USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Annals of Luzerne County; a record of interesting events, traditions, and anecdotes > Part 5
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John Penn, one of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and grandson of William Penn, arrived in Philadelphia, and entered on the duties of governor in the fall of 1763; and in July, 1764, offered the following rewards for In- dian scalps :- " For every male above ten years of age,
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THE INDIANS.
captured, $150; for every male above ten years of age, scalped, being killed, $130; for every female above ten years of age, scalped, being killed, $50." Here we have a bounty on murder offered by a descendant of the wise and benevolent William Penn! The war against the savages was now prosecuted with vigor by General Gage, who sent several regiments of British troops into the western country and destroyed their towns. In Novem- ber, Colonel Bouquet had reduced them to a humiliating submission. The Delawares, Shawanese, and other tribes delivered up, at Fort Pitt and other points, three hundred prisoners, most of whom were women and children.
The Christian Indians at Wyalusing continued to increase, and, in 1767, erected a large and convenient church, with a cupola and bell. This bell was the first that ever sounded over the waters of the North Susque- hanna. In 1769, they made an additional settlement at Sheshequin, thirty miles above Wyalusing; but the whites beginning to crowd into Wyoming and along the river, the Indians became dissatisfied with their location. With Zeisberger at their head they departed, in 1772, for the west, and were united to the Moravian Mission on the Muskingum.
Thus they passed away before the fraud and the vio- lence of the white man. Less than a century sufficed to deprive them of their wide domain on the Delaware and Susquehanna. They were driven from their homes, from the graves of their fathers, from all they held dear, by intruders, who took advantage of their simplicity, and induced them to bargain away their all, and when they were unwilling to be so defrauded, they were compelled to yield to the skill and force of the superior race.
CHAPTER II.
THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
THE kings of England, in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries, had a very imperfect knowledge of their vast and magnificent dominions in North America. They granted with a lavish hand large tracts of country to companies, favorites, and crown creditors, without reflec- tion as to the probable future of the New World, or the probable consequences of the grants they made. Had the wording of these grants been more precise, and the de- scriptions of the boundaries intelligible and consistent, much angry discussion and civil strife would have been avoided. New York disputed with Connecticut in refer- ence to their common boundary. Pennsylvania settled with difficulty her southern boundary with Maryland, contended twenty years with Virginia for her western limits, and was driven into violence and bloodshed, with people claiming under Connecticut, for her northern terri- tory. We purpose to give some account of this last dis- pute in reference to Northern Pennsylvania.
In 1620, King James I. granted to the Plymouth Company a charter for the ruling and governing of New England in America. In 1628, the Plymouth Company granted to the Massachusetts colony their territory. In 1631, the president of the Plymouth Company granted a large tract of land to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and others, which was purchased by the Colony
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THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
of Connecticut. These charters or grants made the South Sea their western boundary. April 20th, 1662, King Charles II. renewed and confirmed this charter to the Connecticut colony, and distinctly recognised it as a part and parcel of the old grant of 1620 by James I. to the Plymouth Company. Nineteen years after this, on the 4th of March, 1681, this same King Charles granted by his letters-patent to William Penn, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of land lying between a point on the south, twelve miles north of New Castle, and a line on the north, dividing the forty-second and forty-third degrees of north latitude, and extending westward five degrees of longitude from the Delaware river. Thus a tract of country, extending from north to south a whole degree of latitude, and from east to west five degrees of longi- tude, was granted to the Connecticut Colony in 1662, and to William Penn in 1681. Both grantees claimed the land under their respective charters. But in addition to a charter two other things were requisite in order to make a valid title-purchase of the soil from the Indians, and possession. William Penn, and the succeeding pro- prietaries, purchased various tracts of land from the Indians, and obtained deeds for the same. And particu- larly by a deed, dated October 11th, 1736, Thomas Penn and William Penn purchased of the Indians the full and absolute right of pre-emption of and in all lands lying within the limits of the charter to William Penn. Also, on the 9th of July, 1754, nine Indian chiefs signed a deed of promise at Albany, "never to sell any lands in Pennsylvania as the same is bounded by New York, except to the proprietaries." November 5th, 1768, the proprietaries of Pennsylvania procured a deed from the Six Nations, at Fort Stanwix, for all the lands not pre- viously sold to the proprietaries lying within the province
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
of Pennsylvania. In January, 1769, Stewart, Ogden, and Jennings, on behalf of the proprietary government, took possession of the Susquehanna lands, settling at the mouth of Mill Creek, about one mile above the present town of Wilkesbarre. Thus the three essentials-a charter, pur- chase, and possession-were made and obtained on the part of the Pennsylvania government, at the times above mentioned. On the other hand, the Connecticut claim was based on a charter nineteen years older than that to Penn. As to the second requisite, we find that eight hundred and forty persons, many of them leading men of Connecticut, united in the year 1753, under the title of the " Connecticut Susquehanna Company," with a view to purchase the Indian title to the lands on the Susque- hanna. A deed of purchase was made by this company from the Indians at Albany, dated July 11th, 1754, during the meeting of a Congress of Delegates from a number of the colonies, which purchase included the Wyoming Valley. In 1755, the existence and claims of this company were recognised and acquiesced in by the Assembly of Connecticut.
