, behaving themselves peaceably, through said disputed territory-as well by land as water -without molestation of either persons or property; that all persons seized and detained on account of said dispute, on either side, be dismissed and permitted to go to their respective homes; and that things being put in the situation they were before the late unhappy contest, they continue to behave themselves peaceably on their respective pos- sessions and improvements, until a legal decision can be had on said dispute, or this Con- gress shall take further order thereon."
Retracing our steps to Connecticut, now, we find that the General Assembly of the Colony convened at New Haven October 12, 1775, and continued in session for two or more weeks-Col. Zebulon Butler and Maj. Ezekiel Peirce being present as the duly elected Representatives from the town of Westmoreland. Details of the skinnish between the Penna- mites and the Yankees, and the defeat and dispersal of the latter, which had taken place at Warrior Run in the previous month, as hereinbefore related, were informally discussed; and it is quite probable that the action subsequently taken by the Governor and the Council of Safety (several members of which body were Representatives in the Assembly as well as proprietors in The Susquehanna Company) was a result of this discussion.
A Captain in the Colo- nial service, circa 1774, in full-dress uniform.
The most important action, in respect to the peo- ple of Westmoreland, taken by the Assembly at its October session, was the completing of the organiza- tion of the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, by the appointing and "establishing" of the various line-officers of the regiment. As noted on page 824 the Assembly had "appointed and established," and the Governor had commissioned, the field-officers of the regiment in the previous May; nearly a year prior to which time the people of Westmoreland had taken tlie initiative in coming "under regulations in ye military discipline." (See pages 805 and 811.) It is quite probable that the various men who were chosen line-officers about that time in the different localities, or districts, of Westmoreland, under the guidance of the duly appointed Committee of Inspec- tion, were the same men who were established by the Assembly and commissioned by Governor Trum- bull October 17, 1775, in and for the several "com- panies or train-bands in the 24th Regiment in the Colony of Connecticut," as follows§:
* See page 702, ante.
# See page 848.
+ See "American Archives," Fourth Series, III: 1955.
¿ See "Colonial Records of Connecticut," XV : 152.
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"First Company"-located in the lower half of "Wilkes-Barré Dis- trict" *- Stephen Fuller, Captain ; John Garrett, Lieutenant; Christo- pher Avery, Ensign.
"Second Company"-located in "Kingston District"-Nathaniel Landon, Captain ; George Dorrance, Lieutenant ; Asahel Buck, Ensign. "Third Company"-located in "Plymouth District"-Samuel Ran- soin, Captain ; Peren Ross, Lieutenant ; Asaph Whittlesey, Ensign.
"Fourth Company"-located in "Pittston District "-Solomon Strong, Captain; Jonathan Parker, Lieutenant; Timothy Keyes, Ensign. "Fifth Company"'-located in "Hanover District"-William Mc- Kerachan, Captain; Lazarus Stewart, Jr., Lieutenant; Silas Gore, Ensign.
"Sixth Company"-located in the upper half of "Wilkes-Barré Dis- trict " (chiefly in what is now Plains Township)-Rezin Geer, Captain ; Daniel Gore, Lieutenant ; Matthias Hollenback, Ensign.
"Seventh Company"-located in the lower part of the "North Dis- trict" (chiefly in Exeter and Providence)-Stephen Harding, Captain; Elisha Scovell, Lieutenant; John Jenkins, Jr., Ensign.
"Eighth Company"-located in "Lackaway District"-Eliab Far- nam, Captain ; John Shaw, Lieutenant ; Elijah Witter, Ensign.
"Ninth Company"-located in the upper part of the "North Dis- trict " (along the Susquehanna, chiefly at and near Tunkhannock, Mehoopany and Meshoppen)-James Secord, Captain ; John DePui, Lieutenant ; Rudolph Fox, Ensign.
"Some of these officers," states Charles Tubbst, "had seen service in the French and Indian War. Capt. Eliab Farnam, of the Lackaway company, had done a tour of duty lasting twenty-five weeks in 1758 in Capt. Nathan Whiting's company, 2d Connecticut Regiment. Lieut. Elisha Scovell had served thirty-two weeks in 1759 in Capt. Amnos Hitch- cock's company, in the 7th Connecticut Regiment. Lieut. Jonathan Parker had served thirty-four weeks in 1761 in the Third Company of the 1st Connecticut Regi- inent, commanded by Maj. David Baldwin." Captain Ransom, also, had seen ser- vice in one of the Connecti- cut regiments in the French and Indian War, while Ste- phen Fuller, before coming Uniforms worn by independent military companies in the American Colonies in 1774-'75, (Photo-reproduction of a picture published by the United States War Department in 1894.) to Wyoming, had been for a number of years an officer in the Connecticut Militia-as * See page 794. noted on page 717.
+ In an address, "The Wyoming Military Establishment," delivered before The Tioga Point Historical Society, and published in 1903.
