USA > Wyoming > Wyoming; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures > Part 12
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The company saw no Indians, but every where met the sad traces of their ravages. The houses of the set- tlement were nearly all reduced to ashes, the crops were destroyed, and the horses, cattle, etc., were either killed or driven off. The beautiful and fruitful vale, which in the spring presented so charming a prospect of a rich harvest, was now the very picture of deso- lation. Colonel Butler and his company repaired to the battle-field, and gathered up the remains of those who were slain on the fatal 3d of July, and buried them in a common grave, where the monument now stands.
Mrs. Bennet and her daughters did not remain long at Stroudsburg, but went to Goshen, where they took up quarters with a Captain John Bull, "an old gray-
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headed man with a large family." Mrs. Bennet " did two days' work in one" at the spinning-wheel, while Martha "did housework for fifty cents a week." They made shirts and pants, and sent them to Wyo- ming to Mr. Bennet and the boys, who remained there, and worked their land and enlarged their clearing. The Revolutionary war was now in full blast; there were no manufactories in the country, and foreign goods were extremely scarce and dear. Mrs. Myers says that at this period they gave "fifty cents a yard for calico."
Early in the spring Mrs. Bennet went to " Bethle- hem, ten miles below Litchfield," to her brother Sam- uel Jackson's. Captain Bull sent his son with a horse part of the way, and they "rode by turns." They re- mained among their friends " in Litchfield, Nobletown, and Canaan until the next spring." They frequently received intelligence from Wyoming, and finally be- gan to meditate returning. In the fall Solomon Ben- net came on with a horse to bring his mother and two sisters back to their loved and much-desired Wyoming home. Mrs. Bennet and her youngest daughter rode upon the horse, attended by Solomon, while Martha took passage in a sloop from Canaan to Newburg. They met at the latter place, and, passing Washing- ton's camp, went on to Goshen. Here they purchased a yoke of oxen and a cart, and, loading upon this homely vehicle the fruits of Mrs. Bennet's and Mar- tha's earnings, they commenced their slow march. They came by Stroudsburg, and thence through the road made by Sullivan's army ; and, finally, Mr. Ben- net's family, after more than two years' separation, were together again.
Mr. Bennet had fitted up " one of Sullivan's old bar-
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racks, just opposite to Wilkesbarre, for a house." They had an abundance of corn and garden vegeta- bles, but no flour, as there was no grist-mill in the Val- ley. The only resort of the settlers, for the time, was to a hominy block. This was a block cut from the trunk of a large tree, hollowed, and set on end. The corn was put in the hollow, and bruised with a pestle hung upon a spring pole. Such was the demand for hominy that this rude mill was kept going day and night. The girls often worked the mill, and not un- frequently were obliged to wait long for their turn. There were now about thirty families in the settle- ment.
General Sullivan had left several companies in the garrison at Wilkesbarre, under the command of Colo- nel Moore. Among the officers were Captain Schott and Lieutenant Lawrence Myers, who married and settled in the country. The former married Naomi Sill, and the latter Sarah Gore. A store for the sup- ply of the garrison was provided, and was under the directions of the commissary, William Stuart. He had flour, and, although none could be obtained from him for the labor of the men, yet Miss Bennet, being skillful in fine knitting and working lace, could procure it for her work. By knitting a pair of stockings and a pair of gloves for the commissary, and working a lace cap and some silk lace to trim a cloak for his lady, she procured one hundred pounds of flour. All this work she did "nights by pine-light, after spinning two six- teen-knotted skeins of flax." Besides all this, she " did much about house, and often had to work the hominy block." Her "rule was to go to bed at one or two o'clock in the morning." She says, "We were con- stantly afraid of the Indians, and the well-known cry
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of the sentinels, 'All's well!' which broke upon the stillness of the night during my nightly toils, was to me a most welcome and pleasant sound." She notices a little incident, small in itself, but significant and fruit- ful in its-results. She says, " A company of us girls would often go out and gather five-finger-leaf for tea, and while on these little excursions we were guarded by the soldiers." Ah ! indeed ! "Guarded !" yes, and loved and wooed "by the soldiers," as the facts after- ward proved.
