History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 6

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections > Part 6

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).

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

ance, but the views and feelings of the Baptists were consulted by the Presbyteri- ans, who formed much the larger body. At length, as the population increased, and the interests of the community became in some degree conflicting, it was deemed necessary by the Susquehanna company, on June 2, 1773, at Hartford, Conn., to adopt a code of laws for the government of the settlement. This code punished crime, enforced order, provided for the election of directors, peace officers, and other officers who might be found necessary in every township. Every settler was required to subscribe his name to these regulations, to abide by and to support the same. All males of the age of twenty-one years and upward were allowed a voice in the elections.

It may be noted here that at an early period, even before the code of laws was enacted by the Susquehanna company, the settlers resolved that any person who sold liquor to an Indian should forfeit his goods and be expelled from the colony. But it is probable this order was never observed, for at first, after 1763, there were but few straggling Indians in the valley, and these were mostly Christians con- nected with the Moravian society. And in a short time almost the entire body of settlers became drinkers. Whisky and rum were consumed in astonishing quanti- ties. At that day ardent spirits could be procured in their purity, and as the peo- ple were hard workers and much exposed in the open air, they came to be consid- ered as articles of prime necessity. The effects of their use were wholly different from those produced on the people of our day, by the soul and body-destroying mixtures of alcohol and strychnine and other poisons.

In October, 1773, the general assembly of Connecticut attempted to open nego- tiations with the Pennsylvania authorities, with a view to the amicable settlement of the dispute pending in reference to the Wyoming lands. But the governor and council, on behalf of Pennsylvania, alleging the total absence of right on the part of Connecticut, declined every proposition which the commissioners of the colony advanced. The general assembly of Connecticut then, on learning the refusal of the authorities of Pennsylvania to come to any terms, proceeded to exercise those acts of sovereignty which she conceived belonged to her. In January, 1774, all the territory within her charter limits, from the Delaware to a line fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna, was erected into a town called Westmoreland, and attached to the county of Litchfield. Westmoreland was about seventy miles square, embrac- ing nearly 5,000 square miles. Within it were numerous townships divided into lots, which were sold to purchasers or were drawn for by proprietors. The gov- ernor of Connecticut issued his proclamation forbidding any settlement in West- moreland except under authority from Connecticut. About the same time the gov- ernor of Pennsylvania issued his proclamation, prohibiting all persons from settling on the disputed lands, except under the authority of the proprietaries. Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denison were commissioned under Connecticut as justices of the peace, with authority to organize the town. In March, 1774, the whole people of Westmoreland, being legally warned, met and organized the town, and chose selectmen, a treasurer, constables, collectors of taxes, surveyors of highways, fence viewers, listers, leather sealers, grand jurors, tything men, sealers of weights and measures, and key-keepers. Eight town meetings were held in the year 1774. The government was of the most democratic character. It can not be supposed that the whole male population entitled to vote turned out at every meeting, for the number of people in Westmoreland this year was found to be 1,922.

Referring to the close of the year 1771, when the Connecticut people had con- quered from the Pennsylvania proprietaries a respite by driving out Ogden and his forces, William L. Stone, in his Poetry and History of Wyoming, says: "Thus far the government of the Connecticut settlers-that is to say, all the government that was exercised-had been of a voluntary and military character. But the cessation of all opposition to the proceedings of the Susquehanna company, for the time, on

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

the part of Pennsylvania, rendered the longer continuance of martial law inexpe- dient, while by the rapid increase of the population it became necessary that some form of civil government should be adopted. The increasing irritation existing between the parent government and the colonies, already foreshadowing an approach- ing appeal to the ultima ratio regum, had taught the directors of the company that a charter for a new and distinct colonial government from the crown, was not to be expected. In this exigency, the company applied to the general assembly of Con- necticut to have their Wyoming settlements taken under the protection of the col- ony until the pleasure of his majesty should be known. But the general assembly was in no haste to extend its ægis over so broad a territory, at so great a distance from home. They therefore advised the company in the first instance to attempt an amicable adjustment of their difficulties with the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, offering to undertake the negotiation in their behalf. In case of a failure to obtain a just and honorable arrangement, the general assembly next suggested a reference of the whole subject to the king in council. Meantime, while they wished the col- ony God-speed, they advised them to govern themselves by themselves, in the best manner they could.

