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 94
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"Colonel Hartley's regiment (except those who are ordered to stay with Capt. [James] Kenney), Captain Murray's company, and the volunteers from Northumberland, are to draw and cook three days' provisions-exclusive of the present day-and be ready to march this afternoon at four o'clock."
In pursuance of the foregoing orders Colonel Hartley and his com- mand, excepting the company of Capt. James Kenney (which comprised the Captain, one Lieutenant, four Sergeants, two musicians, and forty- seven rank and file), the company of Capt. Simon Spalding, and the Wyoming militia who had participated in the expedition, set out from Wilkes-Barré about four o'clock in the afternoon of October 3d en route for Sunbury. They marched as far as Shickshinny Creek over the same road which had been traversed by Captain Bush and his detach- ment about three weeks previously ; and from Shickshinny Creek on they followed the continuation of this road to Northumberland. They arrived at Sunbury on the 5th of October, and three days later Colonel Hartley wrote from there to the Supreme Executive Council in part as follows :
" I have wrote to Congress to request that another reginient should be sent to Wyo- ming. The Indians are numerous, as well as Tories. * * * It is too late for an expe- dition against Chemung this Fall. We must only secure our posts for the Winter, and early in the Spring a body must march against their towns on this river."
With this letter Colonel Hartley forwarded the previously-mentioned " narrative " of his expedition, the concluding portion of which read as follows :
" From our observations we imagine that the same party who had fought us, after taking care of their dead and wounded had come on to Wioming, and are now in that neighborhood. I would respectfully propose that Congress would be pleased to send a Connecticut regiment to garrison Wyoming as soon as possible. It is but 120 miles from Fishkill [on the Hudson River]. I have done all I can for the good of the whole. I have given all the support in my power to that post, but if troops are not immediately sent, these settlements will be destroyed in detail. I left one-half of my detachment there [Wyoming], with five of my own officers. I arrived here with the remainder of the detachment on the 5th. We have performed a circuit of near 300 miles in about two weeks. We brought near fifty head of cattle and twenty-eight canoes, besides many other articles."t
* Relative to this incident we find the following in a letter written at Easton, Pennsylvania, Oc- tober 17, 1778, by Robert Levers, Esq., to the Supreme Executive Council at Philadelphia. "I under- stand by Colonel Denison from Wyoming that a few days ago three persons were killed near Wyoming, and another was sent in with his life, scalped to bis eyebrows almost."
1 At Fort Augusta, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, under the date of October 7, 1778, Col. Samuel Hun- ter, Lieutenant of the County of Northumberland, wrote to Vice President Bryan at Philadelphia relative to the Hartley Expedition, in part as follows (see "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, VI: 773): "The 5th inst. Colonel Hartley returned from an expedition he carried on against some of the small Indian towns on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, where be was informed there was a party of Indians and Tories assembled; but they being apprised of Colonel Hartley's march by a party of warriors he met coming to the West Branch, whom our people fired upon, and shot their Captain dead, upon which the Indians fled immediately and alarmed the towns Colonel Hartley was bound for,
1095
Upon the departure of Colonel Hartley from Camp Westmoreland the command of the troops there naturally devolved on Lieut. Col. Zebulon Butler, the ranking Continental officer of the post, and upon assuming command on October 3d he issued an order appointing his son, Lord Butler (then in the seventeenth year of his life), Quartermaster, and Mason Fitch Alden (see note, page 500, Vol. I), Foragemaster, at the post-they " to be obeyed as such in their respective offices."*
By this time quite a number (for the most part, men) of the widely- dispersed refugees from Wyoming had returned to the Valley and were temporarily settled at Wilkes-Barré. Some of these, whose homes had been either damaged or destroyed, were endeavoring to repair or rebuild the same ; others were engaged in gathering such crops as were fit to be harvested; others were sowing, or preparing the ground for, Winter grain ; while all, or nearly all, who were enrolled members of the 24th
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Reduced photo-reproduction of a portion of the Muster-roll herein described.
