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 III > Part 32
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Capt. (formerly Lieutenant) John Armstrong and Lieut. Samuel Read of Lieut. Colonel Moore's corps, were sent out from Fort Dickinson early in the morning of May 12th, in command of detachments of troops, to round up certain of the Yankee settlers. Later in the day Lieutenant Read reported to Colonel Moore, in part as follows *:
"Agreeably to your Orders I marched with the detachment under my command to the neighborhood of Abraham's plains. Upon entering that settlement (which was before day light) I found two men in arms, with their horses saddled, and supposing them to be belonging to the party said to be in arms, I marched them under guard in order to prevent as far as possible my being discovered. Shortly after I perceived some men running to the mountain, with whom I exchanged a few shots, without receiving any damage.
"The men were in general absent with their arms, and, from Reports, I had reason to expect opposition.
"I proceeded with great caution to take the Locks off all the arms I could find, until I joined Capt. Armstrong. Our numbers was then respectable, which I firmly believe was the only Reason that prevented them from commencing Hostilities." * *
The same day Captain Armstrong reported to Colonel Moore in writing, in part as follows:
"Agreeably to your Instructions, I proceeded with the party under my command to Abraham's Plains, & from thence through the settlement to execute my orders. I found the men generally absent with their arms, and had frequent Reports they were assembled on the Hills, and that they intended opposition. I was shortly after joined by the party commanded by Lient. Read. Our formidable conjunction I conceive to be the Reason why we were not attacked by the Connecticut Settlers, who, I presume, were perfectly disposed to do us every injury."
Turning again to Chapman, we find the following-with respect to the goings on in Wyoming on May 12th, 13th and 14th:
"After being plundered of their little remaining property, they [the Yankee settlers] were driven from the valley and compelled to proceed on foot through the wilderness, by way of the Lackawaxen, to the Delaware, a distance of about eighty miles.t During this journey the unhappy fugitives suffered all the miseries which human nature appears to be capable of enduring. Old men, whose children had been slain in battle, widows with their infant children, and children with- out parents to protect them, were here companions in exile and sorrow. One shocking instance of suffering is related by a survivor of this scene of death. It is the case of a mother, whose infant having died, roasted it by piecemeal. for the daily subsistence of her remaining children."
at Annapolis, I found Esquire [Roger] Sherman and General Wadsworth; gave my petition to Esquire Sherman, which was laid before Congress and referred to a committee. The 10th, wrote a letter to His Excellency the Governor of Connecticut, in which I gave an account of the proceedings of the State of Pennsylvania toward us from the Decree of Trenton to this time. 19th, left Annapolis and set off for Sunbury, Pennsylvania. I got no business completed in Congress! May 25th, 1 arrived at Sunbury. The Court of Quarter Sessions of Northumberland County being held.',
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, XI : 435, 436.
+The old and then little-used "Upper Road to the Delaware", mentioned on page 646, Vol. II.
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Miner, referring to those unhappy May days of 1784, says ("History of Wyoming," page 344):
"On the 13th and 14th of May the soldiery were sent forth, and, at the point of the bayonet. with the most high-handed arrogance, dispossessed 150 families; in many instances set fire to their dwellings, avowing the intention utterly to expel them from the country. Unable to make any effectual resistance, the people implored for leave to remove either up or down the river, in boats, as with their wives and children it would be impossible, in the then state of the roads, to travel. A stern refusal met this seemingly reasonable request, and they were directed to take the Lackawaxen road, as leading the most directly to Connecticut. But this way consisted of sixty miles of wilderness, with scarce a house-the road wholly neglected during the war.
"They then begged leave to take the Easton or Stroudsburg road [the Sullivan Road], where bridges spanned the larger streams, still swollen with recent rains. All importunities were in vain, and the people fled towards the Delaware, objects of destitution and pity that should have moved a heart of marble. About 500 men, women and children, with scarce pro- visions to sustain life, plodded their weary way, mostly on foot, the road being impassable for wagons. Mothers carrying their infants, and pregnant women, literally waded streams, the water reaching to their armpits, and at night slept on the naked earth, the heavens their canopy, with scarce clothes to cover them.
