USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Nanticoke > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Ashley > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Sugar Notch > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 12
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Col. John Armstrong, Secretary to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and Hon. John Boyd, a member of the Council, were sent as Commissioners accompanied by other officers, and by soldiers to restore the reign of law. Three hundred infantry and fifteen light dragoons were at their disposal.
Armstrong arrived on the 8th of August, and immediately issued a proclamation, declaring that they came in the name of the Commonwealth, as commissioners of peace to repress violence from whatever quarter, to restore the reign of law, demanding an im- mediate cessation of hostilities, and the surrender of their arms by both parties, promising impartial justice and protection. The * Yankees had serious doubts and misgivings, for they had so far ex- perienced, they said, "nothing but oppression and treachery;" but Col. Armstrong pledged his faith as a soldier, and his honor as a gentleman, that Patterson's party should also be disarmed, and equal protection be extended to all. Patterson's men pretended to be afraid to surrender first. The Yankees paraded, were ordered to "ground arms,"-they were then commanded-"right about- march ten steps-halt-right about!" which they obeyed, when Col. Armstrong ordered his men to advance and take up the grounded arms. Thus far was according to their expectations, but their surprise was merged in bitterness and mortification when Col. Armstrong gave rapid orders to surround the disarmed settlers and made them all prisoners. Not a musket was taken from Patterson's men. They beheld the successful treachery of Armstrong with
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unrestrained delight and taunting exultation. A soldier's faith should be unsullied,-the pledged honor of a gentleman as sacred as life. Both were basely violated .*
Thirty men were handcuffed in pairs and a long rope tied to the irons, then a pair of soldiers marched by the side of each pair of prisoners; thus they marched to Easton jail, the soldiers having strict orders to shoot anyone trying to escape. Some did escape, however.t
Forty-six others were bound and confined in an outhouse. Soon after forty-two of them were sent under strong guard to Sun- bury jail. Thus sixty-six of the Yankees were in prison. The conquest seemed complete. It seemed a difficult matter to get rid of the women and children.
Armstrong now returned to Philadelphia. Scarcely had he time to receive the congratulations of his friends at his success at Wyoming than bad news came; the prisoners at Easton all escaped but eleven, and those at Sunbury had all been discharged on bail, and all had returned to Wyoming. Armstrong at once raised fifty men and came to Wilkes-Barre by September 20.
In the meantime the sufferings of these people here had excited indignation and pity throughout the whole country, and several Green Mountain Boys, who had gone through a similar struggle with New York, had come to Wyoming and volunteered their services to the settlers. Patterson's men tried to secure a portion of the Yankee harvests, but were met and repelled. Forbearance had ceased to be a virtue, and the Yankees now determined to attack their enemies wherever they found them. They attacked Patter- son's house, drove the men out, set fire to it, and shot down two men in the attempt to escape to the fort. The commander of the Yankees was supposed to have been mortally wounded, but he slowly and long afterwards recovered. .
*This same treacherous Armstrong many years afterwards was a Minister to some of the great nations of Europe, and was, on his return, made Secretary of War of the U. S., which office he held during the war with England, 1812-15. His Newberg letters to the army under Washington ought to have cursed him forever before he was sent to Wyoming. But instead, afterward he was sent up higher.
+Two of these men, John Hurlbut and Edward Inman, were Hanover men, and it is believed two others also.
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HISTORY OF HANOVER.
The work now of hunting one another seemed to become too hot for Armstrong and he returned to the city, and was surprised to learn that his proceedings and those of Patterson previously, had aroused a spirit of opposition and resentment, which now began to display itself in official acts.
The legislature was called to account by a body called. the "Council of Censors,"* and as they paid no regard to the questions asked, and refused to produce the papers and documents called for, the Censors proceeded to make a declaration, or as Miner character- izes it, a most solemn denunciation of the measures pursued against the Wyoming settlers. And in this denunciation they give a history in the shortest space of the whole matter, from the Decree at Trenton to the present time, without mitigating any of the treachery or cruelty of the officers and persons sent there by the authority of the legislature, and they expressly state "We hold it up to public censure," "to prevent if possible further instances of bad government."