Regiment, Connecticut Militia, did military duty for more or less time as a part of the garrison under the command of Colonel Butler. The present writer has in his possession an original muster-roll of 117 of the officers and men belonging to the 24th, or Westmoreland, Regiment. This roll covers a period extending from June 28, 1778 (when a con-
so that they had time to put their families and chief part of their effects out of the way before he arrived there. And when he came to Tioga, where he took some Tories prisoners, they informed him that there was a town called Chemung-about ten or twelve miles from there-where there was a body of Indians, Tories, and Regulars in garrison-as good as 600 or 700.
"Colonel Hartley, after consulting his officers, thought it most expedient to return back without attempting Chemung; and so, after destroying Tioga and Sheshequin and bringing off fifty or sixty head of horned cattle and some horses they got there, besides several other articles our people brought with them in canoes, they marched towards Wyoming. In the meantime the Indians were collecting a party to intercept Colonel Hartley on his march to Wyoming, which they accomplished, and fired on our people in front, on this side of Wyalusing. * * * The enemy followed all the way to * The
* Wyoming, and scalped four of Col. James Murray's men after they arrived there. *
expedition was well conducted, considering the number of men that went with Colonel Hartley-not above 250. They brought with them five Indian scalps, besides several more of the enemy killed. Col- onel Hartley's loss was seven killed and eight wounded, including those that were killed at Wyoming."
* See "Proceedings and Collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII:122.
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siderable number of the militia were called into active service), to and including October 1, 1778. It has never heretofore been published, and, so far as now known, is the only muster-roll of Westmoreland militia belonging to the 24th Regiment now in existence. With the very-much-twisted spelling of some of the names straightened out, the roll reads as follows :
"A List of the Militia Belonging to Col. Nathan Deneson's Regt In a Detachment Commd By Zebulon Butler, Colo
Months. Days.
Months. Days.
Wm. Hooker Smith, Capt., 3. 6.
Samuel Jackson,
22.
Lebbeus Tubbs, Lieut., . 3,
6.
Peleg Comstock, 2,
5.
John Comstock, Ensign,
3,
6.
James Hedley, .
1,
15.
Daniel Ingersoll, Serg't, 3, 6. Samuel Dart, 2,
John Staples, Serg't, . 2, 22.
Asahel Nash, . 2,
5.
Elias Church, Serg't, 1,
15.
Rufus Lawrence,
2,
5.
Samuel Cummings, Serg't, 1,
Elisha Harvey,
2,
5.
William Hibbard, Serg't, 2,
Eldad Kellogg, Corp'l, 3,
6.
Josiah Pell, 2,
5.
Solomon Bennet, Corp'l, 2,
5.
Joseph Thomas, 2,
1,
15.
Josiah Kellogg, 3,
6.
Gabriel Ferguson, 1,
15.
Calvin Eaton, 3,
6.
Elisha Blackman, Jr., 2,
5.
Samuel Dunn, .
2,
5.
William Avery, . 2,
5.
Joshua Terry,
2,
5.
Jedidiah Cummings, 1,
15.
Jonathan Terry,
2,
5.
Elisha Blackman, Ensign, 1,
15.
Parshall Terry, Sr.,
3,
6.
Roasel Franklin, Lieut., 1,
15.
Andrew Blanchard, :
2,
John Jameson, 1,
15.
Ward Williams,
3,
6.
Jonathan Forsythe, 1,
15.
William Reynolds,
2,
5.
Walter Spencer, . 1,
15.
Asahel Brown,
2,
5.
William Jameson, 1,
15.
Elijah Bennet, .
2,
5.
1, Justus Gaylord, 15.
15.
Caleb Spencer,
15.
Nathan Carey, . 2,
5.
Ezekiel Peirce, .
1,
15.
Waite Garrett,
2,
5.
Thomas Bennet,
1,
15.
Peter Siff [Skiff ?], 1,
15.
