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 33
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The "Mr. Hollenback" referred to above was Matthias Hollenback, later Colonel and Judge, of Wilkes-Barre. He journeyed to Philadelphia where Washington and Trumbull then were, temporarily, and later returned to Wilkes- Barré bearing a letter reading as follows: "To Whom it may Concern-I do certify that Colonel Zebulon Butler, the bearer hereof, hath served as Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel in the Connecticut Line of the Continental Army, from January, 1777, to the close of the war. In which capacities he discharged his duty, so far as came to my knowledge with honor as a hrave officer and with esteem for his attention to decency and good order.
"Dated at Philadelphia, this 10th day of May, A. D. 1784.
[Signed] "Go. WASHINGTON."
i do certify, That Get tonion Me,
the Reaver Kowej, And reusedas Laslop
colonel in the bonnechinh aine of the lower Herental army from January yy" & the blaze of the Wave - wh which Capacities he discharged hui aluti, so far as came to may Knowledge, with honor as a brand freer, and with Siteent for hi attention ! Recently and good Order. Tate?)
of thay it.
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-
HONORABLE DISCHARGE OF COL. ZEBULON BUTLER [1784] (Original in possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society)
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Antes*, Christian Gettigt and Robert Martainį, all Justices of the Peace in and for Northumberland County, prepared and sent to Philadelphia, by an express, a letter addressed to President Dickinson, and reading in part as follows§:
"We are exceedingly sorry that there is occasion to transmit to Council evidence of so dis- agreeable a nature as they will be furnished with by the enclosed letters and depositions; but conceiving it to be of the first moment to Government, and being called on officially for the pur- pose, it becomes our indispensable duty. * *
* We are altogether at a loss to account for this outrageous conduct of the soldiery [at Wyoming]-the civil officers being intimidated, and con- fined under a close military guard, for serving the processes of the Commonwealth. The Garrison, instead of aiding the Civil Authority, set it at defiance, and place themselves above the Laws.
"Lawrence Myers||, from whom two letters have been received by the High Sheriff and herewith forwarded, is the Sub-Sheriff. The complexion of those letters will (independent of anything else) enable Council to form an idea how far the Civil Officers can act with effect in *
their several departments, *
* in order that a timely provision may be made for the injured and oppressed citizens in that part of the State, and the dignity of the Government supported and maintained."
Colonel Franklin, in his "Brief" and in his "Plain Truth" articles, (both frequently referred to hereinbefore) states that formal complaint was made to the civil authorities at Sunbury, by the Wyoming refugees, "against Alexander Patterson and others, for their violent conduct in dispossessing the inhabitants, and the Justices at Sunbury pledged themselves that the laws of the Common- wealth should be immediately executed; that those who had been violently dispossessed should be reinstated in their possessions, and that the perpetrators of the violent acts should be brought to justice."
Colonel Franklin further states that a Court of Quarter Sessions for North- umberland County was to be held during the week beginning May 24, 1784, at Sunbury, but as a term of Oyer and Terminer Court was to be held there by the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth during the ensuing week, "it was thought advisable that the complaints against the rioters should be made to the highest Court."
On May 29th, Sheriff Henry Antes despatched an express from Sunbury to Wyoming, with a message to a number of the Yankee inhabitants who, with their arms, had fled to the mountains, as hereinbefore related. The Sheriff called upon these men to "desist from any hostile measures", so that there might be a full and free operation of the law-advising them of "the intention of the civil
*PHILIP FREDERICK ANTES, or Frederick Antes, as he was commonly known, was an elder brother of Col. Henry Antes (See [+] note, page 1348), and was born July 2, 1730, in what was later Frederictown, Montgomery County Pennsylvania. He was a delegate from Philadelphia to the Provincial Conference of June 18. 1775, held at Carpenter's Hall, and also to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of July 15, 1776. He was Lient. Colonel in 1776, of the battalion of Philadelphia County Militia commanded by Colonel Pott, and at the same time was a member of the Committee of Safety of Philadelphia County. May 6, 1777, he was commissioned Colonel of the Sixth Battalion, Philadelphia Associators.
