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 87
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"The Tories and Indians had given some disturbance to these settlements last year, * and the Tories concealed themselves among our different settlements. * * The inhabitants having discovered that many of the Tories who had stirred up the Indians and been with them in fighting against us, were within the settlements, twenty-seven of them were in January last taken up and secured. Of these, eighteen were sent to Con- necticut; the rest, after being detained some time and examined, were, for want of suffi- cient evidence, set at liberty. They immediately joined the enemy, and became active in raising in the Indians a spirit of hostility against us. * * *
"Saturday morning, July 4th, the enemy sent 196 scalps into Fort Kingston [Forty Fort], which they invested on the land side, and kept up a continual fire upon. That evening [Saturday, July 4th] Col. Zebulon Butler with his family quitted the fort and went down the river. Col. Nathan Denison went with a flag to Exeter Fort to know of Col. John Butler what terms he would grant on a surrender. Butler answered, 'The hatchet !' Col. Denison returned to Fort Kingston, which he defended till Sunday morn- ing, when his men being nearly all killed or wounded he could hold out no longer, and was obliged to surrender at discretion.
" The enemy took away some of the unhappy prisoners, and shutting up the rest in the houses set fire to them, and they were all consumed together. These infernals then crossed the river to Fort Wilkesbury [Wilkes-Barre], which in a few minutes surrendered at discretion. About seventy of the men, who had listed in the Continental service to defend the frontiers, they inhumanly butchered; and then, shutting up the rest, with the women and children, in the houses, they set fire to them, and they all perished together in the flames. After burning all the buildings in the fort they proceeded to the destruction of every building and improvement (except what belonged to some Tories). * * * . When these miscreants had destroyed the other improvements they pro- ceeded to destroy the crops on the ground, letting in the cattle and horses to the corn, and cutting up as much as they could, or what was left. Great numbers of the cattle they shot and destroyed, and cutting out the tongues of many others, left them to perish.
" Captains James Bidlack, Robert Durkee and Samuel Ransom being made prisoners by the enemy, they stripped Bidlack, tied him to a tree, and stuck him full of sharp splinters of pine knots; then, piling a heap of pine knots around him, they set all on fire, put Durkee and Ransom into the fire, and held them down with pitchforks. * * * Parshall Terry, [Jr. ], the son of a man who bore a very respectable character, had several times sent his father word that he hoped to wash his hands in his heart's blood. Agree- able to such a horrid declaration, the monster, with his own hands, murdered his father, mother, brothers and sisters, stripped off their scalps, and cut off his father's head."
This article was reprinted, verbatim, in the Pennsylvania Packet of July 30, 1778. It also appeared later, wholly or in part, in other newspapers throughout the country, and subsequently was published in The Remembrancer (VII : 51) for 1778-'79. A long account (herewith reprinted)* of the battle and massacre of Wyoming came out in Dods-
* "Although some tribes of the Indians-particularly of those commonly called the Six Nations-had sent congratulations to General Gates on his success at Saratoga, and seemed to enjoy great satisfaction in that event; and that others took different opportunities for expressing similar sentiments, yet the presents which they continually received from England, the industry of the British agents, and the influence of the great number of American refugees who had taken shelter amongst them-all operating in conjunction upon their own native and unconquerable passion for rapine-soon led them to contra- dict in act their sentiments or professions upon that occasion.
"The success which attended the small expeditions undertaken by individuals of different tribes, under the guidance of the refugees (who knew where to lead them directly to spoil, and how to bring them off without danger), soon spread the contagion of havock through the adjoining nations, so that, in a little time, destruction raged very generally through the new settlements on the back of the north- ern and middle Colonies. Col. [John] Butler, whose name we have seen as an Indian Agent and com- mander in the wars on the side of Canada [sic], and who had great influence with some of the northern nations of that people, together with one [Joseph] Brant, an half Indian by blood, a man of desperate courage, but, as it is said by the Americans, ferocious and cruel beyond example, were the principal leaders in these expeditions. The vast extent of the frontiers, the scattered and remote situation of the settlements, the nature of the combined enemy-which seemed to coalesce in one point of action all the properties of British, American and savage warfare- * afforded them such advantages in these * expeditions that the wretched settlers found all personal resistance as ineffectual as public protection was impracticable. To complete their calamity, submission could procure no mercy; nor was age, sex or condition, in too many instances, capable of allaying the fury of their enemy.