When the Susquehanna Company was organized in 1753, John Jenkins, as surveyor of the company, and some others, were sent out to explore the contemplated territory, and establish friendly intercourse with the Indians. Again in 1755, John Jenkins and Ezekiel Hyde, with their associates, explored more fully the newly-purchased territory. On account of the French war, and the hostile attitude of the Indians, it was not deemed advisable to commence a settlement then. But in August, 1762, John Jenkins, William Buck, and others, members of the company, entered upon, and took posses- sion of, the Susquehanna lands, in the Wyoming Valley. They erected several small log-houses at the mouth of
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THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
Mill Creek, sowed a considerable quantity of grain, and returned to Connecticut. In the spring of 1763 they returned to Wyoming, and erected other buildings a short distance below the present site of Wilkesbarre, but on the 15th of October following they were driven away, some being cruelly butchered, it is believed, by the Six Nations .* No more settlers came from New England until February 8th, 1769, when a body of Connecticut Yankees appeared on the ground, only a few days after the arrival of Stewart, Ogden, and Jennings, on the part of the proprietary government.
In deciding between the two governments which is the better title, it may be stated as an additional fact, that on the 30th of November, 1664, his Majesty's Commis- sioners appointed "to decide the bounds betwixt his Highness the Duke of York and Connecticut charter," with the approbation and assent of the agents of the Con- necticut colony, fixed a line east of the Hudson river, to be the western bounds of the said colony of Connecticut. And again, in 1683, the Commissioners of Connecticut with the Governor of New York fixed upon a new line, which constitutes the present limits between Connecticut and New York, and it was declared that the line fixed upon " shall be the western bounds of the said colony of Connecticut." Notwithstanding this, Connecticut elaimed that she had a right to overleap the province of New York, and resume her ancient boundary. Thus the southern line of her claim, which she contended was the proper northern boundary of Pennsylvania, would cross the Delaware, pass through Stroudsburg, and through Conyngham in Luzerne county, and cut the Catawissa
* For an account of this massacre see Chapter III., Captain Lazarus Stewart; and for names of settlers sce Appendix, A.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Railroad at Rupert Station, passing westward. The tongues and pens of some of the ablest men, both in Eng- land and in America, were employed in the discussion of the question at issue between Pennsylvania and Connec- ticut. It is evident that much might be said on both sides in support of their respective claims. However, in the year 1782, five Commissioners appointed by Congress, agreeably to the ninth article of Confederation, met at Trenton, to decide the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, in reference to these lands. After forty-one days of patient hearing and investigation, in which both parties were fully heard, on the 30th day of December, 1782, the Commissioners gave their decision in these words :-
" We are unanimously of opinion that Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy.
" We are also unanimously of opinion that the jurisdic- tion and pre-emption of all the territory lying within the charter of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the state of Connecticut, do of right belong to the state of Penn- sylvania."
It will be observed that simply the question of juris- diction and pre-emption was decided by this court. The question of the right of soil did not come before the court, and therefore the settlers had not been notified to appear and defend.