Soon after the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, Frederick Antes "was induced to undertake the task of providing cannon for the American army, and it was but a short time before he succeeded in casting an efficient four- pounder at Valley Furnace. This was the beginning of the manufacture of cannon in the United States." Ahout 1778, Colonel Antes disposed of his farm and mill near Valley Forge and removed to the village of Northumberland. near Sunbury, Pennsylvania. November 18, 1780, he was appointed a Justice of Northumberland County, and later was made President of the County Courts. In July, 1784, having been elected a Representative to the Pennsylvania Assembly, he resigned his commissions as a Justice of the Peace and as a "Justice and President of the County Court of Common Pleas, the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and of the Orphans' Court of Northumberland County." He was Treasurer of the County from February, 1782, to December, 1784, and from 1788 till 1801. He was elected a Representative from Northumberland County to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1784, '85 and '86.
Frederick Antes was one of the original members of Lodge No. 22, Ancient York Masons, at Sunbury, and was Worshipful Master of the Lodge from June, 1780, to December, 1784. For several years the meetings of the Lodge were held in his house in Northumberland.
He was twice married, and his only daughter by his second wife became the wife of Simon Snyder, who was three times Governor of Pennsylvania. Colonel Antes died September 20, 1801, at Columbia, Pennsylvania, while there on business. His widow, Mrs. Catherine Antes, died at Selinsgrove, December 15, 1816, aged 71 years.
. For fuller details concerning the life of Colonel Antes see "On the Frontier With Colonel Antes", by Edwin Mac- Minn, and Godcharles' "Free Masonry in Northumberland and Snyder Counties", II : 545.
+CHRISTIAN GETTIG was an innkeeper in Sunbury, in 1784, and later years, as well as a Justice of the Peace. He had been a First Lieutenant (commissioned October 14, 1776) in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment. Continental Line; was wounded in one of his legs in a skirmish May 11. 1777, in New Jersey; was taken prisoner hy the British, and while in their hands had his leg amputated. Upon his discharge from the military service he returned to Sunbury. where he continued to reside until his death, July 2, 1790.
¿See (*) note, page 1344.
§See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, XI: 438.
See page 837, Vol. II and botton of page 1240.
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authorities to reinstate them in their possessions and grant them complete redress."
A few days later, the Sheriff also sent an express (Robert McDowel) to the Delaware, to give notice to the Wyoming refugees in that locality that they might prepare to return to their homes, inasmuch as "the law relative to forcible entry and detainer would be immediately put in execution at Wyoming."
Barnabas Cary, aged fifty-one years, in 1784, in a deposition which he made before Justice Seely at Wyoming, August 14, 1784, declared that toward the latter end of May, 1784, he had seen a letter sent by Lawrence Myers, then a Deputy Sheriff under Sheriff Antes, "inviting the people that were dispossessed by the Pennsylvanians to return back to Wyoming; that Sheriff Antes would be on the ground about the middle of June, with two magistrates, and would give them all possession again; that this statement induced the deponent to return to Wyoming again; that the letter [referred to] was handed about by one John Jenkins."
The communication from Justices Buyers, Antes, Gettig and Martin was received by President Dickinson, at Philadelphia, on Saturday, May 22d, and was immediately laid before the Supreme Executive Council. Judge George Bryan of the Supreme Court, being then in Philadelphia, was conferred with by the Council, and the same day President Dickinson wrote to Messrs. Buyers, Antes, Gettig and Martin, that it was the joint opinion of Judge Bryan and the Council "that the steps proper to be taken would be that the Magistrates and the Sheriff of the county should exercise the authority vested in them by law for preserving the peace and apprehending, committing and punishing those who break the same."
The same day President Dickinson wrote "to the Magistrates at and near Wyoming, in Northumberland County", as follows *:
"We have this day received a letter from Messrs. Buyers, Gettig, Antes and Martin of your County, complaining of great disturbances at Wyoming.
"The magistrates near that place ought to have given us intelligence of these proceedings, and we now enjoin you to make every exertion in your power for restoring the peace of the County, and for preserving the same. Any neglect on this head will not only be a failure in the Duty you owe to the State, but will most certainly be attended by consequences that will too plainly evince the extreme Imprudence of such conduct."
