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 56

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 56

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SAMUEL RANSOM was born about 1735-some writers say in Ipswich, England, others say, at Middleboro, Massachusetts, and still others, at Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut. Charles Miner, who derived his information from Captain Ransom's second son, wrote in 1845 (see "History of Wyoming," Appendix, page 27) that "Captain Ransom was born in Canterbury." This may be presumed to be correct. About 1753 or '54 Samuel Ransom and his brother John, and perhaps other members of the family, settled in that part of the town of Canaan, Litchfield County, Connecticut, which in 1758 was erected into the town of Norfolk, and there Samuel Ransom lived until some time after his marriage, when he removed to that part of Canaan where his wife's family lived.

Early in the French and Indian War-fully referred to hereinbefore-the 6th Company in the 2d Connecticut Regiment (commanded by Col. Elizur Goodrich) was officered as follows: Captain, Ben-

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jamin Hinman of Woodbury; First Lieutenant, Benjamin Ruggles of New Milford; Second Lieutenant, Tarball Whitney of Canaan.

Samuel Random

The enlisted men, as well as the commissioned officers, of this company were all residents of Litchfield County. Samuel Ransom enlisted as a private in the company April 21, 1755, and served till November 28, 1755, when he was honorably discharged. In the campaign of 1756 Samuel Ransom served as a private from April 8 till November 18, in the 3d Company (Benjamin Hinman, Captain) of the 4th Con- necticut Regiment (Andrew Ward, Jr., Colonel ).

(Facsimile of signature written in March, 1778.)

May 5, 1756, Samuel Ransom was married to Esther Laurence of Canaan, who was born in Wind- liam County, Connecticut, about 1739.

In the campaign of 1758 Benjamin Hinman commanded the 2d Company in the 3d Connecticut Regiment (more fully referred to on page 481, Vol. I), and was Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. Tarball Whitney of Canaan was First Lieutenant of the 2d Company, and Samuel Ransom enlisted as a private tberein April 10, 1758. Almost immediately he was promoted a Corporal, and on September 9 was promoted a Sergeant, in which grade he served until honorably discharged, November 15, 1758. (See "Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society," IX : 29, 146; X : 55.) It is quite probable that Samuel Ransom served in some or all of the subsequent campaigns of the French and Indian War, but, owing to the destruction or disappearance of many of the pay- and muster-rolls of the Connecticut military organizations of that period, no definite or authentic information can now be obtained.

At Canaan, September 3, 1773, John Ransom bought of Stephen Rice "Lot No. 10 in the Lower Tier of lots" in the township of Plymouth, in the Susquehanna Purchase; and on the 2d of the fol- lowing October John Ransom sold this lot to Samuel Ransom, who, shortly afterwards, removed from Canaan to Plymouth with his wife and eight children. In November, 1773, he bought a "half-right" in Plymouth from Samuel Lee. As noted on page 795 he was elected March 2, 1774, one of the Selectmen and also one of the Surveyors of Highways of the town of Westmoreland, and in 1775 was chosen Con- stable of the town. He purchased certain lots of land in Plymouth from Uriah Marvin for £100, July 18, 1775, and in the Spring of 1776 was again elected a Selectman of Westmoreland. When, in the Summer of 1774, the inhabitants in the several districts of Westmoreland came "under regulations in ye military discipline," and elected officers to command the several companies then organized, in pur- suance of the vote passed at the town-meeting held June 27, 1774 (see page 811), Samuel Ransom was chosen Captain of the Plymouth company. He was commissioned Captain of the 3d Company, 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, October 17, 1775 (see page 857), and this office he held until commis- sioned a Captain in the Continental service.

When, in June, 1778, it became evident that the British and Indians were meditating an attack on Wyoming, Captain Ransom resigned his commission and hastened home to aid in protecting the inhab- itants of the Valley. He was one of the officers detailed by Colonel Butler just before the battle of the 3d of July to select and mark off the ground for the American line of battle. He was later assigned to a position at the extreme left of the line, with his old company, the "3d," then commanded by. Capt. Asaph Whittlesey. Early in the battle Captain Ransom was wounded in the thigh by a musket-ball, and when the Americans retreated he was left behind on the field and was captured by the enemy. When the bodies of the American slain were gathered together some months later to be Interred, the remains of Captain Ransom were found near the ruins of Wintermute's Fort (some distance from where he had fallen) with the head severed from the body, and the latter covered with gashes.

