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 IV > Part 53
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
It will be necessary to digress, for the time being, to the beginnings of the present Wyoming Monument in order that a chain of historical events may be completely forged.
A portion of these events precede the expression of a popular desire for a monument. Others follow the initial stages of the monument's history. All, however, had transpired when the centennial ceremonies were held and dealing with them in sequence seems to complete the narrative.
On page 1101 of this History is detailed the burial in a common grave of some eighty-three bodies of those slain on the field of Wyoming. This burial, it will be recalled, did not follow until October 22, 1778, nearly four months after the battle itself was fought. On that date Col. Zebulon Butler sent a com- pany of militia from the troops then guarding Wilkes-Barre to the scene of action. These, with crude wooden pitch forks, gathered together several cart loads of
2118
bodies, only two of them recognizable by friends. Finding that the grave dug for the receipt of the first cart load would accommodate additional occupants, the party thus fortunately buried in a common sepulchre, all bodies found that day. That the remains of eighty-three of the battle's victims comprised by no means the entire number of bodies which then dotted the large area covered by the battle line and the subsequent retreat, was evidenced by the fact that soldiers of General Sullivan's army almost a year later discovered the bodies of many more, when the presence of a large number of troops nearby afforded the searchers better security in their investigations.
There are records in many private letters and other documents of the period of many individual relatives of the slain making search of the field in after years in the hopes of discovering and identifying the bodies of their dead. While identification of remains which even then could be found in the thick underbrush of river bottom lands proved impossible, many were accorded a decent burial in shallow graves dug for the purpose.
In newspaper accounts of the Sutton family, published at intervals in local papers, it is narrated that James Sutton, Sr. on his own initiative, collected the remains of nearly a score of such victims as had hitherto been overlooked and buried them in a common grave upon which he rolled a stone shaped like a "sugar loaf." When search was subsequently made for this location, it was found that the ice and swift current of freshets had rolled the stone several hundred yards from its original position thus making the recovery of this par- ticular tomb impossible. Despite these and other recorded burials of many more bodies which were found on the field, so many bones and particularly skulls of the slain were found in the neighborhood of the Battle in after years, that the whole locality became known as the "place of the skull."
Having finished their gruesome task for the day, Colonel Butler's burial party heaped a mound of earth over the grave it had dug and repaired to its rendevous at Wilkes-Barré.
From that time forth until the year 1833, more than half a century there- after, the scriptural quotation might have been applied to the slain of Wyoming in that "no man knoweth the exact place of their sepulchre even unto this day."
The eventual re-location of this common tomb and circumstances attending the beginnings of the Wyoming Monument seem to prove once again that "truth is stranger than fiction."
As early as 1809, stirred by impassioned editorials of Charles Miner in the Federalist, a movement was set on foot to mark some portion of the field of Wyoming with a suitable memorial. Stirred by these appeals, a meeting of the countryside was held at the home of James Scovell in Exeter township. The plan of action adopted at this meeting was one followed by various assemb- lies in later years. A committee was appointed with power to solicit subscript- ions, which committee consisted of prominent residents of each of the original seventeen townships. Obadiah Gore, Esq. presided at this original meeting, Anderson Dana acting as secretary. The first appointees of the soliciting com- mittee were: Lord Butler, William Ross, Cornelius Courtright, Charles Miner, Philip Weeks, Silas Jackson, Benjamin Dorrance, Jacob Bedford and Henry Buckingham.
The Federalist of January 12, 1810, reports somewhat at length an adjourned session of the same body held in the court house at Wilkes-Barre on January 4,
2119
1810. Matthias Hollenback succeeded Mr. Gore as chairman of the latter gathering. The finance committee reported several contributions, was instructed to continue its efforts and a tentative program of events for the following 3rd of July was adopted in which various militia companies as well as "ministers of the gospel" were asked to join. Whether the task of securing subscriptions proved too formidable for the committee or whether, after the first enthusiastic outburst, the temper of the community cooled, is left for the individual reader to determine.