"A Mr. Gardner and John Jenkins, Esq., (who had been a Representative in the Connecti- cut Assembly, and was chairman of the town-meeting which, in 1775, had adopted those noble reso- lutions in favor of liberty), both aged men and lame, sought their way on crutches. Little children, tired with traveling, crying to their mothers for bread, which they had not to give them, sank from exhaustion into stillness and slumber, while the mothers could only shed tears of sorrow and compassion, till in sleep they forgot their cares and griefs. Several of the unhappy sufferers died in the wilderness; others were taken sick from excessive fatigue, and expired soon after reaching the [Delaware River] settlements. A widow, with a numerous family of childern, whose husband had been slain in the war, endured inexpressible hardships. One child died, and she buried it as best she could beneath a hemlock log-probably to be disinterred from its shallow covering and be devoured by wolves.
"Wherever the news extended of this outrage, not on the Wyoming settlers alone, but on the common rights of humanity and justice, feelings of indignation were awakened and expressed, too emphatic to be disregarded. In no part of the Union were the sympathies of the people more generously aroused than among the just and good people of Pennsylvania."
Elisha Harding (mentioned in the note on page 993, Vol. II) returned from Connecticut to Wyoming about May 12, 1784, and in a letter which he wrote some years later he made the following statement relative to the expulsion of the Yankee settlers from Wyoming :
"When I arrived at Pittston I there found that the Pennsylvania party, so called, had raised an armed force and turned out men, women and children into the streets-many widows (whose husbands had fallen at the hands of the Savages) with their helpless children-old men and women-all in a drove, compelled to leave their all behind and travel on, followed up by the bayonets, and so drove through the wilderness to the Delaware River, a distance of sixty miles. It was a solemn scene-parents, their children crying for hunger-aged men on crutches -all urged forward by an armed force at our heels.
"I asked for permission to stay a few days, and I would then leave the settlement. The answer was, 'You shall go now!' which went down heavy. Resistance was in vain, and I had to go. I thought it was well for me that I had no one to provide for. I had a horse, and I saw an old man on crutches making the best of his way. I put my horse to a wagon where there were three families. The old man and his wife got into the wagon and I on foot, and so continued to do until we arrived in Orange County in the State of New York. The first night we encamped at Capouse [within the present limits of the city of Scranton]; the second, at Cobb's; the third, at Little Meadows, so called. Cold, hungry and drenched with rain, the poor women and children suffered much. The fourth night at Lackawack; the fifth, at Blooming-grove; the sixth, at Shohola; on the seventh, arrived at the Delaware, where the people dispersed-some going up and some down the river."
Colonel Franklin, who was nothing if not bitter in his feelings and sentiments with respect to the Pennamites, wrote as follows concerning the expulsion of the Yankees.
"The demons' disorder having come to its full height in the tools of Government placed at Wyoming, and in their regiment of assassins, actuated by the overbearing influence of their Luciferian Master [Alexander Patterson,] they proceeded to the most cruel inhuman and bar- barous acts ever committed by a set of beings in God's creation-acts which drew sackcloth over the face of human nature, and would have distorted the countenance of an Algerian pirate, or the most barbarous savage. A bloody flag being hoisted in the Garrison, Col. Zebulon Butler was first taken bail-prisoner and confined in his own house with eleven others of the inhabitants, under a guard of assassins, and treated in an inhuman manner. Small parties were sent through the different parts of the settlements, who disarmed the settlers before they could be apprised of what was going on. A small number, about twenty, of the settlers made their escape to the mountains with their arms."