Pursuant to this advice, the inhabitants of the valley proceeded to elect a gov- ernment of their own; and the institutions established by them were the most thor- oughly democratic, probably, of any government that has ever existed elsewhere among civilized men. "They laid out townships, founded settlements, erected fortifications, levied and collected taxes, passed laws for the direction of civil suits, and for the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors, established a militia, and pro- vided for the common defence and general welfare of the colony." The supreme legislative power was vested directly in the people, not by representation, but to be exercised by themselves, in their primary meetings and sovereign capacity. A mag- istracy was appointed, and all the necessary machinery for the government of towns according to the New England pattern, organized and put in motion. Three courts were instituted, all having civil and criminal jurisdiction; but the court of appeals, called the supreme court, to which every case might be carried, was formed, like their legislature, of the people themselves in solemn assembly convened.

The extent of territory was 100 miles wide and 110 miles long-abundant room in which to sprout and grow a great democracy. Under this government the peo- ple lived very happily, and the colony advanced with signal prosperity for two years, when the town of Westmoreland was formed and became a part and parcel of Connecticut. Possibly it would have been better for the people had they contin- ued their independent democracy.

At the closing decade of the nineteenth century it sounds a little odd to hear that a government that was "voluntary and military " was the "most thoroughly democratic, probably, of any government that has ever existed elsewhere among civilized men." A purely "voluntary " government, without a shred of military, may elect a king to rule over them, but a military power, to modern ears, sounds so anti-democratic as to be irreconcilable with all ideas of a democracy. But consider the times and the surroundings of the people of whom Mr. Stone was speaking, and is he not right? Every man was a soldier, without pay, subsistence or arms, except as he provided these for himself; they worked by relays on the forts and block-house, while others stood guard, or with gun swung across his back, plowed and hoed the corn. Whether a man was enrolled in a company or not he was a soldier, all the time and everywhere, active and alert to beat off the open or skulking approach of the enemy; the women and children could mold bullets and load guns. Where all were unpaid soldiers, all were equally free, and in the spirit of justice and pure democracy these soldiers met in council end voted their own laws.

After Plunkett's invasion until 1782, six years, the whole valley had been repeatedly and most cruelly devastated. The unfortunate settlers, now worn and

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

weary, poor and literally like Rachel weeping for her children, now that the Revo- lution was closing its long chapter of war, thus woke to the new, sad realization that it was worse than peace with themselves left out of the protocol. Like a shadow of death overspread the cloud that now they must take up the battle anew against the authorities of Pennsylvania, and that they were left to fate by Connecticut. The decree of Trenton had been accepted by the latter and now where was a ray of hope for the settlers in the valley ? They petitioned the general assembly of Pennsyl- vania for their rights.

" We have settled a country, which in its original state of but little value, but now cultivated by your memorialists, is to them of the greatest importance, being their all. We are yet alive, but the richest blood of our neighbors and friends, children, husbands, and fathers, has been spilt in the general cause of their country, and we have suffered every danger this side of death. We supplied the continental army with many valuable officers and soldiers, and left ourselves weak and unguarded against the attack of the savages, and of others of a more savage nature. Our houses are desolate, many mothers are childless, widows and orphans are multiplied, our habitations are destroyed, and many families are reduced to beggary."

