USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 9
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Susquehanna > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
hence they were discharged, upon paying jail fees and expenses amounting to twenty-five dol- lars each.
The State troops were once more called to active service in the Valley, and arrests again be- came frequent, but none of Franklin's party were secured.
-
The fort was attacked one night by the Yan- kees, when two officers were killed, which was the last bloodshed of the Valley. The fort was soon thereafter evacuated, and all the Penna- mites who had been active against the Yankees were forced to leave the settlement. They raised a clamor after leaving, stating that they had been plundered, wronged, and driven from their homes by the intruding Yankecs, which so inflamed the public mind that the Legislature again took cognisance of the matter, and an- other committee of three was appointed to repair to Wyoming to endeavor to stop further disorder. They came, returned and reported, but no action followed their deliberations.
Nothing effectual transpired until 1786, when a law was passed erecting the disputed territory into a county, which was called Luzerne. The first election of officers was held in July, 1787, and from that day, the angel of peace has pre- sided over the famous Valley of Wyoming with a maternal watchfulness and care, rarely bestow- ed upon the favored spots of cartli.
Truly has Halleck sung :
"Nature hath made thee lovelier than the power Even of Campbell's pen hath pictured; he Had woven, had he gazed one sunny hour Upon thy winding vale, its scenery,
With more of truth, and made each rock and tree Known like oid friends, and greeted from afar: And there are tales of sad reality In the dark legends of thy border war, With woes of deeper tint than his own Gertrude's are."
.
1
CHAPTER XI.
THE WYOYING MONUMENT.
I beg no pity for this mould'ring clay: For if you give it burial, there it takes Possession of your earth : If burnt and scatter'd in the air, the winds That strew my dust, diffuse my royalty, And spread me o'er your clime. -- Dryden, Don Sebastian King of Portugal, Act I.
Near the spot where occurred the fated battle of July 3d, 1778, has been erected a monument commemorative of the event. Away down the Valley, resting upon its very bosom, as seen from the heights surrounding, guarded by foliage as soft and graceful as can be found in any spot in the temperate zone, there shoots up a modest shaft, which is visited annually by thousands who are drawn to it by the romance which has ever hung around Wyoming.
It will be remembered that the battle com- menced below Wintermoot's, or what is now known as Pittston, and the course of flight was down the valley toward Wilkes-Barre, so that the spot where the monument now stands wit- nessed the heaviest of the engagement. The flight was so sudden, and the panie so general, that the bodies of the slain were abandoned with- out burial. It was not until the 21st of October of the same year, over three months from the occurrence of the fight, that the bodies found sep- ulture. Colonel Butler, on his return to the val- ley, detailed a force who were sent to collect the remains of the slain.
General William Ross, who witnessed the burial in October, said of it, that "owing to the intense heat of the weather, and probably the dryness of the air, the bodies were shriveled, dricd, and inoffensive, but, with a single excep- tion, their features could not be recognized."
The bodies were collected and placed in a com-
mon grave, only to be disturbed when an admir- ing posterity claimed the relics of patriotism for a nobler ceremonial. The ploughshare had turn- ed the sod for years, over the resting place of the heroes, and for a long time the identical spot was lost to the knowledge of later settlers.
Hon. Charles Miner, the venerable historian of the Valley, was the first to call public atten- tion to the matter of erecting a monument to the memory of the fallen brave. In several newspa- per articles, as early as 1800, his efforts were put forth for the consumation of the project, but nothing definite or tangible was reached until the 16th day of June, 1832, when " a meeting of a number of the early settlers of Wyoming Val- ley, who had relatives and acquaintances in the Wyoming massacre, and other citizens of Lu- zerne county, convened at the house of Major O. Helme, in Kingston, to take into consideration the subject of erecting a monument to the mem- ory of those who fell in that disastrous conflict. General William Ross was appointed chairman, and Charles D. Shoemaker secretary." A com- mittee to draft resolutions was appointed, com- posed of John Carey, Col. Benjamin Dorrance. Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, Colonel George P. Ran- soin, Calvin Wadhams, Jolin Gore, Sen., Joseph Wright, and Benjamin Reynolds,
Another committee was appointed to nego- tiate for the purchase of "half an acre of ground, including the burial place of those who fell in the
1
.