To Chief Justice Thomas Mckean, and Judges William Augustus Atlee and Jacob Rush, of the Supreme Court, President Dickinson wrote, on May 22d, as follows:
"We have this day received a letter from Messrs. Buyers, Gettig, Antes and Martin, of Northumberland County, informing us of a very alarming disturbance of the peace, which may be attended with unhappy consequences if prudent steps are not immediately taken for prevent- ing further mischief. As you gentlemen will be at Sunbury, we understand, the week after next we desire that you will make use of the opportunity of being there to make all due inquiries and thereupon to direct the most effectual legal measures to be pursued for restoring and pre- serving the peace of the County."
President Dickinson and the Supreme Executive Council, having received on May 24th, Lieut. Colonel Moore's report of May 15th, the President wrote to Lieut. Colonel Moore, on May 25th, in part as followst :
"We have received your despatches by Captain Armstrong. The Honorable the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Atlee and Mr. Justice Rush will be at Sunbury the 31st of this month, and we have desired them 'to use the opportunity of being there to make all due enquiries, & there- upon to direct the most effectual legal measures to be pursued for restoring and preserving the peace of the County.' We therefore would have you to give notice of these circumstances to the Persons concerned in the late disturbances at Wyoming, so that they, or some of them, may at- tend at the time and place before mentioned, to give all proper information to the Judges."
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X1: 440.
+See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, XI: 443.
1387
On the same day, President Dickinson wrote to the Judges of the Supreme Court, in part as follows *:
"Last Saturday we wrote to you concerning the Disturbances in Northumberland Co. We have since received information from Colonel Moore and Captain Armstrong, by which it is confirmed that those disturbances have been occasioned by the fears & jealousies entertained on account of interfering claims of persons under Pennsylvania Rights and of Connecticut settlers. We have written to Col. Moore, informing him that we had desired you to make all due enquiries, and thereupon to direct the most effectual legal measures to be pursued for restoring and pre- serving the Peace of the County, and we have required him to give notice to the persons concerned, that they or some of them may attend at Sunbury on this business.
"We rely much upon your prudence in advising such proceedings as will have the most happy tendency to promote the public tranquillity."
At Philadelphia, on May 28, 1784, Ebenezer Johnson, one of the Yankee settlers who had been driven out of Wyoming, presented to the Supreme Executive Council, a petition signed by Col. Zebulon Butler and others, "in behalf of the Connecticut people lately driven from Wyoming, stating their grievances and praying protection from the State." This petition having been read, the Council directed that a letter be written to the Judges of the Supreme Court, at Sunbury, "desiring them to take the most effectual legal measures for restoring and preserving the peace of the county."
This letter was immediately written by President Dickinson, as well as one of a similar character addressed to Justices Martin, Buyers, Antes and Gettig. In the letter to the Judges, the President said: "This letter will be delivered to you by Mr. Johnson, and express sent to us by the persons lately removed from Wyoming, As he can himself give a good deal of information, and can be service- able in obtaining it from others, we have wished him to attend at Sunbury." Mr. Johnson was paid by the Council £10, to remunerate him for going with the aforementioned letters from Philadelphia to Sunbury.t
At Wilkes-Barré, under the date of Sunday, May 30, 1784, Alexander Patterson addressed a long communication to the Judges of the Supreme Court, which he sent to Sunbury by the hands of Capt. John Armstrong, who had just returned to Wilkes-Barré from his mission to Philadelphia. This com- munication, expurgated in spots, and improved somewhat in grammar, punctu- ation and spelling, reads as follows:
"Whereas your Duty to the State, and attention to the Rights and Privileges of its Citizens, demands your attention in this country at a period when a great part thereof is in inevitable trouble, it will no doubt be necessary for the peace and safety of the Commonwealth for your Honours to make every enquiry from what source such troubles flow. The origin, rise and pro- gress thereof have hitherto been so conspicious as to want no illustration.
"It now only remains that your Honours do obtain the proper information and causes which have produced the present commotions, and that prudent and wise measures be adopted to stop the impending calamities that threaten this large tract of country. You will no doubt hear that great Outrages have been committed hy the Pennsylvanians against the Connecticut claimants, in violation of law and good government; but I trust it will be made to appear that the measures taken, though not strictly consonant with the letter of the Law, were the result of absolute Necessity, and dictated solely by the principles of self-preservation. .