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It is more than probable that, owing to the unsettled and precarious state of affairs throughout the country, efforts were made during the Summer and Autumn of 1775 by the officers of the 24th Regiment to perfect themselves and their men in military exercise and discipline. And it is quite probable that the laws and regulations of Connecticut relative to the militia establishment of the Colony (see page 826, ante) were closely observed and, so far as was possible in a frontier and iso- lated settlement like Westmoreland, carefully adhered to. Each officer and man furnished his own arins and accouterments. The inen were not uniformed, and it is doubtful if more than a very few of the chief officers possessed uniforms. Each of the officers, however, wore some distinctive badge of rank-as, for example, a cockade or a sash. For some years prior to the Revolution, and during the first year of the war, none of the militia organizations in the Colonies were uniformed, except those companies which were located in the principal towns and cities.
A town-meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland was held at Wilkes-Barré December 6, 1775, at which, among other doings, Simon Spalding was chosen Constable. But, the meeting not having finished the business for which it had been convened, was adjourned to Wednes- day, December 20, "at 9 of ye clock in the forenoon, at ye house of Mr. Jabez Sill." Subsequently the Town Clerk wrote in his records: "But there was no meeting, by reason of ye Pennamites, &c." The Penna- mites ! Ah, yes ! Earlier in the month, as we have learned, they were preparing at Sunbury to make an incursion, under a cloak of the Law, into Wyoming Valley .* The complete and easy conquest and dispersal of the Yankees who had attempted to make a settlement at Warrior Run in September, 1775, made the Pennsylvania land-claimants eager to strike a decisive blow at the Yankee settlements on the North Branch of the Susquehanna. Therefore an expedition was carefully planned and organized, and placed under the command of Col. William Plunkett,
* It may be noted here that early in November, 1775, some surveyors representing certain Penn- sylvania land-claimants quietly made their way to Wyoming Valley, and, on warrants issued by the Provincial Land Office, surveyed at least six tracts of land aggregating 1,767 acres, lying along the base of Wilkes-Barre Mountain, about two miles from the Susquehanna, in what is now Plains Town- ship. The names of the persons for whom these tracts were surveyed were: John Evans, Adam Clampfer, Peter Howard, William Dawson, James Stroud and William Sheaff.
WILLIAM PLUNKET, mention of whom is made on pages 724, 725, 738, 818 and 843, and elsewhere herein, was born about 1720 in Ireland, one of the three sons of the Rev. Patrick Plunket, a Presby -. terian clergyman settled at Glennan in the county of Monaghan. Another son of Patrick Plunket was the Rev. Thomas Plunket, who in 1749 was married to Mary, daughter of Capt. David and Catharine (O'Hanlon) Conyngham of Letterkenny, county of Donegal, Ireland, and had six children, the young- est of whom was William Conyngham Plunket (born July 1, 1764), who was made Lord Plunket in 1827; was Lord Chancelor of Ireland, 1830-'41, and whose eldest son became Archbishop of Dublin.
William Plunket, the subject of this sketch (who was, as indicated above, a first cousin of Lord Chancelor Plunket), was graduated at the University of Dublin, and immigrated to America about 1747 or '48. He was married June 3, 1749, to Esther, daughter of John Harris of Harris' Ferry (now Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and sister of John Harris, Jr., the founder of Harrisburg, and in 1751 settled in the new town of Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the prac- tise of medicine, and where he was still located at the breaking out of the French and Indian War- referred to on page 343, Vol. I. June 12, 1756, Dr. Plunket was commissioned Lieutenant in Capt. John Hambright's company in the Pennsylvania Regiment (see notes on pages 339, 360 and 428, Vol. I) commanded by Col. William Clapham. In the following July Lieutenant Plunket was with his company in camp at Shamokin. At Fort Augusta (Sunbury), under the date of August 14, 1756, Colonel Clap- ham (who was commandant at the fort, then in course of erection) wrote to Governor Morris of Penn- sylvania as follows (see "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 745): "I have put Lieutenant Plunket under an arrest for mutiny, and only wait the return of Captain Lloyd, the Judge Advocate, to have him tried by a General Court Martial."
Dr. Plunket was commissioned Surgeon of the Second Pennsylvania Battalion (commanded by Colonel Clayton) September 7, 1763, and in the Autumn of 1764 took part in Bouquet's campaign against the western Indians. For this service he subsequently participated in the Provincial land-grants on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, receiving from the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania 600 acres in Buffalo Valley. In 1769 he seems to have been residing at Shamokin-as indicated by the letter of Charles Stewart printed on page 488, Vol. I. About that time he took up 367 acres of land on the East Branch of Fishing Creek, several hundred acres on Wyalusing Creek (in what is now Bradford County), and large tracts in other localities-chiefly in that part of the Province which subsequently was erected into Northumberland County. At an early date he became quite pronounced, and later remarkably active, in his antagonism to The Susquehanna Company's settlers at Wyoming and else- where-as is indicated by the facts concerning him recorded on pages 488 and 768 herein. About 1770
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who purposed conquering and subjugating the men of Wyoming with- out delay.
