USA > Wyoming > Wyoming; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures > Part 5
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the Yankees were released on bail, and were again in the field. Skirmishes now ensued, and lives were lost on both sides.
A sympathy was now quite general in Pennsylva- nia for the settlers. Armstrong's perfidy was known and execrated, and when he returned to Wyoming, having been authorized to raise a force sufficient to re- duce the Yankees, he could only bring into the field about one hundred men. In an assault upon a party who occupied three block-houses at Tuttle's Creek he was repulsed, and one of his subalterns, a Captain Bo- len, was killed. This was the last blood that was spilled in these unfortunate conflicts. September 15, 1784, the Legislative Assembly of Pennsylvania "or- dered the settlers to be restored to their possessions."
A portion of the settlers had, by means of the op- pressive measures of Pennsylvania, become wholly dis- affected with her; and, led on by Colonel Franklin, a most active and able political agitator, they made a stand against the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and ac- tually commenced incipient measures for the organiza- tion of the disputed territory into a new state. The settlers were now themselves divided into two factions ; one under the influence of Colonel Pickering, who act- ed under the authority of Pennsylvania, and the other led on by Colonel Franklin, who acted partly for him- self and partly for the dear people. The feud was, however, finally terminated by the apprehension and imprisonment of Franklin, who, after he had lain in jail in Philadelphia for several months, so far lost his ardor as to ask pardon of the Legislature, and promise allegiance to the state, which promise he for many years faithfully fulfilled. So terminated all the wars of the Valley of Wyoming.
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COLONEL PICKERING.
After the termination of the wars, Wyoming became a pleasant, flourishing rural district under the jurisdic- tion of Pennsylvania, and its inhabitants soon attained not only competency, but many of them wealth and opulence.
"Look now abroad : another race has filled These populous borders ; wide the wood recedes, And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are tilled ; The land is full of harvests and green meads ; Streams numberless, that many a fountain feeds, Shine, disembowered, and give to sun and breeze Their virgin matins ; the full region leads New colonies forth, that toward the western seas Spread like a rapid flame among the autumnal trees."
BRYANT.
Their commercial operations were carried on by a laborious process, but they were remunerative. Colo- nel Holenback and others, who commenced life with little or nothing, amassed fortunes by trading with the settlers and the Indians scattered through the wilder- ness between Niagara and Philadelphia. Things
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moved on in a quiet way, and business was pursued by its ancient channels until it was found that Wyo- ming and Lackawanna valleys constituted one of the richest basins of anthracite coal in the State of Penn- sylvania. Eastern capital finally became enlisted, and, together with home resources, has originated a vast trade, which has changed the whole course of business. Agriculture is now a mere circumstance in the busi- ness interests of the country.
Until within a few years Wyoming was as much like " The Happy Valley" in Rasselas as could well be imagined. The only modes of access to the great world were either by the river, which was never properly navigable, or across the eastern mountains, over an al- most impassable road. Thanks to modern improve- ments, every thing is now changed. The spell is broken. The dark silence of the past has given place to the bustle of business, the shriek of the locomotive, and the thunder of the cars. Instead of a full week's travel between this secluded spot and New York or Philadelphia, only a few hours are now occupied by the journey.
From the present point of business, activity, and progress, we propose to lead the reader back to the primitive simplicity of the first settlers-to take a brief view of their struggles and perils-their conflicts with the wild beasts, the wild Indians, and with each other. The history of no portion of our great country is more replete with curious incidents and romantic adven- tures than the history of Wyoming. Every foot of the soil is rendered classic by some historic fact or some curious legend. Bloody conflicts, hair-breadth escapes, starvations, heart-breaks, love adventures, prodigies of heroism, and miracles of endurance, mark
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every page of the early history of Wyoming, and are associated with every one of her ancient localities.
Our object shall be to introduce to the reader some of the tellers of the wondrous tales of the olden time. They shall now speak for themselves. Their own sim- ple stories, told, as nearly as may be, in their own lan- guage, is the desideratum which we propose to supply, and for which our materials are quite ample.
