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 34
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It is doubtful if Captain Patterson had as many as 120 men in his pay and under his orders at any one time during the Summer of 1784, as the foregoing statement would lead one to believe. During a period of four months he may have had altogether 120 Pennamite myrmidons under his control, but never at one time. In a letter to President Dickinson, dated July 12, 1784, he stated that he then had "a guard of near fifty men", which he had kept "ever since Colonel Moore left this place" (Wilkes-Barré).
It may be stated here that Lieut. Colonel Moore went from Wilkes-Barré to Sunbury in the first week of June, 1784, when and where he was indicted and then entered bail for his appearance at the next term of Court, and it is doubtful if he ever again returned to Wilkes-Barré.
Colonel Franklin states that about June 13, 1784, some thirty men of the Yankee settlers who had been driven out of Wyoming, left their families at the Delaware and returned to Wyoming Valley, in pursuance of the information which had been sent to them by Sheriff Antes. "Finding," says Franklin, "that
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they could not take possession of their houses and farms without having re- course to hostile measures, which they were desirous, if possible, to avoid, this vanguard of Wyoming Yankees repaired to the [Wilkes-Barré] mountain, about three miles from Wilkes-Barré Garrison, where they took possession of the rocks -a natural fortification-to which they gave the name of Fort Lillopee, a place well known in this day (1805)."
THE SITE OF FORT LILLOPEE (As it appeared in 1829)
The place thus referred to was exactly two miles east of Fort Dickinson in an air-line; or, by way of the road leading to it, was nearly three miles distant from the fort. At that period the locality in question was known to the people of Wilkes-Barre as the "coal-beds". It was a small rocky ravine in the foot-hills extending along the base of Wilkes-Barre Mountain, and through it ran a small stream of water, in later years known as Coal Run and Coal Brook. In the western wall of this ravine there was an out-cropping of a very thick stratum, or vein, of coal, from which, during several years prior to 1784, a considerable amount of coal had been dug for the use of the blacksmiths of Wilkes-Barré.
These primitive mining operations had resulted in a good sized cave being excavated in the coal vein. Years later, when mining operations of a somewhat extensive character were carried on in that section of the township of Wilkes- Barré, the old cave of 1784 was converted into a tunnel, or slope, while other openings of a similar sort were made adjoining and connected with it. These "openings," as they appeared in 1867, are shown in the picture on page 457, Vol. 1. Since about the year 1880, however, the physical conditions at the "Old Opening" have been very much changed, owing to the cutting down of nearly all the trees thereabouts, mine-cavings and fires, in and about the mines.
Pearce, in his "Annals of Luzerne County," referring to the return of the Yankees from the Delaware, says: "After an absence of several weeks the Yankees returned, and fortified themselves under a cliff of rock on the Eastern or Wilkes-Barre Mountain. This, Mr. Miner says [in his 'History of Wyoming'], they called Fort Lillopee, but we have in our possession several orders sent by
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John Franklin, John Jenkins and others fron this cave-fortress to Matthias Hollenback, in Wilkesbarre, for rum, tea, sugar, etc., and these orders are dated at Fort Defence." In making this statement Mr. Pearce fell into an error, for the reason that "Fort Defence" was the name given to a group of houses in Kingston Township, which the Yankees took possession of and fortified at the beginning of July, 1784-as related on page 1394.
Elisha Harding, in his letter referred to on page 1381, inakes mention of the fortified encampment at Coal Brook in these words: "We went into the woods to a place called the coal-beds, back of Wilkesbarre, where we continued about three weeks. Our living was not of the best. It consisted of chopped rye (about as fine as is ground for horse-feed), without salt. Our appetites were good, and when we drank our slop we did it in hopes of better fare. We were waiting for orders from the authorities to arrest those who had drove us off and taken possession of our houses and lands."
The men at Fort Lillopee were well armed and provided with a plentiful supply of ammunition, and were commanded by duly chosen officers who inain- tained a quasi-military discipline.
Relative to conditions in Wyoming Valley in May and June, 1784, Christo- pher Hurlbut states in his journal-mentioned on page 1356:
"In May, after the ice had melted away and the people had begun to put up their fences, the Pennamites, with the soldiers, went through the settlement in considerable bodies and took all the good guns, and the locks from others, from every Yankee who had one; and directly after this they turned all Yankee families into the street, taking them under guard. A few only were able to flee up or down the river; all the rest were forced to go out East by the Lackawaxen. Thus the Pennamites got full possession of the country. Shortly after this the soldiers were discharged, but many of them continucd in the country, and the Pennamites kept up a garrison in the fort.
