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 79
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"Numbers were killed in the river in attempting to cross, and numbers surrendered on the promise of good quarter. In one particular case about twenty got into the river. in company, where they were fired upon by the Indians and Tories, and several were killed; when they [the Indians and Tories] proposed to the survivors that if they would come to the shore and surrender themselves they should not be injured-that their lives should be spared. Trusting to these promises, sixteen in number returned back to shore and surrendered themselves prisoners. They were led off some distance to the road, where they were set down in a ring, facing each other, with an Indian to the back of each one to hold them down, when the old squaw, 'Queen Esther,'* followed round the ring to the right with a death-maul, ; with which she broke their skulls. Among these pris- oners was William Buck, a lad about fifteen years old, a son of Lieut. Asahel Buck .¿ He was not held, and, seeing the old squaw killing the prisoners with her death-maul, started and ran off crying. He was pursued by an Indian who took him and flattered hini that, as he was a white-headed boy, he would not be hurt. But, while he was leading him back to the ring, another Indian came up behind and struck a tomahawk into the boy's head and put an end to his life.
* See note on page 984.
i Maj. James Norris, an officer in the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, entered in his journal-at Wyo- ming, under the date of July 13, 1779 -- the following item: "Colonel Butler showed us a death-maul, or war-mallet, that the Indians left by a man that they had knocked on the head. The handle resembles that of a hatchet, with a string drawn through near the end to hold it by. It is made of the root of a tree, with a large ball worked on the head of it, and looks not much unlike a four-pound shot in the bill of an eagle, with a tuft of feathers on the crown. The end of the handle shows the face of a wild-cat." # See page 468, Vol. I.
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"Lebbeus Hammond, being a stout man, a large Indian stood behind him with his hands on his shoulders to prevent his rising. Seeing but one man on his left to receive the fatal blow before his turn should come, he concluded that he could but die, and that he might as well make an attempt to save his life as to sit still and receive the fatal blow from the death-maul of the old Queen. He gave a sudden spring, arose from the ground, knocked down the Indian that was holding him, and ran into the woods. He was pur- sued by two Indians, but escaped with his life. The other fourteen [prisoners ] were killed, stripped and scalped, and left lying in the ring with their feet towards each other."*
Miner, describing the massacre of prisoners by "Queen Esther," says :
"Prisoners, taken under solemn promise of quarter, were gathered together and placed in circles. Sixteen or eighteen were arranged round one large stone, since known as the 'Bloody Rock.'# Surrounded by a body of Indians 'Queen Esther,' a fury in the form of a woman, assumed the office of executioner with death-maul, or tomahawk-for she used the one with both hands, or took up the other with one-and, passing round the circle with words, as if singing, or counting with a cadence, she would dash out the brains, or sink the tomahawk into the head of a prisoner. A number had fallen. Her rage increased with indulgence. Seeing there was no hope Lebbeus Hammond and Joseph Elliott, with a sudden spring, shook off the Indians who held them, and fled for the thicket. Rifles cracked, Indians yelled, tomahawks flew, but they escaped, the pur- suers soon returning to their death sports. The mangled bodies of fourteen or fifteen were afterwards found round the rock where they had fallen, scalped and shockingly mangled. Nine more were found in a similar circle some distance above."
Speaking further of Joseph Elliott's experience at "Bloody Rock," Miner says : §
" It was his [Elliott's] fate to be dragged to the fatal ring at 'Bloody Rock,' where the savages, intoxicated with victory and excited by passion to wildest fury, glutted their thirst for blood. A circle was formed, two or three Indians holding or guarding each prisoner while the work of death went forward. 'Queen1 Esther' raged like a demon. He [Elliott] saw six or seven murdered. A young man, Thomas Fuller, sprang to escape, shook off his guards, but was almost instantly overtaken and tomahawked. The confusion, the savage yells, the moans of his dying friends, the streams of blood, the scattered brains, for the moment stupified lim. With a ray of returning reason he saw death almost in a moment certain, and he could but die. With a might of combined courage and despair he threw off the Indians who held him, and at a spring leaped down the bank, turned off to the right a second, and, at a bound, cleared a fence and fled to the river, with several of the enemy in full pursuit. He had passed Monockasy [sic] Island and entered the southern branch of the stream, when a bullet struck him in the left shoulder, inflicting a grievous wound. Being compelled to steady liis wounded arm, dangling by his side, with his right hand, he does not know how he swam the portion of the river too deep to ford; but found himself on the bank, and took shelter behind a tree a moment to recover breath. He at length arrived at the Wilkes-Barre fort, and Dr. [William Hooker] Smith afforded his prompt and skilful aid. Among those whom he [Elliott] could remember to have seen butchered were: Jeremiah Ross, Samuel and Joseph Crooker, Stephen Bidlack and Peter Wheeler."