The widow Esther (Laurence) Ransom, accompanied by six of her children-all of whom were under fifteen years of age, fled from the Valley on the 4th of July by way of the road leading to the Delaware, and after many mishaps and much suffering arrived among friends in Connecticut. Early in 1780 Mrs. Ransom and her children returned to Plymouth, and in the assessment list for that year she was rated at £19. In the "Bill of Losses" referred to in the first paragraph on page 832, ante, the losses sustained by the estate of Capt. Samuel Ransom are stated at £259. Mrs. Esther Ransom was administratrix of the estate of lier late husband in 1782. She is said to have been married, subse- quently to this year, to Capt. James Bidlack, Sr., of Plymouth, as his second wife. It is also stated that she died in Norfolk, Connecticut, in August, 1794.

Capt. Samuel and Esther (Laurence) Ransom were the parents of the following-named children: (i) Sarah, born in Canaan, Connecticut, August 23, 1757; married October 23, 1776, to Timothy Hop- kins of Plymouth (of whom mention is made in a subsequent chapter) ; died at Plymouth December 19, 1777, leaving no issue. (ii) Samuel, born in Canaan September 28, 1759; married at Plymouth about 1783 to Mary Nesbitt; drowned in 1807. See hereinafter. (iii) George Palmer, born in Canaan Jan- uary 3, 1762; died in Plymouth September 5, 1850. See hereinafter. (iv) Sybil, born in Canaan Feb- ruary 5, 1764; married April 8, 1784, to Ira Stephens (born July 18, 1759; accidentally killed Septem- ber 20, 1803). She died April 30, 1826. See hereinafter. (v) Esther, born in Canaan March 12, 1766; died at Plymouth in 1786, unmarried. (vi) Louisa Laurence, born in Canaan May 28, 1768; married to Arthur Frink (born in 1763; died February 21, 1847). She died at Tioga Center, New York, June 23, 1834, and about 1840 Arthur Frink was married (2d) to Rachel (Brooks) Ransom, widow of (vii) William Ransom. (vii) William, born in Canaan May 26, 1770; removed to Plymouthi, Wyoming Val- ley, with the other members of his father's family, and resided there (except for a time in 1778-'79) until about 1788, when he located with his brother Samuel in Owego Township, Tioga County, New York. About 1792 he was married to Rachel, daughter of James and Mary (Johnson) Brooks (born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, February 8, 1776; died at Tioga Center, New York, May 29, 1857). William Ransom died January 8, 1822. (viii) Mary, born in Canaan May 20, 1772; married in 1791 or '92 to Samuel Franklin (born in Canaan May 10, 1759), a brother of Col. John Franklin, mentioned in a subsequent chapter; settled in Huntington Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, near the present hamnlet of Huntington Mills, where Mary (Ransom) Franklin died September 16, 1825, and Samuel Franklin died June 1, 1828. They were the parents of two sons and three daughters. (ix) Lois, born in Plymouth March 20, 1775; married March 28, 1793, to Stephen Bidlack (born January 5, 1773), son of Capt. James Bidlack, Jr., and his wife Abigail Fuller. (For a sketch of the Fuller family see page 717, and for one of the Bidlack family see a subsequent chapter.) Stephen Bidlack died at Spencer, New York, March 4, 1849, and his widow Lois died there March 21, 1856.

