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 85
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GEORGE FIELD, a native of Pennsylvania, purchased 300 acres of land of Daniel Rees and Dr. William Plunket in the disputed territory on the Susquehanna, and was living there in 1778 with his wife Rebecca and their three sons, Daniel, Gilbert and Nathan. Early in that year the whole family repaired to Fort Niagara, where the father and three sons joined "Butler's Rangers." George Field died at Niagara in 1785, and in 1787 Daniel was living at Detroit and Gilhert and Nathan were living at Niagara.
MORRIS TURNER had 300 acres of land on the Susquehanna which he had obtained from the Penn- sylvania Proprietaries, and which, with the huildings, utensils, etc., thereon, he valued at £515. Morris Turner left home early in 1778 with his son Edward, and both joined the "Rangers." The father died in service. Edward served nine months in the "Rangers," and then was in the naval service on the great lakes until the close of the war. Morris Turner was survived hy his wife Sarah (who later married Jordan Avery), his son Edward, and two daughters.
PHILIP BENDER, a native of Germany, came at an early age to America. In 1776 he was living on the Susquehanna in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, on a farm of 320 acres, which, with the buildings, stock, etc., thereon, was worth £246, 10s. In the Spring of 1777 he left his home and joined "Butler's Rangers," and served as a private in the corps until 1782. In 1787 he was living at Niagara.
JOHN DEPUE, or DE PUI (mentioned on pages 730, 935 and 939, ante), was a native of America. He settled early on the Susquehanna River, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he pos- sessed 1,250 acres of land (obtained from William Paterson and Philip Johnston, under a Pennsyl- vania title), which, together with the buildings, he valued at £400. He produces to the Commissioners of Claims (in 1787) "a commission from Governor Trumhull in the year 1775, appointing him Lieu- tenant in the 9th Company, 24th Regiment, in said Colony [see page 857, ante], and says the chief part of that company joined the British afterwards." He (De Pui) was one of the earliest to join the British. He served first under Colonel Butler in the "Rangers," and then, until the close of the war, under Col. Guy Johnson in the Indian Department. Was employed to go with intelligence from Niag- ara. He was living at Fort Erie in 1787. The Commissioners allowed him £149 as compensation for his losses.
JOHN WINTERMUTE, a native of America, settled on the North Branch of the Susquehanna about 1772, ohtaining 300 acres-heing one-half a Proprietor's Right-under Connecticut, for which he paid 160 dollars. Cleared sixty acres of the land, and huilt upon it. He joined Colonel Butler of the British army in 1778, and served till the close of the war as a Corporal in the "Rangers." He lost ten horses, six horned cattle, ten cows, forty-two sheep and thirty hogs. "The Indians and 'Rangers' had all these things in 1778." John Wintermute and his family were living at Niagara in August, 1787, at which time he presented to the Commissioners of Claims a claim for £450-setting forth his losses, as mentioned ahove, and stating that the same amounted to £800, New York currency. Michael Showers (previously mentioned) was one of his witnesses, and "Col. John Butler certifies strongly to the loyalty of the claimant and all his family." The Commissioners subsequently allowed Winter- mute £186.
It seems that there was a large number of Wintermutes in Exeter Township in 1776 and 1777. Philip, Philip, Jr., John, Christopher, Abraham, Peter and Benjamin were some of them, and they were all Tories. Philip Wintermute, Sr., was undoubtedly the head of the family. John Wintermute, mentioned in the preceding paragraph, was prohahly a son of Philip, Sr., although he may have been a brother. It is shown by a record on page 1034 of "The Town Book of Wilkes Barre" (mentioned on page 27, Vol. I) that Septemher 14, 1772, Nicholas Phillips (see page 919, ante) of Wyoming con- veyed to Philip Wintermute of Mountain Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, for £45, certain lands in Kingstown Township, and 116 acres north of Kingstown (in what subsequently became Exeter Township), in Wyoming Valley, together with a dwelling-house in which said Phillips then lived; said lands having been purchased by Phillips from Zebulon Butler, to whom they had been "surveyed by John Jenkins, Surveyor, by order of Maj. John Durkee." This was the land upon which Wintermute's Fort was subsequently erected, and upon which the hattle of Wyoming was fought, and as heretofore mentioned it later came into the ownership and possession of John Jenkins, Jr. In March, 1773, Philip Wintermute was one of the original proprietors of the township of Prov- idence, laid out hy The Susquehanna Company. The following paragraph was printed in the Sus- quehanna Democrat of August 27, 1813 (during the progress of the War of 1812). "A party lately made an incursion into Canada, under command of General Porter, and returned with a num- ber of prisoners, a quantity of stores, cattle, &c. Among the prisoners were Wintermoot and Over- holt, two noted characters of the Revolution."