In the history of State papers I have met none whose every word was so signifi- cant of the deep and earnest sense of men who spoke from hearts moved by higher or nobler impulses. Notwithstanding, as soon as the continental troops were with- drawn from Wyoming, where they had been placed for the protection of the people against the savages, Capts. Robinson and Shrawder, with two companies of Pennsylvania troops, marched and took possession of Fort Wyoming, which they named Fort Dickinson. Shortly after, the general assembly of Pennsylvania, in pursuance of the petition of the settlers, appointed Joseph Montgomery, William Montgomery and Moses McClean, commissioners, with instructions to repair to Wyoming and compromise the dispute between them and the commonwealth. They arrived in the valley in April, 1783, and immediately a spirited correspondence took place between them and John Jenkins, Nathan Denison, Obadiah Gore and Samuel Shepherd, the committee on the part of the settlers. The issue of this was that the State commissioners reported to the assembly; recommending "that a reasonable compensation in land in the western part of the State should be made to the families of those who had fallen in arms against the common enemy, and to such other set- tlers as had a proper Connecticut title, and did actually reside on the lands at the time of the decree at Trenton; provided they immediately relinquish all claim to the soil where they now inhabited, and enter into contracts to deliver up full and quiet possession of their present tenures to the rightful owners under Pennsylvania by the first of April next." This report evidently expressed the sentiments of Alexander Patterson, who had in charge the interests of the Pennsylvania settlers. Patterson had been in the employ of the Penn family, and had aided to arrest the Connecticut settlers in 1769, He was now a justice of the peace under Pennsylvania, and was settled in Wilkes-Barre, whose name he endeavored to change to Londonderry. He, with his associate justices, and backed by military force, under the command of Maj. James Moore, and Capts. Shrawder and Christie, commenced a series of con- temptible and cowardly outrages upon the Yankee settlers. The soldiers were quartered upon the inhabitants. Col. Zebulon Butler, who had just returned from the army, and who boldly denounced Patterson's conduct, was arrested and sent to Sunbury jail. But, as the proceedings had been illegal, he was released.

Mr. Miner says, " October 31, the settlement Shawnee was invaded by the mili- tary, headed by the justice in person, and eleven respectable citizens arrested and sent under guard to the fort. Among the prisoners was Maj. Prince Alden, sixty- five years old, feeble from age, and suffering from disease. Compassion yielded nothing to alleviate his sufferings. Capt. James Bidlack was also arrested. He was between sixty and seventy. His son, of the same name, had fallen, as previ-

Millium Starttan

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

ously recorded, at the head of his company in the Indian battle; another son, Ben- jamin, had served in the army through the Revolutionary war. Capt. James Bid- lack himself had been taken by the savages, and suffered a tedious captivity in Canada. All this availed him nothing. Benjamin Harvey, who had been a prisoner to the Indians, was also arrested. Samuel Ransom, son of Capt. Ransom, who fell in the massacre, was most rudely treated on being taken. 'Ah, ha!' cried Patterson, 'you are the jockey we wanted; away with him to the guardhouse, with old Harvey, another damned rascal.' Eleven in all were taken and driven to the fort, where they were confined in a room with a mud floor, wet and comfortless, with no food and little fire, which as they were sitting round, Capt. Christie came in, ordered them to lie down on the ground, and bade the guard to blow out the brains of any one who should attempt to rise. Even the staff of the aged Mr. Alden was taken from him." The men secure, Patterson turned their families out of doors, and placed Pennamite claimants in possession of their lands and houses. In many other cases the widows and orphan children of soldiers, slain in battle in defence of liberty, were forced from their dwellings, and their few implements of agriculture were destroyed or carried away, by order of Patterson. The settlers now (1784) petitioned congress and the assemblies of Pennsylvania and Connecti- cut for redress of grievances, and the Pennsylvania assembly sent a committee to Wyoming to take depositions. These depositions were read before the assembly, and although Patterson was severely denounced by many members, he was not removed or deprived of his authority.

On January 23, 1784, moved by the petition of Zebulon Butler and others, con- gress adopted measures for the settlement of the dispute, but on the remonstrance of Pennsylvania the proceedings were discontinued. . On the 13th and 14th of May following, Maj. Patterson's soldiers dispossessed 150 families, burnt several houses, and compelled 500 men, women and children to march through the wilder- ness to the Delaware river. Several children starved and died in the woods, and the sufferings of the whole impoverished throng, as they wandered night and day over rugged mountains and through deep swamps, were terrible beyond description. Elisha Harding, who was one of this suffering multitude, says: "It was a solemn scene; parents, their children crying for hunger-aged men on crutches-all urged forward by an armed force at our heels. The first night we encamped at Capouse; the second at Cobb's; the third at Little Meadow, so called. Cold, hungry and drenched with rain, the poor women and children suffering much. The fourth night at Lackawack; fifth, at Blooming Grove; sixth, at Shehola; on the seventh arrived at the Delaware, where the people dispersed, some going up and some down the river. I kept on east, and when I got to the top of Shongum mountain I looked back with this thought: Shall I abandon Wyoming forever? The reply was, No, oh no! There lie your murdered brothers and friends. Dear to me art thou, though a land of affliction. Every way looked gloomy, except toward Wyoming. Poor, ragged and distressed as I was, I had youth, health, and felt that my heart was whole. So I turned back to defend or die."

