USA > Wyoming > Wyoming; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures > Part 10
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The perpetual annoyances to which this quiet man was subjected induced him to resolve upon taking a position a little farther from the centre of action. He consequently constructed a rude cabin upon Lacka- wanna Island-now called Scofield's Island-near the head of the Valley. The cabin was built on each side of a large fallen tree, which lay high above the ground. The roof was made of peeled bark, and the tree con- stituted the ridge-pole. As the Mannings were about to ship their effects on board of a canoe, Mrs. Manning said to Mrs. Bennet, "Friend Bennet, come go with us to the island ; the boys shall have as much ground as they can work, and there is room enough in the cabin for us both; thee shall take one side of the tree, and I will take the other." This was too good an offer to be despised. Fort Durkee was now in the hands of the Pennamites, and every few weeks they were running over the Valley, and giving the Yankees who had the courage to remain at their homes infinite trou- ble and vexation-not being particularly courteous even to the women, who had the assurance to stick to the stuff when their husbands were driven off or sent to prison. Under these circumstances, Mrs. Bennet
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gladly accepted the generous offer of her friend; and "the boys" also loaded their canoe, and the two fam- ilies pushed up the stream in company, and arranged their scanty catalogue of furniture and fixtures in the cabin. The Bennet boys had managed to save some grain, which they concealed at the head of the island.
In the mean time Mr. Bennet had been discharged, and had returned worn out with his tedious imprison- ment, and badly discouraged. Captain Zebulon But- ler had come on with a new recruit of Yankees, and had shut up Ogden in the fort at Mill Creek, and cut off his supplies. This was in the spring of 1771. Og- den found it necessary to communicate with the Penn- sylvania officials at Philadelphia, and, not willing to run the risk of sending a messenger, who would prob- ably fall into the hands of the Yankees, resolved upon an ingenious and daring enterprise. He made his clothes into a bundle, and fastened his hat on the top of it, then tied to it a small cord some twenty feet long. Taking up his bundle, he walked out into the current, and floated down on his back ahead of his hat and clothes. Of course, this enterprise was undertaken in the night. The Yankee sentinels saw the suspicious- looking object, and riddled the hat with bullets, but Ogden escaped unhurt, and soon reached Philadelphia. He dashed about, and soon raised a quantity of pro- visions and a new company of recruits, commanded by Captain John Dick. They stealthily entered the Val- ley, and eagerly awaited a favorable opportunity of throwing themselves, with their pack-horses loaded with provisions, into the fort.
David Ogden, a brother of the captain, was one of the company, and learning that Thomas Bennet had returned from Philadelphia, and was with his family
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on Lackawanna Island, set off, with a small posse, in pursuit of him. The capture or murder of Bennet would be a clever little adventure while they were waiting for a few hours for a favorable opportunity to elude the besiegers and get into the fort. Ogden knew the ground perfectly, and easily eluded observation until he found his way to the bank of the river over against the island .. The Mannings had received the intelligence of the arrival of Captains Ogden and Dick in the neighborhood of the fort, and of David Ogden's intended visit to the island. The young Pennamite lover had made occasional visits to the island, and nothing was kept from his lady friend that might be of any interest to the family.
When Ogden and his friends showed themselves upon the beach, Mrs. Manning said, "David Ogden is coming over the river. Bennet, thee must clear out or be killed." Mr. Bennet replied, "I may as well die one way as another. I have been in jail until I am worn out; they have robbed me of all I have in the world, and now let them kill me if they will." The women, however, roused him from his deep despond- ency by seizing him by the arms and shoving him out of the door just in time to make his escape. He hid himself in the thick undergrowth, while Ogden entered the cabin with the words, "Is Bennet here ?" The answer was "No." Mrs. Bennet asked, "What do you want of him ?" adding, " If you should find him, you would do no harm to him." "Where is he?" demanded Ogden, in an angry tone. Mrs. Manning replied, "He is not here." Ogden repeatedly swore that, if he could find him, he would shoot him. He went out and scoured the woods, but with no success. After informing Mrs. Manning that they intended to
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enter the fort the next morning before daybreak, and after satisfying their hunger with the good things of the cabin, they departed, but did not immediately leave the island. Judging rightly that Mr. Bennet would soon come forth from his concealment, they hid them- selves within gunshot of the cabin. When it was sup- posed that Ogden and his men had crossed the main branch of the river, Mr. Bennet's sons went out and called him, and he came in. He sat down in a sad state of mind, and Martha seated herself in his lap, and flung her arms about his neck, and commenced caress- ing him, and condoling with him in view of his troub- les and dangers; and the sympathy of the child in this instance was a substantial good, for it actually saved the life of the father. Ogden afterward said he intended to have shot Bennet, and should have done it but for the fear of killing the child. The judgment of charity is that it was not merely as a Yankee that Ogden had formed the deliberate purpose to take Mr. Bennet's life, but as an accessory to the death of his brother. But Mr. Bennet was in no way connected with that deed: its perpetrator afterward fell in the Indian battle, as several affidavits to be found in the archives of the state abundantly prove.