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and Indians for the descent upon Wyoming, a delegation of Seneca chiefs, "daringly presuming on the stolidity of Congress, repaired to Philadelphia, ostensibly to negotiate, really to amuse the members of Congress-to put them off their guard, and prevent any troops being sent to the threatened frontier." Nor did the bold and crafty chiefs leave the city until the fatal blow at Wyoming had been struck. The chiefs refused to return to Philadelphia in response to the message sent to them by the Board of War, and on July 17th a motion was made in Congress to the effect that General Schuyler be directed " to take effect- ual measures for detaining the Seneca chiefs at Albany ;" but the motion was decided in the negative.
Notwithstanding the fact that the articles of capitulation signed at Forty Fort on July 4th stipulated that all "the garrisons be demol- ished," Major Butler consented, before leaving the Valley, that Forty Fort should remain standing as a place of refuge for the women and children of Wyoming. He directed, however, that a large part of the stockade should be destroyed, and this was done.
Almost immediately after Major Butler and his regular forces had withdrawn from the Valley, those "miscellaneous" Indians of the irregular division of the expedition who had remained behind (as we have previously mentioned) began to disperse themselves throughout the Valley and commit depredations of all kinds. Says Miner (" His- tory of Wyoming," page 238): "The savages remaining, now freed from the slight restraint the presence of their white allies imposed, gave themselves up to the wildest disorder. Separating in parties of from five to ten, they scattered through the Valley, marking their course, as if in sheer wantonness, with fire. After stripping a house of everything fancied, they would either leave it, or set fire to it, as whim or caprice seemed to dictate. Such was their joyous exultation, they hardly knew how to give it expression." Every dwelling-house and barn still stand-
About a year later Forty Fort was repaired in an indifferent manner, and was occupied by a small part of Sullivan's army during its stay in the Valley. (See the "Journals of the Sullivan Expe- dition," pages 64, 182 and 225.) Some years later the fort began to fall into de- cay, and about that time it was set on fire and partly consumed. In February, 1787, some portion of the fort was still standing, as is shown by a certain deed (on record in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of Luzerne County) conveying "all that cer- tain house-lot in Kingston, bounded east by the highway that leads through what is called Forty Fort. Said Fort stands partly on the north-east corner of said lot." When Joseph McCoy wrote "The Frontier Maid" (in 1818) he referred to Forty Fort in these words: "The traveler may still recognize its site by traces of its mounds and trenches, which yet remain visible." Col. W. L. Stone, who visited Wyoming in 1839, wrote as follows: "Forty Fort stood upon the bank of the river, and the spot is preserved as a common-beautifully carpeted with green, but bearing no dis- tinctive marks denoting the purposes for which the ground in those troublous times was occupied." The Hon. Eli K. Price of West Chester, Pennsylvania, visited Wyo- ming in 1842, and wrote: "On the west side of the river are the now almost oblit- MARKER ON THE SITE OF FORTY FORT. erated remains of Forty Fort, which bore such a conspicuous part in the dreadful massacre of '78. There is little now left to tell the sad story." In 1850 the ground where the fort had stood was dug up in several places, and an iron hatchet, a copper kettle, some chains, and a num- ber of other articles were brought to light. Wyoming Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, marked the site of Forty Fort by erecting thereon, October 19, 1900, a conglomerate boulder from Wilkes-Barre Mountain, to which is fixed a bronze tablet bearing an appropriate inscription- but erroneous in one respect, in that it sets forth that Forty Fort was built in 1770.
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ing, and not spared by caprice, was burnt. In Wilkes-Barré the fort and the public buildings forming a part of it, together with some dwel- ling-houses, were set on fire and consumed on Sunday, July 5th. Now, in addition, nearly all the buildings in the lower end of the town-plot were destroyed. The Valley below Forty Fort presented one wide scene of conflagration and ruin.
