History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 10

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340

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Gen. Sullivan at once set about building a fort and preparing the place for military occupation, and as a base for his army in his move- ments north into the Indian country. Maj. Morris describes the place as presenting evidences of recent occupation by large numbers of Indians-many hides being strewn over the ground, and the place of burial for their dead, but he adds, "There were no Vestiges of Hutts or Wigwams." The commander had built Fort Sullivan and four block- houses, and near these the boats were sheltered. A strong-enough garrison for defense was left, and Gen. Clinton and his force had arrived. In the meantime, before Clinton's arrival, Sullivan had hur- ridly marched out fifteen miles to an Indian town, Chemung, and, finding it deserted, burned the place-about forty Indian huts. The place had been deserted on the approach of the army, and the Indians were seen on a hill watching the soldiers. Gen. Hand pursued them, and they waited until he was in range, when they delivered a fire and fled. They were hotly pursued about a mile. The fire of the Indians was effective, as they wounded three officers, killed six men, and wounded seven others. This has the strong appearance of having been an ambush in which the crafty savages drew Gen. Hand, and then fled, receiving no injury in return. The soldiers were then put to des-

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

troying a field of corn, about forty acres; while thus engaged they were fired upon from across the river, killing one man and wounding five.

August 26. Army about 5,000 strong moved out of Tioga, leav- ing three hundred men to guard the fort, under command of Col. Shreve. On the 29th the army reached Newtown, and fought the de- cisive battle of that name. This is situated about seven miles south- east of where is now Elmira. The Indians were commanded by Col. John Butler and Joseph Brandt. The Americans had three men killed and twenty-nine wounded. The town of forty huts was des- troyed, and the growing grain in the fields. The army then proceeded without further interruption up to and through the great Genesee valley, laying waste on every hand, literally overrun and destroyed it, and then returned to Tioga Point. In this expedition it was esti- mated the army burned forty Indian villages, destroyed 200,000 bush- els of corn, besides thousands of fruit trees, etc. "The land was the Garden of Eden before them, and behind a desolate wilderness. "

October 3. Fort Sullivan was demolished, and the next day the army set out for Wyoming, passing down through Bradford county over the route they had come up. On the 15th the army reached its starting point, Easton, where a thanksgiving service was held. On the 17th, Gen. Washington congratulated the army on Gen. Sullivan's suc- cess, and that "The whole of the soldiery engaged in the expedition merit, and have, the Commander-in-chief's warmest acknowledgements for their important services."

This blow, more lasting and terrible than was supposed at the time, destroyed the power of the Iroquois forever. The greatest Indian con federation ever formed, Gen Sullivan had crushed. While the war lasted they kept up their forages, but it was in insignificant bands of four or five. There were no more Wyoming or Cherry Valley massa- cres from these savages.

Particulars of this important movement of the Colonial authorities, while one of the most important in our history, has been a neglected chapter by our historians. Simply to mention it as an incident, with but little regard to the tremendous effects following, has been too much the rule of writers on the subject of the war for Independence. Under the auspices of the State of New York a Centennial Celebration of the battle of Newtown was held in the year 1879, August 29, and under a resolution of Congress of 1876, asking for the publication of the his- tory of the several counties in the Union, the historian of that locality brought public attention to Sullivan's expedition. It was then deter- mined to fitly celebrate the centennial day of the battle of Newtown, and to construct on the ground a monument dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. This resulted in the grandest celebration of that period. And the activity of the managers of that occasion, the liberal assis- tance from the State of New York and the elaborate memorial addresses, particularly that of the Rev. David Craft, of Wyalusing, all contributed to give this important event its proper place in American history. The 29th of August was hot and dry, but the people assem- bled in vast multitudes, by organized military and civic societies, singly and in long and numerous processions. The monument standing on

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Sullivan Hill, on the battlefield, commanding a wide view of the sur- rounding country, was unveiled with imposing ceremonies, and addresses delivered from two stands by many of the most eminent men of the country .. The governors and staffs of New York and Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, as well as Gen. Sherman and staff, and many other officials, were present. It is estimated that there were assembled on the battlefield 50,000 people on that eventful day.

This expedition forever destroyed the powers of the Iroquois, and drove Butler and his forces from this portion of the country, and com- parative peace and safety were once more established on the Susque- hanna.