Novelists and poets have strained their imagination to render the scenery and the scenes of Wyoming en- chanting to their readers, while facts and incidents have been sleeping here, or have been but partially under- stood, which are really more wonderful than the fruit- ful brains of these writers were able to conceive. The truth, told without affectation after the excitements of the strange scenes described have long since passed away will be found to outstrip fiction in exciting in- terest.
Perhaps the brightest gem to be found among the poetical effusions of Thomas Campbell is his "Ger- trude of Wyoming." There is much that is truthful in his pictures, some few things which are false, but nothing overdrawn. One of our own poets, who had gazed upon the objects and scenes of the valley for himself, makes the following beautiful allusion to Campbell's Gertrude in a strain not below the poetic beauty of that poem :
"I then but dreamed : thou art before me now, In life, a vision of the brain no more.
I've stood upon the wooded mountain's brow, That beetles high thy lovely valley o'er.
Nature hath made thee lovelier than the power Even of Campbell's pen hath pictured : he
Had woven, had he gazed one sunny hour Upon thy smiling vale, its scenery.
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With more of truth, and made each rock and tree Known like old friends, and greeted from afar : And there are tales of sad reality In the dark legends of thy border war, With woes of deeper tint than his own Gertrude's are."
HALLECK.
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II.
BRANT AND HIS TORY ASSOCIATES.
"But this is not a time"-he started up,
And smote his breast with wo-denouncing hand-
"This is no time to fill the joyous cup;
The mammoth comes-the foe-the monster Brant, With all his howling, desolating band ;
These eyes have seen their blade and burning pine
Awake at once, and silence half your land.
Red is the cup they drink, but not with wine ;
Awake and watch to-night, or see no morning shine." CAMPBELL'S Gertrude.
JOSEPH BRANT was a Mohawk sachem. He has been represented as a half-breed, but Colonel Stone
COD
makes it appear quite probable that he was a full- blooded Indian. He was born in the western woods,
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somewhere within the bounds of the present State of Ohio, while his parents were upon a hunting expedi- tion. His Indian name was Thay-en-da-ne-gea. Sir William Johnson held a peculiar relation to the Brant family. Molly Brant was a beautiful squaw, and, when about sixteen, upon a regimental parade-upon a ban- ter on her part-had been allowed by an officer to spring upon his horse behind him, and, with her blan- ket and black tresses streaming in the air, to fly over the ground, to the great amusement of the spectators. Sir William was present, and was so charmed with the creature that he took her to his house. Colonel Stone says that she became "his wife," and that her " de- scendants from Sir William Johnson compose some of the most respectable and intelligent families in Upper Canada at this day." Mr. Campbell calls Molly Brant Sir William's "mistress," and in the "Documentary History of New York" she is called his " housekeep- er." In all the records we have consulted she is called by her maiden name, "Molly Brant," which would seem to be against the idea of her regular and lawful marriage to Sir William Johnson .*
Joseph, a younger brother of Molly Brant, was most naturally taken under the patronage of Sir William ; and, as the baronet took great interest in the civiliza- tion and improvement of the Indians, it is not strange that he took measures for the education of his protégé. The Rev. Mr. Wheelock had established a school at Lebanon, Connecticut, for the education of Indian boys. Joseph was sent to this school with several other In- dian boys, and was, in the English sense, so clever, and made such progress äs to receive high commendation
* Mr. Lossing informs us that Sir William married Molly Brant just before his death, to legitimatize his children.
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from his teachers, and to be employed as an interpreter. He even assisted in translating St. Mark's Gospel into Mohawk. The correspondence between Sir William Johnson and Dr. Wheelock in relation to the subject of this brief sketch is preserved in the Documentary History of New York, and is well worth perusing. In 1763, Molly Brant, moved by prejudice against the New Englanders, caused a letter to be written to Joseph, in Sir William's name, in which he was requested to re- turn home. Dr. Wheelock was much displeased at this, and wrote a letter of remonstrance to Sir William upon the subject, but it was of no use. Sir William's " housekeeper" could not be denied, and Joseph, be- coming discontented, came back to take a prominent position among the Iroquois, and to be a powerful ally of the Johnsons and of the crown of Great Britain.