The most of the few inhabitants yet remaining in the Valley-apart from the small number occupying Forty Fort-were compelled to leave, nearly destitute of clothing, provisions, and the necessaries of life. In 1794, in the case of Van Horne vs. Dorrance, William Gallup (see page 629) deposed as follows relative to the state of affairs in Wyoming after the capitulation of Forty Fort. "We were not to be plundered, but they plundered ns of everything. They kept us three or four days, then told us to go. 180 women and children, accompanied by only thirteen men,
THE DESTRUCTION OF WILKES-BARRÉ. Photo-reproduction of an old engraving published in France and entitled "Disastre de Vioming."
went together. They suffered extremely, all on foot, barefoot, bare- headed, in great want of provisions. Two women were delivered in the woods."
Col. John Franklin, in his letters previously mentioned, gives the following account of his escape from the Valley.
"After Major Butler, with the main body of the enemy had left Kingston [in the evening of July 4th, after the surrender of Forty Fort], I set out with four others to go in search of my family, which I had left in Huntington. The Indians stopped us, and said ' May-be some bad Indians kill you;' that we must stay in the fort two days, when they would go with us. We returned back into the fort, and at night lay down under a wagon; made several attempts to get off, but could not succeed without being discovered, until near morning [of Sunday, July 5th], when we got down to the bank of the river, rose the bank, and crossed the road into the woods. When we reached the hill* opposite to Wilkes-Barré, we looked back and saw the smoke of the buildings following us down from Kingston fort; the smoke also rising from the buildings in Wilkes-Barré. We passed down through ' Shawnee ' [Plymouth], which was deserted by all its inhabitants. We had passed through but a short distance when we discovered that the fire was follow- ing us. The whole of the settlements were laid in ruins as speedily as the enemy could spread the fire. All such property as they could not drive or carry off was burnt or otherwise destroyed. The families which lived below Kingston fort drove off some of
* Now known as Ross Hill.
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their cattle-as many as they could find; but they were inostly in the woods, and they had no time to look them up. A few families remained at Wilkes-Barre, but the great body of the inhabitants fled in every direction. Hundreds of women and children, turn- ing their backs upon the mangled corpses of their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons -who were left on the battle-ground without inhumation-their dwellings enveloped in flames, and their personal property either carried off by the enemy, or burnt in their dwellings. Some went down the river, while others pursued the different roads to the Delaware. Numbers of women, with children in their arms and other small children by their sides, traveled on foot through to the Delaware. A Mrs. Tubbs, f an old lady upwards of seventy years of age, traveled through barefoot, with a grand-child in her arms. Some families that went down the river made a stand at Catawissa. Of those who went east, many stopped at the Delaware, while several hundred continued their march on foot, with their little ones, to the States of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Several died on the way. It is impossible to give an adequate idea of the fatigue and distress attending the retreat of the inhabitants from Wyoming."
In a general way the reader has already learned that the Wyoming fugitives quit the Valley by different routes. Quite a large number, particularly from the upper end of the Valley, mnade their way to the Delaware by the " Upper Road," running near the Lackawanna River and then crossing the mountains to the Lackaway District of Westmore- land .¿ This was by far the best road leading out of the Valley, as con- siderable work had been done on it by the Westmorelanders, who trav- eled it in journeying to and from New York and New England. Not a few-chiefly from Newport, Hanover and lower Wilkes-Barre-toiled along the rough and long-untraveled "Warrior Path" (previously de- scribed), leading to Gnadenhütten and Fort Allen on the Lehigh River. Thence they dispersed in different directions, some going across the country to Fort Penn, thirty miles north-east, and others going down the Lehigh to Bethlehem and to Easton. § From the diaries in the Moravian Archives at Bethlehem we get the following information :
"[ Bethlehem] 5 July, 1778. News reached us that Wyoming had been attacked and destroyed by Tories and Indians. 9 July. Many fugitives from Wyoming came hither. 10-11 July. Some of the wounded arrived from Wyoming, who reported that 400 of the New Englanders had been killed in the fight."
Of course none of the fugitives went up the Susquehanna, for in that direction lay the enemy, but a very large number went down the river to Catawissa, to Northumberland, to Sunbury, and even beyond. They went by water-in canoes or on hastily constructed rafts; and on foot or on horseback-following the path, or road, running along the right bank of the river from Kingston to Northumberland. When they
* One of these was the family of Jonathan Slocum, mentioned more at length hereinafter.