These cruelties to the settlers excited sympathy throughout the whole country, and the companies of Shrawder and Christie were discharged by State authority. But the inhuman Patterson re-enlisted many of the soldiers, and continued to per- petrate his hellish deeds in spite of instructions to the contrary. After an absence of several weeks the Yankees returned and fortified themselves under a cliff or rock, on the Eastern or Wilkes-Barre mountain. This, Mr. Miner says, they called Fort Lillope, but we have in our possession several orders, sent by John Franklin, John Jenkins and others, from this cave-fortress, to Matthias Hollenback, in Wilkes- Barre, for rum, tea, eugar, etc., and these orders are dated at Fort Defence. From this fort three or four persons entered Wilkes-Barre under the promised protection of Patterson, who arrested and beat them with iron ramrods. Franklin and Jenkins, 4

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

now having no faith in the promises of anybody connected with Pennsylvania, removed in the month of July, with their associates, to Kingston. On the 20th of that month a company of thirty young men, marching to Plymouth, met a body of Patter- son's men on Rosshill. A conflict ensued, and Elisha Garrett and Chester Pierce were slain. Several of Patterson's men were wounded but none of them killed. Forty- two effective and twenty old men, now aroused to vengeance by this bloody deed, placed themselves under the command of John Franklin. They first marched to Shawnee, and dispossessed the Pennamite families there, then crossing the river at Nanticoke, they drove off all from their dwellings on the east side, and compelled them to take refuge in the fort at Wilkes-Barre. This fort Franklin's men proceeded to surround. Patterson's troops made a sortie from the fort, and set fire to twenty- three buildings, which were consumed. Franklin continued to invest the fort, and demanded its surrender, which was refused. An engagement ensued, in which the Yankees were worsted, and deemed it prudent to retire to Kingston.

Patterson and forty others were now indicted by the grand jury of Northumber- land county, and Sheriff Antis was sent to arrest them. But Patterson and his associates saved themselves from arrest behind their threatening ramparts, and the sheriff was compelled to return without them. On the very day the sheriff attempted this arrest, Maj. Moore, who was returning from Northampton county, where he had secured a number of recruits for the Pennsylvania cause, was met by Capt. John Swift, at the head of thirty men, on Locust Hill. A conflict ensued. Jacob Everett, one of Moore's men, was killed, and several were wounded on both sides. Moore retired to Easton, while Swift marched back to Kingston.

The next movement in this unhappy struggle was the appointment of Col. John Armstrong, in conjunction with Hon. John Boyd, commissioners, to restore peace to Wyoming. Boyd was a member, and Armstrong was the secretary, of the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania. This Col. Armstrong was the author of the Newburg letters, had been minister to Spain and France, and was secretary of war in 1812, under the administration of President Madison. The commissioners arrived in the valley on August 8, 1784. Three-hundred infantry and fifteen horsemen were ordered to be placed at their disposal. They issued their proclamation declaring peace and good-will. They demanded a cessation of strife, and the surrender of arms by both parties. The Yankees were fearful of treachery and hesitated to accept the proffered mediation of the commissioners. But Arm- strong pledged his honor as a man and as a soldier to respect his engagements, and make good his promises. The Yankees believed and laid down their arms, when they were immediately arrested. Capt. Swift's company of men, who had defeated Moore at Locust Hill, were bound with cords and handcuffed. In this con- dition they were marched away to Easton jail. Forty-two others were bound and sent to jail at Sunbury. Patterson's men were not disarmed. Armstrong then returned to Philadelphia covered with infamy.