The Supreme Executive Council and the Assembly contemptu- ously and totally disregarded the proceedings of the Council of Censors. They advanced Armstrong still higher for his honorable services to the rank of adjutant-general of the State, and authorized him to raise a sufficient force from Bucks, Berks and Northampton counties and proceed to Wyoming and complete the work of ex- pulsion. But new obstacles arose, the President of the Supreme Executive Council entered a solemn protest against these pro- ceedings of the Council in a pretty vigorous letter to that body. The Council on considering the President's letter, "Resolved, That the measure adopted on the second instant be pursued," and on the same day offered twenty-five pounds for the apprehension of eighteen of the principal inhabitants, whose names were mentioned. No time was to be lost.
Armstrong hurried with less than a hundred men to Wyoming, arriving on the 17th of October. Next day he marched out and made an attack on Brockway's above Abraham's Creek, Kingston,
*Under the State Constitution at that time there was a body called the Council of Censors, whose duty it was "to inquire whether the Constitution has been preserved in- violate in every part, and whether the legislative and executive branches of the govern- ment have performed their duty as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves, or exercised, other or greater powers than they are entitled to by the Constitution."
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where one of the Yankees was severely wounded, and one of Arm- strong's 'officers was killed and left on the field of battle, three or four of his men being wounded, were borne off on the retreat. Armstrong in a letter to the Council deprecating their censure at his repulse, said :- "I need scarcely observe to your Excellency, that four log houses so constructed as to flank each other, become a very formidable post."
The flats of Kingston opposite the fort, had been extensively sowed with buckwheat, and Armstrong's men were now engaged in threshing it out. A body of Yankees approached the laborers un- discovered, and rushing forward, surrounded them before they could seize their arms, and took all of them prisoners. The alarmed garrison prepared their cannon, but the Yankees placed their prisoners as a shield and prevented the firing on them. More than a hundred bushels of grain rewarded the enterprise.
Now came the information that the Assembly had ordered the settlers to be restored to their possessions.
"Nov. 27, 1784-Pennamites evacuate the fort.
"Nov. 30, 1784-The Yankees destroy the fort."-Franklin.
Thus "two years have elapsed since the transfer of jurisdiction by the Trenton Decree. Peace which waved its cheering olive over every other part of the Union came not to the almost broken- hearted people of Wyoming." The veteran soldier when he re- turned from the war of the revolution found no peace or rest at home. A home was denied him. The greater his services to the nation the sooner, it seemed, was he arrested and imprisoned and the greater indignities and insults were heaped upon him. Now they were repossessed of their farms, and such houses and furniture and implements as had not been destroyed. But a summer of exile and war had left them no harvest to reap and they returned to empty granaries and desolate homes, crushed by the miseries of Indian in- vasion, mourners over fields of more recent slaughter, destitute of food, scarce clothing to cover them, the rigors of winter now upon them, and clouds and darkness shadow the future. The people of Wyoming were objects of commiseration.
As soon as the garrison was withdrawn and the people restored to their possessions committees were appointed during the interreg- num of law, to regulate affairs, adjust controversies, punish
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offenders against order and person and property, and to preserve the peace. Town-meetings were held and taxes laid and collected, schools established, and the militia organized. It is said that this last was done with a good deal of care. 1785 had come and a cessation of hostilities which it was believed would not be renewed, but they had been so many times treacherously deceived, that it was best to be prepared as well as they could for the worst that might occur.