* See also "Journals of the Sullivan Expedition," pages 64 and 251.
+ "History of Wyoming," page 226.
# "Bloody Rock," so called for many years, but now, for some time, known as "Queen Esther's Rock," is situated alongside Susquehanna Avenue, near Seventh Street, in the borough of Wyoming.
The rock, or boulder, which is about six feet long, three feet wide and one and a-half feet high, above ground, is located near the edge of the slope, or declivity, separating the bottom-lands, or flats, from the elevated plain (as described on page 991), and is about one mile cast by north from Wyoming Monument. In 1895 Wyoming Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, located at Wilkes-Barré, purchased Queen Esther's Rock and a few feet of ground immediately surrounding it; and, in order to preserve the boulder from further demolishment by relic-hunters, erected over and about it a steel cage. Later the plot of ground was enclosed with an iron fence, and still later there was fastened upon the cage a bronze tablet bearing this inscription: "Upon this rock [ the Indian Queen, Esther, | slaughtered the brave patriots | taken in QUEEN ESTHER'S ROCK. From a photograph taken in 1902. the battle of July 3, 1778. | Preserved by the Wyoming Valley Chapter | of the | Daughters of the American Revolution, | 1895." The Chapter took formal possession of the his- toric spot on Monday, June 14, 1897, with appropriate and interesting exercises, which were attended by several hundred people.
§ "History of Wyoming," Appendix, page 53.
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The day following his escape from the Indians Elliott and his wife and child left Wilkes-Barre in a canoe and floated down the Susque- hanna to Catawissa. There they remained for some time, then traveled on foot over the mountains and across the country to the Delaware River, and thence up into New York State. Later in 1778, or early in 1779, they returned to Wyoming .* Hammond escaped across the river above Wilkes-Barré, and, making his way out of the Valley, took the road for the Lackaway Districtt of Westmoreland. There he arrived in the afternoon of July 4th, ¿ bringing to the inhabitants their first news of the battle of Wyoming. Alarmed by the probably exaggerated account they received of the number and ferocity of the enemy, the inhabitants prepared for immediate flight. Preparations were hastily made, and before sunset on the 4th of July the settlers were on their way to the Delaware River. §
Among the fugitives who, in their flight, plunged into the river near Monocanock Island, was Lieut. Elijah Shoemaker|| of the Second (or Kingston) Company of the 24th Regimnent. He was seen and recog- nized by a Tory named Henry Windecker, [ who had some time previ- ously been an inhabitant of Westmoreland, but was then a soldier in "Butler's Rangers." Windecker called to Shoemaker in a friendly manner, assuring him of protection if he would return to the shore. "I
* JOSEPH ELLIOTT was born in Stonington, Connecticut, October 10, 1755. As a child he removed with other members of his father's family to Orange County, New York, and thence to Wilkes-Barre about 1775. In 1777 and 1778 Joseph, John and Henry Elliott were tax-payers in Wilkes-Barre; in the Westmoreland tax-list for 1780 the name of Joseph Elliott appears, while in that for 1781 the names of Joseph and Henry are found. About 1785 Joseph Elliott removed with his family to Wyalusing, in what is now Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and there, or near there, he resided until 1792, when he moved to Merryall. Charles Miner, writing of him in 1845, said: "A pension of $65. a year has con- tributed to render the evening of his days comfortable. June 25, 1845, when we called on the old gen-
*
tleman to hear his narrative, he was at work in his garden. * His habits have been simple, his life virtuous, his conduct in war meritorious as fidelity and bravery could render it. He lives universally respected. With pleasure we add that his son was, at the last session, a member of the [ Pennsylvania] Assembly from Bradford County." Joseph Elliott died at Merryall March 29, 1849. He was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of Thomas Brown, an early Wyoming settler and a resident of Wilkes-Barre in 1776, '77 and '78. She having died he was married October 18, 1787, to a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Turril) Lewis of Wyalusing. John Elliott, who was born May 20, 1791, at Sugar Run, Bradford County, and who died at Merryall in February, 1876, was a son of Joseph and - (Lewis) Elliott. + See pages 771, 790 and 795.