"In this course of havock, the destruction of the fine, new and flourishing settlement of WYOMING was particularly calamitous to the Americans. That district, situated on the Eastern Branch of the
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Susquehanna, in a most beautiful country and delightful climate, although claimed by, and in the nat- ural order of things seeming properly to appertain to, Pennsylvania, was, notwithstanding, since the last [French and Indian] War, settled and cultivated with great ardor by a numerous swarm from the pop- ulous hive of Connecticut. This measure was, however, so much opposed and resented by Pennsylvania, and so obstinately supported by its antagonist, that after much altercation it became at length the foun- dation of an actual war between the two Colonies, in which they engaged with such earnestness that it was not even terminated by the contest with the mother country, until the danger grew so near and so imminent to both sides as, of necessity, to supersede for the present all other considerations. * * *
"The settlement of WYOMING consisted of eight townships, each containing a square of five miles, beautifully situated on both sides of the Susquehanna. In such a country, situation and climate as we have described, and blest with a soil luxuriantly fertile-where every man possessed an abundance (which was, however, the fruit of moderate labour and industry), where no man was very rich nor very great-the inhabitants exhibited upon the whole such a picture of primeval happiness as has seldom been equalled; and such, indeed, as humanity in its present state seems scarcely capable of exceeding. The settlement increased, and throve accordingly. And, notwithstanding its infant state and the opposition they met from Philadelphia, population was already become so vigorous amongst them that they had sent 1,000 [sic] men to serve in the Continental army. Yet, with this excessive drain from the cultivation of a new Colony, their farms were still so loaded with plentiful crops of every kind, and their pastures so abundantly covered with cattle, that their supplies to the army in those respects were at least in full proportion to that which they afforded in men. "Nor had they been deficient in providing against those dangers to which, from their remote situation, they were particularly exposed, and had accordingly con- structed for that purpose no less than four forts, which seemed, at least, fully sufficient to cover the settlement from the irruptions of the savages.
"But neither the happiness of climate, the fertility of soil, nor the remoteness of situation could prevent the evils of party and political discord from springing up amongst them. It might indeed appear from the supply of men which they had sent to the army that only one political principle per- vaded the settlement-a supply so ill suited to the state and strength of an infant colony that it seems difficult whether to admire more the excess of zeal from which it proceeded, or the total want of pru- dence, policy and wisdom under which it was directed. But notwithstanding this appearance, they had no inconsiderable mixture of Loyalists among themselves, and the two parties were actuated by senti- ments of the most violent animosity. Nor were these animosities confined to particular families or places, or marked by any line of distinction; but, creeping within the roofs and to the hearths and boards where they were least expected, served-as it afterwards fatally appeared-equally to poison the sources of domestic security and happiness, and to cancel the laws of nature and humanity.
"It would seem extraordinary-if such instances had not occurred upon other occasions-that this devoted people had frequent and timely warnings of the danger to which they were exposed by sending all their best men to so great a distance [i. e., to serve in the Continental army], without their taking any timely measures for their recall, or even for procuring a substitute of defence or protection. Their quiet had been interrupted by the savages, joined with marauding parties of their own countrymen, in the preceding year; and it was only by a vigorous opposition, in a course of successful skirmishes, that they had been driven off or dispersed. Several of those whom they called Tories, and others who had not before been suspected, had at that time and since abandoned the settlement; and along with a per- fect-and consequently, dangerous-knowledge of all the particulars of their situation and circum- stances, were well known to have carried along with them such a stock of private resentment (from the abasement and insults they had suffered from the prevailing party) as could not fail to give a direction to the fury, and even a new edge to the cruelty, of their savage and inveterate enemies.