After the expulsion of the settlers in May, 1784, became known to the surrounding country,-and the story of it was spreading all the time-adventurers from every direction turned their steps towards Wyoming, and the State of Connecticut was much agitated. A meeting of the old Susquehanna Company was called, and met in July, 1785. No moderator is named, and the usual title is dropped and it is now :- "A meeting of the Proprietors, Purchasers and Settlers of the land on the Susquehanna River, under the countenance and title of the State of Connecticut, legally warned," etc. 'At this meeting a state paper of too much consequence to be unnoticed by Pennsylvania or Congress was drawn up. We will not copy it, but merely state that it mentioned the situation of the company's claim, the large sums of money expended, the purchase of the Indians, the settlement of the land, their confidence in the Connecticut charter, an impeachment of the legality or justice of the Decree at Trenton, and then an arraignment of Pennsylvania for its treatment of the settlers on the Susquehanna. And then "Voted, That the company will support their claim and right of soil," etc., then votes to give every able-bodied, effective man a half share, and to give protection to their settlers, and appointing com- mittees, raising money from the company by a tax on the shares :- In fact this was as near a declaration of war as a private institution could well make and not say it. The meeting dissolved with no other attestation of its proceedings than their being recorded in the book of records. Pennsylvania kept watch of these proceedings with anxious solicitude. And in December a law was enacted :-
"For quieting disturbances at Wyoming, for pardoning certain offenders," etc., that all offenses committed before the first of November be pardoned, provided they surrender themselves before the 15th of April next; authorizing the militia to be called out;
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repealing certain acts passed for the especial benefit of Patterson, annulling Patterson's commission as justice, and also of the other justices. Nobody went forward to surrender himself.
1786. Another meeting of the Susquehanna Company was held in May, 1786. Voted, among other things, that they would "support and maintain their claims to the lands aforesaid, and effectually justify and support their settlers therein."
And "That Col. John Franklin, Gen. Ethan Allen, Major John Jenkins, Col. Zebulon Butler, be appointed a committee with full power and authority to locate townships," etc.
While nominally the laws of Pennsylvania administered by the magistrates of Northumberland extended to Wyoming, in point of fact the settlers governed themselves. They avoided the service of writs rather than opposed the officer. From the friendship of Sheriff Antis, it is supposed that for the present he did not pursue the eluding Yankees with much earnestness, relying wisely upon measures of conciliation, or else on a more determined coercion, which the Assembly must very soon adopt.
The Yankees had now about six hundred effective, armed men, and more were rapidly joining them from all directions. The active measures of the Yankees in the direction indicated by the Susque- hanna Company's meetings and by the appearance of Ethan Allen at Wyoming, accellerated the action of Pennsylvania. A new and more liberal policy was resolved upon, coercion gave place to con- ciliation, and compromise was substituted for civil war.
On the 25th of September, 1786, an act was passed for erecting the northern part of the county of Northumberland into a separate county, to be called Luzerne county.
In October, this year, the river rose to a height never before known, except at the ice freshet two years before. This was called the "pumpkin fresh," from the immense number of that veg- etable that floated down the river. Immense quantities of hay, grain and cattle were carried away by the flood, causing much suffer- ing during the winter. Several houses and barns were swept away, and two lives were lost.
It now behooved Pennsylvania to take very active and very politic measures for the pacification of Wyoming. From the action of the Susquehanna Company, backed by Connecticut and the
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"wild Yankees" and others gathering at Wyoming and in the regions above along the river, it was necessary to have an uncom- mon man to guide the affairs of the State. It was necessary also to use such soothing legal measures as they thought might satisfy the leading Yankees. In December, 1786, an act was passed that provided that Timothy Pickering, Zebulon Butler and John Frank- lin notify the electors that an "election will be holden to choose a Councilor, Member of Assembly, Sheriff, Coroner and Commis- sioners, on the first day of February, 1787." Oaths of allegiance were to be taken by the voters, and provision for the selection of justices of the peace was made; this, all for the new county.
1787. Col. Pickering was the man the government chose to go to Wyoming or Wilkes-Barre, to introduce their measures of pacifi- cation .* He had been a high officer in the revolutionary war, was quartermaster-general of the army, enjoyed the confidence of Washington and Congress. After the war he became a citizen of Pennsylvania and resided in Philadelphia. A native of Massa- chusetts,-being a New England man, it was thought he would be more satisfactory to these New England people than any other- and he was. He desired to have the controversy settled on terms satisfactory to both sides. Col. Franklin would not take the oath of allegiance and serve in any office under the Pennsylvania gov- ernment. The matter of the dismemberment from Pennsylvania had progressed too far, and he had entered too deeply into the matter for him to leave it now.