Justus Pickett, .
1,
15.
Edward Lester, . 2,
5.
Elihu Williams, 1,
15.
Giles Slocum, 2,
5.
Thomas Stoddart,
1,
15.
Isaac Tripp, 1,
15.
Francis Garrett,
1,
15.
Thaddeus Williams, 1,
15.
Ebenezer Hebard,
1,
15.
John Hutchins, . 1,
15.
John Sutter,
1,
15.
Matthias Hollenback, 1,
15.
Samuel Gardner,
1,
15.
John Franklin, Capt.,. 3,
6.
Uriah Marvin,
1,
15.
James Bidlack, Capt., 1,
15.
Joshua Bennet, .
1,
15.
Robert Carr, Capt., 1,
15.
William Nelson,
15.
Stephen Fuller, Serg't, 1,
15.
James Lasley, 1,
15.
Jonathan Corey, 1,
15.
John Hyde,
15.
Josiah Smith, . 1,
15.
William Ross,
15.
Samuel Ayres, 1,
15.
John White, 1,
15.
Samuel Franklin, 1,
15.
Nathan Bullock, 1,
15.
John Abbott, . 1,
1,
15.
Joseph Disberry, .
2,
5.
Samuel Jackson, 2,
5.
Luke Swetland, 1,
15.
15.
Benjamin Cole, 1,
15.
James Frisbie,
15.
Jabez Sill, . 1,
15.
Zerah Fitch, .
1,
15.
Isaac Williams, 1,
15.
Isaac Bennet, Jr., 1,
15.
Nathaniel Landon,
1,
15.
Thomas Sawyer, . 1,
15.
William Hyde,
1,
15.
Benjamin Ashley, 1,
15.
Richard Inman, 1,
15.
Daniel Sherwood, 1,
15.
Isaac Inman, 1,
15.
David Lindsey, . 1,
15.
John Perkins, 1,
15.
Cummings, 1,
15.
Aaron Perkins, 1,
15.
Jonathan Prisket [Prescott?], 1,
15.
James Nesbitt, 1,
15.
Benjamin Stephens,. . 22.
David Marvin, . 1,
15.
Joseph Hageman, . 1,
15.
Ephraim Mc Coy, 1,
15.
Timothy Keyes, Lieut. 1,
15."
Benjamin Harvey, . 1, 15.
·
Isaac Bennet,
1,
22.
Robert Hopkins, 1,
1,
1,
1,
15.
Matthias Van Loon,
15.
John Van Tillbury, Kelley,
1, 1,
15.
Joseph Blanchard, 1,
15.
William Smith,
1,
1,
1,
15. 5.
Christopher Hurlbut, 2,
5.
5.
Noah Pettebone, 3, 6. David Inman,
5. Phineas Spafford, . 2,
15.
5.
Benjamin Bailey, 2,
5.
1097
Upon the back of this roll, in the well-known handwriting of Col. Zebulon Butler, is the following endorsement : " The Within is Taken to the first Day of Octor 1778." A reduced photo-reproduction of this endorsement is here given.
The Within is Taken to the first day of Stories
After a very careful consideration of this roll, as well as of all the authentic information obtainable relative to the military services per- formed in the Summer of 1778 by the men whose names appear in the roll, but one conclusion can be reached by the writer, and that is: Between June 28 and October 1, inclusive, each man named in the roll served, altogether, in one way or another-consecutively or otherwise- the number of months and days therein duly credited to him.
Eleven of these men served, each, three months and six days-the full period covered by the roll. Therefore they were in service at the time of the battle of Wyoming. Of these men, we know that on July 3d Capt. William Hooker Smith was at Fort Wilkes-Barré; Daniel Ingersoll was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy; Capt. John Franklin was marching with a squad of his company from Huntington to Forty Fort.
