USA > Wyoming > Wyoming; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures > Part 21
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XII.
THE CAPTIVITY AND ESCAPE OF GEORGE P. RANSOM AND OTHERS.
GEORGE P. RANSOM was the son of Captain Samuel Ransom, who was one of the three men who arrived just in time to engage in the battle and fall upon the field of gore and slaughter .- See Mrs. Myers's account of the battle, p. 158.
The subject of this sketch entered the army at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, at the age of fourteen. He served for two years as his father's waiter. When Wyoming was threatened with an in- vasion from the Indians and Tories, two companies which had been raised in Wyoming, under the com- mand of Captain's Ransom and Durkee, were consoli- dated into one, and sent on under the command of Captain Simon Spaulding. This company was en- camped at Merwin's, thirty-three miles from the Val- ley, on the night of the battle .* On the following day, a scout was sent on in advance to learn the position of affairs. The scout met the fugitives, who gave them the sad intelligence of the defeat and slaughter of the little patriot army, and that the settlement was in the possession of the Indians and Tories. Upon their return, Captain Spaulding proceeded with his men to Stroudsburg.
After a delay there of several weeks, Spaulding's
* So say the historians ; but Colonel Hollenback is represented as locating Spaulding's company on that night at Bear Creek, twenty- four miles nearer Wyoming.
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company, together with some of the settlers under the leadership of Colonel Butler, proceeded to the Valley, and buried the dead who lay upon the battle-field. Young Ransom was in the company, and, after diligent search among the slain, was finally enabled to identify the body of his father from his shoe and knee buckles. His head was severed from his body, and the body was much burned. Another son of Captain Ransom who was in the battle had his arm broken by a ball, and escaped by swimming the river and diving when the savages shot at him from the shore.
George P. Ransom joined Sullivan's army, was in the battle at Newtown, and shared in all the dangers and hardships of the expedition into the Indian coun- try. He related with much interest the circumstance of Luke Swetland's meeting the army. Swetland had been taken prisoner by the Indians in August, 1778, and had managed to make his escape. When he met the army, supposing he had fallen in with Butler's Tories, he asked if they had heard any thing of "the rebel army," when, taking him for a stray Tory, the soldiers commenced abusing him with kicks and cuffs. Fortunately, young Ransom happened to be near him, and sung out, "Is that you, Swetland ?" "Good God !" exclaimed Swetland, "is there any one here that knows me?" The course of treatment was now suddenly changed from abuse to hearty congrat- ulations, and the supposed Tory was taken into the arms of his Yankee brothers, and, with them, returned to his beloved Wyoming after more than a year's ab- sence.
Upon the return of the army to the Valley Mr. Ransom obtained a furlough, and visited his friends at Plymouth. On one Sunday evening in December,
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1780, young Ransom, with two other young men, paid a visit to a house where were three young ladies, for the purpose of whiling away an hour or two in pleas- ant chat. When they had become agreeably engaged in soft nonsense and relating yarns, three heavy raps fell upon the door. The party knew well the signal, and looked around for some way of escape. Upon looking out of the windows they found them guarded, and, turning to the door, in rushed a band of Indians and Tories, and made captives of the whole company. The lovers were now, in sorry plight, hurried up the mountain, and at a suitable distance from the settle- ment the Indians and Tories prepared to encamp. Before they had concluded their arrangements for the night they let the girls go. Two of them-Lucy Har- vey and Rachel Bullock-took a bee-line to the fort at Wilkesbarre.
The venerable Charles Harris, now eighty-nine years of age, was on duty as a sentinel that night. He was then a lad, and wide awake for Indians. He says, "I saw something black, and I thought it moved. . I was first at a loss to know what to do; I thought it might be an Indian stealing up to shoot me ; but, as it might be a friend, I concluded to call out. 'Who is there ?' I demanded. A female voice answered, 'A friend.' Then advance, said I, and up came the two girls, and told me the story of their capture and release, and said that the Indians and Tories had the three young men, and were going off with them to Niagara. I awoke Colonel Butler, and he ordered the alarm-gun fired. When it was fired it created terrible confusion; an Irishman jumped out of his bed and ran to the door roaring, and appeared to be half scared to death."