On being informed of Captain Ogden's intended en- trance into the fort early the next morning, Mr. Ben- net, upon the pretense of going out to catch some eels, in the evening crossed the river, and went down to the Yankee lines, and communicated the information. When the Pennsylvanians made a rush upon the be- siegers just before day, they found them fully prepared for them. They lost their pack-horses and provisions. Several horses were shot down under their riders, and a number of the party were severely wounded. Cap- G
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tains Ogden and Dick succeeded in entering the fort with about twenty of their men, but they entered to find famine and despondency staring them in the face on every side, and to feel the mortification of having contributed a considerable stock of provisions to the Yankee force.
Captain Dick, in his report, says: "The information of our coming was received by the Yankees through ยท a letter falling into their hands, with which an Indian was sent by Captain Ogden."-See Miner's History, p. 131. This was Captain Dick's supposition. The fact is, that the credit of giving the information to Captain Butler is due to Thomas Bennet.
The besieged Pennsylvanians, finding it impossible longer to hold out, capitulated, and left Wyoming. The Manning family had really been serviceable to the Yankee cause by their connection with the Ben- net family, to whom they owed a hearty good-will, and from whom they kept no secret which might be serv- iceable to them or their friends, and yet they were not in the confidence of the Yankee leaders, who resolved to drive them from the country. In pursuance of this resolution, on the day of the capitulation, Cap- tain Fuller, one of the Yankee officers, came to the island with a company of men, and coming up to the cabin, cried out, "What are you doing here, you Pennamites ? Clear out, or I'll burn your cabin over your heads." Captain Manning paused not to reason with the fierce Yankee, but immediately commenced packing his goods and loading them in a canoe. He left Wyoming never to return. He settled upon the west branch of the Susquehanna.
Captain Fuller now said, "Bennet, you have suf- fered enough. Come down to Fort Lukins, and you
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shall have as good a lot as there is there." Mr. Ben- net took his family down to the fort, but refused to take up his residence there He fitted up an old horse- shed in Forty Fort, and made it a comfortable resi- dence for those times and for that country, in which his family lived for more than two years. During this period Mrs. Bennet presented her husband with an- other daughter-the late Mrs. Tuttle, of Kingston-and Martha began to develop extraordinary skill at house- work, and great power of endurance.
The tide had now turned in favor of the New En- gland settlers, and large accessions were made to their numbers. Colonel Denison came in from Hartford, Connecticut, and took board with Mr. Bennet. He was married to Betsy Sill, this being the first match con- summated among the settlers.
All this time the Indians were numerous, but very quiet. When Mr. Bennet was taken a prisoner to Phil- adelphia, some of them earnestly urged Mrs. Bennet to come with her children and live among them; evi- dently considering her life in danger from the Penna- mites, they wished to afford her shelter and protec- tion.