¡ Undoubtedly Mrs. Mercy Tubbs, widow of Samuel Tubbs and mother of Lieut. Lebbeus Tubbs, mentioned on page 1001.
# Relative to the fugitives from Lackaway (see page 1020) and other Westmoreland districts, who journeyed over the "Upper Road" to the Delaware, we have the following testimony extracted from the "Public Papers of George Clinton" (III : 539). At "Minisink" (see note on page 189, Vol. I), under the date of July 10, 1778, Benjamin Tusten, Jr., Jacob Newkirk and Henry Wisner wrote to Governor Clinton at Poughkeepsie, New York, in part as follows: "The confirmation of intelligences, &c., made it necessary for us to repair to this place [from Goshen] with the militia of Colonels Mc- Claghry's and Allison's regiments, and on our arrival found things in the greatest confusion. Some few men, with women and children by hundreds, are flocking from Wyoming, where, by the concur- rent testimony of numbers, the most horrid scenes of savage barbarity have been exhibited, and sun- dry families are moving from hence to the Eastward, which was not in our power to prevent till last evening, by the arrival of Captain Cuddeback from Coshethton, where he had been with a small scout- ing party-whose report, as herein inclosed, quieted in some measure apprehensions of immediate danger."
§ News of the Wyoming disaster reached Easton on July 6, 1778, as we learn from the following extract from a letter written at Easton on that day by Robert Levers to Vice President Bryan of the Supreme Executive Council, at Philadelphia. (See Pennsylvania Archives, 1st Series, VI : 371.) "Capt. Alexander Patterson, about an hour ago, came to this place and gave me the disagreeable account of a large body of Indians and Tories having cut off the settlements at Wyoming; and also that another party are at Cushetunck on the Delaware. * * * Two companies [the combined Wyoming companies under Captain Spalding] of about eighty men, of the Continental troops, are stationed, I understand, at Pocono, or the Second Blue Mountain, at one John Learn's [tavern], whither the inilitia, I believe, are repairing. John Learn's is about twenty-eight miles from Easton, and about forty from Wyoming."
1 See Pennsylvania Magazine, XIII : 83.
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reached the settlements at and below Fishing Creek they caused great consternation among the inhabitants there, many of whom joined the fugitives in their onward flight. Concerning the situation at and near Sunbury at that time we have the following information, gleaned from letters* written at Paxtang on Sunday, July 12, 1778, and addressed to the Supreme Executive Council of the State, at Philadelphia. Matthew Smith wrote : "I am this moment arrived at Mr. Harris' ferry, f and just now behold the greatest scenes of distress I ever saw. The numer- ous poor ran away from their habitations and left their all." William Maclay (mentioned on page 759) wrote as follows :
" I write you this letter with reluctance, as I am certain it must give pain to any man of sensibility. I left Sunbury, and almost my whole property, on Wednesday last [July 8th ]. * * I never in my life saw such scenes of distress. The river and the roads leading down it were covered with men, women and children flying for their lives -many without any property at all, and none who had not left the greatest part behind. In short, Northumberland County is broken up. Col. [Samuel] Hunter only remained, using his utmost endeavors to rally some of the inhabitants and to make a stand, how- ever short, against the enemy. I left him with very few-he had not 100 men on whom he could depend. Wyoming is totally abandoned-scarce a single family remained between that place and Sunbury when I came away. The panic and spirit of flight has reached even to this place-many having moved even out of this township-and almost every one is thinking of some place of greater security. * * *
"For God's sake-for the sake of the Country-let Colonel Hunter be reinforced at Sunbury. Send him but a single company if you cannot do more. * * Something in the way of charity ought to be done for the many miserable objects that crowd the banks of this river-especially those who fled from Wyoming. They are a people, you know, I did not use to love, but I now most sincerely pity their distress. The women and children, in general, are now removed out of Northumberland County, and I cannot but hope that the men will most cheerfully return with the first troops that go up that way."
By far the largest number of fugitives left Wyoming by way of the " Lower Road "-which passed up through Solomon's Gap, then ran in a north-easterly direction along the eastern base of Wilkes-Barré Moun- tain for about two miles, and then took a course for the most part south- easterly. At a point about nine miles (by the road) from Wilkes-Barré was Nathan Bullock's house and clearing, previously referred to; two and a-half miles farther on the road entered Bear Swamp, and ran for a mile and a-quarter through it-crossing, a little more than midway, Bear Creek. Two and a-quarter miles beyond Bear Swamp the road entered the "Great Swamp" (described, in part, in the note on page 329, Vol. I), through which it ran for fifteen miles. In the depths of these swamps (particularly the Great Swamp) were, at that period and for many years later, the lairs of wolves, bears, panthers, wild-cats and foxes, while rattlesnakes-some of them seven and eight feet in length -abounded.