The prisoners on the mountain heard the alarm-
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gun, and from that concluded that their lady-loves had safely reached the garrison. The prisoners were tied, and the Indians and Tories lay down in a ring around them. Before they laid themselves down, one of the Tories told the prisoners, with great emphasis, that if either of them escaped, the Indians would kill the oth- ers. When all were asleep, Ransom thought of mak- ing his escape, and succeeded in untying the rope which confined his arms. They were situated on the brow of a hill, and he had no doubt but he could dash down the hill among the bushes, and escape without harm. But then he thought of his companions in cap- tivity. From the manner in which the Tory had pre- monished them of the consequences of the escape of any one of them, he had no reason to doubt but the threat would be executed, and that, too, under circumstances of savage barbarity. Upon reflection, he tied the rope as it was before. He could not sleep; his thoughts were busy. What would become of him ? He wore the uniform of Sullivan's army ; he remembered the fate of " brave Boyd ;" and, almost without willing it, the rope was again slipped. He looked upon the darkness down the hill side ; he was upon the point of leaping over the ring of Indians and Tories; he held himself down; he did the deed in imagination over and over. But ah! his two companions in captivity-their fate brought him up again. He could have no hope of releasing them. One might escape, loose as he then was, but to liberate the other two, and for all to run away, would be beyond the bounds of all rational prob- ability. Here he paused, and finally drew the knot up again, and waited for daylight, resolving to share a common fate with his companions in captivity.
When the day broke the company made prepara-
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tions to move on. They loaded the prisoners with heavy packs, and moved up the river. It was in the month of December, and they suffered much from fa- tigue and cold, besides being nearly starved. At Tioga Point they killed a horse, and kept in tolerable case while their horse-beef lasted. Ransom was known from his dress to have been in the army which had devastated the Indian country, and of course was singled out as a special object of vengeance. Before they reached Niagara they fell in with a large body of Indian families, and now it was time to proceed with some ceremony of savage cruelty, in which all who had suffered from the invasion of the "rebel army" might have a taste of sweet vengeance on their ene- mies. The method resorted to was one of the milder sort in use among the Indians.
Ransom was seated on a log, and was told by the Tories that the Indians were about to whip him. The law which governed this ceremony was that the whole body of Indians, squaws, and pappooses would pass by him in single file, and each one would give him a blow: he might dodge, but must not leave the log; if he did, he would be killed. The procession was formed, ev- ery one having in hand some weapon, generally being armed with sticks or whips. The old chief came up at the head of the procession, and, taking him by the hand, muttered out something in his own language, and gave him a blow. Then came the queen squaw and did the same. Then followed about forty Indians, then about as many squaws. Last of all came on the young brood, and they struck their blow, some of them showing the venom of young vipers. The victim of this savage cruelty dodged the blows so adroitly that he was not much injured excepting in one instance : a
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young Indian, with murderous intent, flung a toma- hawk at his head, which would have cloven his skull had he not dropped his head down as quick as light- ning. The deadly weapon passed over his head, but struck his back near the lower extremity of the spine, and inflicted an injury, the effects of which he felt, at times, through the rest of his life.
