USA > Wyoming > Wyoming; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures > Part 25
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COLONEL JOHN JENKINS.
The materials for the following sketch have been derived partly from the contributions of Hon. Steuben Jenkins and John K. Jenkins, Esq., grandsons of Col- onel Jenkins ; partly from the papers of Colonel Pick- ering, copies of which have been kindly furnished us by Mr. Hollenback; and partly from Mr. Miner's his- tory. The portion derived from Mr. Miner we have faithfully quoted.
John Jenkins, the elder, was a lineal descendant of Judge Jenkins, who was imprisoned by the Long Par- liament, was born in Wales, whence he migrated to this country about the year 1735, landing at Boston ; but, being one of that " persecuted" sect called Quakers, he was driven out, with others, and passed over into Providence, Rhode Island, and thence into Windham County, Connecticut, where he became engaged in the Susquehanna Purchase in 1754, and in 1762 he and one hundred and eighteen others removed to Wyo- ming to possess themselves of the Purchase. In Oc- tober, 1763, they were driven off by the Indians, and re- turned again to Connecticut, where they remained un- til the spring of 1769, at which time they again, with about three hundred others, removed to Wyoming, and took possession of their lands.
John Jenkins took possession of and held all the lands from the township line of Kingston and Exeter to the head of Wyoming Valley, between the river and the foot of the mountain. His residence was fixed just above the northwestern end of the Pittston Ferry Bridge, where he, in connection with others, built what was known as Jenkins's Fort. He was driven thence by the Indians, British, and Tories on the day before the memorable "Wyoming massacre," on the 2d day
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of July, 1778, and fled into Orange County, New York, where he died in 1785.
He was a surveyor and conveyancer by profession ; was elected one of the members of Assembly for Westmoreland in the Connecticut Assembly for its session commencing in May, 1774; also for May, 1775; and the session of May, 1777. He had the honor of presiding at the town meeting on the 1st of August, 1775, when resolutions in favor of liberty were adopt- ed .- See Miner's History, p. 165.
His loss by the depredations of the Indians, as stated in the journal of John Jenkins, Jr., was £598 1s. 3d.
Colonel John Jenkins, the younger, was born in Windham County, Connecticut, on the 27th of Novem- ber, 1751, O. S., and died in Exeter, Luzerne County, on the site of Wintermoot Fort, where he settled im- mediately after the close of the Indian wars in the Val- ley, about 1780. He was married on the 23d of June, 1778, in Wyoming, to Bethiah Harris, who was born in Colchester, Connecticut, on the 14th of September, 1752, and died August 12th, 1842, aged about ninety years.
Previous to the Revolution, Mr. Jenkins, with four other men, were surveying in the State of New York, and lived principally in cabins in the woods. On one occasion five Indians came to their camp, and appear- ed very friendly. The Indians wanted some provis- ions, and said they were going down the creek hunt- ing, and would return in a few days and give them venison.
That night those five Indians came back and fired upon them as they lay asleep, killing one man and wounding another: Mr. Jenkins jumped up, took his
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compass-staff, and commenced operation in the way of desperate self-defense. On looking behind him, he saw an Indian with his tomahawk just in the act of strik- ing him in the head, but with one blow knocked the Indian into the large fire that was burning before the cabin door. On turning around again, he saw another Indian in the act of striking him over the head with his gun : he caught the gun and wrung it from the Indian, and drove him through the fire. The Indians then fled, leaving their bloody tracks on the snow as they went. Jenkins and his surviving comrades made a litter, and carried the wounded man to the settle- ment, leaving the dead one rolled up in his blanket.
A party of men went in pursuit of the five Indians, which were soon found and delivered up as prisoners. They were taken to Newtown, Elmira, where it was determined that Jenkins should decide on the mode of punishment. He found that four of the party had been induced to commit the terrible act by an old savage by the name of Big Hand-having previously been wounded in the hand, making it considerably larger than the other. The four young Indians caught hold of Jenkins's coat and begged for mercy ; Jenkins had compassion on them and let them go; but old Big Hand had to be punished, and his death-warrant prescribed that he should be pounded to death with pine knots, which was heartily done, most of those present taking an active part in this terrible infliction of capital punishment.
Mr. Jenkins was taken prisoner by the Indians in November, 1777, and returned to Wyoming on the 2d of June, 1778.