In 1777 Brant came down from the north with a band of his Mohawks, and made his head-quarters at Ocquaga and Unadilla, and at the latter place General Herkimer sought and obtained an interview with the Mohawk chief, with a view to employing the influence of a former acquaintance and an old friendship to bring him over to the cause of the colonies. General Her- kimer had with him about three hundred men, and, after some ceremonies, met Brant at Unadilla. The interview was civil, but fruitless. Brant told the gen- eral that, for the sake of old friendship, he would not harm him. But the chief was not to be satisfied with- out displaying his force ; and, upon a signal, five hund- red warriors darted from their concealment and gave the war-whoop. The "old neighbors" then separated to meet only once more, and that upon the battle- field.
The next we hear of Brant is at the battle of Oris-
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kany, on the 6th of August. The conduct of the In- dians and Tories toward the prisoners which fell into their hands on this occasion was marked by the most unparalleled ferocity. A surgeon of General Herki- mer's brigade of militia, by the name of Moses Young- love, made an affidavit, which is now in the office of the Secretary of State, in which he makes the most terrible disclosures. He was made a prisoner, and was " brought to Mr. Butler, Sen."-Colonel John Butler- " who demanded of him what he was fighting for; to which he answered, 'He fought for the liberty that God and nature gave him, and to defend himself and dear- est connections from the massacre of savages.' To which Butler replied, 'You are a d-d impudent reb- · el;' and, so saying, immediately turned to the savages, encouraging them to kill him, and saying, if they did not, this deponent and the other prisoners should be hanged on a gallows then preparing." "Six or sev- en" persons were killed at one time, at the instance of a wounded Tory. "Those of the prisoners who were delivered up to the provost guards were kept without victuals for many days, and had neither clothes, blan- kets, shelter, nor fire, while the guards were ordered not to use any violence in protecting them from the savages, who came every day in large companies, with knives, feeling of the prisoners to know who was fat- test; that they dragged one of the prisoners out of the guard, with the most lamentable cries, tortured him for a long time, and this deponent was informed, by both Tories and Indians, that they ate him, as they did another on an island in Lake Ontario, by bones found there, newly picked, just after they had crossed the lake with the prisoners." St. Leger had offered twen- ty dollars for every American scalp, which, of course,
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furnished the Indians with a motive for killing the prisoners. Younglove was finally doomed to the fire, and was likely to be fed upon by the savages. He was fastened to a stake on the bank of the river, and while preparations were being made for the burning, the bank providentially caved off, and he was carried down the angry current, and was taken up far below by another party of Indians, who took him to the west, where he was obliged to run the gauntlet. Aft- er this he was adopted by an Indian, put on the In- dian habit, and remained among the Indians until he was exchanged. Dr. Younglove lived to old age, and died a few years since in the city of Hudson, much re- spected. His story is perfectly reliable .- See Camp- bell's Border Warfare, p. 114-116.
Now, when these atrocities were perpetrated, where was Joseph Brant? He was at the head of the In- dians who were in the battle of Oriskany, and who tortured and devoured the prisoners there taken. If he was present, these barbarous transactions were per- mitted, if not ordered by him; but if he left the pris- oners at the disposal of the fiends whom he had the honor to command in the battle, and simply retired out of sight, the whole iniquitous and fiendish system of torture, and murder, and cannibalism which follow- ed was at least by his connivance, and at his responsi- bility. Dr. Younglove in after years published a his- torical poem, in which, referring to Brant, he repre- sents him as
"By malice urged to every barbarous art, Of cruel temper, but of coward heart."
In 1778 the operations of the royal forces on the border were put in charge of Colonel John Butler and "Captain Brant." Two projects were set on foot :
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one was surprising the small garrisons and cutting off the settlements in Tryon County, and the other the de- struction of the settlement at Wyoming, on the Sus- quehanna. The first of these enterprises was to be taken in hand by Brant, and the second by Butler. Early in the spring Brant collected a considerable force at Ocquaga. The settlers at Unadilla and in the neighborhood removed to Cherry Valley, and located themselves within the fortification which had been raised by the order of General La Fayette. Brant, with a party of Indians, soon visited Cherry Valley, with a view to making prisoners of some of the prin- cipal inhabitants. While skulking about in the woods he intercepted Lieutenant Wormwood, and shot and scalped him with his own hand. Wormwood was a gallant young officer, and an only son of a respectable resident of Palatine. He had been to Cherry Valley, and was on his return home. The agonized father, as he bent over the mangled corpse of his beloved son, poured out a flood of tears, exclaiming, "Brant ! cruel, cruel Brant!" After giving this relation, Mr. Camp- bell remarks, "Tears started in many eyes which scarcely knew how to weep." Brant and this young officer had been personal friends, and he is said to have lamented his death, having mistaken him for a Conti- nental officer. This was a cold-blooded murder, in whatever aspect it is regarded, and it was all that Cap- tain Brant achieved on this expedition, with the excep- tion of his making a prisoner of Peter Sitz, who was in company with Lieutenant Wormwood.