The prisoners were ten or twelve days in reaching Niagara .. They were soon removed to what was call- ed "Prisoners' Island," in the St. Lawrence, forty-five miles above Montreal, where there were one hund- red. and sixty-six American prisoners. The follow- ing account of the treatment which the prisoners re- ceived there is from Mr. Ransom's own hand, and is taken from Miner's History. He says, "We were guarded by Refugees, or what was called Tories, that belonged to Sir John Johnson's second regiment. The commanding officer of the guard on the isl- and was a young Scotchman by the name of M'Al- pin, about eighteen years of age. The winter was very severe, and a great snow-storm came and drifted before the door of the guard, who sent for some of the American prisoners to come and shovel it away. They refused, saying they were prisoners of war, and he had no right to set them at work for his pleasure. Enraged at this, the officer ordered them into irons, and directed others to take the shovels and go to work: these also refused and were ironed. So he went on commanding and meeting with resolute disobedience to what they considered a tyrannical order. They had taken up arms and periled their lives to resist British tyranny, and would not now, though prison- ers, submit to it. Some were ironed two together, some to a bar four together; but he kept putting on
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irons as long as he had handcuffs left. Among the last who refused were myself and one William Palmeters. We were then put into an open house without floor or windows, and directions given that we should have neither victuals, brandy, nor tobacco ; but our faithful friends contrived to evade the guard, and we were fur- nished with all. There we remained all night, suffer- ing extremely from the cold. The next morning M'Alpin came, thinking our spirits were broken, and demanded if we would not shovel now. . All answered in a word, 'Not for a Tory.' He then took us out of that place and put us into a hut just finished, with a good floor, and we sent for. a black man, a good fid- dler, for we had two on the island. We then opened our ball, dancing, to keep ourselves warm, jigs, horn- pipes, four and six-handed reels. Where four were ironed to one bar, they could dance the cross-handed, or what we called the York reel. We continued in this merry mood until our Scotch gentleman found the place was too good for us. He then took us out and put us into a loft of one of the huts, which stood so low that a man could stand up only under the centre of the ridge. There we were kept in extreme suffer- ing two days and nights. In the mean time, M'Alpin sent for Charles Grandison, our fiddler, and ordered him to play for his pleasure. The black went, but firmly declared that he would not play while his fel- low-prisoners were in irons. The officer then ordered a sort of court-martial, composed of Tories, who, of course, brought in the poor negro guilty. The sen- tence of the court was that he should be stripped, tied up, and receive ten lashes on his naked back, which was done. While smarting with the lash, the officer asked if he would fiddle as he was ordered. 'No;
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not while my fellow-prisoners are in irons,' was his answer. Again he was tied up and ten lashes laid on ; but his firmness was not to be shaken, and the officer sent him to his hut.
"M'Alpin then sent a party of soldiers to bring up some of the prisoners, several of whom were flogged severely ; and one, against whom the Tories had a par- ticular spite, was tied neck and heels, a rope put around his neck, and he was thus drawn up to the chamber floor and kept until he was almost dead, let down and then drawn up again. One John Albright, a young Continental soldier, was flogged almost to death for speaking his mind freely. But not one American was found to shovel snow."
On the opening of spring, Ransom and his two fel- low-prisoners, James Butterfield and John Brown, were permitted to make gardens for themselves. They planned their beds with some taste. They now con- ceived the project of making a raft and escaping on it. They laid out their work and proceeded, one keeping watch while the other two worked. They put to- gether old sticks, and whatever they could procure that could be used, and bound them together, and, as fast as they proceeded, they contrived to bury their work under the sand, leaving the surface in the form of a bed, the outer rails of their raft seeming to be de- signed to keep the earth from washing away.
There is some truth as well as poetry in the lines of Dryden :
"For there's the folly that's still mixed with fear, Cowards more blows than any heroes bear ; Of fighting sparks some may their pleasures say, But 'tis a bolder thing to run away."
They provided themselves with some bread, pork,
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and salt, and on the 9th of June, just after sundown, they dug out the raft and committed themselves to the treacherous current. Their paddles were round sticks flattened at the end with a pocket-knife. They pulled out with might and main, and had but just got under way before the alarm-gun bellowed and reverberated like terrible thunder. The thick darkness now cover- ed the fugitives, and they were borne down the cur- rent on their crazy raft, to what haven they knew not. Their raft being constructed of old materials, it absorb- ed the water until it ran so deep that the adventurous passengers sat in the water some eighteen inches. That was an anxious night, and as perilous as anxious. The doubt which harassed their minds was whether they would not be wrecked and drowned, or be obliged to land where they would be an easy prey to the British soldiers or the Indians.
At daybreak they landed on the Canada side, and when they attempted to raise themselves to their feet they found it impossible. Their lower limbs were stiff, being benumbed with their long continuing mo- tionless under water. They succeeded in pulling themselves to land by some bushes, and then com- menced rubbing their legs and whipping them with switches. Finally they could walk, and they moved on down the river, and concealed themselves for the day under the trees in a windfall. When night came they started on, looking out for some sort of craft in which they could find their way across to the American side. They saw a bark canoe, but were kept at bay by two savage dogs, which it was not possible for them to paci- fy. Soon after this they found two bark canoes lying near each other. They took possession of these light vessels, and soon found the American shore. They
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now directed their course toward the head of Lake Champlain.