The following is Mr. Miner's account of Mr. Jen- kins's captivity and release : "In November, 1777, he
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was on a scouting party up the river near fifty miles. Mr. York, father of the Rev. Miner York, was one of his companions; Lemuel Fitch was another. They were ambushed not far from Wyalusing captured by a party of Indians, and taken to the British lines. An Indian chief of some celebrity was a prisoner to the Americans in Albany, and Colonel John Butler sent Mr. Jenkins, under an escort of Indians, to be ex- changed for the chief. On the way he suffered ex- ceedingly, and, had it not been that a young savage had become warmly attached to him, Mr. Jenkins thought he should have been massacred, and was almost sure he should have been starved. Ardent and constant in his attachments, as implacable and cruel in his resent- ments, the savage presents a character in which vice and virtue are strangely mingled and strangely con- trasted. The young Indian, amid rum and riot, for his sake kept himself sober and calm, fed him, protect- ed him; and Mr. Jenkins was prompt, at all times, to do justice to his faithful friend, though, from the cruel- ties practiced here, the savages were generally objects of horror and detestation.
" Arrived at Albany, the chief for whom he was to have been exchanged had just died of small-pox. The Indians insisted on taking Mr. Jenkins back with them. From their conduct and character, he felt certain that they would take his life, in revenge for that of their chief, the moment they were beyond reach of pursuit. He was protected, and found his way home to a cor- dial welcome from his friends."
On the 5th of June, 1778, he commenced keeping a journal of events transpiring in Wyoming and at oth- er points where he was called in the discharge of his duties. He kept no journal during his captivity
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among the Indians. He was not married previous to his captivity, but three weeks subsequent to his return. He was a surveyor and conveyancer by profession, and he followed this business in early life, and for inany years after the Revolution. It is understood that at the time of the massacre he was in command at Forty Fort. Immediately after the massacre, he, with others, went out to meet Spaulding's company, which they found at the Lehigh River. He joined Spaul- ding's company on the 6th of July, 1778, and was in- vested with the position of lieutenant in it. He con- tinued in active service in this company until the close of the campaign of 1782, when he resigned his commis- sion, and returned home to take part in the defense of the Wyoming settlement.
In the winter of 1778 and 1779, General Hand, in command of the forces at Minisink, New York, wrote to Colonel Z. Butler at Wyoming for information in regard to the Indian settlements on the head waters of the Susquehanna and in the west of New York, de- siring to know their strength and position, and the fa- cilities, if any, for an expedition against them by way of the Susquehanna River. Colonel Butler replied, giving the information desired, and expressed in his letter his obligations to Lieutenant John Jenkins for the information he had been able to communicate. Soon after General Hand had received the letter of Colonel Butler, he ordered Lieutenant Jenkins to ap- pear before General Washington at head-quarters. In pursuance of this order, he set out on the 1st of April, 1779, and on the 6th of April waited on General Washington. From the facts laid before General Washington at this interview, he planned and put in execution the expedition under General Sullivan
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against the Western Indians. General Sullivan ar- rived in Wyoming June 22, 1779, and, taking Lieu- tenant Jenkins for his chief guide, started with his ex- pedition up the river on the 31st of July, 1779. This expedition was entirely successful. The information possessed by Lieutenant Jenkins in reference to the Indians and their country was obtained by him dur- ing his captivity among them.
In her efforts to establish her jurisdiction over the disputed territory, Pennsylvania found active and in- fluential opponents in Colonel John Franklin and Col- onel John Jenkins. Luzerne County was fully organ- ized in May, 1787, by the agency of Colonel Tim- othy Pickering, who was appointed for that purpose by act of Assembly. Colonel Pickering was a New England man, but had become a citizen of Philadelphia. Having business in the northern part of Pennsylvania, he passed through Wyoming. Upon his return, he was questioned with regard to his impressions as to the best method of quieting matters in that disturbed district of country. He had conversed with many of the people, and freely imparted the information which he had received, and gave his views of their disposi- tion to have quiet upon reasonable terms. Presuming upon the advantages he would have as a New England man, as well as his capabilities, the appointment was made, and he removed his family to Wyoming. He was a man of fine address, and was a great tactician. He soon raised a strong party among the old Yankees, who preferred to be "quieted in their possessions" under the laws of Pennsylvania to being in endless strife and a state of insufferable vexation.