Tea was proscribed because it was taxed by the Brit- ish government, and could not easily be obtained, and when it could be had it was drunk stealthily. The people generally sought the best substitute which the soil afforded, and this, at best, was poor enough. Con- gress was obliged, for purposes of revenue, to lay a tax on many of the conveniences of life. Those who en- joyed the luxury of glass lights in their houses had to pay a tax on every pane. Mrs. Myers says that Lieu- tenant Van Horn, a Pennamite, for whom she certainly had no great respect, came around taking account of the windows which were in the hastily-built cabins of the settlers. Addressing her, he demanded, "How many lights have you in your house ?" "Oh, plenty of lights," was the answer. "Look all around, and you will see for yourself," at the same time pointing to the chinks between the logs. The functionary be- coming satisfied, from the evidence afforded by his own eyes, that there was not a pane of glass in the old barrack, soon took his leave.
Miss Martha, at this period, was one of the most ef- ficient agents in supplying the necessaries of life to the family. We have seen that she procured flour for her work where it could not be obtained by the
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settlers "for either love or money." She procured meat in the same way. She knit a lace cap for an old Mrs. M'Clure, and procured of her three pigs, for which she had refused the cash. These animals grew, and turned to most excellent account.
Things had been so managed that most of the Penn- amites belonged to the garrison; and some of the of- ficers being of this class, the Yankee settlers were often subjected to petty annoyances. Mr. Bennet could procure no land to work under cover of the fort, and finally resolved to make an attempt to work his own land above Forty Fort. On the 27th of March, 1780, he commenced plowing within "the Ox-bow," a bend in the creek on the flats, between Elijah Shoemaker's and the river. His team consisted of a yoke of oxen and a horse. The boy Andrew rode upon the horse. When they came to the bend in the creek the horse seemed shy. Mr. Bennet said, "I fear all is not right. I think we will only go around once more." When they came again to the same point, four Indians sprung from the bushes, and one seized Mr. Bennet, and an- other took Andrew from the horse. The Indians hur- ried off their prisoners, and soon came up with two more Indians, having Lebbeus Hammond as a prisoner. Mr. Bennet exclaimed, "Hammond, are you here ?" With downcast look, Hammond answered " Yes." An Indian mired Hammond's horse in the marsh and left him. They then took the old war-path over the mountain.
When Mr. Bennet left home, he told his wife that if he did not return by sundown she might conclude some harm had befallen him. Soon after sundown Mrs. Bennet gave the information at the fort that her husband and son had not returned, and desired that a
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party might be sent out in search of them. Mr. Ham- mond's wife was also alarmed on account of his failing to return as expected. Not knowing but that a large party of Indians had made a descent upon the Valley, it was thought not to be prudent to go out that night. They fired the alarm-gun, and waited till morning. A company then went out, and found Mr. Bennet's oxen and horse trembling with the cold, the weather having. changed during the night. They followed on the track of the Indians to the top of the mountain, and then re- turned.
Mrs. Bennet and her remaining children were now left in a state of most cruel suspense for the space of six or seven days. Any supposition which contained the elements of probability was terrible almost beyond endurance. There were a few things possible between the worst presumption-and that was that the prison- ers would be cruelly tortured to death-and the most favorable, which was, that they would be taken to Canada. Mr. Bennet was somewhat in years, and was afflicted with rheumatism, and it was most probable that he would break down under the hardships of his captivity, and fall a victim to savage cruelty. The barbarous tortures inflicted by the savages upon the helpless victims of their fiendish orgies were all like household words with Mrs. Bennet and her children. Their midnight dreams were occupied with the fearful tragedy of a cold-blooded massacre by the instrument- ality of the tomahawk, the scalping-knife, and blazing pine knots. In their imaginations, the aged sire and his boy were often seen suffering the most excruciating tortures for hours, and then their bodies left to be de- voured by wild beasts. All this was highly probable, and all the reasonings about it based on facts, which
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the settlers in the Valley of Wyoming had more per- fect knowledge of than any other people upon earth.