Their bread was wet and spoiled; they saved their meat and salt. In a written account of this wonderful escape, which we have received from Mr. Samuel Ran- som, son of Colonel George P. Ransom, it is said that their meat lasted them seven days, and then they were left without food. They concealed themselves in the daytime for six days, and traveled by night. Their way lay through a fearful swamp, where for more than a week they could find no water fit to drink. They traveled with forked sticks, and with these they cap- tured snakes and frogs, upon which they lived for more than a week.
They all became exceedingly weak, and one of the company came to the conclusion that he must lie down and die. The other two stimulated him on by telling him that if he died they would fill their packs with his flesh and eat it. This terrible threat drove him on for a while, but he became feverish, and evidently could go no farther. Providentially they came to a beautiful spring of water. He drank, and lay down by the side of it. He insisted upon being left, as it was better for him to die alone than for the whole company to per- ish, and no one be left to tell their story. Upon the whole, it was concluded to make the best provision for the poor fellow they could, and then go on. They accordingly gathered a pile of wood, caught a quantity of frogs and snakes, and built a brush booth over him, and bade him farewell.
Now Mr. Ransom and one of his companions pro- ceeded, but with feeble and faltering steps, being near- ly exhausted. On the fourteenth day of their adven- turous journey they found two old horses. Their first
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idea was to kill one of them and fill their packs. The next thought was the wisest one-that was, to mount the horses, and let them go where they would, presum- ing they would take them to some habitation of man. This plan succeeded. The horses brought them to a house where there was a kind-hearted old lady. She saw their condition, and gave them half a pint of milk each, mixed with about as much water, and a lit- tle bread. They took their scanty ration, and lay down upon the floor. They reached this hospitable hut just before night .. They slept until about twelve o'clock, and then awoke with such a voracious appe- tite that they could almost bite the flesh out of each other, or devour their own fingers. They called to their benefactress, who arose and gave them the same allowance as before. They then lay down and slept until morning. They remained here three or four days, and became so recruited that they proceeded with good heart upon their journey.
They came to the lake, and three days after reached Hubbertston, Vermont; the next day they reached a fort at Castleton; then they came to Poultney, where Mr. Ransom found a home for the time being with an uncle. Some three weeks after their arrival at Poult- ney, who should make his appearance but the poor fel- low they had left to die by the spring! Rest under his booth, the frogs, broiled by the fire, seasoned with a little salt his companions had left him, and the pure cold water, sustained nature until she had rallied; the fever left him, and he set off upon the track of his com- rades, and came through in safety.
Colonel Ransom says, "My companions went on to Albany, and there proclaimed the cruelty of the Scotch officer: it was published in the papers. A flag was
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dispatched to remonstrate against such abuse of our men; and we had the pleasure to hear, not long after, that M'Alpin was tried and broke, the prisoners be- ing called to witness against him."
Some of the Wyoming prisoners had the pleasure of seeing M'Alpin drummed out of the camp. About this time a prisoner brought in a report that Cornwal- lis was taken at Yorktown, and the American prison- ers, after due consultation, concluded to give vent to their feelings upon the occasion. Accordingly, on a signal being given, at dead of night, the very ground was made to tremble with three cheers for General Washington. The officers sprang from their beds, and the sentinels almost jumped out of their boots; but, upon examination, all was order and quiet among the prisoners. The iron rule had ended. The time had now come to begin to arrange for the exchange of pris- oners, instead of tying Yankees neck and heels, and hanging them up. Henceforth law and decency ob- tained on "Prisoner's Island."
After becoming sufficiently recruited, Mr. Ransom visited his friends in Canaan, Connecticut, and then, after a short stay in Wyoming, returned to the army at West Point, where he remained until the conclusion of the war, when he was honorably discharged.