# See Miner's "History of Wyoming," page 470; also, "Wyoming Memorial" (Wilkes-Barre, 1882), page 344.
§ Lebbeus Hammond returned to Wyoming late in 1778 or early in 1779, and resided here for a number of years. He then removed to Tioga County, New York, where, according to Colonel Stone ("Poetry and History of Wyoming", page 207), "he lived and died [in 1829 or 1830] a very respectable citizen." Stone says there were three brothers of the name of Haminond in the battle of Wyoming. According to the Westmoreland tax-lists Lebbeus, William, John and Oliver Hammond were residents of Kingston in 1777 and 1778. | See page 468, Vol. I.
[ The name of Henry Windecker appears for the first time in Wyoming history in the list of pro- prietors of Susquehanna lands dated June 17, 1770, and printed on page 658, ante. He was undoubt- edly of German descent, and it is probable came to Wyoming from the valley of the Mohawk, New York, as there were Windeckers living in that region at that period and later. In the Summer of 1771 Henry Windecker took part with the Yankees under Zebulon Butler in besieging Fort Wyoming, Wilkes-Barre (see page 702), and in October, 1772, he was one of the signers of the memorial set forth on page 750. About 1774 or '75 he located in the "North District" of Westmoreland, in what is now Wyoming County. In 1776 or 1777 Windecker repaired to Fort Niagara and joined "Butler's Rangers" -his family remaining in Westmoreland. According to a statement made by Elisha Harding in 1837 (see "Proceedings of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII : 91), Henry Windecker, with many other Westmoreland Tories, spent the Summer of 1777 at Fort Niagara, but returned to Westmoreland in the succeeding Autumn and took the Freeman's oath. "He [ Windecker] then applied to Elijah Shoemaker for help, and was told that he [ Shoemaker] would let him [ Windecker ] have grain for his family if Windecker would help to defend his country. Windecker answered in the affirmative and had his Winter's provisions from his friend Shoemaker."
Early in 1778 Windecker removed his family to New York State. At Machiche, July 2, 1781, Eliz- abeth Phillips and Dorothy Windecker, "wives of men in 'Butler's Rangers' ", petitioned the British authorities for permission "to join their husbands at Niagara." (See the "Haldimand Papers"-men- tioned on page 963, ante-B. M. 21,874, CCXIV : 258.) In August, 1787, Henry Windecker filed with the British Commissioners (mentioned on page 931) a claim for compensation for losses as a Loyalist. In his affidavit (see "Stephens' Transcripts-American Loyalists," XXV : 480) he set forth, among other things: That he was a native of America; that he had been settled on a tract of land on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, under a Connecticut title bought in 1770; that he was one of the first to join "Butler's Rangers"; that he served therein all through the war; that he and his family "came in, with several other families of Loyalists, about nine years" previously; that they left farm, house, etc., taking nothing with them but their horned cattle; that their losses amounted to £490; that he and his wife Dorothy and their family were then (1787) settled at Fort Erie, and that they had relatives on the Mohawk, in New York.
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am afraid you will give me up to the Indians," said Shoemaker. "No," replied Windecker, "I will save you; they sha'n't hurt you." Confiding in the promise of a supposed friend, Lieutenant Shoemaker waded shoreward; but no sooner had he come within reach of Windecker than the latter reached down and took hold of him with his left hand, while with his right hand he dashed a tomahawk into the head of the confid- ing and defenseless man, who fell back into the river. His mangled corpse floated down to Forty Fort, where it was discovered, taken from the water, and buried the next day. According to Dr. Peck (" History of Wyoming," page 48) the murder of Lieutenant Shoemaker was wit- nessed by Anning Owen and Carpenter, "who were concealed under a tree-top which lay out in the river."
There was another case, very similar to the preceding, marked by equal turpitude-that of William Hammond, a brother of the daring Lebbeus Hammond, previously mentioned. Stone relates the incident (in his "Poetry and History of Wyoming," page 219) as follows:
" Having escaped from the slaughter of the battle-ground to the river, across which he [William Hammond] was swimming for the island, he was hailed by a former neigh- bor named Secord, now a Tory in the ranks of the enemy. Previously to the war they had lived upon terms of the utmost intimacy-often being engaged in the same labors in the field, and the same sports in the hours of relaxation. Secord's solicitation was of the most friendly kind, calculated at once to dispel all suspicion of treachery, and to inspire confidence. 'Is that you, Bill Hammond ? ' said he. 'Yes,' was the reply. Whereupon Secord advised him to return, and promised him protection; to which the other answered: ' No, I can swim across the river and make my escape.' 'You cannot,' rejoined Secord, ' the Indians are on the opposite side, and will certainly kill you. If you will return I will claim you as a brother, and secure your life.' Deceived by the apparent sincerity of his assurances, Hammond returned to the shore whence he had plunged into the stream. Secord stepped to the edge of the water to receive him, and as he grasped with his left hand the right of his friend, with his own right hand he buried his hatchet in his head! This scene of diabolical treachery was observed by a fugitive named Tubbs, * lying close by in concealment, who ultimately escaped and related the revolting circumstances. The body of Hammond floated down the river to Forty Fort, where it was discovered, recog- nized, and brought to the shore."