In the midst of the gloom and despondency of the families of Mr. Bennet and Mr. Hammond, and the general impression that the prisoners would never re- turn, three emaciated, limping, reeling figures were seen directing their course toward the fort at Wilkes- barre. Who could they be? As they came near, it was discovered that they were "the Bennets and Ham- mond." Their appearance almost seemed like a resur- rection from the dead. The mystery was soon ex- plained; they had arisen upon their captors at Me- shoppen, and cut them to pieces, and had found their way back to the embraces of their families and friends. Their feet had been badly frozen, and the consequences were most painful. When the excitement of their flight was over, they scarcely had a spark of life left. Good nursing soon restored their physical strength, and Mr. Hammond and Andrew Bennet were able to get about in a few weeks; but Mr. Bennet's feet were so dreadfully injured by the frost that several of his toes came off at the first joint, and he was obliged to walk with crutches for more than a year, during most · of which time he suffered indescribably, and required much attention. We shall give a particular account of the rising and escape of the Bennets and Hammond in a chapter by itself.
Mrs. Myers says : "We remained under cover of the fort another year. Solomon married the widow Up- son : her maiden name was Stevens. Her husband was killed by the Indians. Upson, with another man and a boy, were in the woods making sugar. When the boy was out gathering sap, he saw the Indians come up slyly to the camp, and pour boiling sap into
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Upson's mouth while he lay fast asleep on his back. The other man they tomahawked, and made a prisoner of the boy.
In the spring of 1781, Mr. Bennet, his son Solomon, and old Mr. Stevens each built a small log house on the flats near where Mr. Bennet's house stood before the battle. They raised fine crops, and had abundance until another calamity overtook them.
THE ICE FLOOD.
" See how the noble river's swelling tide, Augmented by the mountain's melting snows, Breaks from its banks, and o'er the region flows."
BLACKMORE.
In March, 1784, the spring of " the hard winter," a heavy rain suddenly melted the vast burden of snow upon the mountains and plains, broke up the strong ice in the river, and formed it into dams in the nar- rows and at the head of the islands. At about two o'clock P.M., Colonel Denison and Esquire Myers came riding down the river on horseback. Seeing the three families apparently unapprised of their danger, one of them cried out, "Bennet, what are you about? The ice will soon be upon you in mountains." Mrs. Ben- net had previously been urging her husband to take the family to the high bank across the creek. He, however, relied securely upon the tradition communi- cated to him from "the oldest Indians," that " the wa- ter had never been over these flats."
After the warning given by Colonel Denison and Esquire Myers, however, the old gentleman gave up his policy of inaction, and " began to stir about." The big canoe was loaded, and went off, carrying the old people and the children. The boys drove the cattle
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to Swetland's Hill, taking along the wagon and horses. They barely escaped, the water rising so rapidly that it came into the wagon-box just before they reached the hill. Martha staid at the house and assisted in loading the canoe, which Solomon Bennet and Uriah Stevens run back and forth between the house and the bank. As they were engaged packing up, the ice above gave way with a tremendous roar. Martha cried out, "Boys, we are gone!" She says, "In an instant · we were in the canoe-I can not tell how-and were lifted up among the tops of the trees, and surrounded by cakes of strong ice. The boys rowed, and I pulled by the limbs of the trees ; but, in spite of all we could do, we were driven down the stream rapidly. It was now dark, and our people, with lighted torches, came along the bank in the greatest anxiety of mind, fre- quently calling out, 'Where are you?' As we were swept along by the terrible current, and unable to make much headway in consequence of the obstruc- tions occasioned by the ice, we saw the lights follow- ing along the bank, and occasionally heard our friends shout out, ' Keep up good courage; you will soon reach the shore.' . We struggled for life, and at eleven or twelve o'clock at night we reached the shore. Uriah Stevens sprung upon a log which lay by the shore, and thence upon the ground. I followed him, but the mo- ment I struck the log it rolled, and I was plunged un- der the water. I was fortunate enough to rise within reach of the young man, and he pulled me out. Sol- omon, in the canoe, was then driven out among the ice, and it was an hour or more before he reached the shore. My clothes were frozen on me, and I was bad- ly chilled. I was obliged to walk half a mile in this condition before I could get to the fire."
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Many of the houses of the settlers were carried en- tirely away. Mr. Bennet's house was taken down the stream some distance, and lodged against some trees near the creek. The other families lost their hogs and poultry. Seven head of young cattle which were driven to the hill were not contented to remain there, and were all drowned in an attempt to return. Mrs. Myers says, "Our wheat was in the chamber, and, al- though some of it was washed, we had plenty left. Our corn and meat were saved. Our potatoes and cabbage, being buried, remained undisturbed; so that, although our house was gone, we had plenty of pro- visions."