In the month of June, Brant, with a party, visited Springfield, burned the houses of the inhabitants, and carried away several prisoners. He left the women and children in a house to shift for themselves-an act
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which has been noted as an evidence of his great hu- manity. It must be conceded that Brant did not seem to delight in torturing and murdering helpless women and children ; whether it was because he had a spark of kindness in his bosom, or because he considered it mean and cowardly, we shall not attempt to de- termine.
Captain Brant now concentrated his forces at Una- dilla, and received constant accessions of Tories, who were more savage than the savages themselves. A re- ward being offered to any person who would gain sat- isfactory knowledge of Brant's proceedings, Captain M'Kean volunteered to undertake the enterprise. He took with him five brave men, and proceeded down one of the branches of the Susquehanna. He came upon the track of the chief about twenty miles from Cherry Valley, in the town of Laurens. A Quaker by the name of Sleeper informed him that Brant had been at his house that day, with fifty men, and advised him to keep out of his way. M'Kean, having satisfied himself of the condition of things in that quarter, re- turned, but not until he had left behind him evidence of his visit. He wrote a letter to Brant, charging him with his predatory and murderous incursions upon the unoffending settlers, and challenging him to single com- bat, or to meet, in fair fight, an equal number of the patriots with his Indians, telling him that if he would come to Cherry Valley they would make him a goose- referring to his name. This letter he fastened in a stick, and placed in an Indian path; Brant received it, and referred to it subsequently.
Some time in June, Brant, with four hundred In- dians, met a party of regular troops and Schoharie mi- litia on the upper branch of the Cobelskill. There
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were only forty-five of our men; twenty-one escaped, twenty-two were killed, and two were taken prison- ers.
In July, a small settlement, situated west of the Ger- man Flats, was destroyed by Brant. Some of the peo- ple were murdered, and others were made prisoners, while their goods were either destroyed or carried away. In August, the German Flats was visited by the chief, with three hundred Tories and one hundred and fifty Indians, who ravaged the whole country, burning all the buildings, and plundering every thing which was movable. Most of the people had taken refuge in Forts Herkimer and Dayton, and, conse- quently, no great number of prisoners and scalps were taken.
Schoharie and the surrounding settlements were the objects of the constant and persevering onsets of the Indians and Tories. Colonel Vrooman had the com- mand of the fort at Schoharie, and was contented with merely defending it, without protecting the inhabi- tants. Colonel Harper was not satisfied with this mode of proceeding, and ran the hazard of a journey alone on horseback to Albany in quest of aid. He put up at a Tory tavern on Fox's Creek, and locked his door. Soon a loud rap at his door alarmed him. He arose, and, placing his sword and pistols on his bed, demand- ed what was wanted. "We want to see Colonel Har- per," was the answer. He opened his door, and four Tories presented themselves. "Step an inch over that mark, and you are dead men," said Colonel Harper. After a little conversation, they left the brave colonel to himself. In the morning he mounted his horse and went on. An Indian followed him, whom Colonel Harper several times frightened out of his purpose by
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presenting his pistol. Upon representing to the com- manding officer at Albany the distressed condition of the people at Schoharie, a squadron of horse was im- mediately provided, and, by a forced march, lit upon the enemy the next morning; " and the first knowl- edge that the people had that any relief was expected, they heard a tremendous shrieking and yelling ; and, looking out, they saw Colonel Harper, with his troop of horse, welting up the enemy. The men in the fort rushed out and joined in the attack, and the country was soon cleared of the enemy."-Campbell.