The election was held, however, February, 1787, as fully two- thirds, if not three-fourths of the old settlers were favorable to the plan of compromise as promised by Col. Pickering, and they had faith in Pickering. Yankees, of course, were chosen-Councilor, Member of Assembly, Sheriff and all other elective officers.
At the suggestion of Col. Pickering, the people petitioned the legislature, praying that the lots laid off to the settlers in the seventeen townships, under the Susquehanna Company, might be confirmed specifically to the settlers and proprietors. Whereupon the Assembly, March 28th, passed the confirming law :- in substance,
*Col. Pickering was appointed, (not elected) by the State government to the offices of Prothonotary, Clerk of the Peace, Clerk of the Orphans' Court, Register and Recorder of Deeds for Luzerne county.
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that the lots or rights that were particularly assigned to the settlers prior to the Decree at Trenton, should be confirmed to them, their heirs and assigns. This was the essence of the law. Compensa- tion was to be given to any Pennsylvania claimants, and whatever appeared to be necessary to carry the law into complete effect.
Luzerne county "being politically organized, courts established and the laws introduced under the auspices of Col. Pickering, sus- tained by the confirming law, he proceeded with wisdom and promptitude to conciliate the good will of the people-to assuage passion, to overcome prejudice, to inspire confidence." "If Frank- lin was busy, Pickering was no less active."-Miner.
Franklin went from town to town, arguing, pursuading, to his way. The people were divided, and there seemed no way to settle matters peaceably, and if this continued, in a short time civil war would be inaugurated again. A meeting of the inhabitants was called and met in Kingston. The speakers could hardly be heard on account of the uproar. At last they came to blows-not with deadly weapons, however: A vote of the meeting was taken, but not a very orderly one, and the proposition to accept the terms of compromise was adopted, and the meeting separated.
Franklin was more busy now than ever, and Col. Pickering came to the conclusion that the conspiracy could not be stopped until its head, the prime mover, Franklin, could be quieted, and he determined to put a stop to his machinations. A writ was obtained from Chief Justice McKean to arrest Franklin on a charge of high treason. Col. Pickering laid his trap secretely, and as Franklin came into Wilkes-Barre one day in September (1787) alone, from one of his tours through Salem, Newport, and Hanover, four resolute men seized him. They had to tie him on a horse, but they took him before help could come, and carried him to prison in Philadelphia. He was in prison more than a year in Philadelphia and Easton, when he was discharged on bail. He was never brought to trial, but this broke up his schemes. He, however, had promised to give up his scheme of dismemberment before he was released. In the meantime Pickering had been captured by Frank- lin's friends and carried off into the woods to be held as a hostage. This took place in June, 1788. They treated him well and kept him about three weeks, when he was released. Very active
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measures had been taken for his release, and a number of skirmishes had been fought and several persons had been killed and a number wounded, but it all did no good, and he was finally voluntarily released.
Many of the persons engaged in this enterprise were afterwards arrested, some of them tried, convicted, and fined and imprisoned, but were allowed easily to escape, and no fines were ever attempted to be collected. Thus ended the troubles of Wyoming, 1788.
Franklin was honored with offices of various kinds, was sheriff under the Pennsylvania government, and was repeatedly sent to the legislature. He always after bore the name of the "Hero of Wyoming."
"Christmas of 1788, found Luzerne abounding in the necessaries of life; the laws of Pennsylvania in perfect operation, receiving everywhere cheerful obedience; Franklin at liberty; Col. Pickering in his office, issuing writs, or recording deeds,,with the same devoted industry that characterized the performance of every other duty, high or law, allotted to him in life."-Miner.
The confirming law was suspended 29th March, 1788, and finally repealed Ist April, 1790. The repeal was resisted most strenuously by the members from Philadelphia and some of the counties, but it was carried. Here was apparent treachery again. The people, however, went hopefully on. They believed that some- time titles would be secured for them. But now all was uncertainty. Who could buy or sell land with the title on the wing, as it were, in the air? But land was sold and bought, as will be specially noted in that part of this work exclusively devoted to Hanover.
In 1799, April 4th, the legislature passed an "act for offering compensation to the Pennsylvania claimants of certain lands within the seventeen townships in the county of Luzerne, and for other purposes therein mentioned." .