Mr. Bennet now hastily put up a temporary cabin, constructed of boards and blankets. Mrs. Myers says, " For seven weeks we lived all but out of doors, doing our cooking by a log before our miserable cabin. Aft- er this we occupied our new double log house, which stood near where Elijah Shoemaker now lives, and, by slow degrees, was improved so as to be comfortable."
RENEWAL OF THE PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR.
Mr. Bennet had just removed his family into his new house, while it was without chimney or chinking, when the old troubles between the two classes of settlers were revived. Armstrong and Van Horn, under the author- ity of the Legislative Council of Pennsylvania, had come on with a company of armed men, taken possession of the fort at Wilkesbarre, and proceeded to drive the New England people from the country by force and arms. Captain Swift, a Yankee, was wounded in an attempt to fire the fort, and was lodged at the widow Brockway's, at Tuttle's Creek. Many families were driven from their houses; among them were the wid-
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ows Shoemaker and Lee, near neighbors to Mr. Bennet. In vain did they plead that their husbands had been slain by the Tories and Indians, and they were help- less and defenseless widows, and they could not leave their homes and take a long journey through the wil- derness. Go they must, and they made the best of the necessity. They left a portion of their goods with Mrs. Bennet, and were taken to Wilkesbarre, and thence, with Esquire Lawrence Myers, Giles Slocum, and many others, were hurried on toward "the swamp." At
Capouse, Myers and Slocum escaped, but the great mass of the persecuted people had no remedy but to submit to their fate. Mr. Miner says, " About five hundred men, women, and children, with scarce provis- ions to sustain life, plodded their weary way, mostly on foot, the road being impassable for wagons; moth- ers, carrying their infants, literally waded streams, the water reaching to their arm-pits, and at night slept on the naked earth, the heavens their canopy, with scarce clothes to cover them." What a reflection, this, upon Armstrong, Patterson, Van Horn, and Company !
Mr. Bennet and Colonel Denison escaped, and went up the river to Wyallusing. Mrs. Bennet stuck by the stuff. She had never yet left the Valley for the Penn- amites, and she had made up her mind that she never would. She was not left, however, in the possession of her home without an effort to drive her away. Mrs. Myers says, "Van Horn and his posse came up, having pressed a Mr. Roberts, with his team, to carry off our goods. Van Horn ordered mother to clear out, but she firmly replied that she was in her own house, and she would not leave it for him or any body else. He or- dered Andrew and me to put things upon the wagon, a service which we refused to render. Some of the
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men went to the corn-house, where there was a quan. tity of corn; but mother seized a hoe, and, presenting herself before the door, declared that she would knock the first man down who touched an ear of the corn. They looked astonished, and left her. They then be- gan to look about the house, and they found the big chest belonging to the widows, which was so heavy that they found it hard to lift, and they threatened to break it open with an axe. They carried some of our things out of the house ; but, before they had com- menced loading up, they became alarmed lest they should be noticed by the Yankee boys, a company of whom were at the widow Brockway's, and they left rather hastily, charging mother to be ready to leave the next morning. When they left Roberts went about his business, and 'the boys' came and helped us return our things to their appropriate places. The Pennamites gave us no more interruption."
A few days after the above events had transpired, Miss Bennet went out to milk the cows very early-as she says, when she "could see the stars." John Sat- terlee came along, to whom she said, "Satterlee, what in the world are you doing so early ?" He answered, "We have Dave Ogden out here in the woods." "Who has him ?" demanded Miss Bennet. "Bill Slocum," was the answer. Said she, " Do let him go; he'll cer- tainly kill you. Is he bound ?" "No," was the an- swer. "Can you give me something to eat ?" asked Satterlee. "Yes; but you must not tell where you got it," was the answer. A cold cut was set before him; and, after satisfying his hunger, he left, smiling. Miss Bennet charged him again and again, while he sat at the table, either to "let Ogden slip away or to bind him fast." Colonel Franklin, the Yankee leader,
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had his head-quarters at Mill Creek, on the opposite side of the river, whither Satterlee and Slocum were bound with their prisoner. They took him into a ca- noe at the mouth of Shoemaker's Creek, and push- ed off. Ogden soon asked, "Boys, can you swim ?" "No," was the answer. Ogden's arms were pinioned, but his feet were free. . He upset the canoe, turned on his back, and easily shoved himself across the river. Slocum hung to the canoe, but poor Satterlee went down and was drowned. Ogden and Slocum came out on the bar opposite Forty Fort, and took different directions. Five of the finest young men in the set- tlement were killed during these terrible conflicts, among whom was William Smith, a young man of fine character, and much beloved.