Years afterward a contribution to the Wyoming Republican in its issue of February 1, 1837, excuses previous failures of the undertaking on the ground that "the whole country was depressed from the ravages of the war, having, by the Compromise Law, to repurchase all their lands, the people were too poor to erect such a work as gratitude and justice demanded."
But whatever the cause, it remains to be said that nearly a score of years elapsed before the press of the period recorded a subsequent gathering of citizens who were to revive the project.
As happened at the first meeting, the pen of an editor was again to stir the community to action. Steuben Jenkins picked up the thread where his contemporary had left off and diligently urged renewed attention to the monu- ment. Once again aroused to a point of activity a meeting of citizens interested was held in the court house at Wilkes-Barré on July 22, 1826.
The committee appointed at this meeting held another assembly on the 9th of August following, when Gen. William Ross was called to the chair and Arnold Colt was appointed Secretary. At this meeting a preamble and resolutions were adopted expressive of the sense of the meeting. Among other things the minutes record the following action taken:
"Forty eight years have rolled away since the bones of the fathers of this valley were com- mitted to a common grave, and not a monument or beacon is erected to point to their sleeping dust.
"The monuments and trophies of the dead are useful only to the living. They prompt the rising generation to that noble devotion, that heroic daring, and that ardent love of country, which. is at once the strength and glory of a nation.
"Is there any one who has lost a relative or friend in that frightful massacre, who, in passing those memorable plains, does not feel an emotion of regret, that the ashes of those martyrs to savage fury lie unhonored by any monument to awaken the sad remembrance of their fall?
"Therefore, Resolved, that a monument be erected in memory of those who fell in the Wyoming Massacre."
A committee to obtain subscriptions was then appointed, consisting of two or more persons for each township in Luzerne, as well as several in Bradford and Susquehanna counties in this State and Tioga county, New York. Col. John Franklin, then of Bradford county, was named as one of the Committee- men. Of the entire list of names of this committee, seventy-five in number, only three were living on the 3rd of July, 1878, viz; Henry Roberts of Falls township, 87 years of age, Abram Honeywell, of Dallas, 85, and John Gore of Kingston, aged 83.
While the movement toward securing a memorial seems to have thus been auspiciously launched and a representative committee appointed, nevertheless subscriptions for the purpose were not forthcoming to a sufficient extent to justify those in charge in proceeding further at that time. In fact, six more years elapsed before the subject was again reanimated. Early in the spring of 1832, two prominent political clubs, both of the Democratic party but holding opposite views, indicated by word and deed a bitter rivalry in the strenuous politica
2120
life of the period. The "Hickory Club" headed by Gen. William Ross, took doctrinal issue with the "Democratic Hickory Club" whose destinies were presided over by Andrew Beaumont. Any plan of action to secure popular favor appealed to these aggressive organizations. To William Swetland, a member of the latter club, is accredited the suggestion of reviving the project of the memorial as a popular undertaking for his organization .*
To Mr. Swetland, as so frequently happens to him who suggests some constructive plan to his fellows, was delegated a task. His to discover the long lost burial place of the dead as a preliminary to further public effort in this direction. Mr. Swetland arose to the occasion. The approximate location, which both tradition and the memory of the few then living dictated as the burial field, was carefully examined.
Owing to the fact that the designated bottom land as well as that about it had been often ploughed over during the intervening years, no external evi- dences of a mound or other marker of the exact spot could be found. To exca- vate an area of several acres was out of the question, although at various times searching parties had tried this plan. But Mr. Swetland was not to be discour- aged by preliminary failure.
Securing the services of Philip Jackson, then a resident of Forty Fort, but earlier the owner and occupant of the farm beneath some part of which the tomb was supposed to lie, the plan was evolved of probing for the bones through the loose loam of the tract by means of an iron rod, sharpened and barbed at one end. Mr. Swetland encouraged the search thus initiated by offering a reward of twenty dollars to whosoever should succeed in definitely locating the long lost grave.