Twenty-seven of the men are credited with two months and five days each. Of these, the names of the following appear in the list of "Survivors " on the Wyoming Monument* : Elisha Blackman, Jr., Solomon Bennet, Nathan Carey, William Hibbard, Josiah Pell, Phineas Spafford and Giles Slocum. From various other reliable sources we learn that, in addition to the foregoing, the following-named-credited on the roll in question with having served two months and five days each-were in the battle, and escaped : Wait Garrett, Elisha Harvey, William Reynolds, Sr., and Jonathan Terry.
Seventy-five of the men are credited with one month and fifteen days each, and of these the following-named are enrolled in the list of "Survivors" inscribed on the Monument: John Abbott, Roasel Frank- lin, Ebenezer Hibbard, Matthias Hollenback, David Inman, Richard Inman, John Jameson and Walter Spencer. Relative to some of the other men who served one month and fifteen days, we know that on July 3d Elisha Blackman, Sr., was on duty at Fort Wilkes-Barré; Thomas Ben- net was in Forty Fort ; Capt. James Bidlack, Sr., was in command of Shawnee Fort; Capt. Robert Carr was at Forty Fort, and undoubtedly marched out to the battle; Francis Garrett was in the battle ; Benja- min Harvey was employed on special military service (see pages 994 and 995) ; Isaac Inmian was in the battle ; William Jameson was in the battle ; Lieut. Timothy Keyes was with his company in Pittston Fort ; David and Uriah Marvin were in the battle; William Ross was at Fort
* See Chapter XXVII.
.
1098
Wilkes-Barre ; Luke Swetland was at Forty Fort, and probably took part in the battle ; Elihu Williams, [Sr.], was in the battle.
Upon the whole, we are firmly convinced that, with the exception of Benjamin Harvey (who, as narrated on page 994, was riding express to Fort Jenkins), every man whose name appears in this list was in Wyoming Valley on July 3, 1778; and (with the exception of Daniel Ingersoll, who was a prisoner in the hands of the enemy) either took part in the battle of Wyoming, or was engaged in military service at one of the forts, or elsewhere. All, as set forth in the caption of the muster- roll under consideration, were certainly enrolled members of the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia.
Immediately upon assuming command of the Wyoming, or West- moreland, Post on October 3d, Colonel Butler set about the erection of a fortification more capacious and substantial than the stockade on South Main Street which the garrison had been occupying since early in August. The new fort (which subsequently received the name of " Fort Wyoming ") was built by laying two rows of logs horizontally, four feet apart, and filling up the space between with earth, well tamped down. The solid wall-six or more feet in thickness-thus formed, was carried up to a height of seven feet, and all around the inside of the square inclosure formed by the wall a platform, or bench, was built, standing upon which the occupants of the fort were able to deliver their fire over the top of the wall. All around the outside of the wall a ditch was dug, and beyond this was placed an abattis, formed by setting firm- ly in the ground, in a row, the tops of pitch-pine trees, with their boughs -which were trimmed and sharpened-pointing outwards. Embra- sures were constructed at different points in the wall, through which cannon could be fired, while the four corners of the fort were rounded, so as to flank on all sides. The inclosure contained about half an acre of ground, and cabins, or barracks, were provided therein for the garrison. A gate opened towards the south-west, and access to a copious spring of water at the margin of the river was had by a protected way. After the completion of the fort, in the latter part of October, 1778, two small block-houses were erected on the river bank at a short distance from the upper, or north-easterly, side of the fort. These were intended for the shelter of the inhabitants whose homes had been destroyed, and who could not be accommodated in the fort.
Sheldon Reynolds, Esq., President of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, who wrote the chapter on the forts "within the Wyoming Valley region," which is printed in " Frontier Forts of Penn- sylvania," states (see Vol. I, page 458, of the work mentioned) that the new Fort Wyoming was built in 1778 "on the site of the old Fort Wyo- ming, on the river bank, about ten rods below the junction of North- ampton and River Streets." Following Mr. Reynolds-as well as some earlier writers-the present writer has made the same statement (see pages 678, 686 and 818, ante) ; and on June 14, 1899, Wyoming Val- ley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution marked this site by a very substantial stone monument bearing a suitably-inscribed bronze tablet.