The state of Connecticut now, with becoming grace, submitted to the decision at Trenton; but the settlers, who had for thirteen years maintained a fierce struggle for possession, still obstinately contested the claim of Pennsylvania to the right of soil.
We go back now to the date when the Susquehanna Company resumed their possession of the disputed lands, which possession had not lapsed, but had been discon-
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THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
tinued for a season, in compliance with an inhibition of his Majesty, in 1763, to the effect, that all settlements of lands adjoining the Indian territory should cease, until precautions in pursuance of his Majesty's orders should be adopted for quieting the troubles with the Indians. The treaty at Fort Stanwix, in 1768, had settled the difficulties with the Indians. Accordingly, in that same year, on the 28th of December, the Susquehanna Com- pany held a meeting at Hartford, Connecticut, to make preliminary arrangements for settling the Wyoming lands.
It was resolved that five townships, each five miles square, should be granted to two hundred settlers : that forty settlers should set out without delay, and the re- mainder in the following spring. The five townships decreed to be laid out, were afterwards named Plymouth, Kingston, Hanover, Wilkesbarre, and Pittston. It is pleasing to observe that three whole rights, or shares, in each township were reserved for the support of religion and of schools. The first forty who came out were to have the first choice of one of the townships, and to be- come proprietors on condition of actual settlement, and of defending themselves and the soil against rival claimants.
On the part of the proprietary government Charles Stewart, a surveyor, Captain Amos Ogden, and John Jennings, sheriff of Northampton county, were commis- sioned to lay out two manors, one on the west side of the Susquehanna, to be called the Manor of Sunbury, and one on the east side, the Manor of Stoke. The governor gave to each of these gentlemen a lease for one hundred acres of land, for seven years, on condition that they esta- blished an Indian trading-house, and defended the soil against all intruders. He also directed them to encourage the speedy settlement of the manors, and to lease the
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
same to settlers, stipulating for the payment of the annual rent of one ear of corn, and the defence of the soil against encroachment.
It will be observed in this contest, that on one side were many proprietors, claiming the right of soil as vested in themselves; and on the other, was one great landlord, who claimed the entire country, and who waged war for possession with hirelings, who had at best a mere lease of the land. The masses of the people of any country would naturally sympathize with the former, without inquiring into the nice question of title by charter of ancient date. Hence we find even the people of Pennsylvania reluctant to support the proprietary government in its onslaughts on the Connecticut settlers. Indeed many openly, and more secretly, gave them aid and comfort in their enterprise.
We have before stated that, in January, 1769, the par- tisans of the proprietary government located themselves at the mouth of Mill Creek. They took possession of the buildings which had been erected by the Connecticut settlers, who, in 1763, were murdered and driven away by the Indians. When, in the next month, the forty* arrived, under the auspices of the Susquehanna Company, finding the Pennamites in possession of the homes they had expected to occupy, they erected a small block-house in Kingston, across the river. This was afterwards en- larged, and called Forty Fort. In a short time it was resolved to drive away the intruders, Ogden and Jennings, from Mill Creek. They accordingly surrounded Ogden's block-house, and demanded its surrender in the name of Connecticut. Ogden requested a conference, and Messrs. Elderkin, Tripp, and Follett were sent to his quarters for that purpose. But they had no sooner entered his presence than they were arrested by sheriff Jennings, in
For names, see Appendix, B.
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THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
the name of Pennsylvania, and conducted to Easton jail. accompanied by their thirty-seven associates. This ready submission on the part of the Connecticut men, can be explained only by their profound, almost superstitious respect for civil process in conformity to law. That men resolved on force and violence should be suddenly sub- dued and taken captive by the exhibition of a writ in the hands of a single man, is to us a matter of some sur- prise. The captives were shut up in jail at Easton, but were almost immediately liberated on bail (Wm. L. Ledley, bailor), when they returned to the valley, fully bent on the prosecution of their enterprise. In a few days Ogden and Jennings returned with a large force, and arresting thirty- one of the Yankees conveyed them to Easton, where, as before, they were permitted to go free on bail. They again returned to the disputed ground. In April, they were joined by one hundred and sixty others* from New England, being the rest of the two hundred which the company had resolved to send out. They at once pro- ceeded to erect a new fortification, to which they gave the name of Fort Durkee, in honor of the gentleman who was chosen to command them. This fort was located near the south-west boundary of the present borough of Wilkesbarre, on the river bank. They also put up a number of small log-houses.