Giles Slocum, Thomas Baldwin and Henry Pencel, or Pensil, were among the fleeing Americans who reached Monocanock Island in safety. Immediately after arriving there they discovered several of the enemy, who had pursued and fired at them, preparing to follow them to the island with their guns. Thereupon the Americans, who had thrown away their arms in their flight-thus rendering themselves in a manner defenseless- proceeded to hide themselves amongst the bushes and behind the trunks of fallen trees. The pursuers, on reaching the island, wiped and loaded their guns, and then separated to go in search of any fugitives who inight be in hiding there.
Slocum and Baldwin saw, from their places of concealment, that one of the searchers was John Pencel, Jr., the younger brother of Henry Pencel, their companion in flight. They knew him to be a pronounced Tory, who, some months previously, had left his home in the North District of Westmoreland for the purpose, presumably, of joining the British at Fort Niagara. He now passed slowly along, scrutinizing every covert, and had gone but a short distance when he discovered his brother Henry lying behind a fallen tree. Turning short upon him the Tory exclaimed, "So it's you, is it?" Henry, finding that he was dis- covered, stood up, moved forward a few steps, fell upon his knees, and begged his brother to spare his life; upon which John called him a damned
* Lieut. LEBBEUS TUBBS, mentioned on page 1001.
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rebel. "John then went deliberately to a log and got on the same, while Henry was upon his knees imploring liis brother not to kill him. 'I will,' said he, 'go with you and serve you as long as I live, if you will spare my life. You won't kill your brother, will you ?' ' Yes,' replied the monster, ' I will, as soon as look at you. You are a damned rebel.' He then shot him, and afterwards went up and struck him four or five times with a tomahawk, and then scalped him. Immediately after one of the enemy com- ing to him said, 'What have you been doing, have you killed your brother?' ' Yes,' said he, 'for he was Photo-reproduction of an early engraving entitled "The Fratricide at Wyoming." a damned rebel.' The other replied, 'I have a great mind to serve you in the same manner.' They went off together.
In the evening [Giles] Slocum made his escape. Slocum is a man of repu- tation, and his word was never disputed in the neighborhood where he is known."*
The story of John Pencel, "the Fratricide of Wyoming," is narrated by nearly every early writer of Wyoming history; but in recent years the truth of the story has been attacked by some writers, chiefly on the ground that there is in existence in the collections of the Connecticut State Library an original petitiont dated at Westmoreland, January 23, 1781, addressed to the General Assembly of Connecticut, and signed by " John Pencil " and others-the conclusion of the objectors being that the John Pencil, or Pencel, who signed the petition was the same John Pencel who is alleged to have killed his brother and then gone to Canada, never to return to Wyoming. If this conclusion were correct the story of the " Fratricide " would fall to the ground, for the John Pencil of the petition was in 1781 a soldier in the Continental service, and liad been since 1777. But, as explained in the notet below, John
" Extracted from the diary of the Rev. William Rogers, D. D., Chaplain of the Third (General Hand's) Brigade in the Sullivan Expedition of 1779. The above facts were related by Lieut. Col. Zeb- ulon Butler to Dr. Rogers at Wyoming, July 8, 1779, and were recorded by the latter on that date.
¡ A verbatim copy of this petition will be found printed in Chapter XX, post.