March, 1780, a party of fifty or more Indians came down the river and when near Wyoming they divided into bands for the purpose of striking the isolated settlers. One of these parties captured Thomas Bennett and his son, near Kingston, and added Libbeus Hammond to their capture, and started to Tioga and camped near Meshoppen. Dur- ing the night the prisoners rose upon their captors, killed four, wounded another, and one fled, and seizing all the rifles of the slain returned home March 27; another of these bands suddenly appeared at Hanover and shot and killed Asa Upson. Two days after they captured a boy; Jonah Rogers, and the next day Moses Van Campen ; they killed and scalped Van Campen's father, brother and uncle ; the same day they captured a lad named Pence. They then passed to Huntington and fell in with Col. Franklin and four of his men, two of whom were wounded but all escaped. They found in Lehman township, Luzerne county, Abraham Pike and his wife making sugar. They stayed all night with them and took the man and wife prisoners the next morning, having bundled the baby and thrown it on the cabin roof; during the day they released the woman, and she returned in all haste to her baby which she found, and with it in her arms fled to the settlement. Pike was a deserter from the British army-a gallant Irishman, and made up his mind that it would be decidedly unpleas- ant to be carried into the British lines. The party with their captives on the night of April 3 camped on the Strope place, at the mouth of Wysox creek. Supposing they were now out of danger, they relaxed somewhat their vigilance. Jonah Rogers, the boy mentioned above, afterward told this narrative:

"In the afternoon of the day before we reached the place of encampment we. came to a stream. I was tired and fatigued with the journey; my feet were sore and I was just able to proceed. Pike told the chief of the gang that he would carry me over on his shoulders. The old chief, in a gruff voice, said : 'Well.' Pike whispered in my ear as we were crossing the stream : 'Jonah, don't close your eyes to-night. When they sleep take the knife from the chief and cut the cords with which I am bound.' I was the only one of the prisoners who was not bound every night-the old chief took me under his blanket. The nights were raw and cold, and though protected in this way I thought I should perish. This much of the project was com- municated by Pike to the other prisoners. Toward nightfall they halted, kindled a fire, partook of their evening meal, and were soon

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

stretched on the ground. In a few minutes the old chief was asleep, and in the course of half an hour the savages were all snoring; but he knew his friends were awake, from the occasional half-suppressed congh.

" Pike was the nearest to me, and not over two feet in distance. It was a terrific effort for me to make up my mind to perform my part of the business, for I knew that instant death would be the penalty in case of failure. But, as time passed on, and the snoring of the sav- ages grew louder and louder, my courage seemed to gather new strength. I had noticed where the old chief lay down ; the knife in the helt was on the side next to me. I peered ont from under the blanket, and I saw the embers of the fire still aglow, and a partial light of the moon. I also saw the hands of Pike elevated ; I thought the time had come, and these two hours of suspense I had passed were more terrible than all the rest of my life put together. I cautiously drew the knife from the scabbard in the chief's belt, and, creeping noiselessly out from under the blanket, I passed. over to Pike and sev- ered the cords from his hands.

" All was the silence of death save the gurgling noise made by the savages in their sleep. Pike cut the cords that bound the other pris- oners. We were all now upon our feet. The first thing was to remove the guns of the Indians-the work for us to do was to be done with tomahawks and knives. The guns were carefully removed out of sight, and each of us had a tomahawk. Van Campen placed him- self over the chief, and Pike over another. I was too young for the encounter, and stood aloof. I saw the tomahawks of Pike and Van Campen flash in the dim light of the half-smoldering flames ; the next moment the crash of two terrible blows followed in quick succession, when seven of the ten arose in a state of momentary stupefaction and bewilderment, and then came the hand-to-hand conflict in the contest for life. Though our enemy were without arms, they were not dis- posed to yield. Pence now seized one of the guns, fired and brought one down ; four were now killed and two dangerously wounded, when 'the others, with terrific yells, fled at the report of the gun. As they ran, Van Campen threw his tomahawk and buried it in the shoulder of one of them. This Indian, with a terrible scar on his shoulder- blade, I saw years after, when he acknowledged how it canie there."