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At Fort Dickinson, Wilkes-Barré, under the date of Saturday, May 15, 1784, Lieut. Col. James Moore wrote to President John Dickinson, at Philadel- phia, in part as follows *:
"In consequence of various Reports, corroborated by the inclosed depositions of two men, that a number of Connecticut Claimauts were in arms at Abraham's Plains, six miles distant from the Garrison; that they had in a very hostile manner surrounded several peaceable Citizens (who were pursuing their Industry) to the great Terror of their persons; and that numbers from the other settlements were to assemble there with their arms, in the night (which the General Commotion of the Counecticut Faction give great Reason to suspect), I conceived it necessary to detach Captain Armstrong and Lieutenant Read, (each with a detachment of fifteen men) silently in the night, to guard the Roads, and Ferries, to prevent any dangerous combination that might be intended; and in the morning to proceed through the settlement and secure the locks of all arms they could find, until some inquiry could be made into their conduct and designs. "The officers made use of every precaution to prevent their parties being discovered, and a little before day made prisoners of two men in arms, with their horses saddled, in the neighbor- hood where it was said the Rioters lay, which they conceived were acting as Centinels. Although no intelligence could be obtained from the men they had taken, they shortly after had information that the men in that country were principally assembled ou the mountain very contiguous, with their arms. This information they found too true, as they marched through the settlement to execute their instructions; some parties were discovered marching to the Hills, and a few shots were exchanged, but at so great a distance that no injury was done on either side. The officers were anxious to take some of the men they discovered making to the Hills that they might obtain some certain accounts of the number that were in arms and where they lay.
"One of the party [from the Garrison] some time after was made a prisoner and disarmed by a party of the Rioters in arms. He was told by his Captors that a very considerable party was assembled and that serions consequences might be expected.
"Permit me to refer your Excellency to the inclosed Reports of the officers ordered on this service, for further information on the subject. I am happy to inform you, that by their prudence the effusion of Blood, which from my information I much dreaded, has been happily prevented.
"As your Excellency aud Council have a just claim upon me for every information respect- ing the situation of this country, I have made it my Business to obtain as perfect an account of the late Revolution that took place here as was possible to collect from the number of people engaged in executing.
"I anticipate the intention of the Citizens, in laying [before you] this short detail of the circumstances and motives that induced them to adopt the measures. The hostile appearance of the Connecticut Claimants in the neighborhood of Abraham's Plains already mentioned, their repeated Threats, and the frequent Reports of the support that was expected from their State, filled the minds of the Pennsylvania Land-holders and settlers with serions apprehensions of being forcibly dispossessed, if not before, immediately after, the dismission of my corps.
"Their alarming situation became the subject of serious consideration, when the former cruelties of those people occurred to their minds. They found, however anxiously they wished to cultivate that Cordiality and Friendship, so necessary to promote the benefits of society, there was not the least probability of its subsisting during the stay of those factions people among them. And now, that they were about to be denied that support they humbly conceived they had a claim to from Government, until the controversy was finally determined, they found themselves drove to the painful alternative of taking measures to remove the more dangerous part of the claimants out of the country, or bring them to explicit declarations of their Intentions. This determination, unanimously adopted by the Landholders and settlers under the jurisdiction of this State, was immediately made known to the claimants under Connecticut, with an earnest entreaty that they should avail themselves of the time (some days being allowed) given them in which to either remove their families and property or accede to such measurers as would fully convince them [the Pennsylvanians] of their [the Connecticut claimants] attachment to the State and its citizens. The well-disposed availed themselves of this notice, and either removed up the River, at some distance, or made such explicit declarations of their intentions to adhere to the interests of the State as entitled them to every indulgence.
"A number of those who were concerned in promoting the first Troubles in this country, and were still fanning the Embers of Contention, were conceived too dangerous to be permitted to remain, and the Landholders and settlers [under Pennsylvania] were compelled to adopt the measures they had previously conceived necessary to promote the Peace and Tranquility of this country and the Happiness of the State. * The Business is effected, and from every * * information I have been able to obtain, their conduct [i. e. the conduct of the Pennamites] has been peculiarly marked with the highest degree of Lenity.
"The above is the only circumstance I have been able to collect respecting the late Revolu- tion, which I conceive it to be my duty to forward to the Council."
On the same day that the foregoing letter was written, Alexander Patterson, at Wilkes-Barré, wrote out his resignation as a Justice of the Peace, and a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and of the Orphans' Court of Northumberland County. Undoubtedly Patterson resigned these commissions so that he might *See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, XI: 436.
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devote himself, untrammeled and with all his vigor, to the interests of the Penn- sylvania land-claimers in Wyoming.