1
1
52
THE WYOMING VALLEY.
battle of Wyoming," consisting of Benjamin Dorrance, Calvin Wadhams, Anderson Dana, David Scott, and George M. Hollenback.
A public meeting was secured at which Rev. Dr. May, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was the orator, assisted by Rev. Dr. Murray, of the Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Charles Nash of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The following extract is taken from the ad- dress of Dr. May :
.
"When upward of fifty years have gone, we are in quiet possession of this valley. The sun in his daily journey looks upon few spots on which the Creator has combined more of the materials necessary for earthly happiness. No. object of price in general can be gained without painstaking and sacrifice. The independence of our common country was not secured without a long and toilsome struggle. This valley, so rich in soil, so lovely in scenery, could not be pos- sessed securely till the sacrifice was made, and that, too, of blood. The hands that more than half a century ago first struck the axe into the forests that had for ages shadowed these plains, lie mingled with the dust. The troubles of those times, when the Indians descended upon this valley, were borne by heads that are pillowed beneath the soil. See, fellow citizens, the sacri- fice which was made by the first civilized tenants of this valley. The grave containing their bones is uncovered before you. You see for yourselves the marks of the tomahawk and scalping-knife on the heads which are here uncovered, after having rested for more than fifty years. Peace be in this grave-sacred be the memory of them that sleep here.
valley, which you saw as it was when but a fron- tier, you survive to see in the midst of a popula- tion of many hundreds of thousands overspread- ing the country beyond you. But on this day, and where you now are, you cannot but think of what you once saw in this place. We would stand aside while you look into this grave, and see the bones of your brothers, which fifty years ago you assisted in sadly laying here. We would not intrude while, as you stand beside these bones, you think howlyou stood beside your friends when they lived. For your sakes we are glad that this day has come. We rejoice to think that you may see yet a stone raised here, on which the names of those you laid in this spot shall be engraven."
Dr. Murray added in the course of his address : "You see these bleached heads and bending forms around me. These worthies have come down to us from the last century, and are the companions of the heroes to whose manly frames these mouldering bones belonged. Could the breath of life be breathed into these bones- could they rise in the possession of living energy, they would find, even among this small remnant, a few brothers and sons. As the gentleman on my right was narrating the incidents of the hor- rible massacre, I saw the tear stealing down the furrowed cheeks of those fathers of our commun- ity. That tear told me that they felt-that they deeply felt ; and metbinks that there is not a heart in this vast concourse that does not sym- pathize with them. They desire that a monu- ment should be erected over the cominon grave of their fathers, and brothers, and companions. And do you not sympathize with them ? I know you do. I feel persuaded that you are anxious to place a liberal subscription on this paper be- fore you retire from this place. You court the honor of contributing to the Wyoming Monu- ment. My great fear is that we shall not all have the privilege of giving. I would therefore caution the rich not to indulge their patriotic barred. We all want to have our stone in the Wyoming Monument."
"A few who were themselves sharers in the toils and difficulties of those times yet survive, and are here this day to bear witness for us. Venerable citizens, we respect you for your years ; we honor you for the part you bore in the doings and sufferings of those days ; we love and cher- ish the principles of liberty which animated you ; we owe you a debt of gratitude for the happy . feelings too freely, lest the poor should be de- inheritance which you did your part to preserve unimpaired for your children. You have passed within the lines of the second half century since The Legislature of Connecticut was appealed to for aid in constructing the monument, and in 1839 a committee from the valley was sent to you opened a grave here for your brothers whom the Indians slaughtered on these plains. This
-
1
53
THE WYOMING MONUMENT.
Hartford for that purpose. The claims of Wy- oming's early settlers were strongly urged, and a report was presented which proposed a grant of three thousand dollars, but it was allowed to pass unheeded.