Mrs. Jane (Strope) Whitaker told that Pike had visited her father often after the war, and she had heard him relate over and over again every detail of the episode.

In June, 1780, Col. Franklin, Sergt. Baldwin with four men had trailed a party from near Tunkhannock to Wysox, near where is the Lanning farm. They discovered the camp smoke, and crept upon them and captured four white men, bearers of dispatches to the British forces. One of them got away, the others were taken to headquarters ; they were Jacob and his son, Adam and Henry Hoover. Among other trophies found on the prisoners was a beautiful spy-glass, now the prop- erty of Maj. W. H. H. Gore, of Sheshequin ; it had been purchased by his father, Judge Gore. And Burr Ridgeway when a very old man said that he had heard Col. Franklin say, on pulling out a silver watch, "I took that from one of the prisoners."

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Stubborn Fight- A battle with the red skins on Bradford soil took place at the Frenchtown mountain, opposite Asylum, April 10, 1782. A band of marauders had captured Roswell Franklin's family, of Han- over. For some unknown cause this family was the especial object of attack by the Indians. A year before they had captured Franklin's son, Roswell, and his nephew, Arnold Franklin, whose father had been killed in the Wyoming battle, and they had burned his grain and drove off his stock. On April 7, while Roswell Franklin was away, a band of eight savages rushed into the cabin and captured Mrs. Franklin and her children, Olive, aged thirteen, Susanna, Stephen, aged four, and Ichabod, aged eighteen months, and hurried away with them, going north toward Tioga. The second day they were joined by five other Indians, making thirteen. In a few hours after they had gone, Franklin returned, and divining the affair hastened to Wilkes-Barre and the alarm guns were fired. The captives heard the guns and knew what it meant. Soon a party was in pursuit under Sergt. Thomas Baldwin, seconded by Joseph Elliott. The others of this party were: John Swift (afterward a general, and killed on the Niagara frontier in 1812), Oliver Bennett, Watson Baldwin, Gideon Dudley, Mr. Cook and a Mr. Taylor-eight men. The pursuers struck straight across the country to Wyalusing and reached that point ahead of the In- dians, but, for the purpose of a more eligible place for a stand, they passed on to the Frenchtown mountain, and erected a kind of defense works by felling some trees and placing brush in front of them. The Indians had proceeded so slowly that they awaited them two days, and when on the point of concluding that they had gone by some other route they finally appeared and halted, and began to peer about with great cantion. Mrs. Franklin thought they were looking for deer, as they were out of provisions. As soon as one of the bucks came in range he was fired upon, and then a regular battle com- menced. The women and children were compelled to lie flat on the ground, as they were between the combatants and the bullets whistling close above them. A savage fell at Dudley's first shot, but when load- ing Dudley was wounded in the arm. A desperate fight now raged- each party behind trees. The next execution was Taylor's shot that killed their medicine man ; he rushed up to scalp him, but broke his knife, when two Indians started for him, but he cut off the Indian's head and ran with it and escaped. The fight raged several hours. Mrs. Franklin, anxious to know whether her husband was in the rescu- ing party, raised on her elbow to look; her daughter, Susanna, seeing an Indian approach urged her to lie down; the next moment the Indian fired and killed Mrs. Franklin. Joseph Elliott saw the murder of the woman from his place, and creeping along the trunk of a fallen tree got an opportunity, and shot the Indian dead. The chil- dren now supposing all were to be murdered, jumped up and ran. They heard some one shout to them, and thought at first it was an Indian pursuing to murder them. Again they heard the voice, saying : "Run, you dear souls, run !" And the poor, frightened children rushed into the arms of Elliott. The Indians now fled in terror. The whites remained behind their ambush until near sunset

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lest it was a trap to get them out and murder them all. Mr. Swift, had joined the party about the close of the fight, and was hardly on the ground when he was favored by the opportunity and shot an Indian dead. Mrs. Franklin was buried near where killed, and years after the daughter, Olive, wrote the following: "Our friends having found the tomahawks of the Indians along with their packs, cut dry poles to make a raft on which to float, and we dropped silently down the river, and at the dawn came to Wyalusing island. It was just a week since we were taken prisoners. Here we lay a whole day, fear- ing to go forward lest we should be discovered by the enemy, prob- ably lurking near the shore, and could single us out and shoot us down at their leisure. We were sixty miles from safety, and starving ; and our friends gave the one remaining biscuit to the children, and fears were entertained that the little ones would die of hunger." The party reached Wilkes-Barre the Wednesday following. The young- est child of Mrs. Franklin was canght up by an Indian at the moment they fled, and carried off, and was never again heard of.