"The first of June [1784] the Yankees began to assemble in the woods, in order, if possible, to regain their possessions. It should be remembered that all along, from the first beginning of the outrages, applications had been made to the legislative, executive and judicial authorities of the State for protection and redress, but none was obtained. Also, let it be understood, that those pretended Justices, before referred to as having been unlawfully appointed, (headed by Alexander Patterson, a man of considerable abilities, but bold, daring and completely unprin- eipled; aided by David Mead, insinuating, plausible and flattering, covering his enmity hy pre- tended friendship-a most designing enemy to the Yankees; and John Seely, with just information enough to act out the villain without disguise), had no idea of doing justice to the Yankees; but their object was to compel them to leave the country."
Immediately after the adjournment of the Court of Oyer and Terminer at Sunbury on June 4th, Sheriff Antes started for Wilkes-Barré, having in his possession warrants of arrest issued by the Court against all the men (save Lieut. Colonel Moore, who had appeared at Sunbury and entered bail) who had been indicted for rioting, etc., as related on page 1388. It was the intention of the Sheriff, in pursuance of directions given to him by Chief Justice McKean, to serve these warrants upon the several defendants, who would then be expected to go before Justice Mead, at Wyoming, and enter bail for their respective appear- ances at the next term of the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
Colonel Franklin says that upon the arrival of Sheriff Antes at Wyoming ' to take the rioters, he found them in their stronghold, the Garrison [Fort Dick- inson) at Wilkesbarre, where he was refused admittance, and they refused to be taken. Alexander' Patterson would not suffer the Sheriff to execute his warrants, and he was compelled to return to Sunbury without having it in his power to arrest one of the rioters."
The Sheriff made a second visit to Wyoming on June 14th, accompanied by the Coroner of the county, and made another attempt to serve his warrants, but was prevented in the same manner as before. At this time some of the
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Yankees at Fort Lillopee joined the Sheriff and the Coroner at Wilkes-Barre, at their request, and accompanied them to the neighborhood of Fort Dickinson. Benjamin Harvey-then within a few weeks of his sixty-second birthday- was unfortunately for himself, one of those who thus ventured into the village. Notwithstanding the presence of the Sheriff and the Coroner, he was seized before their very eyes "by the hired myrmidons of Patterson, dragged to the Garrison, and beaten and abused in the most cruel manner."
The Sheriff and the Coroner, being thus set at defiance by the lawless Penn- amites in Fort Dickinson, returned to Sunbury, while Mr. Harvey returned to Fort Lillopee smarting in mind and in body, and bearing to his fellow-cave- dwellers a cheerless message from Sheriff Antes, which, according to Colonel Franklin (who was there on the ground), was to this effect: That he, the Sheriff, could not take the Pennamites at Fort Dickinson at that time without the assist- ance of the posse comitatus; that the Yankees gathered at Fort Lillopee should remain quiet for about twelve days, by which time he, the Sheriff, hoped to receive "orders from the Government to enable him to call assistance to execute the laws at Wyoming."
Colonel Franklin, writing about the events of this particular period, stated, in a "Plain Truth" article printed in The Luzerne Federalist of June 5, 1805, that "the unhappy sufferers continued on the mountain without shelter except the heavens to cover them; without blankets, and thinly clothed, and almost destitute of every necessary to support life. Several had taken up their residence in the woods from about the 14th of May-their families being at the same time at and near the Delaware River, suffering for the necessaries of life, while the rioters lived at ease in the dwellings of the Yankees."