In 1841 the attempt was repeated, but to no purpose.
The ladies of Wyoming at last took the mat- ter in charge, which resulted in the formation of what was known as the "Luzerne Monumental Association," under the auspiees of which the monument was finally reared.
On one slab is the following inseription :
"Near this spot was fought, on the afternoon of the 3d of July, 1778, the Battle of Wyoming, in which a small band of patriotie Americans, chiefly the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged, spared by inefficiency from the distant ranks of the Republic, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler and Colonel Nathan Denison, with a courage that deserved success, boldly met and bravely fought a combined British, Tory, and Indian force of thrice their number. Numerical superiority alone gave success to the invader, and widespread bavoc, desolation, and ruin marked his savage and bloody footsteps through the Valley.
This monument, commemorative of these events, and in memory of the actors in them, has been erected over the bones of the slain by their descendants and others, who gratefully appre- eiate the services and sacrifices of their patriotic ancestors."
On the other slabs the following :
Dulce et deeorum est pro patria mori. Slain in the battle :
FIELD-OFFICERS. Meut. Col. George Dorrance, Major John Garret.
CAPTAINS.
James Bidlack, Jun.,
Aholiab Back,
Robert Durkee, Rezin Geer,
Joseph Whittlesey,
Dethic Hewit,
William M'Karaghen, Samuel Ransom, Lazarus Stewart, James Wigton. LIEUTENANTS.
A. Atherton,'
Stoddart Bowen, Aaron Gaylord, Timothy Plerce, Perrin Ross, Elljah Shoemaker, Lazarus Stewart, Jun.,
Asa Stevens, 1
Flavius Waterman, James Wells.
ENSIGNS.
Jeremiah Bigford,
Asa Gore, :
Silas Gore, Titus Hinman,
John Ofis, William White.
PRIVATES.
Jabez Atherton,
Christopher Avery,
--- Acke,
A. Beuediet, Jabez Beers, Samuel Bigford,
Elias Bixby, David Bixby,
John Boyd, , John Brown,
Thomas Brown,"
Willlam Buck, James Budd,
Amos Bullock,
Henry Buck,
John Caldwell,
Isaac Campbell,
Josiah Cameron,
Joseph Carey,
Joel Church,
James Coffrin, William Corrin,
Samuel Cole, Robert Comstock,
[three] Cook Brothers, Christopher Cortright, John Cortright,
Anson Coray,
Rufus Coray, .
Jenks Coray, Samuel Crocker,
Joseph Crocker,
Jabez Darling,
D. Denton,
Conrad Devenport,
Anderson Dana,
James Divine,
George Downing,
Levi Dunn,
William Dunn, - Dncher,
Benjamin Finch,
John Finch,
Daniel Finch,
Elisha Fitch,
Cornelius Fitchett,
Eliphalet Follett, Thomas Faxen, John Franklin,
Thomas Fuller, Stephen Fuller, -- Gardner, George Gore, --- Green, Samuel Hutchinson, William Hammond, Silas Harvey,
THE WYOMING VALLEY.
Benjamin Hatch, Cyprian Hebard' Levt Hicks, James Hopklus, Nathaniel Howard. John Hutchins, Israel Inman, Elijah Inman,
Philip Weeks,
Constant Searle, Abel Seeley,
Joseph Shaw, Abraham Shaw. Darius Spafford, Levi Spencer, Josiah Spencer, Eleazer Sprague.
Aaron Stark,
Daniel Stark.
Joseph Staples,
Rufus Stevens,
James Stevenson,
Naler Sweed,
Ichabod Tuttle,
John Van Wee,
Abraham Vangorder.
Elisha Waters,
Bartholomew Weeks,
Jonathan Weeks,
Peter.Wheeler, Stephen Whiting.