Some 600 or 700 well-armed and -equipped men were soon enlisted in various localities, and embodied at Sunbury; and, in order that the proposed expedition might have imparted to it a civil rather than a military character, this small army was denominated the " posse comi- tatus of Northumberland." Moreover, it was to be accompanied on its march by William Scull-the newly-elected Sheriff of Northumberland County-within whose jurisdiction the Wyoming lands lay, according to Pennsylvania law. (See page 724.)
About the time Plunket began active preparations for his expedi- tion Benjamin Harvey, Jr., of Plymouth District, and another Yankee settler and trader of Wyoming Valley, who had been at Middletown* with their bateaux and had obtained supplies of merchandise for their respective stores, were slowly and laboriously poling their laden boats up the Susquehanna towards home. When they came to Sunbury they were seized by the Pennsylvanians and thrown into jail there with other Yankee prisoners (who had been taken but a short time previously), while their boats and cargoes were confiscated. When Plunket was ready to proceed up the river a quantity of provisions and military stores was loaded into these confiscated boats and several others. In the bow of the leading and largest boat a small field-piece was mounted, ready for action on board, or to be landed if necessary, and in this boat Benjamin Harvey, Jr., was placed, with orders to pilot the flotilla of the
he removed to what is now Montour County, and settled on a large tract of land north of Chillisquaque Creek, to which he gave the name "Soldier's Retreat." Upon the organization of Northumberland County in 1772 he was appointed and commissioned President Judge of the Courts of the County, as noted on page 724.
Judge Plunket was one of the two representatives from Northumberland County in the Provincial Convention which was in session at Philadelphia for six days in January, 1775. Gen. Joseph Reed was Chairman of the convention, and among the influential citizens of the Province who were present as members of the convention were: John Dickinson, Charles Thomson, Thomas Mifflin, Samuel Mere- dith, George Clymer, Jacob Rush, Sharp Delany, Anthony Wayne, John Bayard, Thomas Hartley, George Taylor, Peter Kachlein, John Okely and Jacob Arndt. Among the various resolutions unan- imously adopted by this convention was the following: "That this convention most heartily approve of the conduct and proceedings of the Continental Congress. That we will faithfully endeavor to carry into execution the measures of the association [the Congress] entered into and recommended by them, and that the members of that very respectable body merit our warmest thanks by their great and disinterested labors for the preservation of the rights and liberties of the British Colonies."
As early as August, 1775, Judge Plunket was serving as Colonel of the 51st Battalion of Pennsyl- vania Associators-one of the three battalions in Northumberland County; Samuel Hunter, of Sunbury (previously mentioned), being Colonel of another of these battalions. March 13, 1776, Colonel Plunket was commissioned Colonel of the 3d Battalion of Northumberland County in the "Pennsylvania Asso- ciated Battalions" (the reorganized militia of the Province); and in the following July he was one of the delegates from Northumberland County present at the convention of delegates from the Pennsyl- vania Associated Battalions which met at Lancaster and chose two Brigadier Generals to command the Associators, and adopted certain rules and regulations-one of which was: "We will march under the direction and command of our Brigadier Generals to the assistance of all or any of the free, independ- ent States of America." (See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XIII : 253, 258, 267, 268; XIV : 322.)
The late Dr. W. H. Egle stated in his Notes and Queries, Third Series, III : 153, that at the beginning of the War for Independence Colonel Plunket "entered heartily into the contest, * but for some cause or another-possibly at the instigation of his Wyoming enemies-he was arrested as being inimical to the principles of the Revolution. He was afterwards released, as nothing treasonable could be proved against him. Sabine, in his 'American Loyalists', imputes crimes to Colonel Plunket which he had neither fact nor foundation for." Details of these alleged crimes, together with some other cock-and-bull statements concerning Colonel Plunket, are quoted in Miner's "History of Wyo- ming," pages 179 and 180.
Four daughters were born to Colonel Plunket and his wife Esther, as follows: (i) Elizabeth, who became the wife of Samuel Maclay, who was a United States Senator from Pennsylvania in 1803-'08, and was a brother of the Hon. William Maclay mentioned on page 759 and other pages herein. (ii) Isabella, who became the wife of William Bell, and resided in Elizabeth, New Jersey. (iii) Margaret, who became the wife of Isaac Richardson of New York. (iv) Esther, who became the wife of Capt. Robert Baxter, of an Irish cavalry regiment, who came to America after the Revolutionary War; but who, after the death of his wife (which occurred one year after her marriage), returned to Ireland. In 1812 he was living in Glasslough, in the county of Monaghan.
After the close of the Revolutionary War Colonel Plunket removed to Sunbury, where he died in May, 1791.
* Middletown, Pennsylvania, is on the left bank of the Susquehanna, about nine miles below the city of Harrisburg. For a number of years in the latter half of the eighteenth century it was not only the chief market-town for nearly all the settlements on or near the Susquehanna River, but a very extensive trade was carried on by the Quaker and Scots-Irish merchants there with the Indian nations and with the western traders. A well-constructed highway ran from Middletown through the counties of Lancaster and Chester to Philadelphia, distant eighty-five miles "as the crow flies."
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