Colonel Franklin headed a counter movement. While he was organizing his forces and agitating the
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public mind, he was arrested upon a charge of treason against the state, under a warrant issued by Judge M'Kean, by four officers specially commissioned for the purpose in Philadelphia. He was seized in " the old red tavern" in Wilkesbarre. Colonel Pickering says, "The four gentlemen seized him. Two of their horses were in my stable, which were sent to them; but soon my servant returned on one of them, with a message from the gentlemen that people were assem- bling in numbers, and requesting me to come with what men were near me to prevent a rescue. I took loaded pistols in my hands, and went with another ser- vant to their aid. Just as I met them, Franklin threw himself off from his horse and renewed his struggle with them. His hair was disheveled and face bloody from preceding efforts. I told the gentlemen they would never carry him off unless his feet were tied under his horse. I sent for a cord. The gentlemen remounted him, and my servant tied his feet. Then, one taking his bridle and another following behind, and the others riding one on each side, they whipped up their horses, and were soon beyond the reach of his friends."
This violent proceeding aroused the indignation of Colonel Franklin's partisans, and Colonel Pickering, anticipating retaliatory measures upon himself, fled to Philadelphia. After it was presumed that the heat of the excitement had passed, Colonel Pickering returned to his family in Wyoming. It was not long before he was taken from his bed at dead of night by a party of men, and carried up the river and secreted in the woods. Colonel Pickering has left a particular narra- tive of his abduction and detention, which will be found published in Mr. Miner's History. We have a manu-
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script copy of the narrative, together with the whole course of Colonel Pickering's: proceedings under the authority of Pennsylvania, now before us. Colonel Pickering's views of the whole question in difficulty are herein lucidly set forth.
In his narrative of his peregrinations through the wilderness, among the mountains and ravines of the north, in the neighborhood of the Susquehanna, the gallant colonel notes some instances of abuse and some of kindness. He was bound with fetters of iron, and a chain attached to him, because poor Franklin was lying in jail in irons. But they roasted for him a piece of meat occasionally, and once prepared him a dish of " coffee," made of burned "Indian meal." He says this " was an agreeable change for our green tea." The "green tea" was made of wintergreen. He was several times asked if he would "intercede for Colonel Franklin's pardon," to which he uniformly answered, " No, I will not."
The militia had been in pursuit of the party, and some skirmishes occurred, in which men were wounded on both sides, and one of "the ruffians" died of his wound. But, finding Colonel Pickering inflexible, the " rioters" sent him home down the river in a boat, and he made his appearance at his own door, to the great joy of his family. After washing, shaving, and chang- ing his clothes, the dignified functionary was himself again. He had been absent twenty days.
Colonel Pickering speaks of Colonel Jenkins in terms of great severity, and goes so far as to charge him with being the contriver of his abduction, and then meanly deserting his pliant tools. " After en- couraging and engaging them in the diabolical outrage upon me," says he, "he had deserted them." This is
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a most uncharitable and unwarrantable view of the case. In the first place, Colonel Jenkins had nothing to do with the abduction, and, in the next place, he was too honorable and brave a man meanly to desert his friends. The following may be presumed a fair and truthful answer to this unjust and cruel imputa- tion, and is a complete vindication of the character of Colonel Jenkins. It is from the pen of Hon. Steuben Jenkins.
" There is a circumstance mentioned in Miner's His- tory, p. 423, upon which I deem a few words necessa- ry. Soon after the appearance of Stone's History of Wyoming, about 1839, my attention was called to it by seeing it in that history. I asked my grandmother concerning the circumstances connected with the ab- duction of Pickering, and she gave me the following account. A meeting of the friends of Franklin had been warned on the night of his abduction, for the pur- pose of taking into consideration some measures by which they might obtain his release. It was thought by all that Pickering had the power to release him at any time merely by writing to the proper authorities for that purpose, and it was therefore proposed by some to make an amicable adjustment of the matters in dispute with Pickering; by others it was proposed to take Pickering, and confine him as a prisoner until he should cause Franklin to be released. John Jen- kins, who until this time had taken part with the most zealous friends of Franklin, was opposed to this last proposition, considering that it would tend to exasper- ate the friends of Pickering, and render the confine- ment of Franklin more close, and would be productive of no real utility, but, on the other hand, might result in serious injury both to Franklin and his cause. The
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hot-blooded carried the day, and John Jenkins refused to have any thing farther to do with it, and so declared himself at the time. By those who failed to enlist him in their schemes he was declared to be an obsti- nate man, and they attributed to his position in this matter the defeat of their plans.