THIS IS THE COMPROMISE ACT.
By this act commissioners were appointed to come to Luzerne county, cause a survey to be made of all the lands claimed by the. Connecticut settlers and which had been set off to such settlers previous to the Decree at Trenton, according to the regulations they had established amongst themselves. The commissioners were to
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value the lands-divide them into four classes, according to quality -make a certificate to each claimant specifying the number of acres and the class and quality of the land, the number of his lot, and to annex to the certificate a draft of the lot. The same com- missioners were also to have a resurvey made of all the lands claimed by the Pennsylvania claimants, situated in the seventeen townships, which was to be released or reconveyed by such claim- ants to the State; and to divide the same into four classes according to the quality of the land. "When forty thousand acres should be so released to the State, and the Connecticut settlers claiming land to the same amount should bind themselves to submit to the deter- mination of the commissioners, then the law was to take effect, and the Pennsylvania claimants who had so released their land, were to receive a compensation for the same from the State Treasury, at the rate of five dollars per acre for lands of the first class, three. dollars for the second, one dollar and fifty cents for the third, and twenty-five cents for the fourth class."
The Connecticut settlers were also to receive patents from the State confirming their lands to them upon condition of paying into the treasury the sum of two dollars per acre for lands of the first class, one dollar and twenty cents for lands of the second class, fifty cents for lands of the third class, and eight and one-third cents for lands of the fourth class, the certificates issued by the com- missioners to regulate the settlement of amounts in both cases. "Thus while the State was selling her vacant lands to her other citizens at twenty-six cents an acre, she demanded of the Connecti- cut settlers a sum, which, upon the supposition that there was the same quantity of land in each class, would average ninety-four cents an acre."-Chapman, p. 169.
"The Connecticut claimants, with the memory of the repeal of the 'Confirming Act' still fresh, exhibited little inclination at first to take the benefit of the law. To remedy this the act of April 6th, 1802, was passed, which required the commissioners to survey, value and certify the whole of each tract claimed by a Connecticut claimant, and turned the Pennsylvania claimant, (not releasing), over to a jury to award compensation."
"Judge Cooper, of Lancaster, (with his assistants, General Steele and Mr. Wilson) executed these laws with great fidelity and
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intelligence. By October 20, 1802, about one thousand Connecti- cut claimants had exhibited their titles. He went through the seventeen townships, re-ran all the surveys of the Susquehanna Company, by whose lines the claims were bounded, issued 'certifi- cates' to the holders, upon which the State issued the patent."*
" Persons living in a wilderness, far remote from organized com- munities, without means of communication with the rest of the world, are apt to acquire a spirit of independence, making them dis- regardful of the artificial restraints that have to be recognized in more crowded states of society. They know nothing of the tri- bunals and care nothing for the technicalities of the law. He, who by his own axe and plow, has transformed the acres, within which his daily and yearly life is bounded, from a pathless, worthless forest, into a cultivated and productive inclosure, feels that he owns it by a title better than all written documents or recorded deeds. His farm, his house, his barns, all that he has, thinks of, or cares about, is literally the work of his own hands, his sole creation. No other man has contributed to it; and it is hard to make him understand that any other man, be he called what he may -- governor, proprietor, legislator, judge, or sheriff-has a right to take his land from under his feet. He will hold to it as his life, and fight for it against the world. In the meantime, those lands had become more and more endeared to them by every principle of association, every habit of homely life, every trial, and . every peril. By their toil and energy they had been reclaimed from the rugged wilderness of nature, and converted into smooth lawns and verdant meadows of marvelous beauty and loveliness. Adventurers from other colonies and other lands had, one by one, been drawn into their company, attracted by tales of world-wide currency, portraying the charming aspect of the country, the excel- lence of its soil for the culture of grains and fruits, and every attri- bute that can adorn a landscape, and give reward to industry. It was not only endeared to its occupants by the attachments now mentioned, but consecrated by special experiences of blood and woe, that have riveted on them the sympathies of mankind, perpetuated in the hearts of all coming generations by verses of foreign and native bards that will never die. The devastations of their fields,
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