(ii) Samuel Ransom (born September 28, 1759, as previously noted) was a private in the 3d Com- pany, 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia, in 1778, and took part in the battle of July 3d, in which he liad one of his arms broken by a musket-ball. He escaped after the battle by swimming the river, and diving when the savages shot at him from the shore. A day or two later he fled from the Valley, but returned early in the following October and joined the command of Col. Zebulon Butler at Wilkes- Barre. (See "Proceedings and Collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII : 125.) At Wilkes-Barre, March 10, 1780, by order of Colonel Butler, "ten dozen cartridges for the use of the command at Shawnee" (Plymouth) were delivered to Samuel Ransom-as is shown by the original order and receipt in the possession of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. Hav-

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ing become of age in the Autumn of 1780 Samuel Ransom took charge of the farm-land belonging to his father's estate, and cultivated it for the benefit of his mother and her family. In the assessment list for 1781 he is rated at &£26. About 1787 he and his brother William purchased a large tract of land on the Susquehanna River in Owego Township, Tioga County, New York, and thither they removed early in 1788. They were among the first settlers in that locality, and their home was on the west bank of Pipe Creek, not far from its mouth. Samuel Ransom was married at Plymouth (in Wyoming Valley) about 1783 to Mary (born September 18, 1765), daughter of James and Phebe (Harrison) Nesbitt of Plymouth. (For a sketch of the Nesbitt family see a subsequent chapter.) In 1807 Samuel Ransom was drowned in the Susquehanna near his home by the accidental upsetting of a skiff. He was sur- vived by his wife and eight children, and subsequently Mrs. Ransom, accompanied by her younger chil- dren, removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where she died August 11, 1824.

(iii) George Palmer Ransom, born in Canaan, Connecticut, January 3, 1762 (as previously noted), was in the twelfth year of his life when, with the other members of his father's family, he removed to Plymouth in Wyoming Valley, wbere, thenceforth, he made his home until his death. He was only a little past fourteen and a-half years of age when, September 15, 1776, he enlisted as a private soldier in the 2d Westmoreland Independent Company, commanded by his father, and two days later was mustered into the Continental service. He remained with the company through the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, until June, 1778, when he was part of the "reinnant" transferred to the command of Captain Spalding -as related in a subsequent chapter. In April, 1785, George P. Ransom petitioned the General Assem- bly of Connecticut for back pay, etc., due him, and in his petition-which is now preserved as docu- inent "No. 170" in the volume entitled "Susquehannah Settlers," mentioned in paragraph "(3)", page 29, Vol. I-it is set forth: "That he inlisted in one of the Independent Companies raised at West- * moreland, and served from September 15, 1776, to the close of the war, in different commands. * That being stationed at Westmoreland (or Wyoming) with the Independent Companies your petitioner, on the 6th day of December, 1780, was unfortunately taken prisoner by the savages and carried to Can- ada, where he remained a prisoner about eighteen months, when he deserted from the enemy and re- turned to Westmoreland; and after he had recovered his health be joined the 1st Connecticut Regiment and did duty till the army was disbandcd." A more extended reference to the capture of George P. Ransom by the British and Indians is made in a subsequent chapter. In 1787 George P. Ransom was elected and commissioned Captain of the Plymouth company in the 1st Battalion of militia in Luzerne County, and August 17, 1793, be was re-elected and commissioned Captain of the same company-then the "7tb Company in the 3d Regiment of the Luzerne Brigade of Militia," Lieut. Col. Matthias Hollen- back commanding the regiment. Captain Ransom continued in command of this company until 1799, when he was elected and commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 2d Battalion, 35tb Regiment, Penn- sylvania Militia.

George P. Ransom was married (Ist) August 14, 1783, to Olive Utley (born in 1760, and died in Plymouth July 14, 1793), and (2d) January 9, 1794, to Elizabeth (born in Orange County, New York, October 18, 1776), second daughter of Thomas and Keturah (Tuttle) Lamoreux, of Plymouth, Penn- sylvania, in 1794 and later. Colonel Ransom died at Plymouth September 5, 1850, in the eighty-ninth year of his age, and his widow Elizabeth died there August 27, 1859.