" The boys" at the widow Brockway's had near- ly exhausted their powder. Word came to Colonel Franklin, but it was a difficult matter to convey across the river the needed supply. Mrs. Kennedy-an old lady called Mother Kennedy-volunteered to convey the powder to the place where it was wanted. She tied it around her waist, under her dress, and brought it to Mr. Bennet's, whence it soon found its way up to the widow Brockway's.
Soon after this a large company, under the command of Captain Bolin, a fine-looking man, crossed the river from Wilkesbarre, and marched up toward the head- quarters of "the boys." The captain called at Mr. Bennet's, and asked for a drink of water. Miss Ben- net heard him, with a great swell, say, "I'll dislodge them." They moved on toward the widow Brock- way's; there were four houses there, built of hewed logs, so situated and provided with loop-holes as to constitute a formidable fortification. Martha Bennet
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was anxious for the result, and soon went around the corner of the house and listened. A brisk discharge of fire-arms soon commenced, but did not long con- tinue. Bolin's company fired upon the block-houses, and were promptly answered. The redoubtable cap- tain took his position behind a large tree, but the well- directed aim of some one of "the boys" inflicted upon him a mortal wound, and he soon expired. The com- pany then fled down the flats, bearing the corpse of their captain.
When the hostile band were seen in full retreat, Miss Bennet made a visit to Mrs. Brockway's, and found no one at all hurt; but Mrs. Myers, afterward Mrs. Bidlack, being there for safety, said a ball passed just over her head. She returned with Miss Bennet, and spent the night. Mother Kennedy's powder did the work this time, and, in fact, terminated this unhappy war. Mrs. Myers says, "The widows Shoemaker and Lee soon returned, and we were no more molested. This awful civil war was finally ended, to the great joy of all who loved peace and valued human life."
The view which we present of the Pennamite and Yankee wars, it will be observed, is given from the Yankee stand-point, and often reflects discredit upon the other party. It must not, however, be understood that all the Pennsylvanians concerned in the wars are regarded as equally guilty, nor that there were none among them entirely innocent. The whole responsi- bility of the sanguinary proceedings, which occasioned so much suffering, rests upon the land-jobbers; they were the men who kept up the quarrel, while innocent parties on both sides suffered most severely.
With the termination of the last Pennamite and Yankee war Mrs. Myers's narration closes. What re-
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mains to be done is to give a more particular account of the conclusion of this unfortunate struggle, and a brief sketch of the subsequent history of the relater of the stories which we have endeavored faithfully to re- cord.
The Pennamite and Yankee war was finally termi- nated on the principle of mutual concession, but not without great difficulty. At the close of the Revolu- tionary war, the "Superior Executive Council of Penn- sylvania" petitioned Congress for a hearing in relation to the Connecticut claim, "agreeable to the ninth ar- ticle of the Confederation." Connecticut promptly met the overture. A court was constituted by mutual consent, which held its session in Trenton, New Jersey. The decree was awarded, on the 30th of December, 1782, in favor of the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvanians, of course, were pleased, and the New England people made up their minds to submit to the decision. There was, however, still a question left open of vastly greater importance than the jurisdiction over the country; that question was the right of the soil. The Pennamites thenceforward made every ef- fort to drive out the Yankees, and to possess their lands. A military force was employed to drive off " the intruders," and to take from them the fruit of their toils and sacrifices. Blood again began to flow, and there were prospects of a more terrible conflict than had yet taken place in the ill-stared valley. In the sanguinary conflicts which now occurred Swift was wounded, and Stevens and Smith were killed on the Yankee side, and Bolin and others fell on the side of the Pennamites. Untold hardships were inflicted upon the greatest portion of the settlers; they were abso- lutely driven out of the Valley by the point of the
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