"It was one of Colonel Jenkins's distinguishing traits, that when he once said he would or would not do a thing, that was the end of it. To do as he agreed was worth every effort of his nature, and he usually gave it to that end. During the controversy between the Connecticut and Pennsylvania settlers he declared that he would never yield-that he would never hold an inch of land under a Pennsylvania title. True to his word, he never did own an inch of land with a Pennsylvania title, and by reason of not taking title under Pennsylvania he lost a large amount of valua- ble property. He owned six miles square of the town- ships of Blakely, Carbondale, Greenfield, etc., but re- fused to take title for it under Pennsylvania, and there- fore lost it all.
"In September, 1786, he and Colonel John Frank- lin, as a committee of the Wyoming settlers, went to Philadelphia to fight against the Pennsylvania claim- ants, and against the Connecticut settlers being com- pelled to take out Pennsylvania titles, and to ask for some measures of relief. On the 11th of September they had a conference with his excellency B. Frank- lin, President of Council, laid their affairs before him, and were heard by him with great attention and re- spect. While in attendance there on council, to wit, on the 25th of September, 1786, Luzerne County was established, and that put an end to their mission by effectually putting the territory under the laws and
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officers of Pennsylvania. But still the fight with him did not end here.
"He appealed, and went to Congress, where he was in 1801 and 1802, asking relief from that source. Failing in that, he returned to Wyoming, and was, in 1803, elected one of the members-Franklin being the other-from Luzerne County. Here they renewed the fight, but, being defeated, they gave it up, and con- cluded to let Pennsylvania rule, but still hold to their Connecticut titles, which they did."
Colonel Pickering seems to have imbibed a strong prejudice against Colonel Jenkins. This was natural enough, as they had come into violent collision upon a question which Colonel Pickering had greatly at heart. What is a little strange, however, is the fact that his dislike increased in acrimony with the lapse of time. The conflict raged from 1787 on, and in 1798 Colonel Pickering drew up a statement of the whole case, entitled, " A concise Narration of the Wyoming Dispute," in which he gives a very fair view of the reasonable expectations and just claims of the Connec- ticut settlers. In 1818, in connection with a history of " the outrage committed on him," in a letter to his son, he reviews the matter of the Connecticut claim, and sets it down as utterly baseless, and characterizes Colonel Franklin and Colonel Jenkins, and those who acted with them, as "rioters" and "traitors" for resist- ing measures which, according to his well-considered opinions at the time, were oppressive and inhuman.
For a clear understanding of the position of Colonel Jenkins on the question at issue-for this is the point we are laboring to bring out-we need no informa- tion excepting that which Colonel Pickering gives us. First. He admits that it is not " surprising that Con-
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necticut should claim that part of Pennsylvania which was comprehended in a charter twenty years older than Mr. Penn's," and that, all circumstances consider- ed, the Legislature of Pennsylvania should be disposed "to view the subject in dispute in the most favorable light for the unfortunate settlers."-Concise Narrative, p. 11.
Secondly. He admits that, when he took the appoint- ment from the Pennsylvania Legislature, it was with the distinct understanding that the Connecticut people would be quieted in their possessions, and their titles under Connecticut would be confirmed; and that, in his efforts to bring the people to terms, he had assured them that this would be the case .- Concise Narrative, p. 9.
Thirdly. Upon the presentation of a petition from "near three hundred of the Connecticut claimants, praying for a confirmation of their titles, to the Gen- eral Assembly," the petition was " substantially" grant- ed .- Concise Narrative, p. 9, 10.
Fourthly. "Instances of bad faith" on the part of the General Assembly furnished ground of suspicion " that the confirming law itself would be set aside as soon as they should be effectually brought under the govern- ment of Pennsylvania." *__ Concise Narrative, p. 13, 14.