Mr. Ransom married and settled upon lands which his father had occupied before the war in Plymouth. Like nearly every body else in Wyoming, the young couple had hard work to live until they could raise what was necessary for their comfort from the rich flats which they commenced tilling. The greatest dif- ficulty was to obtain materials for clothing. Mr. Ran- som sowed flaxseed in the spring, but it would not grow in a day. Before his flax had come to maturity
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he found on the flats a luxuriant growth of nettles ; these he mowed, and rotted by sinking them in a pond of warm water, and then drying them in the sun, and of the fibres Mrs. Ransom made coarse cloth for pants for her husband. They were neither elegant nor dur- able, but they held out until the flax came to maturity. Such was now the pressure of Mr. Ransom's necessities that the flax was pulled, rotted, dressed, spun, woven, and a shirt and pants made in eight days ! The ninth day after the flax was pulled the enterprising young farmer was dressed in the fabric which was manufac- tured out of it. The thing seems scarcely possible, but such, we are assured, was the fact.
Mr. Ransom graduated in regular course to the of- fice of colonel of the regiment, and spent a long life on the place upon which he first commenced housekeep- ing. He lived much respected, and departed this life in September, 1850, in the ninetieth year of his age.
Colonel Ransom was a man of high spirits, and was an uncompromising patriot. We are indebted to his son Samuel for the following anecdote, illustrative of the permanence and strength of his feelings as a Rev- olutionary soldier. While in one of the old taverns in Wilkesbarre, when quite advanced in years, he heard a windy young man speak very disrespectfully of General Washington. The general, he said, was not a great man nor a great soldier, but had taken advantage of fortunate circumstances to palm himself off upon the world as such. This was more than the old sol- dier could well bear, and he lifted his cane and felled the impudent young sprig to the floor. The whipped puppy prosecuted the colonel for assault and battery. When the case came on, Colonel Ransom appeared in court without an advocate, and simply pleaded guilty,
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and flung himself on the mercy of the court. Hon. David Scott was presiding judge; his associates were the . venerable Matthias Hollenback and Jesse Fell. Judge Scott remarked, This is a case which I choose to leave to my associates, as they are old soldiers, and can fully appreciate the circumstances of the case, and then left his seat. Judge Hollenback asked Colonel Ransom where he was at such a date. The answer was, "In my father's company, in Washington's army.". " And where on the 3d of July, 1778?". Answer, " With Captain Spaulding, on my way to Wyoming." " And where the following summer?" Answer, "With General Sullivan in the Lake country, flogging the Indians." " And where the next fall and winter ?" Answer, " A prisoner on the St. Lawrence." " Ah !" said the judge, "all that is true enough, Colonel Ran- som. And did you knock the fellow down, colonel ?" "I did so, and would do it again under like provo- cation," was the answer. " What was the provoca- tion ?" asked the judge. "The rascal abused the name of General Washington," was the answer. The judge coolly said, "Colonel Ransom, the judgment of the court is that you pay a fine of one cent, and the pros- ecutor pay the cost." A roar of applause succeeded, during which the prosecutor fled from the court-house in great consternation, and immediately left the place for parts unknown.
During this singular trial the colonel stood in the calm dignity of a soldier of the old school, with his son standing by his side, indulging no little anxiety with regard to the event. When the affair had term- inated, the boy walked out of the court-house with his father, proud of his courage and of his noble bear- ing before the court, and abundantly flattered with the
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public demonstrations of approbation of an act which, whatever might have been the result of it under other circumstances, he considered both lawful and expe- dient.
We give this anecdote as we received it, for the pur- pose of illustrating the spirit of the parties concerned, judging comments entirely unnecessary.
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XIII.
BENJAMIN BIDLACK-CAPTURE BY THE PENNAMITES AND SINGULAR ESCAPE.
"Therewith, in all this world, no nightingale Ne coude by an hundred thousand dell Singen so wonder merrily and well."
"Full faire was Mirthe, full long and high, A fairer man I never sigh ; As round as apple was his face, Full roddie and white in every place."
WICLIF.
MR. BIDLACK came to Wyoming at an early period with his father, mother, and several brothers. He served his country under General Washington through nearly the entire period of the Revolutionary war. He was at Boston when Washington took charge of the patriot army to oppose General Gage. He was at Trenton on the taking of the Hessians. He was at Yorktown on the occasion of the surrender of Corn- wallis; and was in Washington's camp, at Newburg, when the army was disbanded.
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