Mr. Campbell publishes an "exact transcript" of a letter from Brant, which is quite characteristic, and has some historical importance. We here give it in full :
"Tunadilla, July 9, 1778.
"SIR,-I understand by the Indians that was at your house last week, that one Smith lives near with you, has little more corn to spare. I should be much obliged to you, if you would be so kind as to try to get as much corn as Smith can spare ; he has sent me five skipples already, of which I am much obliged to him, and will see him paid, and would be very glad if you could spare one or two of your men to join us, especially Elias. I would be glad to see him, and I wish you could send me as many guns you have, as I know you have no use for them, if you have any; as I mean now to fight the cruel rebels as well as I can : whatever you will able to sent'd me you must sent'd by the bearer.
"I am your sincere friend and humble servant,
" JOSEPH BRANT.
" To Mr. Carr.
"P.S .- I heard that Cherry Valley people is very
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bold, and intended to make nothing of us; they call us wild geese, but I know the contrary.
" Jos. B."
Captain Walter N. Butler owed the Tryon County patriots a special spite on account of his imprisonment in Albany, an account of which we have given in an- other connection; and, by way of taking vengeance upon them, he planned an expedition against Cherry Valley. He procured from his father, Colonel John Butler, the command of a portion of his regiment, call- ed "Butler's Rangers," together with the liberty of employing the Indians who were under the command of Brant. Captain Butler took up the line of march early in November, and met Brant, with his men, on their way to Niagara for winter quarters. At first Brant was indignant at being made second to Walter Butler, and refused to join the expedition. Matters were, however, pacified between the Indian and the Tory, and they proceeded. Colonel Alden, who had command of the fort at Cherry Valley, was repeatedly admonished of the probability of an attack by the In- dians and Tories, but he regarded the event as wholly improbable, and took no precautions against it. On the eleventh, the enemy stole upon the town early in the morning, in a snow-storm, and took the place by surprise. The officers were quartered in private houses, and the wily foe, having learned their locali- ties by a prisoner, sent forward separate parties to sur- round the houses and take them. Lieutenant Colonel Stacy was made a prisoner; and Colonel Alden made his escape from the house, and was pursued, tomahawk- ed, and scalped. He was one of the first victims of his criminal skepticism and consequent neglect of duty.
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The enemy now rushed upon the citizens, and com- menced an indiscriminate murder of men, women, and children. Female helplessness, infantile innocence, or entire neutrality in the struggle was no defense against the savage Indians and the still more savage Tories. The Wells family, who had been entirely neutral, male and female, old and young, with the exception of a boy who was not at home, were all destroyed. A Tory boasted that he shot Mr. Wells when he was at prayer. Rev. Mr. Dunlop, an old gentleman, was made a prisoner, and robbed of his wig and a portion of his clothing, and was hurried off, shivering with the cold. A few were reserved for the purpose of exchange; among these were the wife of Colonel Campbell and his four children. The town was fired, and was soon reduced to a heap of smouldering ruins.
The historians record some generous acts on the part of Brant on this occasion. He interfered in be- half of some women and children, and prevented their massacre. "On the day of the massacre he inquired of some of the prisoners where his friend Captain M'Kean was. They informed him that he had prob- ably gone to the Mohawk River with his family. 'He sent me a challenge once,' said Brant; 'I have now come to accept it. He is a fine soldier thus to retreat.' They answered, 'Captain M'Kean would not turn his back upon an enemy when there was any probability of success.' 'I know it; he is a brave man, and I would have given more to have taken him than any other man in Cherry Valley, but I would not have hurt a hair of his head.'"-Campbell. It has been supposed that the humanity of Brant on this occasion was a mere ruse, to show off by contrast the savage barbarity of Butler, against whom he harbored a preju-
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dice, and this seems to us by no means an uncharita- ble conclusion.
The diabolical malice of Walter N. Butler had no bounds. He was so thoroughly determined to make a clean riddance of all the "rebels," that numbers of neutrals and some of the friends of the royal cause were cut to pieces, lest some of the "rebels," under the false pretense of neutrality or friendship, should escape. He acted upon the maxim that it was better to destroy friends than to let enemies escape .- See Campbell, p. 144.
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