We have seen that Mr. Bennet had been sent to Philadelphia to jail as one of " the rioters in the fort at Wyoming, January 21st, 1771, when Nathan Ogden was murdered," but had been discharged after an im- prisonment of five months. Another of these "rioters," as they were called, was a man by the name of Wil- liam Speedy. He was somewhat in years, and was called " Old Speedy ;" but his age could not abate the rigor of the Pennsylvania authorities, for they kept him in close confinement in Philadelphia for more than two years. How, where, or precisely when .Speedy
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was captured and committed to jail we are not able to say, but his final examination must have taken place some time in the year 1775. Mrs. Myers says, when her sister Polly was two years old, and she was twelve, her mother was desired to go to Philadelphia as a wit- ness in favor of Speedy, who was to be tried for the murder of Nathan Ogden. This journey Mrs. Bennet performed alone on horseback, a distance of 120 miles, most of the way through the wilderness. When she reached Philadelphia she found that the court had ad- journed, and she then made a journey to Goshen and attended to some business. When the trial came on she was present, and her testimony cleared Speedy. He was wasted away to a mere skeleton. When he was discharged his joy and gratitude overleaped all bounds. He fell upon his knees before Mrs. Bennet, and almost worshiped her. "Get up, Speedy," said she; "I have done no more than any one ought to do for a fellow-creature." He kissed her hand. and bathed it with tears. It is refreshing to find that in these stern and almost barbarous times the law of kindness and feelings of gratitude had not become utterly erased from the human mind.
Mrs. Bennet returned home after an absence of some weeks, during which Martha had been nurse, kitchen- maid, and governess. She brought water from a cold spring which boils up at the river's edge, below a high, steep bank. The child would scarcely ever con- sent to be left alone, and this made it necessary for Martha to carry her down to the spring, and bring her up on one arm, while she brought a pail of water with the other. She did the housework for the family, consisting of her father, three brothers, herself, and sis- ter, including baking and washing, during her moth-
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er's absence. This, for a girl of her age, was no small task. She says, "It was a hard siege, but I had strength given me for the trial."
Three years of quiet in the settlement had resulted in a high degree of prosperity. Plenty had crowned the labor of the settlers, and there had been a large accession to their numbers from the New England States, not merely consisting of young, hardy adven- turers, but the old and infirm came on, with their chil- dren and grandchildren, to spend the remnant of their days in "the beautiful valley," and to lay their bones beneath its green sod.
Mr. Bennet built a "double log house" on his land, which Mrs. Myers says "was then called a good house." " We removed," says she, "to our new house, raised good crops of grain, and had a fine stock of horses and cattle. We sold grain and bought articles of conven- ience from the Middletown boats. Father and broth- ers hunted beaver, bears, deer, raccoons, wild turkeys, etc., and we were in comfortable circumstances. Game was abundant at this period; we often saw wolves, bears, and deer swimming the river. One night a fe- rocious animal entered the yard, and so wounded one of the young cattle that it was found necessary to kill it. Father and brothers seized their guns when they heard the disturbance, but the savage beast bounded off just in time to save himself; they saw him escape, and, as near as they could judge from a mere glance, it was a panther."
In December of this year (1775) the famous expe- dition of Colonel Plunkett took place. The New En- gland people prepared to give the colonel a warm re- ception at the head of the narrows, on both sides of the river. Mr. Bennet and his son Solomon were at
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the breastworks below Shawnee for two weeks, and Mrs. Bennet took down to them a horse-load of pro- visions at two different times. Men, old and young, boys and women, were all on hand to act their part in the defense of their homes. After an unsuccessful at- tempt to storm the Yankee works, the gallant colonel undertook to take his forces in a bateau across the river. The first boat-load, which, it is said, Colonel Plunkett commanded in person, was saluted by a brisk fire from the bushes by Lieutenant Stuart and his men, and one of the Pennamites was killed and several wounded. The gallant colonel lay down in the bottom of the boat, and ordered the men to push out into the river and go over the falls. The party in the boat and those left upon the west side of the river met at the foot of the rapids, and, upon consultation, con- cluded that it was so late in the season, and the ice was accumulating so fast, that "prudence would be the bet- ter part of valor," and the Pennamite army returned home with diminished numbers, no spoils, and no ad- dition to their reputation for either tact or courage.
Colonel Plunkett and his band were sadly chagrined at their defeat. They had not the slightest doubts of success until they saw the impregnable position of the Yankees, and the spirit with which it was maintained. It is said that the wives of the officers bespoke, in ad- vance, a portion of the plunder: one wanted a feather bed, another a silk dress, and another a smart Yankee girl for a servant. These anticipations were all blast- ed, and the only reasons which the adventurous offi- cers had to give in justification of themselves was, that the wild Yankees had assembled in thousands, and fill- ed the woods on both sides of the river; that they had availed themselves of the perpendicular ledge of rocks
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from which no force could dislodge them, and the river was rapidly filling up with ice. In all this the num- bers of the Yankee force were vastly exaggerated ; and as for the rest, a sagacious commander ought to have understood the ground beforehand.