During this time the Pennamites on the ground were busy locating tracts of land in the Wyoming region, either for themselves or their friends and principals, in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Having made applications to the State Land Office, and paid the small fees required, land warrants were issued to the applicants, and on these warrants surveys were made. The following is a list of some of the tracts which were surveyed (either in 1784 or in later years) on warrants dated July 1, 1784. Five tracts lying along the Lackawanna River, as follows: To Lieut. Andrew Henderson, 499 acres; Sarah Delany, 400 acres; James Moore, Sr., 419 acres; William Henderson, 425 acres; James Denney, 402 acres. One tract of 301 acres "on Sullivan's Road, at Bear Creek", to Alexander Patterson. Nine tracts, of 400 acres each, on the waters of Toby's and Bowman's Creeks, to the following-named: Jacob S. Howell, Edward Duffield, Lieut. Lawrence Erb, Patrick Moore, Samuel Nichols, Samuel Morris, William Sims, Margaret Delany and William Nichols. One tract of 427 acres and 70 perches (on the Lehigh River, below the mouth of Choke Creek, in Buck Township, Luzerne County) to George Shaw; surveyed November 2, 1789. One tract of 424 acres and 102 perches (on the Lehigh River, at and including "the great falls" where the village of Stoddartsville is now located) to James Shaw, surveyed May 9, 1790. One tract of 401 acres and 28 perches (west of the Lehigh River-in what is now Buck Township-"and nearly two miles north of the mouth of Tobyhanna Creek") to David Thomas, surveyed August 9, 1785.
According to the custom of that period, distinctive names* were given to the aforementioned tracts of land when they were warranted and surveyed.
*See pages 690 and 776, Vol. II.
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The following were some of the names used: "Bethlehem", "Astronomy", "Common Sense", "Pulpit", "Priesthood", "Roguery", "Rich Soil", "Widow's Provision", "Widow's Assistance", "Good Plan", "Charitable Scheme" and "Orphans' Relief.""
Franklin says that about the 20th of June, Alexander Patterson, at Fort Dickinson, sent to the Yankees at Fort Lillopee "proposals to have them return to their dwellings in the neighborhood of the Garrison, with the condition that they should return unarmed, and he pledged himself, sacredly, that the persons so returning should not be molested, but should remain in quiet possession of their homes until the pleasure of the Government at Philadelphia should be known.
"Two persons-Capt. Jabez Fish, of Wilkes-Barré and Mr. John Gore, of Kingston-whose families were at that time in the neighborhood of the Garrison, being too credulous in relying on the honor of Patterson", declares Franklin, left their friends at Fort Lillopee to visit their families. The honor of Patterson proved a cheat, as it ever had done before, for they had no sooner arrived in sight of the Garrison than they were seized by ruffians, by Patterson's orders, tied up, flogged severely with ramrods, and then banished from the town."
About that time the number of Yankees at Fort Lillopee had increased to sixty or more able-bodied men, well armed and equipped. Chafing at their uncomfortable situation, incensed at the indignities which had been laid upon Messrs. Harvey, Fish and Gore, and disappointed at the failure of Sheriff Antes to appear on the ground with the posse comitatus, they unanimously concluded that the time had arrived for them to be up and doing; and so, during the latter days of June, they made forays into the valley, in detachments of twenty or more men, and harrassed the Pennamites outside Fort Dickinson who were get-at-able. We get some idea of their doings during those days from a deposition made by Garret Shoemaker, a man fifty years of age, who was one of the Pennamites who had been indicted at Sunbury, but had not yet entered bail for his appearance at the next term of Court. Mr. Shoemaker deposed beiore Justice Seely, August 12, 1784, as follows:t
"That some time in June [1784], after the Supreme Court at Sunbury, the deponent was going to Shawnee to get two bushels of rye to carry to mill, when John Inman and a young man by the name of Corey took him prisoner and carried him down below Nanticoke Falls. Some time after he was taken John Swift joined the party. The deponent heard Swift, Inman and Corey threaten that they would be the death of every Pennamite on the ground. They particularly. mentioned Captain [Blackall William] Ball, Henry Shoemaker, Esq., and Alexander Patterson, Esq., whom they threatened not only to murder, but to roast into the bargain!
"Below Nanticoke Falls near forty well-armed men, who had been out in different parties, came together. John Swift (who is a deputy of Sheriff Antes) and John Franklin had the command of the men. One [Lawrence] Myers, another deputy of Sheriff Antes, was also there, and joined in threatening with the others. Myers seemed exceedingly intimate and friendly with the Con- necticut men, and abused the deponent and two other prisoners very much. Swift, Inman and Corey beat the deponent with their iron ramrods, then knocked him down with their guns, mashed his foot, and broke one of his thumbs and two of his ribs. The deponent demanded their authority for using him in the manner they did, but they could show none. Then they carried him to Sunbury Gaol, but he was soon released. A man who is a stranger to this deponent was his security.