Charles Miner, the author of the " History of Wyoming," came to Wilkes-Barré to reside in the Summer of 1800, and in various news- paper articles written by him a number of years later he declared that
1099
when he came here some of the outlines of Fort Wyoming could still be traced, "on the river bank, in front of the Butler house." In some of his writings Mr. Miner stated that the site of the fort was "in front of " the Butler house, and in other writings that it was "opposite " that house. Some subsequent writers (without doubt drawing their infor- mation from Mr. Miner's writings) located the site of the fort at the same place.
1
The Butler house (see page 637)* stood facing the river, at the south corner of Northampton and River Streets-these streets being located in 1778 and 1779 exactly as they are located now, except that Northampton Street extended across the Common to the margin of the river, where the Wilkes-Barre ferry was located. The words "in front of" and "opposite" have, of course, been assumed as indicating that Fort Wyoming stood on the Common between the Butler house and the edge of the river bank immediately opposite. It is quite possible-in fact it is very probable-that the old Fort Wyoming (erected by the Pennamites in 1771) stood at that point ; but if it was located there, it is indisput- able that the newe Fort Wyoming (built by Colonel Butler in 1778) was not erected on that site.
In the archives of the New York Historical Society is the " De Witt Collection of Maps"-containing original manuscript maps carefully plotted by certain skilled and experienced geographers, or topographical engineers, of the Continental army, after surveys made by them in the Spring of 1779 preliminary to the construction of what was subse- quently known as the " Sullivan Road "-which terminated in North- ampton Street, as it then existed, in the old town-plot of Wilkes-Barre. (See Chapter XVIII.) Since page 678, ante, was printed, the present writer has had the privilege of carefully examining these inaps, and on two of them-one being plotted on a scale of two inches to one mile, and the other on a scale of one inch to two miles-he has found North- ampton Street (as it then existed), the Susquehanna River, Fort Wyo- ming and the two small block-houses adjoining it, the house of Colonel Butler (so designated), and two buildings (not named, but undoubtedly barracks) on River Street a little way north of Northampton Street, all carefully and plainly noted. The lower, or south-western, end of Fort Wyoming (shown on these maps as being located on the River Common) is represented as standing on the line of Northampton Street extended to the river. This would indicate that the gate of the fort (mentioned by all writers who have described the fort as being at the west or south-west end, or side, of the structure) opened on the extension of Northampton Street-in other words, on the road running directly along the south-western wall of the fort to the ferry.
Undoubtedly, then, if we may rely on these maps (and there is no known reason why we should not), Fort Wyoming, erected in October, 1778, stood on the River Common just north of the junction of River and Northampton Streets, and extended up the Common to a point oppo- site the residence of the late Sheldon Reynolds. In common parlance this location was "opposite the Butler house," although it was not "in front of " it. The fact that this was the location of Fort Wyoming is
* The writer has been unable to find any where any evidence to indicate that Col. Zebulon Butler's house (erected in 1773, as noted on page 636) was destroyed when Wilkes-Barre was burnt in July, 1778. If it was, it was rebuilt before June, 1779. It is very probable, however, that the house was one of the few in the town-plot which escaped total, or even partial, destruction at the time mentioned.
1100
further substantiated by the pen and ink sketch made by Lieut. Colonel Hubley at Wilkes-Barré in the Summer of 1779, and reproduced in Chapter XVIII, post, with the title, "A Sketch of the Encampment at Wyoming in 1779." While this sketch was not drawn to a scale, yet it plainly indicates that Fort Wyoming was located on the River Common, close to the edge of the bank, and north-east of the extension of North- ampton Street-the location of which street, as a part of the "Sullivan Road," is shown in the sketch by a dotted line. In this Hubley sketch a " redoubt " is noted at a point on the Common south-west of Fort Wyoming. This was a substantial work of defense which was erected after the "Sullivan Road " was opened, about which time the block- houses which had stood on the upper side of the fort were demolished .* The " redoubt " stood nearly in front of the Butler house, and, provided Mr. Miner had not in mind the traces of the fort farthier up the Com- mon which perhaps were visible when he came to Wilkes-Barré, it may have been the outlines of this latter work which " could still be traced " about the year 1800.