On the 24th of May, Jennings and Ogden, with a number of others, arrived in the valley, and finding the Yankees too strongly entrenched to be attacked by them, returned to Easton, and made report of the state of affairs to the governor. The Susquehanna Company now con- sidered this a favorable opportunity to open negotiations with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. Colonel Dyer and
* For names. see Appendix, B.
5
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Major Elderkin were sent with full powers to Philadelphia to adjust all matters in dispute relative to the Wyo- ming lands. This attempt at a peaceful settlement of the question failed. On the 24th of June, an armed force, under the command of Colonel Francis, appeared before Fort Durkee, and demanded a surender. The demand was refused, and as the Connecticut men were too strongly fortified to justify an attack with his small force, Colonel Francis withdrew. Governor Penn, learning from Colonel Francis the condition of things, sent instructions to Jen- nings, sheriff of Northampton county, to raise a large force, sufficient to oust the Yankees; yet, if possible, without bloodshed. When Ogden heard that Jennings was coming, he with a party of forty or fifty men sud- denly attacked the houses of some of the settlers, and took a few prisoners, among whom was Major John Durkee, commander of the garrison. Major Durkee was taken to prison at Philadelphia. In September, Sheriff Jennings appeared on the ground with two hundred men, and was gratified to learn that Captain Alexander Patterson, one of Ogden's subordinates, had brought up from Fort Augusta (Sunbury) an iron four-pounder to render the siege more effective. The settlers were utterly appalled by this display of force, and by the loss of their con- mander. They agreed to surrender, and articles of capitulation were drawn. It was stipulated as follows :-
1st. That Simon Draper, Daniel Gore, Asa Ludington, and Thomas Bennet should be delivered up as prisoners.
2d. That seventeen men should remain and gather the fall crops, and that all the other men, women, and children should depart for Connecticut.
3d. That private property should be respected.
The sufferings of these people on their journey through the wilderness to the East were of the most distressing
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THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
nature. One woman, says Mr. Chapman, roasted and fed her dead child to her surviving children to keep them alive. After the departure of the fugitives, Captain Ogden viola- ted the terms of the capitulation, to his disgrace as a man and as a soldier. He seized upon the horses, cattle, swine, &c., and, carrying them to the adjacent settlements, sold them for the benefit of himself and subordinates. The seventeen left to gather the crops, being deprived of all means of subsistence, were compelled to follow their companions to New England. Leaving ten or fifteen men to garrison the fort, Jennings and Ogden departed to the country below the Blue Ridge with their half-civil and half-military force, where it was disbanded. Such were the events of the strife for the possession of Wyoming during the year 1769.
For four months the valley remained in the undisturbed possession . of the Pennamites. It was at this time that Captain Lazarus Stewart, James Stewart, William Stew- art, Lazarus Stewart 2d, Lazarus Young, Matthias Hol- lenback, John Donnahew, Josiah Espy, and several others from Lancaster county, Pa., who had no love for Governor Penn and the proprietary government, determined to make an arrangement with the Susquehanna Company, and to unite their fortunes with the Yankees. In the beginning of February, 1770, Captain Lazarus Stewart, at the head of forty Paxton Rangers and ten New England men, attacked Fort Durkee, and compelled the garrison to surrender. Stewart immediately afterwards proceeded to Fort Ogden, at Mill Creek, and removed the cannon, with the other munitions of war, to Fort Durkee. When Captain Ogden, who was at Philadelphia, heard what had taken place, he was greatly astonished and vexed that all his labors and victories should in so short a space of time be brought to nought. But, hastily collecting a.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
body of men, he returned to Wyoming, and took up his quarters at Mill Creek. By this time Major Durkee had returned from prison, and had joined Stewart at the fort. These two commanders now, with drums beating and colors flying, marched forth to attack Ogden. A smart skirmish ensued, in which William Stager was killed, and one or two others wounded. This was the first blood shed in the Pennamite and Yankee war.