Fleeing women and children thronged this road, with here and there a man to advise. All was confusion, consternation and horror. Whichever way the afflicted people turned their eyes, Death seemed to stare them in the face. Some died of excitement and fatigue, others of hunger and exposure, while many were lost, who never found their way out of the wilderness. Hundreds were never seen again after they turned their backs on Wyoming. By what sufferings and tortures they died the world will never know. One part of the Great Swamp was particularly dreary and dismal, and, on account of the number of fugi- tives who fell and perished in its mire and among its thorny brambles,
* See Pennsylvania Archives, Ist Series, VI : 632, 634.
¡ Now Harrisburg. # Mentioned on page 664.
FLIGHT OF THE INHABITANTS FROM WYOMING. After the battle and massacre in July, 1778.
Photo-reproduction of an original drawing by Denman Fink in 1902, By courtesy of Charles Scribner's Sons.
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it was called "The Shades of Death"-which name it still bears. Botta, in his history of the Revolutionary War, gives an account of the battle and massacre of Wyoming, and, in concluding it, states :
"Those who survived the massacre were no less worthy of our commiseration. They were women and children who had escaped to the mountains at the time their hus- bands, fathers and friends expired under the blows of the barbarians. Dispersed and wandering in the wilderness as chance and fear directed their steps, without clothes, without food, without guide, these defenseless fugitives suffered every degree of distress. Several of the women were delivered of children alone in the woods, at a great distance from every possibility of relief or help. The most robust and resolute only escaped, the others perished; their bodies and those of their helpless infants became the prey of wild beasts."
Jabez Fish, who was in the battle, escaped, but not being able to join his family, was supposed by them to have fallen. Mrs. Fish has- tened with her children through the wilderness. Overcome with fatigue and want her infant died. Sitting down a moment, on a stone, to see it draw its last breath, she gazed at its face with unutterable anguish. There was no way to dig a grave, and to leave the dead babe to be devoured by wolves seemed worse than death ; so she took the little body in her arms and carried it twenty miles till she came to a Gerinan settlement. There was one company of about one hundred women and children, with but a single man-Jonathan Fitch, Sheriff of the county of Westmoreland-to advise and aid them. William Searle, a son of Constant Searle, Sr., of Kingston, went out over the "Lower Road " with a company of twelve women and children in his care. They left Forty Fort on the 7th or 8th of July and arrived at Fort Penn on the 13th. There they received from Colonel Stroud a "recommendation and pass " which is still in existence .* It reads as follows :
" Permit the bearers, Serg't WILLIAM SEARLE, with twelve women and children in company with him, to pass unmolested to some part of the State of Connecticut where they may be able, by their industry, to obtain an honest living-they being part of the unhappy, distressed people drove off from Wyoming by the Tories and Indians, and are truly a stripped and distressed people, and their circumstances call for the charity of all Christian people; and [they] are especially recommended by me to all authority, both civil and military, and to all Continental officers and Commissaries, to issue provisions and other necessaries for their relief on the road.
" Given under my hand at Fort Penn, July 14, 1778. [Signed] "JACOB STROUD, Col."
The endorsements upon the back of the foregoing recommendation show that the bearers thereof received provisions, etc., at the places and on the dates following, to wit : Newtown, Sussex County, New Jersey, July 18; Fishkill Landing, New York, August 30; Hartford, Connecti- cut, September 14. The following is a verbatim copy of another pass- portt issued by Colonel Stroud to Wyoming refugees.
1 "Permit PETER FINCH with five of his family to pass to Stanford in Connecticut, being one of the distressed families from Westmoreland on Susquehannah. They are recommended to the Charity of all Good People, as they are plundered of every thing valuable by the Tories and Indians. In particular they are Recommended to all Officers civil and military to afford all the ade & assistance their distrest Sircomstances require- in particular with Provision.
"Given under my hand at Fort Penn 14th Day of July 1778." [Signed] "JACOB STROUD, Col. &c."
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