"After the deponent returned home one Burnham came to the deponent's house and threat- ened that if the deponent did not instantly remove his family he would kill him and burn his house. The deponent was forced to remove, and came up to the fort as the only place of safety, where he has remained ever since. The party of Connecticut people have robbed him of everything he had in the world, and destroyed his garden and crops in the ground."
Another affidavit, made by Jonathan Marsh about the same time as the foregoing one, set forth the following facts:
*Some years later the titles to nearly all the abovementioned tracts of land passed to the ownership of John Nichol- son, a noted land speculator of Philadelphia, who was Comptroller-General of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1794, and Escheator-General from 1787 to 1795.
tSee "Pennsylvania Archives", Old Series, X: 643.
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"That the deponent has repeatedly seen the people called Connecticut settlers drive away his neighbors' cattle, hogs and sheep and kill them. That some time in June [1784] he was at the house of Jacob Stroud in Northampton County, where he saw one Stoddart and one Peirce with about eight or ten other Connecticut people. The deponent was then driving up some cattle, sheep and hogs, and they asked him where he was going with them. He answered, 'To the Sus- quehanna.' Then some of them said, 'Get along with them; we wish you had ten times as many, for we design to have them all soon.' The deponent then came along.
"After his arrival at the Susquehanna, in conversation with one Chester Peirce, the de- ponent asked him how he thought matters would go. He answered: 'By God, the woods will be as full of white Indians this Summer as ever they were of red ones. We intend to lie out in the woods, if nothing else will do, and shoot the heads off the Pennamites.' The deponent about two weeks ago heard Benjamin Harvey say: 'God damn the laws of this State and all those who made them!' "
About July 1, 1784, according to Colonel Franklin, "Benjamin Harvey was sent express by the Yankees at Fort Lillopee to the Sheriff and authorities at Sunbury, with orders not to return until he should receive a positive answer whether the laws would protect the Connecticut settlers or not, so that they might know what to depend upon." From Sunbury, Mr. Harvey was sent by the Sheriff to Philadelphia, with letters to the Supreme Executive Council and to Chief Justice McKean, for directions and advice-"stating the complaints of the Wyoming settlers, and that he [the Sheriff] could neither grant relief nor execute his warrants against the rioters without the assistance of the posse comitatus."
Franklin states that the weather being wet and unfavorable, and the campers at Fort Lillopee being without adequate shelter, and suffering for lack of the necessaries of life, "some of the party grew sickly and all grew weary of their solitary and cheerless habitation." In consequence, they resolved to evacuate Fort Lillopee, which they did on the night of Saturday, July 3d.
Quietly marching to the river, to a point above the mouth of Mill Creek, they crossed over into Kingston Township and established themselves at a point three and a-half miles northwest of Fort Lillopee, in a bee-line, and about three miles, in a bee-line, north of Fort Dickinson. Here, on a level plot of ground, slightly elevated, within the present bounds of the borough of Forty Fort, near where the highway (Wyoming Avenue) crosses Abraham's, or Tuttle's, Creek, stood four unoccupied log houses in a group. These the Yankees fortified and occupied as a garrison-naming the same "Fort Defence."* Within a short time the defenders of this new fort were increased in number by the arrival of a few other men who had been evicted from their homes in May.
At Fort Dickinson, under the date of July 12, 1784, Alexander Patterson, wrote to President Dickinson as followst:
"Whereas I have, for some fifteen years past, heen interested in the affairs of Wyoming -- and more particularly so since the late Commotions became serious-I therefore humbly hope that it will not be deemed Impertinent if I assume the freedom to state some facts relative to the situation of this country as it now stands.
"What Happened before Colonel Moore left this place, he has undoubtedly faithfully rep- resented to your Excellency and Council; since which we have been continually surrounded by a Body of armed men, who say that they are under the Direction of the sheriff of this County. There has not one day passed that they have not Committed some outrage upon the peaceable and Industrious Inhabitants, hy Beating, Robbing and Plundering them of their property. They have stolen Thirty-one Horses out of the settlement, hesides a Number of Cattle & sheep. This day they took Mr. Shoemaker, one of our Justices who had just returned from Sunbury and Enter'd into recognizance, and beat him in a Cruel and Barbarous manner. We have born with every Species of Insult.