The strong arm of Mr. Jackson at length drove the unusual probing iron to a successful thrust. On May 22, 1832, the news was disseminated that the search had reached a conclusion and Mr. Jackson was cheerfully awarded the prize by its donor. In passing, it might be stated that the political club of which Mr. Swetland was an energetic member, took occasion in the next issue of the Republican Farmer to make the discovery known to friend and foe alike.
However spectacularly the subject of a monument was again focused before the eyes of the community by a political club, it was nevertheless a matter too big and a theme too sacred to be left to the whims of partisanship. As a consequence, a committee consisting of Gen. William Ross, Fisher Gay, Erastus Hill, Charles D. Shoemaker and Col. John F. Butler volunteered to once again approach the community on the subject of subscriptions. A better promise attended their efforts. To further enlist the interest of the valley in the monument undertaking, a meeting was announced for July 3, 1832, when the hecatomb would be publicly opened and the bones of the fallen gathered together against the day that they might be interred within the foundations of the contemplated memorial.
On the appointed day a large assembly convened at the opening of the grave for the purpose of paying tribute to the dead and to adopt measures pre- paratory to erecting a monument.
*See Wesley Johnson's "Wyoming Memorial" published in 1852, containing a letter from Payne Pettebone, Esq. on this subject.
2121
Rev. James May delivered an address suitable to the occasion. Among other things said by the speaker were:
"I find myself here in the midst of some venerable citizens who were in the ranks which faced the enemy on that memorable 3d of July, and who survived the perils and sufferings of that terrible day, and the vicissitudes of more than half a century since. * * The enemy's force was from 900 to 1,200 men, of whom upwards of 400 were Indians, headed by their Chief Brandt. On this dreadful day about 300 were killed or missing and never heard of, and about 230 wives made widows.
" 'See, fellow citizens,' said the speaker, 'the sacrifice which was made by the first civilized tenants of this valley! The grave containing their bones is uncovered before you. You see for yourselves the marks of the tomahawk and scalping knife on the heads which are here uncovered, after having rested for more than fifty years. Peace be in this grave! Sacred be the memory of them that sleep here.'
"Then addressing himself to the survivors of the battle, he said: 'Venerable citizens; we respect you for your years, we honor you for the part you bore in the doings, and sufferings of those days, we love and cherish the principles of liberty which animated you; we owe you a debt of gratitude for the happy inheritance you did your part to preserve unimpaired to your children. * * On this day and where you now are, you cannot but think of what you once saw in this place. We would stand aside while you look into this grave and see the bones of your brothers, which fifty-four years ago you assisted in sadly laying here. We would not intrude whilst you stand beside these bones, and think how you stood beside your friends when they lived. For your sake we are glad this day has come. We rejoice to think that you may yet see a stone raised here, on which the names of those you laid in this spot are engraven. May the strangers who in after times may visit this spot, and see here a stone raised in memory of those who fell in the con- flict ever find here a population worthy of their parentage; may the features of those heroes live in their posterity. Though the air I first breathed was not of this valley, I am proud to be amongst you. My heart is with you in the object of this day's meeting. When the bones which we see here before us shall rise from their bed of dust, and ours with them, may we have an in- heritance which wars shall never disturb, the inheritance which blood, but not that of man, has purchased.' "
Rev. Nicholas Murray ("Kirwan") being called upon for a few extempor- aneous remarks, spoke as follows:
"This paper which I hold in my hand, is a subscription paper for the erection of a monument over the bones of the patriots murdered at the battle of Wyoming. I am requested by the com- mittee of arrangement to present it for your signatures.
"And why is it my fellow citizens, that we are permitted to meet here today under such auspicious circumstances? Why from these western mountains is not the war-whoop of the Indian heard to disturb our quiet? Why is not the peaceful bosom of yonder river disturbed by the swift gliding canoe bearing to the midst of us the savage foe thirsting for our blood? Why permitted to live with so much comfort, and so little fear, on this fertile soil, and in the midst of blessings which are but rarely surpassed? Let this scalped skull (holding up the skull of one of the victims bearing plain marks of a murderous tomahawk upon it,) answer. These heroes whose mouldering bones are before us, met the savage foe on the very soil we are now treading, and purchased everything we love at the price of their lives.