At " Camp Westmoreland," Wilkes-Barré, under the date of Octo- ber 9, 1778, Colonel Butler issued the followingt :
"Garrison Orders. That the officers of the guard see that no horses or cattle be suffered to be within the lines of the fort;} and to see that there be no cooking in the fort excepting in the houses that have chimneys; and to see that the fort be swept clean every morning before the guard is relieved; and likewise to still all noises within hearing of the fort after tattoo-beating; and to take up all straggling persons in and about the fort after tattoo-beating.
"A garrison court-martial held at Westmoreland October 9, 1778, by order of Col- onel Butler, for to try such prisoners as may be brought before them. Captain Kenney, President; Lieutenants Peirce, Gore, Forseman and Tubbs, members. Prisoner Benjamin Clark brought before the Court for disobedience of orders, the prisoner plead guilty, but says the reason was because he had no shoes for to march in. The Court finding the prisoner guilty, are of opinion he shall have seventy-five lashes well laid on his bare back, at retreat-beating. The Colonel approves the sentence, and orders it put in execu- tion accordingly.
"As Benjamin Clark hasthe character of a good soldier, the commanding officer thinks proper to forgive him for this time, and hopes this will be sufficient warning to him and his brother soldiers not to refuse doing their duty for the future."
On October 14th William Jameson, § while on his way from the garrison in Wilkes-Barré to the ruined homes of his father and brother in Hanover, in order to ascertain the condition of things there, was shot by Indians near where the bridge crosses Buttonwood Creek, a short distance below the city of Wilkes-Barré. Being wounded, he fell from his horse, and attempted to gain the woods, but was overtaken, toma- hawked and scalped by his foes. Although a portion of his brains was dashed out by the blow of the tomahawk, nevertheless he lived for two days in that condition-dying on October 16th.
At "Camp Westmoreland, October 19, 1778," Colonel Butler issued the following :
"Orders that the whole of the Continental soldiers and * that are off duty, and the militia of Capt. [William Hooker] Smith's company, turn out to-morrow morning
* For a more detailed account of these works of shelter and defense, see Chapter XVIII.
¡ See "Proceedings and Collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII:122. # This was the new Fort Wyoming, in process of construction.
§ WILLIAM JAMESON, born at Voluntown, Windham County, Connecticut, December 19, 1753, was the fourth child of Robert and Agnes (Dixson) Jameson, then of Voluntown, but later of Hanover, in Wyoming Valley. He removed to Hanover in 1776, and in 1778 was a private in the 5th Company, 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia. He was with his company in the battle of Wyoming, was wound- ed, and had the lock of his gun shot off, but managed to escape from the battle-ground by the aid of his brother John. With the other Jamesons he fled to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, whence he returned with his brother and joined the detachment of militia under the command of Lieut. Colonel Butler-as noted on page 1096. Near the spot in Hanover Township where William Jameson fell, Stewart Pearce, Esq., a kinsman, erected about 1879 a marble pillar bearing an appropriate inscrip- tion commemorative of the event. (For a sketch of the Jameson family, see a subsequent chapter.)
1101
at half after six, with all the tools they can collect; and the inhabitants are desired to lend a hand, with themselves and teamis all to work on the fort; and the officers are desired to attend. The commanding officer flatters himself that they will turn out so generally that the fort will be so near done that the next day we can attend to bury the remains of our friends that lost their lives in the late battle at this place; and that for the [present ] there be no fatigue rum issued, only to fatigue parties and scouts."
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