The Sunbury prisoners were released on bail. The Easton prisoners procured their liberty through Edward Inman, a man of great physical strength, who knocked down the jailer, seized the keys, and liberated himself and comrades. Fifteen of them escaped to Wyoming, but eleven were taken and confined in jail three months. An attempt was then made to indict them for the murder of Jacob Everett, who, as before stated, was killed at Locust Hill. The attempt, however, proved a failure, for the grand jury ignored the bill. No bills were found in Northumberland county against the prisoners sent thither by Armstrong. On the other hand, Patterson and Moore were both indicted, which shows that the people generally through Pennsyl- vania sympathized with the Connecticut settlers in their sufferings.

In September, Armstrong returned to the valley with fifty men and arrested Franklin, Pierce and Johnson for treason, but they were never convicted. On the 29th of the same month the Yankees, under Capt. Swift, attacked a house which

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Patterson occupied as headquarters. They set the building on fire, and two of his associates, Henderson and Read, in attempting to escape to the fort, were shot down. Capt. Swift was severely wounded, but his loss did not in the least abate the ardor and efforts of his men, who spiritedly invested the Pennamite garrison. In this conflict Franklin was wounded in the wrist, Nathan Stevens was shot in the eye and died instantly, William Smith and one or two others were also killed, and finally the Yankees were compelled to abandon the siege.

By the constitution of Pennsylvania, established after the colonies had declared themselves free and independent states, in addition to the supreme executive council and the house of representatives, there existed a council of censors who assembled once in seven years. This body was elected by the people, and had power to send for persons and papers, and to examine into all questions respecting the rights of the people and the administration of justice. After an examination, by the censors, of the Wyoming difficulties, and after the refusal of the house of represent- atives to furnish certain papers, in the autumn of 1784 they issued a declaration enumerating the wrongs committed against the Connecticut settlers, and severely censuring the supreme executive council and the house of representatives. These bodies, however, disregarded the reproof of the censors, and prosecuted the unholy war. Armstrong was promoted to the position of a general, and at the head of 100 armed men, on October 17, 1784, again entered the valley. The day fol-

lowing he attacked the Yankees, who had fortified themselves in four log houses, placed in the form of a diamond, situated above Forty fort. The contest lasted one hour, when Armstrong was compelled to retreat, having lost Capt. Bolin, and having had three or four severely wounded. On the side of the Yankees, William Jackson was dangerously wounded, and as he lay bleeding, Capt. Franklin seized his friend's bloody rifle and swore he would never lay down his arms until death should arrest his hand, or Patterson and Amstrong should be expelled from Wyoming. The next day Armstrong sent thirty of his men to gather the buckwheat on the Kingston flats, but the Yankees, stealthily encircling the workmen, carried away the grain, amounting to about 100 bushels.

At this juncture the assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act restoring the dis- possessed Yankees to their lands and recalling Armstrong and Patterson with the forces under their command. This was temporary relief. The settlers at once set about the appointment of committees to organize the militia, to provide for the punishment of offenders, etc. Franklin was elected colonel of the troops. A petition signed by ninety-six men and women, setting forth their grievances and sufferings, and praying to be permitted to elect their own officers and to be protected in their rights, was sent to the assembly at Philadelphia. John Jenkins was appointed to wait on the assembly and to secure the passage of a law for the final settlement of matters in dispute, and for the permanent establishment of the rights of the Connecticut settlers. These efforts proving of no avail, Franklin waited upon the session of congress, and upon the assembly of Connecticut and endeavored to interest them in the wretched fate of the Wyoming people. He also made a bold effort to revive the slumbering energies of the Susquehanna company, which, like Connecticut, had been stunned by the Trenton decree. In this he succeeded. In July, 1785, the company met and reaffirmed its rights in these disputed lands; land was voted to recruits, called half-share rights; committees were appointed, and extensive preparations were made. Franklin returned to Wyoming, held meetings, and addressed the people in the several townships, in regard to a new plan which had been settled upon. It remained for the people to carry it out. It had been determined to form a new state out of northern Pennsylvania. The disputed terri- tory was to be dismembered and downtrodden Wyoming was to be set free from the thraldom of Pennsylvania. Wise heads at Philadelphia saw the gathering storm, and on December 24 following, the assembly of Pennsylvania passed an "Act for

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.

History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 6

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1532

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532