"Certain it is that no human policy could govern or reconcile both parties to remain peace- ably in this country. The rancorous dispositions of the contending parties but too well evince the catastrophe that must have happened, had not the measures been adopted that have been taken by the Pennsylvanians. There was no medium to save the Effusion of much Blood.
"The Pennsylvanians who had come into this Country in great Numbers, found that the Lands they had so long since bought and suffered for were Generally Clear of houses or fences They therefore fell to work to Improve, and in a Peaceable manner Endeavoured to Repossess themselves of their Property, which was wrested from them many years ago by Lawless Banditti The malcontents betook themselves to their ancient Resources (that of arms) and Threatened the Pennsylvanians in a Daring and Outrageous manner. All hopes of peace being vanished, it was adjudged the most Prudent step to seize a favourable moment and Disarm the most violent
*See ibid., 442.
tSee "Pennsylvania Colonial Record". XIV: 120, and "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X1: 472.
$See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X : 617.
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of the Intraders; upon which Notice was given them to move off their Effects & Famili.s. The season being so far advanced that there was no danger of their Cattle suffering by the way, this and every other precaution was taken to prevent the Idea of Cruelty; though in similar cases the Pennsylvanians had never Received any thing like similar Treatment. On the Contrary, they have been Robbed & murdered, and have suffered every species of Cruelty by those Troublers of the state and their Quict-who now would wish to have Government believe that they are Inoffensive Citizens and strict Conformists to the Laws of this State, which they have held in the greatest Contempt for upwards of fifteen years. Had they an alternative they would Trample it as usual.
"Your Honours will please to view the Difference between the Parties-the one having Troubled the Happiness of the State for such a series of years, and Committing every outrage that malice could suggest against its faithful Inhabitants; the other supporting the Dignity of the State and Rights of the People, having at all times Evinced their Zeal for its Wellfare. The Pennsylvanians who have been active in the late movements are aware of the situation in which they are Placed, having a strong Party in Northumberland against them, who have taken part with those restless people. Had it not been for their Interposition, actuated, I fear, by bad Prin- ciples, there would have been no trouble in settling this Country with the Rightful owners; and it is more than Probable (their views of Popularity being now at an End by Losing their Darling object, the votes of those Exiles at Elections) that they will use Every Endeavour to stimulate your Honours, together with the Government, to measures that will Perhaps Terminate in our ruin. We hope you will be aware of those Incendiaries, whose wish is to Irritate instead of salving the sore.
"If the views of the New settlers of this country have in any wise been mistaken, they will be very unhappy, for } am well Convinced that there are no People on Earth who have a greater veneration for the Weal of this Commonwealth, of which they deem it their Greatest Honour to be Citizens. Business of such a Complicated Nature could never have been effected with more caution . there is no Blood spilt, and it will not be the blame of the Present Inhabitants if there ever is upon any occasion.
"As few, or Perhaps none, of the Inhabitants from hence may be Down at Sunbury, and Numerous Complaints will be exhibited, I am solicited to make this representation of facts- which I pledge myself deviates nothing therefrom-in order that your Honours may be aware of the cunning of designing men. The matter is rested entirely with you, that from a perfect knowledge, and dependence on your abilities, such measures will be taken by Government as will tend to the tranquillity of its people. The present settlers beg that no harsh step may be taken, and that the Sheriff and some of the Justices in his vicinty may not drive to extremes, and cause mutual dissensions to arise among a people whose strength and welfare depend on unanimity.
"I know that it will be said that I have given my sanction to the measures adopted. It would be uncandid to say that they had it not. However, I have done nothing officially, having some time since resigned my commission of the Peace *. But, having some consequence among the people, I have frequently given them permits and papers that have generally answered the purposes intended, viz. the accommodations of persons apparently in distress.
"You will please to observe that the Pennsylvanians conceive that the determination of the Congressional Court at Trenton, touching the jurisdiction and preemption of this country, was final and decisive, and that further pretentions to tryal upon the subject was in too great a degree tampering with their Patience and Property; and they are determined to defend it against any pretentions or people claiming under the State of Connecticut, should they be so unjust as to persevere in so iniquitons a measure."