* In giving an account of a public meeting, which he held for the purpose of explaining to the people the disposition of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania to do them justice, Colonel Pickering says, "But just as I was closing prosperously, as I thought, my month's labor, a pretty shrewd man, John Jenkins, a major of their militia, arose and said, 'They had too often experienced the bad faith of Pennsylvania to place confidence in any new measures of its Legislature; and that, if they should enact a quieting law, they would repeal it as soon as the Connecticut settlers submitted, and were completely saddled with the laws of the state.' This was
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Fifthly. "The confirming law" was repealed by the Legislature in 1788. "This," says Colonel Pickering, " always appeared to me unjust and cruel."-Letter, p. 36.
Sixthly. The efforts to dispossess the Connecticut settlers by law wholly failed. Suits were brought against them, and "after eight years they had partly tried one cause." *- Concise Narrative, p. 20.
Seventhly. What is called the compromise law was passed in 1799, and this closed all farther legal pro- ceedings against the Connecticut settlers.t
By the terms of this law, " commissioners were to re- survey lots claimed by the Connecticut settlers, whose title-precisely as in the confirming law-originated before the decree of Trenton. A certificate was to be issued to the settler, on presenting which to the land- office, and paying the compensation fixed, he should receive a patent."}-Miner's History, p. 454.
prophetic; but I had then no faith in the prophecy."-Letter, p. 15, 16.
* Colonel Pickering says : " Although one suit was brought by a Pennsylvania claimant against an old Connecticut settler, and judg- ment in a court of the United States was given in favor of the plain- tiff, yet the Connecticut settlers kept possession of their farms. They were too numerous to be removed and driven as vagabonds upon the wide world. The magnitude of the evil became more sensible [evi- dent], and at length the Legislature yielded to expediency what they had denied to equity."-Letter, p. 37.
t "They passed a law to secure the Connecticut settlers in their possessions upon their paying some small prices-not a twentieth part of the intrinsic value-for their lands, varied according to their qualities. Thus the controversy was ended, but infinitely to the loss of Pennsylvania." --- Colonel Pickering's Letter, p. 37.
# "Terms of the compromising law of April 4, 1799. Commis- sioners were to divide the lands into four classes. Pennsylvania claimants who preferred to release their lands to the state, rather than have them appraised by a jury, were to receive, for the first
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A portion of the Connecticut settlers, as a matter of principle, refused to pay to Pennsylvania the price for their lands required by the compromise law, and Colo- nel Jenkins was one of these. He considered it a piece of assumption-an act of injustice-and contin- ued to protest against it to the last.
The facts above presented, mostly from Colonel Pickering, the Pennsylvania functionary, will present the course pursued by Colonel Jenkins in its true light, and will relieve his fair fame from the disparaging im- putations cast upon it by the same Colonel Pickering. Had the latter gentleman been free from the prejudices generated by opposition and disappointment, he would probably have viewed the conduct of Franklin and Jenkins with more charity. Both parties were pursu- ing what they considered the line of duty. Their in- terests and their opinions came into collision, and they both fought with courage and ability.
How strongly Colonel Jenkins adhered to his posi- tion will farther appear by the following anecdote. When the Pennsylvania commissioners were survey- ing the Wyoming lands, they found that the Connecti- cut settlers did not like the idea of having their lands surveyed by the Pennamites. It was in the time of buckwheat harvest, and Colonel Jenkins was drawing in his buckwheat with a yoke of oxen and sled, and a wooden fork. The commissioners came up to the line on the flats, and John Jenkins commanded them to stop, and not undertake to cross his land, at their peril. They, seeing that Jenkins meant what he said, retired,
class, $5 00 an acre ; second class, $3 00; third class, $1 50; fourth class, 25 cents. Connecticut claimants were to pay, for lands of the first class, $2 00; second, $1 20; third, 50 cents ; fourth, 8} cents." -Miner's History, p. 454.
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and returned to Wilkesbarre. Soon after, they took Jenkins with a warrant and put him in prison. One of the witnesses swore he had an iron fork, but after- ward proved that it was only a forked stick, with which he beat back the corps of surveyors. Colonel Jenkins was kept in jail until the commissioners com- pleted their survey, and while he lived he lived under Connecticut laws, and would never succumb to Penn- sylvania "aggression." He was never conquered, but went down to his grave protesting against.“Pennsyl- vania usurpation."
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