"A sort of public act, which had taken place in the settlement since the last invasion, was preceded with, and productive of, circumstances which afforded cause for the greatest alarm, and for every pos- sible defensive precaution. An unusual number of strangers had, under various pretences, and the sanction of that universal hospitality which once so much distinguished America from the Old World, come into the Colony, where their behaviour became so suspicious, that they were at length taken up and examined, when such evidence appeared against several of them (of their acting in direct concert with the enemy, on a scheme for the destruction of the settlements) that about twenty were sent off under a strong guard to Connecticut, in order to be there imprisoned and tried for their lives. The remainder of these strange Tories, against whom no sufficient evidence could be procured, were only expelled. It was soon well known that this measure of sending their fellows to Connecticut, had excited the rage of those so called Tories, in general, whether in arms on the frontiers, or otherwise, in the most extreme degree; and that all the threats which had ever been denounced against this people, were now renewed with aggravated vengeance.
"As the time approached for the final catastrophe, the Indians practised a more refined dissimula- tion, if not greater treachery, than had been customary with them. For several weeks previous to the intended attack, they repeatedly sent small parties to the settlement, charged with the strongest profes- sions of friendship, declarations of the fullest desire and intention to preserve the peace inviolate on their side, and requests that the same favourable and pacific disposition might be entertained and culti- vated on the other. These parties, besides lulling the people in their present deceitful security, answered the purposes of communicating with their friends, and of observing the immediate state of affairs in the Colony. Some alarm, or sense of their danger, began, however, to spread among the peo- ple, and letters were sent to General Washington, and to others in authority, representing their situa- tion, and demanding immediate assistance.
"As the time more nearly approached, some small parties of the enemy-more impatient than the rest, or more eager and covetous to come in for the first fruits of the spoil-made sudden irruptions into the settlement, and committed several robberies and murders; in the course of which, whether through ignorance, or whether from a total contempt of all ties and obligations, they massacred the unhappy wife and five children of one of those men, who had been sent for trial, in their own cause, to Connecticut.
"At length, in the beginning of July, 1778, the enemy appeared suddenly, but in full force, on the Susquehanna. They were led by [John] Butler (that distinguished partizan, whose name we have already mentioned), who was assisted by most of those leaders who, like him, have rendered themselves terrible in the present frontier war. Their force was estimated at about 1,600 men, of whom, something less than one-fourth were Indians, led by their own chiefs. The others were disguised and painted in such a manner as not to be distinguished from the savages; excepting only their officers, who, being dressed in regimentals, carried the appearance of regulars. One of the smaller forts, which was mostly garrisoned by those called Tories, was by them given up; or, as it was said, betrayed. Another was taken by storm, where, although they massacred the men in the most inhuman manner, they spared the women and children.
"It seems odd enough, if not singular, that another Colonel Butler (and said to be a near relation to the invader) should chance to have the defence of Wyoming, either committed to his charge, or by some means fall to his lot. This man, with nearly the whole force of the settlement, was stationed in the principal fort, called Kingston; whither, also, the women, children, and defenceless of all the forts (as the only place of common refuge) crowded for shelter and protection. It would seem, from his sit- uation and force in that place, that he might there have waited, and successfully resisted, all the attempts of the enemy. But this man was so wretchedly weak that he suffered himself to be enticed by his name- sake and kinsman to abandon the advantage and security afforded by his fortress, and to devote those under his charge to certain destruction, by exposing them naked to so severe an enemy.
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"Under the colour of holding a parley for the conclusion of a treaty, he [Col. Zebulon Butler] was led into an agreement that, upon the enemy withdrawing their force, he should march out to hold a conference with them in the open field, and that at so great a distance from the fort as shut out every possibility of the protection which it otherwise afforded. To render this measure still more unaccount- able, he, at the same time, showed so great a distrust of the enemy, and seemed so thoroughly apprehen- sive of their designs, that he marched 400 men, well armed (being nearly the whole strength of his gar- rison), to guard his person to the place of parley! Upon his arrival there he was greatly surprised at finding nobody to treat with; but not being willing to return without finishing his business, he advanced towards the foot of the neighbouring mountains, still hoping that he might hear or see something of those he wanted. As the country began to grow dark and woody, a flag at length appeared, at a con- siderable distance among the bushes, the holders of which seemed so much afraid of treachery and dan- ger from his side, that they retired as he advanced, whilst he, endeavouring to remove this ill impres- sion, still pursued the flag.