This attack failed of success. The cannon was next transported to the western side of the river, where it was placed in a block-house erected for the purpose, and a heavy fire opened on Fort Ogden. The firing was kept up for several days without effect, when the cannon was brought back to the eastern shore, and it was resolved to boldly march out and invest the enemy's works. In the attack, a storehouse adjoining the fort, of great import ance to the Pennsylvanians, was fired and consumed The siege was vigorously prosecuted, and Captain Ogden was forced to surrender. Articles of capitulation were signed on the 29th of April, and Ogden and his men, except six left to take care of his property, departed the valley. But remembering Ogden's violation of good faithı in the preceding September, the Yankees procceded to eject the six men, and setting fire to the fort and houses, reduced them to ashes.
Governor John Penn now applied to General Gage, at New York, for British regulars, to drive the Yankees from his lands. But the general refused the desired aid, stating that it would be highly improper for the king's troops to interfere in a dispute concerning property.
In May, to the great joy of those already there, Colonel Zebulon Butler, with a considerable number of settlers, ar- rived from Connecticut. There was now peace in the land. They sowed, they planted, they formed new settlements.
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THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
The spring passed away. The summer followed, and still no foe was upon them. Nevertheless, they could not but feel anxious for the future, for on the 28th of June the Governor of Pennsylvania had issued his proclamation, denouncing the severest penalties on all who might settle on the disputed lands, unless by his authority or that of his lessees. The evil hour was at hand. In September Ogden, with one hundred and forty men, quietly entered the valley, and arrested several of the settlers while at work in the fields. Those in the fort, learning the enemy were near, were thrown into the utmost confusion, and while paralyzed with doubt and consternation, an attack was made, and the fort carried by storm. Colonel But- ler, Mr. Spaulding, and some other leading men, were sent prisoners to Philadelphia, and those of less note were confined in the jail at Easton. The gallant Ogden again retired from Wyoming, leaving behind a small garrison of twenty men to hold the fort, and possession of the valley. But, alas! the uncertainty of human affairs ! On the night of the 18th of December Captain Lazarus Stewart, at the head of thirty men, with a startling " hurrah for King George !" broke into the fort, drove out the half-awake, half-naked garrison, and took possession in the name of Connecticut. The news spreads far and near, and the year 1770 closes on Captain Ogden in a state of bewildering amazement at the audacity and un- tiring energy of his enemies.
The year 1771 opens with vigorous efforts on the part of the proprietary government to prosecute the war. Although the severities of winter were upon them, yet, in thirty days after the expulsion of his friends, Ogden appeared before Fort Durkee with one hundred men. He was accompanied by Sheriff Hacklien, of Northampton county, who bore a warrant, issued by Judge Willing, for
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
the apprehension of Lazarus Stewart. As the defenses of Mill Creek had been destroyed, Captain Ogden resolved to erect a new fortification nearer Fort Durkee. To this he gave the name of Fort Wyoming, which stood on the river bank, near the western terminus of Northampton street, Wilkesbarre. To Sheriff Hacklien's demand to surrender, Captain Stewart returned an emphatic nega- tive. The only alternative now was a resort to arms. On the 20th of January, 1771, Ogden made an attack with his force on Fort Durkee, which was located about sixty rods below his own fort, Wyoming.
In the conflict which ensued, Nathan Ogden, the cap- tain's brother, was killed, while a considerable number were wounded. The besieging party, repulsed for the present, and disconcerted by their ill-luck, returned to their fortification. That night, Stewart, and twenty-six of his men, resolved to withdraw from Fort Durkee. IIe well knew the deep irritation of the proprietary govern- ment against him, and he was aware that if captured he must either die or linger out a sad existence in a dun- geon. The morning following his retreat the garrison surrendered, and the sheriff returned to Easton with his prisoners. Captain Ogden heretofore had appeared to consider every repulse and surrender of the Connecticut party as its final overthrow and complete destruction ; and, acting on this impression, had uniformly retired to Philadelphia to repose on his laurels and enjoy the adu- lations and festivities of the city. He now adopted a different policy. He remained with his forces in the valley, and applied himself by every means in his power to strengthen his defenses. He brought to bear, on the wants and peculiarities of his position, all the vigilance and energy of his character. For two months he was undisturbed, but in April following, Captains Butler and
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