The expedition of Colonel Plunkett terminates the first period of this unnatural war-a war which was not only a public calamity, but inflicted untold griefs upon persons and parties who pined and writhed un- der its consequences in private, who never troubled the public with their heart-crushing griefs. Young Lukins, son of the surveyor general, was at Sunbury at the time Plunkett set out for Wyoming, and he went with him merely for the romance of the thing. The poor fellow was killed. "His death," says Mrs. Myers, "was much lamented by the settlers : his father was a very worthy man, and was much respected."
Mr. Miner gives an affecting incident of the death of another young man. He forced his way near the Yankee line; a Yankee marksman watched his op- portunity, and shot him down. After the battle he visited the spot, and found a hat-band which he judged had been cut by the ball from his rifle. Going down the river with lumber many years afterward, he received the hospitalities of a fine old gentleman. The conver- sation turned upon the former troubles in Wyoming. "I lost a beloved son in the Plunkett invasion," said the father; and, producing the hat, said, "The bullet must have cut the band." The big tear stood in his eye while he held up the sad memento of his son's hapless fate. Of course, the scene was painful to the visitor, who declared that he never before realized the extent of the calamities of war. Ah! and this was a war between brothers-a feud in a family.
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"Brother with brother waged unnatural strife ; Severed were all the charities of life : Two passions-virtues they assumed to be- Virtues they were-romantic loyalty, And stern, unyielding patriotism, possess'd Divided empire in the nation's breast ; As though two hearts might in one body reign, And urge conflicting streams from vein to vein."
JAMES MONTGOMERY.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR-TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS.
The expedition of Colonel Plunkett was the last ef- fort of the proprietary government of the Colony of Pennsylvania to remove the New England people from Wyoming. The prospects of a rupture with the par- ent government now absolutely demanded union, and Congress passed resolutions recommending "that the contending parties immediately cease all hostilities, and avoid every appearance of force until the dispute could be legally decided." This wise recommendation had its influence upon the more considerate and prudent of both parties, while the common danger from the hostility of the savages suggested the folly and mad- ness of the longer continuance of the feud. There was no difference of feeling between the Pennamites and Yankees upon the question of American liberty and independence.
On the 19th of April the battle of Lexington had been fought, and on the 17th of June that of Bunker Hill. The interest of these momentous events was felt in the wilds of Wyoming, as will be clearly seen by the records of certain public proceedings which are left upon the minutes of the town. Witness the fol- lowing :
" At a meeting of ye proprietors and settlers of ye
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town of Westmoreland, August 1, 1775, Mr. John Jen- kins was chosen moderator for ye work of ye day. Voted, that this town does now vote that they will strictly observe and follow ye rules and regulations of ye honorable Continental Congress, now sitting at Phil- adelphia.
" Resolved by this town, That they are willing to make any accommodation with ye Pennsylvania party that shall conduce to ye best good of ye whole, not infring- ing on ye property of any person, and come in com- mon cause of liberty in ye defense of America, and that we will amicably give them ye offer of joining in ye proposals as soon as may be."
On the 8th of August, the same year, a meeting was held, made up of both New England and Pennsylva- nia people, at which a patriotic resolution was passed, which concluded with these words: " And will unani- mously join our brethren in America in the common cause of defending our liberty."
July 4th, 1776, the ever-memorable Declaration of American Independence was passed by the Continent- al Congress, and August 24th we find a town meeting "held in Westmoreland, Wilkesbarre District," at which "Colonel Z. Butler was chosen moderator," when it was voted "that it now becomes necessary for the inhabitants of this town to erect suitable forts as a defense against our common enemy." Forty Fort was ordered to be enlarged and strengthened. The people, old and young, made large contributions in la- bor to these necessary provisions for the common de- fense.