The children of George P. and Olive (Utley) Ransom were as follows: (1) Sarah, born at Taunton, Massachusetts, September 11, 1784; married at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1800, to Joseph Steele (born at New Buffalo, Pennsylvania, October 26, 1773; died in Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1858); died April 3, 1851. (2) Lovisa, born at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, August 19, 1786; married about 1803 to Horace Morse (born about 1776; died September 2, 1846); died at Plymouth July 2, 1832. (3) Esther, born at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1788; married there (1st) June 10, 1810, to Abijah Smith, who was born at Derby, Connecticut, October 3, 1764, and died at Plymouth, March 6, 1826. (See a subsequent chapter for a more extended notice of Abijah Smitb. ) Mrs. Esther (Ransom) Smith was married (2d) April 15, 1827, to John Ingham (born April 10, 1782; died October 15, 1866). She died August 10, 1839. (4) George Palmer, born at Plymouth Tune 3, 1791. His death is recorded by the following quaint inscription, chiseled on his grave-stone in the old "Shupp" burial-ground, Plymouth. "In Memmory of | G. P. Ransom Jr. | Wbo WAS killed By | A Logs Roleing | Over Him the 29 | Day of Apriell | 1824, Age 33."

The children of George P. and Elizabeth (Lamoreu.v) Ransom were as follows (all born in Ply- mouth, Pennsylvania) : (1) Samuel, born January 9, 1795; married (1st) to Hannah Wightman, and (2d) to Mabel Dodson Ramsey; died March 22, 1836. (2) Olive, born April 12, 1796; married August 13, 1816, to Charles Cottsworth Curtis; died August 20, 1874. (3) William, born December 27, 1797; inarried (1st) November 13, 1823, to Jane (born at Plymouth April 20, 1805; died there May 15, 1842), third child of James and Jane (Williams) Nesbitt. (See sketch of the Nesbitt family.) William Ran- som was married (2d) December 15, 1842, to Clarissa Davenport, born at Plymouth January 28, 1814. He died in Jackson Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, December 17, 1881. (4) Elizabeth, born September 11, 1799; died February 25, 1829. (5) Keturah, born April 26,1801; married March 25, 1830, as his second wife, to James Hodge (born July 5, 1795; died November 5, 1863) ; died November 21, 1862. (6) Liva, born January 9, 1804; married July 4, 1830, to Oliver Davenport (born in Ply- mouth February 4, 1808), son of Thomas Davenport, Jr., and his wife Mary Reynolds Bronson, and grandson of Thomas and Charity (Lamoreur) Davenport, all of Plymouth. Mrs. Liva (Ransom) Daven- port died at Plymouth July 20, 1872. (7) Thomas, born April 19, 1806; married (Ist) Nancy Ann Roushey, and (2d) Elvira Temperance Brink; died August 25, 1879. (8) Chester, born June 10, 1808; married (1st) Harriet Hartson Tupper, (2d) Mrs. Hester Ann Bishop, (3d) Catherine Ann Whiteneck. (9) Eleanor, born October 12, 1810; died February 21, 1812. (10) Miner, born May 14, 1813; mar- ried September 6, 1838, to Elizabeth Shonk, born March 15, 1817. (11) Lydia, born December 12, 1815; married September 8, 1835, to John Kridler, born August 15, 1809. (12) Amelia, born February 10, 1819; married September 12, 1836, to Seymour Downs, born May 31, 1817. (13) Ira, born October 11, 1822; married December 28, 1847, to Mary Smith, born March 12, 1830.

(iv) Sybil Ransom, born at Canaan, Connecticut, February 5, 1764, was in the tenth year of her life when, with the other members of her father's family, she removed to Plymouth, Pennsylvania. She was married there April 8, 1784, to Ira Stephens (born July 18, 1759), son of Jedidiah and Mary Stephens of Canaan, Connecticut. Ira Stephens was admitted a "half-share proprietor" in the Susque- hanna Purchase September 10, 1785, in pursuance of a vote of The Susquehanna Company passed July 13, 1785, and which is more fully referred to in a subsequent chapter. March 15, 1796, George P. Ran- som, being then administrator of the estate of his deceased father, conveyed to Ira Stephens the half- right in Plymouth which Captain Ransom had bought of Samuel Lee in November, 1773. In Kulp's "Families of the Wyoming Valley," II : 958, it is stated that the abovementioned Ira Stephens "enlisted in the Continental Line and rose to be Captain of his company. He served for seven years, and his discharge was signed by General Washington. His company was under Sullivan, and it may have been that this campaign [against the Indians, in 1779] made him acquainted with the beauty and fertility of the Wyoming Valley. He married and settled there in 1784. After three of his children were born he removed to Athens [formerly Tioga Point], Pennsylvania, where the remainder of his ,children were born. He owned a great deal of land in and about Palmyra, New York, and a large tract in Angelica, New York. He was killed at Angelica, September 20, 1803, in a personal difficulty concerning the Pennsylvania and Connecticut titles. He left a large family and considerable property." Mrs. Sybil (Ransom) Stephens died April 30, 1826.