The letter of Colonel Moore and the resignation of Alexander Patterson were carried to Philadelphia by Capt. John Armstrong and delivered to President Dickinson, by whom. they were placed before the Supreme Executive Council on May 24th, when Patterson's resignation was immediately accepted.
At Wyoming, under the date of May 20, 1784, some one (presumably Colonel Moore, judging by the contents as well as the phraseology of the letter) wrote to a friend in Philadelphia relative to Wyoming affairs. Extended extracts from this letter were printed in the Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia) of May 27, 1784, and also in the Connecticut Journal at New Haven, Connecticut. Some of the extracts were as follows:
"The dangerous disposition of the Connecticut faction in this country has lately been very alarming. On the 11th inst. a number of them, armed for the purpose, dispossessed some of the Pennsylvania settlers who were peaceably cultivating their farms at Abraham's Plains, offering great violence to their persons, and repeatedly venting threats against the officers of Government acting in this country. This, and many other instances of outrage, which have marked the general conduct of this factious people, filled the minds of our good citizens with just apprehensions of being forcibly driven from this country as soon as our only support [Colonel Moore's corps] should be removed-the time for the removal of which being fixed and at hand -brought their former measures and repeated cruelties with fresh horror to our minds.
"In this alarming situation of affairs it was conceived necessary to adopt some measures to avoid dangers so justly to be apprehended. Although we ardently wished to cultivate cordi- ality and friendship, we found, upon mature dcliberation, such blessings could find no existence while we permitted those pests to society to remain amongst us. We therefore conceived-how- ever painful the alternative-that the removal of the most dangerous part of this faction would be the only resource which could lead to the establishment of that peace and good order we so anxiously wish for. This opinion being unanimously adopted by us (who pride ourselves upon ever being faithful subjects of this State), we proceeded to take such measures as we thought absolutely necessary to our safety. Some days were given to the Connecticut settlers in which to move off, with their families and property, or to produce such proofs of their peaceable intentions towards this State and its citizens as would quiet our apprehensions, and accordingly qualify them to remain peaceably in their habitations.
"Those whose designs were good readily complied with one or the other of these reasonable proposals; many moved up the river, whilst others, from explicit declarations of their good in- tentions, received every indulgence. However, many old offenders, notorious for the part they had ever taken in the many unjustifiable acts of violence committed upon the persons and pro- perty of the Pennsylvania settlers in this country, and who, from their obstinately persisting to stay, we strongly suspected of promoting further disturbances-these circumstances marking them out as persons too dangerous to remain-we found ourselves drove to the necessity of expelling them out of this place.
"This disagreeable business is now effected-a measure deemed necessary by the unanimous voice of the citizens, and carried into execution by them with great spirit and decision. At the same time the highest degree of lenity marked their proceedings-treating the widows and the infirm with tenderness and attention!
"I flatter myself that this revolution, so long and so devoutly wished for, will entitle those who brought it about to much merit and applause. It met with my approbation so heartily as to make me take a part in it. Official characters may be deemed reprehensible for this late revolu- tion. I assure you that they are in no instance culpable. They were never consulted or con- cerned in the measure."
In the same issue of the Packet was printed the following "Extract from a letter from a gentleman at Wyoming to his friend in this city [Philadelphia]."
"The contests between the Pennsylvania settlers and Connecticut claimants have at length grown to such a height that there was no medium whereby both parties could exist in this country. Nothing but mutual contentions have subsisted for some time past. The Connecticut people betook themselves to arms, being alarmed at such great numbers of Pennsylvanians arriving with implements of husbandry, so that they became by far the most numerous.
"Many threats were thrown out, and outrages committed, by the Connecticut people- such as their lying in ambush to murder some of the officers, &c. This induced the Pennsyl- vanians to avail themselves of a favorable opportunity and disarm most of their opponents; and as they justly conceived that peace was not to be expected whilst such outrages and restless men remained in their neighborhood, they therefore gave them notice to move off their families with
all their property. * * When the Connecticut people saw they were in earnest, numbers of * those who had their arms remaining betook themselves to the woods, and left their families to
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be disposed of by a people justly enraged and provoked at the murderous massacres and cruel- ties of every species, committed by those rioters for more than fifteen years past!