"This commander of a garrison did not once perceive his danger until his party was thoroughly enclosed, and he was suddenly awakened from his dream by finding it attacked at once on every side. His behaviour in this wretched situation could scarcely have been expected from the conduct which led him into it. He and his party, notwithstanding those circumstances of surprise and danger which might have disconcerted the most veteran troops, fought with resolution and bravery, and kept up so continual and heavy a fire for three-quarters of an hour, that they seemed to gain a marked superiority over their numerous enemy. In this critical moment of danger, some sudden impulse of fear or premeditated treachery, in a soldier, which induced him to cry out aloud that the Colonel had ordered a retreat, determined at once the fate of the party, and possibly that of the final author of their ruin.
"In the state of confusion that ensued, the enemy, breaking in on all sides without obstruction, commenced an unresisted slaughter. Considering the great superiority of numbers on the side of the victors, the fleetness of the savages, and the fierceness of the whole, together with the manner in which the vanquished had been originally surrounded, it affords no small room for astonishment that the com- mander of the garrison, with about seventy of his party, should have been able to effect their escape, and to make their way good to a small fort on the other side of the river. The conquerors immediately invested Fort Kingston, and, to cheer the drooping spirits of the weak remaining garrison, sent in for their contemplation the bloody scalps of 200 of their late relations, friends and comrades.
"Colonel Dennison, the present commander of the fort, seeing the impossibility of any effectual defence (not having force sufficient even to man the works for one effort), went with a flag to Butler, to know what terms he would grant on a surrender. To this application of weakness and misery Butler, with all the phlegm of a real savage, answered in two short words, 'The hatchet!' In these dreadful circumstances the unfortunate governor, having defended his fort until most of the garrison were killed or disabled, was at length compelled to surrender at discretion. Some of the unhappy persons in the fort were carried away alive; but the barbarous conquerors, to save the trouble of murder in detail, shut up the greater part promiscuously in the houses and barracks, which having then set on fire, they enjoyed the savage pleasure of beholding the whole consumed in one general blaze.
"They then proceeded to the only remaining fort, called Wilkesborough, which, in hopes of obtain- ing mercy, was surrendered without resistance, or without even demanding any conditions. Here the tragedy was renewed with aggravated horrors. They found here about seventy of that sort of militia who are engaged by the different Provinces merely for the guard and defence of their respective fron- tiers, and who are not called to any other service. With these, as objects of particular enmity, the slaughter was begun, and they were butchered with every possible circumstance of the most deliberate, wanton and savage cruelty. The remainder of the men, with the women and children, not demanding so much particular attention, were shut up as before in the houses, which being set on fire, they per- ished all together in the flames.
"A general scene of devastation was now spread through all the townships. Fire, sword, and the other different instruments of destruction alternately triumphed. The corn-fields were set on fire, and the standing corn, now almost ready for the sickle, burnt as it grew. The houses, furniture, valuables of every kind, together with all those improvements which owed their rise to the persevering toil, and patient industry of man, were as completely destroyed as their nature, or the industry of the spoilers, would admit. The settlements of the Tories alone generally escaped, and appeared as islands in the midst of the surrounding ruin.
"It has been often observed, that the practice and habit of cruelty with respect to any particular object begets a facility in its execution, and a disposition to its commission, with regard to all others. Thus these merciless savages, when the main objects of their cruelty were exhausted, seemed to direct their animosity to every part of living nature; and, as if it were a relaxation or amusement, cut out the tongues of the horses and cattle, leaving them still alive only to prolong their agonies.