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Josiah Corning, Benjamin Cole, Benjamin Cole, Jr., William Carroll, William French, Daniel Franklin, Charles Gaylord (died July 5, 1777), Ambrose Gaylord, Justus Gaylord, Jr., Benjamin Hempstead, Timotliy Hopkins, Williamn Kellogg, Jr., Lawrence Kinney, Daniel Lawrence, Nicholas Manvil, Constant Matthewson (killed at Fort Mifflin in Novem- ber, 1777), Elisha Matthewson, William McClure, Thomas Niell, Asahel Nash, John O'Neal, Peter Osterhout, Justus Porter (killed January 20, 1777), Thomas Pickett, George Palmer Ransom, Ebenezer Roberts, Sam- uel Sawyer, Asa Sawyer, Stephen Skiff, John Swift, Constant Searle, Jr., James Smith, William Smith, Jr., Robert Spencer (died in service prior to July, 1778), Elisha Satterlee, Isaac Underwood (discharged for dis- ability), John Van. Gorder, Thomas Williams, Azibalı Williams, Caleb Worden, John Worden, Richard Woodcock, Elijah Walker.

The officers and men of these two companies furnished their own arms and accouter- ments ; and those (if any) who supplied themselves with uni- forms, procured them likewise at their own expense. At that time appropriate uniforms for the various arins of the Conti- nental service had been adopt- ed, but Congress had neither the money nor the facilities for equipping the troops with pro- per clothing of any kind; and could furnish them arms and accouterments only to a limit- ed extent .* In 1776 many of the Connecticut troops in the Continental service were wear- ing uniforms, or parts of uni- forms, as well as other equip- inents, which had been used by Uniforms worn by the infantry of the Continental Line during the Revolutionary War. (Photo-reproduction of a picture published by the United States War Department in 1894.) them or their fathers in some of the Colonial wars. This fact is disclosed, in part, by the following extract from a letter written at the city of New York and published in the Pennsylvania Packet (Phila- delphia) of July 15, 1776.

"Several of the new raised regiments of Connecticut troops have arrived in town. * Some of these worthy soldiers assisted, in their present uniforms, at the first reduc- tion of Louisbourg, t and their lank, lean cheeks and war-worn coats are viewed with more veneration by their honest countrymen than if they were glittering nabobs from India, or Bashaws with nine tails."

The pay of Continental foot-soldiers at that time, as fixed by Con- gress, was as follows: "Captain, 263 dollars per calendar month; Lieu- tenant, 18 dollars ; Ensign, 13} dollars ; Sergeant, 8 dollars ; Corporal, Drummer and Fifer, each 73 dollars ; Private, 63 dollars." Each enlist- ed man was entitled, also, to receive upon his enlistment a " bounty " of ten dollars. The " dollars " mentioned in the Acts of Congress regulat-

* See quotation from Bryant's "History of the United States," on page 899.

+ In the Summer of 1745. # See "American Archives," Fifth Series, I : 865.

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UNITED STATES ing the pay, etc., of troops were Spanislı milled dol- No /57//2 FIFTY DOLL THE BEARER of this BALL lars (see note on page 252, THE WAR 47158 Sixty five Dollars She niter Bolome Vol. I), one of which was Shiusian Prorasur ad VI . DO LARS then equivalent to 7sh. and DOLLARS VI SIX Continental Currentys SIX DOL LARS 6d. in the currencies of SIX. VI DOC ntin. No. 45541 SIX DOLLARS. SAVE THIS Bill entitles the SIX SPANISH MILED DOLLARS DOLLARS . or the Vabur thereof in GOLD Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or SILVER-acordny to O DOLLARS a Resolution of CON GRESS pullislat Phi Ladelphia Nov. 2. 1776. Myamble and other Colonies, or to $1.25 in American inoney Weilsow of to-day. However, owing to the scarcity in this conn- SIX XIS 5 I Kankin SIX DOLLARS 9 SHYT 10dx try at that time of Spanish mnilled dollars, as well as CONTINENTAL CURRENCY. Issued in pursuance of resolutions passed by Congress November 2, 1776, and later. every other species of nioney, Congress was soon forced to provide for the issuing of paper money, denominated "Continental Currency," to be used as a circulating medium ; and with this scrip the Continental troops were generally, if not always, paid subsequently to November, 1776.