Chief Justice Mckean and Judges Atlee and Rush, with Edward Burd, Esq., as Clerk, opened a "Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery, in and for the county of Northumberland " at Sunbury, on Monday, May 31, 1784. The sittings of the Court continued until Friday, June 4th, and the Judges, in making a report to President Dickinson of the proceedings of the Court, made the following statementt :
"Among a variety of other Prisoners at Sunbury, forty-five persons were indieted for a riot, assault and false imprisonment of divers Inhabitants formerly of Connecticut, and five officers of the Garrison at Wyoming for a Rescue. We wish most sincerely there was no cause of censure of the officers there, both civil and military. Every thing has been done by us for preserving the public Tranquillity in that county that we could think of, and we are induced to believe that the measures pursued will answer the Ends designed. * * *
"In addition, we would mention that Lientenant Col. James Moore has entered into a Recognizance with good bail before the Chief Justice, to answer to the Indictment found against him and 44 others for a Riot and false imprisonment of divers Inhabitants at Wyoming, in the County of Northumberland. In the Case of all the rest of the persons indieted for the same offense, as well as those indicted for the rescue from the under-sheriff, we have instructed David Mead, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace, &c., residing at Wyoming, to take the recogniz- ances from them severally in five hundred pounds, with at least one good surety in Two hun-
*He had written out his resignation just fifteen days previously to the writing of this letter, as hereinbefore noted. This, of course, was subsequently to the wholesale expulsion of the Yankees from Wyoming; while his resignation had been accepted by the Supreme Executive Council only six days prior to the writing of this letter.
*See "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, XI: 414, 484.
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dred and fifty pounds, to appear and answer, &c., at the next Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol delivery, to be held at Sunbury, for the County of Northumberland. We have reason to believe that most, if not all, the parties will comply with this measure, and that Peace and Tranquillity may be restored to that part of the State.
"As Judges, we cannot determine who have been the first or the greatest aggressors in this Extraordinary violation of order and good Government until after the Trial, but we conceive it will be necessary to be very attentive to the conduct of the people in this part of the State for some time, and we beg leave to assure you that nothing shall be wanting on our part to protect the innocent and obedient, and to discountenance the Refractory, and to punish the Transgressors of the Law."
The names of forty-seven (all that can now be ascertained) of the persons indicted as aforementioned were as follows: Lieut. Col. James Moore, Capt. John Armstrong, Lieut. Blackall William Ball, Lieut. Samuel Read, Lieut. Andrew Henderson, Alexander Patterson, Esq., John Seely, Esq., Henry Shoe- maker, Esq., Ebenezer Taylor, Silas Taylor, Peter Taylor, Joseph Montanye, Samuel Van Gorden, Wilhelmus Van Gorden, James Brink, Nicholas Brink, Henry Brink, William Brink, John Cortright, Benjamin Hillman, Martin Tidd, Daniel Swartz, Nicodemus Tarvis, James Culver, Isaiah Culver, Isaac Clinkefoos, Joseph Solomon, Obadiah Walker, Ezekiel Schoonover, James Grimes, James Covert, John Borland, Abraham Van Cortright, Elisha Cortright, Beniah Mun- day, Jacob Tillbury, Luke Brodhead, Lawrence Kinney, Preserved Cooley, Robert Biggers, Gabriel Ogden, David Ogden, Garrett Shoemaker, Jr., Jacob Kline, Rudolph Litz, William McDonald and Isaac Van Norman.
About the first of June, 1784, in pursuance of the resolution adopted by the Pennsylvania Assembly in the previous March, the soldiers composing the gar- rison at Wilkes-Barré were paid off and discharged from the service of the State. A considerable number of them, however, were immediately employed by Alex- ander Patterson, for and in behalf of the Pennamite land claimers. They re- mained on the ground, in possession of Fort Dickinson, and according to Miner, "set at once the settlers and the Commonwealth at defiance." Patterson, himself, · referring to this matter in his "Petition" to the Pennsylvania Legislature, pre- viously mentioned, declared: "In that season [the Summer of 1784] your peti- tioner supported upwards of 120 men at his own expense, in defence of the rights of Pennsylvania, for more than four months, besides exposing his life and expend- ing his time and property against a set of abandoned desperadoes, excluded from Society in every part of the Union, whose practice had long been to bully the State and pillage its citizens"!
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