It is stated in the journal of the Rev. Dr. Rogers, previously referred to, that "the family of the Pensells came [to Wyoming] from Lower Smithfield, on the Delaware, twenty miles above Easton." According to existing records the name of "John Pensil" (presumably the father) first appears in con- nection with Wyoming affairs in May, 1772, in the list of settlers printed on page 732, ante. In the following August, or September, John Pencel was joined by Henry Pencel (see page 750), and they were both in Wilkes-Barre in October, 1772, when they signed the memorial printed on page 751. The name of John Pencel, Jr., appears for the first time in December, 1772. (See page 757.) The name "John Pensil" appears in the tax-list of the North District of Westmoreland for the year 1777. (See page 947.) Early in 1777 John Pencel, Sr., enlisted in the company of either Capt. Solomon Strong or Capt. William Judd (see page 915), for service in the Continental army; and, as shown by the petition to the Connecticut Assembly previously mentioned, and printed in Chapter XX, was in service at Wilkes-Barre in January, 1781. According to the Rev. Dr. Rogers' journal the widow and seven chil- dren of Henry Pencel were in Wyoming in the Summer of 1779, "in very low circumstances."
The present writer has recently found in "Stephens' Transcripts-American Loyalists" (mentioned in the note on page 931, ante) a "schedule of the losses of John Pencel from the Susquehanna," and a petition to the British Commissioners (mentioned on page 931) for compensation for said losses. The claim was made in 1787, and Pencel and his wife (who was Eva, daughter of Groddus Dingman-pre- sumably of Northampton County, Pennsylvania-and widow of James McNut) were then residing at Cataraqui in Canada. The petition sets forth that the claimant was a native of Germany, having come to America in early youth. His father took up lands-1,000 acres on the Susquehanna-from the Penn- sylvania Government twenty years previously. No part of the same was cleared till the claimant went
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Pencil of the petition was the father of John and Henry Pencel, the actors in the tragedy on Monocanock Island.
To the present writer the incident of the "Fratricide " appears to be more indisputably authenticated than many other incidents which are recorded, and unhesitatingly accepted by the public, as having occurred in Wyoming during the reign of terror and violence which obtained here in the Summer of 1778. Giles Slocum, one of those who witnessed the Pencel tragedy, described it to many people immediately thereafter and later. In June, 1779, at Wyoming, he told the story to Maj. James Norris of the 3d New Hampshire Regiment, in the Sullivan Expedition, and in the following month he told it to Lieut. Col. Henry Dearborn, commanding the abovementioned regiment. Each of these officers recorded in his journal*, at the time, the facts of the tragedy as related by Slocum. As previously noted, the story of the tragedy was related by Lieut. Col. Zebulon Butler at Wyoming in July, 1779, to the Rev. William Rogers, D. D., who forthwith recorded the facts in his journal. t. Isaac A. Chapman tells the story at length in his " History of Wyoming" (written in 1818 and published in 1830), and Colonel Stone, in his " Poetry and History of Wyoming " (published in 1840), after giving a brief account of the incident, states (page 215) :
" This tale is too horrible for belief; but a survivor of the battle, a Mr. Baldwin, whose name will occur again, confirmed its truth to the writer with his own lips. He knew the brothers well, and in August, 1839, declared the statement to be true."
Ensign Matthias Hollenback, who, with Capt. Robert Durkee, was attached to the right wing of the Americans (as mentioned on page 1012), was one of the last officers to leave the field. Durkee had been wounded some time previously, and, by the aid of Lieutenant Gore, had endeav- ored to get to the rear, but had failed. (See pages 835 and 893.) Hollenback, in his flight, came across Captain Durkee, and the latter exclaimed, "For God's sake, Hollenback, save me!" "His faithful brother in arms seized the wounded hero and carried him some distance toward the river, the murderous savages being in hot pursuit," says Peck in his " Wyoming " (page 107). But, being closely pressed by the Indians, Durkee prayed Hollenback to abandon him to his fate, as they would both lose their lives in any further effort to save him. Reluc- tantly Hollenback laid the Captain on the ground, saying, "God Almighty protect you, Captain," and then sped on towards the river.
there himself, a year before his father, who was then living on the Delaware and came thence to the Susquehanna. Claimant cleared six acres, built a small house, had twelve sheep, two head of cattle, five horses, etc. "My father," declared the claimant, "died eight or nine years ago" (which would be in 1778 or 1779), and about eight years before his death gave the claimant, "by a writing," the land re- ferred to. That "through loyalty and attachment to the British Government the petitioner left the above- named place in 1778, and joined the King's troops and served until the reducement of Colonel Butler's Rangers." That, at the time of his leaving, his lands, horses, cattle, &c., were worth £1,499 16s. His house was burned and his deeds and papers were destroyed, and all his other property was "taken by the Indians." Claimant "had an elder brother, who was a soldier with the Americans. He died after his father-being killed in action. He left sons, who are of course heirs." Peter Wortman, being sworn, declared that he remembered "claimant living on the Susquehanna, and that his father and mother lived with him."
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