No spot in America suffered more in the great cause in proportion to population than this, and the river was strewn with remains of the times, some of which are still being found.

Indian Relic .- Judge C. S. Russell has an old match-lock gun that it is supposed was left on the ground near Towanda by some " good Indian." Some years ago one of our citizens was passing over the country with his wagon, when he found the road obstructed, and in attempting to make a way around the obstruction removed an old rotted log ; in doing so he struck his leg against something stubborn and sharp enough to penetrate his boot-leg, and after passing on a little distance he discovered the wound was bleeding. This excited his curiosity, and he returned and found sticking up the end of a gun- barrel, and it was the sharp point of the breech-pin that had wounded his leg. He carefully resurrected it, and it was found to be loaded ; the breech-end was cut off, and now it has a stock and new lock, and is quite an old-fashioned long gun. Its owner was at Gettysburg, and after the battle he found a gun lock and also a part of the stock of agun, and these were put on the old barrel. The supposition is that the old gun originally belonged to an Indian. When they came down for their second attack on Wyoming, the authorities heard of their approach, when word was sent to the people of the north part of Northumberland, and they gathered a force and swooped down, striking the Susquehanna at about this point, falling upon the Indian maraud- ers in the rear. There was much skirmishing and running fighting as the Indians, when they discovered the trap they were in, turned and tried to break through the lines and get away to the point where they had started from. In this way there were dead Indians scattered for miles along the river.

Samuel Gore was one of the notable men of the Revolutionary war. In January, 1832, he penned his own petition to Congress, giving something of his service in the war and asking for a pension. It is a condensed, pathetic story of the dreadful days in this beautiful valley; after a respectable introductory address to the Congress then

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in session he proceeds in his appeal for a pension, every word of which is pregnant with history.

"Your petitioner's request is of a singular nature, differing from the common case of those who served in the War of the Revolution ; he was not engaged for any limited time; that he resided at Wyoming settlement at the commencement of the late Revolutionary War; that in the year 1777, in the month of May, he was enrolled in the militia of Capt. Aholiab Buck's company, and took the oath of allegiance to be true and faithful to the cause then at issue; that in December, the same year, he was draughted on a tour of duty up the river as far as Wysox and Towanda ; the command he was attached to took twenty-eight prisoners, men that had served under Gen. Burgoyne the preceding campaign ; that in the year 1778 the Settlement was in almost continual alarm the afore part of the season; and what added mostly to their fears was that three companies of soldiers had been enlisted in the Settlement and had joined the main army of Washington.

"The militia that was left was on duty the principal part of the time, in fortifying, scouting and learning the military discipline till the month of July, when the settlement was invaded by the British and Indians, under the command of Col. John Butler, and Brandt, the Indian chief.

" Your petitioner was in the memorable battle and massacre of Wyoming, and narrowly escaped the fate of five brethren and officers, and the principal part of the company to which he belonged.

"In addition to his misfortune, in running across a bay or morass. the Indians in close pursuit, every step over knee-deep in mud and mire, by over-exertion, caused a breach in his body, which has been a painful and troublesome disorder ever since.

" It is unnecessary to describe the entire destruction of the settle- ment by the enemy, dispersion and hardships of the fugitives, old men, women and children, fleeing through the wilderness, carrying with them scarcely enough to support nature by the way.

"The place was retaken in August or September following, by Col. Zebulon Butler, and Capt. Simon Spalding, and a garrison replaced there. Your petitioner returned soon after and served as a volunteer during the years 1779, 1780 and 1781, and was subject to be called on in every case of emergency.

"The expedition of Gen. Sullivan to the Genesee country did not prevent wholly the depredations of the enemy being frequently harrassed by small parties. In the year 1782, Capt. Spalding's com- pany was called to join the main army at headquarters, and a company of invalids was stationed at the post, commanded by Capt. Mitchell, soldiers that were not calculated for the woods, scoutings, etc. Col. Dennison gave orders to have the militia organized and classed, which took place."