October 31, 1776, Congress resolved : (1) "That 2,000 dollars be advanced to Col. Zebulon Butler* for the use of the two companies raised in the town of Westmoreland, he to be accountable." (2) "That leave be granted to Col. Z. Butler, or his agent, to purchase of the salt belonging to the Continent, fifty bushels, for the use of the Continental troops of Westmoreland."+

The headquarters of the two Westmoreland Independent Companies was established at Wilkes-Barré, and here Colonel Butler, as Paymaster and Commissary (see page 637), performed his duties. The men were not quartered together in barracks, but those who resided in or near Wilkes- Barré lodged and ate at their homes, while the inen belonging to more remote localities were billeted upon certain householders of Wilkes- Barré. The charges for the subsistence of all, at the rate fixed by Con- gress (see page 883), were paid by Colonel Butler, as is shown by the following, which is a copy of an original statement in his handwriting preserved in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and now printed for the first time.

"ACCOUNT CURRENT, DEC. 17TH, 1776.

"The States of America in acct. with ZEBN BUTLER Comy and Paymaster to the Troops upon the Westmoreland Station, Dr. Dollars.

" To paid bounty to 172 men @, 10 Dols each, inlisting fees for inlisting 172 men @ 1 & },

66 first month's wages to two Captains,

' 4 Lieuts. @ 18 Dols each,

" 2 Ensigns @ 13 & 3,

" 8 Sergeants @, 8 Dols ,

" 8 Corporals @ 7 & }, 583

" 2 Drummers @, 7 & },

143

" 2 Fifers @, 7 & 3, 14%

66 " 152 privates @, 6 & 3, 9642

Mr. [Elisha] Swift as per bill, 48

6 Aaron Gaylord for bringing six hundred wait of Powder & Lead froin

Tomkins' to this place,

* October 11, 1776, while in attendance at the meeting of the General Assembly of Connecticut at New Haven, he had been appointed and commissioned by the Congress "Lieutenant Colonel in the army of the United States of America."

+ See "The Journals of Congress," II : 411.

1720

2292

531

262

899

To pd. Jos. Crookes & James Devine for bringing four Hundred Wait of do from Stroud's to this place, 103 To pd. Wagoner bringing 10-0-0 Wt powder & lead from Philada to Stroud's &

Tomkins', as per rect, 6

To pd. Rufus Lawrance for bringing 4000 Dols from Philadelphia to this place, 30

To pd. for apprising Soldiers arms, 6

To commission for receiving and paying 33483 Dols @ 5 p. cm. 1673

To pd. Billet for two companies to 18th Dec! 1776, as per Muster Rolls, &c., 2823g

To commission for receiving and paying 2823% Dols @ 5 pr. cm, 141} To paid Major Judd for journey to Philadelphia for salt and money for the Troops, 17 Days & expences, as per Rect., 34-1-421-233, 62

654332

1776 Cr. Dol

Sept! , By recd of the Conn! Delegates, by the hands of Rufus Lawrance, 4000

Dect , By recd of the Cont! Treasurer upon an order from the Congress, pr. Maj! Judd, 2000 To Balle Due, 54338

6543층을 6543울음 "

The two Westmoreland Independent Companies were treated as a battalion, and Captain Durkee, in addition to commanding his own com- pany, was also in command of the battalion by reason of his seniority in rank. As soon as the companies had been well organized the men were assenibled each day at Wilkes-Barré for drill and other military tasks, and thus matters went on until about the middle of December, 1776, when Captain Durkee, tiring of his humdrum duties at Wilkes-Barre, journeyed to General Washington's headquarters, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to endeavor to have himself transferred to more active scenes.

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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 56

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