New Matthewson,
C. M'Cartee,
Esen Wilcox,
A.Meeleman,
John Williams,
Robert M'Intire,
Elihu Williams, Jun.,
Andrew Millard,
Rufus Williams,
John Murphy, Joseph Ogden,
Azibah Williams,
John Ward,
John Pierce, Abel Palmer,
Silas Parke,
William Packer, Henry Pencil, Noah Pettibone, Jun., Jeremiah Ross,
- - Reynolds,
Elisha Richards,
Elias Roberts,
Enos Rockway,
Timothy Ross, James Shaw,
John Wilson,
Parker Wilson
-- Wade.
William Woodringer, Ozias Yale.
The construction is of granite, sixty-two and a half feet in height, and neatly and artistically de- signed. The photographic illustration which is given is pronounced a fine picce of workmanship, and reflects credit upon the artist.
1
Josephi Jennings, Samuel Jackson, Robert Jamesou, Henry Johuson, -- Lester,
Joshua Landon,
Daniel Lawrence William Lawrence, Francis Ledyard,
James Lock, Conrad Lowe, Jacob Lowe,, Nicholas Manvill, Job Marshall,
CHAPTER XII.
CAMPBELL'S LEDGE.
Yet higher than their tops The verd'rons wall of paradise up-sprung: * *
* * * On which the sun more glad impress'd his beanis,
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow, When God had shower'd the earth ; so lovely seemed
That landscape : and of pure now purer air
Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All sadness but despair; now gentle gales Fanning their odorif'rons wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils.
-Paradise Lost, Book IV.
The prominent feature at the upper end of the Wyoming Valley is Campbell's Lodge, some- times called Crag Campbell. It is a bold moun- tain, commencing from the union of the waters of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna rivers on the plain, and continuing rather abruptly in as- cent until near its erowning summit, when its face as it looks down upon the fair vale below, assumes a gray scowl of rock, nearly perpendicu- lar, from the top of which many an ambitious traveler views the glorics and beauties of three valleys, Wyoming, Lackawanna, and the Susque- hanna.
Every visitor to this section of country, finds it a necessity to scale this sentinel of many tradi- tions, and the pen of the muse is ever busy in singing of its charms.
Mrs. Sigourney's poem, "The Susquehanna, on its Juuction with the Lackawanna," which we give in the present chapter, lends classic grace to the locality. Among the modern poets who have sung the beautics of Wyoming from time to time, perhaps none have done it more sweetly than Miss Susan Evelyn Dickinson, of Philadel- phia, sister of the celebrated Auna Dickinson,
whose lectures have been heard and read in every important city in the Union. Miss Diek- inson contributes, from time to time, some excel- lent poems and articles on leading topies, to the New York Tribune, and an occasional sketch to the Sunday Free Press of Scranton. She fre- quently visits the Valley of Wyoming, where she has hosts of friends, and it was while on one of these visits, in the Fall of 1872, that she wrote the beautiful lines, "Wyoming," which we have added.
With the foregoing we have associated a poem by Mr. John Erigena Barrett, a resident of the Valley, and a young man of marked promise in belles-lettres.
Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie, one of the most critical reviewers of the day, and author of "The Life of Sir Walter Scott," says of Mr. Barrett's poem, entitled "Isabel" :- "I have been struck by the grace, beauty, and truth of 'Isabel', the poem whose scene is laid in fair Wyoming. Full many a gem of purest ray serene,' has appeared in provincial papers, and this I think is one ot them."
-
56
THE WYOMING VALLEY.
THE SUSQUEHANNA. ON ITS JUNCTION WITH THE LACKAWANNA. BY MRS. SIGOURNEY.
Rush on glad stream, in thy power and pride To claim the hand of thy promised bride,
For she hastes from the realms of the darkened mine,
To mingle her murmured vows with thine ; Y'e have met, ye have met, and your shores pro- long The liquid tone of your nuptial song.
Methinks ve wed as the white man's son And the child of the Indian King have done.
I saw the bride as she strove in vain To cleanse her brow from the carbon stain ; But she brings thee a dowry so rich and true That thy love must not shrink from the tawny hue.