By order of Congress, "two companies on the Con- tinental establishment" were raised "in the town of Westmoreland," to be "stationed in proper places for
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the defense of the inhabitants of said town and parts adjacent." Robert Durkee and Samuel Ransom were elected captains of these two companies. These com- panies consisted of something more than eighty men each, and they were made up of the strong young men of the settlement. At the critical period when our army had retreated across the Delaware, these compa- nies were "ordered to join General Washington with all possible expedition." This order left Wyoming in a most defenseless condition. Nothing but the stern necessities of the Revolutionary cause could be offered as the slightest palliation of the cruelty and injustice of this measure. These companies were raised ex- pressly for "the defense of the inhabitants" of West- moreland "and parts adjacent," but they were now called to leave their mothers, wives, and sisters ex- posed to the incursions of the merciless savages, with- out any thing like adequate means of defense.
The Indians were evidently making preparations to identify themselves with the English cause. They all withdrew from Wyoming and went north. There were rumors of their intentions to cut off the settle- ment, which filled the minds of many with alarm. In the fall of 1777, Queen Esther came up the river with about a dozen Indians. She encamped at the mouth of Shoemaker's Creek, but a short distance from Mr. Bennet's residence. Mrs. Bennet, accompanied by Martha, visited the queen's camp and had considera- ble conversation with her. She asked her if it was true that the Indians were coming to kill us all. She shook her head and shed tears. Her head was gray, and she seemed to be old. She remained there about a fortnight.
Mrs. Myers says, "Not long after Queen Esther left
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the Valley we heard rumors of violence committed at the north by parties of Indians which strolled over the country. These reports created great alarm among the people of Wyoming. In June, 1778, about two weeks before the battle, we had seven head of horses stray away. The boys going in pursuit of them ask- ed me to go with them and pick cherries. We had not gone far into the woods before the boys saw some young hickories broken and twisted in a peculiar man- ner. One of them exclaimed, 'Oh, the Indians! The Indians have taken away the horses.' This turned out to be the fact. Upon our return we learned that the Indians had been at Peter Harris's, above Scofield's. Soon after the two Hardings were killed, and now we, with the settlers generally, moved into the fort. It was crowded full."
Colonel John Butler, a Tory leader, with an army of eight hundred, consisting of Indians, Tories, and British regulars, came down the river in boats and on rafts, and landed just above the head of the Valley, near Sutton's Mills. Colonel Denison, with a company of men, went up to reconnoitre, and found they had left the river and taken the mountain path. By this means he would avoid the danger of meeting the pat- riots in the Narrows, where his superior force would give him no advantage. The hostile army came into the Valley through a notch in the mountain opposite to Fort Wintermoot, a small fort which bore the name of a family of Tories, and was surrendered at once. A scouting party from Forty Fort was sent up to learn Butler's position and strength, and Finch was killed and Hewitt shot through the hand. This took place near where Shoemaker's Mills now stand, between the village of Wyoming and Carpenter's Notch. The
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next day a company went up and brought in Finch's body. After the battle the Indians referred to the circumstances, and said they could have killed the whole of both parties if they had chosen to do so. It is likely, however, this was a mere brag, and that real-" ly fear had something to do in the matter.
THE BATTLE OF JULY 3, 1778.
The settlers had made strong representations of their perilous condition to General Washington, and prayed that at least the companies raised in the settle- ment might be sent to their aid, but all was in vain. They now had no hope but in their own small re- sources and the protection of Providence. The old men and boys which were left armed themselves as well as they could, and resolved to make a brave de- fense against the savage Indians and the still more savage Tories. The little army numbered about three hundred men, and was organized in six companies. There were grandfathers and grandsons in this army, some of them entirely untrained, and inost of them un- accustomed to military discipline, and to the arrange- ments and evolutions of an army. Mr. Miner says, " There were about two hundred and thirty enrolled men, and seventy old people, boys, civil magistrates, and other volunteers."
Colonel Zebulon Butler had obtained leave of ab- sence from the army, and came on in advance of the Wyoming companies, which were finally ordered to proceed to the scene of danger and alarm under Cap- tain Spaulding. The command, by universal consent, was accorded to Colonel Butler. On the 3d of July, an Indian on horseback was seen at the mouth of Shoe- maker's Creek, within sight of the fort. Upon finding
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