"Their Horrid Threats to murder me and several Gentlemen at this place, has Induced me to keep a Guard of Near fifty men ever since Colonel Moore left this place, for the safety of our lives. We have carefully avoided all acts of Hostilities, and thereby, I hope, Evinced to the world our good Intentions. God knows that we wish to get Clear of those Runegadoes without Blood- shed, but I fear it is not Possible. They will commit some Crueltys that will Eventually bring
*Fort Defence stood on the level plot shown in the foreground of the picture facing page 786, Vol 11 +See "Pennsylvania Archives," Old Series, X . 619
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on Bloodshed. There is nothing more they wish than to act the Part of the savage. They have Blacked their faces, and abused our People with Towmehacks; they have had recourse to the Law, but find its Operations too slow to answer their purpose; they are Determined to repossess themselves tho' at the risk of Life; they have Duped the state in their Pretence of applying to the Laws; they never Intended the least good to the state; they ought to be exploded from Citizen- ship-their actions has always shewn it.
"Your Excellency will Easily Perceive that this Business has cost me a large sum of money, and if effected will doubtless cost something Considerable. We have Various Reports of a Body of men coming from Connecticut. It will Doubtless be Necessary for this State to Interpose. I have, besides the support of the Guards alluded to, supported the familys of our People who hold Possession, with Bread to a Considerable amount.
"Permit me to give it as my opinion that Government ought to Interpose in our behalf, and give an Immediate support to our Possessions-the malcontents having done Flagrant offences sufficient to warrant such interposition for the safety of the Commonwealth. A small support now may Save the State a world of Trouble and Expence."
Shortly after Capt. John Armstrong retired, or was discharged, from the military service of the State, at Fort Dickinson, about June 1, 1784, he went up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point to see about certain lands in that locality in which he was interested under Pennsylvania claims. Returning down the river, he arrived at Wilkes-Barré on July 12th-the same day on which Alexander Patter- son wrote to President Dickinson, as above noted. In a deposition* which Captain Armstrong made before Chief Justice Mckean, at Philadelphia, July 28, 1784, he testified as follows respecting affairs at Wyoming:
"On the 12th day of this present month, as he was traveling from Tioga to Sunbury, he was obliged by indisposition of health to stop at Wyoming [Wilkes-Barre], where he found the inhabitants in great commotion, a camp being formed by a number of people who, he under- stood, had arrived there from the State of Connecticut and other parts, at a place called Forty Fort. That he was there told that the said party had committed various acts of outrage on the inhabitants of that neighborhood, such as insulting and beating them, stealing their horses & cattle, &c.
"That this deponent having recovered a little, he went to Forty Fort by water, and on his landing there he was met by Giles Slocum, Waterman Baldwin, William Smith, John Inman, Edward Inman, Richard Inman, Ishmael Bennett, Sr., John Jenkins, Phineas Stevens, Daniel Peirce and others, in all about thirty or forty, armed with rifles, muskets, &c. After his being among them some time he found, by their general conversation, that they were determined to drive off all the people who had possessed themselves of lands in that country under titles from the Government of Pennsylvania, and that they only waited for reinforcements to enable them to execute this purpose. That he apprehends, from the conversation he then had with them, that their party at that time consisted of about sixty men. This deponent further saith, that he returned afterwards to his quarters [in Wilkes-Barré] contiguous to the late Garrison, and remained there a few days."
Occurrences of more than ordinary importance were now happening nearly every day in Wyoming Valley. The Pennamites under Patterson, hoping for substantial aid from the Government at Philadelphia, pretty generally confined their activities to the village of Wilkes-Barré. where, if necessity demanded, they could easily and quickly avail themselves of the protection afforded by Fort Dickinson. The Yankees rendezvoused at Fort Defence (which they made as comfortable and secure as their limited facilities and conveniences would permit) and from it small parties of armed men were sent forth nearly every day to recon- noitre, and to spy upon and harass the Pennamites-especially those living at some distance from Fort Dickinson.
Concerning the doings of the Yankees in Wyoming, from about the middle of July till the 24th or 25th of the month, we learn something from certain affidavits, which were sworn to by a considerable number of Pennamites before Justice of the Peace John Seely, at Wyoming, on and about August 10, 1784.f
Abraham Goodwin, thirty-four years of age, who, with his wife Catherine (daughter of John and Lois King), had settled in the upper end of Kingston Township in the Spring of 1784, on lands which he had either leased or purchased
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