Her birth was rude in a mountain cell, And her infant freaks there are none to tell ; Yet the path of her beauty was wild and free, And in dell and forest she hid from thee ; But the day of her fond caprice is o'er, And she seeks to part from thy breast no more.
Pass on, in the joy of thy blended tide, Through the land where the blessed Miquon died.
No red-man's blood with its guilty stain,
Hath eried unto God from that broad domain ; With the seeds of peace they have sown the soil, Bring a harvest of wealth for their hour of toil.
On, on, through the vale where the brave ones sleep,
Where the waving foliage is rich and deep. I have stood on the mountain and roamed through the glen, To the beautiful homes of the Western men ; Yet naught in that region of glory could see So fair as the vale of Wyoming to me.
WYOMING.
BY SUSIE E. DICKINSON.
Storm has gone by-the trailing clouds that lin- ger Add glory to the October afternoon,-
Touched by the artist sun with loving finger,- With gold and rose hues of a dawn of June.
On the far hill-range purple mists are lying, Struck through with golden light in wavering gleams ;
On nearer slopes the autumn woods are dying, Robed in rich tints that mock the artists' dreams.
The rare day woos us forth to gather treasure Of unexpressed delight for heart and brain ; Each moment brings us some new sense of pleas . ure, Or takes away some touch of former pain.
We trace the mountain road, each turn unfold- ing A rarer beauty to the raptured eye ;
Each glen, and stream and deep ravine is holding Its own rich store of autumn's pageantry.
Our hearts spring up-the clear brook by us flowing Voices our gladness with its silver tone ; We find the keen, clear air, new life bestowing, More sweet than suminer's breath o'er roses blown.
Fain would we linger ; - but at last regaining The open vale, new joy each spirit thrills -- No Alpine roseate glow, the ice-peaks staining, Outrivals that which crowns these eastern hills.
Above the western slopes the sun, retiring, Sends ever and anon a surge of gold- Now rising, now retreating, now expiring ; Hlow should such seenes be fitly sung or told ?
Oh fair vale of Wyoming ! oh soft splendor Of hill, and stream, and rare autumnal skies ! One heart will thrill with recollections tender Of all your beauty, until memory dies !
ISABEL. A TALE OF WYOMING.
BY JOHN ERIGENA BARRETT.
Where Campbell's Ledge looms bare and high, Beside the Susquehanna river, That passes calmly, proudly by, And stately as the Guadalquiver ; In fair Wyoming's pleasant vale- That prototype of Paradise, Where Nature's sweets perfume the gale, .And Love looks forth with laughing eyes.
1
1.
57
CAMPBELL'S LEDGE.
Within a cottage shaded well, With clustering vine and clematis, There dwelt a maid named Isabel, Whose dream of life was one of bliss. Her parents guarded well her youth, And happily they kept that flow'r Within the peerless path of truth, So oft assail'd by Satan's power. And Isabel was beautiful-
The rose beside her cheek was pale -- Loving, below'd and dutiful,
The happiest child in all the vale ; Filling her parents' hearts with joy -- Thrilling the heart of many a swain ; Killing with glances shy and coy Their soft advances weak and vain.
Hlad Endymion seen her there He ne'er had slept in Latmus deep ; To woo a maid so young and fair. Ah, who would not forswear all sleep ? Her heart was chaste as Dian's kiss Upon the snow that flecks the hill, And void of grief, and full of bliss, And clear as the crystal mountain rill.
Full many a youth throughout the land Sighed for a chance his love to tell, And many a suitor sought ker hand, But sought in vain for Isabel. Love's roseate morn had not broke Upon her virgin soul as yet, The golden Sibyl had not spoke To her of joys and griefs to get.
Laughing, lovely Isabel ! With heart as free as desert air, Felt not the pow'r of Cupid's spell- Felt not the gnawing tooth of care. She glided through the giddy throng, Nor heeded all the love-sick swains- Her inaiden heart aglow with song, Her very voice was insie's strains.