"Notwithstanding all this they proceeded in an orderly and humane manner, and moved off all those from whom danger was to be apprehended; gave them every assistance in their power, and have cleared this country of a set of men who have long troubled the peace and tranquillity of this State by abusing its laws and citizens in every shape. It would be doing the Pennsylvaniaus great injustice not to mention the very particular marks of attention and lenity shown to the widows of every denomination. They have continued them in their habitations, and are giving them every support in their power-three widows only excepted, who were no objects of charity, and too haughty to ask favors.
"Thus is the country once more clear of those pests to society, and now inhabited by citizens, numbers of whom have held honorable commissions in the Continental Army since the commence- ment of the war, and all of them distinguished patriots in their country's cause. It is more than probable that those wretches so justly expelled, with their unprincipled patrons-of whom there are but too many in this State-will, to satisfy their vindictive dispositions, use every endeavor to misrepresent and villify the needful measures taken as above. But Truth alone will bear the test! They expect but little credit will be given to their calumuy as far as they are known- and I am willing to believe that is pretty far; for the trouble they have so long given this State is undoubtedly conspicious to all in the Union.
"I hope the expulsion of those disturbers of the peace will be a warning to the country not to suffer bodies of men to associate and live, as they have done, for four years without govern- ment and in contempt of all law and authority; but that when any such flagrant breaches of the Confederation appear, they may be taken in the bud and corrected."
The Hon. Charles Biddle, a prominent Philadelphian, who, in October, 1785, was elected Vice President of the Supreme Executive Council, wrote his autobiography about the year 1804. Some years later it was published. In it, after referring to the Pennamite-Yankee contests of 1783-'84, the writer says:
"In order to give the citizens of Pennsylvania quiet possession of their lands, the Legislature passed an Act for raising two companies of infantry. The command of these men was given to Col. James Moore. Shortly before the time for which they were enlisted expired, they marched a number of Connecticut families (said by Colonel Moore to be very turbulent) out of the settle- ment, and a few were sent to Easton (?) gaol. * * These people complained of being treated * with great barbarity. From my knowledge of Colonel Moore I do not believe he would have suffered them to be treated with cruelty. When the troops were disbanded [about June 1, 1784] the Connecticut people returned to their former habitations, and fresh disturbances soon ensued.
In their flight from Wyoming towards the Delaware River, on May 13th and 14th, several of the bolder men in the body of exiles left their companions in misery and made their way to Sunbury, where they arrived on Sunday, May 16th. Among these was Col. Zebulon Butler, who, as previously related, had been put under bonds to appear at the Court of Oyer and Terminer of Northumberland County, which was to sit at Sunbury on Monday, May 31st .* As noted by Colonel Franklin in his "Journal" the Court of Quarter Sessions of Northumber- land County was sitting when he arrived at Sunbury, on May 25th.
Upon the arrival at Sunbury, on May 16th, of the Yankee refugees from Wyoming, they sought out their friends who resided in that locality, and com- municated to them a detailed account of the direful doings of their Pennamite oppressors. Whereupon, at Sunbury, on May 17th, John Buyers, Frederick
*In preparation for his expected trial at Sunbury. Colonel Butler, at Wilkes-Barré. April 28, 1784, wrote to Col. Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., who, during the last two years of the Revolutionary War, had been the private secretary of General Washington-as stated in the note on page 471, Vol. I. The original draft of Colonel Butler's letter -- which is now in the collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society-reads in part as follows: "I have to ask a favor of you. I bave a cause to be tried at the Supreme Court in this State, either for misdemeanor or treason (as they say), and my attorney tells me that my character as a friend to my country and an officer in the army, &c., will be of service to me on tryal, if 1 should come to tryal. I have taken one [certificate of character] from Generals Parsons and Huntington, which will accompany this. If His Excellency, General Washington, would sign one for me it will be of great service to me before a Whig jury, which I hope it will be if the case should come to tryal. Your attention to this will greatly oblige me, and, if obtained and delivered to Mr. Hollenback-who will wait on you- will be gratefully acknowledged."
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