Afterward, April 3, 1832, Sergt. Gore wrote a private letter to Phil- ander Stephens, member of Congress, and from which is taken the fol- lowing extracts : "I would take it as a favor if you would inform me what is the prospect of a bill for the general compensation of old sol- diers and volunteers of the Revolution. * * Some cheering informa-

Joseph Pomimo

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tion on this subject would revive my spirits, which have been almost exhausted during the severity of the past winter. * * * * On reflecting back in these trying times, I would state some particulars respecting our family at the commencement of the Revolution. My father had seven sons, all zealously engaged in the cause of liberty. Himself an acting magistrate and a committee of safety, watching the disaffected and encouraging the loyal part of the community.

* * * * Three of his sons and two sons-in-law fell in the Wyoming massacre. Himself died the winter following. One son served during the war, the others served in the Continental Army for shorter periods." Then he draws a picture of some of the things he saw in that war, and says : "Let any person at this time of general prosperity of our country, reflect back on the troubles, trials and suffering of a con- quered country by a savage enemy. Men scalped and mangled in the most savage manner. Some dead bodies floating down the river in sight of the garrison. Women collecting together in groups, screaming and wringing their hands in the greatest agony; some swooning and deprived of their senses. Property of every description plundered and destroyed, buildings burned, the surviving inhabitants dispersed and driven through the wilderness to seek subsistence wherever they could find it." "This," he says, and its truth is on its face, "is but a faint description of the beautiful valley of 1778," and it should be remem- bered the savages continued their depredations until 1782.

"John Franklin was chosen captain. Your petitioner was appointed to sergeant and had the command of a class which was ordered to be ready at the shortest notice to scout the woods and to follow any part of the enemy that should be sent on their murderous excursions, that he performed four tours of scouting that season of about eight days each.

"Your petitioner never drew any pay, clothing or ratious during the contest for Independence, but ammunition he was supplied with from the Continental store.

"He had the charge of a family at the time (his father being dead); had to support himself as well as he could by laboring between spells, and frequently plowing with his musket slung at his back."

He concludes with this pathetic sentence, after stating that he had been informed by the newspapers of the great spirit of liberality manifested by Congress toward old soldiers: "I take the liberty to request of your Honorable Body to take my case into consideration ; and if you, in your wisdom and justice, should think that your petitioner is entitled to any remuneration to do what you may think right and just ; and your petitioner will ever pray."

Such was the language of the old Revolutionary soldier who had served his country "without any pay or rations," and had to support himself and his dead father's family, by "working between spells ; often with his gun strapped on his back." It is much of the story of the war in Bradford county.

The story of the wives and mothers of those times is condensed and typified in that of Samuel Gore's mother. When the battle was raging she was watching at the door of the fort to catch the first news

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where were her four sons and two sons-in-law ; the first panting courier told her the horrid story that her three sons, Ralph, Silas and George, and her two sons-in-law, John Murphy and Timothy Pierce, were dead, and their scalped and mangled corpses lay side by side; the brave woman's heart was broken, and her stricken soul cried : " Have I one son left ?" The fort was pillaged the next day, and the Indians carried all the feather beds to the river's bank, and scattered the feathers to the winds. They burned Mr. Gore's house, and the children, while the Indians were sacking the fort, gathered enough feathers to make the noted "Wyoming Bed, " and hid them. Mrs. Gore procured a horse, threw this " bed " across it and started on the long journey across the "Shades of Death," as the seventy miles of wilderness was called, that lay before them on their way to the Dela- ware. The old people and the children rode alternately and in hushed silence, not knowing what moment the red devils would spring upon them. The small children endured agony in silence and trudged on and on. That exodus from the Susquhanna is the unpar- alleled story of suffering and woe. One poor woman's infant died in her arms on the way ; they could not stop to bury it on the way, and she carried the corpse over twenty miles in her arms. An old lady resident of the county, who died a few years ago, was born on that awful voyage. Frances Slocumb, a little girl aged five, was taken captive by the Indians, and never recovered. She was never heard of until she had become old, and then refused to return to her friends and civilization. She died Queen of the Miamis, near Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1847.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 10

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340