Adown the Susquehanna side, Where weeping willows green and grave Salute the ever-gliding tide, And kiss the ocean-seeking wave ; A stripling lived with eye of fire,
And heart that glow'd for Isabel, But when he met her, his desire To tell his passion faded, fell.
Of all the others she had met, Fair Isabel liked him the most Of all the suitors who had yet Become her slaves ; among the host Of passionate pilgrims who had knelt Before her love-inspiring shrine, She liked young Adrian and felt Before his glance a thrill divine !
At length he told her of his love Beside the ever-gliding stream, And called as witnes's heaven above That she might trust his boyhood's dream. She listened, trusted-ah, too well ! For Isabel was fair, and young, No human tongue or pen can tell What joy within her soul had sprung.
She hung upon his honey'd speech As dew-drops hang upon the rose, Until it sank beyond her reach Deep in her very soul's repose. A thousand times farewell to mirth ! No laugh now lights her loving eye, For love within her soul hath birth, Her cheeks are Hushed, her glances shy.
And at the foot of Campbell's Ledge, When night hath dropped her curtain down, Close by the rushing river's edge, She meets her love outside the town.
Ilis words are sweet, and warm his kiss, Ah luckless, trusting Isabel,- The honey'd words, the hours of bliss, Are the deceitful Sibyl's spell.
One night she went to keep her tryst, But faithless Adrian was not there ; She listened, sighed, she pray'd, she wish'd, But sighs and prayers died on the air, And mingled with the low, soft song The river sang among the reeds, She waited wearily and long, But sighs and prayers no Adrian heeds.
1
1
بح جج
58
THE WYOMING VALLEY.
The crescent moon shone fair and bright. And softly over Campbell's Ledge, And by its late and lustrous light She pondered o'er the broken pledge, And murmured thus ; "Alas, my soul, How tenderly I loved that man, Loved him beyond my own control, Beyond myself, and yet he can Deceive me thus. She loves him too, But not so deep nor half so well,
IIer passion 's passing, mine was true," Aye, truth itself was Isabel.
A month passed by, when chcerily i
The bells rang from the village spire ; The maiden heard them wearily At her window, her heart on fire. She saw a wedding party pass And heard their laughter gay and face ; She sigh'd a sorrowful "Alas ! I pity pretty Molly Lee ;
To wed a viper false as lie Whose perjured vow has broke my heart ; He never can be true, and she
Will often wish herself apart From him ; for Oh ! I know Where falsehood lurks like serpents vile,
That love can never, never grow,
Though honey'd words would fain beguile."
And so it was, a deadly blight Came o'er the home where Adrian dwelt ; His day was dark as darkest night, He knew no joy, no peace he felt. And Isabel-just like the rose Whose leaves are crushed at dawn of day, Soon sank into her long repose, Too soon her spirit pass'd away.
The view from the highest point of the Ledge is claimed by many to be the finest and most famed of any in the valley of Wyoming. The disputed points as to locality are so well taken, and vary so much at different periods, that a de- cision which would be conclusive cannot with sincerity be given. It is impossible to find one spot on the mountains of either side of the valley, from which all the charme of scenery as gathered
at different heights, can be taken in, It is true, Campbell's Ledge affords the most diversi- tied view, but not the most inspiring ; the most sweeping, but less heavenly than the soft per- spective which is drunk in from Prospect Rock.
The three rivers which unite at the base of the mountain resemble a triple lightning fork, as seen in grand thunder-storm scenes on canvass.
Away down the Susquehanna the shimmer of its surface is as enchanting as a fairy scene ; up the same stream the transfiguration to rocky dells and romantic glades, reminds one of laugh- ing childhood, wild and intoxicating among brooks and rills.
Up the Lackawanna, toward Seranton, the scenery is broken, but enthusiastically invigor- ating in its charm. As far as the eye can reach. the hillsides and plains are dotted with enter- prises that spit their smoke and steam with incessant vigor from dawn to sunset ; a view which in itself is intrinsically valuable to a stranger in studying the character of the inhabi- tants of that region.
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.