"And will you, their sons and successors, refuse them a monument? Whilst over many an ignoble grave is erected the speaking marble, will you permit these remains of your brave ancestry to sleep in silence and solitude without a stone to tell the passing stranger where they rest? I feel justified in saying for you all, I know you will not. * * *
"I feel persuaded that you are anxious to place a liberal subscription on this paper before you retire from this place. You covet the honor of contributing to the erection of the Wyoming monument. My great fear is that we shall not all have the privilege of giving. I would therefor caution the rich (this caution was shown to be entirely unnecessary in the light of future events) not to indulge their patriotic feelings too freely, least they should be debarred the privilege of contributing their mite. We all want to have, each one, his stone in the monument, and poor as I am I want to give my dollar for that purpose.
"A word to the managers of the concern. In erecting this monument lay its foundation deep, where the wave of time cannot reach it. Build it firm and strong that the winds and the storms cannot shake it. Erect it high toward heaven, that it may catch the first ray of the rising, and reflect the last of the setting sun. And far up towards its summit, let it bear aloft, on every side, and in letters of gold, the eloquent inscription placed over the ashes of the great Conde, changed only to express the plural, 'Sta, Viator, Calceas Heroem' and then, to all coming generations it will be a memento of the valor of their ancestry. It will teach them the price at which their liberty was purchased, and the value they should set upon it. It will teach them that the posses- sion of civil and religious liberty is more valuable than that of life. If ever the foot of a despot shall tread upon our extended and happy shores, a glance at the monument of Wyoming will rouse the spirit of her sons; will kindle in their bosoms the patriotism of their fathers, and will bring them to the noble resolution, that if despotism must come, it much march over their lifeless bodies; and lifting its towering column toward that heaven, to which we humbly hope some of the spirits that animated these bones have ascended, it will say through all the coming years to every stranger that passes, STOP TRAVELLER, HERE REST THE ASHES OF THE WYOMING HEROES."
2122
It is narrated, in letters and published correspondence of the Sutton family previously referred to, that when the long lost tomb was being opened to public inspection on this occasion, it was found that a number of large stones had been placed over the bones of the slain by the original burial party. These were removed and hastily thrown together in the form of a crude monument some four feet high as the work of excavation progressed.
All of which gives rise to the surmise that, in probing for the remains, Mr. Jackson felt reasonably sure, from some record or tradition of the original burial which survived, that these stones had been placed above the bodies to secure them from any erosive currents of the river which might, in times of freshet, wash out the otherwise loose soil of the field.
In striking the stones with his probing iron and knowing that no other similar deposits could be found in the clay soil of the bottom lands in that locality, the discoverer assumed the responsibility of declaring the grave positively identified which fact, it may be assumed, was not definitely known until it was finally uncovered at this later time.
In any event, the work of excavation finished and the then crumbling bones of the dead exposed, the concourse, headed by its speakers of the day, moved in single file past the open grave and later partook of "a sumptuous repast in the orchard of Fisher Gay across the road."
After the ceremonies of the afternoon, the bones remaining in the pit were collected, placed in dry goods boxes and temporarily stored in a ware house in rear of the nearby general store of William Swetland .*
Encouraged by such additional subscriptions as the dramatic events of the previous July had helped secure, the committee in charge contracted on February 12, 1833, for the foundations and vault of the present monument. The stone for the undertaking was obtained from what is still known as the "Monument Quarry" situated on the east bank of the Susquehanna some three miles above and brought to a point near the monument location by means of a ferry.
With the letting of the contract, plans were immediately set on foot in preparation for the laying of the monument's corner stone, July 3, 1833, on the 55th anniversary of the battle. President Andrew Jackson was included among those invited on that occasion, but pleaded the "pressure of public business" in a polite note of declination.
In Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, published at Philadelphia, July 20, 1833, appears the most complete report of the laying of the monument's corner stone which the present writer is able to discover. It was from the pen of a Kingston correspondent and read as follows:
"The ceremony of laying the corner stone of a Monument to the memory of those who fell in the Massacre on the 3d day of July, 1778, was performed on Wednesday last, the anniversary of the day on which that melancholy event occurred. The scene was interesting and solemn. It was unlike the ordinary laying of a corner stone of a monument, where meditation upon some patriotic event alone inspired feeling. The bones of those who were massacred in an attempt to defend their country, and their families, and to whose memory a monument is to be erected, had been dug from the earth, and were exhibited to the assembled multitude. To look upon a great number of skulls, and other human bones, some bearing the marks of the tomahawk and scalping knife, and others, perforated with balls, awakened a sense of the sufferings of those Wyo- ining Herces, and led the mind to reflect upon the cause in which they lost their lives. Casting the eye over the fertile Valley, viewing the luxuriant fields, the many fine habitations, and other
*Mr. Payne Pettebone, in his letter published in the Wesley Johnson "Wyoming Memorial" mentioned previously, states that the back office of the Swetland store, "adjoined my sleeping quarters, where I lodged with them (the boxes) until they were deposited in the vault "
2123
indications of prosperity, happiness and plenty, and then looking upon the huge mass of the bones of those who fell, in attempting to defend it, was too much to meditate upon without feeling the most solemn emotions. Nor did this alone make the scene solemnly interesting. There were present several aged veterans who were in the battle-and several who 55 years before had assisted in gathering and burying the bodies, the remains of which were now before them. There were present several whose fathers were slain, and whose bones were in the mass-and a number of others who had lost brothers or other connections, and whose remains they were permitted to look upon, after they had lain beneath the sod more than half a century. There were present many who, in looking upon a bone, knew not but the eye was resting upon the naked fragment of a parent, a brother, or some other connection. Truly the scene was solemn and interesting beyond description."
"About 12 o'clock the Volunteer Battalion formed in line and marched some distance below the site of the monument, where a large box of bones had been arranged for the procession. Here a line was formed in the following order:
" Ist. The Battalion.
" 2d. The Citizens.
" 3d. The Clergy.
"4th. The Orator and those who officiated in laying the corner stone, &c.
" 5th. The Carriers.
" 6th. The Box and Pall Bearers.
" 7th. The descendants and connexions.
"The line marched under American colors, and with solemn martial music. On reaching the site for the monument, the Battalion formed on the east of the grave, and the citizens on the west.
"After prayer by the Rev. Samuel Carver, Chester Butler, Esq. who had been selected as Orator, delivered a very excellent address. The ceremony of laying the Corner Stone was performed by Mr. Elisha Blackman, an aged veteran who was in the battle. A box was deposited in the stone, containing A History of the early settlement of the Valley, and an account of the Battle. A list of as many of the names of those who fell in the battle as could be obtained. A copy of the offical account of the battle transmitted at the time by Col. Zebulon Butler to the Secretary of War. A copy of the Address delivered by Chester Butler, Esq. The Muster Roll of a company commanded by Captain Samuel Ransom, made out in September, 1777. A copy of the Address delivered by the Rev. Mr. May, at the celebration of the event, July 3d, 1832-and a copy of the remarks then made by the Rev. Mr. Murray. One piece of each denomination of United States coin. A copy of the President's Proclamation. And a copy of each of the papers published in Luzerne county. "The ceremony of depositing the box was performed by Mr. S. Carey, another aged veteran who was in the battle. He was assisted by Judge Scott, who had been selected for that purpose, and who delivered a short and interesting extemporaneous address. Mr. Carey then spoke a short time, during which he evinced much feeling, and a greater degree of satisfaction with the proceedings of the day. The bones were then placed in the grave, in the foundation prepared for the Monument. During the time occupied in depositing these, the Battalion fired three rounds. After prayer by the Rev. John Dorrance, the assemblage dispersed in good order.
"Never, we presume, was there so large a multitude collected together in this county. The number of those present was estimated at from two to three thousand."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.