"The following are a few of the more singular or detached circumstances of barbarity which are related as parts of this massacre. A Captain Bidlack, who had been taken prisoner, being stripped naked, had his body stuck full of sharp pine splinters, and then a heap of knots of the same wood being piled round him, the whole was set on fire; and his two companions, the Captains Ransom and Durgee, thrown alive into the flames. It is said that the returned Tories, who had at different times abandoned the settlement in order to join in those savage expeditions, were the most distinguished for their cruelty. Among these, one-whose mother had married a second husband-butchered with his own hands both her, his father-in-law [sic], his own sisters and their infant children. Another, who, during his absence, had sent home several threats against the life of his father, now not only realized them in person, but was himself, with his own hands, the exterminator of his whole family; mother, brothers, and sisters, mingled their blood in one common carnage, with that of the ancient husband and father.
"However painful the task of reciting such horrible barbarities (many of the worst circumstances of which are spared), it may not be totally useless if they serve to produce a dislike of that promptitude of entering into wars (which is but too natural to people, as well as to princes), when they see the con- sequences which their passion, often for trivial and contemptible objects, so frequently produce; and by which they are led gradually, not only to great crimes and great misfortunes, but even to a total change and degradation of their nature.
"It is necessary to observe, with respect to the destruction of Wyoming, that, as no narrative of the exploits of the leaders in that transaction-whether by authority or otherwise-has as yet appeared in this country, we can only rely, for the authenticity of the facts which we have stated, upon the accounts published by the Americans. As these have already been long exposed to the view of all Europe, with- out their yet producing a single contradiction, any natural (but improper) partiality, which might be a temptation to induce us either to draw a veil over the whole, or to suppress any of the parts of that transaction, would therefore, of course, be as fruitless in the effect as disgraceful in the design. Happy should we deem it, for the honour of humanity, that the whole account was demonstrated to be a fable! The event has already shown the impolitic nature of these proceedings, which have only served to fix a bitter and lasting resentment in the minds of the colonists.
"The sufferings of the refugees (consisting mostly of women and children), the broken parts and scattered relicks of families (who had escaped to the woods during the different scenes of this devasta- tion), were little less deplorable than those of their friends who had perished in the ruins of their houses. Dispersed and wandering in the forests, as chance and fear directed their steps; without any mutual knowledge or communication; without provision or covering, they had a long tract of desert to traverse without guide or direction. They accordingly suffered every degree of distress. Several women were delivered alone in the woods, at a great distance from every possibility of relief. If these,
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ley's Annual Register for the year 1779, published early in 1780 at London, England. The famous Edmund Burke (see page 593, Vol. I) was at that time editor of the Register, and was (we have it on the authority of Col. Timothy Pickering) the author of the account in ques- tion. It will be noticed that the author states-in the third paragraph from the end-that lie relied "for the authenticity of the facts " stated "upon the accounts published by the Americans." In 1788 Dr. William Gordon's "History of the United States" was published in London, and in it appeared a very fanciful account* of the battle and inassacre of Wyoming, drawn largely, if not entirely, from the article printed in the Annual Register, as mentioned above. (See Vol. I, page 19.)
In the petition of Capt. Alexander Patterson, printed in 1804, and referred to on page 868, ante, was a brief but fabulous account (inspired by vindictive passions) of some of the incidents connected with the bat- tle of Wyoming. The account read, in part, as follows :
"It was well known at that time [1776] on the frontiers of Northampton and Northumberland Counties that the conduct of those [Wyoming] Yankees occasioned the secession of the Five Nations from the United States. As was natural to imagine, those Pennsylvania settlers who had been so cruelly robbed of their property would endeavor to regain it. Their address and moving complaints induced Joseph Brant, a well-known Indian chief, and a Colonel Butler, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to come with them to Wyoming, with a number of Indians, for the recovery of their goods and chattels. The party had arrived at Abraham's Plains; the Yankees were apprized of their being at that place, and must needs go fight them, led on by that old murderer, Lazarus Stewart -- first having drunk two barrels of whisky to stimulate their spirits. They marched in riot, with drums beating and colors flying. The result was that a number of them were killed; those who asked quarter were humanely treated, nor was a woman or child molested, only enjoined to quit the country and leave it for the rightful owners. Surely there was no propriety in calling that transaction a massacre or murder! The wretches brought it upon themselves-and so be it !
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